RTHK: China regrets US action at UN Security Council

China on Sunday voiced regret that the United States was blocking a UN Security Council statement on Israeli-Palestinian violence as it urged greater international efforts to stop the bloodshed.

"Regrettably, simply because of the obstruction of one country, the Security Council hasn't been able to speak with one voice," Foreign Minister Wang Yi, whose country holds the Council's rotating presidency, told a virtual session.

"We call upon the United States to shoulder its due responsibilities."

The United States, the primary ally of Israel, delayed the Security Council session from last week and has shown little enthusiasm for a statement.

President Joe Biden's administration says it is working behind the scenes and that a Security Council statement could backfire.

In its public remarks, the Biden administration has steadfastly said that Israel is justified in self-defense in response to rocket fire by Hamas, even while urging de-escalation.

Wang urged an immediate ceasefire and called for the Security Council to take "strong actions," including reiterating support for a two-state solution.

He said that China, which has been expanding its role in the world, would welcome hosting talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-05-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
NASA scientist congratulates China on its first Mars landing

(People's Daily App) 09:57, May 16, 2021

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, on Saturday congratulated CNSA's Tianwen team on the successful landing on Mars of China's Zhurong rover.

(Screenshot from the Twitter account of Thomas Zurbuchen)

"Together with the global science community, I look forward to the important contributions this mission will make to humanity's understanding of the Red Planet,"he said on his Twitter account.

Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2021. The lander carrying China's first Mars rover has touched down on the red planet, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed on Saturday morning. It is the first time China has landed a probe on a planet other than Earth. (Photo: Xinhua)

China's first Mars rover Zhurong on Saturday touched down at the planned landing area in the Utopia Planitia on Mars successfully. Tianwen-1 is the first probe from China that landed on Mars, and the ninth ever.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
I would say that while the spirit of wanting to address these issues is certainly in place, our trajectory for getting across the finish line has, at times, been complicated, he said.

Although he would not predict when the Legislature will complete its session, which already has run two weeks past its scheduled adjournment, Grassley held out hope that agreements can be reached this weekend to make it possible to wrap up the session next week.

Paying for mental health services out of the state general fund would reduce the local property tax burden by $100 million, according to Reynolds plan. That is something House Republicans can get behind, Grassley said, but they want to make sure there is accountability and that Iowans have the same level of access to mental health services regardless where they live.

As opposed to the position of Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, that if we dont do it now, folks, this is never going to happen, Grassley didnt close the door on a phased takeover of mental health funding.

Its more important, I think, for House Republicans to make sure were doing this the right way than necessarily rushing something through, he said. If it takes a little bit more time, were willing to work on that.
WATERLOO  The Waterloo planning department could be tasked with developing an incentive program to attract child care providers.

The matter is up for City Council approval Monday. The resolution, proposed by Councilman Jonathan Grieder, would partly help new or expanding child care providers. It would apply to licensed preschools and child care centers, as well as home providers who register with the Iowa Department of Human Services. Grieder previously said he hopes the program would include property tax incentives.

The resolution said incentives would be offered to current and future industrial and commercial employers. These companies would be given help to establish child care options. The resolution said the initiative would be highlighted in Waterloos campaign to attract new businesses to our city.

Planning officials would need to submit a yearly report about the incentives to the City Council and the mayor, according to the resolution. It would include in-home and commercial child care facilities benefiting from the incentives. The report also would detail the amount of child care spaces created each year.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)  The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says.

Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. Further details were not released. He had been studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia.

Weaver was 11 when he interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed.

Weaver then asked Obama to be his "homeboy," saying then-Vice President Joe Biden had already accepted.

"Absolutely," a smiling Obama said, shaking the boy's hand.

He used that meeting to later interview Oprah Winfrey and athletes like Dwyane Wade.

"He was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent," Hardy said. "Very outspoken, outgoing. He never said no to anybody."
This is meaningless if policies dont follow.

The Taliban is in the process of retaking Afghanistan as U.S. troops withdraw. It clearly sees this sign as an invitation to return to the days of mandatory burqas for women, denying women jobs, education and other freedoms they have recently enjoyed. A re-established base for al-Qaeda may soon follow.

Another sign taken seriously by enemies of Israel and the West is the Biden administrations determination to re-enter nuclear talks with Iran, a country whose religious and political leaders have refused to stop their enrichment of uranium and have not been deterred in their determination to eradicate Israel. Bargains with the devil do not end well. See Dr. Faust and the Munich Agreement for examples.

Trump administration policies were working in the Middle East (with the exception of unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan). A strong Israel and peace with at least some of its neighbors is the best deterrent against Islamic terrorism.

The Biden administration is again engaging in wishful thinking and the belief that American morality can be transposed on others who do not share it. Such a process has proven folly wherever it has been tried. One might think lessons would have been learned by now.
This editorial was composed by the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times.

From the moment the National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy in January, it looked like a dodge. Financially solvent despite internal disputes and dwindling donations from some wealthy patrons, the NRA clearly did not need protection from creditors. So why file? Well, as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin D. Hale ruled Tuesday in rejecting the petition, the NRA was trying to gain an unfair litigation advantage and  to avoid a state regulatory scheme. In other words, it wanted to hide in Texas from legal troubles in New York.

And boy does it face legal troubles. The New York state attorney generals office, which oversees nonprofits registered in New York, went to court in 2020 seeking to dissolve the NRA because of [its] diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership, awarding contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty.
WENN/Netflix Movie

The two 'Pulp Fiction' actors are set to have an onscreen reunion for Chuck Russell's new film while Michele Morrone and Anna-Maria Sieklucka are back for a '365 Days' sequel.

May 16, 2021

AceShowbiz - "Pulp Fiction" stars Bruce Willis and John Travolta are reteaming for a new action film.

Sources tell Deadline the actors have signed on for "The Scorpion King" director Chuck Russell's "Paradise City", which starts shooting next week (begs17May21) in Maui, Hawaii.

Willis will play a bounty hunter trying to bring down Travolta's crime boss character, who murdered his father.

Thai actress and model Praya Lundberg has landed the lead female role.

Meanwhile, Michele Morrone and Anna-Maria Sieklucka are reprising their roles for two sequels to hit erotic movie "365 Days", which are set to film back to back over the summer.

The Polish project was one of Netflix's biggest global hits during the pandemic last year (20), and now fans can look forward to at least another two films.

Magdalena Lamparska is also returning while model and actor Simone Susinna is joining the cast.

Barbara Biaowas and Tomasz Mandes will also be back as directors, according to Deadline.

In the first movie, a Polish woman is kidnapped by a Sicilian gangster who gives her a year to fall in love with him.

The series was heavily criticised for romanticising sexual assault and 95,000 people signed a petition urging Netflix bosses to remove the film from the streaming service, but fans tuned in in droves to watch the titillating drama.

Unfortunately, the movie won Worst Screenplay at the Golden Raspberry Awards. It was also nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel, Worst Director for Barbara Biaowas and Tomasz Mandes, Worst Actor for Michele Morrone, and Worst Actress for Anna-Maria Sieklucka.
CHICO, Calif.  Downtown Chico is looking busy lately, with graduation ceremonies starting up on campus at the University Stadium and online on Sunday.

Action News Now reporter Carmela Karcher went to the downtown area this weekend to check on local business activity. She saw a lot of increased foot traffic, and had trouble finding a parking space easily.

Related: What you need to know about Chico State graduation

Javier Franco is the General Manager of the Mexican restaurant Tres Hombres in downtown Chico. Franco exclaimed, the line is out the door!

Restaurants, shops, and downtown sidewalks were all crowded with people this weekend.

Business owners were very happy to see the crowds, saying they had not seen this many people downtown in months.

Franco said, A lot of people have been scrambling to find somewhere because they didnt even know if there was going to be a graduation.

Franco said his restaurants phone has been ringing off the hook. He said he is pretty much booked up, and said everyone else in the downtown seems to be booked up too.

The owner of the clothing store Urban Couture, Kelly Leser, said, Its amazing to see the streets filled with life again.

Leser said she just hired five new employees because the downtown area is now so busy.

I feel very blessed, Leser said, adding that she is hearing the same reaction from her neighbors as well.

Just seeing people smiling and enjoying one another and seeing families that havent had the opportunity to be together that are reuniting  you get to be a part of that, she explained.

Now that they feel okay to come out weve seen a lot of tears and bonding again, she said.

Thats been really special to watch, said Leser.
REDDING, Calif.  A 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting and robbing an elder who had won money at the Win-River Casino in Shasta County.

Saturday at 12:30 p.m. Shasta County Sheriffs deputies responded to the report of the assault in the area of Clear Creek Road and Dredge Lane.

According to deputies the victim of the assault was contacted by the suspect and was forced into giving the man a ride a location at Clear Creek Road and Dredge Lane. Deputies said the suspect forced the elderly victim into a wooded area south of Clear Creek Road. They said when the victim and suspect were out of view of the roadway the suspect violently assaulted the victim who tried to fight back, but was then knocked unconscious.

The victim told the officers that when he regained consciousness in the woods he discovered the substantial amount of money he had won at the casino was gone and he was bleeding from the assault. The victim told deputies that he then went to the roadway where he saw the suspect get into a Toyota Tundra that took off again eastbound on Clear Creek Road.

Officers said they had seen the Toyota Tundra earlier when they were responding to the initial call. They said they made a notation of the Tundras license plate number.

When deputies realized the Tundra was the vehicle the suspect had left the scene in, they found it again and pulled the driver and a passenger over. Deputies said the occupants of the Tundra were cooperative.

The two told police where in Redding they dropped the suspect off. Deputies found the suspect at a residence and said they were able to detain 29-year-old Anthony Marcell RobbinsWray who is from the City of Shasta Lake.

RobbinsWray admitted to the assault, according to deputies, who said he was in possession of the exact amount of money in the denominations that were stolen from the victim, minus some money given to the driver of the Tundra for driving him out of the area into the City of Redding.

According to officers, RobbinsWray is on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) for theft with prior felony convictions. They said he was seen in surveillance video from the casino and the clothing he was wearing when captured on the video was located by officers at the residence he was arrested at.

Charges against RobbinsWray included felony assault, robbery, elder abuse, and kidnapping with the intent to commit robbery. RobbinsWray was taken to the Shasta County Jail after his arrest.
CHICO, Calif.  A 23-year-old felon on probation from Alameda County was arrested outside of a party in Chico early Sunday morning for possession of a 9mm Glock-style ghost gun according to police.

Officers responded to a call at a party in the 400 block of W. 5th Street in Chico at approximately 2:39 a.m. The caller told dispatchers that someone was outside of the residence causing a disturbance, saying the person was in possession of a firearm.

Police said it took them less than a minute to arrive. The officers said they contacted 23-year-old Samuel Destine-Terrance Trammell outside of the residence. Officers said Trammell was uncooperative and that he attempted to get away from the police who apprehended him.

Police said before the arrest Travell reached into his waistband and discarded the ghost gun. Officers said the Glock style 9mm was fully loaded with an extended high-capacity magazine.

Trammell was on probation in Alameda County for a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Chico police officers charged him for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and for resisting or delaying a peace officer.

Trammell was booked into the Butte County Jail.
Update 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15, 2021 - Action News Now meteorologist Bryan Ramsey has been tracking multiple small fires started by dry lightning strikes on Saturday in Northern California.

Several of the small fires are burning in Trinity and Shasta Counties. There is one at the border of Tehama County and Shasta County.

We are not aware of any current threat to homes. Firefighters are keeping a close eye on these incidents as is the staff here at Action News Now.

---

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - Action News Now is receiving multiple reports concerning small fires in the Northern California region.

The photo on this article shows a map from #FireMappers - Wildfire Early Notification Map that was captured at approximately 2:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

The map shows several new fire observations. Most were observed early Saturday morning, but some additional incidents are being identified on Saturday afternoon.

Action News Now is keeping an eye on these incidents in Shasta, Trinity and Tehama Counties.

The symbol with red flames on a yellow dot shows new starts within the last 24 hours. The icon with the white flames on the red dot shows previous fires.
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While the 2020-21 school year has been rough on students of all ages, it has been particular
The suspect in a Sunday morning shooting that left two people dead near a Southside park shot four Birmingham police officers before they returned fire, killing him, authorities said.

The four officers  all members of the departments tactical team  are expected to recover. Two were shot, and two were grazed, said Sgt. Rod Mauldin. The slain suspect, an adult, white male, has not been publicly identified.

The ordeal began at 6:30 a.m. when South Precinct officers responded to Brother Bryan Park at 10th Avenue South and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard.

Mauldin said investigators received information that an argument took place moments before the shooting. The victims were approached by a male and a verbal altercation occurred. According to witness accounts, a dog was mentioned during the argument. The victims were walking a dog at the time of the incident.

Investigators have established the suspect and the female victim were in a dating relationship. The suspect fled the scene prior to officers arrival.

Four Birmingham police officers were wounded in an exchange of gunfire with a double murder suspect who was killed. The shooting happened at 1:20 p.m. Sunday, May 16, 2021 following a double homicide earlier in the day.

The male victim was pronounced dead on the sidewalk. Observers said he was a transient that frequented the area.

The female was found in the middle of the street with a gunshot wound to the head. She was taken to UAB Hospital, where she was pronounced dead before noon.

Onlookers said the male and female usually had a dog with them. Mauldin said he didnt know if the dog had been found.

Police fanned out in search of the suspected shooter  described as wearing a red shirt and overalls - as well as additional evidence, including video surveillance from nearby businesses.

Mauldin said witnesses to the double killing, as well as other investigative work, led them to Stratford Apartments at 1010 18th Street South. One resident said they were evacuated, but it wasnt immediately clear whether the evacuation took place before or after the gunfire erupted.

Four Birmingham police officers were injured in an exchange of gunfire with a double murder suspect Sunday, May 16, 2021, on the city's southside.

The SWAT team - shortly after 1 p.m. - was brought to the scene to carry out the search warrant on the suspects third-floor apartment. Upon making entry, they were immediately met by gunfire,' Mauldin said. They returned fire, striking the suspect about 1:20 p.m..

The officers were transported to UAB hospital by co-workers, according to Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service. The shooting site was just blocks away from UABs emergency room.

Two of the officers, Mauldin said, were shot in lower extremities. By Sunday night, both had been treated and released.

The two officers who were grazed by the gunfire were treated on the scene by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service.

The investigation has been turned over to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys SBI, which is standard practice for officer-involved shootings.

The fatal shooting of the suspect marked the citys fifth homicide since Saturday morning. Mauldin said officers and investigators are patrolling areas known to be hot spots for violence, and deploying extra resources to those areas.

The biggest thing is were urging people if you know something is going on, Mauldin said, go ahead and call us before these things escalate.

Birmingham city councilors immediately reacted to the shooting.

We are calling on all of our residents to take a stand against these hostile acts, said Council President William Parker. This senseless violence must stop. We are continuing to monitor this situation closely, and we are wishing all of the officers involved a speedy recovery.

The events that unfolded today exemplify the risks that the men and women of the Birmingham Police Department assume every day, said Public Safety Chairman Hunter Williams. Now more than ever, we need to rally around our department and officers, who are putting their lives on the line in what is often a thankless job to protect the citizens of Birmingham. I am extremely grateful that the officers will survive their injuries, and hope the community will continue to support them--and all our officers.

These officers make sacrifices and put their lives at risk to keep us safe, said Council Pro Tem Wardine Alexander. We are so grateful for the job that they do. We are going to continue to lift them up in our thoughts and prayers.

The deadly shooting is Birminghams 45th homicide so far this year. Of those, three have been ruled justifiable and therefore arent deemed criminal. In all of Jefferson County there have been 87 homicides including the 45 in Birmingham.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
A bill to ban hormones and surgeries as transgender therapies for minors will be among the most closely watched on the final day of the Alabamas annual legislative session.

Lawmakers wrap up the 15-week session on Monday, meeting for the 30th day, the limit set in the state constitution.

Other bills with a chance to pass on the last day would change state law on health care emergencies and vaccines, gun control, education, and prisons.

One topic lawmakers probably wont tackle on the last day is gambling. A bill to allow voters to decide whether to approve a lottery and casinos stalled in the House on May 6, the last day legislators met before a one-week break. Legislative leaders say its unlikely they will consider that on the last day.

The bill to ban transgender treatments for people under 19, called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, has been hashed out at several public hearings. The legislation is by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, and Rep. Wes Allen, R-Troy. The Senate passed it last year and again this year, but it has not come up for a vote in the House. That could happen Monday.

The Republican majority in the State House has shown strong support for the bill.Democrats have generally opposed it.

Supporters of the bill say it protects minors experiencing gender dysphoria from long-range consequences of puberty-blocking medications, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.

Opponents of the legislation say puberty blockers and hormones are used after extensive counseling and as part of a broad-based standard of treatment. They say no transgender surgeries are done on minors in Alabama.

The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes the bill. Some doctors have also spoken in favor of the legislation.

Its been a volatile issue throughout the session, with transgender youth, parents, and others holding rallies and speaking at public hearings in opposition to the bill, which they say would deny medical care to young people who are already at elevated risk of suicide because of their gender dysphoria.

Its part of a wave of Republican-backed bills in Alabama and other states. Last month, Arkansas became the first state to ban transgender treatments for youth, when lawmakers voted to override a veto by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Several organizations, including the ACLU of Alabama and Lambda Legal, have said they will file a lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the law in Alabama it is approved.

The bill, as written now, could inadvertently ban routine infant circumcisions, according to the Alabama Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A list of prohibited procedures includes removing any healthy or non-diseased body part or tissue.

Vaccine passports  Senate Bill 267 would prohibit state and local governments from issuing vaccine passports or any other standardized document to certify a persons immunization status. A state or local government could not require a person to present documentation of immunization as a condition of receiving any benefit or service or entry into a building. Businesses could not refuse to provide goods or services or refuse to allow admission to a person based on immunization status or lack of documentation of an immunization.

The bill, by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, would not affect vaccine requirements for students in public and private schools that are required under state law. It would also not apply to doctors office, dentists offices, hospitals and other health care providers.

Colleges and universities could place vaccine requirements on students and employees, with exceptions allowed for people with certain medical conditions or religious beliefs.

Curbing federal gun control  Senate Bill 358 is intended to try to limit the effect of new federal gun control regulations. The bill, called the Alabama Second Amendment Preservation Act, would prohibit state and local authorities from enforcing any new gun control restrictions issued by executive order of the president after Jan. 1, 2021. It would apply to any presidential orders that restrict the ownership, use, or possession of firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories by law-abiding citizens. The bill is by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa.

Health care emergencies  Senate Bill 97 would give the Legislature more authority in decisions on whether to extend states of emergency for health reasons, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Current law says states of emergency last 60 days unless extended by the governor or by joint resolution of the Legislature. SB97 would change states of emergency to 45 days. The governor and Legislature could still extend them. But the governors authority would be limited by the Legislatures power to end states of emergency at any time. The bill, by Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Auburn, says the governor should consult with the Legislative Council on any emergency rules that limit the activities of businesses and people.

Retaining struggling readers in third grade -- The Legislature passed the Alabama Literacy Act in 2019 to emphasize reading in the earliest grades. The purpose is to identify students who are behind in reading and provide them extra tutoring and other help they need. Beginning with the 2021-2022 school year, students who are not reading at grade level by the end of the third grade will not be promoted to fourth grade. Proponents say students who are struggling to read at that point will fall behind and could struggle academically throughout school. Senate Bill 94 would postpone the third-grade retention requirement for two years. Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, said the purpose is to avoid penalizing students who fell behind because of the loss of classroom instruction with COVID-19. Opponents of the postponement say its important to stay on track with the Literacy Act and not set up students for failure in the fourth grade and later.

Education incentives for Alabama prisoners  Senate Bill 323 is called the Alabama Education Incentive Time Act. It would allow inmates to reduce their sentences by completing academic and vocational programs while in prison that make it more likely they can get good jobs when they get out. The purpose is to make it less likely that inmates who get out will commit more crimes and return to prison. The bill, by Sen. Clyde Chambliss, R-Prattville, has passed both houses and is in a conference committee.

More oversight for prisons  House Bill 106 would require the Alabama Department of Corrections to file quarterly reports on incidents of sexual abuse; inmate deaths; cell phones, weapons, drugs and other contraband; and staffing levels. The reports would go to the Legislatures prison oversight committee and be posted on the ADOC website for the public. The bill, by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, is aimed at some of the problems the Department of Justice has cited in a lawsuit saying that conditions in Alabamas mens prisons violate the Constitution.

First grade readiness  House Bill 208 would set new requirements for admission to first grade in public schools. Students would have to complete kindergarten or would have to show that they are ready for the first grade with assessments established by the State Department of Education. The bill is by Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee.
Kristin Willmon was in her 40s when she managed to escape what she would only describe as a bad marriage in another city. But she escaped into an addiction and fell into a life on the streets of Montgomery.

Roderick Wilkerson was in his 30s, also homeless, and in and out of jail. I didnt know where my next meal was going to come from, he said. I was pretty much that guy that they put inside the car and run him into the wall. I was just a crash dummy.

Last week, they put on caps and gowns alongside people with similar stories and marched toward a new life, one they created during the pandemic. Getting there was as hard as it sounds.

The nonprofit Hope Inspired Ministries job training program started with 41 students across Montgomery and Lowndes counties. By graduation day, only 10 remained. Executive Director John Bowman said they had to battle through a lot more than traditional job training.

People oftentimes say, Why doesnt this person get a job? Many times they have barriers in their life that keep them from working, Bowman said.  Youd be surprised at the people who dont have identification. Many students havent had medical appointments.

Bowman said staff members have been listed as caregivers on medical forms because students had no family.

They reach new students through referrals from law enforcement and entities like the Salvation Army, or just by handing out food in the neighborhood and meeting people. Sometimes we have to explain it to them and speak hope into their lives. A lot of our students have never been told that theyre valuable, Bowman said.

Willmon found her way into the program when she ran into Bowman on the street. Shes already working a warehouse job at Jim Masseys Cleaners.

It helps us to hopefully get some good people, Jim Massey III said. If you graduate from a Hope Inspired Ministries class, you have done something.

Wilkerson is earning nearly $14 an hour at Genpak in Montgomery. He said he learned about the job training program through Patrick Aitken of the Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless. Aitken was one of many taking pictures from the crowd as Wilkerson and others walked to the stage to tell their stories during graduation.

One by one, they revealed their jobs  a library worker, a commercial truck driver, a manufacturing plant employee. For most, the journey was just as much of an achievement as the destination.

Teenager Karlee Hollands eyes filled with emotion as she described escaping a life of addiction and homelessness to land both a full- and a part-time job. I have my own bank account now. Something so simple is just mind blowing to me, Holland said. I dropped out in eighth grade, so this is my first time wearing a cap and gown walking onto a stage.

Keith Hughes sounded measured when he described his decent into addiction. Very narrow. Very closed. Very empty, he said.

Hes now working at Whitfield Foods. But when he talks about his goals, he doesnt talk about a job.

Im looking forward to being a role model and father to my six children, just being the father that they need and deserve, Hughes said.
The husband of missing Chaffee County, Colorado resident Suzanne Morphew is accused of filing a fraudulent 2020 election ballot in his wifes name because he thought Donald Trump could use the extra vote since others were cheating.

Barry Morphew, 53, on Thursday was charged with one count of forgery and one count of a mail ballot offense in connection with his missing wifes ballot, according to an arrest warrant from the Chaffee County Sheriffs Office.

On May 5, Barry Morphew was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder for his wifes disappearance. Suzanne Morphew was reported missing on May 10, 2020, by a neighbor who said she never came home from a bike ride. Authorities have searched for Suzanne Morphew for more than a year, following hundreds of tips.

The Chafee County Clerk Lori Mitchell called the sheriffs office on Oct. 22 after her office received Suzanne Morphews mail-in ballot, the arrest warrant said. Barry Morphew had signed the ballot as a witness and dated it Oct. 15, 2020.

An FBI agent confronted Barry Morphew about the ballot in April, and he told the agent that he had filled out his missing wifes form, Just because I wanted Trump to win. I just thought give him another vote. I figured all these other guys are cheating.

Barry Morphew told the FBI agent that he didnt know it was illegal to fill out a ballot on behalf of a spouse.

Morphew is being held without bond in the Chaffee County jail. Authorities have not released details about what led them to suspect Morphew in his wifes disappearance, and the arrest affidavit in the case detailing the evidence against him is sealed. He is also charged with tampering with evidence and attempting to influence a public servant.

___

(c)2021 The Denver Post

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Leaders in an Alabama city have agreed to support establishment of a new mental health crisis program.

Huntsville City Council members voted unanimously Thursday to back a diversion center that could help people experiencing mental difficulties. The center would be a project of the city, its police and WellStone Behavioral Health.

The vote came days after officer William Darby was convicted of murder in the killing of Jeffrey Parker. The man called 911 in 2018 saying he intended to kill himself. Two other officers talked with Parker as he held a gun to his own head, and evidence showed Darby entered the scene and shot the man after he failed to drop the weapon.

While the verdict was praised by Parkers relatives and social justice advocates, it was criticized by Mayor Tommy Battle and Police Chief Mark McMurray, prompting calls for their removal.

Huntsville police respond to more than 1,000 calls related to suicide each year, McMurray said.

This is not a police problem. This is a societal problem, the chief said.

This partnership would include a $10 million crisis diversion center that officials hope to complete by July 2022. A smaller, temporary location already is operating.

The partnership is an extension of the police agencys current mental health crisis response plan, which includes officers certified in crisis intervention.

The council meeting became heated at times, with community members asking for leadership changes and more accountability following the conviction of Darby, who was placed on paid leave after being convicted in Parkers death. While the panel previously voted to pay as much as $125,000 for Darbys defense, member Devyn Keith said he now realizes that was a mistake after seeing video of the slaying.

Darby is free on bond and will be sentenced in a few weeks.
One capital murder suspect was in jail and another remained at large Saturday after Decatur police used surveillance cameras and an anonymous tip in their effort to solve a crime.

Mashaud Tyliek Lewis, 21, is in the Morgan County Jail without bond, charged in last Sundays shooting death of 59-year-old Chester Jordan of Decatur. A capital murder arrest warrant was outstanding for Antone Lamar Yarbrough, 27. Both defendants are from Decatur.

Police requested help from the public Friday in locating Yarbrough, but warned that he is considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached.

Jordan was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds when police responded to a call at 10:50 p.m. last Sunday and was transported to Decatur Morgan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:32 p.m., according to Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn.

According to an affidavit filed in Morgan County District Court on Friday by Detective Sean Mukaddam, a witness told police that Jordan had left a known drug house near Sixth Avenue Northwest and First Street Northwest at about 9:30 p.m. last Sunday. An anonymous tip received by police advised Jordan was later seen at a convenience store.

Police viewed the video surveillance from the store and saw Jordan entering alone and a sedan pulling into the rear parking lot seconds later.

A man later identified as Yarbrough was then seen entering the store, Mukaddam wrote, and it appears Yarbrough looked at Jordan holding a large amount of money.

On the audio feed from the surveillance system, Yarbrough could be heard asking Jordan for a ride, according to the affidavit. Mukaddam said Jordan agreed and they got into Jordans vehicle together.

Lewis saw the two driving away and followed in the sedan at 9:36 p.m., according to Mukaddams description of the video.

The next surveillance video viewed by police came from cameras at Decatur Youth Services on Eighth Street Southwest, which captured an image of Jordans vehicle at 9:39 p.m. A witness attempted to call Jordan beginning at 9:46 p.m. and never got an answer, Mukaddam said.

Lewis gave a statement to detectives Thursday at the Police Department.

Lewis explained the initial plan was to rob Jordan, according to the affidavit. Lewis told police that he, Yarbrough and a driver referred to by Lewis as Fat Morris followed Jordan to the convenience store from the drug house, Mukaddam wrote.

Lewis said he had a change of heart at the store and attempted to get Yarbrough to stop but it was too late, according to Mukaddam, and he had the driver drop him off on Fifth Avenue Southwest.

Lewis made no attempt of notifying law enforcement authorities or to warn the victim (of) the planned robbery, Mukaddam wrote.

The penalties for capital murder are death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lewis was also charged Friday with unlawful possession of marijuana.

Jordan was found unresponsive last Sunday night in the parking lot of an apartment complex at 1220 Second Ave. S.W., east of the Aquadome Recreation Center where Decatur Youth Services has offices.

Yarbrough was previously charged with second-degree assault for allegedly shooting a victim multiple times in May 2016 at Alabama 67 and Country Club Road. The victim survived the shooting, and a trial was scheduled for October 2018. The case was dismissed when, according to an order by Morgan County Circuit Judge Jennifer Howell, the State announced that it was unable to proceed as the victim was not present.

Lewis is currently under indictment for allegedly using force in September 2019 to rob a man who was attempting to buy drugs from him at a Glenn Street Southwest apartment. Lewis, according to police, was assisted by two other people as they attacked the victim and took his cellphone, wallet and clothes. One of the suspects videotaped the incident, according to police, and broadcast it live on Facebook.

Lewis was released with an ankle monitor on $20,000 bond and entered a life skills class at Decatur Youth Services, according to court records. A DYS report filed with the court in January 2020 said hes a great kid with a big heart that had to face a lot of tough adversity growing up. His trial in the second-degree robbery case is set for Sept. 13.

 eric@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2435. Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.

___

(c)2021 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.)

Visit The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.) at www.decaturdaily.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A search was underway for a gunman after a double shooting on Birminghams Southside that left a man dead and woman dead.

The suspect was later killed in an exchange of gunfire with Birmingham police.

The shooting happened at 6:30 a.m. Sunday near Brother Bryan Park at 10th Avenue South and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard. Birmingham police Sgt. Rod Mauldin said investigators have received information that an argument took place moments before the shooting. The dispute, he said, was reportedly over a dog.

The male victim was pronounced dead on the scene at the intersection next to the park. Onlookers said he was a transient who frequented the area. The woman was transported to UAB Hospital where she was pronounced dead before noon.

One of the onlookers said the male and female usually had a dog with them. Mauldin said the dog has not yet been found.

Police have fanned out in search of the suspected shooter, as well as additional evidence, including video surveillance from nearby businesses.

The deadly shooting is Birminghams 43rd homicide so far this year, and the third in less than 24 hours.

Of Birminghams 43 homicides, three have been ruled justifiable and therefore arent deemed criminal. In all of Jefferson County there have been 85 homicides including the 43 in Birmingham. Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
An investigation is underway after a Saturday shooting in western Birmingham left one person dead.

The shooting happened at 11:30 a.m. at 2623 Ave S in Ensley. Sgt. Rod Mauldin said the victim was taken to an undisclosed hospital by private vehicle and later pronounced dead.

No additional information has been released.

Avenue S in Ensely (Google Maps)

The fatal shooting is Birminghams 41st homicide so far this year. Of those, three have been ruled justifiable and therefore arent deemed criminal.

In all of Jefferson County there have been 83 homicides including the 41 in Birmingham. Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 205-254-7777.
Friends and family gathered Saturday night to remember a 29-year-old father killed in a shooting at an east Birmingham apartment complex just three days before.

Keith Big Keith Hardy was shot to death Wednesday while in a vehicle at Monarch Ridge apartments. About 100 people gathered outside his Tarrant home, remembering better times and the man they said had a heart of gold.

Its hard right now,' said Jeremy Williams, Hardys best friend. Hed give you the shirt of his back. I know thats used a lot, but I really mean that.

If you didnt nowhere to go, you could go to his house. Hed let you stay there and eat,' Williams said. Anytime you go over there, you knew hed be cooking. He was a big guy, and you knew hed be cooking good.

Hardy was a father to three daughters under the age of 10, and friends say he was on his way to see them when he was shot Thursday morning.

Birminghams 911 center received a call at 8:45 a.m. reporting that someone had been shot. Sgt. Rod Mauldin said there were also reports of gunfire in the area.

When officers arrived at the apartment complex in the 2900 block of Gallant Drive, formerly Valley Brook Apartments, they found a vehicle that had come to a rest after striking multiple vehicles in the parking lot. Mauldin said when officers looked into the vehicle, they found Hardy dead from a gunshot wound.

The preliminary investigation shows that Hardy was having a conversation with someone in another vehicle in parking lot. As the victim attempted to drive away, a passenger in the other vehicle got out and opened fire on Hardy.

The suspects fled the scene in a silver SUV. No arrests have been made.

Hardy went to Woodlawn High School and had worked a variety of jobs since then. He was a hard worker,' Williams said. He was a man of a thousand jobs. If he didnt have a job one day, hed have a job the next. People cant find work, but hed always find work. He always got hired at good jobs.

Williams said Hardy worked hard to provide for his daughters. He always put his children first,' he said. He just had a huge party a couple of weeks ago for his oldest daughter. Hed go beyond for his children.

Multiple people spoke about Hardy at Saturdays vigil. We got a lot of things out,' Williams said. We just need answers about why.

He said he doesnt know what caused the deadly shooting.

He had nothing that his life should have been taken over,' Williams said. Thats why it hurt us so bad. He was the realest guy youd ever meet.

A GoFundMe has been launched to help with his funeral. Donations can be made here.

Mauldin said there were obviously multiple people at the complex when the shooting happened, and they are asking for any witnesses to help police. If you saw or heard anything, come forward,' he said. Stand up for your community. "

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham police at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
NEW YORK (AP)  Donald Trump cannot be held personally liable for crude" and disrespectful remarks he made while president about a woman who accused him of rape, Justice Department lawyers said Monday in arguing for him to be replaced by the United States as defendant in a defamation lawsuit.
NOVI, Mich. (AP)  One of legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechlers sons and two of his former players described in heartbreaking detail Thursday how they were molested by the team's longtime doctor and how Schembechler turned a blind eye when they told him about the 
With COVID vaccination "rollouts" ongoing, it would seem the angelic host of Big Pharma has swooped in to avert the end of the world, triumphing in the nick of time over a super-lethal, super-contagious, super-pandemic...with a whopping 0.15% infection fatality rate.

But if, for whatever reason, you still aren't sold on the whole COVID Vaccination Magical Mystery Tour, don't worry. You may get another chance at serum-based salvation quite soon  whether you want it or not.

This is because COVID-19 may mark not the end, but the dawn of an age in which mankind will be constantly and inescapably peppered with custom-engineered viruses of all kinds. A great many of these will go by the name "vaccine."

We can now be all but certain, for instance, that COVID-19 itself originated in a Chinese bio-lab, as part of an ongoing (and U.S.-funded) project to create extra-contagious and extra-lethal humanized bat coronaviruses  so-called "gain of function" research. (One famed virologist has even argued that COVID originated as a custom target for an experimental HIV vaccine.)

This aspect of COVID-19's origin lends it the surreal distinction of being the world's first wholly man-made pandemic.

So far, the implications of this disturbing reality have not fully dawned on most of our experts, nor on the general population  though it seems the Chinese were very much aware of them at least five years before COVID's world debut.

Only time will tell what happens when the world finally realizes that "Trust the Science" also means "Trust the People Who Deliberately Made COVID-19 and Then Somehow Let It Out."

But at least the release of COVID-19 was, presumably, an accident. What if there were already plans afoot, not only to go on producing novel, contagious hybridized viruses but to release them into the world, this time definitely deliberately  and to do all this under the now-sainted pretext of "vaccination"?

Well, there's little need to wonder anymore  or soon there won't be, thanks to the fledgling scientific field of "self-disseminating," or self-spreading, vaccines.

In a short paper published in February of 2020 in Nature Ecology and Evolution  just as the global hysteria over COVID-19 was taking off  researchers at the University of Idaho described a wondrous new frontier in public health. Their vision: "optimizing the vaccine itself so that it can be effectively passed to other individuals." In effect: Make the vaccine itself a contagion.

In the coming utopia of viral genetic engineering, these scientists explained, vaccines will no longer require physical "jabs" at all. Instead, technocrats will have the option to skip the pesky pitfalls of needle-based vaccines (such as distribution and consent), and get straight to business  by introducing freshly engineered immunizing viruses directly into the environment.

Imagine: full herd immunity could be just one airborne viral release away. Take a deep breath, and your vaccination passport is already in the mail.

Note that the 2020 paper was not some idle think piece tossed out by head-in-the-cloud Ph.D.s on the outskirts of academia. The concept of immunizing populations by making vaccines contagious and then releasing them dates back at least twenty years.

The current effort appears to have been underway since at least 2007, and not just in Idaho: other involved institutions include the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Montana, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Colorado State University, and U.C.-Davis. All appear to be collaborating through DARPA on a project called PREEMPT, focused on "scalable vectored" viruses  basically, self-spreading vaccines.

For those concerned that the COVID vaccines might not be causing enough reproductive mayhem, self-spreading vaccines should be able to help with that, too. As the Idaho authors note, self-spreading vaccines first arose from efforts to develop "sterilizing vaccines," or "immunocontraception." Make no mistake: sterilizing, self-spreading "vaccines" are a going scientific concern.

Aside from all these interesting qualities, self-spreading vaccines may even be targeted to specific groups based on their behavior. To quote the U. of Idaho authors: "transmissible vaccines will also benefit from delivery to individuals with specific behaviors."

We are likely far closer to the deliberate release of a self-spreading vaccine than we realize. In fact, two of the main COVID vaccines  AstraZeneca and J&J  are themselves probably close to "self-disseminating." Both are based on live, genetically modified adenoviruses  a viral family to which airborne spread comes naturally.

Indeed, examples of accidentally self-spreading human vaccines are already well known in the case of polio. In 2018, oral polio vaccines, spreading on their own, inadvertently paralyzed more individuals than the natural virus itself.

The 2020 paper's authors studiously avoid mentioning the most obvious use case for a self-disseminating vaccine: disease control for human populations. Instead, throughout the paper (and in related earlier ones, as well as in the PREEMPT materials), the scientists act as if this possibility has not even crossed their minds, and they speak only of tailoring their masterpiece viruses to the vaccination of wild animals, or, as they put it, "proactively vaccinating the animal reservoir."

In one spot, though, the authors seem to suffer a curious slip of the tongue as they discuss "whom" to directly vaccinate rather than "which wild animals". Could it be that they have human experimentation on their minds after all?

Much like the gain-of-function work that likely led to COVID, these new reports on self-spreading vaccines submerge deeply disturbing implications under glimmering professions of virtuous intent. Even the motivation is similar: that we must artificially create and even release the most transmissible possible pathogen, so that in case it appears naturally, we will be prepared for it. (Or in this case, "vaccinated" for it.)

Indeed, the similarity is so strong that it's arguable that work on "transmissible vaccines" actually is gain-of-function research, simply renamed.

If there is one thing that these post-COVID times practically scream for, one indisputable action item, it would surely involve a massive awakening to the powers of bioscience gone amok.

Following over a year of hypocritical, ineffectual, and draconian measures from our authorities, and flip-flops and false projections from our designated "knowers," we have seen where such shiny professions of virtue tend to lead. If personal freedom, democracy, and everyday common sense survive in recognizable form beyond 2030 or so, it will surely be in spite of such "virtue," not because of it.

One synthetic pandemic is quite enough, is it not? Must we really wait for our "best and brightest" to unleash another, and another  to work the bugs out of the bugs, so to speak? How far should we go in "trusting the science" when "the science" becomes obvious lunacy?

Let us hope we find the strength of will to oppose and restrain this unnecessary experimentation, and to restore sanity and humility to those who wield these increasingly godlike tools. If we do not, history is gearing to repeat itself  again and again and again.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The biggest loser from the ongoing Hamas rocket barrage is not Israel. Its Mahmoud Abbas.

He was already losing before Hamas opened fire. He is now down and out. A totally irrelevant figure in the recent unrest.

What was the spark that lit both the violence on the Arab street and the Hamas rockets? It was the decision of Mahmoud Abbas, once again, to call for a Palestinian election. What else is new? He has been doing it regularly ever since he lost the initial Palestinian election in 2006. Then, Hamas candidates won 44.45% of the vote and 74 of the 132 seat chamber, while Fatah received 41.43% of the vote and only 45 seats.

One result of these elections was a bloody Palestinian civil war when Abbass Fatah party tried to impose Palestinian Authority rule in the Gaza Strip. When the Palestinians are not united in hating Israel and Jews they are fighting and untrusting of each other.

The elections were called off by Abbas, who claimed that Israel refused to allow Jerusalem Arabs to vote. This is not true. In previous elections, non-Israel Arab residents of Jerusalem were allowed to vote outside the city boundaries. In other words, Mahmoud Abbass excuse was a deception. Why? Because surveys showed him losing both in the popular vote against Hamas, but also failing numbers in the election for president. His presidential rivals included businessman Mohammad Dahlan, exiled by Abbas in 2011 for being a serious political rival, and also Marwan Barghouti, a five-time life sentenced mass murderer. These rivals, when combined with the rising popularity of Hamas, show the Palestinian propensity for radical hardline terrorists rather than pragmatic non-corrupt politicians, a class in short supply in the Palestinian community.

When no one advances the prosperity of the Arabs, they turn to more forceful and dangerous leaders.

Palestinians have constantly been failed by their leaders. That is why their leaders are afraid of the outcome of elections.

Hamas has stepped into this void. The frustration of the canceled elections, coming, as it did, prior to Ramadan, led to the violence in Jerusalem. Heard among the noisy protests were chants in support of Hamas. Hamas flags and banners were unfurled at the large religious gatherings on the Temple Mount at the al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan prayers. Protesters called Abbas an Israeli collaborator.

The Arab street viewed Hamass prolonged and powerful rocketing as a sign of Palestinian strength and interpreted the fear of Abbass Palestinian Authority to proceed to elections as weakness.

Mahmoud Abbas further weakened himself by blaming Israel for the Hamas rocket attack rather than attacking Hamass assault on Israel as being harmful to Palestinian progress to peace and prosperity. He appeared to be functioning as a cheerleader for his political opponent.

Mahmoud Abbas is fearful that Hamas-supporting violence does not spread into the territory under PA control. Hamas captured the Islamic narrative by boasting that it was they who championed the Palestinian defense of Jerusalem, though the logic of firing rockets at the holy city as a defense defies me.

However, Abbas does have serious reasons to worry about being overthrown by Hamas supporters.

He has called meetings in Ramallah to discuss ways of ending Israeli aggression. He should be more worried about taking steps to offset inevitable Hamas aggression.

It is with Israels security help that the political and military challenges to Abbas have been reduced.

Israel security forces are constantly patrolling and arresting Hamas perpetrators of violence and terror emanating out of Areas A and B, both under PA control. As well has slamming potential and real killers of Israelis into jail. In other words, Israel is doing Mahmoud Abbass dirty work even as he blames Israel for being able to keep his head on his shoulders.

The actions of Israeli special security forces are securing the safety and the continuation of the unelected reign of Mahmoud Abbas and his corrupt cohorts.

Despite this, or because of it, Abbass control of his own people is becoming more tenuous.

Hamas will come out of its unprovoked war with Israel militarily weakened but politically enhanced in Palestinian eyes. They look at Hamas as champions of their cause, and they see their leaders in Ramallah as nothing more than empty suits with pockets bulging with money begged from other countries and foreign charities.

It is certain that this grievance will grow after the dust of the current Gaza war settles.

Barry Shaw is the International Public Diplomacy Director at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the author of many books on the subject including Israel Reclaiming the Narrative.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The article Origin of COVID - Following the Clues by Nicholas Wade is a comprehensive investigation into the COVID19 pandemic. Wade is a science journalist who has written articles for the big publishers. His Origin of COVID article is a clear-eyed analysis of what we do and dont know. He tells us the details that lead a reasonable reader to conclude that the Wuhan Virology Institute created the COVID19 virus and through sloppy techniques released the virus. The disease spread rapidly, killing millions and attacking elderly populations in particular.

Nicholas Wade (Photo credit: Jane Gitschier CC BY 2.5 license

There are two main theories of how the COVID19 virus developed:

1. Nature-Made: the virus developed naturally in bats and spread by a wet market (live animals slaughtered on the spot) in Wuhan. Darkly referred to as the bat soup theory.

2. Lab-Made: the virus was manipulated in the Wuhan Virology Institute laboratory to make it more infectious and more dangerous to humans. It then escaped from the lab.

Nature-Made Support:

There are a few shaky reasons that scientists and the media use to support the Nature-Made idea:

1. The COVID19 virus is from the same family of naturally occurring viruses that SARS and MERS came from, so there is a likelihood of natural origin.

2. Numerous people from the wet market in Wuhan became ill with the virus, thereby demonstrating a natural origin.

3. A group of scientists wrote a letter supporting natural origin for the virus and it was published in Lancet, a respected journal.

4. Another letter, published in a different journal reported that scientists had determined the virus was Nature-Made because there were no traces of laboratory-type genetic manipulation.

5. The DNA backbone that was involved had not been published in a science journal (DNA backbones are easy to make and using an unpublished one is possible).

6. Scientists historically doubt and correct each other and, in this case, scientists have said the virus was Nature-Made.

Laboratory-Made Support:

The author lays out serious problems with the much-touted theory that the virus developed in bats naturally and then coincidentally chose Wuhans wet market as the place to begin spreading to humans:

1. Prior to the virus spreading widely there were people who got sick without any contact with the wet market.

2. Wuhan is home to the Institute of Virology which specializes in researching Corona viruses of the COVID19 type.

3. The bat caves are 1500 km away and the virus would have had to travel to Wuhan before anyone became sick. Bats only hunt within 50 km of their cave.

4. At the time the virus broke out in humans, it was cold outdoors, and the bats were hibernating.

5. The Chinese have failed to find COVID19 in any bat population, or in any animal population despite testing over 80,000 animals in the last year.

6. Unlike SARS1 and MERS, the virus appeared fully formed and infectious with no intermediate, lesser infections seen.

7. Wuhan Institute of Virology does gain-of-function research that modifies viruses to more easily infect humans and was working on this particular virus at the time.

8. Wuhan Institute of Virology was documented to use inadequate safety rules when working with dangerous viruses because it is cumbersome to wear the spacesuit type of lab gear.

9. Virologists are a close-mouthed group who are not likely to criticize one another since it might jeopardize their own future research money.

10. The World Health Organization investigative team encountered closed, inaccessible files at the Virology Institute, and one of the team members was the clearly biased Peter Daszak who had funded research there.

11. COVID19 has not left a trail of infection in the natural environment like SARS and MERS had done.

12. One new method of gene manipulation for gain-of-function called serial passage leaves no trace of the manipulation.

13. The grant that the Virology Institute was working on was designed to pick the most infectious, robust virus by attacking human cells in a petri dish (in vitro) and infecting humanized mice (in vivo).

14. The virus contains a unique cleavage site (a piece of its anatomy) not found in other SARS viruses. This is seen by experts as a smoking gun of laboratory manipulation.

Summary and conclusion:

A comparison of the two analyses shows that the Lab-Made theory is much more likely but cannot be totally proved because the incriminating files are hidden by the Chinese government. Wade states: Natural emergence remained a conjecture which, however plausible to begin with, had gained not a shred of supporting evidence in over a year.

Nicholas Wade also addresses the question of why one would want to create a highly contagious, human-targeted virus in a laboratory. Its known as gain-of-function testing. It is allegedly used to scout the future of Nature-Made viruses so that we can be ready with therapeutic treatments and vaccines for people in the event nature does make the virus. What the author studiously avoids is any suggestion the research is biowarfare research in civilian clothing.

The next question of interest is who is paying for this research. As the Virology Institute is located in Wuhan, China one would expect the Chinese were funding it 100%. Not so. Astonishingly, US tax dollars are involved. Peter Daszak is president of EcoHealth Alliance of New York. Daszaks agency obtained a grant from the NIAID, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci is the long-term director of the NIAID, appointed in 1984. Daszak used US government grant money to pay for Coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. So, the US government had indirect responsibility for this pandemic if the Lab-Made option is true. So how hard are we actually looking at the Lab-Made theory?

Who is responsible for this catastrophe? Chinese virologists are the ones who did the gain-of-function testing that created the monster in the virus, so they hold ultimate responsibility. The Chinese central government permitted the experimentation, so they are culpable as well. The entire community of virologists who cover for one another and avoid rocking the boat, who know of and keep quiet about this type of research are responsible. The US through the NIH/NIAID must be held responsible in part for allowing a grantee to farm out dangerous research to a substandard lab in a foreign country.

And regarding the US responsibility, for three years the US government had a moratorium on gain-of-function testing. However, someone wrote in a loophole allowing the research to continue if the funding agency considers the research urgent necessary to protect the public health or national security. Apparently, this loophole was used to continue the grant for Daszaks Chinese research. In retrospect, this research is a perfect example of why the US government originally chose to stop scientists from creating human-targeting monster viruses in the lab.

One or both of the following people were responsible for using the footnote loophole to continue the research: Dr. Anthony Fauci or his boss Dr. Francis Collins. Since the research moratorium has expired, the US government replaced it with another surveillance method to keep scientists from doing viral gain-of-function research. Unfortunately, both Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins have refused to flag any research as needing surveillance under the P3CO Framework. Gain-of-function research apparently continues on their watch against the will of the American government.

This authors (Wrights) opinion is that while Nicholas Wades article does not mention it, these monsters in the laboratory can be used as bioweapons. Its a legacy technique of biowarfare, wearing a prevention trench coat.

Marilyn Wright holds a doctor of public health in health education. She is a retired Instructor in Business and Organizational Security Management.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
It's uncomfortable to say that you don't like someone you've never met. But I'm going to reject the normal rules of civility and tell you how I really feel about Dr. Anthony Fauci: I flat out don't like him!

True, I don't know the man. Never met him. But after more than a year of seeing his arrogant, condescending face almost daily on the national news, I feel as if I have a pretty good sense of the character, or lack thereof, of Dr. Anthony Fauci. Some biographical research certainly helps...and I've probably done more digging into Lord Fauci's history than the average person. The more I read, the more negative my feelings become, especially as our country remains mired in the COVID swamp. And Dr. Fauci helped build that swamp as much as or more than any other individual.

Lord Fauci is indeed a licensed medical doctor, but he never really practiced medicine, at least not in the traditional sense. To put it bluntly, he's the consummate career bureaucrat and has been for over five decades. After reading a telling article on Frontpagemag.com, by Lloyd Billingsley, I discovered that he's even worse than I thought. (I highly recommend reading the entire article.)

"Fauci earned a medical degree at Cornell in 1966 but if he ever practiced medicine it was only for a short time," Billingsley wrote. "As Raymond S. Greenberg explains at Historynet.com, the mid-1960s were the days of 'a compulsory draft of American physicians,' to serve in military hospitals in Vietnam. One of the few alternatives to that service was a position in the Public Health Service. Newly minted physicians could join the clinical associate program at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland."

Can you guess which route Fauci chose? Well, he became what was dubbed a "yellow beret," a somewhat negative term that was applied to new doctors who were, essentially, draft-dodgers. "Instead of attending wounded American troops in Vietnam, Fauci joined the entering NIH clinical associate class of 1968," Billingsley noted. "As Fauci told Greenberg, the yellow beret tag was 'very much derogatory,' but the NIH recruit didn't mind. 'In general, the spirit on campus was much more a liberal-leaning than a conservative-leaning because that is generally the case with scientists.'"

So began Dr. Anthony Fauci's career as a bureaucrat. But despite the (usually false) accolades routinely tossed at him during the pandemic, it hasn't always been a bed of roses for Lord Fauci. In fact, prior to his becoming a household name, Fauci's work had occasionally drawn the ire of some highly esteemed peers.

"Fauci's bio showed no advanced degrees in biochemistry or molecular biology but by 1984 the Yellow Beret was heading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)," Billingsley wrote. "Back in the 1990s Nobel laureate Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), said Fauci 'doesn't understand electron microscopy and he doesn't understand medicine. He should not be in a position like he's in.'" That's a pretty damning statement from a Nobel laureate, one that Fauci's defenders can't assign to Fox News. So, as they often do, liberals simply ignore it.

"As Michael Fumento noted in The Myth of Heterosexual AIDS, Fauci was hopelessly wrong that AIDS would ravage the heterosexual population," Billingsley continued. "As UC Berkeley molecular biologist Peter Duesberg showed in Inventing the AIDS Virus, Fauci was a pioneer of cancel culture, quashing media appearances by better-qualified persons of different views. Despite his costly blunders, Fauci remained in his 'cushy job' at the head of NIAID, with steadily increasing salary and power." Indeed. Fauci is now the highest-paid bureaucrat in the federal government, making more than the president with an annual salary of $417,608. And his unbridled power has, arguably, done more to crush the American economy than any other individual.

"Millions of Americans got their first dose of Dr. Fauci in early 2020 when he recommended the destructive lockdowns that crushed the powerful Trump economy, infringed on Americans' constitutional rights, and enabled massive voting by mail," Billingsley wrote. "Fauci issued prophecies based on computer models but shied away from hard, scientific data."

The more I learn about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the more I'm convinced that my seemingly unreasonable dislike for him is valid. After a career full of blunders on important issues, he keeps climbing the ladder of money and power and contributes  arguably more than any other bureaucrat  to the overall destruction of this once-great Republic.

And then there's that infuriating smirk when anyone questions his authority. How can a rational person not dislike him?

Image via Flickr, Public Domain.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
Is planting misleading innuendo about oneself a good tool to sell the services of an information provider? In what other product category does one openly debase the quality as a means of gathering attention?

Tucker Carlson, whose viewership is more than 4 times that of Don Lemons, likes to characterize the CNN host as stupid. That label certainly applies to the publicity stunt trick Lemon pulled on Friday night:

CNN Tonight anchor Don Lemon announced Friday that this will be the last night of the show hes hosted since 2014  only to clarify in a later Twitter video that he was not leaving the network. Lemon shocked viewers by ending his news show Friday with a closing on-air segment in which he suddenly revealed the end of his program on the network. Its been really, really great. This is the last night that will be CNN Tonight with Don Lemon.' he said. So, I appreciate all the years of CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, but changes are coming, and I will fill you in. Lemon then segued into a promo for a CNN documentary about Marvin Gayes 1971 album, Whats Going On.

CNN revealed that it must have been in on the hoax when it then headlined, CNN viewers panic after Don Lemon's announcement about his show, as if there are human beings that would panic over losing the ability to view a news commentator whose intellect is so penetrating that he speculated that a missing Malaysian airliner might have gone into a black hole. If anyone is panicking, it is CNN, which is dealing with a 16% decline in Lemon's ratings year-on-year.

A mere 15 minutes after the stunt puzzled people, Lemon continued the stunt and posted a video to Twitter with another tease, but letting all those panic-stricken viewers that they would not be missing the daily (weekdays) dose of numbskullery at 10 PM Eastern:

Hey everyone. Not what you think. Im not leaving CNN. Tune in for the handoff on Monday at 10pE and Ill explain. pic.twitter.com/oOwDferY2i  Don Lemon (@donlemon) May 15, 2021

Twitter video screengrab

The drawstrong pants are a nice touch, don't you think?

The next morning, he relieved any further anxieties among the mentally crippled who were still worried, by the self-promotion of apologizing for set[ting] the internet on fire [as if.]:

Didnt mean to set the internet on fire. What I said last night was true. CNN Tonight with Don Lemon is no more. Ill be back on Monday with my newly named show Don Lemon Tonight. See you Monday at 10pE. pic.twitter.com/89GFXULV9m  Don Lemon (@donlemon) May 15, 2021

This is dumbest publicity stunt since the International House of Pancakes falsely claimed it was changing its name to the International House of Burgers, only to reveal a month later that it was a publicity stunt. But at least IHOP sells food, not information. Lemon was debasing his own product with his misleading innuendo.

Hat tip: Peter Barry Chowka

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The social media and mainstream media outlets from which most Americans get their news are engaged in a blackout of anything Donald Trump says. This is shocking, to say the least, but Trump is doing his best to circumvent the censorship. Thankfully, it appears that hell also be launching his own social media platform around July 4. As I noted, I think he should do something a lot bigger than that, but this is a start.

In the meantime, Trump has his slightly buggy desk, which he uses to communicate with America. I thought two messages he published Saturday were particularly good and deserved to be more widely broadcast.

This first is about the news report stating that the pre-election polls in 2020 were the worst, most inaccurate ever. Heres the nub of that story from the Wall Street Journal (behind a paywall):

Public opinion surveys ahead of the 2020 presidential election were the most inaccurate in 40 years, according to an expert panel convened by the main trade group for pollsters, which said its work hadnt yet pointed to a way to correct the error. In the aggregate, the panel said, polls overstated support for Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 3.9 percentage points in the national popular vote in the final two weeks of the campaign. That was a larger error than the 1.3-point overstatement in 2016 surveys for Hillary Clinton, who won the popular vote but lost in the Electoral College. It was the most substantial error in polling since 1980, when surveys found it hard to measure the size of Ronald Reagans impending landslide and overstated support for President Jimmy Carter by 6 percentage points.

In sizzlingly angry language, Trump explains exactly what that dry reportorial language really meant:

Wall Street Journal has reported (they finally got something right), that 2020 was the Worst Presidential Poll Miss in 40 Years. The public opinion surveys ahead of the 2020 Presidential Election were the most inaccurate ever, according to a major polling panel. This was done purposely. The polls were a joke. I won States in a landslide that I was predicted to lose days before the election. Other states had me purposely so far down that it would force people, even fans, to say Let's stay home Darling. We love our President, but he cant win. And then I would win those states or at least come very close. In one state that I actually won, but the results were rigged, ABC and the Washington Post had me down by 17 points. Even the rigged final result was extremely close. Its called SUPPRESSION POLLING and it should be illegal. These are crooked, disgusting, and very dishonest media outlets and they know exactly what they are doing. The 2020 Presidential Election was, by far, the greatest Election Fraud in the history of our Country. The good news is, the American people get it and the truth is rapidly coming out! Had Mike Pence had the courage to send the Electoral College vote back to states for recertification, and had Mitch McConnell fought for us instead of being the weak and pathetic leader he is, we would right now have a Republican President who would be VETOING the horrific Socialistic Bills that are rapidly going through Congress, including Open Borders, High Taxes, Massive Regulations, and so much else!

By the way, many years ago a British comedy show had an excellent segment showing exactly how push-polling works:

Trump has also been paying close attention to whats been going on in Arizona, including the medias refusal to report about it:

The entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms. Additionally, seals were broken on the boxes that hold the votes, ballots are missing, and worse. Mark Brnovich, the Attorney General of Arizona, will now be forced to look into this unbelievable Election crime. Many Radical Left Democrats and weak Republicans are very worried about the fact that this has been exposed. The DELETION of an entire Database and critical Election files of Maricopa County is unprecedented. Many other States to follow. The Mainstream Media and Radical Left Democrats want to stay as far away as possible from the Presidential Election Fraud, which should be one of the biggest stories of our time. Fox News is afraid to cover itthere is rarely a mention. Likewise, Newsmax has been virtually silent on this subject because they are intimidated by threats of lawsuits. One America News (OAN), one of the fastest growing networks on television, and the hottest, is doing a magnificent job of exposing the massive fraud that took place. The story is only getting bigger and at some point it will be impossible for the weak and/or corrupt media not to cover. Thank you to OAN and other brave American Patriots. It is all happening quickly!

There is a lot packed into that single paragraph, but the overriding point is that when people act as if they have something to hide, its reasonable to conclude that they are hiding something. When you have those in charge of the elections in Arizona, the Democrat party, and the media all struggling frantically to keep Americans from seeing what happened in Arizona people are going to be suspicious.

IMAGE: Trump smiling and pointing. YouTube screengrab.

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Advocates for the legalization of consensual incest are using a recent New York lawsuit demanding the state allow a parent to marry an adult offspring to further their agenda, the New York Post reported recently. An anonymous resident of the Empire State filed a lawsuit in April seeking to overturn the states laws outlawing incestuous marriages because he or she wants to wed his or her adult offspring. This has prompted proponents of legalizing incest to support the suit and use it to advance their agenda. For example, pro-incest advocate Richard Morris of Australia told the Post that he backs the suit because he believes that sex between any consenting adults "should not be criminalized." Morris claimed he is only lobbying for real marriage equality, and added that it is the right thing to do, isnt it?

Keith Pullman, another incest supporter, told the Post: It is absurd to say that an adult can't consent to marry their parent. That same adult can be sent to war, take on six or seven figures of debt, operate heavy machinery, be sentenced to death by a federal court, and consent to sex with five strangers (and marriage with one of them) but can't consent to marry someone they love? Pullman added, "It seems to be as unjust as the law that used to imprison gay people, and the law that used to stop people of different races marrying. His website advocates "for the right of consenting adults to share and enjoy love, sex, residence, and marriage without limits on the gender, number, or relation of participants" and avers that "full marriage equality is a basic human right."

Verbiage on the site opines, "Not everyone is going to want to accept who you are or who you love or how you love. That's okay, as long as they don't try to control you. Sexual, relationship, and marriage rights are arriving for all adults, and as that happens, anyone who hates you or is prejudiced against you will have less and less ability to hurt you.

This is the inevitable result of decoupling marriage from the Biblical view of the institution as a God-given, voluntary, sexual and public social union of one man and one woman, from different families, for the purpose of procreation and serving God as an unchangeable foundation for human life. That view of marriage is the firmest foundation for building a family and therefore a stable, successful society.

The woke mantra love is love is both pathetically banal and preposterously absurd. Its meaning, as intended by progressives, is essentially, sex is sex. This is one of the Great Lies of our time. Sex between one man and one woman in a committed long-term relationship intended to help carry out the Biblical injunction to go forth and multiply, is of a different kind, order, and worth than sex between a person and his or herself, a person and a donkey or penguin, a person and four others, a person and a sex-bot, or parents and their offspring. That this notion has to be defended is a sign that the end times might not be far off.

It is not, in fact, a basic human right to be able to marry three others, a llama, or your sister. The fact that you owe money or operate heavy machinery does not automatically translate to you have a right to marry your daddy. No matter ones sex or sexual orientation, one should have the decency, honesty and integrity to admit that, for example, three brothers desire to marry their father should not carry the same ethical -- or evolutionary -- weight as that of one man and one woman wishing to wed out of both love and the complimentary and covenantal desire to create offspring in Gods image.

Love is love? Really? Would you say that war is war, whether it is waged to plunder, subjugate and annex an innocent sovereign nation and people or to protect and defend them? How about stating that income is income? Is that the case, whether it is earned by working hard to make things and provide services that people need and enjoy or it is obtained by cheating, swindling, deceit, and illegal and injurious activity such as child sex trafficking, robbery, or murder?

Love is love? Not necessarily.

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Something happened in the war between Israel and Hamas today that exposed the moral schism between those who support Israel and those who seek her destruction. After warning people to evacuate, Israel destroyed a multistory building in Gaza on Saturday, explaining that it housed Hamas. As it happened, the building was also home to the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Leftists were shocked that Israel would attack the media. Republicans, conservatives, and other supporters of Israel were shocked that the Associated Press and Al Jazeera would act as human shields for a genocidal terrorist group.

Israel had become wise enough to understand that its wars with the Arabs dont just take place on the ground; they also take place in the court of public opinion. It has therefore taken great care to explain its missile strike on Saturday in Gaza:

After providing advance warning to civilians & time to evacuate, IDF fighter jets struck a multi-story building containing Hamas military intelligence assets.



The building contained civilian media offices, which Hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields. pic.twitter.com/zeDjEquePD  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

1/ Hamas has turned residential areas in the Gaza Strip into military strongholds.



It uses tall buildings in Gaza for multiple military purposes such as intelligence gathering, planning attacks, command and control, and communications.  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

3/ The Israel Defense Forces struck a number of such buildings in recent days, but before we did so, we took steps to try and ensure that civilians would not be harmed.  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

5/ We'll say it again: When Hamas places military assets inside such a building, it becomes a lawful military target. This is clear international law.  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

This is the thread the world needs to see.  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

The news of the strike elicited markedly different feelings based upon peoples place on the political spectrum. The Biden administration was upset that journalists were attacked, starting with Biden calling to complain to Netanyahu, although he did not go so far as to condemn the strike:

update(12:49pm): So far the Biden administration has stopped short of condemning the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza offices of US-based Associated Press and other international media outlets, which flattened the 12-story Al-Jalaa tower, resulting in widespread outrage from journalists and media rights organizations across the globe. Hours after the attack Joe Biden as reportedly phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express Washingtons concerns and to convey the paramount responsibility to protect journalists.

Psaki repeated that message on Twitter:

We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.  Jen Psaki (@PressSec) May 15, 2021

AOC was outraged that Israel would dare to flatten an empty building that was headquarters for the genocidal enemy intent upon Israels destruction:

This is happening with the support of the United States.



I dont care how any spokesperson tries to spin this. The US vetoed the UN call for ceasefire.



If the Biden admin cant stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to?



How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights? https://t.co/bXY99O3Wqp  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 15, 2021

Stephen L. Miller and Jack Posobiec nailed all this leftist hypocrisy, which isnt offended by violence per se, but is only offended if the violence affects someone in its victim hierarchy:

*Rioters destroy small businesses.



Media - "We cannot equate the loss of life with the loss of property. This is not violence."



*Israel levels empty tower where media is sharing office space with Hamas



Media - "Literally the worst thing Israel has ever done"  Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 15, 2021

AP stated we must not focus on property destruction it is only the underlying grievance that matters! https://t.co/qnZsQJNrtK  Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 15, 2021

Conservatives, meanwhile, focused on the real issue, which is that AP and Al Jazeera were apparently acting as human shields for Hamas. (AP is now claiming it had no idea that Hamas was there. If thats the case, all I can say is that APs investigative skills are so bad no one should ever read anything that comes from this outfit. Alternatively, AP should be angry at Hamas, which abused APs trust and safety, not at Israel, which struck at a legitimate military target.)

The moral of the story is: when you're dealing with terrorist regimes that like to use people as human shields, don't set your office up in a place that can potentially be compromised by people who want to use you as human shields.  Jeff B. tried to do his best, but he could not (@EsotericCD) May 15, 2021

Hamas is notorious for trying to place its military/terrorist infrastructure within civilian or media zones. They aren't stupid: they don't care about the loss of human life, they want a potentially great international story and they know how it will be reported. Be hardhearted.  Jeff B. tried to do his best, but he could not (@EsotericCD) May 15, 2021

A clip from the archives. Everyone knows that Hamas and Hezbollah use reporters as human shields. EVERYONE. And the reporters go along with it, to preserve access, among other motives. pic.twitter.com/4PWfp8byiy  Mike (@Doranimated) May 15, 2021

Ill give the last words to one of my favorite writers, Bonchie at Red State:

Heres a thought for the journalists so upset by this  perhaps dont share a building with a terrorist group? And lets be clear: the AP and Al Jazeera almost certainly had to have known that Hamas was using the building. These are investigative outlets, after all. And thats really the story here, and its the one the media do not want to talk about. Its not that Israel blew up some reporters cubicle. Its that mainstream news outlets have been happy to serve as human shields for Hamas. In a saner world, that would destroy the credibility of any outlet that engaged in such. But our world isnt sane, so you get wailing and playing the victim. The excuse often used here is that by allowing Hamas to operate around them, these news outlets gain access. Sorry, thats not a dog that hunts, when you are talking about a genocidal terrorist group. If the Associated Press standards are so low that they are willing to wittingly or unwittingly aid terrorists, they should be investigated, not humored as they cry about the consequences. As to Al Jazeera, we already know what they are, so its less surprising that theyd be involved here.

IMAGE: Israel destroys Hamas, AP and Al Jazeera headquarters. Twitter screengrab.

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On May 12, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming was voted out of her position as the chair of the House Republican Conference. The next day, Cheney appeared on Fox News's Special Report for an interview with Bret Baier. It was a revealing interview, and conservative voters who have any doubts about the righteousness of ousting Cheney from her number three role in House Republican leadership should watch the video. One can view the complete interview at YouTube or the embedded vid below. Both have been positioned to start after the first 99 seconds, which address other matters. One can also watch the video at the Fox webpage in the Full Episodes lineup, which would also allow one to listen to Bret's panel at the end of the show. Molly Hemingway offered some fine insights. (If the full episode for May 13 falls off the lineup, try this link.)

Ms. Cheney got crossways with the GOP caucus when she voted aye in President Trump's second impeachment in January. Liz actually thinks Trump "launched" the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol, which Democrats call an "insurrection."

What this writer finds even more distasteful than Cheney's calumny concerning the Jan. 6 riot is her insistence on the legitimacy of the 2020 election. She refers to Trump's claim that the election was stolen as the "Big Lie." I happen to believe that Mr. Trump is correct that the election was stolen, but neither I nor Trump can prove it. Neither can Cheney prove that the election was legitimate and the vote counts are correct.

The tragedy of voting in America is that it has become a comedy, a nasty joke that few get, least of all Liz Cheney. Liz Cheney is spreading her own "Big Lie" that she knows who got the most votes. Like everyone else, she doesn't know. This intolerable condition of not being able to prove which presidential nominee is the true winner with the more legitimate votes is what should be the issue. But Liz seems to have other concerns.

Cheney's "method" is in speaking from authority and in saying that others are wrong or incorrect or misinformed. Who made Liz Cheney the final arbiter of Truth? A woman's gotta know what she doesn't know. I'm afraid Liz doesn't know that. But hey, who knows? I could be wrong.

Cheney has become a useful stooge of the Democrats. Her self-righteousness is particularly annoying and is in no way justified. She's an intellectual lightweight and in over her head. Republicans were right to oust her. Hopefully, she'll learn something by being rusticated to the backbench.

The most galling thing in the interview is when Cheney lectures Baier on the "particular obligation" that Fox News has: "We all have an obligation, and I would say Fox News especially, especially Fox News, has a particular obligation to make sure people know the election wasn't stolen."

To repeat, no one knows that, because no one can demonstrate who won. Even so, folks are expected to take on faith what election officials tell them. That's gotta end. And another thing, Liz: Don't lecture FNC. Fox News is the most accurate and important television news outfit in America. Without Fox News, America would already be totally fascist, rather than just flailing at becoming so.

Watch this:

Jon N. Hall of ULTRACON OPINION is a programmer from Kansas City.

Image: NBC News via YouTube.

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According to multiple media reports, Joe Bidens handlers have chosen the most abrasive, short-tempered, and foul-mouthed politician in America to serve as envoy to Japan, a country where subtlety, indirection, and discretion are prized above all considerations in interpersonal communication. I can just imagine the sour stomachs and pained faces at Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho) as the polished and elite bureaucrats there prepare to deal with a man renowned for slamming a knife into a table as he names his enemies and shouts Dead! each time he defaces the surface with another blow.

But the concerns of the Japanese who will have to deal with this truly henna gaijin (weird foreigner) are barely apparent in the media coverage here. Mostly, it focuses on the criticisms from the left that Emanuels tenure as Mayor of Chicago has generated.

Bill Ruthhart in the Chicago Tribune:

Emanuel has faced criticism on the left for his handling of the Laquan McDonald fatal police shooting and from Republicans for Chicagos status as a sanctuary city and its history of struggling to tamp down violent crime. (snip) The former mayor made little secret that he coveted an appointment as Bidens transportation secretary, a push that met fierce resistance from progressives. Powerhouse U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, NAACP President Derrick Johnson, some union leaders and the Rev. Al Sharpton among others opposed Emanuel as a cabinet pick.

Of course, the story has not been confirmed by the White House. Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, Neil Steinberg points out:

[I]t might not happen  neither Emanuel nor the White House will confirm reports. Maybe its one of those famous trial balloons. Perhaps Rahm is jealous of the sickeningly sweet puff piece the New Yorker ran a few weeks ago about his brother, Ari, and ginned up some fictive good press of his own.

Since leaving office as Mayor of Chicago, Rahm has been working for a Wall Street investment firm, perhaps seeking to add to the $16 million he pulled down in a little over 2 years after leaving the Clinton White House. Presumably, a tour as ambassador to Japan would provide many valuable contacts with business leaders of giant global corporations there, and assuming he behaves himself, those relationships could be extremely valuable if he returns to financial market works.

I dont take it as a given that a US ambassador to Japan has to behave as the Japanese would prefer: controlled, quiet, polite, indirect, and subtle. Sometimes a bully can be effective in moving intractable bureaucrats. But usually, there is a cost in the longer run, a reaction that may take years to unfold, as those whose sensitivities are ruffled find ways to sabotage or undo the measures achieved by the bully.

Right now, the key issue in US-Japan relations is dealing with China and North Korea, and that includes the huge task of defense collaboration, as Japan ramps up its military capabilities, working around its constitutional limitations on the use of military force, while China aggressively moves in the South China Sea and threatens Taiwan. Sharing of sensitive information is necessary to be effective in countering China. Japan has concerns and sensitivities, owing both to its geographic proximity and its colonial history, that US policy needs to understand in order to be effective in mobilizing Japanese capabilities.

Quality, not quantity, is the emphasis in Japans weaponry, and many incremental improvements of existing American military technology have been achieved by the Japanese. The Japanese are justly renowned for their ability to absorb foreign technologies but might not be quite as eager or skilled at sharing their own breakthroughs, especially if relations are aggravated by personal antagonisms that start at the top.

John Gizzi reports on anonymous sources in Japan opposing the possible nomination:

Two sources with solid connections to the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told Newsmax that the choice of Emanuel, 61, was neither expected or wanted by the Japanese government. The former mayor of Chicago was definitely not wanted [by the Suga government] as ambassador, a veteran Japanese journalist told Newsmax, They would have preferred him being sent to Beijing. This opinion was strongly seconded by a source close to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who spoke to Newsmax on the condition of anonymity. This is a confusing pick for the Japanese, the source told us. Rahm has numerous strengths, but diplomacy is not in his toolkit. Recalling Emanuels propensity for angry outbursts, foul language, and confrontation both in the Obama White House and at City Hall in Chicago, the source said: His reputation precedes him. The Japanese are gracious to a fault and understated. Rahm is neither. This has definitely caused some head-scratching in Tokyo.

In my decades of teaching and consulting on dealing with the Japanese, Ive found that for continuing relationships (one-off situations are very different), in the long run you get a lot more out of being polite and meeting Japanese expectations at least halfway, than out of shows of anger or force.

Maybe Rahm can master a new way of interacting in a new situation  if he gets the job.

Image credit: Donkey Hotey CC BY 2.0 license

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Prince Harry seemed determined to outdo Meghan Markle on the obnoxious celebrity front. The oafish royal on the lam from his U.K. duties, who's now set up shop here to live the billionaire lifestyle, is now, like a lot of them, telling us how to run our country. He's calling our First Amendment 'bonkers.'

Kid you not.

According to the London Spectator (hat tip: Daily Caller), citing a podcast interview that Prince Harry made with the Davos-like Aspen Institute:

Ive got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers. I dont want to start going down the First Amendment route because thats a huge subject and one which I dont understand because Ive only been here a short time. But, you can find a loophole in anything. You can capitalise or exploit whats not said rather than uphold what is said.

Translation: Harry doesn't have a clue. He's as baffled as Mad King George, that guy who got quite the write-up in our Declaration of Independence of 1776, about the idea of free speech. Like the Duke of Wellington, who had an issue with people moving about freely as 'escaping all proper control,' Harry's gone back to the era of bad royals trying to tamp down the public. Yet he also has the hypocrisy to do it while he insists on living with us.

The Speccie continued:

As an exercise in winning 'hearts and minds' this criticism of America's treasured civil liberties has not gone down well stateside. Comments underneath articles reporting the Duke's views include 'Hey, go home! We fought a war to get rid of Royals on our soil. No need to understand anything we do. Bye!!' and 'You can always leave if you dont like our constitution and please find a country where you dont have to deal with those bonker[s] rights.' Even one congressman has weighed in, with Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw claiming Harry has 'just doubled the size of my Independence Day party.'

George, though, at least did his duty in the U.K. as he saw fit. This bounder, out on the lam from his royal duties, not only is feeling free to hate on our country even as he moves to it and lives in it, but he's also feeling free to tell us what to do. Our country, see, is racist. Now it's got this godawful freedom of speech and, by golly, he's speaking out against it. What else would he like us to do, to ensure that his feelings don't get hurt?

According to Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge, this wasn't his only hypocrisy expressed in that podcast:

Moving on, the prince criticized self-made podcast host Joe Rogan for entertaining the notion that young health people don't need to get the vaccine - something Rogan has apologized for doing, even calling himself "a moron" for sharing the ideas on his podcast. Harry mused that "in todays world, with misinformation just endemic," people have "got to be careful about what comes out of your mouth." Celebrities like Rogan (who Harry mentioned by name) should just "stay out of it" and "not say anything at all if they dont have anything useful to say."

Harry would do well to follow his own advice.

Given his self-absorbed other remarks, his me-me-me orientation in airing private conversations which may or may not have happened about the supposed 'racism' of his own British royal family (gad, what a violation of every law of human decency that was -- a violation of decency even if his parents were white trash), and his recent remarks criticizing his father's upbringing and consequent parenting skills, it's obvious that Harry lives off publicity at his family's expense, and is unable to think of anything outside the context of his self-absorbed feelings. There are no great ideas in his weird little celebrity bubble, there is no such thing as concepts that move nations. There's just little him, and how everyone and everything out there is so bad to him. Therefore, the First Amendment must go.

It comes at a bad time, given the actual threats from the left that the First Amendment is under, which is likely why the reaction stateside was so strong.

Realistically, chalk it up to Harry's baseline self-absorption, coupled with his Millennial ignorance of anything but wokester knowledge of U.S. history, rather than a King George style of plain regal elitism. But it's the same thing. That's a bad combination to have in a royal. The royal twit should apologize.

Image: Northern Ireland Office, via Flickr (detail) / CC BY 2.0

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Until a few days ago I had never heard of Antonio Garcia-Martinez, the best-selling author of a bestselling autobiographic novel about working for Facebook and living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He became a person of interest to me when Apple, one of the most powerful companies in the world, having just hired him, fired him because the young Maoists working for Apple demanded his head. These revolutionary monsters need to be stopped unless we truly want to go down the path of Chinas murderous Cultural Revolution.

Garcia-Martinez turns out to be something of a polymath. He studied physics at UC Berkeley and then went on to multiple successful careers: He was a quantitative analyst for Goldman Sachs; worked as a product manager for Facebook; founded and was the CEO AdGrok, an advertising platform for business owners trying to optimize the process of working with Google AdWords; and a New York Times best-selling author.

In 2021, Apple lured Garcia-Martinez to Silicon Valley to work on the advertising platforms team. Garcia-Martinez, who had been living in Washington state, sold his house and packed up most of his life, to move down to the southern end of the San Francisco Bay area. Within days the young Maoists at Apple went on the attack.

Before going further, let me define what I mean by Maoists: These are young people educated into a totalitarian mindset who seek to impose their extremist values on the nation. Theyre successful because their fanaticism frightens institutions, which back down before the baying mob. Eventually, this mob, drunk on its power, uses violence on an epic scale to achieve its goal of cultural purity.

By the time the Cultural Revolution ended its decade-long run in China an unknown number of people had died  both in the military and civilians  with the estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. These movements of fanatic youth need to be nipped in the bud because they dont get better if left unchecked.

In the case of Garcia-Martinez, within days of his starting to work at Apple, the young Maoists in the company learned that his book said insulting things about women. They created a petition accusing Garcia-Martinez of being misogynistic and claimed that his presence at Apple would create an unsafe working environment for our colleagues who are at risk of public harassment and private bullying.

Apple promptly bowed before the mob, firing Garcia-Martinez last week, within days of his having started to work at the company. So far, Garcias Martinez has not done the ritual apology. Instead, he seems to be fighting back:

1. Apple actively recruited me for my role on the ads team, reaching out via a former colleague to convince me to join. Apple found my experience in the ads space, specifically around data and privacy, highly relevant to their efforts and persuaded me to leave my then role.  Antonio Garcia Martinez (@antoniogm) May 14, 2021

3. Apple was well aware of my writing before hiring me. My references were questioned extensively about my bestselling book and my real professional persona (rather than literary one).



This set of prominent Valley VCs and execs are all willing to assert as much under oath.  Antonio Garcia Martinez (@antoniogm) May 14, 2021

5. Apple has issued a statement that clearly implies there was some negative behavior by me during my time at Apple. That is defamatory and categorically false.  Antonio Garcia Martinez (@antoniogm) May 14, 2021

Garcia-Martinez also makes clear on his Twitter feed that Apple was fully aware of his book. He points out, as well, that the book was extremely well received in the mainstream media (which Apple works with and respects).

If youre wondering what Garcia-Martinez said that instantly turned Apple into an environment so unsafe no woman could reasonably be expected to work there, here is the dangerous passage from his book:

Most women in the Bay Area are soft and weak, cosseted and naive despite their claims of worldliness, and generally full of shit. They have their self-regarding entitlement feminism, and ceaselessly vaunt their independence, but the reality is, come the epidemic plague or foreign invasion, theyd become precisely the sort of useless baggage youd trade for a box of shotgun shells or a jerry can of diesel.

I have my own theory about what outraged the Maoists at Apple. Its not that the language is offensive; its that its accurate. In that one paragraph, Garcia-Martinez accurately skewered a generation of extremely damaged young women, all of them products of Americas colleges and universities, and all of them marinated in the cognitive dissonance and self-loathing of modern leftism. The womens reaction at Apple proves his point.

I hope Garcia-Martinez sues Apple and that he wins huge amounts of money. I hope that a painful loss teaches Apple to push back at the Maoists before whom it is currently bowing down. (If you are interested in learning more about this subject, I highly recommend Matt Taibbis defense of Garcia-Martinez.)

IMAGE: Garcia-Martinez, in 2016, during a friendly interview about his book on CBS This Morning. YouTube screengrab.

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For the first few days after Hamas started raining thousands of rockets on Israel -- all of them aimed at civilians -- Biden kept silent. Finally, on Wednesday, Biden said my expectation and hope is that this will be closing down sooner than later but Israel has a right to defend itself when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory. Saying this ought to have been a no-brainer, but it was obviously an effort on Bidens part.

Biden instantly caught flak from the Squad. Even though, thanks to the influx of Ethiopian Jews, there are more Blacks in Israel than there are in Gaza, Ayanna Presley, a racist one-trick pony, promptly analogized herself to the downtrodden Arabs:

As a black woman in America, I am no stranger to police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, said Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). We have been criminalized for the very way we show up in the world  Palestinians are being told the same thing as black folks in America: There is no acceptable form of resistance.

The other Squad members were not far behind. Ilhan Omar called Benjamin Netanyahu a far-right ethno-nationalist. (I had no idea she knew such big words.) Rashida Tlaib reiterated the tired old trope that Israel, the only truly pluralist nation in the entire Muslim Middle East, has an apartheid government. And AOC said that Israeli self-defense had to yield to the Arabs right to survive.

(Again, I will no longer use the word Palestinians. It is a made-up word about a nonexistent Muslim nation. You can go here to learn why I say that.)

All of this makes it sound as if a surprisingly brave and independent Joe Biden has taken a stand against the openly far leftists and his party. However, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. Bidens actions show where his heart lies  and its not with Israel.

Even as Hamas is raining rockets on Israeli civilians, Biden announced that he plans to send millions of American taxpayer dollars to the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza:

As the conflict intensifies despite U.S. calls for restraint, the administration notified Congress on Thursday that it will provide $10 million to Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza to support exchange and reconciliation projects with Israelis. The recipients of the aid were not named. The State Department said Friday that the money is part of more than $100 million that the administration allocated to the Palestinians earlier this year, reversing a near total cutoff in support under former President Donald Trump.

To explain rewarding people who are actively trying to commit genocide, the administration came out with a lot of root cause bibble-babble:

In a notice to lawmakers obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. Agency for International Development said the $10 million would go to support people-to-people efforts to bring together conflict-affected groups to address divisions that may be rooted in group differences such as ethnicity, religion, status, class, or political affiliation in areas affected by conflict and civil war.

Moreover, at the same time that the Biden administration made it clear that it is going to fund the Arabs, it refused to commit to replenishing Israels Iron Dome system:

Breaking in the last hour: the Biden admin is sending millions in new aid to the Palestinians while refusing to commit to replenishing Israel's Iron Dome missiles. pic.twitter.com/sEExD5kUrl  Omri Ceren (@omriceren) May 14, 2021

That system, with shoots down rockets in mid-flight, is the only reason that thousands of Israelis have not died because of Hamass nonstop bombardment.

What is especially heinous Bidens refusal to send Israel absolutely necessary supplies is the fact that one of the reasons Hamas can be so profligate with its rockets is that Biden has opened up the cash spigot again for Iran. Iran, of course, is the entity that supplies Hamas with the rockets it is using to destroy a sovereign nation that is the culmination of a continuous Jewish presence on that land for over 4000 years.

Biden may say he believes Israel has a right to self-defense, but his actions reveal that his real sympathies lie with the Islamists who seek to destroy Israel and kill every one of her inhabitants. He is an indecent excuse for a human being.

IMAGE: Israels Iron Dome destroys rockets. YouTube screengrab.

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The Metropolitan Police has welcomed seven newborn puppies in memory of a police officer killed in the line of duty.

Sergeant Matt Ratana was shot in the chest at Croydon Custody Centre, in south London, in the early hours of September 25 last year as he prepared to search a handcuffed suspect.

Commissioner Cressida Dick has visited the Mets Dog Training Establishment at Keston to meet the Ratana litter alongside Sergeant Ratanas partner Su Bushby, who chose their names in tribute to him.

The German Shepherd puppies have now been allocated to handlers in order to start a 12-month training course to become fully licensed police dogs.

Their parents are police dogs Prada Van Der Daeienberghuhe Storm and Pascalz OBA Magnum Nitra Pax.

Some of the puppies named in honour of Sgt Mata Ratana (Met Police/PA)

The seven names chosen by Ms Bushby are Matiu, Carter and Jonah for the males, and Kora, Blu, Valentine and Whanau for the females. The New Zealand-born policemans full first name was Matiu and the other puppy names include Maori words for an unfurling fern frond and family.

It is anticipated that the Ratana litter will first hit the streets in around three months time.

As general purpose police dogs, they will spend most of their days tracking human scent, helping to find suspects and locating weapons such as guns and knives.

All Met police dogs live at home with their police officer handlers and their families.

This litter, like all German Shepherd police dogs, is expected to retire at about eight years old.

The puppies will be trained before being allowed on the beat (Met Police/PA)

Commissioner Dick said: I was delighted that we asked Su to name the puppies and that we were able to welcome them together to the Met in readiness for their puppy training and eventual police training.

Matt was much loved and respected and this is just one of the ways for the Met to acknowledge and remember his service and courage.

These puppies will one day be fully trained police dogs, out at all hours of the day and night, looking for missing people and criminals and searching for weapons.

These police dogs and their handlers are invaluable.

Many criminals would escape justice and crucial evidence remain undetected, if not for their assistance. Because of their work, the streets of London are kept much safer.
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This opinion was originally written by Dave Bordewyk, president, Times-News, Dakota Newspaper Association. Edits for Idaho newspapers were made by Matt Sandberg, president of Times-News and Elko Daily Free Press. The views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Argus Observer.
Dana Young is president of Treasure Valley Community College. The views and opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily represent those of The Argus Observer.
Amit Shah on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to discuss preparedness for Cyclone Tauktae

Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday chaired a high-level meeting to discuss preparedness for Cyclone Tauktae, that is likely to hit states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Goa, among others. This was attended by the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Gujarat, among others, via video conferencing.

Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled north towards Gujarat Sunday, leaving at least four people dead in Karnataka and two others in Goa, and damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.

The India Metereological Department said Sunday evening that Cyclone Tauktae could cause heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in north Konkan, Mumbai, Thane and Palghar in Maharashtra on Monday. It has predicted extremely heavy rainfall in Raigad on Monday.

The IMD has said while Mumbai was not in the direct line of the threat of the cyclone, as it passes through the sea near the Mumbai coast, its effect is likely to be accompanied by rain and strong winds. Mumbai had got light rain on Saturday night but not on Sunday despite the sky being mostly overcast.

The very severe cyclonic storm is likely to intensify in the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening, the IMD said earlier. It is likely to cross the Gujarat coast with wind gusts of up to 175 kmph between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

In New Delhi, the home minister asked states to ensure uninterrupted power supply, particularly in hospitals where patients are recovering in ICUs and wards. Mr Shah also said power supply to cold chains storing vaccines should not be hit. It was also decided that district magistrates should ensure oxygen supplies in their districts are not affected.

Sources said the home minister was particularly concerned that health services during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic should not be affected in any manner. Adequate arrangements are being made to ensure that the supply of oxygen, medicines and transportation for critical patients to hospital should not be hampered during Cyclone Tauktae. The states were advised to take help from the National Disaster Response Force. NDRF teams have already been deployed in different states to ensure that makeshift facilities, specially where Covid patients are undergoing treatment, that may be hit by strong winds should be shifted to beds in properly built structures and hospitals.

To closely monitor the situation, a 24x7 control room has been set up in the home ministry so that immediate relief can be rushed to states which seek assistance. Mr Shah asked all chief ministers to seek aid, including Central forces reinforcements if needed, so that the fight against the pandemic continues at a steady pace.

Mumbais civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, has cancelled all Covid vaccinations due on Monday in view of the IMD alert. The BMC on Saturday night shifted 580 patients from jumbo Covid facilities to state and civic-run hospitals in Mumbai. It also said that the revised vaccination schedule will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (May 18 to May 20). The BMC had already suspended the inoculation drive on May 15 and 16 to avoid trouble for people due to the heavy rain and windstorms ahead of Cyclone Tauktae.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Ok let's all grab some crappy looking cars and take them to Littlestairs Road and park up, in solidarity for this lady and her perfectly nice Fabia.

https://t.co/NdYpGlhhjv pic.twitter.com/qrFOJ4DH0U  Damien Cross (@DC_F1) May 14, 2021

This is a strange story highlighting the sense of entitlement on some people, including with regard to their cars . It also shines a strange light on the steps some people will take to protect what they believe is the correct image of a residential area.Julia Laursen, a councilor for the Green Party, lives in Shanklin, Isle of Wight, the island off the coast of England. One day, she woke to a strange note on the windshield of her Skoda Fabia signed The Littlestairs Road Management and informing her that her crappy car was making everyone else look bad.Specifically, the note advised her that to look for parking elsewhere because this was a respectable road and her Skoda made it look like Beirut. Everyone else drove nice cars, so she was the sole exception. As such, she was kindly invited to park in a more appropriate place, like the DUMP!Understandably, Laursen was furious: living in a certain area should not have to dictate stuff like the car you drive or the clothes you wear. She went to Facebook to vent and, at the same time, invite friends with rougher but still loved vehicles to drop by to give these tossers a taste of what Beirut might look like. She has since deleted the post, The Sun notes. The invitation presumably stands, if you fit the bill.Since shes with the Green Party, Laursen might not have the slightest intention to pay heed to the warning from her neighbors. The Fabia might not be everyones definition of a looker, but it has good economy and is cheap to run. More importantly though, itscar and no one elses business as long its not in violation of actual laws and regulations.
This green dial pays tribute to the original 1963 model by subtly incorporating Riviera style accents. It adds a deep tone to the Carrera chronograph line, combining the vintage look with a modern aesthetic design.Its teal dial, which is its most prominent feature, can be found under the dome-shaped sapphire crystal. Combined, they give the watch an elegant and luxurious look.Its stainless-steel 39mm clean and simple case highlights the traditional '60s model while sizing up slightly from the 36mm dimensions of the first Carrera. The heart of this timepiece lies in the Heuer 02 in-house automatic chronograph movement, which is hidden under the sapphire crystal window and dial. The mechanism stores up an 80-hour power reserve and a good 100 meter (328 ft) resistance.The bridge is decorated with the iconic Heuer shield logo, with a touch of teal to the rotor and column wheel for a more striking and dramatic touch. In tone with the retro-modern look, TAG Heuer completed the whole package with its classic black alligator leather strap.While the blend of blue and green reminds us of the shade of British Racing Green like we've seen a while back on a Porsche 911 GT3 , the collection's name also hints at the recent collaboration between the German car manufacturer and the Swiss luxury watchmaker, which certainly will bring out more auto-inspired timepieces.In a sea of green watches, the TAG Heuer Carrera Green is not just a regular dial. This chronograph is limited to 500 pieces and can be purchased for $7,930, making for an excellent accessory for any watch collector, be it a little more pricey than its siblings in the collection.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Dozens of protesters came together on Saturday at the Arizona Capitol to show their support for Palestinians as the violence in the Middle East shows no sign of letting up. Many brought flags to show solidarity with those in the Gaza Strip. Others held signs that said "Displacement is a War Crime" and "Stop Killing Palestine's Children." One speaker said people don't need a college degree in history or religion to understand that the bloodshed needs to stop. "Just being human. That alone should be why everyone should support the Palestinian people," she said.

Anahit Kirakosian attended the rally as well and wanted to bring a voice to the voiceless. She said there isn't enough media attention on both sides and wanted to raise awareness about what's happening in the Palestinian territory. "They're being kicked out of their homes," she said.

For Ninoshka Kirakosian, she came out to the rally because she wants the violence to end. "This needs to stop. Kids are being killed on both sides and we just want peace," she said. After several speakers talked to the group, they then hit the streets and marched around downtown Phoenix.

Israel strike in Gaza destroys building with AP, other media An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Saturday, the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas.

According to CBS News, Israel's ground and air assault on Gaza continued overnight, with an airstrike hitting a house in Gaza City that killed at least 10 people, mostly children. An Israeli airstrike also hit a high-rise building that was home to The Associated Press' offices in the Gaza Strip but no one was hurt. For Israel, it was another night of rockets coming from the terrorist group Hamas. Nine Israelis were killed, including a 5-year-old.
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The Brushfork Armory has served as a pseudo-convention center for Mercer, but as it continues to age the Mercer County Commission is starting to look into getting a proper convention center for the area.
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PHOENIX (AP)  Joshua Matthew Black said in a YouTube video that he was protecting the officer at the U.S. Capitol who had been pepper sprayed and fallen to the ground as the crowd rushed the building entrance on Jan. 6.

Let him out, hes done," Black claimed to have told rioters.

MORE CAPITOL RIOTS: The Texas woman who took a private jet to D.C. to 'storm the Capitol' has been charged

But federal prosecutors say surveillance footage doesnt back up Blacks account. They said he acknowledged that he wanted to get the officer out of the way  because the cop was blocking his path inside.

At least a dozen of the 400 people charged so far in the Jan. 6 insurrection have made dubious claims about their encounters with officers at the Capitol. The most frequent argument is that they can't be guilty of anything, because police stood by and welcomed them inside, even though the mob pushed past police barriers, sprayed chemical irritants and smashed windows as chaos enveloped the government complex.

The January melee to stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory was instigated by a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who have professed their love of law enforcement and derided the mass police overhaul protests that shook the nation last year following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

But they quickly turned on police in one violent encounter after another.

We backed you guys in the summer, one protester screamed at three officers cornered against a door by dozens of men screaming for them to get out of their way. When the whole country hated you, we had your back!

The Capitol Police didn't plan for a riot. They were badly outnumbered and it took hours for reinforcements to arrive  a massive failure that is now under investigation. Throughout the insurrection, police officers were injured, mocked, ridiculed and threatened. One Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died after the riot.

Officers who spoke to The Associated Press said police had to decide on their own how to fight them off. There was no direction or plan and they were told not to fire on the crowd, they said. One cop ran from one side of the building to another, fighting hand-to-hand against rioters. Another decided to respond to any calls of officers in distress and spent three hours helping cops who had been immobilized by bear spray or other chemicals.

Three officers were able to handcuff one rioter. But a crowd swarmed the group and took the arrested man away with the handcuffs still on.

Still, some rioters claim police just gave up and told them that the building was now theirs. And a few  including one accused of trying to pull off an officers gas mask in a bid to expose the officer to bear spray  have claimed to be protecting police.

Matthew Martin, an employee for a defense contractor from Santa Fe, New Mexico, who has acknowledged being inside the building, claimed police were opening doors for people as they walked into the Capitol.

Dan Cron, Martins attorney, said a photo filed in court by authorities shows an officer using his back to hold a door open for people. No police barriers were in place when Martin walked into the Capitol area, nor was there anyone telling people they werent allowed in the building, Cron said.

He thought that was OK, Cron said, adding that his client was inside the Capitol for less than 10 minutes and didnt commit any violence. He doesnt know what the policies and procedures at the Capitol are, Cron said. He had never been there.

On the surface, images taken of officers who appear to step aside as the mob stormed the building could be beneficial to the rioters' claims. In the days after Jan. 6, those images fueled rumors that police had stood by on purpose, but they have not been substantiated.

Experts caution against drawing conclusions.

The context will be very important in claiming officers welcomed in a crowd, said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson. They were trying to control a fast-developing, difficult, potentially explosive situation. So I dont think its enough to say, The officer didnt tackle me.

Authorities say Michael Quick of Springfield, Missouri, claimed that he didnt know at the time that he wasnt allowed in the Capitol when he and his brother climbed in through an open window. He believed police were letting people in, despite seeing officers in riot gear.

Attorney Dee Wampler, who represents Michael and Stephen Quick, said he doesnt currently have proof for the claim the officers were letting people into the building, but he pointed out that he has thousands of documents from prosecutors still left to review.

WHAT?: Showtime is turning the Capitol riot into a TV series nobody wanted

If this case was tried, the evidence would be that there was a fairly large number of officers that were standing around when my clients entered, and they didnt try to stop the Quicks, Wampler said, adding that his clients didnt commit any violence inside the Capitol.

But the argument did not work for Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who sported face paint, a furry hat with horns and carried a spear during the riot.

Chansley's lawyer said an officer told his client that the building is yours and that he was among the third wave of rioters entering the Capitol.

In rejecting a request two months ago to free Chansley from jail, Judge Royce Lamberth said it wasnt clear who made the comment and concluded Chansley was unable to prove that officers waved him into the building, citing a video that the judge said proves that the Phoenix man was among the first wave of rioters in the building. The judge noted that rioters were crawling in through broken windows when Chansley entered the Capitol through a door.

Chansley's attorney, Albert Watkins, still insists that his client was in the third wave of rioters in the building and said it shouldnt shock the public that rioters who were hanging on to Trumps every word and believed the election was stolen legitimately believed they were allowed in the building. Its whats in their hearts and minds, Watkins said.

In all, Joshua Black made two claims that he helped officers at the Capitol.

Before encountering the officer he claimed to have protected at a Capitol doorway, Black said, police shot him in the cheek with a plastic projectile as he tried to keep another officer from being bootstomped by other rioters while outside the Capitol. But prosecutors say surveillance video doesnt depict an officer on the ground, nor is Black shown trying to help an officer.

Blacks attorney, Clark Fleckinger II, didnt return a phone call and email seeking comment.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
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Mass. wildfire: Crews continue work to contain forest fire that has tripled in size over weekend
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.
Ari and Heidi Zorn have been approved to open a retail store, Devine Berkshires, at 71 Main St. in Egremont, which will prioritize local sourcing of cannabis products. I think that the money raised for the town would be helpful, substantial, Heidi Zorn said.
Xi's article on utilizing revolutionary resources to be published

Xinhua) 10:09, May 16, 2021

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- An article by Chinese President Xi Jinping on utilizing revolutionary resources and passing on revolutionary traditions will be published Sunday.

The article by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will be carried by this year's 10th issue of the Qiushi Journal.

The article calls revolutionary museums and memorials, museums of Party history, and martyrs' cemeteries pools of revolutionary traditions.

Such resources offer vivid teaching materials to consolidate revolutionary ideals and convictions, the article notes, urging efforts to strengthen education on revolutionary traditions and patriotism and improve ideological and moral education for the young people.

"Every time I go to revolutionary base areas for inspections, I would visit local revolutionary memorial sites to demonstrate that the CPC always holds high the banner of revolution, remains committed to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and continues to advance the undertaking pioneered by revolutionary forefathers," Xi said in the article.

Noting that the establishment of the political power of the CPC, the People's Republic of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics are all hard-earned achievements, the article calls for paying tribute to the revolutionary martyrs, remembering them and passing on their revolutionary legacy.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
What is the first thought that pops into your mind when you think of the word adoption? For different people it may mean different things and convey differing emotions. Some have been adopted and the reality of this new family afforded them a life they could have only dreamed of. Others have been adopted and the trauma of that experience, whether in one home or from home to home, dramatically affected them.

I once watched a move called Instant Family which highlighted both realities. A couple unable to have children decided to adopt a family of three siblings who were quite some years apart in age. This was a very touching movie as we watched the children grow through anger, fear and mistrust of the parents to finally truly being a family. It was no easy task, but ultimately the love they gave to the siblings conquered.

The Oxford Dictionary describes an adoption as the action or fact of legally taking anothers child and bringing it up as ones own, or the fact of being adopted. It also defines an adoption as the action or fact of choosing to take up, follow, or use something.

The Bible explains

but to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are rebornnot with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God (St John chapter 1 verse 1213, NLT).

Initially, although I know God is wholesome and amazing as an adoptive father, being an adopted child did not seem as stellar as being a legitimate child. It was not until I started to do a study on our identity in Christ that I got a thorough understanding of who an adopted child really is. To get that full understanding, we must first know ancient Roman law which was applicable to this biblical truth.

Ancient Roman law

Ancient Roman law is quite something.To ensure the continuity of ones generation/succession, sons were of paramount importance to families, specifically wealthy ones. For those that could not or did not have a son, Roman law allowed for adoption as this was one of the ways to guarantee succession and family legacy. This benefited their society in that low-income families would put up their sons for adoption to ensure their future care and an inheritance, while taking the funds from the adoption to provide for the rest of the family.

What was more interesting or far from our reality today was that adoption took on a powerful meaning for Romans. Parents had the ability to disown their legitimate children for various reasons, but the laws of adoption provided that an adopted child could never be disowned. They became a co-heir/joint sharer to their parents wealth and this was an irrevocable status.

A child adopted in Rome meant two essential things:

 That child was freely chosen by the parents, desired by the parents.

 That child would be a permanent part of the family; parents could not disown a child they adopted.

An adopted child received a new identity, and any prior commitments, responsibilities and debts were erased. New rights and responsibilities were assigned to them. It was almost as if they automatically received a new life.

What this means for us as Christians

So, when Paul speaks of us as being adopted sons, I now realise how deeply powerful that is. As Jewish law had no precedence for adoptions, he most assuredly spoke in the context of Roman law and the fact that being adopted was a most powerful status to the child.

Unlike in contemporary society when being adopted comes with a more negative connotation, in those times, it meant a whole new world of opportunities and life.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba! Father! (Romans chapter 8, verse 15).

Through Jesus Christ, we are brought into the power of sonship and nothing can separate us from that reality.

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians chapter 1, verse 5).

It is an amazing feeling to know that when God takes us as his own, we are made co-heirs with his Son, fully desired, fully wanted, fully loved and a part of the greatest family ever.

The Bible has so many verses about this reality. It therefore makes it incredibly hard to forget who and whose we are and what that ultimately means for us.

This was mind-blowing for me and I have never looked at the term adopted sons the same after doing this lesson.

Always remember And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Romans chapter 8, verse 23).

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name (St. John chapter 1, verse 12).

So that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians chapter 4, verse 5).

Never forget the powerful truth of sonship; of being an adopted son.
Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn was chosen in early April by Gov. Charlie Baker as one of the members of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to certify officers statewide. Area lawmakers hope that Wynns presence will bring Berkshire County into the conversation on policing.
Lil Reese was reportedly among three men who were shot Saturday morning (May 15) inside a parking lot in Chicago.

According to CWB Chicago, the incident took place in Chicagos River North neighborhood. Two men, a 20-year-old who was shot in the knee and a 28-year-old whose eye was grazed by a bullet, are currently at Northwestern Memorial Hospital listed as in fair to good condition, while the other, a 27-year-old victim whose body was shot multiple times, is in serious condition at Stroger Hospital.

TMZ reports that the Chicago rapper was the 28-year-old gunshot victim involved in the shooting. Police have yet to officially release any of the names of those involved.

RELATED: Rapper Lil Reese In Critical Condition After Being Shot

Additionally, TMZ reports that no one is in custody at this time and that their detectives are further investigating the incident.

According to CWB Chicago, when police arrived on scene they found three men who suffered gunshot wounds along with a stolen Dodge Durango that was littered with bullets and crashed at the site.
News

Witness testifies to buying heroin from defendant

Tracy Boyd

Jurors at the trial of Tracy Boyd heard for the first time Friday morning from a witness who claimed to have bought heroin from Boyd.

The trial for Boyd, 53, who is charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter, three counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance and engaging in organized crime, entered its third day of testimony Friday.

Prosecutors are seeking to hold Boyd responsible for the overdose deaths of Joshua Kinkade and Matthew Dobring.

Kinkade, 32, was found dead Nov. 22, 2019, in his Parkhurst Drive apartment, while Dobring, 38, was found dead two days later in Louisville.

Jurors heard Friday from Michael Glenn, a Florida resident originally from Bowling Green, who testified that he bought heroin from Boyd on a daily basis during the summer of 2019.

Glenn said he was introduced to Boyd through a mutual acquaintance, and usually obtained his drugs directly from Boyd, meeting him at an apartment that Glenn said he understood belonged to Boyds uncle.

Glenn testified that he remembered seeing Scott Bernauer at the apartment. Bernauer has pleaded guilty to a count of reckless homicide in relation to Kinkades death.

I would describe (Bernauer) as being Tracys errand boy, Glenn said.

According to Glenn, he had a falling out with Boyd sometime after the beginning of July 2019, when Glenns wife rented a truck for Boyd to use and the truck had been repossessed.

Shortly afterward, Glenn said he checked into a Lexington rehab facility and moved with his wife to Florida, where he has remained sober.

Warren County Assistant Commonwealths Attorney Adam Turner went over some text messages that appeared on Glenns phone during the summer of 2019.

Glenn went over the series of text messages he sent to Stephanie Silvano to arrange to buy drugs from her.

Glenn said Friday that he bought fentanyl once from Silvano.

Tracy was out of town and I was told if I needed anything to go to (Silvano), Glenn said.

Silvano has also pleaded guilty to reckless homicide stemming from Kinkades death along with multiple drug trafficking counts. She and Bernauer await sentencing.

Glenn testified that he only used fentanyl once and that Boyd did not wish to be associated with the drug, which is lethal in small doses.

Tracy was very, very against (fentanyl), Glenn said. He didnt want it nowhere near anybody ... he didnt want to kill off his clientele.

The cross-examination from Boyds attorney, Alan Simpson, challenged Glenns timeline of drug use.

Glenn said he had met Boyd in the summer of 2019, but also said he started buying heroin from Boyd on his birthday in May.

Glenn also said he believed he bought fentanyl from Silvano sometime in July 2019, but clarified his answer to say it may have occurred earlier when Simpson brought up that Silvano was in jail at the time.

Simpson also asked questions about the end of Glenns association with Boyd, getting Glenn to acknowledge that he and his wife essentially stole money from Boyd meant to pay for a rental truck to finance their relocation.

That was the only way we knew to get out of the relationship, Glenn said.

Pressed for answers on how Glenn got in touch with Boyd to buy drugs, Glenn said he would send text messages. Asked by Simpson where those messages were, Glenn said he would also simply drive to the apartment.

Simpson also asked Glenn whether he agreed with the notion that a drug user who knowingly takes fentanyl is to blame for overdosing, and Glenns answer evolved.

I think itd be on the person who sold it to them, but it takes two to tango, Glenn said, later answering a follow-up question from Simpson by responding that the blame falls on the user.

Detective cross-examined Thursday afternoon

Detective Rick Bessette of the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force had his work challenged Thursday during cross-examination by Simpson.

Before being questioned by Simpson, Bessette acknowledged on the witness stand while examined by Turner that police typically attempt to conduct multiple controlled buys while building a case against a suspect, but only one controlled buy took place before police arrested Silvano and then Boyd.

This was a particular case where we didnt have the time because we had a deceased victim from a substance that was in our community, and time was of the essence to locate that supply as fast as possible, Bessette said during questioning by Turner.

During questioning from Simpson, Bessette acknowledged that the controlled buy involving Kinkades brother, Matthew Kinkade buying a half-gram of heroin from Silvano for $100 did not result in police collecting either the drugs or the money the task force provided for the deal.

Simpson asked Bessette whether that meant the controlled buy did not go well, and Bessette said the effort still managed to go to plan.

Jurors heard testimony that a man on a bicycle took part in the deal with Silvano and Matthew Kinkade, and listened to audio of detectives briefing Matthew Kinkade after the controlled buy, during which Matthew Kinkade asked whether detectives followed the man on the bicycle afterward.

Bessette at first said detectives did not track the man on the bicycle before quickly confiding to Matthew Kinkade that they did.

Simpson asked Bessette why police did not simply follow the man on the bicycle and stop him in an effort to obtain more information.

Bessette said detectives saw the man go into nearby Phenix Place Apartments but did not see which unit he entered, testifying that police did not want to draw unwanted attention to their surveillance.

We couldnt alert anyone else to our plan at that moment, Bessette said.

After Silvanos arrest, she was taken to The Medical Center after claiming that she swallowed a bag of drugs in her possession.

Bessette interviewed Silvano at the hospital in the presence of her attorney, and she provided information to the detective that he relayed to investigators in the field, who were surveilling an apartment on Old Morgantown Road near the site of the controlled buy.

Silvano remained hospitalized for 11 days, and never passed any bag of drugs through her system.

Bessette said he had not heard Boyds name in any drug investigation prior to speaking with Silvano, and investigators attempted to keep eyes on a property that Silvano alleged was a place where Boyd sold drugs, but law enforcement was scrambling to get people over to the scene and did not have enough information to attempt to obtain a search warrant for the address that night.

We just couldnt keep anybody out there for a significant amount of time, Bessette said.

On Nov. 27, 2019, Bessettes immediate supervisor at the Bowling Green Police Department, which assigned him to the drug task force, made him aware of an anonymous tip from South Central Kentucky Crimestoppers that alleged Ben Deboer sold the drugs that caused Joshua Kinkades death.

Bessette testified another detective followed up on the tip.

Simpson told Bessette that Deboer was first interviewed by police in March 2020 and asked him if he was surprised at the amount of time that had passed between receiving the tip and the interview.

Bessette was also asked about the tip never being presented as evidence to a grand jury.

Its surprising, Bessette said. We received a lot of tips and we do our best to investigate those tips. ... That tip came from someone who said they heard it from somebody who said they knew somebody.

Simpson asked Bessette whether police had any way to prove where the drugs that caused Joshua Kinkades death actually came from, and the detective said they relied on the information they received.

Youre relying on the word of addicts who are known to lie to you? Simpson asked in response.

The trial resumes Wednesday.


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Europlaw Group, operating predominately from the Republic of South Africa and the United Kingdom, decided to establish the SADC-focused Europlaw Group Fund. From its base in South Africa, the fund will focus its attention on both the SADC and the African continent. The founding members for the Europlaw Group Fund are the Europlaw Group of Companies, Forex Brief (Pty) Ltd, Tradefin International Ltd registered in England and Wales and other highly skilled reputable professional individuals who have already succeeded themselves in their different business careers. Our aim is to combine over 300 years of expertise in the international law, the financial trading markets to minimise possible risk and to maximise return on investment, both local and international clientele. Europlaw Group Fund believes that the Republic of South Africa is the springboard and the development hub for the sub-Saharan African continent, and we as Europlaw Group Fund hold the key to the door that will unlock the corridor of wealth enrichment into this amazing continent. Europlaw Group is a member of The International Association of Lawyers (UIA - Union Internationale des Avocats) situated in Paris, France and a member of the Global Law Experts, situated in London, England, United Kingdom.

The 5th day of March 2021 marked a significant milestone for the founding members of the Europlaw Group Fund. On this day, the General Partner/s for Europlaw Group Fund entered into an Investment Management and Partnership Agreements with our licensed Fund Managers regulated in the Republic of South Africa for the newly established Europlaw Group Fund. The exclusive General Partner, known as International Paymaster Trustee Services Group (Pty) Ltd, situated in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, is responsible for the operations and management of the Europlaw Group Fund. The Europlaw Group Fund is a fund that will utilise debt instruments in its composition. This option provides the fund with an investment strategy that is defined as a lower risk option, within the Venture Capital and Private Equity industry and markets. We participate in both the venture and private equity space where major banks lack financing in southern Africa as well as a large part of sub-Saharan Africa where there is a desperate need of job creation and community upliftment in multiple sectors. The Europlaw Group Fund identifies the opportunities not only to elevate peoples lives through job creation and new opportunities for entrepreneurs, but by generating significant return on investment for our funders.Our aim is to build a reputable profitable fund that has a far reaching national and international influence that goes beyond profitability successes but encompasses the stated goals of community upliftment and social responsibility. Europlaw Group Fund is transparent, and focus driven to be associated with only international business leaders who understand and respect the critical role that businesses play in our economy as well as the impact it has on job creation and upliftment for communities and the economy. Our highly skilled directors offer project management and a wealth of experience in a variety of different areas of international marketplace. This enables us to identify opportunities and swiftly implement critical business decisions and changes when needed. Our objective is to invest in a diverse portfolio of loan and debt instruments in sub-Sahara Africa by partnering with existing state entities and private public initiates. Investments will be made primarily by way of shareholder loans in unlisted private companies. We would invest across the spectrum in several industries within sub-Sahara Africa to spread the risk and to our diversity portfolio.Europlaw Group Fund offers a regulated investment platform through our licensed fund managers for national and international investors that can be utilized to fund bankable projects through the Europlaw Group Fund. The target industries for the Fund are mining, agriculture, commercial property, asset financing, commodity trading, information and communication technology, manufacturing, aviation and related industries. The directors of Europlaw Project Management (Pty) Ltd have jointly completed successful projects within South Africa and the rest of the African Continent in aggregate, to date, more than USD 1,800,000,000.00 (one billion eight hundred million United States dollars). With our 300 combined years plus in total of expertise across the board in the international law and the financial trading markets, Europlaw Group Fund wants to contribute and assist by entering into formal mutual and strategic business collaboration with other Venture, Equity and hedge funds nationally and internationally.Europlaws evolution comes from years of experience in the above fields of expertise. Not many businesses are more challenging on the intellectual capital than those of transacting in variety of financial guarantees and instruments, bonds, platform trading, private placement programmes and project funding, which our years of experience in all related legal and financial aspects have afforded our group to be professionals in our approach and aptitude in these financial expert areas. Europlaw is focused on the implementation and provision of capital market services, escrow agent services, paymaster services, project funding and financing. We also focus on provision of financial instruments and advisory for the monetisation of assets, financial instruments, and merger and acquisitions transactions. These services are suitable for high-net-worth individuals, companies and corporations of all sizes. The groups core strategy is based on the concept of reputable and intelligent partnerships and alliances. Through these, our in-house experts from the fields of law, business, asset management, project management, project funding and financing, paymaster services, escrow services, fiduciary, audit and tax advisory we deliver excellent services to clients at reasonable and competitive rates.Europlaw Group Fund has implemented strategies for early-stage investing, and how those strategies can translate into a successful launch for budding start up entrepreneurs. Success involves not only a solid, professional team with great innovative ideas, but it also requires the willingness and ability to change and adapt to an ever-changing world. Anyone can identify trends once they have broken, but a successful investor needs to see several steps ahead of the pack with vision, pragmatism and understanding of the landscape. This ability helps Europlaw Group Fund knows where to focus their attention and, eventually, how to weed out the snake oil from the true value pitches. For us, that means looking at emerging behavioural trends and shifts in culture. What were looking to understand is where people and companies are going to spend their time and money  not only today, but into the future. So, we conduct research with strictest due diligence to ascertain if there are all the supporting factors for projects being successful with due cost to profit ratios for longevity and sustainability.We do not make ill informed, undisciplined, one-off small unsustainable investments, but rather we provide long-term growth support, mentorship and where needed on past performance we follow on with additional investment as required. In addition, we not only invest, but we also multiply the huge assets of our different service providers to grow the business, to provide necessary support and finances as well. Both Europlaw Group SJ Asset Management Limited, registered in Ireland and Europlaw Group (UK) Limited, registered in England and Wales, will jointly serve as one of the service provider to allocate assets for the beneficiary of The Europlaw Group Fund. We are looking into joint development emanating from South Africa to sub-Sahara African markets, and that is the Africa vision we have for the future of our continent. As a venture and capital fund and as entrepreneurs, we are looking forward to working with African entrepreneurs to create that opportunity, then, together for the present and far into the future, creating sustainability, education and transference of our professional skills and mindsets as a team together. Please visit The Europlaw Group Fund short introduction video link at: https://youtu.be/i6byVfvSKqQ For any further enquiries, please contact the following people responsible for this announcement:Adv. Simon Mashavha, Director at moc.walporue@ahvahsam Adv. Martin Bekker, Director at moc.walporue@rekkeb Andre Vorster, CEO and Director at moc.walporue@retsrov Kevin Pienaar, Marketing Director at moc.walporue@raaneip Hanno Bekker, Director at moc.walporue@rekkebj Rene Labuschagne, Sales Director at moc.walporue@engahcsubal Nico de Villiers, Sales Director at moc.walporue@sreillived You can also visit our websites at www.europlaw.com and www.europlaw.co.uk for further information regarding Europlaw Group itself.
It was just after midnight on January 1, 2000, when the word Eternity appeared in copperplate writing on the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The New Millennium was ushered in with the biggest fireworks display ever over the harbour city.

An estimated two million people gathered around and on Sydney Harbour and two billion people watched on television.

They were outstanding!

Sydneys fireworks display is one of the first to be seen worldwide.

What did this Eternity mean?

Those in the gathering who knew the story of Arthur Stace and Eternity, although surprised, knew the meaning of the sermon in a word.

To grasp the true meaning of the word we need to understand the story behind it and to do so, we need to travel back in time to Sydney over 120 years ago.

Arthur Stace was born in Balmain in 1884. His father was an alcoholic, his mother ran a brothel, two brothers died early and his two sisters later also ran brothels.

Domestic violence in the home was so bad the children often slept on hessian bags under the house to escape the drunken wrath of their father.

Arthur stole to eat and at the age of 12, was made a Ward of the State. He had no education.

In gaol by 15

At 14 he went to work in the Balmain coal mine and at 15, served his first gaol sentence. He was already a heavy drinker.

In his early 20s, he moved to Surry Hills and occupied himself running sly grog for pubs and acting as a cockatoo (lookout) for illegal gambling houses and brothels. He was arrested several times and sentenced to gaol.

The Great War

World War I intervened in Arthurs life; he enlisted in the AIF and went to France as a stretcher bearer. He witnessed all the horrors of war in the trenches, the heavy artillery bombardments, thousands of dead and wounded along with the mud and freezing conditions.

He was wounded and the injuries impaired the sight in one eye. He returned to Australia in 1919 where he was discharged, still suffering what was then known as shell shock and the effects of mustard gas poisoning.

Arthur found it easy to renew old acquaintances and soon slipped into a life of alcohol, gambling and crime. He became homeless and methylated spirits became a cheap escape.

By 1930 the world was in the grip of the Great Depression, there was no work, no income and Arthur wandered the streets stealing food or begging for handouts.

A cuppa and a rock cake

One port of call was St Barnabas Anglican Church in Broadway which conducted a Meeting for Needy Men where afterwards, a cup of tea and a rock cake was given to all who attended.

Arthur wandered into the meeting on August 6, 1930 where he found 300 men seated. He saw some well-dressed men standing near the door and asked the man next to him  one of Sydneys best known criminals - who they were.

Id reckon theyd be Christians, was the reply.

Arthur said, Well look at them and look at us. Im havin a go at what theyve got.

The Rock of Ages

After the meeting Arthur walked across the road into Sydney University Park and under a big Morton Bay fig tree, fell to his knees with tears streaming down his face and cried out, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

He was a genuine conversion to Christ. Arthur later testified:

I went in to get a cup of tea and a rock cake but I met the Rock of Ages.

Eternity, where will you spend eternity?

In November 1932 Arthur was listening to evangelist John Ridley MC in the Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle in Darlinghurst when he heard the words from Isaiah 57:15, Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity.

Stressing the word, Ridley cried out, Eternity, eternity. I wish I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. Eternity! You have to meet it. Where will you spend eternity?

In his testimony, Arthur Stace recalled the meeting.

Eternity was ringing through my brain and suddenly I began to cry and felt a powerful call from the Lord to write Eternity. I had a piece of chalk in my pocket and outside the church I bent down right there and wrote it .. The funny thing is, before I wrote it I could barely write my own name. I had no schooling and couldnt have spelled Eternity for a hundred quid ($200) but it came out smoothly in a beautiful copperplate script. I couldnt understand it and I still cant

Over the next 33 years the word Eternity was repeated more than 500,000 times all over the city, in country towns and in Melbourne.

The sermon in a word.
Public health advocates on Thursday demanded federal action to ban the use of toxic forever chemicals found in many household products after 100% of breast milk samples were found in a study to be contaminated with the substances.

Researchers at Toxic-Free Future, Indiana University, the University of Washington and Seattle Childrens Research Institute studied 50 samples of breast milk from American women from all over the country, representing a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. All 50 samples contained per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at levels nearly 2,000 times the amount considered safe for drinking water.

Devastating to hear that toxic PFAS was found in the breast milk of 100% of the 50 women tested doe it in the US. More than half were feeding 19 PFAS SUBSTANCES TO THEIR BABIES. The chems are endocrine disrupters & linked to 2 cancers and lots of diseaseshttps://t.co/m5Ohi7KmZn  Rachel Salvidge (@RachSalv) May 13, 2021

Truly terrifying, even in a terrifying world. All the breast milk tested had dangerous levels of chemicals that are linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, plummeting sperm counts and a range of other serious health problems. https://t.co/0hKR5ZwSog  Linda Watson  (@cookforgood) May 13, 2021

The chemicals do not break down and have been shown to accumulate in humans  including in the food considered by the American Academy of Pediatrics to be the most beneficial for babies.

We now know that babies, along with natures perfect food, are getting toxic PFAS that can affect their immune systems and metabolism, said Erika Schreder, science director at Toxic-Free Future and a co-author of the study, which was published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

We shouldnt be finding any PFAS in breast milk and our findings make it clear that broader phaseouts are needed to protect babies and young children during the most vulnerable stages of life, she added. Moms work hard to protect their babies, but big corporations are putting these, and other toxic chemicals that can contaminate breast milk, in products when safer options are available.

The group called on state and federal lawmakers to ban the use of PFAS, which are found in food-packaging, non-stick cookware, water-proof clothing and stain guards like ScotchGard.

Our new study found #PFAS chemicals in 100% of moms breast milk. Companies put them in many everyday productscontaminating people from manufacture to use to disposal. To protect babies, states, Congress and companies must #BanPFAS! WATCH THE VIDEO: https://t.co/L31RmI41zq  Toxic-Free Future (@ToxFreeFuture) May 13, 2021

PFAS have been linked to hormonal disruptions, cancers, liver disease, thyroid disease, plummeting sperm counts in men, weakened immune systems, and other health problems. There has not been a thorough analysis of how the chemicals affect newborns and older babies.

Manufacturers often dont disclose the chemicals they use to make their products, making PFAS difficult to avoid.

Chemical companies have claimed in recent years that PFAS that are currently in use do not build up in humans, but the study found 16 compounds including several of the industrys newer generation of chemicals.

PFAS were found at levels ranging from 50 parts per trillion to more than 1,850 parts per trillion. The study also found that the presence of PFAS in breast milk is on the rise around the world and is doubling every four years.

The chemicals are so ubiquitous that we cant really predict who will have the highest exposures, Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a pediatrician at the University of Washington and study co-author, told The Guardian.

The EU has moved to ban the use of PFAS when other substances can be used instead, and Washington state lawmakers are working to phase out the use of forever chemicals. At the federal level, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is expected to introduce a ban on PFAS in food packaging.

If a harmful chemical can end up in breast milk due to its persistence or ability to bioaccumulate, it should be prohibited in everyday products we are constantly exposed to, said Laurie Valeriano, executive director of Toxic-Free Future. Its time for more states and the federal government to follow the lead of Washington state and ban PFAS and other equally dangerous classes of chemicals in products, especially when safer alternatives are found. Prevention-based policies are critical to ending this harmful and unnecessary contamination of our most precious resources  from breast milk to drinking water.

Originally published by Common Dreams.
Morgan Stanley has more than 15,000 financial advisors calling clients each day with investment recommendations that are frequently engineered inside the firm. (These are known as in-house or proprietary products.) For the past two decades, we have been reading about regulatory fines against Morgan Stanley for abusing its customers in these home-grown offerings.

In November 2000, Morgan Stanleys Dean Witter unit was charged by the National Association of Securities Dealers regulatory arm with selling over $2 billion of Term Trusts to more than 100,000 customers using an internal marketing campaign that characterized the investments as safe and low-risk. The NASD Regulation complaint said that Dean Witter targeted certificate of deposit holders and other conservative investors, many of whom were elderly with moderate, fixed incomes The risky Term Trusts at one point had lost over 30 percent of their value and had to reduce their dividends by nearly a third.

The NASD Regulation complaint noted that Dean Witters marketing effort for the Term Trusts also included high-pressure sales efforts at the regional and branch levels, include the use of sales contests and sales quotas.

In 2003, Morgan Stanley was fined $50 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission for improper mutual fund sales practices. The SEC said the firm had set up a Partners Program in which a select group of mutual fund complexes paid Morgan Stanley substantial fees for preferred marketing of their funds. The firm further incentivized its brokers to recommend the purchase of the preferred funds by paying them increased compensation. The SEC said Morgan Stanley also failed to disclose the higher fees imposed on Class B shares of its proprietary funds versus sales of Class A shares.

In November 2019, the SEC again charged and fined Morgan Stanley for selling its customers more expensive share classes of mutual funds when less expensive share classes were available. The SEC noted that Morgan Stanleys recommendations of more expensive share classes negatively impacted the overall return on the customers investments. According to the SEC, the activity had occurred for more than seven years, from at least July 2009 through December 2016.

One would think that Morgan Stanley might now be cautious and try to avoid further wrath from regulators over its mutual fund practices. Just the opposite appears to be the case. As we pointed out earlier this week, Bitcoin has been thoroughly discredited by some of the smartest people in the investment community. The only thing more risky than buying Bitcoin with cash is buying Bitcoin with leveraged futures contracts. And thats just what Morgan Stanley told the SEC in recent filings that it plans to do.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deadly bombing of the Gaza Strip would continue despite an international outcry and efforts to broker a ceasefire.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said the Israeli air raids were continuing at full-force and would take time, adding that his country wants to levy a heavy price from Gazas Hamas rulers.

Israeli air raids on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people early on Sunday, health authorities in Gaza said.

The violence marked the worst fighting since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The air raids hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 metres down the road.

At one point, a rescuer shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole in the rubble. Are you OK? Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded, and rescue efforts were still under way.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate raid in the southern town of Khan Younis.

Israel appears to have stepped up air raids in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting.

At least 192 people have been killed and 1,200 injured there so far, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Rockets fired at Israel by Palestinian groups in Gaza, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have killed 10 Israelis.

Media targeted

Netanyahu rejected a barrage of criticism of Israels bombing of a high-rise building housing foreign media offices, including Al Jazeeras, in Gaza.

Speaking to CBSs Face the Nation, the prime minister claimed the building hosted an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organisation [Hamas] which plots and organises the terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

He did not present any evidence of his claim but said it was a perfectly legitimate target, nonetheless. Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call with US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, We pass it through our intelligence people.

We are targeting a terrorist organisation that is targeting our civilians and hiding behind them, using them as human shields, he added.

The al-Jalaa tower, which also housed offices of the US news agency Associated Press (AP) and other outlets, was destroyed by an Israeli air force attack on Saturday.

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel and the Palestinian Territories had earlier questioned Israels commitment to a free press after the destruction of the building.

It said in a statement on that the decision to destroy the building during the fighting between Israel and Hamas raises deeply worrying questions about Israels willingness to interfere with the freedom of the press to operate.

We note that Israel has not presented any evidence to support its claim the building was used by Hamas, a letter from the association said.

The association said it had asked for a meeting with Israeli officials over the incident. The FPA says it has 480 members who work for international media.

The international non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also condemned the attack on the building, with executive director Christian Mihr saying that it hadnt been justified no matter if Hamas was using it or not.

Declaring media offices as war targets is a war crime, Mihr wrote on Twitter.
Im in my 13th year of being a teacher. In the short time I have been fronting classrooms and marking essays, I feel like I have experienced a lot. From a heart stopping moment where I stopped a 25-year-old male from assaulting a Year 9 student in my first three months of being a PE teacher, to sharing a chairlift with Year 11 and 12 students on our schools New Zealand Ski trip.

I have many great as well as awful memories. But recently I have been looking at some of those around me, who are entering into their third decade of teaching and I wonder to myself, how do they do it?

After 13 years I truly feel spent. The pay is good, the holidays are amazing, my colleagues are outstanding! Why would anyone want to leave this gig?

I have recently found myself dreaming of retirement or even changing careers, but I feel stuck, because I actually have no idea what else I would do for a career. I have a family to look after, a mortgage to service, for better or worse I am stuck with the job. At the moment Im taking it year by year dreading what the next 30 years will look like.

The journey

If Im completely honest with myself, I did not get to where I am today without solid divine intervention. I was incredibly lazy at school; my exit scores would never get me into university. But the Lord had a plan. I managed to complete an Advanced Diploma at TAFE, which opened a door for me to do a Bachelor of Secondary Education.

Again, to cut a long story short, my entrance into TAFE in the first place was very much an opportunity given to me by God. I was not academic, at least I was too lazy to be, I scraped through university. Then came my pre-service teaching opportunities and finally in the academic world, I began to shine. The last 12 months of university is where my foundations were set. I worked hard, I taught well and graduated with the highest teacher rating you can get.

Every job that has come my way is because the Lord had directed every application, every interview. When I reflect on my 13 years, whether Im tired of the job or not, the Lord has always wanted me in this space.

The purpose

Term 2 has just started, during the holidays I was convinced this year could be my last. Quietly struggling with the career, only my wife knowing my true feelings about the job. I entered into the new school term downtrodden, tired, a little hopeless.

Then just yesterday a student knocked on my staffroom door and asked if he could have a chat. He shared with me his emptiness at the death of a close friend recently, a young man crying out for help and trying to make sense of a terrible accident that took the life of someone far too young. This students father left him when he was young and has not been the source of experience and wisdom that this boy needed. This kid may not be my son, but after teaching him for years I may just be the closest thing he has to a father.

Then during our ANZAC day service, a young man got up and gave a short story about how his father was killed in Iraq serving his country. He was only weeks old when his father died and hearing this story, I wept. This young man greets me with a handshake every day.

That same week I consoled another student while she told me about the mounting health issues that she keeps facing. She too lost her father when she was very young. It was after these three instances, where memories of other students in the past that I have taught, counselled and hung out with, caused the fire in my belly to start to burn again.

We live in an increasingly fatherless generation; where high school students will go to school not knowing their real father, being estranged from their father, abused by their father and rejected by their father.

If I were to leave teaching, I would be throwing away the vehicle which the Lord is using for me to achieve his purpose and demonstrate his love and grace. He has led me to this place to stand in the gap (like so many of my fellow colleagues) to be that positive role model, friend, father figure that these kids so desperately need.

Onward

I still feel exhausted and overwhelmed by what my job entails at times. But I think that when you are called to something, when God has led you to a particular career, I dont think it is going to be smooth sailing. Satan will want to get rid of you and put you in a place of fear and hopelessness so that you will give up, and I think the Lord will allow you to suffer through it, so that we will humble ourselves and trust Him to be our strength in a job that so desperately needs strong men and women of influence and integrity.

So, here is to an extra 30 years of being a teacher and God willing, being the dad some of these kids really need.

A burnt-out offering.
OTTAWA - The federal government faced growing calls for answers from experts and political opponents alike on Sunday amid lingering questions about the abrupt reassignment of the military general who was overseeing Canadas COVID-19 vaccination campaign, as well as who may be stepping into his critical role.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, vice-president of logistics and operations at the Public Health Agency of Canada, participates in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - The federal government faced growing calls for answers from experts and political opponents alike on Sunday amid lingering questions about the abrupt reassignment of the military general who was overseeing Canadas COVID-19 vaccination campaign, as well as who may be stepping into his critical role.

The Defence Department announced in a terse three-line statement on Friday evening that Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was stepping aside from his role overseeing the delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine doses across the country.

The reasons for his departure were not revealed, aside from a brief mention of a military investigation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus office and the Defence Department, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjans office, have since refused to provide further information, including on the nature of the investigation.

The government has also declined to say when officials became aware of the probe and whether Fortin was vetted before being appointed to lead the vaccination campaign in November. Nor has it yet indicated who will be taking over from Fortin as government across the country to ramp up their immunization efforts.

Experts say the lack of information underscores existing frustration over a lack of transparency within the military and Defence Department, as well as raising concerns about Canadas vaccination effort.

There is a lot of speculation about what's going on, said Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, an expert on sexual misconduct in the military at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Dany Fortin had an impact on everyday Canadians because he was responsible for the vaccine rollout. So I think the Department of National Defense, at least in my opinion, has an additional duty to kind of tell us what's going on.

Nobody is expecting the Defence Department and government to reveal the specifics of any allegation, Duval-Lantoine added. But she argued a lack of transparency now undercuts already-shaky confidence that the military will hold top officers to account.

Theres no question that type of secrecy is going to be an additional blow to the legitimacy of the military justice system and how the military regulates itself, she said.

University of Ottawa law professor Penny Collenette, who previously served in prime minister Jean Chretiens office while her husband David Collenette was Canadas defence minister, echoed some of those concerns.

This is a huge operation we're doing, probably one of the most important ever, she said of the vaccination campaign.

And we don't know what the allegation is. ... We're all at a loss. So that's a vacuum of information, which is inexplicable to me.

The Defence Department has taken a mixed approach to the release of information about investigations into several other senior officers, revealing details for some cases but remaining tight-lipped about others.

It has also approved media interviews by two female officers who are at the centre of allegations into the conduct of former defence chief general Jonathan Vance and his successor, Adm. Art McDonald despite ongoing police investigations.

Conservative defence critic James Bezan called on the government on Sunday to start answering questions.

As the sexual misconduct crisis continues to rock the Canadian Armed Forces and now our vaccine rollout, the Liberals lack of leadership is making the situation worse, he said in a statement.

Justin Trudeau must be transparent with Canadians. Canadians need to have confidence in our military, and that starts with the government providing information."

Collenette also questioned the governments continued silence over who will replace Fortin, with the Prime Ministers Office, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada refusing to say who will now oversee the vaccine effort.

The government has insisted the vaccination campaign will not be negatively affected by Fortins departure, but Collenette worried about the impact on Ottawas work with the provinces to get vaccines into the arms of Canadians.

It seemed very odd that there wasn't something that said: No problem, we have an interim person, or No problem, his second-in-command will take over, she said. Just something that lets voters, that lets citizens have some security and some certainty.

Fortin joins a growing list of generals and admirals who have been suspended or forced to step aside in recent weeks, many of them because of inappropriate conduct.

Those include Vance and McDonald as well as Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson, who until last week commanded the militarys human resources section.

Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe was also forced to step aside as commander of Canadas special forces after writing a letter in support of a soldier found guilty of sexually assaulting a comrades wife.

And Lt.-Gen. Christopher Coates retired after concerns were raised about an affair that he had with an American civilian while serving as deputy commander of NORAD.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2021.
HALIFAX - When builders created Halifaxs distinctive Hydrostone neighbourhood more than a century ago, they chose to honour celebrated explorers. There are streets named after William Grant Stairs, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and Henry Morton Stanley, among others.

A sign marks Stairs Place in the Hydrostone district in the North end of Halifax on Thursday, May 13, 2021. The street was named for William Grant Stairs, a Canadian explorer from Halifax who helped lead some of the most controversial expeditions through the African continent. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - When builders created Halifaxs distinctive Hydrostone neighbourhood more than a century ago, they chose to honour celebrated explorers. There are streets named after William Grant Stairs, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot and Henry Morton Stanley, among others.

But now some residents are taking a closer look at the legacies of the men the streets are named for, part of a national trend examining whether people honoured on the country's maps are worthy of celebration.

We live today in a society that does not honour explorers and what they did, Frances Early, a retired Mount Saint Vincent University history professor, said in a recent interview. We live in a society that understands that we live on unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. If we are going to commemorate, we need to commemorate appropriately.

Early lives on Stairs Place in the Hydrostone, named after the Halifax-born explorer who was instrumental in some of the most violent expeditions across Africa. A few blocks over is Columbus Place, which is just down from Cabot Place.

She said the street names werent chosen by the city or its citizens but by the construction company that built the housing after much of the area had been levelled by the Halifax Explosion in 1917. It was a time when the military town of Halifax was enamoured with all things British and imperial.

Many of the streets are named after explorers to honour white explorers, and it provoked absolutely no discussion, Early said. And as a local figure, Stairs made for a great addition alongside the likes of Columbus and Stanley, a British explorer of Central Africa.

Jonathan Roberts, a history professor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, said in a recent interview that Stairs was a leading figure in several trips to attempt to pacify parts of Africa. Stairs' journals outline the strategy he adopted on his travels, which included ambushing villages and killing thieves who stole from his encampment.

Like Early, Roberts wants the city to reconsider the names of Stairs Place and Stairs Street. In April, he went to the neighbourhood to shoot a video in which he recounts the life and legacy of the colonialist. In it, Roberts reads a passage from Stairs' journals, which were published after his death in 1892.

It was most interesting lying in the bush and watching the natives quietly at their days work  all as it was every day until our discharge of bullets, when the usual uproar and screaming of women took place, the journals read.

Roberts said he wanted to inform residents of Stairs' notoriety, and he has created an online petition to have the street renamed. There are grand gestures of decolonization and there are incremental, small acts of decolonization and I want to do, at least, a small act if I can contribute, Roberts said.

Roberts and Early's efforts reflect a growing conversation around names and the place they have in society, said Lauren Beck, a professor of Hispanic studies at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. She said the moral anxiety around names has shifted over time with our values.

Beck is tackling the issue in her upcoming book, "Canadas Place Names and How to Change Them," which she expects to see published in 2022. The book looks at names across the country through racialized and gendered lenses.

In a recent interview, Beck said some of the earliest names in Canada were informed by Christianity and were often named after saintsby early explorers and settlers. The landscape of the Americas not only becomes Christianized in many ways, but also quite masculine in a European sort of way, Beck said of the early development of Canada.

In her book, Beck said she will address how names are given, the power to legitimize and maintain a name and a strategy to change names in a way that doesn't alienate too many people.

Many of the names on our maps, when they do celebrate people, many of those people are wealthier people, or they're politicians who have a very specific role in our society, Beck said. What would we call our places if we were given the opportunity to make them welcoming and inclusive, reflective of the population, rather than just one demographic?

Last year in Halifax, a task force recommended the permanent removal of a statue dedicated to city founder Edward Cornwallis and the renaming of a street and park honouring him. The task force concluded public commemoration of Cornwallis, the British officer accused of practising genocide against the local Indigenous population, is incompatible with current values.

Coun. Lindell Smith, whose district includes the Hydrostone neighbourhood, said in an interview Friday that concerns about street names in the area have not been put to council. He said he supports replacing the explorers' names but still needs to get feedback from residents.

Weve gone through processes where we've looked at the historical context of street names and asset names, so it's not a process we don't know how to do, Smith said of the city. I think it might be a good time to have those discussions if they're coming forward.

For Early, the Hydrostone street names represent values that are no longer held by the people of Halifax.

What does commemoration signify? Why do we name streets and buildings after people? she asked. We do this because at any given moment, we are acknowledging people or events that we respect or want remembered in our society.

Nothing stays the same, does it? she added. Society moves on.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
As COVID-19 vaccine supplies ramp up across the country, most provinces and territories have released details of who can expect to receive a shot in the coming weeks.

As COVID-19 vaccine supplies ramp up across the country, most provinces and territories have released details of who can expect to receive a shot in the coming weeks.

Health Canada says up to 37 million doses of vaccine could be shipped in May and June, but only 20.3 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 1.04 million doses of Moderna are confirmed. The remaining 11.3 million doses of Moderna, and another four million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca from various sources are still tentative.

Provinces initially suspended giving AstraZeneca shots to people under the age of 55 based on an advisory committee's advice, but their recommendation changed on April 23 to reflect that the shot is safe for anyone aged 30 and older.

More than 655,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the global vaccine sharing alliance known as COVAX, are scheduled to arrive and be distributed to provinces this week, but most provinces have already said they plan to put them on ice in reserve for second doses.

Health Canada, meanwhile, approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children 12 and older on May 5.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says almost 50 per cent of eligible adults in Canada have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

He says by the summer, Canada will have enough vaccines so that every eligible resident will have gotten their first dose, and by September, it will have enough doses for everyone to be fully vaccinated.

Here's a list of the inoculation plans throughout Canada:

Newfoundland and Labrador

All people in the province aged 30 and older are now able to book an appointment for a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is stopping the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine as a first dose.

The Health Department says the "decision is based on an abundance of caution'' due to an observed increase in the rare blood-clotting condition linked to this vaccine.

The department also says it has enough mRNA vaccine to immunize people age 40 and older, and it will reschedule anyone who was to receive AstraZeneca to instead be inoculated with Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna "in a timely manner."

People aged 35 and older can book appointments for the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines at clinics across the province.

Prince Edward Island

In Prince Edward Island, residents as young as 16 can book a COVID-19 vaccine.

People 16 years and older who have certain underlying medical conditions, pregnant woman and eligible members of their household can also get a vaccine.

New Brunswick

In New Brunswick, all residents 30 and older can book vaccine appointments.

Individuals 16 and older who have two or more chronic health conditions are also eligible.

Quebec

In Quebec, all residents 18 and older are able to book a COVID-19 vaccination appointment.

The province's health minister says Quebecers 12 to 17 years old will be offered a first dose of COVID-19 by the end of June and will be fully vaccinated by the time they return to school in September.

Ontario

Ontario is due to expand COVID-19 vaccine eligibility again this week, opening up appointments to people as young as 30 across the province. The current age of vaccine eligibility is 40 across Ontario.

The government has yet to say which day the minimum age will drop.

The province aims to open appointments to all adults next week and says it's developing a plan to vaccinate children aged 12 to 17 starting in June. It hopes to see all eligible Ontarians fully vaccinated by the end of September.

The province is also switching gears in how it distributes vaccines. It will now send the shots to regions on a per capita basis, after two weeks of sending half the vaccine supply to COVID-19 hot spots.

The province, meanwhile, has announced a pause on using AstraZeneca for first shots due to an increased risk of a rare blood-clotting syndrome linked to the vaccine.

Manitoba

Manitoba is using the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for all people aged 18 and up. These are available through a few channels including so-called supersites in larger communities. Health officials plan to continue reducing the age minimum, bit by bit, down to age 12 by May 21 at the latest.

The province is also allowing anyone 40 and over to get an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine through pharmacies and medical clinics, subject to availability. People 30-39 can get a shot if they have certain underlying health conditions such as chronic liver failure or severe obesity.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan residents aged 20 and older are now eligible to book their first COVID-19 vaccine appointment.

All adults - those 18 and older - in the Far North, as well as front-line workers with proof of employment, are also eligible.

The province previously expanded its vaccine delivery plan for people in more vulnerable groups to include all pregnant women and 16- and 17-year-olds who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable.

Saskatchewan also dropped the age at which people can receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to 40 from 55.

The province says all Saskatchewan residents over 12 will be eligible for vaccination by May 20.

There are drive-thru and walk-in vaccination clinics in communities across the province.

Alberta

Every Albertan aged 12 and older is now eligible for a vaccine.

For the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, the province lowered the minimum age to 30. They are, however, reserving the remaining supply for second doses when people are eligible. Officials say the second dose will be given 12 weeks after the first.

More than 250 pharmacies are offering immunizations. Ten physicians' clinics across the province are also providing shots as part of a pilot project.

About 15,000 workers at 136 meat-packing plants across the province can also get shots at on-site clinics, pharmacies and clinics.

Alberta has said it is extending the time between the first dose and the second to four months. But some cancer patients, transplant recipients and anyone being treated with an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody such as Rituximab are able to book a second dose 21 to 28 days after their first.

British Columbia

All B-C residents age 18 and up can now book their COVID-19 shot.

Almost 2.4 million doses of the vaccines have been administered in the province, about 125,000 of those are second doses.

The province has said it will hold its remaining supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to use as second shots for people who initially received that vaccine.

Two people in the province have survived the blood-clotting disorder connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the government tracked almost 80,000 positive COVID-19 cases to assess the impact of vaccines.

Government data show more than 98 per cent of those who contracted COVID-19 were not vaccinated, 1,340 people who had their first shot tested positive and 120 people who had their second shot contracted COVID-19.

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Nunavut

Nunavut has opened vaccinations to anyone 18 and older.

It is also offering shots to rotational workers coming from Southern Canada.

The territory had expected to finish its vaccine rollout of first and second doses by the end of April.

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is now offering vaccinations against COVID-19 to young people between 12 and 17.

The territory, which has only been using the Moderna vaccine, recently exchanged some of that for doses of the Pfizer product, which Health Canada has now approved for anyone as young as 12.

Yukon

Anyone 18 years of age or older can get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Yukon's health minister says the territory will be giving youths between 12 and 17-years old a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before the school year ends in June.

Tracy-Anne McPhee says the territory has struck a deal with the federal government to acquire enough doses to fully vaccinate all 2,641 youths in that age range.

She says the goal is to provide a second dose by the end of July.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2021.


Christian leaders are praying for an end to fighting between Israel and Gaza after hostilities escalated this week, leaving many dead.

Israel has launched air and ground attacks in retaliatory strikes on Gaza, killing at least 119, including 31 children, Gaza's health ministry said on Friday.

Although Israeli ground forces have joined in the assaults, Israel said they are not operating inside Gaza.

Christian Aid's head of Middle East William Bell has warned that a ground invasion by Israel would "take us into the depths of hell".

"The international community cannot afford to continue failing in their responsibility to use every possible measure to stop the violence immediately," he said.

"But they must not stop there. As the violence across Israel and the West Bank demonstrates, it is the status quo that led us to this point.

"It is the inequality, discrimination, incitement and abuse of power that has led some to a false sense of security and others to despair."

But Rev Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in the US, has called Hamas' attacks on Israel "nothing short of terror."

He is calling on President Joe Biden to "step up" the US' defence of Israel.

"Every Jew and every Palestinian is loved by God, made in the image of God, and deserves equal opportunity to realize their aspirations. There is a moral equivalency in their - and our - common humanity, but there is no moral equivalency between the actions of the terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the democratic State of Israel in defending its citizens," said Rodriguez.

Tor Wennesland, the UN's Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, this week issued an urgent appeal to both sides to suspend attacks.

"Stop the fire immediately. We're escalating towards a full-scale war," tweeted Wennesland.

"The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now."

Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham has echoed these fears, saying the situation "could become a full-scale war in the blink of an eye."

"I have many friends who live in Israel, both Arab and Jew, so we are very concerned about the situation there," he said.

"People have been killed, families are cowering in fear in bomb shelters, and they need our prayers. As we are commanded in the Scriptures, let us 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' (Psalm 122:6)."

Harvest pastor Greg Laurie said that everyone should be "praying for Israel."

"They have been barraged by over 1000 rockets from Hamas, which is a terrorist organization backed by Iran," Laurie stated. "[T]he Bible tells us to 'Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem'.( Ps.122:6)," he said.

Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, said, "As Christians, we support the people of Israel because they are God's chosen people. As Americans, we celebrate the State of Israel as an ally and the only democracy in the middle east. It is a democracy known for its commitment to religious freedom, human rights and the rule of law.

"Thousands of rockets have been launched at Israel with the help of multiple US-designated terrorist groups in Gaza all funded, incited and enabled by the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is not a partisan issue.

"The US cannot afford to remain silent. We call on President Biden to publically stand with Israel without equivocation and make his position clear  the United States will not tolerate terrorism in any form domestic or abroad."



Reposted with permission from Christian Today
The CEO of Virgin, Jayne Hrdlicka, has called for the countrys borders to be reopened before the stated goal of mid-2022, saying it made long-term sense even if some people may die.

Ms Hrdlicka was speaking at a business lunch in Brisbane when she was asked about the current border situation and its impact on airlines such as Virgin.

Virgin CEO Jayne Hrdlicka. Credit:Ben Searcy

She said she believed the stated goal of mid-2022 was shortsighted and said as long as the country had a decent level of vaccination the borders should be reopened much sooner.

COVID will be part of the community, we will become sick with COVID and it wont put us in hospital, and it wont put people into dire straits because well have a vaccine, Ms Hrdlicka said.

Some people may die but it will be way smaller than with the flu, were forgetting the fact that weve learnt how to live with lots of viruses and challenges over the years and weve got to learn how to live with this.

She did not specify exactly when she would like to see the borders reopened, but Virgin has previously stated it wants to resume international flights within the Australasian region to centres such as Bali and Fiji by the end of the year.

Read the full story here.
A property developer for whom Daryl Maguire lucklessly lobbied to rezone buildings near Campsie station will end up with the tallest towers in the area regardless under a council plan to reshape the precinct.

J Group managing director Joseph Alha, who has been pushing for years to have the height controls of his Beamish Street properties increased, will be among the beneficiaries of the 20-storey height limits proposed for the suburb under Canterbury-Bankstowns blueprint for the area.

J Groups proposed plans for Beamish Street. Credit:J Group

The masterplan that includes injecting more than 6000 new homes into a sustainably built south-west Sydney precinct along a new Metro line has already sparked calls from Labor for a halt on big development but Mr Alha questioned the plans viability and said the suburbs growth had been stalled.

Lets face it, if the community want to come up in arms about heights and over-densities and stuff, move out of the area - there is a Metro going in and Sydneys growing. Youre not going to stop it, said Mr Alha, who grew up in the area.
The Queensland government has secured the NRL Magic Round for one more year, but its facing a fight to keep the event in Brisbane after that.

The Magic Round, which sees every NRL match of the round played in Brisbane across one weekend, was first held in 2019, when it was considered a great success, generating more than $20 million for the local economy as thousands of visitors travelled in from interstate.

The round wasnt held in 2020 due to the pandemic, but has again proved a big success in 2021, with about 25,000 interstate visitors pumping more than $20 million into the local economy.

The state government announced on Sunday that it had reached terms with the NRL to keep the event in Queensland next year.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size A mother whose sexual assault complaint was dropped by police discovered in official documents that an officer concluded she did not look like someone who had been violently raped. More than two years later, Sarah  who asked for her identity to be protected  lodged a complaint with Queensland Police about its handling of her case. The 33-year-old is still waiting for a response. Advocacy bodies, including the Victorian Centre Against Sexual Assault, stress there is no correct way to react to rape and Sarah is concerned police in her case still believed outdated rape myths. A Queensland Police Service policeman said officers treated all reports of sexual offending seriously and were committed to investigate each matter fully. In the early hours of a Saturday in December 2017, Sarah alleges she was raped at the back of a hotel in the Gold Coast suburb of Nerang. She had been drinking with friends before she was lured outside. She alleges the man pulled her by the hair and pushed her to the ground before raping her.

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Sarah sustained broken bones during the night and has suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder, which she says will require ongoing treatment. She reported the incident to officers at Southport police station and underwent a forensic medical exam at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Police told Sarah there was insufficient evidence to press charges and emphasised the seriousness of the allegation. The accused, who was excluded in the DNA test, claimed it was consensual. The case was dropped as being unfounded. Sarah reported her alleged rape to police. Credit:Illustration: Jo Gay Although there were CCTV cameras in the car park, the alleged attack happened in a blind spot. In police reports obtained under Right to Information, an officer said when Sarah appeared again on CCTV she did not appear upset or extensively dishevelled. This is echoed in the Victim Assist Queensland statement of reasons for not providing financial assistance.

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Your demeanour and the way you were dressed and walked (captured on CCTV footage) were not consistent with you being violently raped, it quoted the police officer as saying. Someone who was assaulted would appear panicky  not so with it  upset with the world. Sarah applied to see the CCTV vision from the night, but her application was refused multiple times. There is an ingrained stereotype that someone who has really experienced rape will be emotionally distraught, visibly distressed, crying and so forth. However, survivors respond to sexual assault in a broad range of ways. Dr Bianca Fileborn Bianca Fileborn, a criminology lecturer and sexual assault researcher, says the idea a victim or survivor should react in a particular way is absolutely a rape myth. There is no one typical reaction to experiencing sexual violence, and the fact that a survivor wasnt crying or visibly distressed should not be interpreted as meaning that nothing happened, Dr Fileborn says. Sarah says officers asked her if she had consented, but regretted it.

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I was really firm with that. I just said no straight away, she says. Police considered Sarah might have fractured her wrist while intoxicated and the scratches to her lower back might have been self-inflicted. She was also refused financial assistance from Victim Assist Queensland, which Sarah says she needs to pay for psychologists bills for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Sarah felt judged when she lodged a complaint with police. Credit:Illustration: Jo Gay It appears to me that the investigating police have passed judgment upon me and my case and have decided themselves that a conviction will not be successful, she says. I was so upset. I was so angry. I questioned my own self. What did I do wrong? Was it something I was supposed to do differently? Jonathan Crowe, professor of law at Bond University, said the police response, in this case, was shocking and completely inappropriate.

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Unfortunately, though, these sorts of incidents are far from uncommon. Police responses to sexual violence vary widely, Professor Crowe says. Some police are well trained and sympathetic to survivors, but others are dismissive and ill-informed about sexual assault and trauma. This just underscores the need for more consistent training for police, as well as the importance of specialised officers to deal with reports of sexual violence. There are an estimated minimum of 180,000 victims of sexual assault every year in Australia but only a small proportion report attacks to police. Credit:Illustration: Jo Gay A Queensland Police Service spokesman says the service maintains a range of mandatory and discretionary investigative and awareness training in relation to its response to sexual assaults and dealing with vulnerable people. Through the Queensland governments Prevent. Support. Believe. Queenslands Framework to address Sexual Violence program, the service is taking steps to improve its responses to sexual violence. Supervisors and senior detectives had reviewed this particular case and concluded the complaint could not progress without further evidence.

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That respite is ending with the courts reopening to work through a backlog of cases. Last months Corrections figures also showed a record 44 per cent of the states 7227 prisoners were on remand, many awaiting decisions on criminal charges in custody where bail would have likely been granted before the crackdown. More of Victorias women prisoners are on remand than those who have been convicted and sentenced. In 2018 the Andrews government amended bail laws after six people were killed and dozens more were injured when James Gargasoulas, who was on bail, drove into crowds of pedestrians in Bourke Street. The changes introduced new, higher thresholds for bail and placed the onus on an accused person to prove they were not an unacceptable risk to the public, as well as give a compelling reason or an exceptional circumstance why the should get bail. The Sunday Age highlighted a case where a young woman was jailed for stealing an ice cream while on bail. The Greens Bill would abolish the reverse onus tests in favour of a simplified, single test in which the prosecution would need to show an accused person was an unacceptable risk to the community and shouldnt be bailed.

Victorias tough on crime politics has been toughest on the poorest and most vulnerable, who are often imprisoned for very minor offences, said Greens justice spokesman Tim Read. Jailing vulnerable people for a few days or weeks for non-violent offences doesnt make us safer. In fact, it increases reoffending. However, Mr Gatt said even petty crooks had a choice. No one forces them to commit crime after crime while on bail. The decision and the consequence should rest with them, not us, he said. James Gargasoulas was freed on bail in the days before the Bourke Street massacre, an event that caused a major change to bail laws. Credit: Liberty Victorias Julia Kretzenbacher said the current laws meant people were being remanded in custody for relatively minor indictable offences, such as possession of a small amount of cannabis or theft, if theyre already on bail over more-serious charges. Indigenous people, already being incarcerated at a rate far higher than non-Indigenous people, and vulnerable women are being disproportionately impacted, Ms Kretzenbacher said.

Neither Labor nor the Coalition have offered to back the Greens bill, though both parties havent ruled out support for some reform. A government spokesperson said the laws were changed in response to community concern after Bourke Street and were designed to increase community safety by adding the presumption against bail for serious and violent offences. Loading The best outcome for vulnerable people is to avoid contact with the justice system in the first place  particularly at-risk groups including young people and Aboriginal Victorians. The government said it had a strong focus on early intervention to prevent crime and reduce reoffending. Shadow Attorney-General, Edward ODonohue said any change to bail or parole laws must be informed by clear, objective, expert advice that does not diminish community safety. Failing to get changes to parole and bail laws right puts innocent Victorian lives at risk.

Opposition corrections spokesman David Southwick said spending more money on prisons did not equate to a safer community. Loading Victoria needs new approaches of how to better divert at-risk individuals away from a life of crime, he said. In an interview with The Age, Corrections Minister Natalie Hutchins confirmed policy work was now under way looking at how to reduce remand numbers. She flagged personal support for bail reform but did not detail what changes might be made and when. Is there some work being done on change? Yes. Is that going to be in legislation this year or next? I dont know, she said.
Professor Cowie said part of the problem was a limited supply of AstraZeneca vaccine to the state, which now receives 26,000 doses a week from the Commonwealth. These doses are distributed to 28 vaccination sites which together have capacity to administer more than 100,000 doses a week. A spokeswoman for CSL, the Melbourne-based manufacturer of AstraZeneca, said that as of Friday, 5.5 million doses of locally produced vaccine had been released for distribution. This followed a four-week quality control process, including batch testing by the TGA. Under the Commonwealths vaccination program, about 80 per cent of all AstraZeneca doses are supplied directly to GPs, rather than state governments. Professor Cowie said although Victoria supported this approach it meant that, due to shortages of GPs in Melbournes north and west, fewer vaccine doses were available to people living in communities hit hardest by last years second wave.

Professor Benjamin Cowie is overseeing Victorias COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Credit: Supplied We totally agree that GPs need to have all the AstraZeneca they can use but we really want to see the production gearing up to the point where we can scale up AstraZeneca through the state system without depriving GPs of doses, Professor Cowie said. Everyones objective has to be to vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as we can. The federal Department of Health declined to say how many weekly AstraZeneca doses were being provided to Victorian GPs and how many overall to the state. As of Sunday, more than 400,000 Victorians have been vaccinated by their GP and more than 300,000 at state-run clinics. The pace of Victorias vaccination program should quicken from Monday, with Pfizer doses available to people under the age of 50 who work in high-risk professions such as disability carers, meat processors and taxi and Uber drivers. However, hesitancy about AstraZeneca, a vaccine which carries a one in a 100,000 risk of causing potentially dangerous blood clots, remains a drag on the national vaccine rollout.

Mukesh Haikerwal, a GP who administers about 400 AstraZeneca doses a week at his Altona North clinic, said the son of elderly patients last week threatened to blow up his clinic if either parent sustained a blood clot after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. The false notion that Pfizer is good and AstraZeneca is bad and that you are somehow being short changed by having AZ is very prevalent and wrong. Dr Haikerwal said. The communication of the real tangible benefits of AZ has been woeful. Allen Cheng, the co-chair of the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, said the groups advice on AstraZeneca was a difficult message to promote. He said while Pfizer is the preferred vaccine for people under 50, AstraZeneca is also safe for this cohort. He said the ATAGIs risk assessment for the vaccine reflected the absence of COVID-19 community transmission in Australia. He pointed to the situation in Germany and the UK, where public health advice on AstraZeneca has shifted in response to changed circumstances in the pandemic.

In Germany, where health authorities are struggling to contain the latest wave of infections, an age limit of 60 on the use of AstraZeneca was scrapped a week ago. In the UK, where the winter surge is now under control, the age limit for AstraZeneca was last week increased from 30 to 40. In Greater Manchester, where a local outbreak of infections of the Indian strain of the virus may prompt further lockdown measures, the mayor is pushing for over-16s to be vaccinated. Professor Cheng said the ATAGI guidelines on AstraZeneca were also subject to review. We have drawn this line at 50 because we dont have COVID but we might in the rest of this year, he said. If we had a huge outbreak like Germany we would probably change that advice. Professor Allen Cheng says the advice on the AstraZeneca vaccine is a difficult public health message to convey. Credit:Scott McNaughton
Homicide detectives have called for witnesses after an altercation outside popular Bunbury venue Prince of Wales on Saturday night left a man on life support with critical head injuries.

Police said two men became involved in an alteraction after one of them exited the licenced venue on Stephen Street just after 10.30pm and were separated by onlookers after falling over.

The man was taken to Bunbury Regional Hospital where he remains on life support. Credit:File pic

One of the men, 43, was found to have critical head injuries and taken to Bunbury Regional Hospital, where he remains in critical condition on life support.

The other man, 29, was taken into custody and is assisting police with inquiries.
Following these mega-mergers, evidence provided to the royal commission painted the picture of an important regulatory function becoming lost in a massive government department. Director general Duncan Ord said it now counts more than 800 staff, reports to five ministers, and has a vast range of portfolios to manage. In an entertaining exchange, senior counsel assisting Patricia Cahill outlined some of Mr Ords many responsibilities, including the states cat and dog ownership legislation. Mr Ord also acts as the chair of the GWC and said he would spend 10 to 20 hours a month on matters relating to it. He explained the GWC had no dedicated staff, no office, no printers or phones. The other members of the GWC are paid $16,000 a year and provided with an iPad each.

There are also no longer any dedicated casino inspectors, with inspectors also required to monitor other gaming, racing, and liquor matters. Blurred lines Mr Ord is both the director general of the department and the chair of the GWC. Similarly, deputy director general Michael Connolly was also the deputy chair GWC and, until recently, the states chief casino officer, making him the bureaucrat responsible for regulating Crown. The witnesses defended questions about the challenges of navigating their various roles within the department and were often asked which hat they were wearing in given moments.

Mr Ord pointed to tension that occurred between his roles when it came to resourcing, being torn between advocating for more resources for the GWC while also overseeing the broader departmental budget. In a meeting with the Minister for Racing and Gaming, for example, Mr Ord said he might have to wear both hats. Well, if Im talking about GWC, I have my GWC hat on, he said. If Im talking around general matters of the nature of the department or its resourcing or something, I will talk to him as the director general. Loading

The best way to resolve these blurred roles would be to make the chair of the GWC an independent role, filled by someone with particular expertise in casino regulation, he said. Mr Ord also recommended the role of chief casino officer become a standalone position. Mr Connolly explained he primarily saw himself acting as the deputy director general and considered his former role as chief casino officer to be a very limited one, primarily related to licensing. This is despite the role having the power to issue directions to Crown under the Casino Control Act. Mr Connolly said he spent half an hour in any given day at best on matters related to being chief casino officer, and roughly 20 per cent of his total time on casino regulation generally. GWC member Katy Hodson-Thomas recommended WA create a totally independent regulator, noting the lack of independence made it very difficult to have perhaps some of those robust questioning and probing that should occur across the board table.

Conflicts of interest Among the most stunning revelations in week one were those about potential conflicts of interest, real or perceived, within the department. Barry Sargeant, a former, long-standing director general, defended questions about a potential conflict of interest over a trip he took to Macau in 2013, which was paid for by Crown. Mr Connolly was questioned at length about friendships he had sustained for years with members of Crown Perths legal and compliance team Claude Marais and Paul Hume. He spoke of regular dinners, fishing trips, and even the sale of a boat to Mr Marais in about 2016 for $13,000, which netted Mr Connolly a $116 profit.

When the friendships were discovered by the media in February, Mr Connolly stood down as chief casino officer because he felt he could not continue under such duress. The friendships and the sale of the boat were known to Mr Sargeant, Mr Connolly boss at the time, from at least 2014 or 2015, Mr Sargaent said. It appears both men considered this sufficient, until recently. I thought they were sufficiently declared and known but certainly hindsight is a wonderful thing and I think that I would agree now that there could be a perception of that, Mr Connolly told the royal commission last week. Lack of experience With the position of chief casino officer vacant, Mr Ord directed Mark Beecroft to step in. The role was not advertised and no one else appears to have been considered by the GWC.

Mr Beecroft is the departments director of strategic regulation and a racing specialist, according to Mr Ord. Mr Beecroft told the royal commission he had limited casino regulation exposure, was far from being any form of an expert on the role of the CCO and considered someone in that role required a far greater knowledge of casino regulation. The revelations followed extensive questioning of the expertise and experience of Mr Ord and other GWC members. Mr Ord  who is a former theatre lighting designer  told the royal commission he had no relevant experience and had not completed any training in casino regulation even though it required extremely complex and technical skills. GWC members are also not offered any training but do have access to briefings from department staff. The growing complexity of casino operations in Australia into the future meant such experience and training were a necessity for the GWC chair role, Mr Ord said.

On Thursday, Premier Mark McGowan announced Mr Ords retirement as part of sweeping changes to the leadership of eight government departments. Lanie Chopping, a social worker by profession who is currently the Commissioner for Consumer Protection, will act in the role from 31 May. Reactive approach And then there are the allegations of criminal activity at Crown. What were the department and GWC doing to prevent that, the royal commission asked? Evidence last week suggested the GWC was aware there were risks of criminal activity but did not take a proactive approach.

Loading The GWC does not have any formal procedures that related to money laundering and criminals infiltrating casino operations, Mr Sargeant said in his witness statement. The GWC relies upon the appropriate agencies such as AUSTRAC, WA Police Force, the Australian Federal Police, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to deal with these type of criminal matters and inform the GWC if there were any such issues at the Perth Casino. Asked what inquiries he made to those entities about their work on casinos, Mr Sargeant said he didnt make any formal ones. I did rely on them to raise issues with us rather than the other way around, he told the royal commission.
Labor is casting doubt on how many young Australians the federal government can entice into apprenticeships, with new data showing there are 150,000 fewer apprentices than when the Coalition took power.

But the government says it is the only side with a proper plan for training, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison focuses on skills and jobs during a Queensland budget tour.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison met apprentices at an engineering firm in Gladstone on Sunday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

New figures from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment show in September last year, there were 42,614 fewer apprentices in NSW than in 2013, a drop of more than 33 per cent. In Victoria, numbers were down almost 40 per cent with 38,883 fewer apprentices.

Nationally, there were 264,425 apprentices in September, compared with 412,727 in 2013.
The soldiers patrol the city every day, and sometimes they set up roadblocks to harass the people coming through, said Thuzar Wint Lwin, who also goes by the name Candy. In some cases, they fire without hesitation. We are scared of our own soldiers. Whenever we see one, all we feel is anger and fear. Every evening on television, the military announces new arrest warrants for celebrities and others who have been critical of the regime. Some of those named have been people Thuzar Wint Lwin knows. Thuzar Wint Lwin doesnt expect to be able to return to Myanmar following her criticism of the junta. Credit:Ysa Perez/The New York Times Before leaving for the United States, she watched anxiously to see if her name had ended up on the militarys wanted list. She saw reports of well-known people being detained as they tried to leave the country, so she decided to wear a hoodie and glasses to keep from being recognised at the Yangon airport. I had to pass through immigration, and I was so scared, she said in an interview from Florida. In criticising the junta from outside her country, Miss Universe Myanmar is not alone.

Win Htet Oo, one of the countrys best swimmers, said from Australia that he was giving up his dream of going to the Olympics and would not compete under the Myanmar flag until the regimes leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was removed from power. And mixed martial arts fighter Aung La Nsang, an American citizen and one of Myanmars most famous athletes, has urged President Joe Biden to help end the suffering of Myanmars people. Loading Thuzar Wint Lwin said she believes that it will not be safe for her to return to Myanmar after speaking out against the regime; she does not know where she will go after the pageant ends. An English major at East Yangon University, her path to the pro-democracy movement can perhaps be traced back to her childhood. She grew up in a middle-class household. Like many parents, her father, a businessman, and her mother, a housewife, dared not discuss the military government that was then in power. One of her early memories was walking with her mother near Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon in 2007, when monks led nationwide protests against military rule. She was 7. As they neared the pagoda, soldiers broke up the protest by shooting their guns in the air. People started running. She and her mother ran, too.

We were very scared, she recalled. We went to a strangers house, and we were hiding. Soon after, the military crushed that protest movement by shooting dozens of people. But by 2011, the military began sharing power with civilian leaders and opening the country, allowing cellphones and affordable internet access to flood in. Thuzar Wint Lwin is part of the first generation in Myanmar to grow up fully connected to the outside world and for whom a free society seemed normal. In 2015, the country seated democratically elected officials for the first time in more than a half-century. We have been living in freedom for five years, she said. Do not take us back. We know all about the world. We have the internet. November was the first time she was old enough to vote, and she cast her ballot for the National League for Democracy, the party of Suu Kyi, which won in a landslide, only to have the military overturn the results by seizing power. Before the coup, Thuzar Wint Lwins biggest ordeal came when she was 19 and had surgery to remove precancerous tumours from each breast, leaving permanent scars. She decided against having laser treatment to improve their appearance as a reminder of her success in preventing cancer.

Its just a scar and Im still me, she wrote in a recent post with photographs of the scars. I met self-acceptance realising nothing changed who I am and the values I set for myself. Now, when I see those scars, I feel empowered. Loading She began modelling when she was in high school and, after her fathers retirement, helped support the family. She is one of fewer than a dozen contestants from Myanmar ever to compete in the Miss Universe pageant, which was founded in 1952. During the period from 1962 to 2011, when the Tatmadaw first ruled, Myanmar sent no contestants. When Thuzar Wint Lwin arrived in Florida on May 7, she was told the suitcase with her outfits for the competition had been lost by the airline. Most contestants had already arrived and were busy rehearsing, making videos and having photo shoots. As the week wore on, the bag still had not arrived, but the pageant organisers were helping her with her gown, and other contestants were lending her outfits. Her national costume was among the missing items. People from Myanmar who live in the United States provided her with a stunning replacement of ethnic Chin origin. She wore it Thursday to the applause of many in the crowd.
Were not taking sides in the actual conflict, she said. But we are in favour and what we do believe in is protecting the worlds right to know what is going on in this conflict or any conflict. This is an important story and because of the actions yesterday, the world is going to know less. Loading The attack took place one day after Israels military was accused of misleading foreign journalists by announcing it had launched a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, then retracting that claim an hour later. While a spokesperson blamed internal confusion, Israeli media outlets have suggested that officials were deliberately spreading misinformation that would encourage Hamas militants to position themselves where they would be vulnerable to airstrikes. In the wake of Saturdays airstrikes, some observers pointed out that the Associated Press was one of the few international news outlets that responded to the announcement with scepticism and did not report that a ground invasion had begun.

On Friday, the Israeli military had abruptly announced that its ground forces had begun attacking in the Gaza Strip, saying it on Twitter, in text messages to journalists and in on-the-record confirmations by an English-speaking army spokesman. Loading Several international news organisations, including The New York Times and Washington Post immediately alerted readers worldwide that a Gaza incursion or invasion was underway, a major escalation of Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. Within hours, those reports were all corrected: No invasion had taken place. Rather, ground troops had opened fire at targets in Gaza from inside Israeli territory, while fighters and drones were continuing to attack from the air. A top military spokesman took responsibility, blaming the fog of war.

But by Friday evening, several leading Israeli news outlets were reporting that the incorrect announcement was no accident, but had actually been part of an elaborate deception. The intent, the media reports said, was to dupe Hamas fighters into thinking that an invasion had begun and to respond in ways that would expose far greater numbers of them to what was being called a devastatingly lethal Israeli attack. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The militarys English-language spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, insisted that the false announcement had been his own mistake, but an honest one, telling foreign correspondents in a tense conference call early Friday evening that he had misunderstood information coming in from the field and had released it without adequately verifying it. But in the Hebrew-language press, the military was simultaneously being praised for luring Hamas fighters into a network of tunnels in northern Gaza that was pounded by some 160 Israeli jets in a fury of airstrikes beginning around midnight.

This is how the tunnels became death traps for terrorists in Gaza, Israels Channel 12 news station headlined a report by its military reporter, which called the spread of misinformation to foreign journalists a planned ploy. The Israeli press cited the military as saying the plan had worked. That claim could not be independently verified. But the possibility that the military had used the international news media to rack up a bigger body count in Gaza generated sharp questions for Conricus in the conference call. Israeli officials insisted that the call be held off the record, but a Times reporter who did not join the call obtained a recording of it from another news organisation. Representatives of the Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio and Agence France-Presse, all of which had mistakenly reported a ground invasion early Friday, peppered him with questions about whether they had been turned into accessories to the military, why it had taken hours for the invasion report to be reversed and how they would be able to trust the militarys statements going forward.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Security Council that each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself, it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep. Israels UN ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israels response to attacks by Hamas adhered to international law and that the country was trying to avoid civilian casualties. The building housing the offices of the Associated Press and other media in Gaza City collapses after it was hit by an Israeli air strike. Credit:AP Israel uses its missiles to protect its children. Hamas uses children to protect its missiles, Erdan said. The UN Security Council met privately twice last week over the worsening violence, but has so far been unable to agree on a public statement because the United States  a strong ally of Israel  did not believe it would be helpful, diplomats said.

We call upon the US to shoulder its responsibilities, take a just position, and together with most of the international community support the Security Council in easing the situation, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired Sundays meeting as China is council president for May. US President Joe Biden, who has called for a de-escalation but has backed Israels campaign, spoke separately by phone with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late on Saturday. Still, Israel stepped up its assault overnight, vowing to shatter the capabilities of Hamas. Palestinians burn tyres in response to Israeli strikes at a rally marking the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba Day. Credit:Getty Images Since the conflict began, Israel has levelled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they house Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, it turned to the 12-storey al-Jalaa Building, where the offices of the AP, the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets are located, along with several floors of apartments. The campaign will continue as long as it is required, Netanyahu said in a televised speech following the attack. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a ceasefire accelerate. A US diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the UN Security Council is set to meet on Sunday. The military said on Sunday it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch. Hamas upper echelon has gone into hiding in Gaza, and it is unlikely any were at home at the time of the strikes. Hamas top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, divides his time between Turkey and Qatar, both of which provide political support to the group. Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out last Monday, while Israel says the real number is far higher. At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2900 rockets into Israel since Monday, when tensions over a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families boiled over. About half of those projectiles have fallen short or been intercepted, according to the Israeli military, but rockets have reached major cities and sown widespread panic. On Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck several buildings and roads in central Gaza City. Photos circulated by residents and journalists showed the air strikes punched a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa hospital, the largest medical centre in the strip. Loading The Health Ministry said the latest air strikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in air strikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.

The AP had operated from its building in Gaza for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agencys cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building, AP president and chief executive Gary Pruitt said. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk. Loading In the afternoon, the military called the buildings owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust. The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, Pruitt said. We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organisations in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later spoke by phone with Pruitt, offering his support for independent journalists and media organisations, and the White House said it had communicated directly with Israel to urge safety for journalists. The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza. The turmoil has also spilled over elsewhere, fuelling protests in the occupied West Bank and stoking violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.
Phoenix: The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday (Sunday AEST) called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database unhinged and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations.

An Arizona Republican has hit back at criticism from Donald Trump, describing a statement from the former president as unhinged. Credit:AP

We cant indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country, Richer tweeted.

Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.
In Raj Kapoors last directorial venture, Ram Teri Maili (1985), the lead characters undertake two voyages mirroring each other and tracing the course of the river Ganga, which is holy to Hindus. Narendra Sahay (Rajeev Kapoor), known as Naren, travels 2,000 km north from Calcutta (now Kolkata) to Gangotri, the source of the He wants to escape the claustrophobic atmosphere at home and also discover his country. At the village, he meets and falls in love with a local girl, also called (Mandakini), and gets married to her in a pastoral ritual. Later in the film, Ganga makes the journey downstream to find Naren, with whom she has a son. And, like the river, which gets polluted on its way to the sea, Ganga too encounters all sorts of morally corrupt people and eventually enters a brothel in the holy city of Varanasi.

The film is a caustic comment on the betrayal of many of the promises of Independence that had informed Raj Kapoors early ventures such as Awaara (1951), Boot Polish (1954), Shree 420 (1955), Jagte Raho (1956), and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960). The optimism and idealism of these films and their imagination of the nascent republic had been eroded away and replaced by an all-pervasive corruption in the private and public lives of the people. Everything is permissible in politics and business, says Jeeva Sahay (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), Narens industrialist father, early in the film. A little later, when he is asked if it is impossible to live an honest life, he replies: The honest have become martyrs or are perishing from hunger.

Film critic Rajni Bakshi points out that Ram Teri Ganga Maili is a sort of a companion piece to Jis Desh Mein Ganga Beheti Hai. The earlier film, directed by Kapoors long-time cinematographer Radhu Karmakar, was inspired by the story of a Gandhian schoolmaster who spent time with an indigenous community, classified as a criminal tribe by the British, as well as efforts made by Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan to get dacoits across the country to surrender and enter mainstream life. Kapoors character in the film, Raju, is a simpleton like the Chaplin-esque vagabond Raj in Awaara and Shree 420, who tries to reform a band of violent robbers. (The other big hit of 1960 was another bandit-themed narrative, Ganga-Jumna.) Jis Desh also had the eponymous song, composed by Shailendra and set to music by Shankar-Jaikishan, which imagined a utopian India with the Ganga as its soul.





Ram Teri Ganga Maili operates with an operatic, melodramatic canvas, which is both its strength as well as its weakness. The canvas is perhaps a necessity as the narrative of the film reworks several Hindu mythological stories. First, of course, is the story of Dushyant-Shakuntala, which originally appeared in the Mahabharata and was then reworked by Kalidasa as Abhijnanashakuntalam. The city-dwelling, rich person arriving at the village to fall in love has been a popular theme in Hindi cinema, inspiring several hits such as Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), Himalay Ki God Me (1965), Jab Jab Phool Khile (1965)  which reverses the gender equation to city girl and village boy  and even as late as Taal (1999).

While premarital sex was a strict no-no in Hindi films till recently, Naren and Ganga are allowed the licence of one night of union through a pastoral ritual represented in the song Sun saba sun Strangely enough, they conceive immediately  a male (what else?) child. In the mythological tale of Shakuntala, this child is called Bharata, whose descendants are the Pandavas. But more importantly, he gives his name to India, which is also known as Bharat. In the film, Naren must return to the city, only to find that his family is preparing to get him married to Radha (Divya Rana), the daughter of Jeevas political associate Bhagwat Choudhary (Raza Murad). He is unable to break off the wedding as his grandmother falls sick and dies, and later he is convinced that Ganga is dead.

This creates a deus ex machina ending where Ganga, now a baiji, can perform at Narens wedding, leading to the climactic moment of revelation and recognition. The final song of the film, Ek Radha Ek Meera, sung by Lata Mangeshkar, references the myths of Radha and Meera, both devoted to Krishna through their love. Two other mythological references are also from the Mahabharata. The first is of the union of the human with the river, like King Santanu of Hastinapur (a descendant of Bharata) and the goddess Ganga. The second is of the disrobing of Draupadi by the Kauravas at the end of the dice game. About halfway through the film, Ganga, a baiji in Varanasi, is called upon to perform at a private event for Bhagwat Choudhary, and when she refuses, is disrobed by one of his henchmen, leading her to sing the titular song.





The title of the film, however, has a more historical source. It does not reference the hero of the Ramayana, but the 19th-century Bengali reformer Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Kothari, in her essay, mentions a story that Kapoor had heard while shooting for Jis Desh Me at Dakshineswar, a suburban locality of Kolkata where Ramakrishna had served as the priest of a Kali temple:

Raj [Kapoor] met a sadhu who told him the story of Totapuri Maharaj, a naked sadhu from Rishikesh who once came to meet Sri Ramakrishna. As Raj [Kapoor] tells the story: They met at the geographical point where the Ganga is at its filthiest, and Totapuri Maharaj said, Ram, yeh teri Ganga kitni maili hai (Ram your Ganga is filthy). Looking at him steadily, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa replied Maharaj, this is but natural. As she flows down from Rishikesh to here, the Ganga does nothing but wash the sins of human beings.

Kapoor uses this anecdote to comment on the real of the river, and the nascent efforts of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to clean it up.

This has been a long-standing  and unsuccessful  project of the Government of India. One of the earliest projects launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after coming to power in 2014 was Namami Gange, or the National Mission for Ganga, which had a budget of Rs 20,000 crore (200 billion) to clean up the river. In 2019, a new ministry, Jal Shakti, was formed to find solutions for Indias water problems as well as clean up the river. But recent studies show that Ganga continues to be one of the most polluted rivers in the world, bearing the burden of organic and inorganic substances originating primarily from agriculture, industry, and municipal sectors.

If this were not bad enough, over the past week, reports have emerged of bodies of people who have succumbed to the raging second wave of Covid-19, being dumped in the river in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. A ground report by the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar claimed that more than 2,000 had been buried in shallow graves or abandoned on the banks of the Ganga in Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Modi on Friday admitted that the disease had spread in rural India and promised to combat it, but several international agencies have laid the blame for the unfolding human tragedy of the second wave at the door of his government. It is ironic that this government had set out to clean the river, which now bears the most potent and horrific symbol of its failures.

The writers novel, Ritual, was published in 2020.
After I finished Unbound, I glanced at the Echo cylinder on my kitchen counter, next to a few cans of dog food that had just arrived from Instead of the device, I imagined before me the sleek, smoothly bald and evenly tanned face of Jeff Bezos, eyes peering serenely back at me from below the glowing LED halo.

That minor hallucination made sense because  as we learn from Brad Stones portrait of Amazon and its founder  Alexa, the voice coming out of my Echo, more or less is He came up with the idea of a smart speaker in January 2011, back in the era of Google Plus and the iPod Shuffle. Bezos emailed his top deputies that month and declared, We should build a $20 device with its brains in the cloud thats completely controlled by our voice.

For the next nearly four years, he micromanaged the project, pushing teams in Atlanta and Gdansk to make speech recognition seamless. He put in place a surreal testing protocol that involved hiring temps to spend days in empty apartments chattering away to silent speakers, and berated executives who told him it would take decades to develop speech recognition. He took home an early Echo prototype and when, in a moment of frustration, he told it to go shoot yourself in the head, it sent a wave of panic through the engineers who were listening in. He even came up with the idea for the LED ring on top, Mr Stone writes, and with the name Alexa (in homage to the ancient library of Alexandria).

Mr Stones new volume is a sequel of sorts to his 2013 best seller, The Everything Store, which introduced Mr Bezos and explained his single-minded drive to take over online commerce. It is particularly valuable in explaining how the company makes money. The book is also very much a biography of Mr Bezos, who recently announced he will be stepping down as CEO before the end of the year.

As biography, the book is both limited and perhaps strengthened by the fact that Mr Stone has lost his access to Mr Bezos, whom he interviewed for The Everything Store. Mr Stone writes that he learned the CEO was angry he had tracked down his biological father for that book.





AMAZON UNBOUND: and the Invention of a Global Empire Author: Brad Stone Publisher: Simon & Schuster Price: $30; Pages: 478

Theres an old journalistic saying that access is a curse, because it puts the author in debt to his source and brings him too close to the person hes covering. Amazon Unbound does suffer at times from a lack of psychological insight but benefits from the authors distance, and makes for a dense, at times juicy tour of the company Mr Bezos built.

At Amazon, nearly every big decision comes down to a meeting with Mr Bezos, at which his deputies hold their breaths, genuinely uncertain of whether he will tear up their proposals or double their budgets. Some of his fixations, like Alexa, are visionary. Others are quirky: After reading that a single hamburger can contain meat from a hundred different cows, he decided that Amazons fledgling grocery business would distinguish itself by offering a single-cow burger. Once his aides got past thinking their boss was joking, they set to work.

Mr Stone solves some of the mystery behind Amazons HQ2 debacle, in which the company announced plans to build a giant new office complex in Queens, then pulled out in the face of local opposition. That New York City was even a possibility was the result of a decision by Mr Bezos to throw out months of careful study and go instead with his gut. One of the last-minute additions to the plans were the helipads. Mr Bezos once hated helicopters, but all of a sudden they were cropping up everywhere. And it was during this period that hed grown close to a former actress named Lauren Sanchez, a charismatic pilot who ran an aviation company.

Mr Bezos is at his most human in the sections where Mr Stone describes how he fell for Ms Sanchez, courting her so publicly that he was sure to get caught. So its hard not to root for Mr Bezos when, trapped by The Enquirer, he lures the publication into sending him a menacing letter  then cheekily publishes it and exposes the minor scandal himself.

But Mr Bezos isnt your average victim of tabloid extortion. Hes the worlds richest man, and has recently fashioned himself as a champion of uppercase Truth and Democracy by saving The Washington Post. Mr Bezos speculated publicly on the possible political motives behind the revelation of his affair, Mr Stone writes, and tried to shift attention from the tawdriness and toward the brutal murder of Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

This was, at best, reasonable paranoia; and at worst, a truly cynical bit of public relations, cashing in on a journalists murder to distract from a tabloid scandal. His noble sentiment, Mr Stone comments dryly, had little to do with his yearlong open conduct of an extramarital relationship. Mr Bezos wealth and power will always protect him, but theres a flip side, too: They can also taint anything he touches.
India is working with sellers on its marketplace to help them bring in about 9,000 concentrators for customers in India. The aim is to address the growing customer demand and shortage of critical medical equipment,

Amazons global procurement teams are helping interested sellers from India connect with leading global suppliers to enable them to procure concentrators for customers in need. It is also simplifying supply chain complexities and facilitating the overall process.

Amazons global supply chain network is helping urgently airlift these concentrators to India for these sellers. The first batch of 1,000 oxygen concentrators has already landed in India. They are now available for purchase for consumers and business customers. The rest are expected to come through in the second half of the month, said the company in a blog post.

Manish Tiwary, vice president of India, said the company is working on multiple fronts, leveraging its global logistics network and resources to help in Indias fight against Covid-19.

In the last few weeks, we have seen up to a 70x increase in search volume for oxygen concentrators and we are collaborating with our sellers to ramp up the inventory of critical medical equipment including oxygen concentrators for our customers, said Tiwary in a company blog post. Our focus is to enable easy and convenient access to genuine, high-quality products for our customers in their time of need.

Sellers on will now be offering oxygen concentrators along with other genuine and high-quality products like oximeters, thermometers, masks, gloves, sanitisers and disinfectants for customers across India.

As part of its commitment to help India fight the devastating second wave of Covid-19, Amazon recently announced it is importing and donating 100 ventilator units. The firm has also joined hands with multiple partners to urgently bring in over 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) machines to India. The medical equipment will be donated to hospitals and public institutions to augment their capacity to help Covid-19 infected patients across multiple cities.

Amazon said it is enabling cross border movement of urgent medical supplies and equipment both globally and within the country, helping organizations and to move these swiftly into India. The company has also rolled out a number of support measures for employees, sellers and other partners to help them during these challenging times.
on Sunday said it has tied up with the Gujarat government to explore production of COVID-19 vaccine through technology transfer from

The Ahmedabad-based firm said it has already initiated the discussions with in this regard.

"A triparty consortium has been formed with the Government of Gujarat as the lead partner, to explore the prospects of manufacturing the Covid vaccine through technology from Bharat Biotech," CEO and MD Rajiv Gandhi said in a statement.

The discussions are currently ongoing with towards reviewing the infrastructure at Hester, the technology adaption process and the regulatory compliances, he added.

Based on the outcome of the review, the next course of action will be determined, Gandhi noted.

is a leading player in the animal healthcare segment. It is the second largest poultry vaccine manufacturer in the country.

Only three vaccines have so far been approved to be sold in India -- Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V.

Sputnik V has been approved to be imported from Russia by Dr Reddy's, but is yet to be widely available in the country.

Last week the Delhi government urged the Centre to use its special power to allow more firms to manufacture vaccines.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Centre should share the vaccine formula of the two manufacturers with other capable pharmaceutical to scale up production in the country.

He said the Centre can also terminate the monopoly on vaccine production through the patent law.

(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.)
Vedanta Ltd owned Sterlite Copper



plant has roped in experts from to help rectify the technical glitch developed in the cold box of its plant, leading to a suspension in production of the life- saving gas.

The company formally commenced production of medical on Thursday and the very next day, the facility in Tuticorin, about 600kms from here, suffered a jolt in operations after developing a 'technical snag'.

In a statement shared on the micro-blogging site on Sunday, Sterlite Copper said, "efforts to resume production at our plant are progressing".

"Today, an expert team from the Indian Space Research Organisation arrived at the premises to support our ongoing efforts and collaborate with our technical team."



The expert team has suggested some measures to fix the snag and resume production of oxygen.

"This has helped fastrack the repair process for which we are thankful to the local administration, which was instrumental in facilitating this cooperative effort to recommence our oxygen production," Vedanta said.

The facility, on May 13, began producing medical oxygen to meet the demand for the life-saving gas following a surge in COVID cases in the state. The first set of oxygen tankers have been dispatched to the beneficiaries.

The Sterlite copper smelter plant was accorded approval by the then AIADMK government on April 26 at an all-party meeting to produce medical oxygen at its facility for a period of four months at the facility in Tuticorin.

The unit was sealed by the state government in May 2018, days after 13 agitators who were part of a protest against the company over environmental concerns, were killed in police firing during a violent anti-Sterlite stir in the southern district.

(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.)
Westlife Development, which operates McDonald's restaurants in southern and western region in India, plans to invest Rs 100 crore to open up to 30 outlets of the quick service restaurant brand in the current financial year.

The company, which now witnesses more than half of its sales from convenience channels such as delivery, takeaways and drive-thru, is bullish about growth in FY'22, leaving out the next 2-3 months.

"The intention is to open 20-30 McDonald's outlets in the current fiscal year. We will invest Rs 100 crore for opening these outlets," Westlife Development Vice-Chairman Amit Jatia told PTI.

In the last financial year, the company had opened five McDonald's outlets.

Jatia said COVID-19 has accelerated the shift towards convenience channels and the company is bullish about growth in the current fiscal.

"The business has pivoted towards becoming a convenience brand. Having brought all digital channels in place, we have entered this second wave with a lot of strength. Stark difference from the first COVID-19 wave and now is customers ordering outside food, which did not happen last year. I am quite bullish about FY'22, obviously leaving out next 2-3 months," he explained.

In the last quarter of the 2020-21, 55-60 per cent of the company's sales came from convenience channels and 40-45 per cent from in-store business.

Westlife Development reported narrowing of loss to Rs 6.45 crore for March quarter 2020-21, helped by higher income. It had posted a net loss of Rs 25.26 crore in January-March period a year ago.

Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 357.58 crore, up 6.31 per cent from Rs 336.35 crore in March quarter 2019-20.

At present, Westlife Development's arm Hardcastle Restaurants operates 305 McDonald's restaurants across 42 cities in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Union Territory of Puducherry.

(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.)
Route Mobile (UK) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Route Mobile Ltd, on Sunday said it has appointed John Owen as the chief executive officer (CEO) of its Europe and Americas operations.



He will be based in the (London) office.



The appointment, effective immediately, marks a new chapter in Route Mobile's exciting journey as the company embarks on an ambitious trajectory of growth for the next decade, according to a statement.



Owen brings over 30 years of international senior executive leadership experience. He most recently served as the group CEO at Mastek Ltd.



Prior to Mastek, Owen held senior executive roles in organisations like Serco, HP, Sycamore Networks and Nortel.



"Following the successful IPO of Route Mobile, we have been clear that we will now want to strengthen our global management capacity and capability in order to support our growth aspirations.



"I am pleased that we have attracted a seasoned professional like John who has an excellent track record as CEO," Route Mobile Managing Director and Group CEO Rajdipkumar Gupta said.



Gupta added that Owen's deep expertise in running a listed Indian company, his business development capabilities, and M&A experience will ensure sustainable growth for Route Mobile.



"I am certain, together we can take Route Mobile to the next level of global success and recognition. The fact that John is based out of the gives us a competitive advantage as we navigate the challenges of a post-COVID-19 world," he said.



Owen said Route Mobile has had a fantastic last few years with the initial public offering (IPO) and operating success.



"My job is to help execute the growth strategy and scale the business efficiently and effectively to ensure the company continues to outperform the market.



"We have strong foundations; now we need to execute our plans that will help Route Mobile evolve from an Indian success story to a global success story. I am proud to be part of this high-impact team and can feel it is a great cultural fit," Owen added.



(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After several bodies were found floating in Ganga in Buxar district, Bihar police have stepped up vigil along the banks of the river.

BN Upadhyay, Assistant Sub-Inpsector in Chausa area of Buxar, told ANI that they perform last rites if they see any bodies.

"We are patrolling in river Ganga. If we see any dead bodies, we recover them and perform the last rites. We have not found any dead bodies today... Force has been deployed on the banks of Ganga to ensure nobody performs water burial," he said.

Lekhpal Jeet Lal Chaoudhary, who is part of a team patrolling the river in Bara, said if they find any body, they perform last rites. "These bodies are not of locals," he said.

Dhananjay Kumar Pandey, a priest at a Ganga ghat in Bihar's Buxar, told ANI that the bodies are likely to have come from Uttar Pradesh as people sometimes do not cremate them but jut put them in the river.

He said authorities have provided facilities for cremating COVID--19 patients. He said locals sometimes put bodies of those who die of snake bite or disease like TB in river but there was no body of COVID-19 victims.

He said bodies found in river had been tied to earthen utensils.

A priest at Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur said that the administration has banned putting corpses in the river.

"Is no one is dying of COVID in Bihar? The Bihar administration should see through the matter rather the accusing someone else," he said.

Bihar Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha had said earlier this week 71 bodies have been taken out from the Ganges in Buxar district and their last rites performed and a net has been placed in the Ganga in Ranighat, bordering UP and Bihar, to stop any similar incident from happening again.

The bodies were found floating in the river and there are apprehensions that the corpses could of COVID-19 patients.

Bodies have also been found in in Ganga in Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.

Jha, who is Miniter of Water Resources and Information and Public Relations, had said in a series of tweets that Bihar Government has advised UP administration to be vigilant in the matter.

"The Bihar Government is seized of the matter of unfortunate case of floating mortal remains in river Ganga, near Chausa village in Buxar district. The bodies have floated into Bihar from UP. Upon postmortem, our doctors have confirmed that these are 4-5 days' old bodies," he said.

Jha said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been pained at both the tragedy as well as harm to the river Ganges.

"He has always been particular about the purity and uninterrupted flow of the river and has asked the administration to intensify patrolling to ensure this is not repeated. Last rites of 71 bodies performed as per protocols. A net has been placed in Ganges in Ranighat, bordering UP and Bihar. We've advised UP administration to be vigilant; our district administration is keeping vigil too. Advise all to give all respect to those dead, and Maa Ganges," Jha 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.)
Indian banks have lost more than a thousand employees and many more are infected, according to a industry body, underscoring the heavy toll virus has taken in the Asian country battling the worlds worst crisis.

We have lost more than 1,000 colleagues already, S. Nagarajan, general secretary of the All India Bank Officers Association told Bloomberg News over phone on Saturday.  are frontline workers and the virus is affecting them.

With more than 24 million people sickened in India and over 266,200 dead amid the worlds fastest-growing outbreak, bulk of Indian states are in a lockdown with strict stay-at-home orders. But the banking sector is slotted as an essential service and partially exempt from the lockdown orders. Lenders are allowed in some cases to call as much as 50% of their workforce in bank branches to avoid any disruption in banking services.





ALSO READ: Covid: Bank branches to reduce business hours, offer basic services

Not Forthcoming

C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary of the All India Association -- the largest body of bank workers -- told the moneycontrol.com website that 1,200 employees had died due to the virus. Not all banks are forthcoming in sharing the details and compensation policies for the families of those who died due to this virus, Venkatachalam said.

Venkatachalam was not immediately available to Bloomberg for comments.

The Press Trust of India on Friday reported that Debasish Panda, a senior federal government bureaucrat wrote to state authorities urging them to vaccinate bank and insurance employees against Covid on a priority basis.

India, which is facing a severe vaccine shortage, has administered more than 180 million Covid shots so far. At this rate, it will take a projected 2.5 years to cover 75% of the population with a two-dose vaccine, according to Bloombergs vaccine tracker.
Parts of received



light showers on Sunday evening as a result of cyclonic storm Tauktae that is raging far off in the Arabian sea, which also brought gusty winds at some places in the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The brought drizzles and stormy winds in Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Ujjain and Jabalpur divisions. Winds blowing at the speed of up to 32 kilometres per hour (KMPH) were recorded at some places, P K Saha, a senior meteorologist with IMD's Bhopal office, told PTI.

"A trough line from central Arabian sea to west across Konkan, Goa, North and Madhya Maharashtra due Tauktae brought moisture to The moisture incursion is causing showers and winds," he said.

According to the IMD forecast, thunderstorms with lightning and gusty winds at the speed reaching 40-50 KMPH are very likely to blow at isolated places in western Madhya Pradesh in the next two days beginning Monday.

Similarly, winds are likely to blow at the speed of 30-40 KMPH at isolated places in eastern MP in the coming two days, the official said.

According to Saha, Sidhi and Umaria districts recorded three mm each in the evening.

The senior meteorologist said the highest maximum temperature of 43 degrees was recorded at Raisen and Shajapur districts on Sunday.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant on Saturday said that government in Goa has activated its lifesaving machinery on beaches to tackle the situation in view of the Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) warning about Tauktae.

In a video message posted on twitter, the Chief Minister said, "In view of Tauktae, the State has activated its lifesaving machinery on beaches. NDRF team comprising 22 personnel carrying life saving equipment has already arrived. Also, control rooms have been set up at District and Taluka level."

He said that the NDRF is working in coordination with the State government's departments including Electricity, Water Resources Department and Disaster Management Cell.

Meanwhile, the Indian Meteorological Department has informed that, " Tauktae is likely to intensify into a severe cyclonic storm during next 12 hours and intensify further; likely to move north-northwestwards and reach Gujarat coast on the morning of May 18 and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Naliya around the same afternoon."

Indian Railways has also cancelled or short terminated some trains in view of warning concerning cyclonic storm 'Tauktae'. A press statement issued by Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railways Sumit Thakur said that due to the cyclone warning in coastal Gujarat region on May 17 and 18, some trains will be cancelled/short terminated.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept 16 transport aircraft and 18 helicopters operation ready in peninsular India as a preparation for the Cyclone Tauktae.

Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials have also assured on Friday that they are well prepared for Cyclone Tauktae and 53 teams have been committed, 24 teams pre-deployed, and 29 teams are on standby ready for the 5 most vulnerable states-- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

(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.)
Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, and Goa as Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Tauktae which has taken the form of a "very severe cyclonic storm" is likely to intensify further during the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening.

An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the state.

Maharashtra too was bracing for impact as the Met department predicted heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in north Konkan, Mumbai, Thane and Palghar and extremely heavy rainfall in Raigad on Monday.

Four deaths have been reported from Karnataka's Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga districts in cyclone-related incidents.

The water level in many dams across showed a rising trend after heavy rains in the catchment areas, prompting authorities to sound an alert.

Gusty winds and heavy rains started lashing several parts of Goa since Sunday morning.

Power supply in a majority of areas of Goa was disrupted as hundreds of electric poles were uprooted due to the high-speed winds, state Power Minister Nilesh Cabral told PTI.

"Many high tension 33 KV feeders are down due to the falling of trees. Even the 220 KV lines bringing power to Goa from neighbouring Maharashtra have been damaged," he said.

The electricity department deployed its full force for the restoration work, but it was getting hampered due to the strong winds, he said.

The state Fire and Emergency Services control room was flooded with hundreds of calls from locals about the falling of trees and blocked roads, its director Ashok Menon said.

"Our force has been working since last night to clear the roads and remove trees which have fallen on the power lines," Menon said.

In Karnataka, over 70 villages in seven districts including Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Hassan have been affected by the cyclone, the State Disaster Management Authority officials said.

The highest rainfall of 385 mm was recorded at Nada Station in Kundapura taluk of Udupi district, which was the worst affected, and 15 stations recorded more than 200 mm of rainfall in the district.

The rainfall was accompanied by strong winds with speed reaching up to 90 km/per along.

According to the Warning Division of the IMD, by May 18 the wind speed is expected to increase to 150-160 km per hour, gusting up to 175 km per hour.

Officials said nearly a dozen relief camps are functioning in the state. There has been damage to 112 houses, 139 electricity poles and other infrastructure in coastal areas.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has asked in-charge Ministers of coastal districts and Deputy Commissioners there to visit the affected areas and carry out rescue and relief works.

The IMD has issued orange alerts --a warning indicating heavy to very heavy rain-- on Sunday in three districts-Ernakulam, Idukki and Malappuram.

Hundreds of houses were damaged in coastal areas across the state as seawater seeped in following high waves. According to the state government, at least nine districts have been severely affected by sea incursion.

The Thrissur district administration said spillway shutters of the Peringalkuthu dam will be opened if the water level crosses the permitted limit of 419.41 metres. In a statement, the administration has urged the people living on the banks of Chalakudy river to be cautious.

Shutters of Malankara dam in Idukki district will be opened on Sunday, as the water level has increased, the district authorities said.

Families living in coastal areas and low-lying areas of the state have been shifted to relief camps.

Indian Navy on Sunday deployed its diving and quick reaction teams in the coastal village of Chellanam in Ernakulam district, which was heavily hit by tidal waves. The teams, braving harsh weather conditions, undertook rescue and rehabilitation of people who were trapped in houses.

High tidal waves have also lashed Kaipamangalam, Chavakkad and Kodungallur in Thrissur, Pallithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrikkannapuzha in Alappuzha and Beypore and Koyilandy in Kozhikode districts.

The has added to the woes of the states which are already grappling with the devastating third wave of COVID.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba met on Sunday in the national capital, where the top bureaucrat of the country directed agencies to ensure "uninterrupted" functioning of the COVID hospitals in the states affected by Cyclone Tauktae and secure "zero loss" of lives.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Saturday reviewed the preparedness of states, central ministries and agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of Cyclone Tauktae and asked them to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated.

At the high-level meeting which was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and top officials, Modi directed them to ensure special preparedness on COVID management in hospitals, vaccine cold chain and other medical facilities on power back up and storage of essential medicines and to plan for unhindered movement of oxygen tankers, the PMO said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said an alert has been sounded in coastal districts of the state and the administration is prepared to ensure uninterrupted electricity and oxygen supply in COVID-19 hospitals.

During a virtual meeting with Shah, Thackeray said jumbo COVID-19 centres and other facilities can protect patients from rain. But, in view of the cyclonic storm, some patientsfrom Mumbai and other areas have been shifted to safer places.

The IMD said Tauktae would cross Gujarat's coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district by early Tuesday morning and tidal waves are likely to inundate several coastal districts during the landfall.

"The very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae over the east-central Arabian Sea moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 11 kmph during the past six hours," it said.

"It is very likely to intensify during the next 24 hours. It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and reach the Gujarat coast in the evening hours of May 17 and cross the state coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district around May 18 early morning," the IMD said.

With the cyclone intensifying, the wind speed along and off Gujarat coasts in Porbandar, Junagadh, Gir Somnath and Amreli districts will reach 150-160 kmph gusting to 175 kmph by Tuesday morning.

It will reach a speed of 120-150 kmph gusting to 165 kmph over Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar districts during the same period, the IMD said.

"Gale winds with speed reaching 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph are likely to prevail along and off Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, southern parts of Ahmedabad, and Anand districts, as well as Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman (Union Territories) from May 17 midnight till Tuesday morning," it said.

The sea conditions will become "very rough to high" along and off the south Gujarat coast from Monday morning, and "very high to phenomenal" from Monday midnight.

A tidal wave of about 3 metres, 1-2.5 metres above the astronomical tide, is likely to inundate several coastal areas of the state during the time of the landfall, it said.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places was likely over Saurashtra and Kutch and Diu on Monday, and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on Tuesday, according to IMD.

Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea, the state government said, adding that 107 out of the 149 fishing boats which were out into the waters returned to the coast by Sunday morning.

"With the cyclone likely to affect power supply, hospitals treating COVID-19 patients have been asked to ensure power back-up. Arrangements have also been made to ensure uninterrupted generation of medical oxygen in the eight manufacturing units and buffer stock has also been created," Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told reporters after attending a cyclone review meeting in Gandhingar.

(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.)
After sending a warning signal with heavy rain lashing Indias western coast, cyclone Tauktae is expected to make a landfall in between Mahuva in Bhavnagar district and Porbandar early Tuesday morning with wind speeds surging past 175 km per hour.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) latest update, the severe cyclone is likely to cause maximum damage in Porbandar, Amreli, Junagadh, Gir Somnath, Botad, Bhavnagar and coastal areas of Ahmedabad in It also warned of destruction of houses, flooding of escape routes and disruption to rail services till May 21.

The cyclone, the first of 2021, threatens to compound challenges for state administrations that are dealing with a high case load of Covid-19 patients in the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The estimated wind speeds of 70-80 kmph gusting up to 90 kmph is also likely along and off south Maharashtra-Goa and adjoining Karnatakas coasts, apart from 40-50 kmph winds going up to 60 kmph along and off north Maharashtras shores, on Sunday. It is likely to increase to 65-75 kmph, gusting up to 85 kmph along and off the north Maharashtra coast, from Monday till Tuesday morning.

The has already started taking its toll. It wreaked havoc in the coastal region surrounding the Malnad districts of Karnataka leading to four deaths since Friday night.

According to the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, till Sunday morning, 73 villages and 17 taluks in seven districts  Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan  had been affected by the The highest number of villages, 28, was hit in Udupi district. As many as 318 people had been evacuated, and 298 were taking shelter in 11 relief camps.

In neighbouring Kerala, several parts have witnessed heavy downpour causing water levels to rise in many dams across the state.

The already issued orange alerts  indicating heavy to very heavy rain on Sunday in Ernakulam, Idukki and Malappuram districts. The catchment areas of many dams in the central Kerala districts have reported heavy rains, prompting the authorities to sound alerts before closing their shutters.

At least 15 fishermen from Beypore Port in Kozhikode have gone missing, state officials said, while in Goa flights have been cancelled.

The central government is monitoring and reviewing the situation. Cabinet secretary Rajeev Gauba held a meeting with top officials of all the affected states on Sunday.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation in the states and assessed their preparedness. Home Minister Amit Shah too held a meeting with the affected states. The National Crisis Management Committee chaired a meeting with different states on Sunday and said that nearly 80 disaster management teams had been deployed.

Rescue and relief teams from the army, navy and coast guard along with ships and aircraft have also been deployed.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has asked officials to ensure that electricity supply to Covid-19 hospitals and other medical facilities is not disrupted while oxygen supply is maintained.

Vaccinations have been suspended for the next two days.

The Maharashtra government has moved Covid-19 patients, who had been admitted to makeshift centres in Mumbai, to hospitals within the capital. In Gujarat, authorities at the largest government-run Kandla Port said steps had been taken to evacuate around 5,000 people from low-lying areas.
India on Sunday reported a net reduction of 55,344 in active cases to take its count to 3,618,458. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 21.10 per cent (one in 5). The country is second among the most affected countries by active cases. On Sunday, it added 311,170 cases to take its total caseload to 24,684,077. And, with 4,077 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 270,284, or 1.09 per cent of total confirmed infections.

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Digital Editor
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out Rs 6,452 crore so far in May from Indian markets amid tumbling investor sentiment due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As per depositories data, the overseas investors pulled out Rs 6,427 crore from equities and Rs 25 crore from the debt segment during May 1-14.

The net outflow during the period under review stood at Rs 6,452 crore.

"The severe Covid second wave, increasing lockdowns and concerns regarding its impact on GDP growth and corporate earnings seem to be behind FPI outflows," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In the preceding month, the total net outflow from the Indian capital markets (equities and debt) was Rs 9,435 crore.

The real impact on economy is unclear but investors are becoming nervous and cautious, said co-founder and COO at Groww Harsh Jain.

are now running a concentrated portfolio with high weightage on IT, pharma, select FMCG, and stocks with good earnings visibility, Vijayakumar noted.

"Rising Covid cases in the country and extension of lockdowns could play spoilsport. Moreover, the uncertainty over the degree of impact on the economy could continue to keep foreign investors on the sidelines and can also potentially force to adopt a wait-and-watch approach," said Himanshu Srivastava, associate director - manager research, Morningstar India.

The focus for would continue to be on economic numbers and how soon India gains its economic momentum back. Any surprise on that front can dent sentiments further and adversely impact foreign flows, Srivastava 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.)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan on Saturday suggested that a new application is needed to be developed for administering vaccine to the people of 18-44 age group.

While speaking to ANI, Narayan said, "With regard to administering vaccine for 18-44 years age group, a new app needs to be developed and this will be interfaced with Co-WIN App and later the vaccination schedule will be prepared taking into account the availability of vaccines."

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjiwal has urged the Cente to allow states to develop a separate mobile application and mechanism for effective and smooth Covid vaccination drive amid reports of glitches being reported in the Co-WIN app.

"A priority list will be prepared. This may include those who are working in the postal department, agricultural department, bank employees, internet service providers, etc", said Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Head of State Covid Task Force, Dr CN Ashwath Narayan.

Karnataka has been witnessing surge in COVID-19 cases and recording the highest COVID-19 related deaths .

The state emerged as the country's new COVID-19 hotspot with 5,98,625 active cases, the highest in the country, followed by Maharashtra with 5,21,683 active infections, the union health minister informed.

Meanwhile, Karnataka reported 41,664 new COVID-19 cases, 34,425 discharges, and 349 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the state health department on Saturday. The active cases in the state stand at 6,05,494.

(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.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry on the COVID-19 situation in the states and the union territory, government sources said.

Modi has been regularly speaking to chief ministers to take stock of the pandemic's situation in states and union territories.

With 3.11 lakh fresh infections, India saw the lowest rise in daily COVID-19 cases after a gap of 25 days, while the death toll rose to 2,70,284 with 4,077 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

The active cases have reduced to 36,18,458 comprising 14.66 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 84.25 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,07,95,335, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.09 per cent, the data stated.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It was a stressful night at the Express Building at Delhis Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. There was a massive power failure just minutes before the newspaper was supposed to go for printing and some final touches were still left to be done. I, then with the 'Financial Express' (FE) in Delhi (1997), was nervous. In comes Sunil Jain, then the business editor of Indian Express, a sister publication. Dont lose hope, yaar. Have you ever seen any newspaper not hitting the stands due to a power failure in office? he said with a big smile on his face. The tension just melted away, and we had a good laugh.

I was lucky to have got many opportunities to learn from his wisdom and sharp intellect, as he kept coming to the FE newsroom in the evenings just to debate and discuss the important business events of the day. Those discussions and the subsequent ones over many years were lively as Sunil was certainly not a man of few words--either at the professional or personal level.

Just when everyone was saying that Sunil was recovering as he had been taken off the ventilator at the AIIMS emergency room, I was relieved but something in me rankled. Reason: His last tweet on May 3 this year that said, Breathing but just that close to letting go. Cant take it anymore. Docs have no solution either

When a man as optimistic and as full of life as Sunil writes this, your heart skips a beat. But as subsequent messages from some of his well-wishers kept saying that his situation was steadily improving, and he replied promptly with a namaste sign when I enquired about his health just a few days ago, that initial concern of mine seemed an over-reaction -- until Saturday evening when his close ones tweeted that he was no more.

I got an opportunity to work together with Sunil in the same organisation when he joined 'Business Standard' (BS) as the Opinion Page Editor in 2002. That Sunil was an outstanding journalist and one of the finest economic writers was evident from his weekly 'Rational Expectations' columns in BS and then in the 'Financial Express' where he was the Managing Editor. His write-ups on telecom, for example, didnt endear him or BS to some influential people in the government and the industry at that time but they were masterpieces and helped demystify the scam.

Many readers will get a sense of deja vu if they read his columns written many years ago on some of the countrys regulators--how even a good regulator would have no option but to give a bad judgement given the framework. For example, several of the legislations say if the regulator steps out of line, the government of the day has the power to remove him/her before his/her term comes to an end after just an internal inquiry! The columns created quite a stir but Sunil as usual remained unfazed. Backed by excellent analytical skills, he never shied away from calling a spade a spade.

He was a generous friend as well--though he moved on from BS 11 years ago, he never forgot to call to wish me (I believe the same was with his other friends) on my birthday. For him, no shortcuts such as a WhatsApp or SMS for something so personal. For me, he was always a giver in friendship. I remember when we went to Pakistan together to cover the opening of the first expressway between Lahore and Karachi -- a project showcased by the World Bank. On the second day of our trip, one of the Indian journalists left his wallet in his hotel room in Lahore and Sunil convinced our hosts in Pakistan to go all the way back to Lahore (a 25 km trip backwards) so that the friend is not inconvenienced; remember there were no instant money transfers those days. We were told the driver ignored the strict security protocol reserved for Indians in that country. What better example of Sunil being a master in the art of convincing people and making friends.

It's difficult to come to terms with the untimely passing away of such a dear friend. I have never forgotten his "Don't lose hope, yaar" comment made many moons ago. But let me admit today--it's damn difficult not to lose hope when one hears something as devastating as this. Covid-19 has left a permanent scar indeed.
Singapore plans to vaccinate children under 16

Concerned about the recent spread of infection among students, Singapore is looking to expand its vaccination drive to children under the age of 16. At least 10 children tested positive for in the past week, all linked to learning centres. US health regulators have approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15. Pfizer is among the vaccines approved by the Singaporean government. The Southeast Asian nation returns to a month of the lockdown-like conditions it last imposed a year ago to check the case surge. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics Global infections: 162,535,050 Global deaths: 3,369,744 Nations with most cases: US (32,924,078), India (24,046,809), Brazil (15,586,534), France (5,925,071), Turkey (5,106,862). Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center



Walmart, Starbucks among top US retailers dropping mask requirement

Walmart, the biggest private employer in the US, said fully-vaccinated staff needn't wear masks at work starting May 18. Starbucks also dropped the mask requirement for vaccinated customers starting May 17, while staff will continue to be required to wear facial coverings. Walt Disney World resort made masks optional in common outdoor areas, although they are still required indoors, on all attractions, theaters and transportation. A number of companies are also reviewing their mask policies after CDC's significant relaxation in mask mandate. Read here

Greece opens its doors to international tourists

Having suffered heavy economic losses last year because of the pandemic, Greece saw first signs of the tourism creeping back to life were visible at ports and airports as the country officially opened its doors to international visitors. About 14 percent of people in the country have been fully vaccinated. After lifting quarantine requirements for dozens of countries last month, the Greek authorities expanded the eligibility to more nations and relaxed some restrictions. Travelers must present a certificate of vaccination, proof of recovery from Covid or a negative RT-PCR test. Read here

Is it possible to produce enough doses to vaccinate the world? There's no easy fix

About 11 billion shots are needed to vaccinate 70 per cent of the worlds population, the rough threshold needed for herd immunity. However, only a fraction of it has been produced so far. Many raw materials and key equipment are in short supply. The only way around the zero-sum competition is to greatly expand the global vaccine supply. On that point, nearly everyone agrees. But what is the fastest way to make that happen? On that question, divisions remain stark. Wealthy countries have monopolized most of the vaccine supply not through coincidence, but as a result of economic and political realities. Read here
is preparing to ramp up global oil sales as talks to lift US sanctions show signs of progress. But even if a deal is struck, the flow of additional crude into the market may be gradual.

State-controlled National Iranian Oil Co. has been priming oil fields  and customer relationships  so it can increase exports if an accord is clinched, officials said. Under the most optimistic estimates, the country could return to pre-sanctions production of almost 4 million barrels a day in as little as three months. It could also tap a flotillas worth of oil thats hoarded away in storage.

But there are many hurdles to overcome. Any agreement must fully dismantle the gamut of US barriers on trade, shipping and insurance involving Iranian entities. Even then buyers may still be reluctant, according to Mohammad Ali Khatibi, a former official at NIOC.

Our return may be a gradual process rather than swift and sudden  it cant happen overnight, Khatibi, also Irans former OPEC envoy, said in an interview. Thats partly due to the coronavirus pandemic having significantly hurt demand, he said.

The pace of Irans comeback may prove critical for the oil market. While fuel consumption is on the rebound as governments distribute vaccines and major economies reopen, it remains depressed by lockdowns and new virus outbreaks. Extra Iranian supplies would impose a burden on other members of Opec+, which has toiled for more than a year to clear a glut built up as the pandemic spread.

Within reach



US and Iranian diplomats, currently negotiating via intermediary governments in Vienna, have signaled that an agreement is within reach.

If successful, the negotiations could reactivate a 2015 international nuclear accord that Donald Trump withdrew the US from three years later. That would require to once again accept limits on its atomic activities, in return for the lifting of an array of tough sanctions imposed by the former president.

Tehran has already taken advantage of a less hostile climate since President Joe Biden came to power in January. It is reviving petroleum sales, sending more crude to emboldened Chinese buyers. Irans production has climbed almost 20 per cent this year to 2.4 million barrels a day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, though most of that oil is still used domestically.

Even if the sanctions are not removed, depending on their ability to sell oil in the gray market, they will increase their production further, said Sara Vakhshouri, president of consultancy SVB Energy International LLC in Washington.




The Israeli military said Sunday it targeted the home of Gaza's top Hamas leader after nearly a week of heavy airstrikes and rocket fire into Israel from the territory ruled by the Islamic militant group.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, an army spokesman, told Israel's army radio Sunday that the military targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, who is likely in hiding along with the rest of the group's upper echelon.

His home is located in the town of Khan Younis, in southern Strip. The military said it also targeted the home of Sinwar's brother. It was not clear if the two shared a family residence. Israeli air strikes on City flattened three buildings and killed at least 33 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory's militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

A rescuer could be seen shouting into a hole in the rubble. Can you hear me? he called out. Are you OK? Minutes later, first responders managed to pull a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher. The Health Ministry said 12 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack, and says rescue efforts are still underway. Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gaza's top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire.

Biden expresses 'grave concern' on recent civilian deaths to Netanyahu

President Joe Biden ramped up efforts to calm Israeli-Palestinian tensions and urged the protection of civilians, including children, after an Israeli air strike targeted media offices in Gaza.

Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his grave concern about the ongoing violence, the White House said in a readout. He reaffirmed, though, Israels right to defend itself against Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.

Biden speaks to Palestinian President Abbas

Biden also spoke to Palestinian President Abbas, and discussed the violence in Gaza. He called for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. It was the first phone call between the two leaders. He "expressed their shared concern, that innocent civilians, including children, have tragically lost their lives amidst the violence," the White House said.

Fighting appalling: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the UN Security Council on Sunday that hostilities in Israel and Gaza were "utterly appalling" and called for an immediate end to fighting.
Power supply was cut off in Gaza City, the largest city in Palestine, as a result of Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip, a source told Sputnik.

"The Israeli Air Force simultaneously launched a series of rocket attacks on the Gaza Strip, the cities of Gaza - Khan Yunis, the northern area, and Rafah; electricity was cut off in the city of Gaza amid the strikes," the source said.

There have been reports of the main office of the Hamas political bureau having been destroyed in Gaza, but this information has not been officially confirmed.

The Israeli strikes came after the resumption of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

According to Sputnik sources, the Israeli forces targeted a high-rise building in Gaza on Saturday, after warning its residents in advance. Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had struck a 15-story building that housed a number of media such as the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera. The IDF said the building was used by Hamas as their intelligence headquarters, among other things. The Israeli forces said sufficient time was given to people to leave the building before the attack.

On Saturday evening, the military wing of Palestine's Hamas, Qassam Brigades, announced that the movement was going to stop airstrikes against Israel's Tel Aviv for two hours starting from 10 p. m. local time on Saturday (19:00 GMT).

Qassam Brigades said after midnight that it had resumed strikes, launching rockets in the direction of Israel's Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Beersheba, in response to the Israeli forces having destroyed residential buildings in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Twitter shortly after midnight that multiple rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

(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.)
Despite a ban, tens of thousands of people gathered in for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, during which police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the demonstrators.

Around 4,200 police officers were deployed in the French capital ahead of the protest on Saturday afternoon, dpa news agency quoted Franceinfo as saying in a report.

By 7 p.m., 44 people had been arrested, and one policeman was injured, according to authorities.

People demonstrated in the capital to mark Nakba Day, especially in Paris' 18th district, where the police had previously ordered shopkeepers to close their businesses.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 2,500 and 3,500 people took to the streets in Paris, French media reported.

According to official figures, around 22,000 people demonstrated throughout France.

There were also demonstrations in cities like Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg.

Nakba Day, referring to the Palestinian "catastrophe", marks the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

The police prefecture had previously banned the demonstration on the orders of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

A court confirmed the decision. It justified the ban on the grounds that public order had been massively disrupted in 2014.

Thousands of people demonstrated seven years ago against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip at the time. Rioters also attacked a synagogue and Jewish shops.

The organisers stuck to their call for a demonstration despite the ban. The police therefore assumed that there could be riots - especially as the current tensions in Israel and the Palestinians could draw large crowds to the rally.

--IANS

ksk

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several people were killed and many others were injured due to the latest strikes launched by on the Strip, Director of the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Selmia said in a statement.

The strikes came after the resumption of rocket attacks from the Strip on the night from Saturday to Sunday, Sputnik reported. Selmi said that the number of injured taken to the hospital continues to rise.

The Palestinian health ministry added many people remain under the rubble as the Israeli strikes have destroyed several buildings.

The situation on the border between and the Palestinian Strip has been deteriorating for the last week. Earlier this month, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started when the unrest began in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the area.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes destroyed a building in Gaza City with offices of various media groups, including Al Jazeera and the American Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will meet on Sunday to discuss the ongoing crisis. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will address ambassadors, who will also be briefed by Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

In a post on Twitter on Saturday, Wennesland said he was appalled by "the horrific incident" in Al-Shati camp, and mourned all the young lives lost so far in the violence. He called for an end to the hostilities, saying "children must not be the target of violence or put in harm's way."

On Saturday, the Israeli army said that a total of 2,800 rockets had been fired toward from Gaza in the past days, with 430 of the projectiles having fallen within the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it has launched strikes against over 672 military targets in the Gaza Strip.

Several civilians and at least one soldier have been killed in Israel amid the exchange of rocket attacks. Meanwhile, Palestine has reported over 140 deaths, including more than 40 among children. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, more than 1,300 Palestinians have been injured.

(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.)
Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and other US cities to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people shut down traffic on a major thoroughfare in west Los Angeles on Saturday as they marched two miles from outside the federal building to the Israeli consulate. The protesters waved signs that said free Palestine and shouted long live intifada, or uprising.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled Palestine will be free as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park.

A similar scene played out in Boston as protesters walked a short distance from Copley Square to the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

Footage on social media shows protesters unfurl a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words Free Palestine while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters streamed from the Washington Monument and to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demonstrators filled Rittenhouse Square to decry US support for

At a protest in Pittsburgh, one speaker called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how can spend aid from the United States.

The protests were stoked by five days of mayhem that left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza and eight dead on the Israeli side. The violence, set off by Hamas firing a rocket into on Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in contested Jerusalem.

Israel stepped up its assault and slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp and destroying a building that house the offices of The Associated Press and other media.

(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.)
British officials arent convinced by President Joe Bidens plan for a global minimum business tax rate of 21 per cent, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Chancellor of the Exchequer and his team are concerned that the rate may be too high over the long term, even though the UK intends to raise corporation tax to 25 per cent in 2023 to repair public finances after the pandemic.

Britain wants the U.S. and other nations to focus instead on measures to make big multinational companies especially digital giants like Amazon.com Inc.  pay more of their tax in countries where they operate, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are sensitive. Talks are under way over the policies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is running the negotiations, is aiming for a deal in the summer. While an official in charge of the talks said this month that progress on a deal is being made and that the 139 nations taking part could settle on a rate close to 21 per cent, British skepticism could potentially delay any agreement.Britains Treasury said that finding an international solution to taxing the digital economy is a key priority for the UK.

We welcome the US. administrations renewed commitment to reaching a solution to these challenges through the OECD, a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement. Its also crucial that any agreement includes changes to ensure digital businesses pay tax in the UK that reflects their economic activities.

London meeting

The UK is due to coordinate further discussions among Group of Seven allies when finance ministers meet in London next month. Working on a global solution to the tax challenges created by digitalization of the economy is on the agenda for the June 4-5 gathering. The UK hasnt rejected Bidens plan and is watching to see whether his proposal for a rate at 21 per cent is just an opening gambit, and how far opposition in Washington may force him to water it down, said the person. While Sunak is planning a higher rate in the years ahead, he will want the flexibility to cut it again as a Conservative who favors low taxes, the person said.

Sunak said in March be believes a global tax deal is within reach while European Union officials have also expressed optimism about the plan. On Sunday, the Financial Times quoted Treasury official Mike Williams as saying a deal that considered a global minimum tax rate only wouldnt be acceptable to the UK. The core UK proposition is that weve got to solve the digital tax issue, which weve been working on for years, Williams told a online conference hosted by Oxford University, according to the FT. Its not primarily about a minimum tax, Williams said. Minimum taxes might help so long as they work  to ensure businesses pay tax, but it matters as well where tax is paid.
A Swiss Parliamentary committee will discuss the fallout from billions of dollars worth of losses at amid risk-management failures, bringing political scrutiny to bear on the financial sector, a Sunday paper reported.

"It's the politicians' turn on the issue," the SonntagsZeitung quoted Prisca Birrer-Heimo, a Social Democrat member of the lower house's economic affairs committee, as saying ahead of committee hearings set for Monday and Tuesday.

declined to comment on the report.

Political intervention in the private sector is unusual in and the prospect for concrete action remains unclear despite the crisis at the country's second-biggest bank.

Credit Suisse is raising capital and has halted share buybacks, cut its dividend and revamped management after losing more than $5 billion from the collapse of investment fund Archegos and having to suspend asset management funds linked to insolvent British supply chain finance firm Greensill.

New Chairman Antonio Horta-Osorio has said the scale of the bank's problems is his biggest challenge yet, and promised a thorough review of what went so badly wrong.

Birrer-Heimo said the question was "whether and how the regulation of the big banks needs to be tightened", citing risk-management shortcomings, a bonus-driven incentive system, and the size of capital buffers banks must hold to ride out crises.

Even business-friendly politicians think it might be time for the public sector to weigh in, the paper said.

"We don't have an existential crisis today," former MP and Liberals party leader Philipp Mueller was quoted as saying, "but I was still surprised that there have been no political reactions so far."

FINMA has already opened proceedings against Credit Suisse in connection with Archegos and Greensill case and imposed extra capital requirements on the bank.

Credit Suisse said this month it will keep limits on its risk-weighted assets and leverage while it remains under regulatory scrutiny.

The conduct of Credit Suisse AG, the biggest loser to emerge from the blowup of Archegos, will be among the topics at the meetings scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, the newspaper reported, without citing where it got the information. Lawmakers have to weigh possible tighter rules for risk management, the provision of capital buffers and remuneration policies, Prisca Birrer-Heimo, a councillor with the Social Democratic Party, told SZ.

A spokesperson for Credit Suisse declined to comment.

Archegos implosion cost Credit Suisse $5.5 billion and forced it to raise about $2 billion of fresh capital to shore up its balance sheet. Its larger Swiss rival, UBS Group AG, also disclosed an $861 million hit from the collapse of Archegos and vowed to improve risk management.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply disturbed by the destruction of a high-rise building in Gaza City, by an Israeli airstrike, that housed the offices of several media organizations, said Stephan Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General in a statement on Sunday.

In a statement, Dujarric said added that "The Secretary-General is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza, purportedly aimed at a Hamas leader,"

"The Secretary-General reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilians and media structures violates law and must be avoided at all costs," the spokesperson said.

This comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had struck a 15-story building that housed a number of media such as the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.

The IDF said the building was used by Hamas as their intelligence headquarters, among other things, Sputnik reported. The Israeli forces said sufficient time was given to people to leave the building before the attack.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will meet on Sunday to discuss the ongoing crisis. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will address ambassadors, who will also be briefed by Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

On Saturday, the Israeli army said that a total of 2,800 rockets had been fired toward Israel from Gaza in the past days, with 430 of the projectiles having fallen within the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it has launched strikes against over 672 military targets in the Gaza Strip.

Several civilians and at least one soldier have been killed in Israel amid the exchange of rocket attacks. Meanwhile, Palestine has reported over 140 deaths, including more than 40 among children. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, more than 1,300 Palestinians have been injured.

The situation on the border between Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip has been deteriorating for the last week. Earlier this month, the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict started when the unrest began in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the area.

(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.)
Why isnt the U.S. sharing its extra vaccine doses with the rest of the world?

America led the world in buying up the messenger RNA vaccines that have proven most effective against Covid-19. Its now starting to lead the world in not using them.

Across the U.S., there are more than 27 million unused Moderna Inc. doses and 35 million from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats led to calls by prominent public health voices to pack Americas surplus in dry ice and ship it to places like India, where the outbreak is still raging.

You're seeing supply exceed demand here and you just know there are excess doses, said Monica Gandhi, a physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who authored a letter with more than two dozen colleagues calling on the U.S. to ship spare Moderna doses to India.

As American vaccinations slow and doses accumulate, the U.S. is at a health, ethical and diplomatic crossroads. China is exporting more doses than any other country, lifting its international profile and adding to its influence. Should the U.S. continue to buy and distribute millions of mRNA vaccines a week, targeting them at people who are in no hurry to be vaccinated or who are lower-risk? Or should it pare back its orders and free up drugmakers to send more doses to other countries in need?

Press harder

While it might seem simple to box up the spares and send them out, the reality is far more complex. There is no stockpile of tens of millions of Moderna doses in a warehouse, ready to go. Most unused U.S. doses are scattered across tens of thousands of locations: state facilities, local pharmacies, vaccination sites and other locations. Gathering and sending them out of the country would be unmanageable, and undercut the U.S. domestic effort.

Pfizer is already sending some shots manufactured in the U.S. overseas. And there may be millions more unused doses from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc available to send out in the coming weeks or months; the exact date is unknown.





ALSO READ: DATA STORY: With 18 mn Covid jabs, nearly 13% of India's population vaccinated so far

But with the Biden administration rolling back pandemic guidelines on masking, in part to get vaccine fence-sitters to roll up their sleeves, theres little indication the U.S. strategy of ensuring more-than-ample supply at home will change any time soon.

When youre winning, you press harder, Andy Slavitt, the senior adviser to the White Houses Covid Response Team, told reporters this week. The U.S. goal continues to be vaccination of 70% of adults before July 4, he said.

Vaccines of choice

The two-dose mRNA vaccines have shown the highest efficacy rates of those cleared for use around the globe. They are also the most challenging to store and ship, and have been bought up primarily by wealthier countries. Theyve become the vaccines of choice for Americans, because of their availability and their perceived superiority.

Pfizers shots have also been cleared for people ages 12 to 15, making them critical to the domestic effort to vaccinate teens. It may soon be authorized for even younger children, who are at relatively low risk from Covid, reducing whats available for more defenseless populations abroad.

If we were truly interested in taking an ethical approach to vaccination, we would have vaccinated the most vulnerable people wherever they live, but that's not the political reality, said Richard Besser, a pediatrician and former acting director for the CDC. Each country is focused on protecting its own, and that means turning to American children first, said Besser, whos now CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

To understand how many extra shots the U.S. actually has, its necessary to understand how its vaccine supply chain actually works.

Modernas shipments are overseen by the federal government. When the company finishes making doses, it gives possession to distributor McKesson Corp., which stores them and sends them on to vaccination sites.



ALSO READ: Vaccines less effective against variant first found in India: UK expert

As of April 12, Moderna had handed over 117 million doses. Its producing 40 million to 50 million doses a month, which means that as of this week, its delivered about 157 million to 167 million. About 140 million of those doses have already been shipped out to vaccine locations and states, according to the CDC.

If another 10 million are on order or in transit--about what ships each week--that leaves just 7 million to 17 million doses that havent been sent around the country already to vaccine sites. That would amount to less than two weeks of supply, which could easily be wiped out if there were even a brief manufacturing delay.

The government contract with Moderna also says that the government may not use or authorize use of its vaccine order unless such use occurs in the United States and is protected from liability under a declaration issued under the Public Readiness and Emergency. Biden would have to strike a deal with Moderna or find a way around that clause to share his doses.

McKesson declined to comment, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didnt respond to an email seeking comment. A person familiar with the companys efforts described the production estimates as in-line.

Pfizer, the only other U.S. manufacturer of mRNA vaccines, controls its own distribution. The company is committed to delivering 220 million doses to the U.S. by the end of May. More than 170 million doses have already been dispatched, and the drugmaker is producing more than the U.S. orders each week.

That excess, according to a person familiar with the matter, is already being sold abroad, mostly in North and South America, including to hard-hit places like Brazil. Canada, Mexico and Uruguay have all said theyre receiving Pfizer doses.

As its manufacturing capacity grows, Pfizer plans to sell even more doses overseas, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla has said. Because of the way the companys deal with the U.S. is structured, it doesnt need permission to do so after meeting its domestic obligations. This path, manufacturing more doses than needed in the U.S., is almost certainly the road to getting more mRNA vaccines abroad.

Donation stopgap

Unfortunately, even if unused U.S. inoculations were sent abroad, they would likely make barely a dent in the need. The globe needs billions of vaccines, not millions, and the places that are in crisis now may burn through their outbreaks before help could arrive.

The donation piece is in many ways a stopgap, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, who also signed onto the letter urging the sharing of Moderna doses. This would be an initial supply to get emergency relief underway. Its barely a Band-Aid, but as we understand it, its product thats available and it could be deployed for good.

The next several weeks will be telling in terms of U.S. needs  and what could be available for export. Many states have freshened their campaigns with incentives like cash lotteries for people who havent yet gotten shots. Colorado has requested the maximum number of doses every week, according to the state health department. Its pace of vaccinations has remained relatively steady at about 50,000 doses a day, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.

Other states are paring down. After peaking at almost 600,000 doses at its peak in April, Illinois most recent request was just 8,510, according to the state. Its also sending unused doses to areas where local demand is higher.

The Biden administration has said that over the next months it will send out approximately 60 million AstraZeneca doses that havent been cleared for U.S. use. There are also tens of millions of J&J vaccines that may become available, likely as the American campaign winds down.

Those are the vaccines the U.S. doesnt need or want. But they are likely what it will give.

(With assistance from Angelica LaVito and Riley Griffin.)
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Digital Editor
Covid-19 is probably India's greatest challenge since independence, former RBI Governor said on Saturday, arguing that in many places the government was not present to help the people.

Addressing a virtual event organised by University of Chicago Center in Delhi, Rajan said India needs a quick bankruptcy process for the MSME sector.

"This is a tragic time in India given the pandemic. Covid-19 pandemic is probably India's greatest challenge since independence," he said.

India has been reporting more than 3 lakh new cases daily in recent weeks and the death toll due to the infection is also rising.

"One of the effects of the pandemic is, we don't see the government present for various reasons," Rajan said.

Noting that the Maharashtra government was able to provide oxygen beds to Covid-19 patients, he said, "In many places that level of the government was also not working."





ALSO READ: Covid-19 has killed over 1,000 bank employees in India, says union

According to Rajan, post pandemic if we don't seriously question society, it would be almost as big a tragedy as the pandemic.

"The pandemic has shown that we are all connected. No man is island, no woman is island," he said.

Rajan, currently a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, noted that sometimes, you have to reform not by stealth but in full openness.

Recalling his famous IIT Delhi speech, the eminent economist said he was being seen as token opposition by the press.

"My IIT Delhi speech was not a criticism of the government...Things get over interpreted sometimes," he said.

Speaking at the convocation of IIT Delhi, his alma mater, on October 31, 2015, Rajan had said tolerance and mutual respect were necessary to improve the environment for ideas and physical harm or verbal contempt for any particular group should not be allowed.

"We need freedom of speech, freedom to criticise, it will prepare India for the 21st century," he had said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
People pull a boat ashore, which sailed away amid strong winds, after a red alert in view of a cylonic formation in the Arabian Sea, in Thiruvananthapuram, Friday, May 14, 2021.

The water level in many dams across showed a rising trend on Sunday even as cyclone Tauktae moved away from the state's coast after wreaking havoc.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange alerts --a warning indicating heavy to very heavy rain-- on Sunday in three districts-Ernakulam, Idukki and Malappuram.

The catchment areas of many dams in the central districts have reported heavy rains, prompting the authorities to sound alert warnings before upping their shutters.

The Thrissur district administration said spillway shutters of the Peringalkuthu dam will be opened if the water level crosses the permitted limit of 419.41 metres.

In a statement, the administration has urged the people living on the banks of Chalakudy river to be cautious.

Shutters of Malankara dam in Idukki district will be opened on Sunday, as the water level has increased, the district authorities said.

The administration has directed those people living on the banks of Thodupuzha river, Muvattupuzha river and their tributaries to be cautious.

In the coastal areas, high tidal waves continued to wreak havoc.

Hundreds of families living in coastal areas and low lying areas of the state have been shifted to relief camps.

Indian Navy on Sunday deployed its diving and quick reaction teams in the coastal village of Chellanam in Ernakulam district, which was heavily hit by tidal waves.

The teams, braving harsh weather conditions, undertook rescue and rehabilitation of people who got trapped in houses.

They were shifted to a relief camp at St Mary's High School in Chellanam, a Navy official has said.

Besides Chellanam in Ernakulam district, rough sea and high tidal waves had wreaked havoc in Kaipamangalam, Chavakkad and Kodungallur in Thrissur, Pallithura in Thiruvananthapuram, Thrikkannapuzha in Alappuzha and Beypore and Koyilandy in Kozhikode districts.

Hundreds of houses were damaged in coastal belts across the state as sea water seeped in following high waves.

According to the state government, at least nine districts have been severely affected by the sea incursion.

A large number of people were shifted to relief camps in various districts, arranged in adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre directed Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on Sunday to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and its tributaries, and focus on their safe disposal and a dignified cremation after corpses were seen floating in these rivers following a spurt in the number of coronavirus cases.

At a review meeting conducted on May 15-16, the Centre said dumping of dead bodies and partially burnt or decomposed corpses in the Ganga and its tributaries has recently been reported, which is "most undesirable and alarming".

"Namami Gange directs states to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and focus on their safe disposal and providing support for ensuring dignified cremation," the Jal Shakti Ministry said.

The state pollution control boards were directed to monitor the water quality more frequently in consultations with the health departments.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was assigned the task of overall monitoring, providing guidance to the state pollution control boards and taking up advanced analysis in the matter.

Support for cremation needs to be given top priority. Effective implementation of the government orders needs to be ensured. No loss of time should take place in implementation, the ministry said.

An advisory was issued by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, to the district magistrates, who are also the chairpersons of the district Ganga committees, on May 11.

This was followed up by a letter the next day to the chief secretaries to prevent the dumping of dead bodies in the river and ensure enforcement of the government guidelines on the cremation of COVID-19 victims.

The letter also advised the states to provide financial assistance as well as regulate the rates for the cremation or burial process.

On May 15, the steps taken in this regard in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were reviewed at a meeting chaired Pankaj Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, and further action points were decided.

Also read: Shocking! Dead bodies found floating in Ganga in Bihar's Buxar

Highlighting the instructions already given, Kumar had called for expeditious action and underscored the need to give equal attention to such incidents in urban and rural areas along the Ganga and other rivers.

"Stopping of dumping of dead bodies as well as their safe disposal and protection of water quality have to be ensured on a war footing. After knowing the progress from the states, the CWC (Central Water Commission), the CPCB and the state pollution control boards would also be giving their feedback and action plans," he had said.

Mishra stated that the situation is being monitored and follow-up action is being taken in several districts such as Unnao, Kanpur rural, Ghazipur and Balia in Uttar Pradesh and Buxar and Saran in Bihar.

However, some cases have also been reported from other districts. He asked the state missions to keep an eye on the situation.

Mishra emphasised the need to strengthen enforcement, maintain vigil and take proactive action to facilitate and support the families for the cremation of the bodies and asked the state missions to specifically report on this.

"If needed, the project directors can assess and also give support to the district Ganga committees for this out of the NMCG funds available with them, while keeping the NMCG informed," he said.

Rajnish Dubey, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development, and Anurag Shrivastav, Principal Secretary, Jal Shakti and Project Director, State Ganga Mission, represented Uttar Pradesh in the meeting.

Shrivastava said all the district magistrates have been alerted about the issue and patrolling is being carried out to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga.

He also informed that 13 crematoria under Namami Gange, in addition to the existing ones, have been made available for the cremation of dead bodies.

It was informed that orders have been issued for financial support for cremations in urban areas. Dubey said similar orders for a financial support of Rs 5,000 have been issued by the Panchayati Raj department for rural areas and the SDRF and other forces have also been asked to carry out patrolling.

Anand Kishore, Principal Secretary, Urban Development and Project Director, State Ganga Mission, Government of Bihar, informed that it has been decided that the cremation or burial expenses of those dying due to COVID-19 will be borne by the state government.

He added that even if the deceased did not have a COVID-positive report but showed symptoms of the disease, the family will be offered this support.

He also said patrolling is being done to prevent further dumping of dead bodies in the river, especially in districts like Buxar and Saran (Chhapra).

CWC Chairman S K Halder informed that they are monitoring the flow and the water quality of the river through their stations and will further increase the frequency.

CPCB Member Secretary Prashant Gargava said the board has forewarned all water monitoring stations along the Ganga and her tributaries. The periodicity of testing the water quality has also been increased.

Debashree Mukherjee, Additional Secretary with the Jal Shakti Ministry, stated that besides an urgent assessment of the risks to the riverside communities by the pollution control boards, there is a need to raise awareness on the dos and don'ts as regards the use of river water and to prevent such incidents of dumping of bodies in the river.

Also read: Cyclone Tauktae: Amit Shah reviews preparations, stresses on protection of COVID hospitals
The Delhi government has announced a grant of Rs 1,051 crore for the three municipal corporations to pay salaries of healthcare workers and other employees amid the second coronavirus wave.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, in a virtual briefing on Saturday, said despite constrained circumstances due to the lockdown, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took this decision as those people who are helping fight the pandemic should get their salaries.

Doctors and other employees of the civic bodies are not getting their salaries due to "mismanagement and corruption" in municipal corporations, the Aam Aadmi Party leader alleged.

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Delhi govt writes to Dr Reddy's for 67 lakh doses of Sputnik V

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, and North Delhi Municipal Corporation are all BJP-led civic bodies.

"The Delhi government has released Rs 1,051 crore to the three municipal corporations in total so that they can pay salaries of their employees, amid this pandemic.

"The east corporation is to get Rs 367 crore, north corporation about Rs 432 crore and south corporation Rs 251 crore," he said.

The minister asserted that civic authorities must ensure this fund was used for paying salaries of employees only and not "diverted for other usage".

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Delhi govt urges Serum Institute to 'come to rescue' after it runs out of Covaxin

Meanwhile, North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash claimed the grant by the Delhi government was released after the three corporations "exerted pressure" on it.

The three civic bodies have written multiple letters to the chief minister and the Lt governor seeking release of funds, he said.

Delhi recorded 8,506 coronavirus cases on Friday, with the daily count dipping to below 10,000-mark again after a month, with medical experts attributing the lockdown as the main factor behind the dip amid the second wave.

Kejriwal said that the number of cases recorded in the last 24 hours has further dipped to about 6,500 with a positivity rate of 11 per cent.
Home Minister Amit Shah reviewed the preparedness for Cyclone Tauktae in Gujarat, Maharashtra and two Union territories on Sunday and "specifically" stressed that all health facilities, including those for COVID-19 treatment, falling in the affected areas should be secured along with the patients.

At a video-conference with the chief ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra and the administrators of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Shah also advised them to ensure adequate stocks of all essential medicines and supplies in the hospitals, keeping in view a likely disruption in the movement of vehicles, a statement issued by the Union home ministry said.

Tauktae is expected to reach the Gujarat coast in the morning of May 18 with wind speeds of 150-160 km per hour, accompanied by heavy rainfall and storm surge.

The statement said Shah "specifically reviewed the preparedness of all health facilities in the areas likely to be impacted by the cyclone".

"He directed the state administration/district collectors to make adequate power backup arrangements in all COVID hospitals, labs, vaccine cold chains and other medical facilities," it added.

For the health facilities likely to fall on the cyclone path, the home minister directed authorities for adequate arrangements to secure them and also for the evacuation of patients.

"They were also told to ensure the safety of the temporary hospitals set up near the oxygen-generating plants, in case needed, their patients may be shifted to other hospitals," the statement said.

Also read: Cyclone Tauktae: Maharashtra prepared to ensure oxygen, power supply to COVID-19 hospitals

Shah also reviewed the impact of the cyclone on the oxygen-generation plants located in Maharashtra and Gujarat.

"The minister directed authorities to make advance planning for keeping a buffer stock of oxygen for two days and for movement of oxygen tankers to allocated states, so that in case of any disruption, supply is not impacted," it said.

The chief ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra "assured the minister of taking all necessary measures" to secure the healthcare facilities and the oxygen-generation plants.

The home minister also directed to make necessary arrangements for the safety of the power plants to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply to the hospitals and health facilities.

"He said that the likely cyclone-affected areas in Gujarat consist of industrial clusters, so their safety must be ensured and industry should also remain alert," the statement said.

The home minister informed the chief ministers and the administrators that a 24x7 control room is functioning in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which "can be contacted at any time for any assistance by the states".

He said coast guard, navy, army and air force units have also been put on standby and surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial sorties.

Senior officers were directed to take "every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated and all essential services maintained, including health and oxygen facilities, power, telecommunications, drinking water etc. and that these are restored immediately in the event of any damage caused to them".

The home minister also assured the states of all cooperation from the central government and its agencies.

"He said that maximum resources, government and private both, should be utilised to tackle the situation.

"The home minister directed the district collectors to coordinate with the private industries and ensure that their disaster management wings are totally geared up," the statement said.

The cabinet secretary, secretaries of central ministries like home, health, power, department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), the NDMA member secretary, the directors general of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the chief secretaries of the two states, the advisors to the administrators of the two Union territories, the disaster management secretaries and the collectors of the districts concerned in Gujarat and Maharashtra participated in the meeting.

Also read: COVID-19: Remdesivir to be supplied directly to private hospitals, says Tamil Nadu govt
The Haryana government on Sunday, May 16, extended the ongoing lockdown-like curbs in the state till May 24 to check the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

State Health Minister Anil Vij took to Twitter to announce the lockdown extension in Haryana. "Mahamari Alert/Surkshit Haryana extended from 17 May to 24 May. Stringent measures will be taken to implement the alert," he tweeted.

Mahamari Alert / Surkshit Haryana extended from 17 May to 24 May Stringent measures will be taken to implement the Alert. a ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) May 16, 2021

This is the second time that the lockdown-like restrictions in Haryana have been extended. They were first imposed on May 3 and were set to expire on May 17, but the state government extended the same by seven more days.

Also Read: Delhi lockdown extended by another week to check COVID-19 spread; curbs in place till May 24

According to the state government order, all non-essential movements will continue to be restricted in Haryana. However, those engaged in municipal service duties, law and order, emergencies, and government machinery entrusted with COVID-19-related duties, will be exempted from the lockdown curbs.

During the ongoing lockdown period in Haryana, the state government has also appealed to the residents to stay indoors. To stem the further spread of coronavirus, Haryana government had recently enforced many other restrictions comprising daily night curfew and prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.

Haryana had on Saturday, May 15, recorded 9,676 new coronavirus cases taking the state's tally below 10,000 after a long gap.
Highlights It has been revealed that Elon Musk has been advising the developers behind Dogecoin since 2019.

The developers have welcomed Musk's advice but have reportedly declined his funding offer.

The rise in Dogecoin culminated in the asset hitting a new all-time high of $0.73.

Dogecoin developers have confirmed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been advising the developers since 2019. They have also said that there is a technical upgrade in the pipeline.

Dogecoin soared on Friday after Elon Musk said he was working with the crypto's developers to improve its efficiency as a means of payment.

The cryptocurrency, which was conceived as a joke in 2013, rose over 30% on Friday morning following Musk's tweet. It touched a high of $0.56.

Ross Nicholl, one of four part-time Doge developers, told crypto website Decrypt that the team has worked with Elon Musk for some time. Not only that, but Nicholl explained they are also finalising an upgrade. He said Doge 1.21 would improve integration, enhance wallet backups, and boost synchronisation speed.

Nicholl said they'd declined Musk's offer of funding but that he had provided lots of advice, input, and contacts. He further added that developers are optimistic that with Musk in the picture, they could further reduce Dogecoin's energy consumption which, by one estimate on Thursday, is already just 7% of Bitcoin's.

Previously, Musk had said during a Clubhouse session that "Dogecoin was made as a joke to make fun of cryptocurrencies, but fate loves irony." He added, "The most ironic outcome would be that Dogecoin becomes the currency of Earth in the future."

Billionaire Musk has been a staunch supporter of the meme cryptocurrency and frequently tweets about it. Recently he tweeted that he planned to take Doge to "the moon" on a SpaceX rocket in 2022. The "DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon" is in collaboration with a Canadian company, Geometric Energy Corporation.

Elon Musk announced this week that Tesla would suspend Bitcoin payments due to environmental concerns. He took to Twitter once again to assuage market fears that his cryptocurrency enthusiasm might be waning. "To be clear, I strongly believe in crypto, but it can't drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal," he said.

The crypto has risen over 1,500% since the start of the year, largely thanks to Musk's attention. It is now the fourth-most valued coin with a market cap of over $70bn, according to CoinMarket.
Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by subscribing or contributing today.
Chinas once-in-a-decade census showed an ultra-low fertility rate, a shrinking labor force and a rapidly aging population, alerting policymakers of the urgent need for significant changes to reverse or at least ease a dramatic plunge in population that could sap economic growth.

The numbers herald drastic demographic changes for China in coming decades. At present, the worlds most populated country still adds 12 million newborns every year. However, in the long run, it may be difficult to reverse the trends of an increasingly aging population and a shrinking workforce.

This is a global challenge. By 2050, one in six people in the world will be over age 65, up from one in 11 in 2019, and the global fertility rate  which fell from 3.2 births per woman in 1990 to 2.5 in 2019  is projected to decline further to 2.2 in 2050, the United Nations predicted in 2019.

Low-fertility trap

Countries including Germany, Japan and South Korea are already having negative population growth. Chinas transition to this stage has been particularly rapid. In a national population development plan issued in 2016, the State Council said Chinas pace of aging was significantly higher than the world average. In terms of fertility rate, the 1.3 reading in the most recent census is lower than that of many developed countries such as Japan with 1.4 and the United States with 1.6. According to the United Nations, maintaining a population requires a fertility rate of 2.1.





The fertility rate is so low that we have entered the stage of ultra-low fertility, said Wang Guangzhou, a researcher at the Institute of Population and Labor Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinas 1.3 fertility rate suggests a low-fertility trap, a concept first raised by the Austrian demographer Wolfgang Lutz, who observed that no country whose fertility rate fell below 1.5 has reversed that trend.

The impact of fertility on economy growth will appear in two decades, said Huang Wenzheng, a demography expert at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalization, a think tank.

What is more alarming is that Chinas fertility rate will continue to decline, as the current number includes the gradually fading accumulation effect from the implementation of Chinas two-child policy, according to Liang Jianzhang, a co-founder of online travel platform Trip.com Group Ltd. and a population economist.

Since China in 2015 abolished the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1980 to reduce the number of hungry mouths to feed, the willingness to have a second child was released over a short period of time. Many women who were about to pass out of their prime childbearing ages rushed to have a second child as soon as the policy was lifted, which amplified the national fertility rate for a time, Liang wrote in an article. After taking into account the accumulation effect, the natural fertility rate is only 1.01.1, Liang estimated.

When the one-child policy was lifted, experts and policymakers predicted a surge in births and a gradual recovery of the fertility rate to about 1.8. In 2015, Wang Peian, then a deputy director of Chinas family planning commission, projected more than 20 million newborns in 2017 and 17 million to 19 million births a year through 2020. Instead, after rising to 17.9 million in 2016, births fell in each subsequent year.

Unwilling to have more children

One major reason for the declining fertility rate is that the number of women of childbearing age, who were mostly born in the 1980s and 1990s, fell sharply from their parents generation as a result of the one-child policy. Women ages 15 to 49, defined as those of childbearing age, currently number about 300 million, down 20% from 2010. According to existing demographic data, the number of women ages 22 to 35, who contribute the most to the fertility rate, will decline more than 30% over the next decade.

However, the birth control policy is not solely to blame. The impact of economic, social and cultural factors on peoples willingness to have children has also come to play a significant role. The lifting of the one-child policy has had only a limited effect on young couples. Among married couples who already have one child, only 30% said they want to have a second one, according to a 2016 survey by a team led by Chen Wei, a professor of demography at the Center for Population and Development Studies at Renmin University of China.

Notably, Chinese have switched from policy-driven birth control to unwillingness to have children, said Chang Qingsong, associate professor at the Population Research Institute of Xiamen University. Previously, the policy didnt allow people to have more than one child. Now, even if the policy is relaxed, young couples still dont want to have more children.

A female executive in her 40s who controls several companies and gave birth to her only child at age 39, told Caixin that she has found more and more couples either dont want to have kids or cant afford to, especially in first-tier cities.

Extremely high housing price-to-income ratios in big cities, increasing educational pressure and cost and a less-friendly fertility environment all have further dampened Chinese peoples fertility desire, Liang said.

The data leads us to conclude that urban China has the highest child-rearing costs of anywhere in the world, in turn leading to the lowest fertility rates in the world, Liang wrote.









Slow in policy response

Compared with other countries that have low fertility rates, China has been relatively slow in policy response.

In a paper comparing countries birth policies, Mao Zhuoyan, a researcher at the think tank China Population and Development Research Center, wrote that Japan, South Korea and Singapore all had years of neutral or moderate policies before they implemented pro-birth policies.

In Singapore, the period was three years, while Japan waited 25 years to change its birth policy. In comparison, China has held at low fertility rates but implemented no pro-birth policies for at least 35 years, Mao said.

Before the latest census, experts had different judgments on Chinas actual fertility rate, which led to divergent policy suggestions. The 2010 census showed a 1.18 fertility rate, but most experts estimated the actual rate at more than 1.63, citing births that were unreported to avoid punishment for violations of the one-child policy.

China entered the stage of low fertility in the 1990s. People are increasingly concerned about the consequences of long-term low fertility rates, and voices supporting liberalization of fertility policy are increasing.

Gu Baochang, a demographer at Renmin University, was one of the first scholars to call for a radical relaxation of the one-child policy. He previously told Caixin that the academic community has been calling for policy change since 2000 and was initially optimistic that the problem could be solved within two or three years.

However, the Chinese government ignored the early calls, citing a fundamental discrepancy between Chinas large population and a shortage of resources and economic underdevelopment.

When newborns continued to decrease in 2017 and 2018 even after the one-child policy was lifted, many demographers argued that the two-child policy effect had not been fully realized and still recommended conservative policies.

Many experts partially attribute the low fertility rate in 2020 to peoples delay in having children during the Covid-19 pandemic. Without the pandemic, Chinas fertility rate should be around 1.48 and should fluctuate around 1.4 in the next few years, estimated Zhai Zhenwu, a professor at the China Population and Development Research Center.





Difficult trend to reverse

In April, Wang, former deputy director of Chinas family planning commission and now a member of the Communist Partys political advisory body, called for a significant adjustment of population policy in favor of measures to encourage births. But he acknowledged that it wont be easy.

Today, the difficulty to encourage people to have more children is no less than or is even greater than the birth control task 40 years ago, Wang said after the census.

In its14th Five-Year Plan for 202125, China vowed to actively implement a strategy to cope with the aging population and the low fertility rate, proposing measures to develop an affordable child care system and reduce childbearing and education costs.

Some of these policies are still in the research stage and some have been introduced, but the implementation is lacking, Wang said.

For example, policies and regulations to extend maternity leave and provide paternity leave are in place, but there is still the problem of how to push forward the implementation, he said.

Liang suggested that the government offer parents 1 million yuan ($156,000) for each newborn child in a bid to shore up the countrys declining birth rate. Education and housing reforms to reduce childbearing costs take long periods to show an effect, while the most immediate solution would be to increase family incomes by giving families with children real money, he said.

Liang said his research showed that it would cost 10% of Chinas GDP to raise the fertility rate from the current 1.3 to the replacement level of 2.1. That amounts to 1 million yuan per child and could be allocated in the form of cash, tax relief or housing subsidies, he said.

Experts might disagree on how to solve the population puzzle, but the consensus is that even if China starts to take measures now, it will be difficult to quickly reverse the trends of aging population and fewer births.

In a 2019 paper analyzing Japans aging process and pro-birth policy, Wang Wei, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that even after nearly three decades of implementation of pro-birth measures since the 1990s, Japan is still mired in the low-fertility trap.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

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Photo: The Canadian Press A Vancouver Police Department patch is seen on an officer's uniform in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on Saturday, January 9, 2021.The mayor of Vancouver says he is "appalled" that police officers wrongfully detained and handcuffed a retired British Columbia Supreme Court justice out for a walk Friday morning.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The mayor of Vancouver says he is "appalled" that police officers wrongfully detained and handcuffed a retired British Columbia Supreme Court justice out for a walk on Friday morning.

Kennedy Stewart says in a statement he reached out to apologize to Justice Selwyn Romilly, the first Black person appointed to the court.

Vancouver Police Sgt. Steve Addison says officers were dispatched around 9:15 a.m. following reports of a man kicking, punching and spitting at people along the seawall near English Bay.

He says officers patrolling the area noticed a man resembling the description of the suspect and "briefly detained him to investigate," handcuffing him given the violent nature of the reported incidents.

Addison says the man was compliant and identified himself as a retired judge, and police have since offered him an apology.

He says the handcuffs were then "quickly removed."

"The man was allowed to proceed when it became obvious that he was not the suspect and had done nothing wrong," he says in a statement.

The correct suspect was taken to jail after officers found him around the same time in the same area, he says.

Stewart says he has contacted the police department's chief and board members, and the board will review the incident.

"All of our institutions are based on colonialism and as such, are systemically racist," including the city and police department, he says.
Photo: The Canadian Press A woman reacts while standing near the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday that housed The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021.

UPDATE: 11:20 a.m.

Despite the rising death toll and international efforts to broker a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gazas Hamas rulers would rage on.

In a televised address, Netanyahu said the attacks were continuing at full-force and will take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war."

Haya Abdelal, 21, lives in a building next to one that was destroyed and said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to flee before launching such an attack.

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure." As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the foundation of the civilian houses above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties.

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospital's coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble of their home.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

Israel's airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, new organization's executive editor, on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office the day before.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building.

Its a perfectly legitimate target, he told CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, we pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out.

We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

UPDATE: 8 a.m.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fighting between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza would continue despite international efforts to broker a cease fire.

In a televised address, Netanyahu said Sunday evening the attacks were continuing at full-force and will take time." Israel "wants to levy a heavy price" from Gazas militant Hamas rulers, he said.

The violence marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes Sunday hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 metres down the road.

ORIGINAL: 6:50 a.m.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 33 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory's militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

A rescuer could be seen shouting into a hole in the rubble. Can you hear me? he called out. Are you OK? Minutes later, first responders managed to pull a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher. The Gaza Health Ministry said 12 women and eight children were among those killed, with another 50 people wounded in the attack, and says rescue efforts are still underway.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators try to broker a cease-fire. But targeting the group's leaders could hinder those efforts. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinian protests and clashes with police broke out in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focal point of clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint that is located on a hilltop compound that is revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

The turmoil has also spilled over elsewhere, fueling protests in the occupied West Bank and stoking violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

The military said Sunday it struck Sinwar's home and that of his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Hamas upper echelon has gone into hiding in Gaza, and it is unlikely any were at home at the time of the strikes. Hamas top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, divides his time between Turkey and Qatar, both of which provide political support to the group.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out Monday. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

An Egyptian diplomat said Israels targeting of Hamas political leaders would complicate cease-fire efforts. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said Cairo is working to broker an end to the fighting, as are other international actors.

The Egyptian diplomat said the destruction of Hamas rocket capabilities would require a ground invasion that would inflame the whole region. Egypt, which made peace with Israel decades ago, has threatened to suspend cooperation in various fields, the official said, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has affirmed its support for Israel while working to de-escalate the crisis. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who thanked the U.S. for its support. Gantz said Israel takes every precaution to strike at military targets only and avoid harming civilians, while its civilians are the targets of indiscriminate attack.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military said 450 of the rockets had fallen short or misfired, while Israeli air defenses intercepted 1,150.

The interception rate appeared to have significantly dropped since the start of the conflict, when Israel said 90% were intercepted. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel has meanwhile carried out hundreds of airstrikes across impoverished Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians and has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the office of The Associated Press was located. The building also housed the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, along with several floors of apartments.

The campaign will continue as long as it is required, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building.

Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.

The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the buildings owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, Pruitt said. We are shocked and horrified."

He said the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later spoke by phone with Pruitt, offering his support for independent journalists and media organizations, and the White House said it had communicated directly with Israel to urge safety for journalists.
Photo: The Canadian Press Conservative MP Ron Liepert

Ron Liepert says these days, the phone calls and emails from people wanting to talk about his party's climate plan have slowed.

One month ago, the Conservative MP for Calgary Signal Hill was answering at least a dozen or more emails a day, and another half a dozen calls.

"Theres no question Ive had a number of constituents, and I think Im not talking out of turn when I say so probably have every other western Conservative MP  a number of constituents say, Why the flip-flop?' Liepert told The Canadian Press.

"'(You) said no carbon tax, now theres a carbon tax.'"

Explaining the Titanic-sized shift in the Conservative heartland particularly on a policy championed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose Liberals hold no seats in Saskatchewan and Alberta has been something those representing the region's resource-rich farmlands and cities have had to figure out.

Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, along with Ontario, waged a years-long battle against the federal Liberal government's charging of a federal carbon price on consumer goods in provinces that do not already have one. It went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in March that Ottawa's backstop was constitutional.

The Canadian Press contacted each of Saskatchewan's Conservative MPs and most of those in Alberta to discuss reception to the Conservative party's own carbon-pricing plan. The majority declined to comment, or didn't respond.

In fact, any mention of the climate policy  unveiled by Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole as a major plank in an eventual election platform  is absent from many of their social media.

For Liepert, a veteran of Alberta politics, it's obvious the party needs more wins in Ontario to form government and felt it was time to shed its anti-carbon price stance.

If you start from that premise, that Canadians have grudgingly accepted a carbon tax, then how do we pivot away from having a position where we will cancel the carbon tax?

Pitching the Conservatives' fuel price comes down to persuading people it's not a tax, he says. It's also what O'Toole, who ran as the "true blue" candidate in the party's leadership race, has rigorously maintained.

Let me give you this analogy: When you go to the liquor store and you pick up a 24 case of Pilsner, there's a 10 cent per can levy attached to that, correct?," said Liepert, describing how he sells the plan.

"And theyll all agree with that, and I say, You dont consider that a tax do you?' And they say, Well no, because I get it back when I take my cans back.'

And I say, Well bingo. Same thing with this.'"

Liepert says most people tend to "grudgingly agree," with his answer, but there are always those who will feel "a tax, is a tax is a tax."

Besides what to call it, Conservatives say what distinguishes their party's proposed carbon price from the Liberals' is when people pay it, their money will be sent to a savings account that is like a rewards card. They'll then be able to use the money in that fund to make government-approved environmentally friendly purchases.

O'Toole says people should imagine being able to use these carbon bucks to buy anything from a bike and transit pass to an electric vehicle and, according to one op-ed he penned, even locally grown produce.

"It's certainly a creative policy," said Michael Bernstein, executive director of Clean Prosperity, a group that has been advocating for the Tories to adopt carbon pricing since its 2019 election loss.

It is very difficult to understand how its going to actually work."

Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall also evokes the bottle levy to pitch the Conservatives' new carbon-pricing policy in her rural riding, a policy she didn't necessarily see coming.

Everybody was somewhat surprised, sure, but at the same time, once I read through it, and I did take a great deal of time first just to get my own head around the whole plan, so that I could understand it," she said.

Wagantall feels assured provincial decisions around climate will be respected, which she says is something that caucus stressed. And like Liepert, she's had many talks with upset or confused constituents.

I have the conversation around what the prime minister of the day is doing and it brings them to a realization that were in an environment where that is an expectation, its true, but what we are doing is very, very different.

The longer we talk, the more understanding they are and they simply want to have that conversation. I havent had a circumstance where I felt I wasnt heard.

But not all conversations appear to be as cordial.

During an exchange with a critic about the party's carbon price on Regina MP Michael Kram's Facebook page, user Amos Dowler wrote: "Even Premier (Scott) Moe agrees that O'Toole's plan is far better than the current plan. Maybe read it or get someone to read it to you."

A person answering the phone at Kram's constituency office said Dowler was Kram's chief of staff. His personal LinkedIn page also lists him in that role. An assistant for Kram declined to respond to his comments.

Liepert says he can't tell whether he risks losing voters, even as several emails a day land in his inbox from those voicing disgust with the Conservatives and teasing their support for the fledgling Maverick Party, led by former Tory MP Jay Hill.

It brands itself as offering "true western representation" by only running candidates in the Prairies and criticizes O'Toole for having a "phoney carbon levy."

But the Conservatives' primary foe remains a Liberal government that is ratcheting up its promises to reduce carbon emissions.

Trudeau has pledged to further cut Canada's emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by up to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. He has also committed the country to reach net-zero carbon pollution by 2050.

O'Toole's plan is designed to reach the country's current targets under the Paris Agreement of a 30 per cent reduction by 2030. He has dissed the Liberals' tougher goal.

His MPs also voted against the government's net-zero legislation, citing the possible influence "climate activists" on a net-zero advisory panel could have on the oil and gas industry.

But despite what progress has been made, O'Toole's attempt to straddle the climate fence may cost him with the new voters he's hoping to attract.

Expectations of voters, although well have to probe this in polling, are likely to continue to evolve as well in terms of what they expect from a credible plan," said Bernstein.

"There is a chance that OToole is out of step with that."
Part of a derailed train in Albert Lea, Minnesota, is seen in this still image taken from footage from the local police department.
An Israeli missile strike has destroyed buildings where the Associated Press and Al Jazeera have offices, as tensions escalate between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
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Over 150 individuals showed their support of Court Appointed Special Advocates, which advocates for abused and neglected children, by participating in the Superhero 5K Run/Walk on Saturday at Greenway Park.

The highlight of the event was when Mayor Kevin Brooks was presented with the inaugural Dr. John M. Appling Child Advocate Award. This award will be given out annually by CASA to a member of the community that has been instrumental in advocating for children in the region.

We believe Mayor Brooks is the perfect recipient of this award because of his work in advocating for children on a local and state level, said Executive Director Christopher Janetzko. When serving as a Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from the 24th district, Brooks co-sponsored a budget amendment to increase funding for CASA programs statewide. As Mayor of the city of Cleveland, he continues to support initiatives that benefit our communitys children. Over the years Mayor Brooks has been willing to offer a helping hand to our program and now we are excited to show our appreciation.

Dr. Appling was a pediatrician for Cleveland and the surrounding communities for almost 50 years. Dr. Appling was active in changing child abuse laws in Tennessee to better support the childs best interest. He was also instrumental in the development of a child shelter home and took every opportunity he could to talk about child abuse policies in Tennessee and across the country.

After the award was presented, a superhero costume contest was held. Following the contest, medals were presented to the fastest runners. In the male category, Ryder Finley was presented with first place with a time of 18:51 minutes. Following Mr. Finley were Jack Badger (19:17) and Will Ford (23:01). In the female category, Rebecca Rader came in first with a time of 20:28 minutes. Following Ms. Rader was Jenna Picou (21:55), and Lily Withrow (22:10). A full list of race results can be found at terrarunning.com.

Sponsors of this event include Body by Hannah, Beaty Fabricating Inc., Pen Gulf Inc., Check into Cash, Premier Surgical Cleveland, Southern Heritage Bank, Ralph Buckner Funeral Home & Crematory, Eternity Fencing, McDonald's (Smith Family), Riverstone Wine, Spirits, and Brew, Edward Jones (Jake Brigham), Jerry Hoffer Attorney at Law P.C., Simpkins Group, Edward Jones (Curt Duncan), Richard Banks & Associates P.C., Insurance Incorporated, Honda Cleveland, Voytik Center for Orthopedic Care, and Tennessee Valley Bone and Joint.

CASA is funded under grant contracts with the State of Tennessee, United Way of the Ocoee Region, and The National CASA/GAL Association.
Police were called to 7641 Lee Hwy. where there was an disorder at a motel. A man came to the motel looking to get prices on the rooms and was upset about how expensive they were. The manager asked him to leave. He did, however he was still on the sidewalk outside the business. The manager went outside to tell him to leave (by this time he was on the city sidewalk). The manager and man then exchanged some words and the man left. Police spoke to both men, and they gave the same story. After speaking with the manager, police were able to get the man a job application at the motel.

* * *

Police responded to a vehicle fire at 280 I-75 NB. Upon arrival the officer found a Honda Accord on the left shoulder and the vehicle's front end was fully engulfed in flames. The car was unoccupied and left abandoned. Fire responded to the scene and extinguished the flames and the vehicle was towed by S and S Towing.



* * *

Police responded to East 5th Street where a woman said she and her boyfriend were arguing and she just wanted to grab some items and leave. She asked for the officers to stand by while she removed items from the residence. After all items were removed the woman left the area.

* * *

Police were called to Airpark Drive where a man told police there were some men at a motel harassing and threatening him. The man left and met up with police so he could go back to the motel and collect his things. The man got his things and left the area.

* * *

Officer responded to 400 West Martin Luther King Blvd. on a call that a man was seen on the lot of the dealership beside a vehicle. Police couldn't find the man but noticed a vehicle had possibly been rummaged through. Officers found items that were possibly originally in the vehicle outside on the ground by the passenger door. It is unknown who owns the vehicle as it was parked in the area where junked and damaged vehicles were kept.

* * *

An officer was called to Wauchula Street where a woman said when she went to check on her mail, she noticed that her mailbox had been damaged by a possible vehicle.

* * *

A woman on Alabama Avenue told police that her vehicle, a white four-door Kia Optima, was stolen. She said that by looking at her motion camera it was stolen around 5 a.m. No suspect information is known, and nothing of value was in the vehicle. The car was entered using

a key that was stolen from another vehicle.

* * *

A woman said she was driving on Rogers Road and was behind a vehicle that was traveling slowly. She said they were driving up the hill on Rogers Road towards Gillespie and she attempted to pass the vehicle. She said that the person driving became angry and threw a water bottle at her vehicle. The person then smacked her window. The woman attempted to drive away. The driver of the other car followed for a short distance then went in a different direction.

* * *

Police responded to an improperly parked vehicle at 500 River St. The vehicle was parked in a no parking (sign posted) area of the street in close proximity to a stop sign. Police spoke to a nearby business and the employees said the car has been parked at this location since yesterday. Police tried to locate the owner but they could not be reached. Due to the vehicle causing a traffic hazard and the amount of time it has been parked at this location, police called Cain's Wrecker who responded and took the vehicle to their lot at 608 Cherokee Blvd. There was old damage to the car - rear passenger corner damage, front passenger corner damage and a cracked windshield. Inventory included miscellaneous clothes, trash and toys.

* * *

Police responded to a theft in process at 6035 International Dr. at Long Hyundai. Police received a report of a suspect stealing tires from the business. Upon arrival police saw a black Ford F250 truck matching the description of the suspect's vehicle. The vehicle also had a large number of tires in the back of the truck, estimated to be about 30-40 tires. Police initiated a traffic stop and spoke with the man. He said he owned a tire company and was tasked with transporting tires for different dealerships. Police called and spoke with one of the owners of the dealership. He said he did not know if the suspect was supposed to be transporting tires or not and that he was not willing to press charges even if he was not. The man left the scene with nothing further.

* * *

A woman on Greenbrook Lane told police someone stole her tag off her vehicle. She was not sure if it happened during the afternoon or night.

* * *

A man on Greenway View Drive told police that as he was going through the trash he found a license and single .22 round. Police turned it into Property.

* * *

A woman in a T-Mobile parking lot at 4974 Hwy. 58 told police that once she parked a man exited the T-Mobile and attempted to confront his ex-girlfriend who was in the passenger seat of the woman's vehicle. The woman and the ex-girlfriend both said that the man struck the passenger-side front window with his hand, shattered the window, then left the area. The woman said she did not want to prosecute the man for the window at this time.

* * *

Panhandlers were reported on Interstate-75 northbound. Police spoke with a man and woman who were informed of the laws regarding pedestrians on the interstate. Both left the area without further issue.

* * *

Police were called to Gunbarrel Road where a woman was lying in the grass next to the road. The officer spoke with the woman, who is homeless and stays nearby. She was given some essential items and offered a ride to a women's shelter, but she declined.

* * *

A man called police and reported a truck on the interstate with a dog on top of the tool chest attached to the bed of the truck. Police met the complainant at the Home Depot on 7421 Commons Blvd. and he showed the officer the video of the incident. The truck in question was also at Home Depot and the officer spoke with the driver of the truck. The man was with his dog and the dog appeared to be fine. The officer told the man of the dangers of driving on the interstate with an unrestrained animal in the bed of a truck. He apologized about the ordeal and said he wouldn't travel the Interstate with the pooch in the truck bed again.
Over 150 of Americas greatest patriots are deeply concerned for our nation. Banding today under a star studded flag quite similar to the one each fought for and defended  and loved  this collection of retired Generals and Admirals has just prepared an open letter to the American people. They call their organization Flag Officers 4 America and, in the militarys straight-forward manner, they are publicly warning the people of the United States that each believes America today is in deep peril.

The liberal news media and social media platforms are ignoring the letter for the most part because it cites the countrys hard left turn towards socialism  Marxism, too  and confronts an obvious indication President Joe Biden is now showing worsening mental health and ever-growing crises (a new entry for the 2021 Word of the Year, which means a plurality of serious crisis-es).

The letter cites and lays bare the concerns that have rapidly grow under the quite liberal crowds hold on both the Congress and the Senate.

A flag officer is tops in military parlance. Any senior executive officer can fly a command flag to signal command over a sensitive mission or difficult operation but to do so includes the permission from the Commander in Chief. Among those who signed the letter  including two career military strategists who earned our nations Medal of Honor  is an exhibit of a lifetime in the military and are bonafide and certified patriots to their very core.

Please  query any on Wikipedia or other search engines and see for yourself; their concern is deep and genuine.

And - for what it worth  I would trust any flag officers voice, integrity, and purpose over any lifetime politician in the Senate or the House of Representatives, not to mention our current administration. These officers have been there. They have witnessed the underbelly of the beast. They speak of what they know.

Read this letter:

* * *

AN OPEN LETTER FROM RETIRED GENERALS & ADMIRALS

Our Nation is in deep peril. We are in a fight for our survival as a Constitutional Republic like no other time since our founding in 1776. The conflict is between supporters of Socialism and Marxism vs. supporters of Constitutional freedom and liberty.

During the 2020 election an Open Letter from Senior Military Leaders was signed by 317 retired Generals and Admirals and, it said the 2020 election could be the most important election since our country was founded. With the Democrat Party welcoming Socialists and Marxists, our historic way of life is at stake. Unfortunately, that statements truth was quickly revealed, beginning with the election process itself.

Without fair and honest elections that accurately reflect the will of the people our Constitutional Republic is lost. Election integrity demands insuring there is one legal vote cast and counted per citizen. Legal votes are identified by State Legislatures approved controls using government IDs, verified signatures, etc. Today, many are calling such commonsense controls racist in an attempt to avoid having fair and honest elections.

Using racial terms to suppress proof of eligibility is itself a tyrannical intimidation tactic.

Additionally, the Rule of Law must be enforced in our election processes to ensure integrity. The FBI and Supreme Court must act swiftly when election irregularities are surfaced and not ignore them as was done in 2020. Finally, H.R.1 & S.1, (if passed), would destroy election fairness and allow Democrats to forever remain in power violating our Constitution and ending our Representative Republic.

Aside from the election, the Current Administration has launched a full-blown assault on our Constitutional rights in a dictatorial manner, bypassing the Congress, with more than 50 Executive Orders quickly signed, many reversing the previous Administrations effective policies and regulations.

Moreover, population control actions such as excessive lockdowns, school and business closures, and most alarming, censorship of written and verbal expression are all direct assaults on our fundamental Rights. We must support and hold accountable politicians who will act to counter Socialism, Marxism and Progressivism, support our Constitutional Republic, and insist on fiscally responsible governing while focusing on all Americans, especially the middle class, not special interest or extremist groups which are used to divide us into warring factions.

* * *

ADDITIONAL NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES & ACTIONS

* -- Open borders jeopardize national security by increasing human trafficking, drug cartels, terrorists entry, health/CV19 dangers, and humanitarian crises. Illegals are flooding our Country bringing high economic costs, crime, lowering wages, and illegal voting in some states. We must reestablish border controls and continue building the wall while supporting our dedicated border control personnel. Sovereign nations must have controlled borders.

* -- China is the greatest external threat to America. Establishing cooperative relations with the Chinese Communist Party emboldens them to continue progress toward world domination, militarily, economically, politically and technologically. We must impose more sanctions and restrictions to impede their world domination goal and protect Americas interests.

* -- The free flow of information is critical to the security of our Republic, as illustrated by freedom of speech and the press being in the 1st Amendment of our Constitution. Censoring speech and expression, distorting speech, spreading disinformation by government officials, private entities, and the media is a method to suppress the free flow of information, a tyrannical technique used in closed societies. We must counter this on all fronts beginning with removing Section 230 protection from big tech.

* -- Re-engaging in the flawed Iran Nuclear Deal would result in Iran acquiring nuclear weapons along with the means to deliver them, thereby upsetting Mideast peace initiatives and aiding a terrorist nation whose slogans and goals include Death to America and Death to Israel. We must resist the new China/Iran agreement and not support the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition, continue with the Mideast peace initiatives, the Abraham Accords, and support for Israel.

* -- Stopping the Keystone Pipeline eliminates our recently established energy independence and causes us to be energy dependent on nations not friendly to us, while eliminating valuable US jobs. We must open the Keystone Pipeline and regain our energy independence for national security and economic reasons.

* -- Using the U.S. military as political pawns with thousands of troops deployed around the U.S. Capitol Building, patrolling fences guarding against a non-existent threat, along with forcing Politically Correct policies like the divisive critical race theory into the military at the expense of the War Fighting Mission, seriously degrades readiness to fight and win our Nations wars, creating a major national security issue. We must support our Military and Vets; focus on war fighting, eliminate the corrosive infusion of Political Correctness into our military which damages morale and war fighting cohesion.

* -- The Rule of Law is fundamental to our Republic and security. Anarchy as seen in certain cities cannot be tolerated. We must support our law enforcement personnel and insist that DAs, our courts, and the DOJ enforce the law equally, fairly, and consistently toward all.

* -- The mental and physical condition of the Commander in Chief cannot be ignored. He must be able to quickly make accurate national security decisions involving life and limb anywhere, day or night. Recent Democrat leaderships inquiries about nuclear code procedures sends a dangerous national security signal to nuclear armed adversaries, raising the question about who is in charge. We must always have an unquestionable chain of command.

* -- Under a Democrat Congress and the Current Administration, our Country has taken a hard left turn toward Socialism and a Marxist form of tyrannical government which must be countered now by electing congressional and presidential candidates who will always act to defend our Constitutional Republic. The survival of our Nation and its cherished freedoms, liberty, and historic values are at stake. We urge all citizens to get involved now at the local, state and/or national level to elect political representatives who will act to Save America, our Constitutional Republic, and hold those currently in office accountable. The will of the people must be heard and followed.

* * *

Signed by:

SIGNEES

RADM Ernest B. Acklin, USCG, ret. - MG Richard D. Anderegg, USAF, ret. - MG Joseph T. Anderson, USMC, ret. - RADM Philip Anselmo, USN, ret. - MG Joseph Arbuckle, USA, ret. - BG John Arick, USMC, ret. - BG Jim Balserak, USAF, ret. - RADM Jon W. Bayless, Jr. USN, ret. - RDML James Best, USN, ret. - BG Charles Bishop, USAF, ret. - BG William A. Bloomer, USMC, ret. - BG Donald Bolduc, USA, ret. - LTG William G. Boykin, USA, ret. - MG Edward R. Bracken, USAF, ret. - MG PATRICK H. BRADY, MEDAL OF HONOR, USA, ret.- VADM Edward S. Briggs, USN, ret. - LTG Richard Tex Brown III USAF, ret. - BG Frank Bruno, USAF, ret. - VADM Toney M. Bucchi, USN, ret. - MG Bobby Gene Butcher, USMC, ret. - RADM John T. Byrd, USN, ret.

BG Jimmy Cash, USAF, ret. - LTG Dennis D. Cavin, USA, ret. - LTG James E. Chambers, USAF, ret. - MG Carroll D. Childers, USA, ret. - BG Clifton C. Tip Clark, USAF, ret. - VADM Ed Clexton, USN, ret. - MG Jay Closner, USAF, ret - VADM John G. Cotton, USN (ret) - MG Tommy F. Crawford, USAF, ret. - MG Robert E. Dempsey, USAF, ret. - BG James H. Doty, USA, ret. - BG Phillip Drew, USAF, ret. - MG Neil L. Eddins, USAF, ret. - RADM Ernest Elliot, USN, ret. - BG Bob Floyd, USA, ret. - BG Jerome V. Foust, USA, ret. - BG Jimmy E. Fowler, USA, ret. - RADM J. Cameron Fraser, USN, ret. - MG John T. Furlow, USA, ret.

MG Timothy F. Ghormley, USMC, ret. MG Francis C. Gideon, USAF, ret. - MG William A. Gorton, USAF, ret. - MG Lee V. Greer, USAF, ret. - RDML Michael R. Groothousen, Sr., USN, ret. - BG John Grueser, USAF, ret. - MG James A. Guest, USA, ret. - MG Ken Hagemann, USAF, ret. - RDML Dale N. Hagen, USN,ret., - BG Norman Ham, USAF, ret. - VADM William Hancock, USN, ret. - MG Gary L. Harrell, USA, (ret) - LTG Henry J. Hatch, USA, ret. - MG Harald G. Hermes, USAF (ret) - BG James M. Hesson, USA, ret. - MG Kent H. Hillhouse, USA (ret) - BG Robert Hipwell, USA, ret - MG Bill Hobgood, USA, ret. - BG Stanislaus J. Hoey, USA, ret. - MG Bob Hollingsworth, USMC, ret. - MG Jerry D. Holmes, USAF, ret. - MG Clinton V. Horn, USAF, ret. - RDML Gregory C. Horn, USN, ret. - MG James P. Hunt, USAF, (ret) - LTG Joseph E. Hurd, USAF, ret. - BG Percy G. Hurtado II, USA, ret.

VADM Paul Ilg, USN, ret. - MG T. Irby, USA, ret. - LTG Ronald Iverson, USAF, ret. - RADM (L) Grady L. Jackson - MG William K. James, USAF, ret. - LTG James H. Johnson, Jr. USA, ret. - ADM. Jerome L. Johnson, USN, ret. - BG Charles Jones, USAF, ret. - BG Gary Lee Jones, USA, ret.  BG Robert R. Jordan, USA, ret. - RADML Herbert C. Kaler, USN, ret - BG Jack H. Kotter, USA, ret. - MG Anthony R. Kropp, USA, ret. - BG Charles Kruse, ARNG, ret. - RADM Chuck Kubic, USN, ret. - BG Enrique J. Lanz, USAF, ret. - BG Jerry L. Laws, USA, ret. - BG Douglas E. Lee, USA, ret. - MG Vernon B. Lewis, USA, ret. - MG Thomas G. Lightner, USA, ret. - MG JAMES E. LIVINGSTONE. MEDAL OF HONOR, USMC, ret. - MG John D. Logeman, USAF, ret. - BG Robert W. Lovell, USAF, ret - MG Jarvis Lynch, USMC, ret.

LTG Fred McCorkle, USMC, ret. - MG Don McGregor, USAF, ret., - LTG Thomas McInerney, USAF, ret. - RADM John H. McKinley, USN, ret. - BG Michael P. McRaney, USAF, ret. - BG Ronald S. Mangum, USA, ret. - BG James M. Mead, USMC, ret. - BG Joe Mensching, USAF, ret. - RADM W. F. Merlin, USCG, ret. - RADM (L) Mark Milliken, USN, ret. - MG John F. Miller, USAF, ret. - RADM Ralph M. Mitchell, Jr. USN, ret. - MG Paul Mock, USA. ret. - BG Daniel I. Montgomery, USA, ret., - RADM John A. Moriarty, USN, ret., - RADM David R. Morris, USN, ret. - MG James H. Mukoyama, Jr. USA, ret.

RADM Bill Newman, USN, ret. BG Joe Oder, USA, ret. MG OMara, USAF, ret. MG Joe S. Owens, USA, ret. VADM Jimmy Pappas, USN, ret. LTG Garry L. Parks, USMC, ret., RADM Russ Penniman, RADM, USN, ret. RADM Leonard F. Picotte, ret. VADM John Poindexter, USN, ret. RADM Ronald Polant, USCG, ret. MG Greg Power, USAF, ret. RDM Brian Prindle, USN, ret. RADM J.J. Quinn, USN, ret. LTG Clifford H. Rees, Jr. USAF, ret. RADM Edward T. Reidy, USN, ret. RADM William J. Ryan, USN (ret) RADM Norman T. Saunders, USCG, ret. MG Richard V. Secord, USAF, ret. RADM William R. Schmidt, USN, ret. LTG Hubert Smith, USA, ret. MG James N. Stewart, USAF, ret. RADM Thomas Stone, USN., ret. BG Joseph S. Stringham, USA, ret. MG Michael Sullivan, USMC, ret. RADM (U) Jeremy Taylor, USN, ret. LTG David Teal, USAF, ret. MG Robert D. Tenhet, USA (ret) VADM Howard B. Thorsen, USCG, ret.

RADM Robert P. Tiernan, USN, ret. LTG Garry Trexler, USAF, ret. BG James T. Turlington, M.D., USAF, ret. BG Richard J. Valente, USA ret. MG Paul Vallely, USA, ret. MG Paul M. Van Sickle, USAF, ret. MG Russell L. Violett, USAF, ret. BG George H. Walker, Jr. USAR Corp of Engineers, ret. MG Kenneth Weir, USMCR, ret. BG William O. Welch, USAF, ret. MG John M. White, USAF, ret. MG Geoffrey P. Wiedeman, Jr. USAF, ret. MG Richard O. Wightman, Jr., USA, ret. RADM Denny Wisely, USN, ret. RADM Ray Cowden Witter, USN, ret. LTG John Woodward, ret.,

* * *
Mike Carter and I became close friends over the years after serving with him as members of the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Affairs.

I always called him Judge Carter because he was a former General Sessions judge. He and I didn't always agree on some issues, but we never lost our respect and friendship for one another.

Chairman Carter and I talked many times about government issues and he always stayed on top as a champion for the people he represented.

I will miss our visits at our favorite barbecue place. I will miss his wise counsel on numerous issues and the friendships that came with those many conversations.

I remember the last communication I had with him and he said, "Mayor, please pray for me," and I did.

Mike always attended our Cleveland 100 annual meetings honoring our first responders.

I will miss him. No man ever stood taller defending citizen rights than Mike Carter.

Mayor Emeritus Tom Rowland

Mayor of Cleveland 1991-2018

* * *

I was sorry to learn of the loss of my friend Mike Carter. Mike and I both had our office chambers on the 2nd floor in the courthouse just doors apart.

Mike was a wonderful man and a great judge. He was a person of good character and principle. He could be stern or compassionate with people but he was always fair.

While in the legislature he did much for this community. He increased teacher pay, passed legislation to stop emission testing and prevented over aggressive annexation by cities.

He touched many lives.

It is my hope that this community or in particular State District 29 will name something in Mikes honor and carry on his legacy.

Russell Bean

* * *

When you mention Mike Carter in Hamilton County most anyone that has been around these neck of the woods could tell you they have heard of him.

If you were lucky enough to spend some time with him then you know what at great story teller he was and if you listened real close you most likely could learn something from those stories.

He loved to talk about his wife and boys. He would say how lucky he was to have them and how proud he was of them.

One thing is for sure, the citizens of Hamilton County and the great State of Tennessee have lost a man that was looking out for us all.

God bless Mike and his family.

Ben Wilson

* * *

Mike Carter was a kind and good man. In past years Mike found time to stop by for a visit after conducting business in the Courthouse. It was a joy to hear him express his love for Jesus Christ.

When he began serving in the legislature it was an honor to receive a call from him with legislative news of interest, or an email updating me on repeal of the emissions law that he and Senator Bo Watson championed.

More recently, it was my honor to assist him and Joan with business in the Clerks office as he prepared for the future transition.

His outstanding service, friendly smile and the Mr. Clerk he referred to me as will always be remembered and appreciated.

Bill Knowles

Hamilton County Clerk
Egyptian, Saudi FMs call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Xinhua) 11:09, May 16, 2021

CAIRO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Saturday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as well as efforts to prevent further escalation of the situation.

The two sides held a phone conversation, during which they exchanged views on the current conflict in Gaza, said a statement issued by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The ministers agreed that the prospect of a full-scale confrontation in the Palestinian enclave will have severe repercussions in the region, adding that they will maintain coordination in order to end the military escalation.

The two sides underlined the importance of resuming the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, as it is the main track that guarantees the two-state solution, preserves all legitimate rights of the Palestinians, and leads to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Over the past six days, armed conflict between Israel and the Hamas-led militant groups has kept flaring up, marking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since 2014 that has killed more than 120 Palestinians and nearly 10 Israelis.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Food to serve over 5,100 meals was collected Saturday by Scout units across 11 counties that include Hamilton, Catoosa, Walker, Dade, Marion, Grundy, Bradley, Polk, Rhea, Bledsoe, and Bledsoe during Scouting for Food.

Scouting for Food is an annual collection of nonperishable food items, coordinated across the 11 counties served by the Cherokee Area Council. The Chattanooga Area Food Bank will deliver goods to various food pantries across the community who will receive the food collected, and in turn, give the food to hundreds of individuals or families in need.

We are deeply grateful for the nourishing meals that Scouting for Food will be able to provide to the families in need in our community, said Melissa Blevins, president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank. In serving their community, the local Scouts are helping us provide food- and hope- to those neighbors in our community who are struggling and seeking food assistance.

The Scouting for Food campaign involved door-to-door food collection efforts by Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, and Venturers. On the first of two successive Saturdays, Scouts distributed informational door hangers throughout their designated area. Scouts on Saturday collected the bags of food and took them to the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

"The Scout Slogan is Do a Good Turn Daily" said Council Commissioner, Zachary McCarty. "Our Scouts log thousands of service hours annually. This project was a good way to kick off our Summer of Service and demonstrate to the community the values of Scouting that we teach to the youth of the program."

Please contact Barbara Edwards with Cherokee Area Council, 713-7633 for additional information or

to make a belated donation.
This summer CBS is going to sizzle more than ever with an alliance between Big Brother and Love Island that reality show fans are going to relish. The eye network has confirmed the 2021 premiere date of both competition shows and they will be sharing some nights. Julie Chen and Arielle Vandenberg are returning to host their respective shows for a summer hotter than ever.

Julie Chen and Arielle Vandenberg | Sonja Flemming/CBS / Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

What days will Big Brother air on CBS?

CBS has confirmed that Big Brother is returning with a smashing season 23 this summer. On Wednesday, July 7, Chen will return to welcome the new houseguests in a live 90-minute episode starting at 8 p.m. ET. According to the press release from the eye network, the live episode will see the new cast move into the redesigned house.

Houseguests are in for a high-stakes summer full of Big Risks and Big Rewards, where one wrong gamble could cost them everything, the press release reads.

When Chen announced the news of Big Brother, she revealed that the theme this year would be the BB Beach Club.

Beginning on Sunday, July 11, the reality show will air Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET and the live eviction episodes will air on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.

Paramount+ subscribers will be able to catch all the action from inside the house 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with the live feeds.

Julie Chen hosting Big Brother during a live eviction on CBS | Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images

RELATED: Big Brother UK Legend Nikki Grahame Dead at 38

When will Love Island air on CBS?

Following the premiere of Big Brother 23, Love Island will also have a 90-minute season 3 launch starting at 9:30 p.m. ET. Vandenberg will be hosting the series once again in its third season, this time from Hawaii.

A new set of islanders will be living in the sun-drenched Hawaiian Islands for the summer. CBS promises that the Casa Amor twist will return which will test the relationships in the main villa.

After the July 7 premiere, Love Island will air on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday at 9 p.m. ET during its first week. However, starting on Tuesday, July 13, the show will air Tuesdays through Fridays at 9 p.m. ET for an hour and Sundays at 9 p.m. ET for two hours.

Paramount+ subscribers will have access to more unique CBS reality show content than ever before. For the first time, 10 hours of exclusive Love Island content will be available on the streaming service. Content will include glimpses into the villa and fiery episodes featuring scenes too hot for broadcast.

Arielle Vandenberg, host of Love Island USA on CBS | Robert Voets/CBS via Getty Images

RELATED: Love Island USA Host Arielle Vandenberg Mourns Death of Caroline Flack With Sweet Message

Big Brother and Love Island return earlier after the pandemic

CBS is premiering Big Brother and Love Island earlier this year than in 2020. The uncertainty of the pandemic forced the eye network to reshuffle their programming as television production shut down.

For Big Brother, social distancing was in place, and audiences were left out of the live shows. As the evicted houseguests came out of the house, Chen was not able to hug them or get close to them. Contestants were also asked to wear a mask as they exited the BB bubble and into the real world.

Love Islands first season was done in Fiji but due to travel restrictions producers had to scramble to find a location for its second season. CBS decided to set up a rooftop villa on top of a Las Vegas casino, right on the strip. However, for its third season, the show returns back to its tropical setting and this time it will be Hawaii.
Dirty Dancing made Patrick Swayze a household name when it was released in 1987. Swayze starred as Johnny Castle alongside Jennifer Greys Frances Baby Houseman in the period piece set in the Catskills in the early 1960s.

Fans will never forget the sultry dance moves, the incredible music that produced two soundtracks, and Johnny and Babys forbidden romance. To this day, many still quote the films most iconic line. But when the movie was being shot, Swayze could hardly bring himself to say it.

Patrick Swayze star of Dirty Dancing in 2004 | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Dirty Dancing was an unexpected hit

Dirty Dancing is now a beloved 1980s classic, but getting the movie made wasnt easy. Writer Eleanor Bergstein wrote the script that was inspired by her childhood, but studios repeatedly rejected it. It wasnt until she brought it to the now-defunct Vestron Pictures that it got the green light.

Vestron gave Bergstein and producer Linda Gottleib a $5 million budget  which was less than half the average movie budget at the time  to become the companys first feature film. Directed by Emile Ardolino and choreographed by Kenny Ortego, Dirty Dancing went into production in 1986 at Mountain Lake Hotel in Virginia.

The film was never expected to be a huge hit. But, it ended up resonating with teen girls and adult female fans who couldnt get enough of the dancing, the music, or Swayze himself.

Patrick Swayze offered up his own song for the soundtrack

The Dirty Dancing soundtrack was just as popular as the movie, maybe even more so. It was so successful, they released a second soundtrack and sent the various artists on tour for a year.

The songs in the film were a mix of 60s classics, latin instrumentals, and original tunes by artists who hadnt had a Top 40 hit in years. There was so much music, its hard to believe they had a hard time finding new material. But thats exactly what happened.

According to music supervisor Michael Lloyd, they were looking for songs for the soundtrack when Swayze offered up Shes Like the Wind.

We were looking for songs and Patrick said, I have a song we could do, and we said, Bring it on, Lloyd recalled to Rolling Stone. It worked out perfectly, as if it were written for the movie.

Patrick Swayze didnt want to say Dirty Dancings most famous line

One of the most iconic lines in movie history came towards the end of Dirty Dancing when Johnny stands up to Babys father. He tells him, Nobody puts Baby in the corner before whisking her away to the stage for the final dance.

That line made the list of AFIs 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time, coming in at number 98. But according to Bergstein, Swayze didnt want to say it.

RELATED: Dirty Dancing: Jennifer Grey Had 5 Minutes To Prove She Could Play a Character Who Was 8 Years Younger

I dont think anybody thought it was too great a line, Bergstein recalled, according to SmoothRadio. Patrick didnt want to say it, but I just said, Well, just say it once and then the next time, just go up and do the speech, and maybe we wont use it. But we decided to use it.

Patrick Swayze later realized it worked perfectly

In his book The Time Of My Life  which Swayze wrote with his wife Lisa Niemi  the actor confirmed that he didnt want to say the now-iconic line. But, he eventually realized it worked perfectly.

We did a lot of rewriting for the big final scene, but one line that I hated stayed in. I could hardly bring myself to say: Nobody puts Baby in a corner. It sounded so corny, Swayze wrote.

But, seeing the finished film, I had to admit it worked. And of course it became one of the most quoted lines in the movie.

The Dirty Dancing star used the famous line to describe his battle with cancer

Not only did Swayze eventually realize that the line worked, he put a twist on it and used his version to describe his battle with pancreatic cancer.

I quote a version of it myself these days, saying, Nobody puts Patricks pancreas in a corner, when people ask how Im coping with cancer, Swayze wrote.

The Dirty Dancing star sadly lost his battle in 2009. He was 57 years old. Dirty Dancing is available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
You wouldnt have thought it to look at Doris Roberts, but the veteran character actor loved the physicality of her job.

The star known for her portrayal of intrusive, conniving Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond revealed that one of her favorite parts as an actor was performing her own stunts.

A scene from the Everybody Loves Raymond series finale | Robert Voets/CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Roberts had a lengthy TV resume

Before taking on the role of Marie on Raymond, Roberts who died at age 90 in 2016 was the consummate character actor on practically every major network drama and comedy in the 1970s and 80s. She was in them all: Barney Miller; Fantasy Island; Alice; St. Elsewhere; The Love Boat; Cagney & Lacey; Full House; Murder, She Wrote, and more.

She became a regular on the Pierce Brosnan-fronted crime drama Remington Steele for four seasons until 1987 in the role of Remington Steele Detective Agency receptionist Mildred Krebs.

Then, in 1996, Everybody Loves Raymond came along.

Remington Steele cast photo: (l-r) Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt, Pierce Brosnan as Remington Steele, and Doris Roberts as Mildred Krebs |

Herb Ball/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Roberts was chosen out of dozens of actors for the part of Marie Barone

When the actor tried out for the part of the Barone family matriarch, she was in the midst of a theater project she didnt want to be pulled away from.

I do, I think, a darn good job [of playing Marie Barone], Roberts told Television Academy Foundation in 2005. Its a thin line, because you could hate her and turn that show off. But you dont; you laugh at her.

Roberts explained how she got the part of Marie. They read over 100 women for the part before they called me up, she recalled. I dont know what took them so long, but anywayAt the time I was directing a play with 23 people and music, I was way in over my head.

RELATED: Everybody Loves Raymond Star Ray Romano Reveals the Only Thing He Misses About Being on a Sitcom

Roberts liked performing her own stunts

Asked about the stunts she did in television shows through the years, Robert instantly brought up Raymonds final episode in which she practically vaulted herself into Ray and Debras bed.

The last scene is hysterical, Roberts recalled. The last show that we do is absolutely hysterical. And I think its probably the worst nightmare that Ray would ever have.

In the scene Ray and Debra are talking about his near-death experience earlier in the episode after Rays adenoidectomy, after which doctors had difficulty bringing him out of the anesthesia. He realizes how lucky he was and the two get romantic. Marie hadnt been told of Rays close call, until that moment.

Peter, Peter Boyle, my husband, thats Frank, hes in bed with me and he tells me by mistake, she recalled. And I jump out of that bed and go across the street to Ray and Debras home. I open the door into their bedroom, theyre in each others arms. I leap into the bed, separate her from him, take him into my arms and carry on.

Its important to remember that Roberts, by the time of Raymonds series finale, was almost 80 years old.

I dont know where I got the strength, but I just leapt into that bed and we did it several times, she said. We rehearsed it for some time. I jumped in that bed day after day after day.

The actor recalled another stunt she performed, this time on Remington Steele, in which she had a mike on and had to rush into the Bay of Mexico and get into this boat. I ruined the mike. I swam to the boat, got into the boat. Ive done a lot of my own stunts, which is foolish, really. Bones get older and I have to worry about that, I should.
Its easy to see why theyd make a movie about the making of The Godfather (as Barry Levinson is). All sorts of characters were involved in getting the picture off the ground. Reading about Godfather author Mario Puzos first Hollywood project, you start to think he deserves his own film. Puzos run-in with Frank Sinatra would certainly make a great scene.

As Puzo told it, he never wanted to meet Sinatra, even though hed admired him from afar. (Puzo referred to him as an idol, in fact.) I just believed he was a great artist (singing, not acting), and that he had lived a life of great courage, Puzo wrote in The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions.

Yet Puzo could understand why Sinatra wouldnt feel the same way about the author of The Godfather. After all, most people took the Johnny Fontane character to be based on Sinatra. And Sinatra was among that crowd. Puzo later recounted the treatment he received from the Chairman of the Board.

Frank Sinatra publicly humiliated Mario Puzo over the Johnny Fontane character in The Godfather

AL MARTINO (Johnny Fontane) and MARLON BRANDO (Don Vito Corleone) in The Godfather | FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images

RELATED: Godfather Actor Abe Vigoda Had Fun With People Believing Him Dead in the 80s

What do you do when youre a struggling New York writer whos suddenly rubbing elbows with Hollywood stars? In Puzos case, the Godfather author tried to enjoy himself and match the warmth he felt from seemingly everyone he met in L.A.

But in Sinatras case, Puzo had already turned down the opportunity to meet the star in New York. Out in Hollywood, while working on the Godfather script, the host of a party he was attending offered to introduce Puzo to Sinatra again. Puzo declined that time as well.

Puzos host wouldnt take no for an answer, so the author obliged. It didnt go well at all. At first, as Puzo and his host stood by his table, Sinatra said he didnt want to meet him. And he repeated it when Puzos host tried again. Finally, Puzo said he hadnt wanted to meet Sinatra in the first place.

Sinatra blew up over that. Sinatra started to shout abuse, Puzo recalled in The Godfather Papers. I remember that he did not use foul language at all. The worst thing he called me was a pimp, which rather flattered me. But Sinatra followed that with a few threats.

Puzo called Sinatras threats the equivalent of Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone

Frank Sinatra and actor David Janssen at the Beverly Hilton in October 1970 | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

While Sinatra sat there ripping into Puzo, he never looked up from his dinner plate. I remember his saying if it wasnt that I was so much older than he, he would beat the hell out of me, Puzo recalled in The Godfather Papers. I was a kid when he was singing at the Paramount, but OK, he looked 20 years younger.

To Puzo, the real insult lay in the fact that Sinatra, whose family was from Northern Italy, would have the nerve to threaten a Southern Italian like Puzo with bodily harm. This was roughly equivalent to Einstein pulling a knife on Al Capone, Puzo explained.

The crazy part was, Puzo pulled a few details from the Sinatra biography  the From Here to Eternity casting, the Tommy Dorsey contract  but hadnt intended to skewer the man personally. He actually admired the man and felt sympathy for the plight of artists like Sinatra in that era. But the real-life man was nowhere near as fragile and weak-willed as Johnny Fontane.
Mads Mikkelsen plays evil oh so well. He played the villain in Marvels Doctor Strange, will be replacing Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them 3, played the terrifying Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal on NBC, and even played a Bond villain in Casino Royale. Of course, he hasnt been pigeonholed into those character types throughout his long career. Lets break down Mikkelsens movie and TV history and how it has all contributed to his net worth.

Mads Mikkelsen attends the red carpet of the movie Druk during the 15th Rome Film Festival on October 20, 2020 | Luca Carlino/NurPhoto/Getty Images

How old was Mads Mikkelsen in Casino Royale?

Mikkelsen has had a steady career for decades, but Casino Royale helped him further expand his career in the United States. While playing a Bond villain boosted his popularity, it also put him in place where, at 40 years old, he didnt have much say in the projects he auditioned for. As he told Vulture:

I got an American agent and it was like, OK, so you did a Bond film. Now things are happening. Move over there and spend some time and do all the meetings and the chitchat and some auditions. I never had the chance to think about whether it was a film I wanted to be in or not, I just did them all.

One part he is excited about is his undisclosed role in the upcoming Indiana Jones 5. Hell be starring alongside Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the final installment of the franchise, coming out July 29, 2022.

RELATED: Mads Mikkelsen Gives an Update on Indiana Jones 5

What is Mads Mikkelsen in?

Most recently, Mikkelsen starred in the Oscar-winning Another Round. In it, he plays a man who reclaims his life through drinking. He said:

The alcohol part of the film is merely a kick-starter to tell a story about people and about life. In my characters case, its about a man whos come to a standstill. Hes standing on the platform, and the train has left him. And through the alcohol, he reclaims his life. As opposed to other films about alcohol, there is a tribute in there to drinking. We are aware that the dangers of alcohol can ruin lives completely, but we never wanted to make a moral film. We say that it can lift you and it can kill you.

Mikkelsen has played a number of immoral characters, like Hannibal the cannibal. He played the insidious Silence of the Lambs character for three seasons before it was cancelled, although there is talks of a season 4 created by Netflix.

The actor is also a huge name in his homeland of Denmark. He starred in the 1996 film Pusher, which became a cult classic in Denmark. It was his first feature film. From there, he starred in Wild Side, Angel of the Night, Bleeder, Flickering Lights, and the Danish TV series Rejseholdet. He then starred in King Arthur, Pusher II, After the Wedding, Prague, and Exit before Casino Royale.

Some of his other credits include A Royal Affair, The Three Musketeers, The Hunt, Move On, Charlie Countrymen, The Salvation, and Rihannas B*tch Better Have My Money music video. Doctor Strange was his first film after Hannibal ended in 2015. He then played Felicity Jones father in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. And his most recent films are Riders of Justice and Chaos Walking alongside fellow Star Wars actor Daisy Ridley.

Mads Mikkelsen brings Galen Erso to life in #RogueOne  but what's your favourite of his moments? pic.twitter.com/CaBLMHc5jd  Star Wars UK (@StarWarsUK) January 11, 2017

RELATED: Rihanna Let Mads Mikkelsen Keep a Unique Souvenir From Her Music Video Set

Mads Mikkelsens net worth

Mikkelsens career seems to only be picking up speed. He will be leading the Fantastic Beasts franchise as its villain, will take on a starring role hes helping to create in Indiana Jones 5. He has also been cast as Adolf Tolkachev in Billion Dollar Spy, which according to IMDb, tells the true story of a man who became the Pentagons most valuable spy during the last years of the Cold War.

Basically, Mikkelsen isnt committed to only playing villains, but hes very much down for the ride. According to Celebrity Net Worth, his long career has earned Mikkelsen a net worth of $14 million.

When hes not acting, hes spending time with his wife and children. His wife, Hanne Jacobsen, a choreographer he met during his early dance career. Their children are Viola and Carl Mikkelsen. Denmark also named a Mikkelsen a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 2010, and he was named a Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Letters by the French government in 2016.
Something strange is afoot in Marthas Vineyard  and it involves kombucha. The latest installment in the Marthas Vineyard Mysteries series premieres May 16 on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. In Poisoned in Paradise, Jeff Jackson (Jesse Metcalfe) and Zee Madeiras (Sarah Lind) try solve a crime involving an unusual murder weapon. They must also deal with the consequences of the kiss they shared in the last movie, Ships in the Night. And it all takes place in the quaint New England community of Marthas Vineyard.

Marthas Vineyard is a character in the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series, Jesse Metcalfe says

RELATED: Chesapeake Shores Season 5: Is the Show Canceled or Renewed After Jesse Metcalfes Exit?

In an interview with Hallmark, Metcalfe  who plays a retired detective whos pulled back into crime-solving  said the movies setting is a key part of their charm. Marthas Vineyard is a character in these movies, he said of the island off the coast of Massachusetts thats a popular summer resort destination.

Metcalfe was born and raised in Connecticut and has visited the island many times, he said.

Marthas Vineyard is a place thats very rich with character, and thats whats great, I feel, about these movies, the Chesapeake Shores star shared. Its also a very idyllic summer destination  New England just has a certain texture to it. And I think we definitely bring that to these movies.

Poisoned in Paradise: A Marthas Vineyard Mystery isnt filmed in Marthas Vineyard

Poisoned in Paradise: A Marthas Vineyard Mystery | 2021 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Luba Popovic

The Marthas Vineyard setting is a key part of the appeal of the movies. But they arent actually filmed on the island. Instead, production takes place on the west coast of Canada.

Poisoned in Paradise was filmed in Victoria, British Columbia, Metcalfes co-star Lind explained in a Facebook Live. Other movies in the series, which are based on a series of novels by Philip Craig, were also filmed in Canada.

Craigs son Jamie Craig explained to the Vineyard Gazette earlier in 2021 that he has used a drone to get shots of Marthas Vineyard landmarks such as the Edgartown Lighthouse that are used in the movies. He also advises on geography, pronunciation, and law enforcement procedures, so the movies have the right feel.

Its obviously not a perfect clone but they try as hard as possible to get the set and all the locations to be as Marthas Vineyard-y as possible, he said.

My contribution has been to keep the Island stuff as authentic as possible and the characters as authentic as possible, Craig added. And because Im a police officer, the police work as authentic as possible.

What is the newest Marthas Vineyard Mystery about?

Poisoned in Paradise: A Marthas Vineyard Mystery | 2021 Crown Media United States LLC/Photographer: Luba Popovic

The fourth Marthas Vineyard Mysteries movie focuses on the death of a young waitress named Katie (Britt McKillip). Katie seeks out Jeffs help after she finds herself in over her head with the wrong people. He urges her to contact the police, but shes too frightened to do so. Soon after, she turns up dead.

Jeff  who fears he didnt do enough to help Katie  teams up with Zee to find her killer. But the pair are so absorbed in the case, they have little time to discuss the kiss they shared in Boston and what it could mean for their relationship. Plus, the mystery in Boston gets more complicated when Jeff and Andy (Nelson Wong) get close to catching the person who shot Jeff. But then, an FBI agent shows up, taking over the case and shutting Jeff and Andy out.

Poisoned in Paradise: A Marthas Vineyard Mystery airs Sunday, May 16 at 8 p.m. ET on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

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In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Holland has appeared as the character in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home. He will also star in the upcoming MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home.

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Holland starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, who played the villain Quentin Beck/Mysterio. Holland and Gyllenhaal became close friends while filming the movie, and Holland faced a particularly tough workout with Gyllenhaal when he tried to compete against his co-star.

Tom Holland | Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images

Tom Holland appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Spider-Man: Far From Home premiered on June 26, 2019. To promote the movie, Holland appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on June 24, 2019.

Have you seen any of the movie? Colbert asked Holland. Its pretty good.

No, I have seen the movie, Holland told him.

Colbert then tried to bait Holland into spoiling the movie, saying, You know the part I really loved? When its revealed that 

Im actually British, Holland joked.

During the episode, Colbert also brought up Hollands friendship with Gyllenhaal.

We love each other, Holland told Colbert.

RELATED: Loki: How the Disney+ Marvel Series Will Differ From WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal are competitive

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Holland explained that while he and Gyllenhaal were promoting Spider-Man: Far From Home in China, they decided to go to the gym together.

Holland originally did not want to, but he ended up agreeing to go along with his Marvel co-star. Throughout the entire workout session, Gyllenhaal kept making the workout harder. Because he is so competitive, Holland tried to outdo Gyllenhaal no matter how difficult it was.

 he goes, You know, well do a quick mile. Im like, A mile? Are we pressed for time? Come on, lets do two,' Holland shared.

He continued, And theres like a law in the gym that you cant run slower than the guy next to you.

RELATED: Tom Holland Admits He Would Quit Social Media if It Werent for Marvel

Holland recounted that Gyllenhaal then insisted on increasing the incline on the treadmills and challenged Holland to run three miles. When Gyllenhaal suggested they run even more, Holland found himself getting competitive and decided they would run four miles.

The Marvel actor claimed he did his own stunts in Spider-Man: Far From Home

After they finished their workout, Holland and Gyllenhaal had to do press for Spider-Man: Far From Home. While Gyllenhaal acted normal, Holland found himself to be incredibly sore.

 were doing press later that day and I cant walk, Holland said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Hollands discomfort was so noticeable that a journalist asked him if anything was wrong.

Genuinely, Im sitting there and a journalist goes, Whats wrong with you?' Holland explained.

RELATED: Tom Holland Says Sony and Marvel Now Love Working With Each Other

At this question, Holland decided to say he did all of his own stunts for Spider-Man: Far From Home instead of admitting he was sore from competing against Gyllenhaal.

And I said, Well I do all of my own stunts. Which I dont by the way, he said.

Spider-Man: No Way Home will be released on Dec. 17, 2021.
Not many people call giant corporations out for being sexist as children. And even fewer go on to work with those companies later in life. But then again, not many people are Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Even before Meghan was a Hollywood actress, she was outspoken about the things that mattered to her. Now, as a Duchess, Meghan has partnered with the company she once called out in order to further a cause that she cares about.

Meghan Markle speaking onstage during a special school assembly ahead of International Womens Day in 2020 | Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Meghan complained about Procter & Gamble

Meghan has revealed in several interviews that when she was 11 a Procter & Gamble commercial irritated her.

The 1993 ad featured a line that said Mothers around America are fighting greasy pots and pans.

According to Fox Business, On a 2019 panel discussion, Meghan recalled hearing boys in her class saying, Yeah, thats where women belong  in the kitchen.

So, she called on the company to change the line, which they did and replaced Mothers around America with People all over America.

Truth be told, at 11 I dont think I even knew what sexism meant, she said on the panel. I just knew that something struck me internally that was telling me it was wrong, and I knew that it was wrong. And using that as my moral compass and moving through from the age of 11, at that age I was able to change this commercial.

RELATED: Meghan Markle Says She Couldnt Remain Silent After the Palace Presented Falsehoods About Her and Prince Harry

Meghan and Prince Harry are partnering with Procter & Gamble

Meghan doesnt seem to have any residual hard feelings against the company who ultimately corrected their error. In fact, she and her husband, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex are partnering with the company.

Archewell Foundation believes that with community, and through compassionate service to others, we can unleash systemic cultural change, a statement on the foundations website reads. In service of doing this, and building more compassionate communities, Archewell Foundation announced a multi-year global partnership today with Procter & Gamble. 

The partnership will focus on initiatives that both Meghan and Harry have been outspoken about.

Based on shared values, the partnership will focus on gender equality, more inclusive online spaces, and resilience and impact through sport, the statement continued. It will build on joint aspirations, most recently demonstrated by our work together in support of Global Citizens VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World, an event that inspired vaccine confidence worldwide and mobilized more than $300 million in the push for greater global access to COVID-19 vaccines.

What other partnerships do Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have?

Meghan and Harry have been quite busy since they stepped down from their roles as working members of the royal family. They recently acted as Campaign Chairs for Global Citizens VAX LIVE: The Concert to Reunite the World where they led a coordinated drive across the private sector to raise money for COVAX, which is a vaccine-sharing program.

RELATED: Is Kate Middleton Working Behind the Scenes to Mend the Relationship Between Prince Harry and Prince William?

Meghan has also been getting creative in her free time and is about to publish her first childrens book, The Bench, which will be about the bond between father and son as seen through the eyes of a mother.

The pair have also inked deals with Spotify and a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix.

RELATED: Prince Harry Reveals the 1 Thing He Was Never Allowed to Do as a Royal
Double Shot at Love will be back with a third season later this year. This time, Vinny Guadagnino is looking for the perfect woman. With the help of Pauly DelVecchio, Nikki Hall, and a few other Jersey Shore: Family Vacation roommates, a new group of women will compete for the Keto Guidos heart.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi and Jenni JWoww Farley are among the cast confirmed to appear in Double Shot at Love Season 3. Find out what Snooki thinks her friend and Jersey Shore roommate is looking for on the upcoming season of Double Shot at Love.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi, Efren Landaos/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images | Vinny Guadagnino, Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images

Vinny Guadagninos girlfriends of the past

Historically, Guadagnino has been single throughout Jersey Shore and Jersey Shore: Family Vacation. Guadagnino did date a few women during his time in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Fans might remember Ramona Nitu from season 2 of the MTV series. Guadagnino met Nitu in Miami, but their romance came to an end when she stood him up.

Later, Guadagnino dated models like Melanie Iglesias and Elicea Shyann. She accused the Keto Guido of cheating on her during an episode of Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

'Double Shot at Love': Vinny Explains Why Things Are 'a Little Rocky' With Alysse https://t.co/ZsQY9EgUQz pic.twitter.com/TNxkgy689R  TheWrap (@TheWrap) June 28, 2019

When Double Shot at Love With Pauly D and Vinny came to be, Guadagnino dated several women at once. At the end of season 1, he pursued a relationship with Alysse Joyner, but it didnt work out. By season 2, Guadagnino was hooking up with another ex from season 1  Maria Elizondo.

In the summer of 2020, Guadagnino was rumored to be dating Too Hot to Handle star Francesca Farago. But now, Guadagnino is pursuing other women in another season of the MTV dating series.

Snooki and JWoww are part of Double Shot at Love Season 3

A local fan spotted who they thought to be Angelina Pivarnick on the set of Double Shot at Love Season 3. Shortly after, many fans assumed Polizzi and Farley were headed to Arizona when they posted photos and videos to their Instagram Stories from an airport. A few days later, Polizzi admitted she and Farley were filming for Double Shot at Love.

Everyone posted their perfect Mothers Day pictures in cute outfits & glamand then theres me. Always a hot mess express and tbh I wouldnt have it any other way. Thank you for choosing me as your mommy I am so lucky! Keep shinning bright & making me a better human. pic.twitter.com/F6YDy91eJW  Nicole Polizzi (@snooki) May 9, 2021

RELATED: Nicole Snooki Polizzi Is Back on Jersey Shore: Family Vacation; Details About Her Return in Season 4

I cant be away from the kids for more than two days, Polizzi admitted on Its Happening with Snooki & Joey. She and Farley boarded a red-eye flight to do a quick shoot for Double Shot at Love.

After a bit of a travel delay  their initial pilot got sick, so the duo had to find another flight  Farley and Polizzi made it to Arizona. We went to go help Vinny find love. We were there for two days.

Nicole Snooki Polizzi doesnt think Vinny Guadagnino is looking for a serious relationship

Regardless of Guadagninos past relationships, his Jersey Shore roommate doesnt think hes giving real love a chance. I think its just for the show at this point, Polizzi said when Camasta quizzically asked about Guadagninos inability to find love. Hes good [for TV].

Will Vinny Guadagnino find love in Double Shot at Love Season 3?

Thanks to some help from DJ Pauly D and his girlfriend Hall, many fans are hopeful Guadagnino will find a girlfriend this season. Honestly, who better to guide Guadagnino on his journey than his best friend, who happens to be in a relationship that formed on reality TV?

Fans will have to tune in to Double Shot at Love Season 3 to find out if Guadagnino finds a partner or is simply in it for fun. Stay tuned to Showbiz Cheat Sheet for updates on when the new season of Double Shot at Love will air.
Paul Hollywood had a very public affair when he started working on the American version of the Great British Bake Off. Despite Hollywoods infidelity, his wife Alexandra took him back. Their reconciliation did not last long, though.

The couple split for the final time in 2017 and their marriage ended in divorce. Why did Hollywoods ex-wife give him a second chance?

The Great British Baking Off judge Paul Hollywood | Mark Bourdillion/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

Paul Hollywood had an affair with co-star Marcela Valladolid

After the Great British Bake Off found success in the UK, an American version was put into production known as The American Baking Competition. Hollywood was the only member of the GBBO cast who went across the pond to take part in the shows American counterpart.

Jeff Foxworthy hosted The American Baking Competition, with Hollywood as a judge alongside chef Marcela Valladolid.

Due to poor ratings, the series lasted just one season on CBS before it was canceled. However, while they were filming the shows seven episodes, Hollywood and Valladolid had a brief affair.

Hollywood called the affair the biggest mistake of my life

At the time of Hollywoods affair with Valladolid, he had been married to his wife Alexandra for 15 years.

The couple met in Cyprus when he was the head baker at a five-star hotel. They later married and welcomed a son named Josh.

In an interview with Radio 5 Live in 2013, Hollywood admitted the affair and said that he and Alexandra had split. The baker called it the biggest mistake of his life.

I did have an affair in America with my co-judge and it was something which it was the biggest mistake of my life, because actually I still love my wife, Hollywood said at the time, according to The Independent.

Paul Hollywoods wife took him back

The GBBO star went on to say that he deserved the bad press he was getting, and accepted it as punishment for his actions. He also admitted that he didnt expect anyone to care.

I didnt think anyone was interested in me for a start which is why I was shocked about the whole thing kicking off the way it did, Hollywood said.

RELATED: Do the Original The Great British Baking Show Judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood Get Along?

He added that he and Alexandra were talking and working on getting back together. And, thats exactly what ended up happening. The couple reconciled, moved on, and got to a much better place. At least for a while. They split again in 2017, and the marriage ended in divorce.

Alexandra says she lost herself in the marriage

Alexandra opened up about her 20-marriage to Hollywood and their subsequent split during an interview with The Sunday Telegraph.

She admits that she lost herself and made sacrifices in her marriage.

When you get married and have children, its easy to lose yourself, Alexandra explained. Im not complaining because I was happy, but then someone else rips everything up and it wakes you up to who you are and what you have become and what sacrifices youve made.

Paul Hollywoods ex-wife explains why she gave him a second chance

Paul and Alexandras brief split in 2013 resulted in a 1.4million payout for her before their reconciliation. She says that she decided to give her husband a second chance for the sake of their son.

I stand by that decision. I believed in my marriage, I wanted to make it work, Hollywoods ex-wife said.

She went on to say that despite the marriage ending years ago, the divorce was still very painful for her. Alexandra says its been difficult, but shes not broken.

Divorce hurts. I was married for 20 years. But you keep going, she concluded.
On this weeks episode of The Equalizer, a terrified wife reaches out to Robyn about her husband. She suspects hes about to put a lot of lives in harms way. Also, Robyn has a tough choice to make concerning her identity. Heres what to expect next time on The Equalizer.

A wife asks Robyn to find her husband

Queen Latifah | Barbara Nitke/CBS via Getty Images

During The Equalizer Season 1 Episode 9 (titled True Believer), a wife reaches out to Robyn McCall (Queen Latifah) about her missing husband. Shes worried hes about to help an extremist group set off a bomb in the city. The wife says the last thing her husband said to her was, After tonight youll be proud of me.

Robyn says that is what terrorists usually say to their loved ones before carrying a dangerous mission. When she and Mel (Liza Lapira) do some investigating, they find tools used to make a bomb. Its clear the man is planning to bomb an unknown location. They have to act fast.

Robyn is worried her identity will be revealed

Robyn is worried about her identity being revealed. In a sneak preview for episode 9, Robyns daughter, Delilah (Laya DeLeon Hayes), asks her to be part of a mother/daughter TikTok video called the Shake it with Your Family Dance Challenge.

However, if people see who Robyn is, this could pose problems down the road. Delilah says she usually posts social media videos with her stepmother, Kelly, but shes out of town. Robyn seems hurt that her daughter would go to her stepmother first for something like this.

Aunt Vi (Lorraine Toussaint), who is aware Robyn is working secret missions, says, This whole social media thing, you cant afford to have your face out there, can you? Robyn says staying away from social media is a must. Monitoring what people know about me online is my big compromise, she says. I cant put my family in danger by exposing my identity.

Robyn is having a tough time with opting out of the video because she doesnt want to let her daughter down. Its the little things; thats what they remember, she tells Vi.

What happened last time on The Equalizer

During The Equalizer Season 1 Episode 8 (titled Lifeline), Robyn receives an overseas call for help. The call is from Carla, the daughter of Robyns late CIA mentor, David Henson. Shes in France and she needs to get out of the country before shes kidnapped and killed. Robyn goes to Mel and Harry so they can help Carla remotely.

They need to work quickly because Carla is being targeted by a hit squad. Her boyfriend was shot and killed. Now the killers are looking for her. They want the secret code to a drive her father has. The drive holds information revealing the identities of CIA operatives. If they get their hands on the code, many lives could be in danger.

Follow Sheiresa Ngo on Twitter.
Bethenny Frankel is back on the reality radar with her HBO Max series The Big Shot with Bethenny. Rising to fame on Bravo TVs Real Housewives of New York, Frankel parlayed the platform into promotions for her burgeoning brands. The Skinnygirl founder prides herself on keeping it real whether on or off camera, even in the age of cancel culture.

Bethenny Frankel | Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Is Bethenny Frankel similar to Miranda Priestly?

Some may remember Meryl Streeps performance as boss-from-hell Miranda Priestly in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. Frankel revealed the iconic characters name has been bandied about regarding her new show, The Big Shot with Bethenny.

Some people have compared it to The Devil Wears Prada, which I actually like and dont mind, Frankel told Interview Magazine. Im being totally truthful and Im not sugarcoating myself. If I learn from it or realize some other practice that I should be doing, then great.

Despite some rumored similarities to the films villainous boss, the RHONY alum refuses to censor herself or alter her on-air reactions. Frankel always makes authenticity a priority.

I wasnt going to sanitize or filter the show the way everything done by every single celebrity is done, she explained. I wasnt going to do that. I said the same thing I said on Housewives: if I do this, Im going to be truthful and honest and lets see what happens. I can take it. I would rather be canceled than sanitized, or be some filtered version of myself.

RELATED: RHONY Alum Bethenny Frankel Has This Advice for College Grads

RHONY alum doesnt push the Girlboss label

The reality show features Frankel putting a group of hopeful millennials through a variety of challenges in order to find her next VP of Operations for her Skinnygirl brand. While the HBO Max series puts the spotlight on women in business, Frankel doesnt consider gender a factor for success.

Ive been told that the show, and I agree, is very female-empowering without shoving it down peoples throats. she said. It just happens to be. People ask me about being a woman. I never thought about being a woman. I just thought about me and being strong and pushing through. Maybe its being brought up at the race track, maybe its just being born tough, I dont know. Ive always just pushed through.

Frankel founded her Skinnygirl brand of ready-to-serve, lower-calorie cocktails, wines and flavored vodkas in 2009. Upon reflection, she noted how building a business in an industry dominated by men taught her to be laser-focused on the work itself.

I went into the business of liquor, which was owned by and marketed to men, the former Bravo TV star explained. Had I thought about it, maybe I wouldnt have done it. I got into a male-driven business and pushed through. Its female empowerment without talking about it. Girlboss and boss b*tch and all of that stuff is a turn off. Its just not me.

Bethenny Frankel aims to keep it real on The Big Shot with Bethenny

Frankel first hit the airwaves on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in 2005. Finishing in second place, Frankel exhibited her strong work ethic in her quest for winning the competition. She noted how she seldom sees that drive for success in people today.

RELATED: Why Bethenny Frankel Said Being on Real Housewives of New York Was Strategic

When I went on The Apprentice, theres nothing I wouldnt have done, she told Interview. Thats a little bit of a throwback, but a little bit of that is missing now. People dont have that same hunger. Everybody gives a medal for participating now. Thats not really what real business and what real life is like.

In an age of social media filters and prepared public statements, Frankel hopes to put forth more genuine content with The Big Shot with Bethenny.

I didnt grow up in a generation where you took a picture of yourself in a bathing suit, posted it, and asked everybody how good do I look?' Frankel commented. Im being the me that made me successful, not the marketed-for-television me.
U.S. regulators on Monday expanded the use of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to those as young as 12.
The progression, adaptation and endurance of the Cherokee language is being presented in a special exhibit debuting at the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum and the Cherokee National Prison Museum that began May 11.
Image: Ed Stetzer

Im restarting my Sunday Journeys series, talking about different churches Ive visited and taking away some learnings from each.

Earlier this year, I was at Bay Area Community Church in Annapolis for their missions conference. Despite the numerous health and logistical complications COVID presented through the planning process, the pastors, staff, and congregants at BACC creatively navigated these unique circumstances with precaution and wisdom at the forefront of their concerns.

Heres a pic of the team praying before one of the services.

Image: Ed Stetzer

I was thankful for the opportunity to join such an incredible team and visit with Greg St. Cyr, the lead pastor of BACC and my former doctoral student at TEDS.

The theme of the conference was Reaching a Volatile World, whichwellis pretty much right on time and on target.

Image: Ed Stetzer

I appreciated the time they set aside for a missions focus, including the weekend services, but also all weekend longand ongoing events behind that. We heard from church planting leaders from India and beyond.

Image: Ed Stetzer

A Missions Focus

Bay Area Community Church has been mission-oriented since its start in 1987. This church is enraptured with the good news of the gospel and is eager to share it with others, whether down the street or across the world. Greg St. Cyrs passion for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ stems from his own missional experiences working with CRU and also as a missionary in Poland for 8 years, mostly during the communist regime and this has undoubtedly only added fuel to the churchs fire for missions.

Bay Area Community Church follows the pattern demonstrated by the apostles in Acts for their own missional scope. Just as the apostles and early Christian church spread the gospel throughout Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth, BACC equips and trains their members to do the same. They begin the work in their own city of Annapolistheir Jerusalemby emphasizing the importance of personal evangelism to the people encountered in everyday life. BACC also invests in and ministers to communities within Annapolis that are impoverished, homeless, and needy. The church estimates roughly 80% of Annapolis are not followers of Jesus, so the city is ripe for gospel ministry and the church is fervently addressing this need.

Seeing the Mid-Atlantic region and the United States as their own Judea and Samaria, BACC is eager to witness the gospel advance outside of their own church and city into their larger region, and ultimately across our nation. In 2008, BACC created their first church planting team. This sparked a love for planting churches and eventually led to the creation of their church planting organization, the SENT Network, which has planted over 20 churches throughout the Mid-Atlantic region since 2012.

Through all this focus on local and regional missions, BACC does not neglect global mission opportunities. The church partners with missionaries working on the field in 10 countries on 4 continents to launch about 20 short-term mission trips each year. Along with financial contributions to global mission efforts, BACC also hosts a prayer ministry to pray specifically for the gospel to advance without hindrance throughout the world and for missionaries serving on the field.

Through everything they do, BACC strives to serve the church, missionaries, and community like Jesus didto serve others, ultimately surrendering his life to save them (Mark 10:45). They help their members find ways to serve missionally according to the gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit for the building and nourishment of the body of Christ, whether in Annapolis, across the US, or around the world. For example, the missions conference I attended was spearheaded by Phillip Helms, a business leader and an Executive Market Director for Chubb International, who volunteers at BACC and saw a need in his community and was equipped to meet it. I interview Greg and Philip on my radio show here.

My time there was a reminder that churches can take up the missionthat pastors and volunteers can and should work together to engage global missions.
O God, the King of glory,

you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:

Do not leave us comfortless,

but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us,

and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God,

in glory everlasting.

Amen.
Christian student fights back against universitys vaccine mandate, cites religious exemption

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A Christian student at the University of Alabama-Birmingham has challenged the university's mandatory vaccine policy after being blocked from registering for classes this semester despite having been allowed to register past semesters with no vaccinations.

Jackie Gale has never had a single vaccination because she believes that the Bible commands Christians to honor God regarding how the care for their bodies and not inject extra chemicals into one's body, according to a letter to UAB President Ray L. Watts and the university's lawyer John Daniel from First Liberty Institute attorney Christine Pratt.

Gale, who's a sophomore at the university, had no trouble registering for classes when she was admitted as an entering freshman. But as her second semester was about to start and she attempted to add another class to her schedule she found that the school had put an administrative hold on her record, the letter explained.

The university told her that she had to submit proof of her immunizations in order to register for classes. In response, Gale uploaded a state-issued religious exemption certificate that she had used previously. She was then told that the certificate was not valid at institutions of higher learning, but the university relented and removed the administrative hold and she was able to enroll and classed and finish the semester in-person with no issues.

Yet when she tried to register for fall classes for her sophomore year she encountered the same hurdle, only this time the university refused to allow her to proceed. A UAB official reportedly told her that the university wouldn't recognize her religious exemption. When she attempted to speak with someone else in administration she was told that she should expect to receive a call, but only received a one-line message that said: "Please refer to our website for more information."

UAB's website states that exceptions to the university's immunization policy "may be made in limited circumstances for students who can document medical and/or other contraindications to the vaccine."

Only those students enrolled in online classes are exempt from those requirements, it reads.

First Liberty Institute contends in its letter to UAB that "Jackie Gale is entitled to continue receiving a religious exemption to UABs mandatory vaccine policy so that she can register for and attend in-person classes."

"UABs refusal to recognize Ms. Gales religious exemption violates both federal and state law, and UAB should revise its policies to provide religious exemptions to students who hold such religious convictions," First Liberty Institute adds.

The institute further argues that UAB's policy  which requires proof of immunity to measles, mumps and rubella, requiring two MMR shots; tetanus; diphtheria; acellular

pertussis; chickenpox/shingles, requiring two VZVIgG shots; meningitis; in addition to proof she had been screened for tuberculosis  violate both the free exercise clause of U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom Amendment in the Alabama Constitution, which prohibits any state-imposed burden on the free exercise of religion.

The university has been asked to respond to the letter by May 27.

The letter comes amid documented hesitancy among some Christians and others in the general population about the newly-developed COVID-19 vaccines and increased scrutiny over what are known as vaccine "passports," documented proof that a person has either tested negative for the novel coronavirus or been vaccinated.

Some doctors have warned that people who've been infected with COVID-19 and still have antibodies might be harmed by the vaccine.

Retired surgeon Dr. Hooman Noorchashm told Fox News Tucker Carlson on both his evening show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" and his daytime show on Fox Nation: "its not a one-size-fits-all."

"I am very strong supporter of this vaccine," Noorchashm said. "I believe that Operation Warp Speed delivered to America in under a year the equivalent of putting a man on Mars, frankly. And this vaccine is probably going to be the most powerful and effective vaccines we have ever made."

"Just like any other medical therapy and treatment, its not a one-size-fits-all. And if we attempt to make one size fit all, we will almost certainly cause harm," he added.

Last week, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law a measure that both banned the use of such passports in the southern state and prohibited public schools and local governments from issuing mask mandates.
Evangelical churches hold global prayer for peace in response to Israel-Palestinian conflict

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Responding to calls by evangelical leaders to designate this Sunday as a Global Day of Prayer for Peace and Security in the Middle East, many churches across the United States are praying for peace in Israel as a week of violence in the region is being described as the worst since 2014.

We call upon Evangelicals, & others around the world, to pray for Israelis & Palestinians victimized by Hamas terrorists, reads a tweet by the Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference on Saturday.

Hamas militants started launching rocket attacks on Israel last Monday as tensions had been brewing over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and Israeli police clashed with Palestinians near the citys Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site.

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza have fired over 2,300 rockets toward Israel since the outbreak of fighting on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said, according to The Times of Israel.

Since Monday, at least 181 people have been killed in Gaza, including 52 children and 31 women, with 1,225 injured, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, BBC reported, adding that Israel has said dozens of militants are among the dead. At least 10 people, including two children, have been killed by militant attacks on Israel, according to Israeli officials.

Evangelicals pressed pause on their lives to defend the State of Israel and the Jewish people against Hamas terrorists and their Iranian backers, Moore told The Jerusalem Post. Our community pushed back online in response to the disinformation coming from the terrorists, reached out to politicians obsessively, and this weekend tens of millions will pray for Israel in their churches.

Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, also expressed his support for Israel.

As Christians, we support the people of Israel because they are Gods chosen, he said in a statement to the Post. As Americans, we celebrate the State of Israel as an ally and the only democracy in the Middle East.  We call on President Biden to publicly stand with Israel without equivocation and make his position clear  the United States will not tolerate terrorism in any form, domestic or abroad.

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the ongoing conflict, and an envoy of the Biden administration is in Israel to hold talks.

Also on Sunday, Israels security cabinet is scheduled to discuss the operation in the Gaza Strip. According to the Post, senior defense officials pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Saturday to start working toward a ceasefire that would bring an end to the IDF operation.

On Saturday afternoon, an Israeli airstrike demolished the Al Jala building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and a few other media outlets. The Israel Defense Forces said the building was used by Hamas military intelligence services and the media offices were used as human shields, The Times of Israel reported.

Prior to the strike, the IDF warned the civilians in the building and gave them sufficient time to evacuate the building, the Israeli military was quoted as saying.

Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas military wing, has threatened to respond by targeting central Israel. Residents of Tel Aviv and the center must be on standby, the Times quoted Obeida as saying.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden spoke with both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, urging de-escalation. Biden also reaffirmed his support for Israels right to defend itself while expressing concern about the deaths of civilians, including children, and the safety of journalists, The Wall Street Journal reported.

In a speech, Netanyahu thanked Biden for his support and promised to limit civilian casualties, The Times of Israel reported, saying the White House said in a statement that Biden reaffirmed his strong support for Israels right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza. He condemned these indiscriminate attacks against towns and cities across Israel.

Last Wednesday, 40 U.S. senators, led by Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, signed a letter, calling on Biden to support Israels right to retaliate and end sanction relief with Iran, which backs Hamas.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who has been historically supportive of Israel, also tweeted recently in support of Israel after the missile attacks.

Israel unequivocally has the right to defend itself & its people, & I condemn today's unjustifiable attacks by Hamas against innocent civilians, Hoyer tweeted. Israelis & Palestinians both deserve a future of peace & security, & I hope both sides take positive steps to promote that end.
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Hundreds attend prayer vigil after Jesus statue toppled, American flag burned at NYC church

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A Catholic church in New York City received support and solidarity from the community as hundreds of people came to attend a prayer vigil in response to what appears to be a hate crime involving the toppling of a statue of Jesus and the burning of an American flag outside the parish.

On such a short notice we all came together to show how strong our Faith is! What an amazing crowd! We are one community! We are one family! We love each other! said St. Athanasius Church in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in New York on its Facebook page about Friday nights prayer vigil.

Friday morning, the church wrote a post about the vandalism. We are deeply saddened to inform you that the Cross on our Church property was vandalized last night. This exhibition of violence and religious hatred is very disturbing. This is definitely an offensive act not only to our Parish but to the Catholic Church!

The vandalism occurred Thursday night when an unknown person jumped the fence at the church, pushed over a statue of Jesus crucifixion and torched an American flag hanging outside the church, the New York Post reported, adding that the statue broke into pieces.

In a statement released by the Diocese of Brooklyn, the parish priest, Monsignor David Cassato, called it an act of hatred.

 Today is the saddest day of my 20 years here at this parish, he said. I went over and spoke to the students in the school about what happened, telling them that hate never wins. We are, and must be, a community that continues to share the message of Easter, that which is of love, hope, and forgiveness.

The statue of Jesus crucifixion, the pastor said, was installed in 2010 to honor the memory of his mother. The parish said it plans to repair and reinstall the crucifix in the same location.

I went over and spoke to the students in the school about what happened, telling them that hate never wins, Cassato added. We are, and must be, a community that continues to share the message of Easter, that which is of love, hope, and forgiveness.

The NYPD is investigating a possible hate crime.

An online fundraiser has been started by one Antoinette Maggiore to raise $5,000, and $3,000 had been raised by Sunday morning.

As we all know this past year has been a trying time for many. Many of us have leaned on our faith and church leaders to help us through, the fundraiser says.  Sadly, our dear neighborhood church, St. Athanasius, was vandalized in a disturbing act of hatred and violence. I know others, like myself, feel a sense of sadness and grief. The cross fell, but as we believe, if we unite in our sorrow, we will only rise stronger through Christ. Lets help restore the church that has helped us through our trying times.
The latest on the conflict in Israel and 4 biblical responses

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Hamas fired large fusillades of rockets at Tel Aviv and other civilian areas in Israel Thursday as the conflict in the Holy Land continues to escalate. More than 1,800 rockets and mortar shells have been launched toward Israel this week; the large number is intended to overwhelm Israels Iron Dome air defense system.

Armed drones were sent into southern Israel as well. Ben Gurion International Airport was closed to incoming passenger flights. The Israeli military responded Friday morning with a combined air and artillery barrage intended to destroy Hamas tunnel system.

Earlier this week, I discussed this conflict in the context of Jewish and Muslim historical narratives. Today, lets seek to understand it in relation to recent developments and events. Then well focus on practical ways we can make a difference.

Why now?

Hamas means zeal in Arabic and forms an acronym (spelled backwards) for Islamic Resistance Movement. Its official charter calls for the destruction of Israel and raising the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine. When it attacks Israel, it is doing what it was created to do. (For more, see my 2014 paper, 4 Crucial Questions About Hamas.)

The story behind the story, however, is Irans support for Hamas. It backs Hamas and Hezbollah (the terrorist organization that dominates Lebanon to the north of Israel) as it seeks to extend its influence across the Middle East. Iran is Shiite and Persian; it is locked in a geopolitical conflict with Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab nations.

Israels recent peace accords with some of these countries threaten Irans dominance of the region. By empowering Hamas to attack Israel, it has provoked an Israeli response that it can caricature as an attack on all Muslims. Since the Quran requires Muslims to defend Islam, Iran may be hoping that the present conflict will rally all Muslims in opposition to the Jews, defeating Israels peace initiatives with the Sunni world. As I noted earlier this week, Iran also believes that engendering such conflict and chaos prepares the way for the coming of the Mahdi, its Messiah.

Hamas has taken advantage of tensions over the possible expulsion of six Palestinian families from East Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Day march that coincided with a significant Muslim holiday. Its leaders have also sought to position themselves to win Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for May 22 (but now indefinitely postponed). With Irans help, it has developed more extensive rockets and other weaponry than ever before and is using these munitions to target civilian populations more than ever before.

Israel has dealt with Hamas in the past and undoubtedly will continue to do so. But what is happening between Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis is especially troubling for the future.

'This is different from anything Ive seen'

Of the 9 million people who live in Israel, 2 million are Arab. (Another 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza and 2.7 million in the West Bank.) Most Jews and Arabs in Israel have learned to live peaceably as neighbors since the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

However, the country is now experiencing the worst internal Jewish-Arab conflicts since the last Intifada (uprising) in 2000. The Times of Israel reports that scenes of unrest, rioting, hate rallies, and growing social chaos spread throughout numerous cities, some of which were once seen as symbols of coexistence. TikTok and other social media platforms are being used to encourage and inflame street protests as activists on both sides take out their pent-up anger and frustration on the other.

In one particularly shocking scene, hundreds of Jewish extremists in the town of Bat Yam vandalized Arab property and then assaulted an Arab driver in his car, dragging him from the vehicle and beating him savagely. Jewish mobs were seen roaming the streets of Haifa and Tiberias looking for Arabs to assault. An Arab at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem was stabbed by Jews and seriously injured. The chant death to Arabs was heard in Jewish rallies.

Meanwhile, Arab riots were reported in Jerusalem, Lod, Haifa, Tamra, and elsewhere. A Jewish man in Acre was hospitalized in critical condition after he was assaulted with rocks and iron bars. A Jewish man in Tamra was stabbed and assaulted by an Arab mob; an Arab paramedic said the attackers almost burned the man inside his car before he helped evacuate him to safety. Israel has called up ten companies of reservists to support police in quelling such street violence.

One Tel Aviv resident said, I think this is different from anything Ive seen, and Ive been living here for twenty-four years. I just want to point out that were all Israelis, so Jews, Arabswere all Israelis.

Tzipi Livni, a former cabinet member and former chief negotiator in peace talks with the Palestinians, said, What was maybe under the surface has now exploded and created a combination that is really horrific. I dont want to use the words civil war. But this is something that is new, this is unbearable, this is horrific, and Im very worried.

Four biblical responses

Unlike the conflict with Hamas, which is centered in a small geographical area and can be managed through military means, street violence is a police matter that is difficult to quell. Thats why political leaders from across the spectrum are decrying this violence. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Ganz is warning that Israeli internal divisions are no less dangerous than Hamas.

How can Christians intercede biblically in these tragic days?

One: Pray for Jewish, Palestinian, and world leaders (1 Timothy 2:12). Ask God to give them wisdom and practical guidance.

Two: Pray for Gods shalom, the Hebrew word for peace (Psalm 122:6). It is far more than the cessation of violenceit is true and lasting peace with God, others, and ourselves.

Three: Pray for Jews and Muslims to turn to Jesus as their Messiah and Savior. He is the only path to the peace all people seek (John 16:33).

Four: Pray for ways to love the Jews and Arabs you know (John 13:3435). Anti-Semitism is rising in America and around the world; many Arabs face oppression and discrimination in America and the West as well. Look for opportunities to demonstrate Gods love in your compassion by building relationships centered in grace.

A Zen proverb says, Obstacles do not block the paththey are the path. Lets see the unfolding tragedy in Israel as the path to intercession that could lead to spiritual awakening in the Middle East and beyond. And lets resolve to walk that path, to the glory of God.

Why not right now?

Originally published at the Denison Forum
The Q Great Awakening vs. Gods Great Awakening

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There are many Christian leaders and believers in America who believe that another great awakening is our only hope. They (or, more accurately here, we) believe that only a sweeping revival movement, leading to national reformation, will turn the deadly tide in our country. As we have said repeatedly, it is literally revival or we die.

Yet not everyone means the same thing when they speak of the coming great awakening. To some, it is a spiritual outpouring which will result in massive repentance in the Church and massive salvation in the world. To others, it is a political upheaval, with the military restoring Trump to power, a Democrat-run pedophile ring being exposed, and the American people waking up to this reality. Not all great awakenings are the same!

As conveniently summarized by a secular news site (with reference to the larger Q conspiracy), QAnon purports that America is run by a cabal of pedophiles and Satan-worshippers who run a global child sex-trafficking operation and that former President Trump is the only person who can stop them. The information supposedly comes from a high-ranking government official who posts cryptic clues on 4chan and the even more unfettered site 8chan under the name Q.

Accordingly, It claims the military, supposedly eager to see the deep state overthrown, recruited Donald Trump to run for the president. But the deep state, which controls the media, quickly tried to smear him through fake news and unfounded allegations of collusion with Russia. It goes on to insist that despite the deep state's best efforts, however, Mr. Trump is winning, and that Q is releasing sanctioned leaks to the public in order to galvanize them ahead of The Storm, which is the moment when the deep state's leaders are arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay. QAnon believers have called this process The Great Awakening.

Of course, there is some truth in the myth of these fantasies, enough to fuel the imaginations of the faithful. But in the end, this is nothing less than conspiratorial nonsense.

Interestingly, this article was most recently updated on March 29, indicating that this is far from a dead issue. And it was just two weeks ago, that I was sent a meme posted on the Facebook page of a Trump prophet, depicting the president standing behind a lectern, the sunlight flashing around him, and the caption, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

In response, one of this prophets followers posted, Yezzzzz.....time has been ticking but God is working. Many have scoffed at the Prophets of the nations simply because time has passed when God didn't promise the process would be quick and easy! In fact, he is doing a sellout checker to test and see who will stick and stay, come what may. He is building a strong and faithful ARMY for the ..... GREAT AWAKENING!

This, of course, is the QAnon great awakening, not the spiritual awakening we are praying for. And in the end, it has virtually nothing to do with renewal in the church or reformation in the society. It is not about Jesus; it is about myth and fantasy.

As explained by a Q proponent in the book QAnon: An Invitation to The Great Awakening (sometimes simply attributed to WWG1WGA, which means, where we go one, we go all), While a lot is improving, it still puzzles many that most of these known criminals are still free. Especially higher ups like the Hillary Clinton, the Bushes and Obama. That is coming in the next chapter of the story. Thats why we have Q. The good guys, with control over the NSA, began the Q intelligence dissemination program to invoke an online grassroots movement called The Great Awakening.

And that is the awakening of which these Christians speak, some of them with explicit reference to Q, and some of them without any knowledge of Q, simply picking up the concept via word of mouth and social media.

Whole books have been written on the subject, some by proponents and some determined to expose it. Titles (which, for some reason, are quite long!) include Simon Smith, QAnon and the Great Awakening: The Battle for Earth and Our Souls: The Awakening Begins an Enlightening Analysis about What Is Wrong in Our Society; Michael D. Quinn, QAnon: An Objective Guide to Understand QAnon, The Deep State and Related Conspiracy Theories: The Great Awakening Explained; and Donald Jones, Qanon: The Complete Guide To Understanding Conspiracy Theories such as The Deep State, The Storm and The Great Awakening That Will Make America Great Again.

That was just a sampling, indicating that, when many people speak of the coming great awakening, they mean something very different than the great awakening for which we pray and cry out (For more details on this false awakening concept, see James Beverleys important book TheQAnon Deception.)

Of course, I stand with all those fighting against human trafficking, and, as I have mentioned in the past, a number of grads from our ministry school are battling this horrific evil in America and the nations. And may pedophiles be brought to swift justice, stopped before they destroy more innocent lives.

But again, in reality, this has nothing to do with the anticipated great awakening of Q, and the sooner we dismiss such nonsense for good  Im appealing to all those who still expect it  the better it will be.

Instead, lets put our efforts into seeking God earnestly until He rains down repentance and revival and reformation on America, starting with each of us.

Thinking back to Americas First Great Awakening in the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, Benjamin Franklin said that it seemed as if all the world were growing religious [which he meant in a totally positive sense], so that one could not walk through the town in the evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street.

Could you picture your neighborhood, let alone your city, looking and sounding like that?
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I talk to youth leaders all the time. From Pentecostal to Presbyterian, from coast to coast, from urban to suburban, God has blessed me to be in front of all kinds of youth leaders from all kinds of backgrounds on a pretty consistent basis.

Some of the time Im counseling them. Other times Im consoling them. But most of the time Im encouraging them to fight through until break through with their teenagers.

Ive seen a pattern. Many youth leaders are underpaid and overworked. Most are volunteer or work a full-time job on top of youth ministry. The amount of emotional, physical and spiritual energy it takes to keep up with teenagers, let alone disciple them, would leave most lead pastors breathless and frustrated. And, because youth leaders often dont see an immediate payoff for all their hard work, the temptation is to move on to another more glorious position in the church (or out of it).

Perhaps youre one of those youth leaders who is rethinking your role as a youth leader. Youre considering planting a church or leading a church yourself. After all, if youre going to do all this work, why not get a little more limelight (and a little more pay wouldnt hurt either, right?) Youre even willing to become an associate pastor in the meantime and take all the counseling, marrying and burying your lead pastor doesnt want to do anymore. In your moments of quiet frustration, you ask yourself why should you stay in a position that many church leaders consider to be the lowest rung on the ministry ladder?

Or maybe youre thinking about an all out change out of the church world into the real world. Maybe youll just quit youth ministry altogether and start fresh doing a job that can actually pay, not just the bills, but give you some extra fun/investment/etc money.

Before you send that email or set up that meeting, here are 10 rock-solid reasons you shouldnt quit youth ministry:

77% of those who trust in Jesus do so by the age of 18. You are dealing in the demographic that is most open to the Gospel, those under the age of 18. Jesus was a youth leader and lead a revolution that changed the world. You have the same Holy Spirit as he did! Every major spiritual awakening in the history of the United States has had teenagers on the leading edge. And its time for another spiritual awakening! According to the United Nations, this is the largest generation of youth in the history of the world. There are 1,000,000,000 teenagers worldwide! Some of them live in your city and need to hear the Gospel from your teenagers. Teenagers are looking for unconditional love and can only find it in our unimaginable God! You have a HUGE part in making that happen! Teenagers are looking for a cause and making disciples here, there and everywhere is the ultimate cause (Matthew 28:19, 20)! The average teenager has 425 online and face-to-face friends that they can reach out to with the Gospel. And they need you to equip them to do that! If you equip a teenager now they can serve Christ and advance his Kingdom for the rest of their lives. Adults are already old and closer to the finish line (No offense adults!) Set a teen on fire and they can set a youth group on fire. Set a youth group on fire and they can set a church on fire. Set a church on fire and they can set a city on fire. The Holy Spirit holds the matches and is ready to hand them to you! God loves to use the foolish things of the world to advance his kingdom. And theres nothing more foolish than the typical teenager (No offense teenagers!)

Obviously, Gods will in our lives trumps all of these reasons to stay in youth ministry. So, if God is genuinely moving you on, you must follow his will. But, no matter where God leads you, never stop influencing teenagers to live and lead the cause of Christ!

But if you are just tired or discouraged then its time to double down, not just on youth ministry, but on the right brand of youth ministry. This ministry model will be a game changer for you and your teens. It will breathe life into your soul and give you tackling fuel to stay the course. Click here to discover more.

Originally published at the Greg Stier
Tony Evans, Franklin Graham, evangelical leaders react to unrest in Israel: 'Praying for peace'

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Pastors and Christian leaders are calling for prayer and peace as the Middle East continues to see the worst violence in years between Israelis and Palestinians, prompting the United Nations to warn the conflict could mushroom into "full-scale war."

What began as riots in Jerusalem on May 10 led to an aerial war over Gaza and widespread civil unrest in less than two days, causing death, injuries, arrests and property damage.

The Islamic militant group Hamas has fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel since the conflict began, most of which landed in civilians areas, The New York Times reports. Hamas' aggression led to retaliatory airstrikes from the Israel Defense Forces toward the Gaza Strip.

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting, including 17 children and seven women, as of Thursday morning, according to Gazas Health Ministry. And another 480 people have been wounded. Israeli forces also killed a senior Hamas commander and at least 10 top Hamas military figures.

At least seven people have been killed in Israel, including a soldier killed by an anti-tank missile and a 6-year-old child hit in a rocket attack, according to The Associated Press.

The airstrikes were preceded by the clashes between rioters and Israeli authorities at the historic Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The violence led to the rerouting of the historic Jerusalem Day Flag March, which celebrates the unification of Israel in 1967.

On Wednesday, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland warned that the ongoing conflict could lead to a full-scale war.

"Stop the fire immediately. We're escalating towards a full-scale war," tweeted Wennesland. "The cost of war in Gaza is devastating & is being paid by ordinary people. UN is working w/ all sides to restore calm. Stop the violence now."

Meanwhile, pastors and Christian leaders in the United States took to social media to urge Christians to pray for peace in the Middle East.

My heart goes out to the people impacted through the heightened Middle East conflict," Pastor Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, tweeted. "Having recently visited that region, I'm reminded of the many wonderful people I met, and request us all to pray for those who are suffering.

My heart goes out to the people impacted through the heightened Middle East conflict. Having recently visited that region, I'm reminded of the many wonderful people I met, and request us all to pray for those who are suffering.  Tony Evans (@drtonyevans) May 12, 2021

Ed Young, the pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, wrote: Pray with me. For protection of the innocent. For peace. For loved ones lost. For our leaders. In Jesus name. #PrayForIsrael

Pray with me. For protection of the innocent. For peace. For loved ones lost. For our leaders. In Jesus name. #PrayForIsrael Posted by Ed Young on Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Franklin Graham, son of famed evangelist Billy Graham and head of Samaritans Purse, wrote that he has many friends who live in Israel, both Arabs and Jews who are "very concerned about the situation there."

"People have been killed, families are cowering in fear in bomb shelters, and they need our prayers," Graham wrote. "As we are commanded in the Scriptures, let us 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' (Psalm 122:6)."

I have many friends who live in Israel, both Arab and Jew, so we are very concerned about the situation there. People... Posted by Franklin Graham on Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Pastor Samuel Rodriguez, head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, tweeted: Praying for Israel. Praying for peace in the Middle East. #PrayInJesusname

Praying for Israel.

Praying for peace in the Middle East.#PrayInJesusname  Samuel Rodriguez (@nhclc) May 12, 2021

Greg Laurie, the pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in California, said that everyone needs to be "praying for Israel."

"They have been barraged by over 1000 rockets from Hamas, which is a terrorist organization backed by Iran," Laurie stated. "[T]he Bible tells us to 'Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem'.( Ps.122:6)
MANISTEE COUNTY  Volunteers donned waders and grabbed their nets Saturday to participate in the Manistee Conservation District's stream monitoring program.

Four teams visited a total of nine sites located in the Lower Manistee River Watershed to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates. The data collected is used to monitor changes in water quality and assess the extent of environmental impairment caused by pollutants.

Renee Mallison, MCD executive director, said there was a good turnout of volunteers and the event was a success.

"This year's spring stream monitoring went very well," she said. "We had plenty of volunteers and were able to send out four teams to cover the nine sites that we monitor biannually."

Volunteers met in the MCD parking lot and Josh Shields, MCD forester and wildlife biologist, told them everything they needed to know to successfully collect the macroinvertebrates.

After the teams were formed they headed to their assigned sites.

"Things are a little more complicated this year because of COVID," said Joyce Durdel, one of the volunteer leaders. "We used to ride together to the sites but now we have to drive separately."

Durdel's team's first stop was Cool Creek in Irons. The collectors pulled on their waders and sampled rocks, submerged wood, plants and other microhabitats. The pickers set up a station upon which they could sort through the collected debris. The collected macroinvertebrates were placed in vials.

"We measure and do 300 feet. We put markers at the beginning and the end," she said. "... We set up the table and that's where we'll kind of focus a lot of our activity."

Teams spent 60-90 minutes at each site, attempting to collect at least 100 bugs. The collected samples were taken to the MCD.

"They are stored, and within approximately one to two weeks volunteers  working under experts in aquatic macroinvertebrate identification  ID and count the bugs collected," Mallison said. "The data generated from this project helps us track the relative health of our watershed. It helps us to locate specific problem areas, look at site changes over time and is used to compare sites to one another."

The program is funded by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy through the Michigan Clean Water Corps. It has been running since the fall of 2016. Sampled sites are rated poor, fair, good or excellent based on the number and types of organisms collected. A stream's ability to support an abundance of sensitive organisms indicates the stream is healthy.

If a stream's condition is found to have worsened, work would be done to find out why and what can be done.

"If a change is identified, that would initiate further investigation to determine the cause of the change," Mallison said.
The first Saturday of May will now be recognized as Veterans Recognition Day in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley read the proclamation Saturday during Combined Arms inaugural VetFest event at Outback Western Wear in Magnolia.

The proclamation acknowledges the countys large and highly decorated veteran population. According to a previous article in The Courier, statistics show the Greater Houston area has the second-largest veteran population in the country with about 35,000-40,000 veterans living in Montgomery County.

In Montgomery County, our military-connected community is the solid foundation our countrys liberty is built upon, the proclamation read by Riley states. And whereas, Montgomery County citizens desire to support our men and women in uniform for the sacrifices their service has made in defense of our Nations freedoms;

Whereas, the Montgomery County Commissioners Court desires to designate the first Saturday of May, to bring together service members, veterans, family members, the community and supporters for a day of camaraderie, family fun, food, music, and recognize the patriotism that binds us all together. Now therefore, let it be resolved, the commissioners court of Montgomery County Texas does hearby proclaim May 1, 2021 as Veterans Recognition Day.

Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Steven Hummer said he wanted to see the day of recognition.

He said he believes it is important for the community to understand it has veterans and the veterans are responsible for the freedoms that the community enjoys. He also said events like VetFest are beneficial for both the veterans and the community because it brings people together to better understand each other, which also helps the veterans absorption into the community.

Our freedoms are won on the battlefields that our military participates in  everything from the revolutionary war to protecting our country from terrorism by being in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, Hummer said on Saturday. If we didnt do that, those terrorists would be in the United States, but luckily they are not because our military and thereby our veterans have been overseas protecting our country.

When a young person joins the military, they essentially sign a blank check to the American people, he continued. Sometimes those checks are cashed. Sometimes the entire bank accounts are forfeit. But everyone who goes into the military knows they are giving the American people a blank check.

The Houston-based Combined Arms nonprofit group started three years ago to accelerate the transition from military to civilian life by offering a network of about 100 organizations with services and resources  from finding a job to getting a home.

Combined Arms engagement manager Tanna Harris confirmed that VetFest will be held on the first Saturday of May next year. Organizers are planning to meet with Riley in a couple of weeks to find a different site with a bigger space for the 2022 event, which is expected to outgrow this years venue.

Saturdays event was rescheduled from May 15 due to inclement weather. Harris estimates the event saw about 400-600 veterans, 40 volunteers and 20-25 vendors throughout the day at the venue located only about an hour from downtown Houston.

Overall, Harris appreciated the opportunity to host the event and was pleased to see people come out and support the veteran community.

We want to make sure they (veterans) are taken care of and they are served up here in this area, Harris said. We wanted to plant a flag pretty deep here, and I think we did.

Veterans traveled from near and far for Saturdays fest , which they hoped would engage more people at future events.

It could have been greater with more participation, but you can only do so much with a weather change, USMC veteran Terry Chumg, 39, of Houston, said. A lot of community events got canceled at that time, and this is one of the first events they have had since COVID hit, so this is just the starting point for them.

Navy veteran Jason Mead, who is a board member for the Texas Chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America, also attended the event.

Its good; they need to have more of them, Mead, who served in the Gulf War, said. Theres a lot more veterans out there than everybody thinks.

Attendees had a chance to not only enjoy retail vendors and resources, including pro-bono legal services, but live music performed by Jody Booth and the veteran-led Teague Brothers Band with free admission and free parking.

There were also family-friendly activities that made a splash, including giving veterans balls to throw for a chance to sink Hummer in the dunk tank. The idea was inspired by his time in the military  and he had a feeling the veterans would also enjoy it as well.

Its fun, its a challenge, and it took about an hour for someone to hit me the first time, Hummer said.

Among those who succeeded included Conroe Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4907 Commander and U.S. Air Force veteran Raquel Kelly Glass.

I was determined to figure it out, Glass said with a laugh. But I figured out the error of my ways. I was throwing over the top  when I needed to throw side arm. Thats what got him.

Combined Arms has more events coming up to support the veteran population. Family movie night will be held in Houston on May 22.

A donation drive for toiletries and personal care items, with consideration to the recent ice storm, will be held with distribution in June. Operation Santa will also be held the second weekend in December with gifts and the Magic of Santa for the veterans children.

More information is available on the Combined Arms website and social media pages.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)  Two Kansas City officers were injured when an impaired driver tried to flee police Saturday.

The incident happened shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday when officers were trying to arrest the driver of a Cadillac CT5 near Flora Avenue and East 44th Street. Kansas City Police Department spokeswoman Donna Drake said the driver refused to exit his vehicle.
LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. (AP)  Two people survived the crash of a single-engine plane in mountains east of Los Angeles, authorities said.

The Cessna 210 crashed Saturday afternoon in the Cedar Glen area of the San Bernardino Mountains, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP)  A distinct racial tension is threading through many Louisiana House debates this legislative session, becoming a more prominent undercurrent in the chamber on issues ranging from education and voting to crime and policing.

Emotional, angry and awkward debates between Black lawmakers and conservative white lawmakers in the House have emerged repeatedly, seeming only to intensify as the nine-week session continues.

Race isn't always openly discussed, but is clearly the point of divide in several disputes.

I feel like this is a special session on race relations, said Houma Rep. Tanner Magee, the House's second-ranking Republican.

Baton Rouge Rep. Ted James, the Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus, said of the strains in the chamber: I don't know where its coming from, but its obviously an undercurrent.

Measures that sailed through the Senate with ease have gotten bogged down in race-related House disagreements. Conservative House Republicans have introduced proposals that Black lawmakers call discriminatory. Several bills ratcheting up tensions stem from national debates.

The sharpest racial disagreement emerged in late April over a bill proposed by House Education Chairman Ray Garofalo aimed at blocking the teaching of critical race theory, which examines the ways in which race and racism have influenced politics, culture, government systems and laws.

The bill would prohibit teaching in public schools or colleges that the United States or Louisiana is systematically racist or sexist, and bar giving students or employees information that promotes divisive concepts.

Garofalo, a St. Bernard Parish Republican, hasn't tried to move his proposal out of committee, but he held a contentious, hourslong hearing on it, in which he said critical race theory fuels hate. The Black Caucus called for Garofalo's ouster as chairman, and Garofalo doubled down on his position.

Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder has held private meetings with James, Garofalo and other Black lawmakers  but he's kept Garofalo in his chairmanship and has largely dodged public discussions of the feud.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges of Denham Springs retriggered tensions when she tried to amend a bill to prohibit Louisiana's education board from approving content standards or recommending instructional materials that provide that a particular sex, race, ethnicity or national origin is inherently superior or inferior to another.

The amendment failed, but Black lawmakers on the education committee bristled at the return to another debate over teaching race in classrooms.

In a House labor committee hearing, Shreveport Democratic Rep. Tammy Phelps, who is Black, found herself trying to explain to white female colleagues the different reactions that hair styling chemicals produce for Black and white women. She was trying to persuade them to back a bill banning workplace discrimination against Black people who choose to wear their hair naturally.

Several conservative House Republicans said they didn't understand the need for the proposal, questioned if the discrimination was real and suggested it was a burdensome regulation for business. The measure emerged from the committee with some GOP support, but only after a lengthy hearing for a bill that breezed through the Senate with little discussion.

Conservative white Republicans and Black Democrats again were on opposite sides of House debate over a measure to limit police officers' wide immunity from civil lawsuits, which narrowly won House passage.

Some white Republicans argued the proposal would discourage police recruitment and paint all police officers as committing misconduct. Black lawmakers said they felt colleagues either didn't understand the problem of racial bias in policing  or were ignoring it.

We live in two different Americas. We live in two different Louisianas," Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Black lawmaker from the Baton Rouge area, said during the debate.

Racial divides have appeared in disputes over river pilot regulations, proposals to change voting rules and an effort to abolish involuntary servitude as criminal punishment in Louisiana.

James said some of his white colleagues don't seem to understand how Louisiana's history of racism continues to permeate policy and others really just don't even care.

The more uncomfortable conversations we have, I think people will learn from this, he said.

Magee's hopeful, too, that continued conversations  and friendships in the chamber  can help defuse the tension.

There are so many people on both sides of this issue who are really good and want to make things better," he said. I think if you have enough of those people, you can make things right.

___

EDITORS NOTE: Melinda Deslatte has covered Louisiana politics for The Associated Press since 2000. Follow her at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Residents in the Topanga Canyon evacuated their homes Saturday after a wildfire in a nearby area grew to more than a square mile, authorities said.

The residents who were ordered to evacuate were those living east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Topanga Community Center and Viewridge Road, as well as those north of Entrada Road, south of Oakwood Drive and east of Henry Ridge Mountain Way, the Los Angeles Times reported. Authorities did not say how many residents were evacuated.
NORMAL, Ill. (AP)  Stumbling, squeaking, fluffy chicks popped out of their eggs in classrooms across McLean County, some making their arrival a little later than others.

We were getting a little worried, said Cameo Williams, a third-grade teacher at Grove Elementary in Normal. When we hit the 21-day mark, everybodys like, wheres the chicks? Then ours went to the 24-day mark, so we were crossing our fingers.

Two little balls of fluff hatched from the dozen eggs provided to Williams class as part of the Chick It Out program by the University of Illinois Extension and McLean County Ag in the Classroom.

The sounds of the persistent cheep cheep of newly hatched chicks was rivaled only by the fawning 8- and 9-year-olds taking turns holding the fluffy birds in the back of Williams classroom.

Chloe Rodriguez, 9, said she liked learning about the parts of the eggs and how the chicks grow before they hatch.

I really liked how we got to hold them and I liked seeing them hatch out of the egg, she said.

Katie Buckley, 4-H youth development educator at the Illinois Extension, said the most important part of Chick it Out is giving students the opportunity to see the circle of life, to use the generic phrase.

Its just so incredibly gratifying for them to see the process, she said of the program that has been in McLean County classrooms for decades.

More than 100 educators participated in the program this year, bringing eggs to 33 schools, eight daycares and 24 home schools.

Buckley said she didnt have a hatch rate yet for the 120 dozen eggs, but so far shes heard positive feedback from teachers and I felt this year we had a really great hatch rate.

While the eggs are in the incubator, students spend the three weeks learning about embryology using curriculum provided by the university, and they use a candler to see inside the eggs.

Williams said the students had fun making predictions about when the eggs would hatch, but holding the chicks is always the best part.

The eggs, they like looking inside and candling, but they want to actually see it come to life, she said.

Addison Tracey, 9, said she had never seen a chick hatch before.

When the chicks hatched, they really stumbled a lot and they couldnt really walk or do anything and sometimes they ran into the edge of the incubator, she said.

When students could hold them, 8-year-old Harrison Overberg said, They were furry, you could stroke them with your thumb and they were super-duper scared.

Even after the babies were more used to being handled, Overberg said they would try to jump away.

They kind of just wanted to escape and they didnt really want you to hold them, Tracey added. So they really just wanted to run around, and they werent really calm. They were kind of wild and just didnt want to be held.

Since the schools closed before the Chick It Out program last spring, fourth-grade classrooms were able to hatch eggs this year at Grove, too.

The kids were super bummed about it because its a highlight of third grade, Williams said. The teachers wanted to make sure the fourth-graders who missed out had the opportunity to experience it because its definitely one of our highlight moments, and its a way to bring agriculture into the classroom, too. It gives the kids firsthand experience.

Buckley said for many students, this is their only glimpse into the agriculture world.

Even though I would consider McLean County pretty rural, though we have urban areas, this is it for them to see this process, she said.

A few days after the eggs hatch, most of the chicks went to Above Normal Eggs, a local farm where students can schedule a visit to see them as they grow up, Williams said.

The rest went to other local farms that raise chickens so the birds remain in the area, Buckley said.

___

Source: The (Bloomington) Pantagraph, https://bit.ly/33eu8P6
LOS ANGELES (AP)  It took nearly 15 years for police to arrest New York real estate heir Robert Durst in the killing of his best friend and another five to bring him to trial. After just two days of testimony, jurors were sent home when the coronavirus closed courthouses.

On Monday, more than 14 months later, the jury is returning to Los Angeles County Superior Court to see if they can complete their assignment. If so, it could be a first for the U.S. legal system.

The length of the stoppage is unprecedented and it's the highest-profile U.S. case postponed because of the pandemic, Dursts lawyers say. They have repeatedly  and unsuccessfully  sought a mistrial because they argued the delay harmed his chance of a fair trial.

Durst, 78, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his friend Susan Berman, who was shot in the back of the head in her LA home in December 2000. Prosecutors say he silenced Berman before she could tell police she helped him cover up the killing of his wife, Kathie, in New York in 1982.

Judge Mark Windham has called back the panel of 23 jurors, including 11 alternates, and plans to question them Monday to see if they can go forward with the case.

The defense has submitted a list of proposed questions, including whether jurors read or heard about the case during the break and remain impartial, and if COVID-19 altered their lives in a way that prevents them from serving another four to five months.

The pandemic has disrupted courts nationwide, leading to delays and video rather than in-person proceedings in many instances. Many defendants awaiting trial were freed because of concerns they would get the virus in jail.

What makes the Durst case so unusual is that it was halted after the jury  winnowed from over 400 people  was sworn in and heard four days of opening statements and two days of testimony.

Defense lawyer Chip Lewis said Dursts legal team had done extensive research and couldnt find case delays even close to this long.

Scott Sundby, a University of Miami law professor, said he looked into trials that were halted due to damaging earthquakes and hurricanes and hadn't discovered a break as long as the Durst case.

The length of the pause itself was less likely to be a problem because it was not anyone's fault, Sundby said.

But he said Windham, who is likely motivated to keep the jury intact, would have to be vigilant when screening jurors to make sure they hadn't been tainted in any way that could violate Durst's right to a fair trial.

"I think the motivation is most likely that, We spent a lot of time and effort picking a jury and unless I become convinced that this jury cannot be fair, were not going to go through that process again, Sundby said.

Durst, an eccentric worth more than an estimated $100 million, is being held without bail. He is only charged with Berman's killing but prosecutors are using his wife's disappearance and neighbor's slaying in Texas to build their case against him.

He has long been suspected of killing his wife, whose body has never been found, though he's never been charged and has denied any role in her disappearance.

Berman, a Las Vegas mobster's daughter who met Durst at the University of California, Los Angeles, served as his unofficial spokeswoman when Kathie Durst vanished. She helped him cover his tracks, prosecutors said.

After New York investigators announced they reopened the case in fall 2000, authorities say Berman told Durst she was going to speak with them about what she knew. She was dead two months later.

Nine months after Berman was killed, Durst fatally shot his neighbor Morris Black in a Galveston, Texas, boarding house, where he had gone into hiding as a mute woman.

Prosecutors say he killed Black because the neighbor discovered his real identity.

Durst was acquitted after testifying Black pulled a pistol on him and was shot as they struggled for the weapon. He said he panicked and butchered the mans body and tossed it into Galveston Bay.

During opening statements in LA, defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who defended Durst in Texas, said Durst didn't kill Berman and doesn't know who did. But he said his client had found her body, panicked and bolted.

Durst sent police a cryptic note alerting them to a cadaver in the house only to ensure she would be found, DeGuerin said. Durst had long denied penning the note.

He was arrested in New Orleans in 2015 on the eve of the final episode of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, an HBO documentary in which he was confronted with the cadaver note and a letter he once sent Berman with similar block print handwriting and the city of Beverly Hills misspelled Beverley.

Before being shown the letter he had written to Berman, Durst told the filmmakers that only the killer could have written the cadaver note.

After the gotcha moment on camera, he was caught on a hot mic saying to himself in a bathroom, Youre caught! What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.

If the judge lets the case continue with the current jury, lawyers will be allowed to refresh the panels memories by presenting one- to two-hour opening statements.

During the testimony jurors previously heard, several witnesses, including Thomas Durst, another heir to the family's New York commercial real estate empire, said he was terrified of his brother. Others testified that Kathie Durst was afraid of her husband.

Sundby said one of the main concerns for defense lawyers will be whether any of the prosecutions evidence from the start of trial seared an impression in jurors' minds during the intervening months.

If the last impression is that his deceased wife was walking around scared of him, Sundby said, I would be arguing strongly that that kind of unconscious view of the defendant was allowed to sit and become concrete over the last 14 months.
DALLAS (AP)  A former Dallas County prosecutor has surrendered his law license after the State Bar of Texas said he withheld evidence that led to the wrongful convictions of two men who spent 14 years in prison in the fatal stabbing of a pastor.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Richard E. Rick Jackson surrendered his law license last month. The State Bar concluded that he failed to inform Dennis Allen and Stanley Mozee's defense attorneys about evidence that could have cleared them at their capital murder trials in 2000.

This case is not about someone disbarred for making a mistake or a prosecutor who accidentally or even sloppily failed to turn over favorable evidence, Nina Morrison, a lawyer with the Innocence Project in New York who worked to clear Allen and Mozee, told the newspaper.

This is someone who repeatedly and intentionally hid favorable evidence from two defendants who were on trial for their lives.

Allen and Mozee had been sentenced to life in prison in the slaying of the Rev. Jesse Borns Jr., who was stabbed 47 times at his leather and woodworking store in 1999.

Allen and Mozee were freed from prison in 2014 after the Dallas County district attorneys office said they were wrongfully convicted based on prosecutorial misconduct.

They were declared innocent five years later after DNA testing helped clear them.

The district attorneys office under former DA Craig Watkins had reopened the file and found evidence that defense lawyers said theyd never received, such as accounts from witnesses who saw two men argued with Borns outside the store the evening he was killed. Witnesses said one man was distinctly taller than the other and one had a noticeable scar across the side of his neck. Allen and Mozee are about the same height, around 6 feet. Neither had a scar.

The file also included previously undisclosed letters from people in jail who agreed to testify against Allen in exchange for favors in their cases.

Jackson was among prosecutors who were not invited to remain in the Dallas County district attorneys office after Watkins won the 2006 election. Jackson, who had spent 17 years as a Dallas County prosecutor, sued Watkins in federal court, claiming that his termination was race based. Jackson is white and Watkins is Black. A judge tossed the suit.

The Innocence Project in New York and the Innocence Project of Texas filed a 196-page grievance with the State Bar in 2018 against Jackson.

Jacksons lawyer, Bob Hinton, said Jackson has long maintained that he handed over the evidence to the defense and still believes that Allen and Mozee are guilty. Hinton said Jackson didnt want to comment.

Jackson retired from practicing law in 2013 after he was fired from the Denton County district attorneys office. Hinton said Jackson now spends his summers driving tour buses in Alaska.

Hinton said that against his advice, Jackson chose not to spend his retirement savings fighting the accusation at a disciplinary hearing where he faced losing his law license.

The person who killed Borns has not been caught.
This story is a part of Hearst Television's series "Hate in the Homeland." Our National Investigative Unit is uncovering the battle against hateful acts in America. Stay with this station for more stories on the fight against Hate in the Homeland.

On January 6th, the sounds and fury of an American insurrection at the United States Capitol quickly turned into cash  cash for some provocateurs who live-streamed from the scene of the attack and earned money off that content.

One website that allowed those streamers to monetize their content in the moment is DLive, a live-streaming site with 350,000 users that counts YouTube, Twitch, and other such platforms as its competitors. Streamers on DLive can accept donations from people viewing the content; donations made to streamers at the Capitol on Jan. 6th were later suspended.

Normally, researchers who study hate content revenue generation say, it's incredibly difficult to track how much money is flowing to individual people. But DLive, unlike its peers, publicly reveals exactly how much money all users earn on its platform, offering a rare lens in which to view the booming business by a subset of users who sell hate.

'It's a lot of money'

It's a nexus between the content posters and donors that has been vividly illustrated by Elon University professor Dr. Megan Squire, who downloaded the public transaction data and then created an animation for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit's "Hate in the Homeland" series.

"The gray circles are donors on the DLive video streaming platform and the pink circles are streamers or content creators on that platform," Dr. Squire explained while showing the animation (see above) to a journalist.

Her animation shows pink for each person who posted hateful content and gray dots for those who paid money to them. Hundreds of dots can be seen clustered around the larger pink circles  the prolific content posters.

"It's a lot of money," Squire said. "It's a lot of money changing hands."

The total revenue earned from April 2020 to March 2021 for the top five dozen streamers flagged as having posted hateful content in Squire's analysis exceeded $866,000 on just that one platform, the data show.

It's a money-making option that wasn't available to previous generations of white supremacists and others trafficking in hate speech, Dr. Squire pointed out.

"It's not the (Ku Klux) Klan days of old where they're just charging dues and it's sort of off-(inter)net. This is happening on basically every platform where you can make money. They're going to find a way."

"We need companies that are allowing and promoting this kind of stuff to crack down," Squire said.

DLive Bans Accounts, Suspends Earnings

DLive's CEO, Charles Wayn, posted an "open letter" after the Jan 6th Capitol attack, writing  in italics for emphasis  "there is no place for lawbreakers, those who would incite violence or would disseminate hate speech, including in service of repugnant ideas like white supremacism."

In a subsequent statement for this story, a spokesperson for DLive told us it has now added extra content monitors, increased penalties for posters who violate the rules, and permanently banned people who live-streamed from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th. The platform also suspended funds collected by users who earned revenue from Jan. 6th live streams  and any other funds in their accounts at the time.

"We are continuing to review our policies and will make further adjustments as needed," the statement to the National Investigative Unit read.

Many platforms face calls to tackle hate even more aggressively.

Social media 'not doing enough'





"They're not doing enough," declares Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

She tracks hate content on many platforms from her home in northern Georgia, where she says she found some just minutes before she sat down for an interview on her back porch.

"I found it on YouTube this morning," she said. "It's there and it's monetized. Ads are running on the content."

The National Investigative Unit sent the channels and content Beirich found to YouTube. A spokesperson responded that the platform suspended monetization for one of those posters earlier this year and that the other videos did not violate its policies for monetization at the time.



In a further statement for this story, a YouTube spokesperson said the platform is committed to not allowing content "that incites hatred, promotes discrimination, or disparages an individual or group of people to monetize." The statement said the company has made "significant progress" in removing hate content so that now 0.16%-0.18% of content violating its polices is being viewed. As the world's most popular video website, however, that still represents tens of millions of views.

"The solution," Beirich countered, "is that the companies themselves take those billions of profits and use them to find this content and to enforce their policies. It's the only answer."

Pervasive problem

Spending more money on hiring additional content moderators and establishing an industry standard for blocking hate and extremist content is the recommendation of last month's joint report by the Digital Citizens Alliance and the Coalition for a Safer Web, two groups that advocate for a safer experience online. In other words, get blocked on one platform, get blocked on all.

The problem is so pervasive, says Dr. Squire, the researcher from Elon University explained, that she can't even animate all the donor data she obtained from DLive because the file would simply be too large.

"These are only the high-value donors. So only people who've paid at least $120 on the platform," Squire explained.

If all the transactions she flagged were illustrated at once, "this whole screen would be black. You wouldn't be able to see anything on it. That's why I had to remove some of the data, because it was just too much."

See exclusive "Hate in the Homeland" survey results sent to 14,000 police and sheriffs nationwide

Hear exclusive portion of "Sounds Like Hate" podcast below



Read hate crimes laws in your state

Explore map of hate groups across the United States

WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT SERIES, "HATE IN THE HOMELAND":

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, Amanda Rooker, Diya Rijal, & Kevin Rothstein contributed to this report.





Know of hate in the homeland? Have a confidential tip or inside information? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.
This story is a part of Hearst Television's series "Hate in the Homeland." Our National Investigative Unit is uncovering the battle against hateful acts in America. Stay with this station for more stories on the fight against Hate in the Homeland.

Standing before his family, friends, colleagues and superiors at his commissioning ceremony, 2nd lt. Richard W. Collins III took an oath to stand watch over his country.

"No other day besides this one has brought me such joy and happiness," he said in brief remarks from the lectern on May 18, 2017.

Two days after taking that vow to his country, when Collins wouldn't stand down, when he wouldn't yield to a white man holding a knife in his hand and hate in his heart, Collins died, killed by that 22 year-old, Sean Urbanski. Urbanski had approached Collins and two other people with him at a bus stop, prosecutors said, with "knife open and at the ready." When Urbanski ordered him to stand aside, Collins stood his ground and was then fatally stabbed, a jury found.

"He was all about the service," recalled Collins's mother, Dawn, in an emotional interview recently with her husband, Rick, in the same hall at Bowie State University where their only son took his oath four years earlier.

Expanding hate crimes law

Collins's murder  and his parents subsequent advocacy  helped lead the state of Maryland to pass a law last year expanding the definition of a hate crime.

At the time of Collins's death, the state's existing hate crimes law was too narrow to try Urbanski on a hate crime charge in addition to the count of murder, even though Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Lawrence V. Hill, Jr., said at sentencing, "the logical conclusion is that race was a factor."

"It's well past time for this nation to live up to its credo that we're all created equal," Rick Collins said in an interview.

"You go to sleep thinking, 'what is it that I can do to further this cause and this passion that's in the very bowels of me?'" Dawn Collins explained. "Can't stop, won't stop."

Now, through the 2LT Richard W. Collins III Foundation, the couple use their voice to push for more preventative measures and stiffer deterrence nationwide. During an address to the Social Justice Alliance Spring Symposium on April 23, Dawn Collins told the group her mission was "to rid this wonderful country of the hate."

"We can't be quiet," she said during the interview.

Messages seeking comment for this story sent to Urbanski at his incarceration facility in Maryland and to his attorney were not returned.

Police, sheriffs launch anti-hate initiatives

The dramatic rise in hate crimes committed nationwide  and new efforts to halt it  is the focus of the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit's ongoing "Hate in the Homeland" series. An exclusive survey for this reporting project sent to more than 14,000 police departments and sheriffs' offices in all 50 states found just 2% of respondents have a unit dedicated to investigating hate crimes.

Some of the police chiefs and sheriffs who responded to the questionnaire described new initiatives they're launching to combat the rise in hate. For example, a police department in Pennsylvania and the one in Winston-Salem, N.C., were among the law enforcement agencies that said they were assigning additional staff to investigate or prevent hate-motivated incidents.

Offering specific training to her officers on how to be more inclusive, Winston-Salem Police Chief Catrina Thompson said in a follow-up interview, is "invaluable to me; it's priceless."

A police department in Missouri also said it would offer additional training. An agency in Texas said it had launched a social media campaign. The Maynard, Mass., police department, led by Chief Michael Noble, created a human relations committee for outreach.

"The more information people have," Chief Noble said in a follow-up interview, "the less hate there will be."

Survey: Four in 10 'don't know' if hate increasing

But according to the results of the survey, many law enforcement leaders apparently do not have the information they need.

Of those who responded, more than four in 10  42%  admitted they "don't know" if hate incidents in their own communities have increased or decreased, leaving a knowledge gap, experts say, waiting to be filled.

Only 15% of respondents said they were starting new hate initiatives.

The Justice Department said it is in the midst of an "expedited review" for how it can better track hate crimes and increase prosecutions. The Defense Department has launched a separate initiative to counter extremism in the military.

More help to local law enforcement agencies is on the way.

Hate crime database to expand

Dr. Jeff Gruenewald, Director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas, helps run, along with a handful of other university researchers nationwide, the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), which has been partly funded by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The database, which is accessible only to law enforcement and other authorized parties, catalogues hate crimes as well as patterns of broader ideologically motivated violence perpetrated by far-right extremists and other extremist activity. The Government Accountability Office  the non-partisan watchdog for Congress  praised the reliability of the ECDB data in a recent report.

Later this year, Dr. Gruenewald said, the database will expand for the first time to include plots disrupted by law enforcement or that for some other reason did not lead to an extremist incident. The additional historical information is intended to give law enforcement and prosecutors a new resource to fight hate in the homeland.

"We can give them the tools in order to identify patterns that are indicative of escalation of violence," Dr. Gruenewald explained during a recent interview in which he demonstrated the dozens of fields inputted in the database for each extremist.

"The only way to know what to look for is to create these large-scale relational databases and study them in-depth," he said.

'You can't walk away from this'



Any help to combat hate will be welcomed by Rick and Dawn Collins, who return to the Maryland site of their son's murder often  including every year at the exact moment of his death.



"Love you, baby boy" Dawn Collins said aloud on a recent visit.

Soon, a memorial will be placed there, just as permanent as the family's mission against hate.

"You can't walk away from this," Dawn Collins said. "We're still fighting, and we will continue to fight because we are patriots and we are Americans. And we're not going to let anyone tell us any different."

Four years after Richard Collins took his oath, the Collins family is still standing watch.





See exclusive "Hate in the Homeland" survey results sent to 14,000 police and sheriffs nationwide

Hear exclusive portion of "Sounds Like Hate" podcast below



Read hate crimes laws in your state

Explore map of hate groups across the United States

WATCH THE HEARST TELEVISION NATIONAL INVESTIGATIVE UNIT SERIES, 'HATE IN THE HOMELAND':

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko, Amanda Rooker,

Diya Rijal, & Kevin Rothstein contributed to this report.

Know of hate in the homeland? Have a confidential tip or inside information? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.




ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Environmental groups and scientists with two universities want U.S. wildlife managers to consider reintroducing jaguars to the American Southwest.

In a recently published paper, they say habitat destruction, highways and existing segments of the border wall mean that natural reestablishment of the large cats north of the U.S.-Mexico boundary would be unlikely over the next century without human intervention.

Jaguars are currently found in 19 countries, but biologists have said the animals have lost more than half of their historic range from South and Central America into the southwestern United States largely due to hunting and habitat loss.

Several individual male jaguars have been spotted in Arizona and New Mexico over the last two decades but theres no evidence of breeding pairs establishing territories beyond northern Mexico. Most recently, a male jaguar was spotted just south of the border and another was seen in Arizona in January.

Scientists and experts with the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Center for Landscape Conservation, Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations are pointing to more than 31,800 square miles (82,400 square kilometers) of suitable habitat in the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico that could potentially support anywhere from 90 to 150 jaguars.

They contend that reintroducing the cats is essential to species conservation and restoration of the region's ecosystem.

We are attempting to start a new conversation around jaguar recovery, and this would be a project that would be decades in the making, Sharon Wilcox of Defenders of Wildlife, one of the studys authors, said in an interview. There are ecological dimensions, human dimensions that would need to be addressed in a truly collaborative manner. There would need to be a number of stakeholders who would want to be at the table in order to see this project move forward.

Under a recovery plan finalized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mexico as well as countries in Central and South America are primarily responsible for monitoring jaguar movements within their territory. The agency has noted that the Southwestern U.S. represents just one-tenth of 1% of the jaguar's historic range.

Environmentalists have criticized the plan, saying the U.S. government overlooked opportunities for recovery north of the international border.

While the recovery plan doesn't call for reintroductions in the U.S., federal officials have said efforts will continue to focus on sustaining habitat, eliminating poaching and improving social acceptance to accommodate those cats that find their way across the border.

The habitat highlighted by the conservation groups is rugged and made up mostly of federally managed land. They say it includes water sources, suitable cover and prey.

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have yet to review the latest study, but such a proposal would likely face fierce opposition from ranchers and some rural residents who have been at odds with environmentalists and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves. That program has faced numerous challenges over the past two decades and while wolf numbers are trending upward, ranchers say so are livestock deaths.

Jaguar advocates said losses could be mitigated through compensation programs like those established as a result of the wolf program.

Then there's the question of where the jaguars would come from. Advocates say a captive breeding program could be developed over time and jaguars from existing wild populations could be relocated.

Wilcox said there are many factors  some understood and others still being studied  that influence the movement of jaguars.

But this is a vast area with suitable vegetation, she said. Its populated with the right kind of prey for these cats and given its elevation and its latitude, it might provide an important climate refugium for the species in the future.

___

The story has been updated, based on corrected information from one of the study authors, to show the area of suitable habitat identified by the scientists is more than 31,800 square miles (82,400 square kilometers), not 3,125 square miles (nearly 8,100 square kilometers).
As the Greater Houston Builders Associations Benefit Homes Project wraps up for 2021, HomeAid Houston, one of two charities that benefit from this 41-year-old fundraiser, will be attending a luncheon in May that celebrates and honors the vendors and suppliers that donated to the Project.

The Benefit home was built by Chesmar Homes with donated materials and services by GHBA members. The lot was donated by Land Tejas in Lago Mar. This allowed the home to be sold at a profit with proceeds from the sale going to HomeAid Houston and Operation Finally Home. HomeAid became a recipient of the Benefit Homes fundraiser in 2007 and has, as of February 2021, received $ 1,158,995.77 from the Benefit Homes Project.

The funds generated by the Benefit Homes Project are put right back into the community through the two charities. HomeAid Houston, since 2003 has initiated 73 projects that have been completed, adding and impacting 1,750-plus beds and providing more than 1.3 million nights of sleep. This is a $15.8 million added value in housing and improvements. Annually, HomeAids projects serve more than 5,000 homeless men, women, children and veterans in Houston.

Since 1980, members of the GHBA have been donating construction, materials, labor and time to building two to three Benefit homes a year. When the homes are sold at market value, proceeds from the sale of the home are donated to charity. Since the project began, more than $12 million has been raised.

HomeAid is honored to share in the celebration of the homes completion at the Vendor Appreciation Luncheon, said Carole Brady, executive director of HomeAid Houston. The nearly 100 vendors, suppliers and trades who make these homes a reality, also make it possible for HomeAid to build shelters that improve the lives of people in crisis situations who may become homeless or worse. I am proud to represent HomeAid for this event and to be able to visit with these companies to thank them personally for everything they do.

Scott Merovitch, city president of Chesmar Homes, understood that 2020 has been a tough time for everyone, including charities, said Brady. They didnt let the challenges of this year dictate who they are as a compassionate, giving organization, so their decision to break ground during a pandemic year was bold and heart-felt. We are so honored to be one of the two charities to receive funds from the Chesmar Benefit home.

This was Chesmars seventh Benefit home. The Land Tejas lot it was built on was its 18th lot donation to the Project. Chesmar recently completed its Benefit home, the Hillcrest plan, a one-story design that features four bedrooms with a game room option, three baths and a two-car attached garaged and a covered patio. The home recently sold and is expected to close in late May.

HomeAid is a 501 (c)(3) charity of the Greater Houston Builders Association. For more information about HomeAid Houston, visit www.homeaidhouston.org or call 281-970-8970.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP)  The Man in Black is now being honored on the Mississippi Country Music Trail.

A new marker dedicated Friday memorializes a night Johnny Cash spent in the Oktibbeha County Jail.

In the early hours of May 11, 1965, Cash was arrested for public drunkenness after he was found picking flowers at a private home after a show at Mississippi State University. He spent the night locked up, and that served as inspiration for his song, Starkville City Jail.

He performed the song for inmates at San Quentin Jail in 1969, and it was included on the album, Live at San Quentin.

Im so delighted that Mr. Cash did not realize it was the Oktibbeha County Jail, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said. That wouldnt have been a good song. Im delighted that he called it Starkville."

Cash was symbolically pardoned for his arrest in Starkville in 2007 at the inaugural Johnny Cash Flower Pickin Festival, the Commercial Dispatch reported.

Spruill said the new marker highlights an experience that Cash believed was the beginning of his road to personal redemption.

Cash has sold 90 million records worldwide, including country, rock, blues, folk and gospel.

The marker is at the corner of Mississippi Highway 182 and Jackson Street in Starkville. It is 35th marker on the Mississippi Country Music Trail.

Arkansas legislators recently voted to designate a Johnny Cash Day to honor the late entertainer, who was born in that state in 1932. Cash died in 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Hartford police responded to 52 Lawrence Street at 2:56 p.m. after a shot spotter notification where they found two victims, an unidentified male in his 30s who was transported to a local hospital and is listed in critical condition, and an unidentified female in her 30s, who was also transported to the hospital and is in stable condition, according to a police report.
Photo courtesy of GHBA

The Greater Houston Builders Association (GHBA), Benefit Homes Project has raised more than $12 million for local charities since its inception in 1980. The current beneficiaries are HomeAid Houston and Operation Finally Home. This would not be possible without the donations of construction materials, supplies and services by GHBA members.

Hundreds of companies have been contributors throughout the history of the Project, and many have donated in multiple years. One such company is Builders Post-Tension. BPT provides handling, fabrication, and delivery of their concrete construction products; professional stressing services; rebar supply services; post-tension packs; and calibration services of builders stressing equipment.
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP)  Elected officials in a Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April approved a resolution that puts the city on track to major changes to its policing practices.

The Brooklyn Center City Council voted 4-1 Saturday in favor of a resolution that would create new divisions of unarmed civilian employees to handle non-moving traffic violations and respond to mental health crises. It also limits situations in which officers can make arrests and requires more de-escalation efforts by police before using deadly force. In addition, a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention would be formed to oversee efforts on community health and public safety, led by a director with public health expertise.

The city attorney and mayor have said that adopting the resolution commits the city to change, though it is not a final action.

The resolution "will establish a new north star for our community, one that will keep all of us safe, said Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott. It says that we, as your elected leaders, are committing ourselves. And that you can hold us accountable for achieving those goals.

Elliott introduced the resolution last week, less than a month after then-Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter, who is white, fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist. The citys police chief, who has since stepped down, has said he believed Potter meant to use her Taser on Wright during the April 11 stop instead of her handgun. Body camera video shows her shouting Taser! multiple times before firing. The shooting ignited days of unrest.

Council Members Marquita Butler, April Graves and Dan Ryan joined Elliott in voting for the resolution. Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson voted against it, saying that the council hadnt taken enough time to weigh the proposal, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The three-hour meeting included testimony from Wright's family as well as the family of Kobe Dimock-Heisler, who also was killed by Brooklyn Center police.

I truly believe if this was implemented prior to April 11, our son would still be with us today, said Katie Wright, Dauntes mother.

Potter, who is charged with second-degree manslaughter in his death, resigned within days of the shooting. Police have said Wright was pulled over for expired tags, but they sought to arrest him after discovering an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and had a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June.

Dozens of citizens spoke at Saturday's council meeting. In one tense moment, a man said he didnt agree with having unarmed people pull over drivers. He then turned to Wright and said: Your son was killed, not because of a traffic stop in my mind. But because he had warrants. The man was drowned out by boos.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota called the proposal an important first move in changing policing. But several police groups have raised concerns, saying parts of the resolution conflict with state law and will put public safety at risk.

No police officers spoke at Saturday's meeting.

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Find APs full coverage of the death of Daunte Wright at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-daunte-wright
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP)  Seemingly anyone you could ask who knew Joe Bova agrees on what kind of person he was: an ordinary, peaceful man who loved his family, largely kept to himself and stayed out of trouble.

No one seems to have any idea why somebody would kill the 43-year-old labor official  especially in such a violent, extraordinary fashion.

Yet thats exactly what happened on the morning of Sept. 13, 1989.

About 6:04 a.m. that day, Bova walked out of his Merrillville home at 6686 Massachusetts St. and climbed into his 1974 Ford pickup truck. Bovas wife, Sharon, was in the homes kitchen at the same time.

Suddenly, as her husband keyed the trucks ignition, a blast rattled the house. About a half-hour later, he was dead.

Joe Bova was mortally wounded when his truck exploded in his driveway with him inside, causing a fierce blast so powerful it reportedly sent him nearly 50 feet away from the vehicle.

Sharon Bova found her husband, moaning, barely alive and nearly dismembered, in a crater in the yard, her sister Carol Vonasch said.

Vonasch said her sister was never the same after the killing. She never went back to work, and she stopped answering calls from family who lived in the area.

Sharon Bova lived 20 years after the fact. Her husbands death consumed her until the day she died, Vonasch said.

Sharon died of a broken heart, Vonasch said. She was devastated.

Vonasch remembers Joe Bova as an honest family man who didnt fit the profile of someone who would meet that kind of death.

Joe was a good guy. He was a very good man  its hard not to have closure, Vonasch said. To date, Vonasch said she hasnt heard anything from investigators on possible new leads.

Joe Bovas surviving immediate family members include one brother and a sister. Joe and Sharon Bova never had children, Vonasch said, and Joe Bovas two other siblings have died, along with the investigators most closely connected to the case.

Some of Bovas family have theories as to who was responsible  or at least who may have known something  and what may have motivated his killing, but the case has never reached a conclusion.

Bovas job, secretary-treasurer of Laborers Union of North America  Local 81 in Valparaiso, prompted speculation of ties to organized crime. But police said early in the investigation that the bombing didnt appear related to his job.

That hasnt stopped Brett Parlock, a nephew of Bova, from probing the case.

Parlock was 9 years old the day his familys reality was shattered. He recalls it was a school day and his mother got a phone call that caused her to scream. He rushed from upstairs to see what happened. It was then his mother shared the horrific news: His uncle was dead.

Parlock said he was told that, after the bomb went off, his uncle used what little life he had left to try crawling back to his homes front porch as his wife watched, horrified.

She was never the same, Parlock said, sharing a description of Sharon Bova similar to that given by her sister. They were just really good people, he said of the married couple.

Parlock said he has nothing but positive memories of his uncle.

I was very fond of him. I remember him being good to me, he said.

All accounts of Bova point back to a lingering question  Why would a man so well-liked, with no known enemies, die the way he did?

The explosion that killed Bova was so powerful it reshaped the vehicle into a pyramid of wrecked steel, caving in the dashboard and blowing out the floor and windows, Daniel Thomas, the Lake County coroner at the time, previously said.

Thomas described the force of the blast as incredible and said he believed the bombing was the work of a professional.

After the explosion, Bova was found lying face down about 50 feet away from the truck. Police told The Times he was alive when paramedics got there, though hanging by a thread of life.

He was taken to a local hospital, where he died about 6:40 a.m.

It was a horrible death, Thomas told The Times. He died from the bomb injuries, and from the loss of blood.

The truck ravaged in the explosion had not been driven for two days, police said afterward.

Merrillville police, in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, investigated the bombing. Officials told The Times numerous times that they didnt believe the explosion was related to an internal union struggle or organized crime.

The Laborers International Union was cited by the Presidents Commission on Organized Crime, a now-defunct panel that operated during the Reagan administration, as being one of four unions being linked to organized crime, The Times reported. However, there were no indications organized crime had been involved in Local 81 when that report was released.

Family members familiar with the bombing recall that investigators re-created the explosion and learned it was designed to go off randomly between knob turns.

Jerry McCory, then the Merrillville police chief, said in interviews that police couldnt determine a motive for Joe Bovas killing.

Our understanding is that the local was run pretty clean and pretty good, McCory said at the time. Joe Bova was probably as well-liked as anybody.

Shortly after Bovas death, the local union hall, its sister union  Local 41, Indianas State District Council  and the 12 labor unions that remained in Indiana posted a $30,000 reward for any information that would lead police to Bovas killer, conspirators or co-conspirators.

About 200 mourners paid their final respects to Bova at his funeral the following Saturday at Geisen Funeral Home in Merrillville.

Bova was eulogized exactly how those who personally knew him described him  as a kind person who liked everyone and was liked in return.

He was described as a man who cared deeply for his family and had a soft spot for animals. During winters, Bova would go to the steel mill to feed stray cats who lived there, said Arthur N. Wilkerson, who officiated the service.

Police questioned Local 81 officials, who answered all questions freely, McCory told The Times. Nonetheless, it didnt lead investigators to any suspects. In addition, the reward seemed to draw no interest.

McCory speculated the lack of information could be a result of the nature of the crime and the supposed lack of witnesses.

The Times previously reported there was a vague description of a man leaving the scene of the bombing, but police said all leads ran to a dead end.

An ATF spokesperson said in late April of this year the agency had no additional information to provide on the Bova case, adding it occurred so long ago that archived records were no longer available.

Nevertheless, the agencys Merrillville office is working closely with Merrillville Police Department on the case. Anyone with new information is urged to contact ATF at (888) ATF-TIPS (283-8477). Any information will be routed to the ATFs Merrillville office.

Despite the lack of developments and open-ended nature of the case, its clear Brett Parlock isnt ready to quit looking for answers in his uncles death.

I always thought this would be one of those cases that would be solved one day, Parlock said. At the end of the day, someone murdered my uncle.

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Source: The Times
HOUSTON (AP)  A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood has been found after a nearly week-long search and appears to be unharmed, police announced Saturday evening.

In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Cmdr. Ron Borza can be seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal and saying it has been a long week searching for it.

But we got him, and hes healthy, Borza said as the wife of the man police allege is the animal's owner sat next to him and fed the tiger with a baby bottle. The tiger was being held at BARC, the city of Houstons animal shelter, but was expected to be taken Sunday morning to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located southeast of Dallas.

Authorities had been searching for the tiger, a 9-month-old male named India, since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner.

At a news conference later Saturday evening, Borza said that Cuevas' wife, Giorgiana, turned over the tiger to police on Saturday after a friend of hers reached out to officials at BARC.

It is Victors tiger. Thats what I was told by (Giorgiana Cuevas) ... She says theyve had that animal for nine months," Borza said. He alleged that the tiger was passed around to different people but that Cuevas' wife knew where the tiger was at all times this week as authorities searched for it.

Police are still trying to determine where exactly the tiger was held this week and if any charges related to having the tiger will be filed. Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits under a city ordinance unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals.

But Cuevas attorney, Michael W. Elliott, on Saturday night continued to insist his client doesnt own the tiger, saying, I am not sure it makes any difference who technically owns India as he does not have a birth certificate or title."

Victor was not the primary owner of India nor did India stay with him the majority of the time," Elliott told The Associated Press. Victor was however involved in the caretaking of India often. Victor loves India as anyone else would love a favorite pet ... He treated India with love and fantastic treatment in all respects."

Cuevas was arrested Monday by Houston police and charged with evading arrest for allegedly fleeing his home with the tiger after officers had responded to a call about a dangerous animal.

At the time of his arrest by Houston police, Cuevas was already out on bond for a murder charge in a 2017 fatal shooting in neighboring Fort Bend County. Cuevas has maintained the shooting was self-defense, Elliott said.

Cuevas was released on a separate bond for the evading arrest charge on Wednesday. But prosecutors in Fort Bend County then sought to have him held with no bond on the murder charge. After an all-day hearing on Friday, a judge revoked Cuevas current $125,000 bond on the murder charge and issued a new bond for $300,000. He remains jailed.

During Fridays court hearing, Waller County Sheriffs Office Deputy Wes Manion, who lives in the Houston neighborhood where the tiger was seen, testified he interacted with the animal for about 10 minutes to make sure it didnt go after someone else. He said Cuevas came out of his house yelling, Dont kill it, grabbed the tiger by the collar and kissed its head before leading it back inside his home. Various videos of the tiger's encounter with Manion were posted on social media.

Elliott has said Cuevas did nothing illegal because Texas has no statewide law forbidding private ownership of tigers and other exotic animals.

Borza said that an exotic animal like a tiger should never be kept in a home. While India seemed domesticated, the tiger already weighs 175 pounds (79 kg), it can do a lot of damage" and will only get bigger, he said.

He will be going to a sanctuary ... where hopefully hell live the rest of his life in a very safe environment," Borza said.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
GAZA CITY  Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday.

The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. That attack was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel ad the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces says only that IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.

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TOP NEWS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flatten three buildings and kill at least 42 people on Sunday

 An AP reporter documents the terrifying final minutes of leaving the Gaza office before it is blown up by the Israelis

 An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip despite urgent demands by the news agency to halt. AP's top editor called for an independent investigation into the airstrike.

 Protesters in major US cities urge Israelis to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip

 French police use tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian march that was banned in Paris

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RABAT, Morocco  Moroccans have taken to the streets in the capital and other cities to protest Israeli air raids on Gaza during clashes with the Hamas extremist group that rules the Palestinian territory.

Sizeable demonstrations were held Sunday across the North African kingdom, including in Casablanca, the countrys largest city, where thousands waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israels military actions. Protesters also gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat.

In December, Morocco announced it had resumed relations with Israel as part of a U.S. brokered deal. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Moroccos claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

On Friday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI ordered forty tons of aid to be be shipped to the West Bank and Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of recent clashes.

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UNITED NATIONS  The three U.N. Security Council nations trying to get the U.N.s most powerful body to take action on the escalating violence between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers say they are still trying to get the U.S. to support a statement including a call to end the fighting.

China, Norway and Tunisia tried unsuccessfully at closed meetings Monday and Wednesday to get agreement on a council statement. Diplomats say the U.S. argued such a statement could interfere with diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

There also was no agreement at Sundays first open meeting on the violence.

The ambassadors of China, Norway and Tunisia issued a joint statement on the Gaza conflict demanding an immediate end of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction.

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PARIS  A media watchdog group is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israels bombing of buildings housing The Associated Press and other media organizations in Gaza as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

The group says the Israeli militarys intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment could violate one of the courts statues. It says the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

Israels military says Hamas was operating inside the building where AP had offices and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike Saturday.

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UNITED NATIONS -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is urging the United States to join the 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council and support a statement urging a halt to violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.

He also wants the U.S. to support calling for a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wang chaired a high-level emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday and said the dangerous and urgent situation calls for an immediate cease-fire.

He urges Israel to exercise restraint, stop evictions and settlement expansion, put an end to the violence, threats and provocations against Muslims and respect the status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem. He says Palestinians must avoid steps that would escalate the situation, avoid civilian casualties and work for an immediate de-escalation.

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UNITED NATIONS  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israels U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gazas Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to end violence and expressing support for mediation by Egypt and the United States.

Rutte said in a statement Sunday that the Netherlands stands ready to help using its good relations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the U.S.

He says that a further escalation and yet more Palestinian and Israeli civilian casualties must be avoided.

Rutte says Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks but says the country must act proportionally within the borders of international law.

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UNITED NATIONS  Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki is accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and carrying out a policy of apartheid in Jerusalem.

Al-Malki told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that there are no words that can describe the horrors that our people are enduring, listing families and children and infants killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time, he said. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem. Its expelling families, one home, neighborhood at a time. Israel is executing our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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ISRAEL  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed his claim that a Gaza building leveled by an Israeli airstrike housed a Hamas office as well as American and Middle East news organizations, but gave no evidence.

Netanyahu spoke to CBSs Face the Nation about ongoing violence between Israeli forces and the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and about Saturdays airstrike that leveled the building housing Gaza offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news organizations. Its a perfectly legitimate target, he said.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call later Saturday with President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, We pass it through our intelligence people.

Netanyahu gave no time frame for when Israel would be ready to halt its side of the fighting after nearly a week of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages. We hope that it doesnt continue very long, but we were attacked by Hamas, he said.

Asked about reports that Hamas had agreed to an Egypt-brokered cease-fire but Israel had not, he said, Thats not what I know.

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UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. Mideast envoy says the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Tor Wennesland told the Security Council on Sunday that over 40 U.N. schools in Gaza have been turned into shelters. He says the schools have limited water and no access to food or health care, and serve for protection purposes only.

After nearly a week of fighting, Wennesland called for calm and said further escalation would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis.

He called Hamas rocket fire from civilian neighborhoods in Gaza into Israeli population centers a violation of international law. He also urged Israel to show maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in its operations in Gaza.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said. It is the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The violence, which came as international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory, marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes Sunday hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 yards (meters) down the road.

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UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief is appealing to Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza to immediately stop the utterly appalling escalation in fighting and senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction at the start of a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the virtual meeting on Sunday that the United Nations is actively engaging all sides towards an immediate cease-fire.

He warned that the most serious escalation in violence in Gaza in years only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace.

The open meeting is scheduled to be addressed by the Palestinian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, China, Tunisia, Norway, Ireland, Algeria and the deputy foreign minister of Russia along with ambassadors from other nations on the 15-member council, an Israeli representative and the head of the Arab League.

Guterres said he is appalled by the increasingly large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes, and deplores Israeli casualties from rockets launched from Gaza. He called the destruction of media offices in Gaza extremely concerning, stressing that journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes on a main thoroughfare in Gaza City has climbed to 33, including 12 women and eight children.

It was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers erupted nearly a week ago. The airstrikes hit Wahda Street, a major thoroughfare.

The ministry says another 50 people were wounded in the strikes early Sunday, mostly women and children.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

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ISTANBUL  Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency has offered to share its Gaza offices with The Associated Press and Al Jazeera after Israel bombed the building that housed the media offices.

Anadolu said its Director-General Serdar Karagoz made the offer in letters to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt and Al-Jazeeras chairman.

Karagoz said the Turkish wire service was appalled by the Israeli militarys targeting of media offices.

Since this recent conflict has escalated over the past week, there is an apparent pattern of targeting journalists who are carrying out their professional duties so as to block coverage of the situation on the ground, Karagoz said.

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BRUSSELS  The European Unions foreign policy chief says the 27-nation blocs foreign ministers will talk Tuesday about what the EU can do to help end the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Josep Borrell tweeted Sunday that he convened the special videoconference in view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties.

He added that we will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to end the current violence.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gazas militant Hamas rulers fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli assault on Gaza.

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VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has denounced the unacceptable spiral of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the deaths in particular of children was a sign that they dont want to build the future but want to destroy it.

Francis prayed for peace, calm and international help to open a path of dialogue during his Sunday blessing, delivered from his studio window overlooking St. Peters Square.

The pope said: I ask myself: this hatred and vendetta, what will it bring? Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?

In unusually pointed comments, Francis added: In the name of God, who created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity and are called to live as brothers, I appeal for calm and an end to the violence.

Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza City for days as heavy fighting has broken out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among the 26 people killed in Sundays airstrikes, with another 50 people wounded in the attack.

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JERUSALEM  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 23 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the attack. Rescuers were racing to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader in a separate strike. It was the third such attack in the last two days.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed the strike on Sinwars house in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis to army radio.

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JERUSALEM  The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, the third such attack in as many days, after nearly a week of heavy Israeli airstrikes on the territory. The Palestinian militant group ruling Gaza has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes have struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City early Sunday.

According to photos circulated by residents and journalists, the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. It said rescuers are still digging through the rubble and had so far pulled up five more wounded.

Two hours into the heavy bombardment, there has been no comment from the Israeli military.
HIXTON, Wis. (AP)  Authorities say a western Wisconsin woman was arrested for allegedly taking illegal drugs while driving with five children in the car.

The Wisconsin State Patrol said it learned of the incident when a father called to request a welfare check on his 12-year-old daughter. The girl was in a car headed to Wisconsin Dells with a friend and the friends family and told her father the adults were smoking drugs.
AP

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP)  An Arkansas man who authorities say fatally shot an 87-year-old neighbor was trying to lure residents of his apartment complex outside before someone shot and killed him, according to witnesses.

He was yelling and screaming: You guys get out here, come out here, everyone get out of this building right now," Janey Peugh, who lives at the complex, told KFSM television station.
President Biden has proposed infrastructure projects including roads and bridges, climate change initiatives, and programs to achieve economic equality. To finance these proposals, the administration is exploring a combination of tax increases on the wealthy and corporations and increasing federal debt. But there also is a third option: reduce military spending.

There has long been bipartisan support for infrastructure projects. However, disagreements on how to pay for them have held up approval. Most of the countrys large corporations, and an increasing number of members of both parties, accept climate change as a reality that requires government action. Most agree there is a need for more economic equality. However, there is disagreement regarding who will bear the costs of the necessary systemic changes.

It is time to consider reducing military spending as one of the ways to pay for these objectives.

A New Haven referendum on the November 2020 ballot read: Shall Congress prepare for the health and climate crises by transferring funds from the military budget to cities for human needs, jobs and an environmentally sustainable economy? It passed with 83 percent approval.

In fiscal year 2019, the Pentagons budget was $732 billion. A 10 percent reduction results in $732 billion over 10 years. This compares to the Bidens campaign tax proposals for tax increases for the wealthy and high-income individuals of $3 trillion over the same period. Cuts of $73 billion could be achieved by canceling ill-conceived and ineffective weapons programs, and by reducing administrative inefficiencies. However, to accomplish this would require reining in defense industry lobbyists.

It may be time to do that anyway. Our 2019 military budget exceeded the next 10 countries defense budgets combined. It was nearly three times larger that Chinas and 10 times larger than Russias. According to a Brown University Watson Institute study, between 2018-2020 the United States had counterterrorism operations in 85 countries. These ranged from on-the-ground combat troops to drone assassinations.

In 2018 and 2020, the Defense Department failed its first two audits, continued to produce faulty weapons systems and programs with cost overruns, and remains one of the worlds largest institutional polluters.

My estimate is that defense industry jobs are 3 percent of private sector nonfarm jobs in Connecticut. Reducing military spending will cause short term (three to five year) adjustment discomfort. However, the long-term impact would be absorbed by growth in other sectors of the states economy.

If current military spending reductions are done in the context of job creation in new public infrastructure, green industries, health care security, free community college education, equal racial and gender opportunity, and an economic policy that fosters the dignity of work for all, the adjustment discomfort will be short-lived and part of a general societal effort for economic justice. For example, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protections 2018 Comprehensive Energy Strategy is full of concrete proposals and ways the state is already aiding the growth of the greening of industry. Connecticuts Green Bank already participated in the creation of 13,000 new green energy jobs.

Perhaps the most serious challenges to reducing military spending are a frozen sense of reality and an unwillingness to question cultural values. First the reality check: In 1960 the United States produced 40 percent of the worlds gross domestic product. In 2018 it was 24 percent. The global economy has changed dramatically in the last 60 years. We no longer are the singular global economic power as we were at the height of the Cold War.

As for values, we have a sense of American Exceptionalism. We are rightly proud of our nation. However, this does not give us the right to tell other nations what they are supposed to do, and to enforce that with a threat of violence. As Martin Luther King said in his speech Beyond Vietnam: A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

With our American resourcefulness, we have available to us concrete ways to move our society forward. Do we have the courage and will to do the hard work of making them real? Is this time to Move the Money?

Gerald Sazama is an associate professor emeritus of economics at the University of Connecticut.
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As Kimberly Johnson, 38, the mom of elementary-school-age twins in Pound Ridge, New York, put it to me in a Facebook message, Im not anti-vax but this all seems just too fast for me. I dont want my children to be responding to those lawyer ads you see on TV 25 years from now. You know the ones, If you were under the age of 16 in the years 2021-2022 and received the COVID-19 vaccination you could be entitled to compensation  
A. Transportation. There's a strong need for a long-term mobility plan, especially on U.S. 19 and State Road 44.

B. Resiliency. Crystal River needs blueprints for the future, especially focusing on sea level rise and health of bay waters.

C. Downtown. Areas within the city's CRA need more projects like the Town Square.

D. Revitalization. Abandoned shopping centers and older structures like the mall need a makeover.

E. Residential neighborhoods. Interconnecting communities and maximizing the potential in Crystal River neighborhoods is the key to happy living.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  The Cleveland Division of the FBI on Sunday released photos of four people who are believed to be involved in at least nine violent carjackings since April 28.

The FBI is working with six local police departments to investigate the carjackings, a news release says. The first carjacking took place about 3 p.m. on April 28 on Clevelands West Side, with a spree of carjackings following beginning last Wednesday, May 12.

Heres a brief timeline of the reported carjackings and attempted thefts since May 12, according to the FBI:

May 12, about 11:30 a.m.: A 2013 Honda Civic was stolen in East Cleveland.

May 13, about 1:45 a.m.: A 2020 Toyota was stolen at gunpoint on Clevelands West, near the intersection of Triskett Road and West 127th Street.

May 14, about 12:10 a.m.: A 2017 Toyota Rav4 SUV was stolen at gunpoint in Willoughby. The carjackers bumped the victims car from behind, and when she got out to check for damage, one of the suspects pointed a gun in her face. She was grabbed in a bear hug by another suspect before the vehicle and her personal belongings were stolen.

May 14, about 11:30 a.m.: A white Dodge Durango was stolen from a Brooklyn Walmart. Two women were approached by the suspects after shopping. One woman was thrown to the ground by her hair.

May 14, between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m.: A Hyundai Sonata with Alabama license plates was stolen in Euclid. The driver said both a handgun and a long gun were inside the vehicle; the guns have not been found.

Saturday (May 15), about 2:30 a.m.: When approached by the carjacking suspects in Euclid, the victim resisted and was shot in the leg. No details about the stolen vehicle were provided. The FBI says the victim remains in critical condition.

Saturday, about 2:37 a.m.: A vehicle was taken in Cleveland Heights. The carjacking suspects fired gunshots at an off-duty police officer during the theft.

Sunday, about 2:25 a.m.: An attempted carjacking was reported in a hotel parking lot in Willoughby. Witnesses heard gunshots, but no injuries have been reported.

Four of the stolen vehicles have been found in East Cleveland, the FBI news release says. Authorities believe a stolen vehicle has been driven to each of the subsequent carjackings.

Anyone who recognizes the four individuals in the surveillance photos should contact local police or the FBI at 1-877-FBI-OHIO. Tips can remain anonymous, and reward money is available.

Read more on cleveland.com:

Akron woman accused of brandishing handgun at Crocker Park arrested after chase on Interstate 90, Westlake police say

One dead after car catches fire in Akron crash

Grand jury indicts Lorain man in deadly Easter Sunday shooting
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Mask-wearing guidance changed rapidly late last week, with the CDC announcing Thursday that fully vaccinated Americans could go maskless both indoors and outdoors in most situations. On Friday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine largely lifted the mask mandate for the vaccinated, saying they were only required in crowded indoor settings.

Even with new guidelines in mind, its up to private businesses discretion whether to require masks in stores. Some local and national retailers are relaxing their mask policies  or preparing to  while many others continue to evaluate.

Stores like Walmart and Costco said they will not verify whether customers shopping mask-less are vaccinated, and it remains unclear whether other stores relaxing their masking policies will have a verification system in place.

Take a look at where businesses in Northeast Ohio currently stand, as of Tuesday morning.

Businesses relaxing mask policies

ALDI  The grocery store chain announced that starting Tuesday, fully vaccinated shoppers do not need to wear a mask while shopping, unless a local mask mandate remains in place. Unvaccinated shoppers should still wear masks. Starting May 26, fully vaccinated employees will no longer need to wear masks at work, a statement from ALDI says.

BJs Wholesale  The retailer says fully vaccinated employees and shoppers will not have to wear a mask in store, while employees and shoppers who have not received a shot must still wear face coverings. The rule for shoppers went into effect Saturday, while the employee rule is effective Tuesday.

Costco  This wholesale retailer said Friday that it would no longer require masks for vaccinated customers, but employees will not verify whether a shopper is vaccinated.

CVS  The pharmacy chain said Monday that fully vaccinated customers did not need to wear masks in stores, unless state and/or local mask mandates are still in place. Employees will be required to mask up at work.

Giant Eagle  One of Northeast Ohios largest grocery chains said Tuesday that beginning Monday, May 24, stores will not require fully vaccinated employees and shoppers in supermarkets or GetGo locations to wear masks. Those who are not fully vaccinated are still required to wear a mask or face covering in-store.

Home Depot  On Monday, the hardware store chain announced customers and associates who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear masks or facial coverings in stores, unless a state or local mask mandate is still in place. Masks are encouraged for those not fully vaccinated.

Kohls  The department store chain released a statement on its website Monday saying fully vaccinated customers can now choose whether to wear a mask while shopping. Non-vaccinated customers and staff should still wear masks in-store.

Meijer  The Michigan-based grocery store chain, which opened Northeast Ohio locations in recent years, wont require fully vaccinated shoppers to wear a mask in-store. Those who are not vaccinated, as well as Meijer employees, must still wear a mask, according to our sister site MLive.com.

Starbucks  The massive coffee chain said starting Monday, May 17, fully vaccinated customers do not need to wear a mask in stores, unless state and/or local mandates require them.

Target  The retail giant announced Monday that it would no longer require fully vaccinated staff or shoppers to wear a mask in stores, unless a state or local mask mandate is still in place.

Face coverings continue to be strongly recommended for guests and team members who are not fully vaccinated and we continue our increased safety and cleaning measures, including social distancing, throughout our stores, a statement on Targets website says, in part.

Trader Joes  The grocery store chain was one of the first to announce its relaxed mask policy for customers following the CDCs Thursday announcement. Employees must still wear masks at work, a spokesman told The Hill.

Walmart  The nations largest retailer announced is policy change in a memo to staff Friday, the Washington Post reports. Walmart stores will follow state and local mask mandates, where applicable. Unvaccinated shoppers should continue to wear masks, though Walmart has not said how it will determine whether shoppers have received a shot. The wholesale retailer Sams Club falls under Walmarts umbrella and will work with the same policy.

Businesses not (yet) relaxing policies, or no announcement made

Apple

Discount Drug Mart

Heinens

JCPenney

Kroger

Lyft

Macys

Marcs

Marshalls

Rite Aid

T.J. Maxx

Uber

Whole Foods

Walgreens

This post will be updated with more businesses/retailers if more or new information becomes available.

Read more on cleveland.com:

CDC director says mask turnaround based solely on science

Ohio reports just 618 new coronavirus cases; smallest one-day increase since August: Sunday update

Gov. Mike DeWine is rejecting federal unemployment aid, cutting off extra $300 weekly to jobless workers, starting June 26
CLEVELAND, Ohio  The nearly $2-trillion federal stimulus plan passed earlier this year, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, is delivering an unprecedented injection of cash into state and local governments across the country, including $5 billion for the state of Ohio and more than half-a-billion-dollars for Cleveland alone.

Thats why cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer are launching Stimulus Watch, a public-service journalism project to track every dollar streaming into government coffers. Chris Quinn, editor of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, has heard from dozens of readers through his free Subtext account (sign up here) requesting exactly this kind of watchdog reporting.

In other words, you wanted it, youve got it.

Our next Stimulus Watch story will publish Tuesday on cleveland.com and examines why theres a difference between how much money cities are actually receiving versus the initial estimates we had heard about for months. For instance, why will Cleveland get $511 million, instead of the $541 million we expected? Stay tuned for the answer.

Over the next two years, Ill be tracking how Cleveland spends those dollars, along with Cuyahoga Countys $239 million, the combined $534 million coming to our six adjacent counties and the billions flowing into all other Northeast Ohio cities and towns and the state government.

Some cities have already announced their priorities for the money; well keep those in mind and hold elected officials accountable if their spending veers in other directions.

Ill have an eye on which companies are chosen for government contracts funded by American Rescue Plan dollars. Ill be watching for curious patterns and sniffing out potential relationships between contractors and the politicians signing off on the deals.

And there are other important questions surrounding how this money is spent. In Northeast Ohio, and Cleveland specifically, local leaders have pondered for years how to tackle existential issues such as child poverty, homelessness and food insecurity. Well, this could be the time! Will this money transform lives and expand opportunities for Northeast Ohioans in a sustainable way? Or will it be used to pave the roads or otherwise simply supplement business-as-usual city budgets?

The graphic below is an overview of how much Ohio cities and Northeast Ohio counties are receiving, along with some statistics to better understand how the money is distributed based on population and poverty levels.

Stimulus Watch is a new project from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, tracking every dollar coming into Northeast Ohio through the American Rescue Plan.Advance Local graphic

Look at those numbers. Ultimately, they will tell a story. It could be the story of how we, as a community, used this asset to permanently improve the lives of our neighbors as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. Or it could be the story of another squandered opportunity. At the heart of Stimulus Watch is this: We want our story to be one of transformation  and our role is to bring it to you in real time.

For many Northeast Ohio cities, their allocation of American Rescue Act dollars is equal to a lions share of their annual general fund, or even larger. Keep in mind that half the money will come in this month, and the other half will come next May, but still, the proportions are striking.

My story next week will take a deeper dive into some of these numbers and what metrics were used in allocating the stimulus funds. The Treasury has yet to release a list of how $843 million will be distributed among Ohios smaller cities, towns and villages, but once that information is available, Ill have a breakdown on that, too.

Now, for some caveats: Despite the stimulus in the name Stimulus Watch, this project will not encompass all past federal stimulus money. For example, people have already reached out to me about potential fraud related to the Paycheck Protection Program or misuse of CARES Act dollars. This new project will provide real-time scrutiny of the use of American Rescue Plan money, rather than analyze previous stimulus efforts. That said, if the federal government passes an infrastructure bill, I will be watching where that money is spent in Ohio and Greater Cleveland.

And I suppose I should introduce myself. Im reporter Robin Goist, and Im taking on Stimulus Watch as my full-time beat, with some supplemental reporting from our staff covering state and local governments and stories from our Sun Newspapers. You can find all our stories at cleveland.com/stimulus-watch.

Ill also be looking to readers and members of the community to reach out with any tips about potential corruption or misuse of funds. You can reach me via email at rgoist@cleveland.com, on Twitter @RobinGoist, on Signal at +12164076189 or through snail mail at 1801 Superior Avenue East, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.

___________________________________________________________________________

On a personal note, this is the most important reporting project Ive undertaken, and Im humbled and thrilled to offer this public service. Im approaching my three-year anniversary at cleveland.com, where Ive worked since graduating John Carroll University. During my junior year at JCU, I interned at cleveland.com on the politics team. Since coming on full-time, Ive covered general assignment news, crime and courts, and for the last two years, I covered Akron and Summit County. In a couple months, Im moving back to Cleveland, and Im absolutely thrilled to return to the city I consider home, in a watchdog role advocating for government transparency, because thats what residents deserve. Greater Cleveland needs as much quality journalism as it can get. Its my honor to be part of that.
If youre an Ohioan who loves his or her public library, heres a critical heads-up: Ohios proposed two-year budget, pending in the Senate, would cut state aid to Ohios libraries  which are among the nations very best.

According to the Ohio Library Council, Ohio has the highest library use per capita in the United States. But if the proposed budget (Substitute House Bill 110) passes as its now written, it would undermine what are clearly among Ohios most popular and widely used community resources.

The budget would earmark $428 million for public libraries for the year beginning July 1; the current years allocation is an estimated $430 million. So, in Year 1, the proposed budget would cut aid to libraries.

In Year 2, the budget would allocate $443 million, an increase of 3.5% over Year 1. That may seem trifling, but heres The Big Picture, and The Big Problem:

The Big Picture: The statewide General Revenue Fund spending increase HB 110 proposes overall is a rise of 3.5% in Year 1, then 11.6% in Year 2. (The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers has risen 4.2% over the last 12 months, according to federal data.)

Backdrop: In the 1980s, Ohio reached a bipartisan policy consensus: Libraries should receive, as state aid, a fixed percentage of the state governments tax receipts. That percentage has varied, and not to libraries advantage. Its now 1.7%.

Now, The Big Problem: That 1.7% budget slice applies only for the two years thatll end next month, on June 30. The too-low permanent percentage is 1.66%. And that will kick back in on July 1, unless the legislature amends HB 110.

FYI, Ohios libraries arent receiving American Rescue Plan Act windfalls.

Michelle Francis, executive director of the Ohio Library Council, said in Statehouse testimony: The State Library of Ohio will receive an estimated $4.5 million to divide among university academic libraries, K-12 school libraries and public libraries.

Moreover, library costs are rising, she testified. Example: Digital circulation increased 33% [last year] and public libraries already pay up to five times more for e-books than traditional consumers. And 50 of Ohios 251 library systems rely solely on their state funding as their main source of revenue, Francis said.

Ohios bipartisan library funding setup, which gives Ohioans some of Americas best public libraries, was fashioned during Gov. Richard F. Celestes administration. The aim was to provide excellent library services for all Ohioans.

A pioneer in seeking stable library funding was the first Robert A. Taft (1889-1953), Mr. Republican, when he was in the state Senate in 1931 and 1932.

Year after year, Library Journal, the leading periodical covering Americas libraries, in its Index of Public Library Service, designates Americas Star Libraries. Also year after year, Ohios libraries are ranked among the nations best, most recently outranked (slightly) by New York libraries.

Library Journal groups its Star Libraries by annual spending levels, then awards a library five, four or three stars. (Starred or not, virtually all Ohio libraries outshine those in neighboring states.) And many of Ohios Star Libraries are in Greater Cleveland.

Five stars: The Cuyahoga County Public Library; the Cleveland Public Library; the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library; the Hudson Library & Historical Society; and the Rock Creek Public Library.

Four stars: The Geauga County Public Library; the Twinsburg Public Library; the Lakewood Public Library; the Rocky River Public Library; and the Westlake Porter Public Library.

Three stars: the Akron-Summit County Public Library; Jeffersons Henderson Memorial Public Library; Ashtabulas Harbor-Topky Memorial Library; the Wickliffe Public Library; the Peninsula Library & Historical Society; and the Fairport Harbor Public Library.

This was the headline on a recent Columbus Dispatch report on alleged political corruption: In a league of its own: Ohio is No. 1 state when it comes to public corruption, experts say.

In contrast, and for a long time, Ohio has been in a league of its own about something good: State support of public libraries. That ranking benefits all Ohioans. Thats why, in writing the state budget, the General Assembly should bolster, not undercut, Ohios outstanding public libraries.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-408-9474

Have something to say about this topic?

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this opinion column to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com.
Alzheimers is a difficult disease to live with. It is the most common cause of dementia, which can cause loss of memory, language and other critical mental and physical functions.
Gas shortages, which spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., have been improving since a peak on Thursday night. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told The Associated Press on Friday that the nation is over the hump on gas shortages, with about 200 stations returning to service every hour.
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Getting mustangs out of storage is critical for the bureau because its wild-horse program is in a crisis. The cost of storing horses has cannibalized the helicopter budget, and roundups can no longer keep pace with growing herds. There are now about 100,000 wild horses in the West  triple what the bureau says the land can support. If left unchecked, in another decade they could number 500,000.
(CNN) -- So much attention has been focused on the rift in the GOP over former President Donald Trump's antidemocratic lies about the 2020 election.

But Democrats have their own brewing disagreement over how the US should react to violence between Israelis and Palestinians, leading Democrats to question President Joe Biden's commitment to human rights and demanding he do more to pressure Israel.

It's an awkward public fight for a party that has made its commitment to social and racial justice a main part of its platform. As the US comes to grips with its own history of racism in new ways and adopts the Black Lives Matter movement in a mainstream way, liberals want to apply similar notions of justice to foreign policy, where an increasing number see apartheid in Israel's approach to the Palestinians.

Vocal liberals have criticized the White House for placating Israel and ignoring human rights as violence mounts, as well as loudly criticizing Biden for not openly opposing Israel's planned evictions of Palestinian families from a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.

Biden spoke to leaders on both sides of the conflict Saturday, suggesting deep engagement on the issue by the President. He raised concerns about the safety of journalists after an Israeli airstrike razed a building in Gaza that housed the offices of the Associated Press.

But liberals want more than engagement, they want him to call out Israel.

Instead, Biden has, publicly at least, stayed deferential.

"One of the things that I have seen thus far is that there has not been a significant overreaction," the President said at the White House last week.

Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 130 people and injured at least 1,000 others in Gaza alone, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said. Rioting and mob violence between Arabs and Jews marred cities and towns throughout Israel.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Benny Gantz Saturday. "I reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself and condemned Hamas' deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians," Austin said on Twitter.

Liberals are fuming

After Biden on Wednesday uttered the often-repeated mantra that Israel has a right to defend itself, liberals lashed out on the floor of the US House of Representatives.

"Do Palestinians have a right to survive?" asked New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a fiery speech on Thursday. The progressive Democrat continued to speak out on Twitter this weekend, writing, "If the Biden admin can't stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?"

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib responded on Saturday to the attack on the building housing international media. "Israel targeting media sources is so the world can't see Israel's war crimes led by the apartheid-in-chief Netanyahu," she tweeted, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, has said the planned evictions violate international laws and all but questioned the administration's commitment to human rights.

"If the Biden Administration puts the rule of law and human rights at the heart of its foreign policy, this is not a moment for tepid statements," he tweeted earlier this month, linking to comments from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who lost the Democratic presidential nomination to Biden, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Friday entitled, "The U.S. Must Stop Being an Apologist for the Netanyahu Government."

The nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, joined a boycott of a virtual White House Eid celebration scheduled to take place Sunday.

"We cannot in good conscience celebrate Eid with the Biden Administration while it literally aids, abets and justifies the Israeli apartheid government's indiscriminate bombing of innocent men, women and children in Gaza," CAIR said in a statement that warned Biden he risks damaging his relationship with American Muslims.

Muslim rights groups had hailed Biden in the first days of his presidency for ending the Trump administration's ban on travel from predominantly Muslim countries.

In a statement Friday casting forward to the White House's celebration of Eid, the Muslim religious festival, Biden tempered his comments from earlier in the week.

"Palestinians -- including in Gaza -- and Israelis equally deserve to live in dignity, safety and security," he said, recognizing Palestinians without criticizing Israel.

Liberal Democrats have long opposed US policy toward Israel and progressives have become more vocal calling for new tactics, like demanding policy changes in exchange for the large amounts of military aid the US provides.

"By continuing to provide military aid without restriction, we provide no incentive for Israel to adjust course," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in April, in remarks to the liberal pro-Israel group J Street.

Sanders went further in the New York Times on Friday.

"In the Middle East, where we provide nearly $4 billion a year in aid to Israel, we can no longer be apologists for the right-wing Netanyahu government and its undemocratic and racist behavior. We must change course and adopt an evenhanded approach, one that upholds and strengthens international law regarding the protection of civilians, as well as existing U.S. law holding that the provision of U.S. military aid must not enable human rights abuses."

Not being Trump is not enough

Biden's approach, while it leaves much for fellow Democrats to criticize, is a far cry from Trump's all-in for Israel approach, which he used to his political advantage with Christian voters.

Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, a controversial move that angered Palestinians. Biden chose not to move the embassy back.

Netanyahu, who at the same time as this flareup has also been unable to form a new government and may see yet another general election as his best chance of staying in power, was a booster of Trump's Middle East policy and a chief international critic of the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump ended and Biden is trying to resurrect.

Simply not being Trump represents a policy change in itself.

"We need to end this conflict," Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, told CNN Saturday, talking about the current violence. "Thank God we have a responsible president now in the United States, who I think can press upon the Israeli leader the need to do that."

Sanders used the same language he might use to describe Trump to describe Netanyahu.

"Over more than a decade of his right-wing rule in Israel, Mr. Netanyahu has cultivated an increasingly intolerant and authoritarian type of racist nationalism," Sanders wrote, although he also criticized the Palestinian Authority as "corrupt and ineffective."

"With a new president, the United States now has the opportunity to develop a new approach to the world  one based on justice and democracy," Sanders wrote.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Biden faces an angry rift in his own party over Israeli-Palestinian conflict"
Booms in Idaho, Utah buck curve of slowing US growth

SALT LAKE CITY  Two Western states known for their rugged landscapes and wide-open spaces are bucking the trend of sluggish U.S. population growth, which dipped to the lowest level since the Great Depression, though different forces are powering the population booms in Utah and Idaho.

In Utah, births largely drove the fastest growth in the country over the past decade. In neighboring Idaho, newcomers from California and other states helped it capture the second spot.

For both states, which have long been lightly populated, the expansion comes with rapid economic growth, sparking concerns about strains on infrastructure, rising housing prices and a sharp increase in the cost of living that could threaten the area's quality of life in the long term.

The majority of Idaho's growth, about 60%, has been driven by people moving into the state between 2010 to 2019, according to data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. One in five of those came from California, many of them retirees seeking lower housing prices and some of the most pristine wilderness in the continental U.S.

The biggest growth driver in Utah, by contrast, is new births. As home to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith that puts a high value on family, Utah has long been among the states with the highest birth rate, largest households and youngest overall population: 31 years old compared to 38 in the U.S. as a whole in 2019.

While the fertility rate has slowed a bit in recent years, natural growth still accounts for about 70% of the state's boom.

In-migration was also strong. The state added tech jobs and the landscape of snowy mountains and five national parks promised a strong work-life balance. The state clocked a growth rate of 18.4%, more than double the national rate.

ARIZONA

Chance to shoot bison at Grand Canyon draws 45k applicants

FLAGSTAFF  More than 45,000 people are vying for one of a dozen spots to help thin a herd of bison at Grand Canyon National Park.

The odds aren't as good as drawing a state tag to hunt the massive animals beyond the boundaries of the Grand Canyon, but they're far better than getting struck by lightning or winning the Powerball.

The National Park Service opened a rare opportunity for skilled shooters to kill bison at the Grand Canyon's North Rim where officials say they've been trampling on archaeological and other resources, and spoiling the water.

Potential volunteers had 48 hours to apply. The opportunity drew 45,040 applicants, about 15% of which were Arizona residents. About one-third of the applicants were from Texas, California, Colorado and Utah, said Larry Phoenix, a regional supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The department will select 25 names through a lottery, vet them and forward finalists to the park service. The volunteers who are selected will find out May 17.

The work is expecting to be grueling, done on foot at elevations of 8,000 feet or higher at the Grand Canyon's North Rim. Volunteers can't use motorized transportation or stock animals to retrieve the bison that can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and will have to field dress them with help from a support crew. Snow could also be a factor.

Park officials are clear that it's not a hunt because it doesn't involve fair chase. Hunting is prohibited within national parks, but the agency has authority to kill animals that harm resources, using park staff or volunteers.

Killing bison won't decrease the herd by much. Each volunteer can take one animal out of the 300-500 estimated to be roaming the far northern reaches of Arizona. The goal population is 200.

NORTH DAKOTA

Governor signs Ten Commandments school bill

BISMARCK  North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a measure April 16 aimed at shielding schools and teachers from lawsuits arising from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The Republican's endorsement of the bill comes after attorneys and school officials warned the legislation is unconstitutional and would spur costly and unwinnable legal fights.

The bill received broad support in both Republican-led legislative chambers, with a 76-16 vote in the House and a 34-13 vote in the Senate. Hoping to fend off legal challenges, the House amended the bill with a requirement that the Ten Commandments be included in a display with other historical documents.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been tracking the North Dakota legislation, has said that passage of the legislation would invite litigation. The organization said that not a single court has upheld the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, even if they are displayed with other material.

Proponents of the legislation said it is intended to promote moral behavior in schools, and that that the United States was founded on Ten Commandments' principals.

Attorneys and education testified earlier that the bill likely violates the clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits the establishment of religion by the government.

NEW MEXICO

State sues oil company for cleanup of abandoned wells

SANTA FE  The State Land Office on April 22 announced a lawsuit against two oil and natural gas companies, citing unmet obligations to plug at least 29 abandoned wells in western New Mexico, remove trash and debris and pay penalties for trespassing on an expired lease site.

The lawsuit against BC&D Operating and Dominion Production Company is the sixteenth in a campaign by the agency to increase accountability for cleanups among natural resources companies that lease state land.

Efforts to reach BC&D Operating and Dominion Production Company for comment were unsuccessful. The companies have no clear online listings, and corporate registrations with the state of New Mexico do not include contact information.

In a statement, New Mexico State Lands Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard indicated that her agency is seeking voluntary compliance with lease provisions before resorting to litigation.

The new lawsuit concerns nearly a square mile of state trust land with 29 unplugged and 15 plugged well sites in McKinley County.

In the 1990s, BC&D Operating acquired leases that date back as early as 1922.

State to preserve historic sites from Billy the Kid era

LINCOLN  A major preservation project is underway in an area of southern New Mexico that was was once the stomping grounds of Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett.

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs announced May 6 that the $395,000 project involves the Lincoln Historic Site, which is home to some of the most significant Territorial Period structures in the state. Many of the structures are under the protection of New Mexico Historic Sites.

One of the six buildings included in the project is the Lincoln County Courthouse, best known as the location of Billy the Kid's final escape in April 1881.

Another is the John Tunstall Store, which was constructed in 1877 and stood at the center of the Lincoln County War.

Work also is underway at the Montano Store, San Juan Mission Church, Watson House and Brent House.

Tim Roberts, deputy director of facilities and interpretation for New Mexico Historic Sites, said the community of Lincoln is one of the most well-preserved frontier towns in the western United States and provides a tangible link between New Mexico's unique history and those who visit the site today.
The European Evangelical Alliance has written to the Finnish government, urging it to respect the religious freedom of its parliamentarians, one of whom is facing six years imprisonment for sharing her opinion on marriage and human sexuality.

EEA General Secretary Thomas Bucher said in a letter that he's dismayed to hear of the charges filed against Finnish Member of Parliament and former Minister of the Interior, Paivi Rasanen, who is facing two years in prison for three of her each alleged crimes.

The police were asked to investigate three incidents of supposed hate speech, or more precisely in Finnish law 'ethnic agitation,' Bucher wrote.

On each occasion, they concluded that there was no case to answer. In the case of a brochure published in 2004, the police added that, if it was decided that biblical views were considered per se to count as agitation, then it would have to become a crime to make the Bible available, he insisted.

Source:The Christian Post
Responding to calls by evangelical leaders to designate this Sunday as a Global Day of Prayer for Peace and Security in the Middle East, many churches across the United States are praying for peace in Israel as a week of violence in the region is being described as the worst since 2014.

We call upon Evangelicals, & others around the world, to pray for Israelis & Palestinians victimized by Hamas terrorists, reads a tweet by the Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference on Saturday.

Hamas militants started launching rocket attacks on Israel last Monday as tensions had been brewing over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and Israeli police clashed with Palestinians near the citys Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site.

Palestinian militant groups in Gaza have fired over 2,300 rockets toward Israel since the outbreak of fighting on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said, according to The Times of Israel.

Source:The Christian Post
Christian author and speaker Brittni De La Mora weighed in on the crucial role friendships play in living a God-glorifying life and identified the various kinds of toxic people Christians should avoid allowing in their inner circle.

Brittni, a former porn star who famously left the industry behind to become a Christian, recently discussed the topic on an episode of Lets Talk Purity, a show she co-hosts alongside her husband, Rich De La Mora.

I've had my fair share of great friendships that have been a blessing, that have been destiny friendships, but then I've also had some friendships that have really, especially since becoming a Christian in the last eight years, have tried to hinder me in some way or another. And I know that this isn't an isolated incident, she said.

LISTEN: Subscribe to the Lets Talk Purity Podcast on Edifi

Source:The Christian Post
Spies, Lies, and Exile by Simon Kuper, a Financial Times columnist. (The New Press, 288 pp.) On Englands George Blake, an MI6 intelligence officer turned KGB agent who caused more harm in the 1950s and 60s than did Kim Philby, said a former MI6 head. The book is Kupers fascinating, rich and probing account of his 2012 interview with Blake (who consented as long as any report was posthumous). He died in late 2020. It is striking how easily the recruiting KGB officer became a father-figure to the young agent, reviewer Henry Hemming writes. The book becomes a beguiling and endlessly interesting portrait of one mans rigid, Panglossian desire to see the best in everything. (Wall Street Journal)
Islamic jihadists murdered at least 1,470 Christians and abducted over 2,200 in Nigeria in the first four months of this year, a report has revealed. More than half of the killings were carried out by Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

The number of Christians murdered within the first four months of this year is the highest since 2014 and goes beyond the total number of Christians killed in 2019, a Nigerian civil society group, Intersociety Rule of Law, says in a report released this week.

Northwestern Kaduna state recorded the highest number of Christian deaths, at 300, according to the investigation which took weeks to compile all of the killings in the majority Christian areas of the country.

The north-central Benue state witnessed 200 murders of Christians, followed by the central Plateau state with 90 Christian deaths, says Intersociety, an organization headed by Christian criminologist Emeka Umeagbalasi.

Source:The Christian Post
Despite Texas' reputation as a conservative bastion, a bill banning chemical and surgical sex changes for children younger than 18 failed to be scheduled for a vote in the House after stall tactics were deployed, according to activists and insiders.

A bill to prohibit medicalized gender-transitioning of children  the prescribing of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and performing cosmetic surgeries such as mastectomies and genital mutilation  passed the state Senate in late April. But when the bill moved to the House, it stalled in the Calendars Committee which didn't put the bill on the docket to be debated and voted on in the lower chamber.

Child advocacy groups who were in Austin lobbying lawmakers to pass the measure said Republicans on the committee used stall tactics to evade having to vote on the contentious measure that was opposed by LGBT activists and major corporations.

The text of the legislation, HB 1399, bans the experimental practices on children suffering from gender dysphoria for the purpose of transitioning a child's biological sex as determined by the sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous profiles of the child or affirming the child's perception of the child's sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child's biological sex.

Source:The Christian Post
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed  the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.

The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday.

Local media reports said the main coastal road west of the city, security compounds and open spaces were hit in the latest raids. The power distribution company said airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large parts of southern Gaza City.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel's attacks were continuing at full-force and would take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war."

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.

Haya Abdelal, 21, who lives in a building next to one that was destroyed, said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to leave before launching such an attack.

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure."

As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the civilian houses' foundations above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties, it said.

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospital's coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

Israel's airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest buildings, which Israel alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press Gaza office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the AP's executive editor, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office on Saturday.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building and said Sunday any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels. Neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any had been seen.

Its a perfectly legitimate target, Netanyahu told CBSs Face the Nation."

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said: We pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out. We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court on Sunday to investigate Israels bombing of the AP building and others housing media organizations as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based group said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

The AP had operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militant rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians clashed with police in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focus of the clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a hilltop compound revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas began firing rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed in some of the 3,100 rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed in the fighting. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

The assault has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes, U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where eight foreign ministers spoke about the conflict.

Efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the U.N. body to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities, have been blocked by the United States, which, according to diplomats, is concerned it could interfere with diplomatic efforts to stop the violence.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki urged the Security Council to take action to end Israeli attacks. Israels U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, urged the council to condemn Hamas' indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks.

The turmoil has also fueled protests in the occupied West Bank and stoked violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families have been threatened with eviction , injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

___

Nessman reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Joseph Krauss and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Edie Lederer at the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)  The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says.

Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. Further details were not released. He had been studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia.
BRADDOCK HEIGHTS, Md. (AP)  Flies swarmed around the trunk of Leah DuRants car, and she wondered what could have possibly stirred them up.

Turns out, it was an ominous warning sign for what lied ahead.

Three or four days earlier, DuRant had gone to Costco and, by her son Johns estimate, purchased $200 worth of meat products. But the shopping bags never made it inside her Braddock Heights home.

So, when the trunk popped open nearly 100 hours later, the flies and the maggots were already laying waste to what DuRant had bought as if it were a dead animal along the side of the road. She seemed shocked.

Just the disconnect, John DuRant Jr. remarked. There was no recollection anything was bought. It didnt add up.

For most of the last decade, DuRant Jr. and his father, Leahs primary caretakers today, have watched her mental condition gradually erode.

There was the toast that was left way too long in the microwave and left the stench of burning throughout the house. There were the compulsive purchases on QVC of beauty products that werent in short supply around the house. There was the time she got completely lost while driving to see her doctor in Hagerstown.

Leah DuRant, 75, is one of the 6.2 million Americans who have dementia, a cognitive disorder that impairs ones ability to remember, think, reason and interact socially, and typically develops as people get older. In many cases, it renders familiar faces and normal, everyday life unrecognizable to the afflicted person.

DuRants case is an advanced one and being managed as best as possible by her husband and son  both of whom live with her  and a small team of caregivers.

Still, as John DuRant Jr. put it, they can feel like strangers to her.

Its been a cycle, a gradually progressing disease, he said. I look back at the times, it doesnt feel like that long ago where we were able to have reasonable conversations with her. Now, most of the time, she doesnt recognize me.

RENEWED URGENCY

Developing a cure and better treatments for dementia has taken on renewed urgency since the number of Americans with the disease is on pace to double in the next 30 years, according to the Alzheimers Association.

Worldwide, it more than doubled over the past 30 years, as cases have exploded from an estimated 20.2 million in 1990 to more than 50 million in 2020, according to the World Health Organization, with nearly half of the cases involving people 85 and older.

In 2020, the WHO announced that dementia was one of the top 10 causes for death, with nearly two million deaths attributed to it worldwide in 2019 alone.

Dementia is an umbrella term for a group of diseases associated with cognitive decline. Alzheimers disease is both the most common form and the leading cause of dementia, with more than 70 percent of dementia cases being attributed to Alzheimers.

The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the situation for those who have dementia, isolating them in many cases and denying them social interactions that can be vital for their care. The Alzheimers Association projects that Alzheimers-related deaths have increased by 16 percent during the pandemic.

One in three seniors will die with Alzheimers or another form of dementia, according to the Alzheimers Association.

Point of Rocks resident Rosario Campos, 63, has not been able to visit her 95-year-old father, Manuel, who has the disease, during the pandemic.

Manuel Campos is living by himself and being treated in his native Peru since it was too cost prohibitive for the family to have him treated in his home state of Arizona or near Rosario in Maryland.

So it is difficult for Rosario to assess how he is being cared for since she cant travel to see him due to COVID-19 restrictions. Her interactions with him are presently limited to phone calls, during which he often doesnt recognize that it is his daughter on the other end of the line.

It is terrible, Rosario Campos said. It is very, very hard. I spend every night thinking about him.

There is an ongoing effort to corral some of the costs associated with caring for someone with Alzheimers and dementia.

The Alzheimers Association projects that related care will cost the U.S. $355 billion in 2021. If current trends continue, the figure could grow to $1.1 trillion by 2050, the organization says.

U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md), whose father Christopher died of Alzheimers in 2013, is championing funding that will increase federal resources for treating Alzheimers and work toward finding a cure.

We have a lot of work to do together. But the first step is making sure that people are aware of what is happening, including (treatment) services that are available, Van Hollen recently said at a community forum the Alzheimers Association conducted virtually for residents of Frederick and Washington counties.

Last July, at the Alzheimers Association International Conference, a medical research team presented five discoveries related to Alzheimers treatment. They included multiple drugs that were in various phases of clinical trials in the Food and Drug Administrations approval process, as well as a blood test  hailed as a potential game-changer  that may be able to detect changes in the brain 20 years before Alzheimers symptoms occur.

This is an exciting time in Alzheimers and dementia research, said Megeen White, the program manager for the Alzheimers Associations Greater Maryland Chapter. Yet, we know we cant stop or let up. We know we cant not push for additional funding. The numbers keep going up.

By 2025, there will be 130,000 Maryland residents living with Alzheimers, according to White.

There is always more progress to be made, she said.

AN UNLIKELY CANDIDATE

Even though there was a family history, Leah DuRant seemed like an unlikely candidate for dementia to prey on.

She lived a vibrant, active lifestyle and was dedicated to helping others.

DuRant was a trained nurse after attending Old Dominion University, and she later ran her own business, a fitness club for seniors.

The active lifestyle exacted a price, however, and DuRant underwent hip and back surgeries for wear-and-tear type issues.

The surgeries made her less active physically, and she wasnt seeing the same number of people she normally would. That allowed the dementia to start creeping in, her son believes.

You have a Band-Aid thats a certain size. But then the cut gets bigger and bigger and bigger. The progression is just unstoppable, John DuRant Jr. said of his mothers condition.

To help her cope, DuRant and his father will try and keep the mood in the house light, positive and happy. Theyll indulge in the stories she tells, even if they are repetitive or, in some cases, not true.

Though life can be very frustrating for her now, Leah DuRant still has good days and many positive moments, particularly when she is around other people through activities meant to stimulate her mind. The idea of helping other people still clearly drives her.

My mother is a very empathetic person, John DuRant Jr. said. That comes from her being a nurse.

PROVIDING JOY

One of John DuRant Jr.s favorite stories about treating someone with dementia doesnt involve his mother.

First, a little background: The DuRants are musically inclined. John DuRant Sr. paid for his college education at Old Dominion partly by performing folk music in the bars and clubs around southern Maryland, southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina  the Tidewater region.

He later had a seven-year, award-winning run as a childrens TV host in the 1990s on a local cable channel in Frederick. His show was called The Troubadour.

One day, he set his guitar on the couch and instructed his young son not to touch it. Now, they often share the stage together, regaling audiences at festivals, coffee houses, theaters and pubs with their folksy blend of music.

John DuRant Jr. is a solo artist as well, performing under the moniker, Johnny Strum. He has performed in far-away places  Ireland, France and Russia, among them  and hopes to resume touring once the pandemic ends.

On this particular occasion, he was playing a concert for the memory-care unit at a Frederick nursing home. The song he was playing was Down in the Valley. Everyone was singing along.

Down in the valley, Valley so low. Hang your head over, Hear the wind blow.

Hear the wind blow, love, Hear the wind blow. Hang your head over, Hear the wind blow.

About halfway through the song, DuRant Jr. noticed that everyone in the room had tears streaming down their faces, and he couldnt figure out why.

He looked to the corner of the room, where Mrs. Johnson was singing right along with him, word for word.

For many in the room, it was the first time they had seen her express herself verbally. They were amazed.

That experience changed me, man, DuRant Jr. said. Thats part of why we do what we do.

Similarly, the music the DuRants play can provide therapeutic moments for the woman they love. Leah often attempts to sing along whenever they play around the house.

Music is a different part of the brain. She definitely perks up, DuRant Jr. said.

There, in that moment of song, a sense of normalcy is regained and everything feels like it should, even if its fleeting.

Our hearts beat in unison, DuRant Jr. said. Playing for her is something that brings us closer together. Playing for her is something that brings joy.
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

NEW HAVEN  Officials are investigating after a Bridgeport woman wounded by gunshot died this weekend, according to New Haven Police.

A private car brought the 20-year-old with a gunshot wound to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police spokesperson Scott Shumway said.
South Windsor, Conn. (AP)  Police on Saturday urged members of the public to come forward with any information that might help them narrow their search for Jessica Edwards, a South Windsor mother who was last seen by her husband Monday morning.

We're at a point in time where we need help from the community to move forward with this investigation, South Windsor Police Sgt. Mark Cleverdon said during a news conference. Asked if foul play may be involved in the woman's disappearance, he said police certainly haven't ruled anything out.

We don't want to discuss any specifics but our investigators are looking into every angle, he said. Cleverdon also spoke directly to Edwards, asking her to come forward and let police know she is OK.

Cleverdon said neighborhood canvasses and searches near Edwards' home using police dogs and aerial support have so far turned up no signs of the 30-year-old, married mother of a 7-month-old boy. Cleverdon said police hope to learn from the public about other places where Edwards may have visited.

As far as physical addresses other than her area, we don't have much to go on. So we're looking to see if anyone can put her anywhere else that can help us kind of expand our physical search," he said, noting that a regional digital investigations unit has also been working to establish a digital footprint" for Edwards.

The missing mother had visited her sister and mother last Sunday in nearby East Hartford, police said. The Hartford Courant reported that Edwards's husband told police his wife left their condominium early Monday. Police have said she did not take her own vehicle and her phone is turned off and has not yet been located.

The Manchester Community College student missed a clinical class at Hartford Hospital that morning. The Hartford Courant reported that her sister, Yanique Edwards, said an email was sent to her sister's professor at about 2:20 a.m. on Monday saying she would not be attending the clinical session. But Yanique Edwards said it was strange for her sister not to notify the hospital as well.
BRIDGEPORT - The University of Bridgeport's Class of 2021 was invited to celebrate its accomplishments in a trying pandemic year at graduation on Saturday.

About 1,200 graduates and each of their two ticketed guests were split into two ceremonies, one for undergraduate in the morning and the other for graduate students in the afternoon. Friends and family who weren't able to attend the festivities were able to tune into the event via livestream.

UB president Stephen Healey welcomed students and the rest of the crowd, and Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim gave remarks. Richard Robinson, Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, delivered the commencement address for undergraduates, while Anne Diamond, President of Bridgeport Hospital, spoke to the graduate students.

The occasion marked UB's return to in-person graduation ceremonies, after the school's class of 2020 had to celebrate virtually last year due to the pandemic.

It was also the first event held at the new Hartford HealthCare Ampitheater, which was initially slated to open in 2019.

Bridgeport's public schools are will also hold graduations at the site in mid-June.
Funeral service for Helen Francis Turner, 76, of Cullman will be Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 11 a.m. at Peck Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. James Watts and Rev. Keith Whitley officiating and Peck Funeral Home directing with burial in Bell Springs Cemetery. Visitation will be Friday, June 11, 2
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with some showers after midnight. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
These focus on enhancing reasoning and the ability to understand reality  competency, under Virginia law, is not a finding of mental illness, but simply a finding that a defendant cannot participate in his or her own defense. That means Eastern State has to treat the mental illness to make sure it is not blinding a defendant to the challenges to be faced at trial.
You are the owner of this article.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, left, and Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan speak during a COVID-19 briefing in Kingston, N.Y., on March 20, 2020, just as the local outbreak of the illness was starting.
Ashland, KY (41101)

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Sunbury, PA (17801)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 62F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Last year, The Mail on Sunday ran a major campaign to save this country's family farms from the very real threat of trade deals which would have brought imports of cheaply produced, substandard food into this country.

More than a million people signed a petition to say this would never be acceptable. And, as a result, the Government promised to create a commission charged with scrutinising new trade deals and their impact on the farming industry.

But one year later, I am increasingly concerned. Once again, there is a cloud looming over our farmers, our landscapes and our ability to produce our own food on these islands.

The United Kingdom is currently in trade negotiations with a number of major agricultural producers, including Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America. Some of these talks have reached a crucial stage.

There is a cloud looming over our farmers, our landscapes and our ability to produce our own food on these islands, says Minette Batters (left) - with International Trade Secretary Liz Truss during their visit to a Yorkshire farm last month

And it's clear that negotiators from Australia and New Zealand are sticking firm to their hardline demands for the complete removal of tariffs on all their exports to the UK.

This would make life unbearable for small British family farms, which, remember, must respect British laws governing high farm standards.

It will be all but impossible to compete with vast volumes of imports from the southern hemisphere produced in a very different manner.

Not unless we lower our standards to compete with them  and turn our backs on the iconic British countryside.

Surely no one can want our green and pleasant land to become like the Australian Outback or the American dust bowl.

I have huge admiration for farmers across the world, not least our cousins in Australia and New Zealand.

But their farms are very different to ours and on a very different scale. And were we to throw our doors wide open to their exports, the stark differences in the way we operate would spell major trouble.

Last month, I was delighted to join our Secretary of State for International Trade, Liz Truss, at Mowbray Park Farm, which raises livestock near Ripon in Yorkshire.

I have huge admiration for farmers across the world, not least our cousins in Australia and New Zealand. But their farms are very different to ours and on a very different scale. And were we to throw our doors wide open to their exports, the stark differences in the way we operate would spell major trouble, says Ms Batters. (Above, a cattle auction near Brisbane)

I'm sure that she felt proud to be there, and that she paused for a moment, as I did, to take in the stunning views of rolling hills and green pastures.

Uniquely suited to grass-fed, high-quality beef and lamb, this landscape is what makes British farming special and quite different to livestock rearing elsewhere in the world. It is precious.

Let me be clear  I am not against free trade, so long as that trade is fair. Today, we in the UK enjoy some of the most affordable food in the world, yet many producers barely earn a livelihood.

The Government says it wants to 'level up' Britain. But this can never be achieved by throwing our family farms under the bus.

The plain truth is this: removing tariffs for vast, unmanageable volumes of Australian beef or New Zealand lamb  or, God forbid, allowing zero tariffs on all their produce  could spell the end.

The only way that UK farmers could compete is by lowering our own standards. Which in turn means waving goodbye to the green undulations of North Yorkshire, speckled with grazing cattle and sheep, and saying hello to massive feed lots and soulless ranches processing tens of thousands of cattle at a time.

It means goodbye to years of hard work reducing the amount of antibiotics we use (the UK is a world leader in tackling antimicrobial resistance).

And it means trying to compete with countries that send live cattle thousands of miles over land and overseas at precisely the moment our Government is preparing to ban such transports over the 20-mile stretch of the Channel.

It would make a mockery of our ambition to make British farming the gold standard for climate-friendly and high-welfare food production.

I'm sure I'm not alone in believing it's complete hypocrisy to speak about raising standards, about being global leaders in animal welfare, while eagerly signing trade deals which catastrophically undermine those very goals.

I don't want to see British farming vanishing. And, if the response to The Mail on Sunday's campaign is anything to go by, neither do you.

That's why it's so important we support our Government's stated objectives: trade deals 'should secure a broad reduction of tariffs while taking into account UK product sensitivities, in particular for agriculture'.

Liz Truss has already shown how this can be done, making a fantastic job of securing trade deals with countries like Japan, who have sensibly balanced more access for UK farm produce with limits that safeguard their own farmers. It's a model we should pursue ourselves.

By all means, agree to manageable imports of Australian beef and New Zealand lamb  if we get something in return.

But there should be no question of eliminating tariffs altogether in sensitive sectors like these at any point, not now, and not in the years to come. Our Government owes it to the British people to get these deals right.

I hope that Liz Truss's visit to Mowbray Park stiffened her resolve as the talks reach a critical stage  and as British negotiators fight our corner.

The tragic alternative is the slow, withering death of family farms throughout the four nations of these isles.
Another sex scandal-triggered by-election could be on the horizon, hot on the heels of Labours Hartlepool drubbing. Only this time its a sexting Tory whose political future hangs in the balance.

For I can reveal the parliamentary watchdog has concluded her probe into North Wales MP Rob Randy Roberts and is poised to suspend him from the Commons.

To recap  in April last year, Roberts, 41, sent slobbering late-night texts to a 21-year-old intern. She felt incredibly sick knowing he wanted to fool around with no strings if she visited London.

I can reveal the parliamentary watchdog has concluded her probe into North Wales MP Rob Randy Roberts and is poised to suspend him from the Commons. He is pictured above with Boris Johnson

The unwanted text exchange was also confusing because the intern knew the lubricious boss was married but also grappling with his sexuality  he left his wife and publicly came out a month later. I might be gay but enjoy fun times, he told the intern, even when she said she was struggling with her mental health.

On a separate occasion, Roberts made a male Commons staffer feel uncomfortable and reportedly change jobs after he asked him out. Both advances were made public last summer and prompted an investigation by the parliamentary standards commissioner.

Randy, however, is appealing against the decision to suspend him. Last night, the MP did not deny the looming suspension or appeal

Randy, however, is appealing against the decision to suspend him. Last night, the MP did not deny the looming suspension or appeal.

Tory sources say whatever his grounds for appeal, they are unlikely to land  not least because he has already apologised for his behaviour.

If, as expected, Roberts appeal is rejected, the suspension will be voted on by fellow MPs. And if confirmed, the big question would then be for how long.

Anything longer than ten sitting days could lead to a Recall Petition, a procedure which could trigger a by-election  and then possibly hasta la vista, baby  if enough of his Delyn constituents sign up.

These latest revelations raise renewed questions over the Tory refusal to kick Roberts out of the party earlier. Despite an internal ruling that his conduct was unacceptable, the Tories chose to strongly rebuke rather than remove the whip.

Roberts declined to comment on the observation of one unimpressed Tory MP who described him as someone who cant take no for an answer and sees it as a come on .

Labour sources, meanwhile, say they are on by-election standby for what would be a nail-biting contest as Roberts won the seat from Labour in 2019 with a majority of just 865. Fun times ahead.

Salty tales reach me from inside the fractious relics of the Peoples Vote campaign. Sources say Roland Rudd, the former chair of the campaign whose boardroom coup led to its collapse, has developed some interesting trade links with the EU.

His swimming pool in the country is said to be sloshing with salty water flown in from the Amalfi Coast.

Last night, Rudd fiercely denied the Italian connection, insisting friends and family at his country pile swim only in locally sourced salt water. A regular man of the people.

Could Labours Dawn Butler be in training to DJ at the party conference? Last year, she claimed expenses for a professional microphone and recording device costing 219.

The kit is usually marketed at pros mixing the platter and the chatter while recording DJ sets. Asked for an explanation, the MP turned her mic off.

Tip: However apt, Things Can Only Get Better should not be on DJ Dawns playlist.
Last week I was talking to a Shadow Minister about his party's problems which he summed up with a colourful  and shrewd  analogy.

'A guy's car won't start,' he told me, 'so he calls a mechanic. The mechanic arrives and says, 'Ah, I see the problem. You're out of petrol.' The guy says, 'Oh, I thought it was the starter motor.' The mechanic says, 'No, you just need some petrol.' The guy says, 'OK. But could you still check the starter motor.' So the mechanic checks. 'Starter motor's fine. Shall I put the petrol in?' The guy says, 'No, I think I'll change the starter motor first, and see how I get on.' That guy is the Labour Party.'

In the wake of Labour's disastrous defeat in Hartlepool and at the local elections, Keir Starmer has announced a national policy review. He's also going to embark on a national tour to listen to and learn from the British people.

Why? What's the point?

There's no great mystery about why Labour has just received yet another drubbing at the hands of the voters.

The majority of people in Hartlepool want strong action to control illegal immigration. The Labour Party doesn't.

Concerns of the working men and women of Redcar and Cleveland come second to the concerns of the terrorists of the Gaza Strip. And reaching out to Britain's working-class communities is less of a political imperative than being seen to take a knee

In the wake of Labour's disastrous defeat in Hartlepool and at the local elections, Keir Starmer has announced a national policy review. He's also going to embark on a national tour to listen to and learn from the British people. Why? What's the point?

The majority of people in Hartlepool want to see a strong stance on law and order. The Labour Party doesn't.

The majority of people in Hartlepool want to see strong positions adopted on welfare, defence and patriotism. The Labour Party doesn't.

Keir Starmer knows this. So do all of his MPs and activists. The issue isn't  as some people claim  that Labour doesn't understand the voters of their former heartlands. They understand them perfectly well. They just don't like what they think.

On Wednesday, Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner was touring the broadcast studios, basking in the glow of her successful briefing war against her leader over his botched reshuffle. Her party had to answer questions from 'the doorstep' about 'what Labour stands for', she said.

Twenty-four hours later, police turned up in a Glasgow street to help the UK Border Agency deport two men it had determined were illegal migrants. A crowd formed. After several hours, the men were released. Angela Rayner tweeted: 'Solidarity with the people of Glasgow today.'

Why did Keir Starmer take a hammering at the polls? Because Red Wall voters think his party cares more about the Palestinians than it does about them. (Above, a pro-Palestine protest in central London on Saturday)

The idea that a Labour MP would see solving the problems of Palestinians as their priority will not surprise a single Red Wall voter. (Above, pro-Palestine demonstrators march to the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday)

The eyes of the world have been trained on the appalling scenes in Israel. The international community was united in calling for restraint from both sides, though leaders such as Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron made it clear that Israel had a right to defend herself

Labour's leader took a different tack. 'The violence against worshippers during Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque was shocking,' Keir Starmer said. 'Israel must respect international law, and must take steps, immediately, to work with Palestinian leaders to de-escalate tensions.' Again, everyone knows where Labour stands on this. On the side of the Palestinians, and against Israel. (Above, rockets fired from Gaza targeting Israeli cities)

People know perfectly well what Labour stands for. In a confrontation between the police and those judged to be illegal migrants, Labour stands with the illegal migrants.

While all of this was going on, the eyes of the world were trained on the appalling scenes in Israel. The international community was united in calling for restraint from both sides, though leaders such as Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron made it clear that Israel had a right to defend herself.

Labour's leader took a different tack. 'The violence against worshippers during Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque was shocking,' Keir Starmer said. 'Israel must respect international law, and must take steps, immediately, to work with Palestinian leaders to de-escalate tensions.'

Again, everyone knows where Labour stands on this. On the side of the Palestinians, and against Israel. What's more, it's not just another international issue for Labour, so much as a political obsession.

Coventry MP Zarah Sultana  currently being promoted by the Left as a future leader  tweeted: 'When I speak about Palestine, I get hostile replies from people outside Coventry, questioning if my constituents care. For their information: Since getting elected, the thing I've been emailed about most by my constituents: Palestine.'

Sultana seems to think this statement will come as some sort of revelation to people. Quite the opposite. The idea that a Labour MP would see solving the problems of Palestinians as their priority will not surprise a single Red Wall voter.

Yes, in some sort of abstract way, Starmer and his MPs want to 'reconnect' with voters in seats like Hartlepool. In the same way I once wanted to open the batting for England at Lord's. It was a dream. But I was never prepared to actually do what it takes to have any chance of making it a reality.

It's the same with Labour's leader. In the wake of his humiliation at the polls, Starmer announced that he would put 'jobs' at the heart of his new political strategy.

He won't. Yes, he'll visit some factories, wear an ill-fitting helmet, and trot out some stuff about the challenges and opportunities of new technologies.

But you won't see him turn up as part of his 'listening' tour in Folkestone, for example. He won't tell the voters there that he's going to make sure people can't use the asylum system as a fast-track to jobs and benefits.

The next time environmental protesters bring London's buses and Tubes to a halt, Keir Starmer and his party won't be on TV telling them to get out of the way of people off to work. Instead they'll pop up to tell us how we all need to listen to Greta Thunberg.

And the voters of Hartlepool  and Labour's other lost heartlands  are well aware of this. They know the drill. Starmer and his Shadow Ministers will arrive to have a 'conversation'. They will be told 'we want you to do something about the illegal migrants'. And they will receive the response: 'Er yes. Not sure we can do that. How about a sustain- able investment board instead?'

Labour doesn't really try to reach out to the voters. It attempts to choreograph them. So Keir Starmer will indeed go  missionary-like  into Labour's former heartlands. And, magically, when he returns he will have heard only what he and his party want to hear.

Concerns about immigration and welfare and crime will be wrapped up together as 'culture war' issues, and dispensed with. Those suggesting that Labour needs to place those concerns at the heart of their political offer will be dismissed as 'patronising' or peddling 'working-class stereotypes'.

At which point Labour will again retreat to the safety of its middle-class comfort zone. Where demands for safe streets are drowned out by cries of 'Kill the Bill!'

Concerns of the working men and women of Redcar and Cleveland come second to the concerns of the terrorists of the Gaza Strip. And reaching out to Britain's working-class communities is less of a political imperative than being seen to take a knee.

On Wednesday, Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner was touring the broadcast studios, basking in the glow of her successful briefing war against her leader over his botched reshuffle. Her party had to answer questions from 'the doorstep' about 'what Labour stands for', she said

Starmer knows what he needs to do. His party knows what they need to do. They're just not prepared to do it. Actually engaging with the British working class is simply too distasteful to them.

So instead of trying to win back seats like Bolsover or Stockton South, they will construct a strategy for winning the seat of Bristolpool Hamlets.

An entirely mythical constituency, where Britain's ethnic minorities and middle classes and workers unquestioningly embrace Labour's unique brand of critical-race-theory-inspired eco-internationalism.

Starmer can hold as many policy reviews as he likes. He can conduct Shadow Cabinet reshuffles, big and small.

He can make Angela Rayner First Secretary of State, Second Secretary of State, or anoint her Mother of Dragons, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Unburnt and the Breaker of Chains.

None of it will matter. If he is not prepared to show his party is going to be strong on immigration, crime, welfare, defence, patriotism or any of those other issues they have ceded without so much as a whimper to Boris and the Conservative Party, they needn't even bother standing a candidate in Hartlepool at the next Election.

Why did Keir Starmer take a hammering at the polls? Because Red Wall voters think his party cares more about the Palestinians than it does about them.

And why do they think that? Because it does.
Fuel shortages continue in U.S. southeast after major pipeline resumes operation

Xinhua) 11:10, May 16, 2021

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- There are still widespread fuel shortages as of Saturday in the southeastern parts of the United States, where the major fuel supplier Colonial Pipeline Co. announced a return of its entire system to normal operations on Thursday after a ransomware attack forced the company to shut its network for almost a week.

In Washington D.C., the nation's capital, 80 percent of gas stations are without fuel, according to the latest data from GasBuddy, an app that tracks fuel prices and demand. In North Carolina 63 percent of stations are in shortage, in Georgia and South Carolina more than 40 percent, and in Virginia 38 percent.

The company said on Saturday that its pipeline is now delivering millions of gallons of fuel each hour to serve all markets, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The cyber attack had forced the company to shut down approximately 5,500 miles of pipeline one week ago and triggered widespread fuel shortages in the southeast and panic buying in some states.

Colonial carries nearly half of the fuel supply on the East Coast, including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and jet fuel. The company initially restarted operations around 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday but warned that the pipeline would not be fully functional immediately.

The company said it would invest in the necessary resources to maintain safe and reliable pipeline operations.

"Since this incident began, we have been clear that our focus was on the safe and efficient restoration of service to our pipeline system," the company said in a tweet. "That is what we have achieved through the commitment and dedication of the many Colonial team members."

"Our team members across the pipeline worked safely and tirelessly around the clock to get our lines up and running, and we are grateful for their dedicated service and professionalism during these extraordinary times," it added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
High caseloads are expected in bigger cities, but sometimes localities with fewer people see greater rates of new cases per capita. For the past three weeks, Portsmouth has led the area with the highest rate, with about nine per 100,000 people. Hampton, Newport News and Norfolk had similar rates of eight per 100,000 people.
At a moment when the Indian variant of Covid-19 appears to be throwing our plans into doubt once again, it might be worth thinking about the good news as well as the bad.

Take, for example, the fact that there is no evidence of this or any other mutation of the virus escaping the vaccines.

Or the fact that the 15 million most vulnerable adults in the country have already been jabbed and are at very little risk of hospitalisation. The real world evidence shows that clearly.

Or that, thanks partly to the vaccinations, the number of deaths continues to fall.

We have every reason, in fact, to believe that, even though the coronavirus continues to mutate, the end is clearly in view, for Britain and the rest of Europe, at least.

Yet much of our own population continues to live in fear, even those who have been vaccinated. Why is this?

A member of the public receives a Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination centre at the Essa academy in Bolton

A temporary vaccination centre is set up at the Essa academy in Bolton to speed up the vaccine roll-out in the area

One disturbing answer is this: our own government has systematically weaponised fear against us, supposedly in our best interests, until we became one of the most frightened countries in the world.

Aided by a group of compliant scientists, those in charge of us have used a range of different weapons, from distorted statistics to a misleading adverts on national television, in order to manipulate the population into doing as they think best.

The messaging has been relentless, all of it gloomy, some of it terrifying, from adverts warning us not to kill granny to tours of a hospital mortuary on national television news.

Those who dare to dissent on social media, including highly respected academics, have been hounded, told they have blood on their hands.

And the results have been highly effective. No one expected the lock down to be so well observed.

Or the wider consequences  for children, for businesses, for cancer patients  to be so catastrophic.

The driving force behind this campaign of fear has been a group of behavioural scientists and, in particular, the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours, known as SPI-B.

This advises SAGE, the Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies, which in turn briefs ministers.

In one of the most extraordinary documents ever revealed to the British public, SPI-B actually recommended that we needed to be frightened.

In a report from the beginning of the outbreak, dated 22 March 2020, the committee said: a substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened; it could be that they are reassured by the low death rate in their demographic group, although levels of concern may be rising.

There was a rush to get vaccinated in Bolton yesterday with a long queue forming outside a temporary clinic at the Essa Centre

Extraordinarily, it then said that: the perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging.

In other words, the government was advised to frighten the British public to encourage adherence to the emergency lockdown regulations. And frighten us they did.

There was no shortage of people willing to help, in particular the specialists in mathematical modelling, a once obscure pursuit that now features on prime time television

Time after time, the models have been proved wrong.

Yet their doom-laded predictions have been vastly influential, notoriously the claim by Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College that we were heading for 500,000 deaths unless we locked down.

But we must add into this the broadcasters, who seemed determined not only to promote the government line, but to ignore dissenting voices.

Lockdown enthusiasts such as Ferguson, epidemiologist Professor John Edmunds and behavioural scientists Professor Susan Michie have been ubiquitous.

Those taking a more optimistic view have had little airtime, or none.

But why would that be surprising when the news has been shaped to a quite unprecedented degree by a government determined to control the message  and those who consume it.

A whole panoply of government agencies has been involved in this campaign of messaging.

Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, has been one of the leading voices backing lockdowns in the UK

More than 36million people have been vaccinated in the UK as part of a massive drive by the Government. Pictured: A dose of the Pfizer vaccine

They include the so-called Nudge Unit at the Cabinet Office, which is responsible for bringing about incremental change in public behaviour.

Theres the Rapid Response Unit which, operating from within the Cabinet Office and No10, is charged wth tackling a range of harmful narratives online - from purported experts issuing dangerous misinformation to criminal fraudsters running phishing scams.

The unit works parallel to the counter Disinformation Cell, which is supposed to deal with threats to democracy.

Theres GCHQ and the Home Offices Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU).

Then there is the mysterious 77th Brigade, which is part of the army and is responsible for countering disinformation.

Many believe that the 77th Brigade has been actively countering lockdown sceptics on social media.

For my book, I spoke to an independent scientific advisor deeply embedded at Whitehall who told me that he and his colleagues are stunned by the weaponisation of behavioural psychology over the last five years and that psychology and behavioural science are feted above everything else.

The psychologists didnt seem to notice when it stopped being altruistic and became manipulative. They have too much power and it intoxicates them.

I never used to be cynical, my anonymous source told me, you couldnt find a more positive person. Now if I see a cute seven-year-old in the news, I wonder which government department is behind it.

In the advisors opinion, Everything about the government messaging this year has been designed to keep the fear going.

Will these tactics of state-sanctioned manipulation be used combat future challenges  climate change, for example?

Government orders to wash our hands, to keep our distance from each other, to remember hands, face, space is one thing.

A legally directed biosecurity state which mandates staying at home is quite another.

We have never before quarantined the healthy and impeded so many human rights in one fell swoop.

Our rights to liberty, protest, worship, education and maintaining relationships were all impacted. And these are not trifling privileges, but basic liberties: our human rights as established in law.

There are many, many issues to be addressed when the official enquiry into our handling of Covid-19 is eventually allowed to start.

But the deliberate decision to terrify the population must surely be among them.
A first-time mum who was diagnosed with breast cancer eight days before giving birth has warned 'no one is immune' and to be thorough with health checks.

Brega van Vugt, 33, noticed a lump on her left breast while in the shower but initially thought her milk ducts were blocked and never expected the symptom to be cancerous.

The pregnant mum was diagnosed at 39 weeks after tests discovered an aggressive 4cm malignant tumour that was caught at an early stage.

Brega, from Melboourne, told Daily Mail Australia she has always maintained a healthy lifestyle and exercised regularly throughout her pregnancy.

'I was more conscious of my breasts because I was preparing to breastfeed after giving birth,' she said.

The lump was the only symptom that lead to the detection of the hormone receptive-positive breast tumour - a type of cancer that relies on estrogen.

Brega van Vugt, 33, (left) was diagnosed with breast cancer eight days before giving birth to her first child

The Melbourne mum was diagnosed at 39 weeks after tests discovered an aggressive 4cm tumour that was in an early malignant stage (pictured before treatment began)

Brega has no family history of breast cancer, but was given a 'front row seat' when she witnessed her dad dying from blood cancer.

Prior to her diagnosis, she visited her midwife who also thought the lump was caused by blocked milk ducts and recommended massaging the area, but this only caused pain.

When the lump didn't go away, Brega decided to visit her GP who referred her to a specialist for an ultrasound and biopsy.

'At most I thought I would only need a procedure to remove a possible cyst, but the oncologist told me directly the abnormal lump was cancer,' she said.

'Maybe I was being naive or too positive, but the result really winded me - it was all a blur at the time, almost like an out-of-body experience.'

The following week on March 11 the couple welcomed their little girl, Etta Hope, into the world.

The lump was the only symptom she experienced that lead to the detection of the hormone receptive-positive breast tumour - a type of cancer that relies on estrogen (pictured three weeks after giving birth)

What is hormone receptor-positive breast cancer? Hormone receptor-positive (or hormone-positive) breast cancer cells have either estrogen (ER) or progesterone (PR) receptors or both. These breast cancers can be treated with hormone therapy drugs that lower estrogen levels or block estrogen receptors. Hormone receptor-positive cancers tend to grow more slowly than those that are hormone receptor-negative. Women with hormone receptor-positive cancers tend to have a better outlook in the short-term, but these cancers can sometimes come back many years after treatment. The most common symptom of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. A painless, hard mass that has irregular edges is more likely to be cancer, but breast cancers can be tender, soft, or round. They can even be painful. Other possible symptoms of breast cancer include: Swelling of all or part of a breast (even if no lump is felt)

Skin dimpling (sometimes looking like an orange peel)

Breast or nipple pain

Nipple retraction (turning inward)

Nipple or breast skin that is red, dry, flaking or thickened

Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)

Swollen lymph nodes (Sometimes a breast cancer can spread to lymph nodes under the arm or around the collar bone and cause a lump or swelling there, even before the original tumor in the breast is large enough to be felt.) Although any of these symptoms can be caused by things other than breast cancer, if you have them, they should be reported to a health care professional so the cause can be found. SOURCE: Cancer.org Advertisement

The following week on March 11 the couple welcomed their little girl, Etta Hope, into the world

Chemotherapy began on March 31 with the first treatment being 'not too intense' to allow Brega to establish a routine with her newborn baby.

'I was lucky because the side effects weren't too severe and I felt okay, but I am worried about losing my hair,' she said.

Brega said she was disappointed that she couldn't breastfeed due to the chemotherapy.

She is five weeks into treatment and will complete 12 rounds in total.

At this stage Brega is unsure whether she will need radiotherapy, which will be determined by the success of the chemotherapy.

'I'm just taking it one step at a time and trying not to worry too much,' she said.

Due to the the chemotherapy treatment, Brega is not able to breast feed, which she is disappointed about

The couple's friend Scott Tierney has launched a GoFundMe page to help support the young family financially

Brega said women must visit a doctor and get checked if they experienced any symptoms.

'I've never been badly ill in my life, I've never been to hospital, nor did I ever think this would happen to me,' she said.

'Get full health check-ups even if you don't have any previous history of bad health.'

The couple's friend Scott Tierney has launched a GoFundMe page to help support the young family financially with the cost of therapy, which has so far raised more than $22,000.

Mr Tierney is also taking part in a 240km bike ride on Sunday from Torquay, south west of Melbourne, to Skenes Creek and back to raise funds for the cause.
A mum who dropped out of her final year of law school to launch magnetic eyelash business now makes enough money to support her entire family.

Ann Thai, from Perth, launched Amaia Lashes in February 2020 three days after giving birth to her second child.

The 27-year-old was previously a criminal law paralegal who studied and worked long hours for low pay.

'At the time I wasn't happy with my career and knew I wanted a change in pace with my second baby on the way,' Ann told FEMAIL.

'I had dabbled into different business ideas but nothing stuck.'

Ann's lightbulb moment came when she accidentally glued her eyelid shut with lash glue while applying false eyelashes before a night out.

Scroll own for video

Perth mum Ann Thai (above with her family) launched Amaia Lashes in February 2020 three days after giving birth to her second child Flynn

Ann's lightbulb moment came when she accidentally glued her eyelid shut with lash glue while applying false eyelashes before a night out

Magnetic lashes are a suitable alternative to glue and the brand sells a range of products online - including strip lashes for $17

'I thought there has to be an alternative to using glue, so I did some research and found a magnetic substitute that wasn't available in Australia,' she said.

'I found this option generally had bad reviews or didn't do well - so I decided to work enhancing the idea while there was a gap in the market.'

Ann trialled over 100 different types of magnetic eyelashes from around the world and decided a unique magnetic liner was the optimal solution.

After a six-month process that began in mid-2019, she formulated her own magnetic liner with a cosmetic chemist to design a product that combines magnetic qualities with revolutionary film bonding technology.

After six months of researching Ann formulated her own magnetic liner with a cosmetic chemist to design a product that combines magnetic qualities with revolutionary film bonding technology

The rapid spike in sales started after Ann started to work on her marketing approach

Ann decided to launch the business three days after giving birth to her son Flynn as she knew there was 'no time to waste'.

'We were planning to launch a month before he was born, but unfortunately that was delayed,' she said.

'Looking back it was definitely a whirlwind and a bit of a blur.'

Ann started the business with the intention for it to be a 'side hustle', but Amaia Lashes turned over more than $1.85million in less than 18 months. It now generates enough revenue for Ann to support herself, her husband and their two young children who are both under the age of three.

The rapid spike in sales started after Ann began working on her advertising approach by paying for social media marketing on Facebook and Instagram.

She also started focusing on creating content and collaborating with social media 'influencers'.

A few months on she dropped out of university and doesn't plan on returning.

The Covid-19 pandemic also hit only weeks after the launch date but sales didn't slow down.

'It's allowed me to have a successful business while still staying home with my children and being there for all their important milestones. And in this economic climate it's something I am so grateful for,' she said.

Ann decided to launch the business three days after giving birth to her son Flynn as she knew there was 'no time to waste'

How to apply the magnetic lashes: Step 1: Shake the liner well, wipe the excess on the side of the container and apply to your eye Step 2: Allow this to dry for 60-90 seconds Step 3: Attach the lashes to the magnetic liner. It is recommended you look down towards the mirror to allow the lash to get as close to your eye liner as possible Source: Amaia Lashes Advertisement

How to apply the 'magic' liner: Step 1: Apply the liner to your eyelids, like you would a regular eyeliner. Step 2: Apply two to three coats then allow it to dry for 60 seconds Step 3: Line the lashes with your eyeliner. It is recommended you lookdown towards the mirror to allow the lash to get as close to your eye liner as possible Source: Amaia Lashes Advertisement





The Covid-19 pandemic hit only weeks after Ann launched the business but sales didn't slow down

Magnetic lashes are a suitable alternative to glue and the brand sells a range of products online - including strip lases for $17.

The liner costs $32 individually or customers can purchase the reusable lashes and liner together in a bundle for $86.

The secret ingredient that creates the magnetic element is the use of iron oxide, which is use in a wide variety of makeup products including eyeshadow.

The products are safe to use, water resistant, vegan friendly and easy to remove by using an oil-based cleanser.

A range of different lash styles are also available online - such as diva, cheeky, flirty and bossy.
A mum-of-two has revealed how she went from being homeless and borrowing money for baby formula to running a successful business and buying her own home in five years.

In 2016, Cat Tyler, had just two garbage bags worth of clothes and an old car to her name. She was broke, scared and faced bringing up her almost two-year-old daughter alone.

The clinical nurse, now 37, remembers cradling her sleeping toddler in her arms as she sat terrified on the corner of a single bed they shared in a homeless shelter in Sydney.

In 2016, Cat Tyler, now 37, had just two garbage bags worth of clothes and an old car to her name

Pictured in her home in Canberra, the clinical nurse has had a turbulent five years

Cat says she is now finally looking forward to the future, financial independence and teaching her daughters how to get ahead

Cat, originally from the UK, had pulled the chest of drawers across the door and listened as some of her new neighbours screamed through the night. She shivered through her threadbare sweater and knew she had hit rock bottom.

'I felt like I had my guts ripped out in front of me, you associate homelessness with drugs and mental illness,' she told FEMAIL.

'You don't think it can happen to someone like you, not so quickly and without warning. But it did and in that moment I lost everything I was, my identity was lost and knew I would never get it back.'

Despite having a job and a masters degree in clinical nursing from the University of Sydney, Cat ended up homeless after her relationship to her first daughter's father broke down.

Fast forward five years and she knows losing herself was a blessing because it gave her the shove she needed to become the best version of herself.

'I probably would have just coasted along and never realised how capable I am otherwise,' she said.

She is now married to 'an incredible and emotionally supportive man', has bought a house, owns two skin clinics and has had a second daughter.

Pictured left is the home Cat now lives in, right, is the one-bedroom flat she was going to rent for $550 per week after being homeless for six weeks

Cat got a call from an old colleague and relocated to Canberra to build a good life

But the pathway to her 'better life' was difficult and forced Cat to constantly look inside herself for more strength, perseverance and love just to survive.

The then 32-year-old mum lived in the shelter with her baby daughter for six weeks before she found a 'tiny, filthy flat' in Sydney she could rent for $550 per week. It was the cheapest on offer and all she could afford.

The day she signed the lease for the apartment she received a phone call from an old colleague in Canberra who asked if she would relocate to the nation's capital.

'I chucked my daughter in the car and we drove down immediately,' Cat said.

The phone call was the lifeline she needed to get on her own two feet - but her first year in Canberra was difficult and success came at a huge emotional and physical cost.

'I was paying $600 a week for childcare and working long days only to end up with less disposable income then people who are on benefits,' she said.

'I wasn't prepared for how cold it was going to be in Canberra, so to add to the psychological trauma of my situation there was extreme financial trauma.'

After buying her daughter winter clothes, paying the bills and furnishing their humble apartment there was barely anything left.

Cat now has a second daughter, pictured, a husband and two skin clinics

Her spare time was spent with her daughter, visiting the park and going on fun but free family adventures.

When Cat moved from Sydney she left all of her old friends behind.

In Canberra the mum was exposed to a whole new 'type of woman'. These women were empowered and helped her learn how to take control of her own finances.

'I was so beaten down by life I didn't think I was capable of anything,' she said.

But her new friends helped build her up.

And then Cat met her now husband who helped provide emotional support and helped her to believe in herself.

In a few short years the sacrifices which came with working 60-hour weeks as a cosmetic nurse and building up a strong client base was worth it.

The mum said she worked hard to build herself up after losing everything when she became homeless

After realising she was the person bringing in the money at her old clinic, Cat with the help of her husband, decided to learn as much as she could about the 'business side'.

'When the time was right to go out on my own I could, not only had I developed incredible clinical skills but I was now business-savvy too,' she said.

While she was developing her skills she got married, bought a house and welcomed her second daughter into the world.

'Buying a house was a big one, now I know my daughters will always have somewhere to go - they will never end up totally destitute like me,' Cat said.

'I never thought I would own a house.'

In February Cat opened her first clinic a SILK Laser Clinics franchise, with a second due to open in June.

She plans to open a third next year.

'When the time was right to go out on my own I could, not only had I developed incredible clinical skills but I was now business-savvy too,' she said

In February Cat opened her first clinic - a SILK Laser Clinics franchise - with a second due to open in June

Cat plans to teach both of her young daughters to be financially and emotionally independent so they don't have to work things out the hard way, like she did.

'I was taught how to be a hard worker, never how to get ahead,' she said.

'All the horrible things I went through were for the greater good.

'It taught me to value myself and to be ruthlessly single-minded in business.

'I also don't think I would have pushed so hard if I hadn't fallen so hard - and I would probably just be living some very average life,' she said.

Cat believes all women should have a good understanding of money, including rights and super.

The 37-year-old only recently told her mother the extent to her financial problems five years ago.

'She was pretty sad,' Cat said.

Cat hadn't wanted to bother her mum with her sad state of affairs because she's 'very religious' and wouldn't have been able to help her from the UK.

'It would have just distressed her,' Cat said.
A young personal trainer was given a shock throat cancer diagnosis less than a year after breaking his neck in a freak motorbike accident.

Jake O'Brien, from Sydney, was involved in the horror crash in March 2019 and diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in January 2020 after developing a hoarse voice - which was his only symptom.

The 28-year-old told Daily Mail Australia he has always maintained a healthy lifestyle, doesn't smoke, has no family history of cancer and was working as a personal trainer before the diagnosis.

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Jake O'Brien, from Sydney, (pictured) was involved in a collision in March 2019 and diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in January 2020 after developing a hoarse voice - which was his only symptom

The 28-year-old told Daily Mail Australia he has always maintained a healthy lifestyle, doesn't smoke and was working as a personal trainer prior to the prognosis

Jake's world unravelled on the afternoon of March 17, 2019 when he was riding home from work on a busy road in Sydney's northern suburbs.

'I was in the bus lane when a four-wheel drive ahead from the next lane over suddenly cut across my lane to take a side street,' he said.

Jake said the driver failed to indicate and didn't see him before switching lanes, not allowing enough time or distance for him to brake.

He was knocked unconscious at 60km per hour and 'doesn't remember anything' before waking up ten minutes later, 20 metres further down the road and surrounded by a crowd of strangers.

On March 17, 2019 Jake was involved in a horrid motorbike accident after riding home from work on a busy road in Sydney's northern suburbs

Jake claims the driver failed to indicate and didn't see him before switching lanes, not allowing enough time or distance for Jake to brake

'All the injuries where on the right side of my body - broken ribs, a pneumothorax (collapsed lung), crushed foot and four breaks to my spine including a hangman fracture (in the neck),' he said.

The hangman fracture refers to a break in a bone known as C2 - the second bone down from the skull in the neck vertebrae.

Jake said this 'serious' fracture required a permanent spinal fusion of the C1 and C2 bones.

The incident affected Jake's ability to walk for the first four months following as he wasn't allowed to put any weight on his right foot.

He also had to wear a Miami collar at all times for six months due to the fractures in his neck and spine.

'Now my neck can't rotate properly which is the main physical change,' he said.

'Now my neck can't rotate properly which is the main physical change,' he said, but feels extremely lucky to be alive as a hangman fracture often leads to death

At the end of 2019 after Jake had a cervical spinal fusion and reconstruction on his foot to be able to start walking again, then started developing hoarseness to his voice

At the end of 2019 after Jake had a cervical spinal fusion and reconstruction on his foot to be able to start walking again, then started developing hoarseness to his voice.

'It got worse instead of better even though there was no reason for it,' he said, adding how he doesn't smoke and hardly drank alcohol.

'I had been asked to MC at a friend's wedding and by the time the date rolled around my voice was obliterated. So after the most embarrassing night of my life I booked in to see an ENT specialist.'

The physician quickly detected a number of small lumps in Jake's throat near his vocal cords, but assured him it's 'nothing to worry about' as these inflamed lumps are common among personal trainers and those who speak loudly often.

An ENG specialist detected lumps in Jake's throat and he was quickly diagnosed with laryngeal cancer - a type of cancer that impacts the larynx or voice box

'One minute it's 'probably nothing to worry about' and then all of a sudden you're in the waiting room of the Cancer Patient section of the hospital,' he said

But results from a biopsy indicated the lumps were due to laryngeal cancer - a type of cancer that impacts the larynx or voice box in the throat with symptoms including a sore throat, lump in the neck and changes to the voice.

Jake said he was 'completely shocked' and 'out of place' considering his young age and healthy lifestyle.

'One minute it's "probably nothing to worry about" and then all of a sudden you're in the waiting room of the Cancer Patient section of the hospital,' he said.

Jake then had one session of laser therapy surgery in attempt to incinerate the tumours with hope the cancer won't grow back - but it did so he proceeded with radiation.

The radiotherapy took place every day for the first five weeks then became less frequent.

The impact from treatment affected the external skin on his throat with surrounding redness and made it difficult to swallow.

What is laryngeal cancer and what are the symptoms? Laryngeal cancer is a type of throat cancer that affects your larynx - the voice box. It contains cartilage and muscles that enable you to talk Symptoms: Hoarse voice

Breathing difficulties

Excessive coughing

Cough with blood

Neck pain

Sore throat

Ear pain

Trouble swallowing food

Neck swelling

Neck lumps

Sudden weight loss Causes: Heavy alcohol use

Poor nutrition

Human papillomavirus exposure

Immune system problems

Workplace exposure to toxins, such as asbestos

Certain genetic diseases Source: Healthline Advertisement

Jake then had one session of laser therapy surgery in attempt to incinerate the tumours and surrounding flesh with hope the cancer won't grow back, but it did so he proceeded with radiation

The impact from treatment affected the skin on his throat with surrounding redness. Jake shared a photo on his Instagram page highlighting the improvement and changes to his external skin (pictured)

This week Jake had his first check-up appointment in months and while he was nervous about the tumour returning, the oncologist said he is now cancer-free.

He said both the accident and diagnosis has not only impacted his physical health but mental wellbeing.

'It felt like the world was against me and for a while I was severely depressed,' he said.

'These days I try and use my experiences as fuel to push me forward in life. I feel like it's made me a stronger person for the better - more resilient, grateful and more focused on what's important,' he said.

Jake has shared his story on Instagram and TikTok to encourage others to 'take responsibility of your own life' and be diligent with health checks.
The sister of a British man who disappeared on a sightseeing trip to Paris in 2013 has made an emotional appeal for answers eight years on.

Sanjiv Kundi, a 41-year-old-man from Leamington Spa, who bought a return ticket to the French capital, was last sighted on CCTV at Gare du Nord station.

Since then, there has been no contact from Sanjiv with friends or family, and his bank card remains unused.

Speaking on The Missing Podcast, his sister Pip talks about the pain of losing her brother but says she believe 'someone knows the answer.'

'I want to hope that it triggers something in somebody and they come forward and and at least give my parents and the rest of my siblings some peace to move on with their lives,' she said. 'Their lives are sort of in limbo as well.'

'I would say, just pick the phone up or email. Whatever you know, you don't even have to give your name. It's just a case of any lead. Any information may lead us to knowing a little bit more about what happened, if he needs help, or if he's okay.'

The sister of British man Sanjiv Kundi (pictured), a 41-year-old-man from Leamington Spa, who disappeared on a sightseeing trip to Paris in 2015 has made an emotional appeal for answers

No use of his bank cards, no trace on the mobile phone, and no sightings all combines to one huge hole in the mystery of what happened to Sanjiv. Pictured, with sibling Satvir

In the mid-2000's, Sanjiv found himself out of work and, finding it hard to pay the bills, he moved back home with his parents.

Pip says it the move had an impact on Sanjiv's health and remembers he was finding it tough.

'I suppose it's the same with anybody when you lose your job and can't buy the things or do the things that you wanted to do. You see everybody else is getting on and think what am I supposed to be doing with my life? There was a bit of pride in there, I suppose, as well.'

For a while, Sanjiv was prescribed medicine to help him through, but according to Pip, by 2013 things were improving.

WHO CAN HELP? Date of Disappearance: September 25th 2013 Age at time of disappearance: 42 Last known whereabouts: Paris, France Who can Help: Were you in Paris, in September 2013? Did you see Sanjiv? Or could you have any photos or videos that Sanjiv could be in the back of? Did you meet Sanjiv in London, just prior to his visit? Are you aware of any plans he had to get a job? Or anything that could have prompted his visit to France? Advertisement

He was even looking forward to a short holiday - a trip to Paris - to take in the sights.

While it seemed to be a fairly impromptu trip, organised just a few days before, after Sanjiv had come back from a day trip to London, Pip and her family were just pleased it was a sign he seemed in better spirits.

Little did they realise that when Sanjiv left home to board the train - it would be the last time they'd see him.

And so, on the 25th of September 2013, Sanjiv set off early on his way to France.

'So we know he leaves on the 25th of September from Warwickshire and heads down to Marylebone,' explained Pip. 'From Marylebone he goes off to St. Pancreas.

He's seen going through CCTV the police have picked up, that he went through the turnstile at St. Pancreas.'

He boards the train to Paris and he arrives at the Gare du Nord at about 8 o'clock on the day he leaves his home.'

But while the journey from Warwick to London, and then across to Paris is a simple one, the times of each leg of the journey leave some big holes.

It takes less than 90 minutes to travel from Warwick to London Marylebone - meaning even if Sanjiv had walked, taken a taxi or underground to St Pancreas station, it would've taken no more than an hour.

Then - there was the journey to Paris, taking two hours and twenty minutes.

So with a total journey time of five hours, plus another hour for the change of time zone in France, if Sanjiv left his house early but didn't arrive in Paris until 8pm, where did he go for the rest of the day?

'We have witnesses who sat with him on the train and said he kept himself to himself,' said Pip. 'And they saw him get off at the Gare du Nord as well. So we definitely know he got there.'

Sanjiv Kundi (pictured) was last sighted on CCTV at Gare du Nord station, and since that time there has been no contact from Sanjiv with friends or family, and his bank card remains unused

Then, 13 hours later, there was another sighting of Sanjiv back at Paris' main train station.

'So on the 26th of September at 9:35am, he goes back to the Gare du Nord at the Euro star desk where it is alleged he made an in-person cash booking for homeward travel for the 1st of October, however, there is no CCTV,' said Pip.

She continued: 'So did he leave here and think, you know what, when I get there, I'll see what it's like and I'll get the return ticket when I know whether I'm staying seven days or three days. I always think, is that why that happened?'

It left Pip questioning why, on his first day in Paris, Sanjiv was booking his ticket home for seven days time.

Pip also noted how according to witnesses on the train, they didn't see any luggage with him. So what was he doing in Paris? Where was he planning to go, and where did he actually go on that first night after arriving at 8pm?

Pip and her family assumed Sanjiv was having an enjoyable time, but when the seven days passed and the days rolled by without no contact from him, the panic grew.

BRITAIN'S MISSING Every two minutes someone in the UK goes missing. Most are found within 48 hours. Within a year 99 percent are located Every year 2,000 vanish without a trace Charity Missing People receive 58,000 calls for help a year Advertisement

The family officially reported Sanjiv missing on October the 15th.

'When I look back at it now, it just tore my family apart,' said Pip. 'My parents were just inconsolable. My sisters were distraught.'

'It's almost like it's surreal, that it's actually happening to somebody else, but it's actually happening to your family.

All of a sudden you've got this huge thing that just comes flying in and you don't know how you're going to deal with it.'

From 4 November, the French police took charge and there were no sightings, nor anyone matching Sanjiv's description - something which Pip struggles to comprehend.

'My brother was a big bloke,' explained PIp. 'He was six foot, one or two. He was tall, quite broad shouldered. He would stand out. To find that people couldn't find him, I find it unbelievable. You'd be able to spot him in the street, let's put it that way.

I just find that hard to believe. For me, somebody somewhere knows what's happened.'

When the police learned of Sanjiv's use of medication, his case was escalated to a high risk. But while officers began to question whether he'd gone to Paris with the intention of taking his own life, it's something Pip fails to believe.

'I don't believe he would have taken his own life,' she said. 'I would find that one hard to accept.'

Instead, taking into consideration how Sanjiv had planned his trip to Paris just a few days after returning from a day trip to London, and the time missing from Sanjiv's journey - time unaccounted for while he was in London - Pip thinks it's possible that Sanjiv met someone.

'I've always wondered did he meet anybody in London at the time? Was he duped with the promise of a job?' she explained.

'I don't know if there is anything sinister behind that. Did he go off and try to live his own life? I think his siblings especially would have had an inkling that that's what he was planning to do. And I think there wasn't anything there.'

No use of his bank cards, no trace on the mobile phone, and no sightings all combines to one huge hole in the mystery of what happened.

Now, Pip has made a fresh appeal and is keen to hear from anyone who may have met with Sanjiv in London, just prior to his visit, or anyone who may know what could have prompted his visit to France.
A man has revealed how a $20,000 engagement ring almost derailed his relationship after his fiancee found out the centre stone was a 'lab grown diamond'.

The 30-year-old man took to Reddit to ask for advice after feeling pressured to swap the 3.6 carat diamond for a natural stone to save his relationship.

The man said his 27-year-old fiancee loved the ring at first and said 'yes' to his proposal - leaving the couple 'happier than ever'.

A man has revealed how a $20,000 engagement ring almost derailed his relationship - after his fiancee found out the ring's centre stone was a 'lab grown diamond' (stock image)

But after a few weeks the woman, who is a doctor, was concerned over the generous size of the ring and wanted to know how much it cost.

'I told her that I had spent about $20,000 on it and I had been squirreling away (money) for the last 10 years,' he wrote.

Poll Who is in the wrong? The man The woman Who is in the wrong? The man 165 votes

The woman 798 votes Now share your opinion





'She was initially floored that I had spent so much.'

When she became suspicious that he had been able to get such a large diamond so cheaply she asked to see the diamond certificate.

'I, of course, showed it to her, I thought she was worried I had been duped into buying a fake,' he explained.

He went on to say when she saw the diamond was lab grown she was devastated.

She wanted to know why he hadn't bought her a 'real' stone.

Asking whether he was in the wrong, the man said he was floored by her reaction because he had always been vocal about his dislike of the natural diamond industry.

He said he didn't like the environmental and social impact of the mining industry, something his partner of five years knew.

'I had also employed the assistance of her friends and mother and everyone agreed that she wouldn't care if the diamond was lab grown,' he said.

Days later his partner asked if they could swap the stone for a natural diamond of the same value.

'I said no, and said if she wanted to give the ring back and end our relationship, that is fine, but I would not exchange it.

'She called me an a***hole and went to stay the night with her parents,' he said.

He has since been inundated with messages from her friends and family asking him to reconsider switching out the stones in the ring.

'Ultimately, I will if it means saving the relationship but I just feel like this is something worth being firm on,' he said.

Thousands of Redditors agreed the man was not in the wrong.

The 30-year-old man took to Reddit on Wednesday to ask for advice after feeling pressured to swap the 3.6 carat diamond for a natural stone to save his relationship (stock image)

'She's being picky and should've been happy about the ring,' one woman said - adding that asking about its value is 'tacky'.

'She says that now, but if she's b****ing about a $20k ring, I think there are bigger price tags in your future,' said one man.

'Look I don't wanna tell you how to live your life but I wouldn't want to be with someone who acted like this,' said another.

But others disagreed.

'It sounds like you got the "perfect ring" for you, not her. You're turning this into something about how much you spent or about diamonds, when it's far more likely she wanted a simple, practical ring,' one woman argued.

'If she is a doctor she probably can't wear something that big. Switch it for something natural and stop showboating,' one woman said.

'Wow I googled it and you are right it is HUGE! and if she is a doctor she might not even be able to wear it to work everyday. Seems like an insane waste of money to me,' one man added.
Former princess Tessy of Luxembourg has revealed her blossoming baby bump months after she announced she is expecting her first child with her hunky Swiss businessman fiance.

Taking to Instagram today, the ex royal, 34, shared a snapshot as she enjoyed a cycle ride with financier and CEO Frank Floessel, writing: 'Just keeping agile and keeping fit. Also to make sure no one is worried, this was the last bike ride until little bean joins us.'

Tessy has spent much of the year in lockdown with her two sons Prince Gabriel of Nassau, 14, and Prince Noah of Nassau, 12, whom she shares with ex-husband Prince Louis of Luxembourg, 34, who she divorced in 2019.

She is believed to have known businessman Frank for several years, and announced her engagement to him on New Year's Eve.

The former royal has not revealed how far along she is or when her due date is, but she announced her pregnancy in February.

Former princess Tessy of Luxembourg, 34, has revealed her blossoming baby bump months after she announced she is expecting her first child with her hunky Swiss businessman fiance

The couple, who are believed to have known each other for years, announced their engagement on New Year's Eve

In the photographs, Tessy could be seen showing off a blossoming baby bump as she hopped on a bike for a ride with her beau Frank.

In another snap, the couple could be seen beaming as they enjoyed the day out together.

Tessy announced her pregnancy several months ago by sharing a snap on Instagram cuddling up with Frank, while the businessman's hands gently rested on the mother-of-two's growing baby bump.

It comes after the couple announced their engagement to one another at the end of last year, with Tessy posting on Instagram : 'Yes to 2021 and many more years together.'

Tessy shares sons Prince Gabriel of Nassau, 14, and Prince Noah of Nassau, 12, with ex-husband Prince Louis of Luxembourg, 34, who she divorced in 2019

Former princess Tessy announced she is expecting her first child with her hunky Swiss businessman boyfriend in February

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Frank also shared his own joy over the big news, telling RTL Today: 'After having mastered the extraordinary and difficult last year together, I took my chance to take the next step in our relationship and I am overjoyed that Tessy said yes.'

Entrepreneur Frank got his master's degree in ETH Zurich and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently CEO and president of CBA Finance.

The former royal appears to have known Frank for several years, having written about his work on her blog in September 2018.

He has also acted as a trustee for the organisation Professors Without Borders, which Tessy co-founded in 2016.

Tessy had previously sparked speculation that she had started a new relationship after sharing snaps with Frank on her Instagram page during lockdown.

The businessman was also pictured on a family hike with the proud mother and her two boys, with Tessy captioning the photos 'Family is all that matters' with two love heart emojis.

In 2019, she told Hello magazine that it 'took a long time' after her divorce, when she was stripped of her royal titles, explaining: 'After every relationship it takes a while to heal when the heart has been broken. It has been really, really wonderful for me to realise that I am able to trust and love again. It's nice to see that life goes on.'

Tessy went on to reveal how she is 'very happy' that her ex-husband Prince Louis maintains a close bond with their sons, despite the fact they can't see each other during quarantine.

She said her son's 'love and trust' with their father had 'become stronger' because of the separation during the pandemic.

Tessy has previously told how her family 'suffered greatly' when she became a princess in 2006 after marrying Prince Louis, whom she met in 2004.

Tessy became a princess in 2006 when she married Prince Louis, with the couple sharing two sons and going on to divorce in April last year

Frank was first pictured on a family hike with the proud mother and her two boys last year, with Tessy captioning the photos 'Family is all that matters' with two love heart emojis

Speaking on Sky News special report The Meghan Effect, Tessy explained: 'My little cousin needed to change schools twice. My twin brother was incredibly bullied at work  he still is today.

'My sister, my parents suffered, my oldest brother doesn't talk to me anymore because of that, because it was too much for him to handle.

'That was when I married in, and when I got divorced, oh my gosh the same.'

Born a commoner, Tessy joined the Luxembourg Army in 2002 at the age of 18, rising to the rank of corporal. Two years later, when she was one of a handful of female UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, she met Prince Louis, who was visiting the army.

Born a commoner, Tessy joined the Luxembourg Army in 2002 at the age of 18, rising to the rank of corporal. Two years later, when she was one of a handful of female UN peacekeepers in Kosovo, she met Prince Louis, who was visiting the army

His family only became aware of their love affair when Tessy fell pregnant and gave birth aged 19, and unmarried, in September 2005, providing Grand Duke Henri with his first grandson.

It infuriated the royal family, and Prince Louis renounced any claim to the title of Grand Duke due to the constitutional crisis they had created by having a child out of wedlock.

When Tessy married Prince Louis in September 2006, six months after giving birth, in a modest country church wedding, the Grand Duke stripped her of any claim to his title.

The couple's fairytale marriage broke down in 2016, and they were granted a decree nisi in February last year.

The couple's fairytale marriage broke down in 2016, and they were granted a decree nisi in February 2019

Tessy, who in 2017 was named Woman of the Decade by the Women Economic Forum for her work in women's empowerment, now lives in London with Gabriel and Noah, while Louis lives in Paris - though she appears to be in isolation somewhere more rural.

The philanthropist is the co-founder of social enterprise Professors Without Borders which aims to improve access to higher education across the globe.

She also works as a consultant, public speaker and is a UN Association patron.
Was accused of using her white privilege against black social media influencer

Last August she was involved in a bitter race row over a Black Lives Matter post

Stylist said no one has ever dealt with 'the pressure and politics' like Meghan

Comes after she spoke out in support of the Duchess ahead of Oprah interview

Stylist said while 'putting on a brave face is expected' it is 'okay to be honest'

Meghan Markle's best friend Jessica Mulroney has said 'reframing an experience can keep you alive' in a cryptic Instagram post shortly after Prince Harry spoke of his 'genetic pain and suffering' during royal life.

The Canadian stylist, 41, from Toronto, shared a post online with her 400k followers yesterday, writing: 'People who truly understand depression, anxiety and many other mental health issues are stuck. Putting on a brave face is whats expected. However, you can be honest about not feeling okay.'

Jessica, who became friends with Meghan during her time filming Suits in Toronto, also shared a paragraph which read: 'Some people think it is dangerous to tell people going through bad mental health that things will change. I'd just like to say I find it far more dangerous to tell someone things wont.

'Perspective doesn't make conditions evaporate. But reframing an experience can keep you alive.'

It comes days after Prince Harry called royal life 'a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo' and said he quit last year to put his family and mental health 'first' during an appearance on a US mental health podcast.

Meghan Markle's best friend Jessica Mulroney has said 'reframing an experience can keep you alive' in a cryptic Instagram post shortly after Prince Harry spoke of his mental health struggles while in the royal family

The stylist, 41, from Toronto, encouraged her followers not to put on a 'brave face' and instead 'be honest about not feeling okay'

Meanwhile Jessica also tagged mental health advocate and author Matt Haig - who was featured in Meghan's guest edit of British Vogue - in the post.

Meghan has previously revealed that she 'loves' Matt Haig's best-selling novel Notes on a Nervous Planet, which deals with how technological advances and social media can exacerbate underlying mental health issues.

Earlier this year, Jessica spoke out in support of the royal ahead of the explosive Oprah interview.

She said no one 'has ever had to deal with the pressure, the politics and the press' like Meghan in an Instagram post.

Jessica's latest comments came as palace insiders hit back at Prince Harry's 'unhelpful' podcast swipe at his father for 'treating me the way he was treated' and inflicting 'genetic pain and suffering' before he fled to Los Angeles

Uploading a photo of the pair of them, she added: 'In the face of it all, I have never seen her waver from kindness, empathy and love.'

It was reported last year that the Duchess had cut ties with Mulroney after influencer Sasha Exeter accused the stylist of 'threatening her livelihood' when she posted a Black Lives Matter call-to-action on Instagram.

Meghan remained silent when the Canadian fashion stylist was accused of racist bullying and abusing her white privilege to threaten the career of a black social media influencer.

Sasha Exeter alleged that Mrs Mulroney took personal offence when she asked bloggers to use their platform to advance the Black Lives Matter movement and that private messages between the pair had left her paralysed with fear.

It comes after the Canadian fashion stylist, 41, said no one 'has ever had to deal with the pressure, the politics and the press' like Meghan in an Instagram post ahead of the Oprah interview

Mulroney later faced accusations that she had used Meghan as her 'superpower,' though denied this was the case and refused to speak about the Duchess in interviews.

A source had claimed their friendship is no longer 'what it once was,' adding this was not due to the fall-out with Exeter, but because they have 'just grown apart.'

However, Mulroney told Page Six in November that she and Meghan are 'constantly' in touch via FaceTime.

The stylist assisted Meghan in choosing a wedding dress for the actress' Suits character, Rachel Zane, in 2015.

The pair have been close friends for years, with Mulroney's daughter, Ivy, appearing in the Royal Wedding as a bridesmaid. Her two sons, Brian and John, were page boys.

It was claimed in August that the Duchess of Sussex was reported to have cut ties with Jessica after black influencer Sasha Exeter (left) accused her of 'threatening her livelihood' after 'taking offence' at a Black Lives Matter video posted by the online star

Jessica's latest comments came as palace insiders hit back at Prince Harry's 'unhelpful' podcast swipe at his father for 'treating me the way he was treated' and inflicting 'genetic pain and suffering' before he fled to Los Angeles.

A source said: 'They appear to be making careers of talking about their previous ones. It is not helpful.' Insiders also noted 'nothing ever appears to be their own fault'.

Prince Harry blasted Prince Charles' parenting as he poured his heart out to a US mental health podcast and said he moved to California with his family to 'break the cycle' of 'pain' he suffered as a member of the Royal Family.

The Duke admitted he wanted to quit The Firm in his 'early 20s' due to 'what it did to my mum' and said Meghan Markle encouraged him to have therapy and had herself now concluded: 'You don't need to be a princess'.

Prince Harry blasted Prince Charles' parenting as he poured his heart out to a US mental health podcast and said he moved to California with his family to 'break the cycle' of 'pain' he suffered as a member of the Royal Family

His extraordinary attack on the Royal Family, two months after accusing them of racism towards his son Archie, two, came as he appeared on Dax Shepard's 'Armchair Expert' podcast in another big Hollywood moment.

The show promoted his Apple TV+ mental health series with Oprah Winfrey, The Me You Can't See, which premieres next Friday - and it was also promoted in a tweet by Dax.

Harry, who is expecting a daughter with Meghan this summer, suggested Charles had 'suffered' because of his upbringing by the Queen and Prince Philip, and the Prince of Wales had 'treated me the way he was treated', calling it 'genetic pain'.

During the wide-ranging interview lasting 90 minutes, Harry - who appears to have developed an American twang to his British accent since leaving the UK - said: 'I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on, basically.

'It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say 'you know what, that happened to me, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you'.'
Prince William and Kate Middleton have shared a touching message with royal fans to thank them after they were sent notes of sympathy following the Duke of Edinburgh's death.

The Duke, 38, and Duchess of Cambridge, 39, have revealed their three children, Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, are missing their 'much loved' great-grandfather Prince Philip who died on April 9th at the age of 99.

In a response to a royal fan, who posted the reply on Instagram, Prince William and Kate sent a card and a heartfelt note to thank fans for the many thoughtful messages.

The note read: 'Their Royal Highnesses have been incredibly moved by the many thoughtful messages they have received in recent weeks... They will all miss their much loved grandfather and great-grandfather, but your message has provided great comfort at this difficult time.'

'Much loved': The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have revealed their three children, Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three, (pictured together) are missing their great-grandfather Prince Philip

The card, which included a picture of a smiling Prince Philip in his military uniform, read: 'The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge thank you for your kind words following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.'

Royal fans loved the touching note, with some saying that it was a 'beautiful reply' and expressing their condolences.

Following Prince Philip's death, the Cambridge's released previously unseen photographs of the Duke of Edinburgh with his great-grandchildren on their Instagram page, Kensington Royal.

In one photograph, the Queen, 94, and the Duke sat alongside seven of their great-grandchildren, with the 'relaxed' monarch holding a then-baby Prince Louis in her arms.

Prince William and Kate Middleton shared the touching message with royal fans in response to notes of sympathy including a picture of a smiling Prince Philip in his military uniform

The note from the Cambridge's to their royal fans said they all miss their 'much loved' great-grandfather and have been 'incredibly moved' by the many thoughtful messages

Prince George and Princess Charlotte could be seen offering a cheeky smile in the picture, while Peter's elder daughter Savannah Phillips poses alongside Zara Tindall's daughters Mia and Lena.

The photograph does not include the couple's three youngest grandchildren, who were born in the last few years.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their son Archie Harrison in May 2019, while Princess Eugenie and Zara Tindall both gave birth to their sons this year, who they named after the Duke.

A second picture of Her Majesty and her husband was shared on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Instagram page, and showed the couple posing with Prince George and Princess Charlotte during a visit to Balmoral in 2015.

Prince William and Kate Middleton released a touching photo of the Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen with their seven great-grandchildren following the Duke's death on April 9th at the age of 99. The image shows the 94-year-old monarch and her husband with Prince George, Prince Louis, Savannah Phillips, Princess Charlotte, Isla Phillips holding Lena Tindall, and Mia Tindall

A second picture of Her Majesty and her husband was shared on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Instagram page, and showed the couple posing with Prince George and Princess Charlotte during a visit to Balmoral in 2015

The caption read: 'Today we share, along with Members of the Royal Family, photographs of The Duke of Edinburgh, remembering him as a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.'

The thank you note comes after Prince Charles shared a touching childhood picture with royal fans to thank them after they sent notes of sympathy to Clarence House following the Duke of Edinburgh's death.

The Prince of Wales, 72, has been sending cards to royal fans who have expressed their condolences following Prince Philip's death on April 9th at the age of 99.

One fan shared on Instagram how they'd received the card, which included an erstwhile photo of father-and-son on a boating trip.

The photograph was accompanied by a printed letter written by Prince Charles, thanking the person for their letter of good wishes.

The Prince of Wales, 72, has been sending cards to royal fans who have expressed their condolences to Clarence House following Prince Philips' death on April 9th. Charles shared this picture of them on a motorboat, dating back to his childhood, in the notes sent out

A typed note accompanied the picture of Prince Charles and Prince Philip, in which the Prince of Wales said letters of sympathy had been of 'great comfort to him'

Royal fans on social media said the sweet photo was 'nostalgic' while some noted it was appropriate Charles would share a picture of him and Philip on a boat, since they both served in the Royal Navy.

The letter accompanying the picture read: 'The Prince of Wales thanks you so much for your very kind message of sympathy.

'His Royal Highness has been enormously touched by the many generous messages that have been received in recent days; they have provided great comfort at this very sad time,' it went on.

'The Prince of Wales sends you his warmest thanks and best wishes,' he added.

In the picture, a young Charles is sat next to his father as they speed along in a motorboat. Prince Philip, wearing a jumper, is sat at the helm, confidently looking ahead, while his eldest son looks at him smiling.

This photographed father-and-son moment captured Philip and Charles' shared interest for sailing and water sports. In 1971, aged 23, Charles followed into his father and grandfather's footsteps and decided to serve in the Royal Navy.
Last July, at the Alzheimers Association International Conference, a medical research team presented five discoveries related to Alzheimers treatment. They included multiple drugs that were in various phases of clinical trials in the Food and Drug Administrations approval process, as well as a blood test  hailed as a potential game-changer  that may be able to detect changes in the brain 20 years before Alzheimers symptoms occur.
Leading children's authors have hit out at publishers for giving celebrities like Meghan Markle 'whopping advances' on books based on their fame and regardless of the quality of writing.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, announced earlier this month that she has penned her first book The Bench, and said it was inspired by Prince Harry and her son Archie which would explore the 'special bond between father and son' as 'seen through a mother's eyes'.

It is not known if Meghan has received an advance for the book and whether any of the proceeds will be donated to charity, a branding expert previously told FEMAIL it could have already netted the Duchess 500,000 following a 'bidding war to secure her first venture'.

But now British children's author Gareth P. Jones, who penned the Dragon Detective Agency book series and in 2012 won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award for The Considine Curse, has criticised publishers for priotising 'celebrity over quality'.

Leading children's authors have hit out at publishers for giving celebrities like Meghan Markle, 39, 'whopping advances' on books based on their fame and regardless of the quality of writing

He told The Telegraph that Meghan 'isn't unique' in wanting to write a children's book - and while many parents try their hand at writing, it's rare they'll get a book deal unless they're famous.

He said: 'Most celebrity authors get such whopping advances for their efforts that Im not sure book sales or longevity are important factors for them.'

Meanwhile author of children's thriller Waiting for Murder Fleur Hitchcock said quality should be prioritised over celebrity.

She said: 'There have been some absolute disasters over the years  remember Madonna's?  some sell on the name, and fizzle out, but some are so aggressively marketed that they swamp the competition.'

Earlier this month the Duchess of Sussex announced she has written a 12.99 children's book called The Bench which will go on sale on June 8 and is illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson

In March Idris Elba signed a global deal to write a series of children's picture books and fiction inspired by his teenage daughter Isan - joining a long list of famous faces flexing their star power with their own book series.

The list includes royalty like the Duchess of York, Hollywood A-lister Natalie Portman and even up-and-coming stars like Emerald Fennell.

Other stars to release children's books include Oscar winning actress Lupita Nyong'o, whose bestseller Sulwe is going to be made into an animated musical by Netflix.

Pop culture and branding expert Nick Ede previously revealed writing a children's book has become a status symbol for celebrities who feel it is a 'savvy way to make money, maintain fame and secure years of royalties'.

Gareth P. Jones penned the Dragon Detective Agency book series and in 2012 won the Blue Peter Book of the Year award for The Considine Curse

Nick suggested the popularity of the celebrity author had been spurred on after many saw the booming success of comedian David Walliams' book empire.

'The appeal for celebrities to write children's books really has started with the David Walliams phenomenon', said Nick.

'He saw a market where his books could sell but also would have many off shoots from theatrical interpretations, animations, audio books and merchandise.

'This allows the author to maximise in only a way someone like J. K. Rowling could imagine.'

A branding expert previously said the popularity of the celebrity author had been spurred on after many saw the booming success of comedian David Walliams book empire

Presenter Fearne Cotton has penned several children's books, while the Duchess of York is also an acclaimed author for kids (left, and right)

At more than 100 million, Walliams' book earnings outweigh his showbusiness income and when WH Smith listed its most popular children's books of 2020, three of his were in the top ten, beating even JK Rowling.

The branding expert said Hollywood stars could secure 'years of royalties' by writing a children's book which could become a classic for young readers.

He explained: 'Celebrities like Idris Elba who have mass appeal in movies and TV who can write compelling narrative that children learn from is a savvy way of making money and keeping your fame and securing years and years of royalties.

'I think it's a savvy way of staying relevant, building a new fan base and making money and also building a legacy like famous authors from Enid Blighton to Roald Dahl who still have their intellectual properties used for modern adaptions.'

The Bench - which will come out in the UK and US simultaneously - was inspired by a poem the Duchess of Sussex had written for Harry on Father's Day the month after Archie was born.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, wanted the story to be told through an 'inclusive lens' and will feature a 'diverse group of father and sons' (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

The story, which will be published on June 8 by Random House Children's Books, will be illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson, who was brought up by his grandmother in a one-bedroom flat also shared with his brother, two cousins and aunt.

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.

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'.

Meghan will also narrate the audiobook costing $4.99 (3.54)- which together with the hardback version could earn her millions from sales.

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'.
Jodie Turner-Smith has revealed she feels Meghan Markle 'could have modernised the royal family' and said the monarchy is 'limiting' and 'archaic'.

The British actress, 34, who is the first black woman to take on the role of Anne Boleyn in the new Channel 5 series, said she is not a 'monarchist' in a new interview.

Speaking about Meghan in an interview published in The Telegraph, Jodie said: 'It was a terrible missed opportunity, the way in which it was not allowed to be something that really modernises that institution, and to change it to something for the better. I think thats why theres dysfunction there.'

Meanwhile the actress also revealed she 'understood' the choice to cast her as Henry VIII's wife was 'polarising', saying: 'It was an opportunity for me to bring my individual identity to this and distil it down to a human story, as opposed to a story thats about whiteness or class

Jodie Turner-Smith, 34, who is set to play Anne Boleyn in a new drama series coming out this month, has revealed she feels Meghan Markle 'could have modernised the royal family'

Speaking about the monarchy, she said: 'We have to look at things in a modern context. And only then we will recognise that certain things are archaic, and dont really serve us as a community and are limiting us.

'I think we should keep those things in stories and move on to something else in reality.'

Meanwhile she said the backlash she received when it was announced that she would the first actress of colour to play the character of King Henry VIII's second wife, was 'to be expected' because people are 'attached' to the way Anne Boleyn looks in their imagination.

The mother-of-one revealed that she thinks Anne was 'deeply feminist' and 'ahead of her time' as she argued for women to have a voice in relation to politics and religion.

Jodie said it was a 'terrible missed opportunity' that the Duchess of Sussex didn't change the institution for the better

Backlash: Jodie said the reaction she received to the news she would play Anne Boleyn was 'to be expected' because people are 'attached' to the way King Henry VIII's second wife looks in their imagination

In the official full-length trailer for the Channel 5 series released on Friday, Jodie is seen trying and prove her innocence after being accused of high treason but ultimately prepare to be beheaded.

The intense clip opens with Thomas Cromwell, played by Barry Ward, informing Anne she is being charged with treason, to which she immediately pleads not guilty.

It then shows her in childbirth, desperately asking if her child was 'a boy' before she is seen arguing with King Henry VIII, played by Mark Stanley, yelling: 'You promised me sons.'

In the official full-length trailer for the Channel 5 series released on Friday, Jodie is seen trying arguing with King Henry VIII played by Mark Stanley (pictured)

Another character is heard asking Anne if her husband no longer visits her chamber, and King Henry is seen giving Jane Seymour, played by Lola Petticrew, an affectionate look as he and Anne attend a party.

Shortly after it appears she was accused of treason as she's seen telling another character: 'The world will know my innocence.'

Anne is shown walking serenely in a number of locations before finally stepping up to the chopping block.

As the dramatic scenes unfurl, a character is heard telling Anne: 'Fear can be fuel, let your fear drive you to be bigger, louder, the sky itself will not limit you.'

Anne Boleyn will explore the final months of Anne Boleyn's life from the eponymous Queen's perspective, as she struggles to secure a future for her daughter and to challenge the powerful patriarchy closing in around her.

Background: The series explores the final moments of the queen's life from her lens before she is executed by her husband

The three-part psychological thriller will depict the key moments that cause Anne to topple, unpicking her immense strength, her fatal vulnerabilities and her determination to be an equal among men.

The cast also includes I May Destroy You's Paapa Essiedu, who will portray the role of Anne's brother and Tudor nobleman George.

Dating Amber actress Lola is featured as Anne's love rival, Jane Seymour, who succeeded her as the Queen of England.

Jamael Westman, Amanda Burton and Thalissa Teixeira also play roles in the mini-series - which finished production on location in Yorkshire in December 2020.

Penned by writer Eve Hedderwick Turner and directed by Lynsey Miller, Anne Boleyn aims to 'challenge all the conventions of who we think Anne Boleyn was and shines a feminist light on her story.'
It was while on holiday, in a bed and breakfast, that Mark Daniel told his wife of 18 years about the six affairs hed had during their first seven years of marriage.

The couples daughters, then aged nine and 11, were in the next room.

When Mark said: Theres something I need to tell you, I thought he was about to say he had a terminal illness, recalls Christine at their home in Northumberland. They sit close together, looking at each other as they speak, one picking up when the other trails off.

We talked late into the night, she continues. It was devastating. Id had no idea. The sense of betrayal was vast. I was deeply hurt and angry.

If Marks revelation in 2003 on their holiday in South Africa was like a bomb going off, the one that came next, that Christine had had an affair too  a one-night stand  was a second damaging strike at the heart of the marriage.

Mark Daniel, 62, and wife Christine, 59, (pictured), who live in Northumberland, reveal how infidelity brought them closer to each other

I knew I had to tell him about mine. I wasnt perfect. In my head, mine was this one idiotic, fluffy thing and Marks were several and awful.

As a society we have always been fascinated by marital infidelity. From Jane Eyre to Lady Chatterleys Lover, literature has long been peppered with betrayals.

Now modern TV drama has taken our interest to new, obsessive heights. It started with BBCs Doctor Foster, then came steamy legal thriller Apple Tree Yard and The Affair with Dominic West and Ruth Wilson. With infidelity at its heart, The Undoing was last years transatlantic TV hit, while this months obsession The Pursuit Of Love is not short on adultery.

Next up is Fidelity by Italian author Marco Missiroli. Just published in English and adapted by Netflix for broadcast this year, the novel is a bestseller in Italy where its caused a stir for suggesting affairs are not always a bad thing. Perhaps, implies Missiroli, they may be liberating.

Indeed, as Christine, 59, and Mark, 62, attest, infidelity is not straightforward. The affairs were messy and painful, but have also borne fruit, says Christine, who wants to tell her story to give others hope and to highlight the vital, if excruciating, lessons in forgiveness and honesty.

In fact, they say, their experience of adultery has fortified their relationship, forcing change and introspection, and bringing them closer than theyve ever been in 36 years of marriage.

The pair met in 1980 at Imperial College London, where both were students  her degree was in biochemistry; he was an Army officer completing a degree in mining engineering. He asked her on a date to an Italian restaurant and collected her on a motorbike wearing a leather jacket.

Mark had a tuxedo underneath. I thought he was like 007. They had to throw us out, we were the last ones there. He was bold but at the same time kind.

Mark and Christine who've been married for 36 years, were students when they met in 1980 at Imperial College London. Pictured: The pair in 1985

His first impression of Christine was similarly striking. I found her wonderful, sexy and fun. The thing that got me was that she was so honest and spoke her mind where others didnt.

After a couple of years they married, in 1985, aged 26 and 23, and within a year moved to Hong Kong for work. By then, Christine was in banking and Mark an Army engineer who travelled.

Expat life started well: partying and six-day working weeks. But burning the candle at both ends led to arguments. During one confrontation, sparked by something neither can remember, Mark said: Im not sure I want to be married and Im not sure I want to be married to you.

Christine was floored.

I didnt think I deserved it. I didnt understand, she says. I cried a lot. I didnt tell anyone. My only way to cope was to brush it under the carpet and act as if nothing had happened.

Mark says it was a heat-of-the-moment comment partly fuelled by alcohol. He apologised but the impact was far-reaching.

It affects you in ways you cant imagine, says Christine. We muddled along but I never really forgave him. I bottled it up.

Mark said he kept cheating on Christine in the first year of their marriage hidden because he felt guilty. Pictured: Mark and Christine

They returned to the UK when Mark got a new posting in Kent. In a quirk of bad luck, Christine was also offered her dream job in Hong Kong. Swallowing her resentment, she turned it down, only to find herself alone when Mark was away for training and work in bomb disposal.

She absorbed the knocks, she says, for fear of appearing anything other than the perfect Army wife, and poured her energy into a new finance job in London.

I was very lonely, she says. Our sex life wasnt good. I tried to make an effort but it didnt work. For years we were functioning side-by-side. From the outside, people would think we were the perfect couple: great jobs, great holidays, but inside, we were both deeply unhappy.

Indeed, Mark had been unfaithful from the start. He cheated on Christine in the first year of their marriage. He had a one-month affair with a woman he met through Army work in Canada.

I didnt see her again afterwards and I felt so guilty but I kept it hidden, he says. I was lonely and looking in the wrong place for affection. I wasnt aware of it then but I had this overwhelming need to be loved.

Years later, after hours of therapy, Mark concluded that much of his behaviour, and his sometimes harsh attitude towards Christine, was connected to two events in his childhood  his parents divorce when he was three, and his mothers death in a car accident when he was ten.

Christines one-night stand was during a week away for a training conference four years into her marriage. Pictured: The couple in 2002

There was always something wrong, says Christine. It was like you had the perfect vision of your mother and I couldnt live up to it.

It left me believing no one loved me and it was dangerous to let anyone get too close in case they rejected me or left, Mark explains. There was this push-pull going on. I can explain the cause of my behaviour but its certainly not a justification.

He searched for emotional and sexual affirmation from other women, but says he never led them on. He told each of them he was married and it was just a fling, and in any case, the gratification he got was fleeting.

You feel momentarily satisfied and guilty all at once. A lot of it was about fulfilment: how do I know this woman is attracted to me? Well, she wants to get into bed with me. Once that was done, it was boring. Id got their approval, love and affection.

Christines one-night stand was during a week away for a training conference four years into her marriage. It happened on the last night after a dinner.

It was one of Marks periods away. I cant even remember his name but he was nice and a similar age. I still feel ashamed. I put it in a box and didnt think about it. Ive never seen him since and it didnt change my behaviour towards Mark. Wed got good at living life on two levels and keeping a lid on things.

They say neither suspected the other  although, in hindsight, Christine believes the signs were there, such as Mark coming home at 4am from work meetings.

The couple began to understand how forgiveness could heal their relationship, soon after beginning counselling. Pictured: Christine and Mark

Seven years into their marriage, when work eased, they had a baby and Christine experienced postnatal depression, a diagnosis that required medication and enveloped her in shame. They were pushed to such a low that they sought counselling through a relationship charity.

[The depression] was the straw which broke the camels back, says Christine. I was crying all the time. I told Mark: We need help. I was desperate.

Mark blames male pride for not going to counselling sooner and they describe it as one of the most painful things theyve done. Though it didnt solve everything, it got them talking.

Christine discovered she was harbouring bitterness from Marks rejection and Mark began to understand why he pushed away those he loved and why he sought love from others.

He stopped having affairs. Still, neither spoke about their adultery. They believed it didnt need dredging up at such a precious moment of recovery.

Soon after beginning counselling, however, they began to understand the nature of forgiveness and how this could heal their relationship.

Nine months of workshops gave them the tools to better understand each other and express themselves. And yet still there were secrets locked away.

Theyd been put in a box. I didnt want to damage our relationship again. I had enormous feelings of guilt, explains Mark.

In 2002, Mark was approached by the group that ran the workshops he and Christine had been attending and asked whether hed like a director role. As a matter of integrity, he couldnt accept the job while still keeping the secret. It was the push he needed to clear the slate.

Timing was important, but he was terrified. So came the trip to South Africa.

That first conversation was brief and calm but there were tears, says Mark. Christine told just one friend over the phone, making furious and disconsolate calls to her from the bathroom of the B&B.

Mark denies ever being tempted to stray nowadays and Christine said she tells Mark if she finds a man very attractive. Pictured: Mark and Christine

Because of the children, however, they couldnt return to the subject for another two weeks. Towards the end of their holiday, they found time to have a very deep conversation about the betrayal both felt.

Id spent two weeks living on tenterhooks, wondering how shed respond, says Mark. It was much more straightforward forgiving her.

Although he was confessing to affairs that had ended 11 years before, and I knew he was a different person, it still smashed my trust and self-esteem. We spoke for hours. He said I could ask any question and went through each woman and spelled out the details. I said I forgave him, even if I didnt yet mean it. We were both very emotional but it did release us.

Over time the pain lessened, although the scars are still there. They worked on practical strategies: if Mark was getting attention from women, rather than avoiding him or getting angry, Christine would let him know she felt insecure and that he needed to involve her in the conversation. They have a new rule where they tell each other if they find anyone else attractive.

We knew we had to work on forgiveness together, says Christine. Now we have intimacy at all levels  emotionally and physically  but it took a lot of work. If Id thrown in the towel, Id probably be making the same mistakes somewhere else.

What advice do they have for others? Christine is adamant: Work on the relationship you have. Dont wait for a crisis or an affair to force change.

To that end, they have developed an app, Toucan Together, to help couples resolve conflict.

While Mark denies ever being tempted to stray nowadays, Christine is more equivocal: I am a red-blooded woman. I occasionally meet guys and think: Gosh, youre attractive, but I dont do anything about it. If I really think theyre attractive I tell Mark; it has only happened once.

Mark looks at her with warmth and says: Yes, well, Christine has some new glasses now so that number might increase.

Do they think hit Italian author Marco Missiroli is right to suggest marriage constrains freedom? Sex isnt everything, says Mark. I think the greater adventure is learning real intimacy with that one other person  emotionally as well as sexually. The levels of trust are so much greater and more fulfilling than any thrill of the chase.

For information about strengthening relationships, visit toucantogether.com
Daisy Goodwin, with mother Jocasta Innes who left the family home when Daisy was five similar to the Pursuit of Love's 'The Bolter'

There is a scene in Emily Mortimers wonderful adaptation of Nancy Mitfords The Pursuit Of Love where the narrator, Fanny, goes to a party and comes face to face with The Bolter, the mother who had abandoned her in her own pursuit of love when she was a baby.

I recognised the mixture of longing and resentment that flickers across Fannys face only too well.

For the central fact of my childhood was that my own mother, Jocasta Innes, also bolted, leaving home to live with a younger man when I was five and my brother was three.

She didnt say goodbye, I just woke up one morning and she wasnt there. A couple of days later, I realised she might not be coming back when my brother and I were having a bath, and whoever was looking after us  not my mother  had let us play with a glass bottle.

The inevitable occurred and I remember looking at the blood flowering around my knee in the water and wondering when my mother would come.

She didnt. She had left the house, in a beautiful Georgian square off Londons Old Kent Road, that she lived in with my father to share a bedsit in Islington with the man who would one day become my stepfather.

But none of this was explained to me at the time; I just knew I ended up in hospital with a doctor taking the pieces of broken glass out of my knee, and that my mother wasnt there.

We were sent to live with my fathers mother in the New Forest for a couple of years while my parents fought a custody battle.

Those years were not unhappy, as my grandmother doted on my brother and I, but every so often my mother would come to see us. I can still remember both the joy of seeing her and the feeling of resentment that she was disrupting the ordered calm of our existence.

Once, we spent the day with her in the damp basement flat she was living in, and I refused to drink the cup of tea she made me because it didnt have any sugar in it.

The Screen Bolter: Emily Mortimer as the Bolter (left) in the BBC series The Pursuit of Love

Today we would call it acting out but I think at the time it felt easier not to enjoy myself so the pain of leaving would be less intense.

I still remember my brother clinging to my mothers legs to try to stop her leaving my grandmothers house after a visit, and her having to prise away his fingers one by one.

It made no sense to me at the time, but I came to accept it in the way children do, and gradually I forgot that I had ever lived in a house with my mother and my father.

My father won the custody battle. This was the Sixties, long before the idea of no-fault divorce, and the courts took a poor view of a woman who had left the marital home, abandoning her children.

Shortly afterwards he remarried, and my brother and I went to live with him and my stepmother. She could not have been more different from my mother.

Oblivious to fashion, she always wore the same polo shirt and blue cords, never wore make-up and didnt drink, smoke, gossip or flirt.

I wasnt the only child in my school whose parents were divorced, but I was the only one who didnt live with her mother.

Bohemian goings-on: A scene from series The Pursuit of Love starring Andrew Scott (centre)

When people asked me about her, I would make up fantastical stories  that she was a Chinese spy (she had been born in China); that she had an affair with Fidel Castro (also untrue, although she did translate a book called Memoir Of A Runaway Cuban Slave).

My life at home with my father and stepmother was an ordered one; regular but boring meals, regular early bedtimes and no reading after lights out.

But every other weekend, and for a fortnight in the holidays, we would be dispatched to stay with my mother and stepfather in Swanage, where meals were delicious but unpredictable, bedtimes were never demarcated and the only rule was not to make a sound before 10am.

My mother and her friends would stay up until the small hours arguing about life and literature, intoxicated with their own cleverness and the copious amounts of home-made wine that my mother produced as she reinvented herself as a guru of thrifty self-sufficiency (her 1971 kitchen classic The Paupers Cookbook is still in print today).

On the occasions of those visits, I remember getting more and more nervous as the train drew closer to the station nearest to her Dorset home.

Would she remember we were coming? Would she be pleased to see us? Yet as the train pulled out of Wareham station on the way home, I could feel my stomach knitting with misery and loss.

Pictured: Some of the cast from the Pursuit of Love including stars Dominic West as Uncle Matthew (far right), Lily James as Linda (left of centre) and Emily Beecham as Fanny (centre)

As I grew into my teens, I felt her absence even more. Plump and spotty, I fantasised about turning one day into an alluring siren like my mother. Confident, clever and chic, rocking leather trousers into her 70s, Jocasta was the template for all I wanted to be but wasnt.

Even though most of her clothes were from Oxfam, she was always the most stylish woman wherever she went.

As soon as I could fit into her clothes, I started to borrow them. I remember the printed flamenco-shaped skirt with a ruffle she had made that I stole from her wardrobe, wearing it proudly to school in the hope some of my mothers glamour would rub off on me.

When I was 12, my mother, who could not be depended upon to remember birthdays, decided to take me shopping, buying me my first pair of heels. They were red leather slingbacks, with a stacked heel of all of two inches.

To me they were infinitely precious, not just the forbidden heel (my stepmother only bought me flat shoes) but the fact that they had been given to me by my mercurial, unknowable mother.

I used to leave the house wearing the Start-rite sandals my stepmother approved of, and change into my heels the moment I was round the corner.

I was eventually rumbled when my stepmother came to pick me up from school and saw me sashaying down the street in my scarlet shoes.

Aged 17, I had just started going out with my first boyfriend and was excited to tell my mother all about it.

But before I could begin, my 40-year-old mother announced that she was in love  not with my stepfather, but with a young man who had come to work on one of her books (she later bolted with him).

I remember feeling scared, impressed and just a bit upstaged. It was clear that my life would always be a bit tame compared with hers.

It wasnt till I had a child of my own in my late 20s that I began to feel angry with her. I would look at my perfect little daughter and just couldnt imagine ever leaving her.

I stopped wanting to be like my mother, a glamorous free spirit, and started to blame her for making choices that put her happiness before her childrens.

Emily Mortimer as The Bolter

Its not that my childhood was miserable (it wasnt) but her departure robbed me of my innocence. I learnt too early that nothing, not even a mothers love, could be taken for granted.

I once asked her how she could have left her two small children. She looked confused that I would even ask such a question, answering: I had no choice, darling.

At the time I thought the answer was a cop-out. Of course she had a choice. I knew that nothing, not even George Clooney on bended knee, would make me leave my children.

I was never going to let my kids down. But now I am older, my mother has been dead for eight years and my children are grown up, I am beginning to understand why she bolted.

She, after all, grew up during the War and was separated from her own mother for two years. Later, she went to boarding school.

She went to university, married and had a baby, then realised she was unhappy. Plus she had grown up in a generation where motherhood was not the religion it is now  in well-to-do families, children were raised by nannies and sent to boarding school when they were seven.

Unthinkable as it would seem now, a whole generation of children were sent away from their mothers as evacuees during World War II.

So when it came to her own pursuit of love, my mother didnt think about her children. She put her own happiness first.

Its a choice, after all, that men make all the time. But somehow fathers who leave their children arent called Bolters. And if they do leave for a younger model, they can always start a new family to replace the one they abandoned.

Like The Bolter in The Pursuit Of Love, my mother was slightly uneasy about having a grown-up daughter. I had my first child when she could still easily pass for 45, and it took her a long time to reconcile herself to being a granny.

But later my kids thought their grandmother, who lived in a converted brewers house in Brick Lane and plied them with red wine and roll-ups, was pretty cool. And, in many ways, they were right.

From this distance I can admire my mothers courage  it takes guts to start again not once but twice, and she did it all without taking any money from a man.

I also have to admire her refusal to be bogged down by guilt. Never apologise, never explain was her motto, and there is a lot to be said for that.

My mother didnt waste time baking cakes for the school fair, she didnt agonise about spending too much time at work, she just got on with it.

And I envy her for that insouciance; I have done my best to be the mother I never had for my children. I have never missed a parents evening, I know the names of all my childrens friends and I have never forgotten their birthdays.

But am I really a better mother? I wonder. Its quite possible that one day my children will be as resentful of my brand of Waitrose parenting (I have been known to send food deliveries to my daughter at university) as I have been of my mothers absence.

Being too attentive to your children, always being there to catch them when they fall, not allowing them to make their own mistakes, can be just as damaging as not being there at all.

Yes, I grew up with the insecurity of knowing that nothing was certain, but it also gave me a resilience and determination that I value.

By wrapping my children in a cocoon of protection, I wonder if I have really done them any favours  in the end I suspect that children, like house plants, benefit from benign neglect.

And when it comes down to it, even if my mother was a Bolter, when I think of comfort, I think of sitting in her kitchen, eating her food and listening to her talk. I still miss her every day. She always left me wanting more.
Relative of Meghan Markle says she 'won't ever talk to her family again' because she acts like she is 'in a different social class' and like she 'is above them and where she came from'
This week, Tom goes wild and freshly foraged at a newly opened Central London restaurant

The ethos of Native at Browns is sustainable and innovative, says chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes

It didnt start well. The place was covered in dust sheets, and silent as a morgue. I mean, Im all for ironically disguised pop-ups and artfully hidden speakeasies, but as I wandered through Browns hotel, my footsteps echoing balefully in the empty gloom, the joke began to wear a little thin.

Can I help you, sir? A smartly dressed man materialises from nowhere, his clipped, polite tone barely disguising the fact that no, the new Native, formerly of Southwark Street and Osea Island, Maldon  the place where the hyper-seasonal and freshly foraged meets the splendidly sustainable  was very much not to be found within Browns Hotel Mayfair and no, sir, he had no idea where it may be.

So I call my friend Grace who shrieks with laughter and tells me to trot across Mayfair to Browns, the clothes place. A few minutes later, I find myself in a rus in urbe courtyard, armed with a glass of rose, and thrown into a merry discussion of life, death and Lidl ham. The food, which Id expected to be hair-shirted and worthy, is anything but. Flavours sashay and swagger, bold and confident as a Regency dandy, but stop short of showing off. Chef and co-proprietor Ivan Tisdall-Downes understands the importance of acidity and balance.

Briny Maldon oysters come with the most sharply elegant of elderflower vinegars. And a burnished waffle, made from fermented potato (and yes, fermentation is big here, but always subtle rather than bullishly minging), is spread lasciviously with a lustrous parfait, topped with a tart film of apple jelly. Smacked cucumbers, flecked with specks of chilli, throb with the low, vinegared hum of fermented brown crab. Cob nuts provide a particularly English crunch.

Theres a blissfully inspired take on a Filet-O-Fish, all batter-encased sweet, white virginal flesh, soft brioche and bosky crustacean rarebit. Oh, and the mutton, spiced with hogseed, whatever that may be, is truly magnificent. Then, for pudding, a marrowmel made with bone marrow and white chocolate, that should be vile and is, in fact, rich and resplendently lovely. Some of the ingredients may be a little obscure (although none the worse for it), but this is cooking to make the sap rise, the soul sing and flood the heart with spring-foraged joy.

About 50 per head. Native at Browns, 39 Brook Street, London W1; brownsfashion.com/uk

Drinks: Ollys Italian whites

Almost every corner of Italy has a wine style. Why stick with Prosecco and Pinot Grigio when there are so many unique gems to choose? From Alpine vineyards to the coast, the landscape reflects diverse local grape varieties such as Falanghina and little-known Ribolla Gialla. Both should be top of your shopping list for summery aperitifs. With a staggering number of local grape varieties, Italys white wine range is epic.

Gavi di Gavi by Roberto Sarotto 2019 (12.5%), 13.95, bbr.com. Citrus sherbet! Pristine and perfect, a classy, lively and mineral-pure drop.

Tibaldi Favorita Langhe 2019 (13%), 14.70, tanners-wines.co.uk. Peach-blossom scent, dazzling and delicious full-flavoured white with finesse.

Falanghina Feudi di San Gregorio (13%), 15.95, winedirect.co.uk. Lightly exotic and scented with lean purity: a lemon chiselled from a diamond.

Friulano Livio Felluga 2019 (13%), 28, highburyvintners.co.uk. Top-notch peachy white with brilliant freshness and gorgeous layers. A delicious treat.
We are forever being told about the limitless benefits of regular exercise: of gaining strength; of making the blood pump round our bodies; of building fitness levels. But what if we could apply the same rules to our minds?

What if the principles we use to keep our bodies shipshape could also maintain our mental health? Well, it seems they can, according to psychotherapist and mental health consultant Zoe Aston, whose book Your Mental Health Workout: A 5 Week Programme to a Healthier, Happier Mind* has been published this week. As a child Zoe was bullied, suffered from a debilitating eating disorder and self-harmed. While she was lucky enough to be able to access professional help, she wonders what might have happened if she hadnt. Now, as a mental health professional, she is passionate about taking therapy out of the therapy room, as she puts it, and equipping people with the right mental health tools to use at home.

Zoe is not knocking professional help, but thinks that we all need a mental health toolkit in our back pocket. She believes (as do I) that we should be taught the basics of good mental wellbeing in school. I want to supply the kit and skills required to cope with difficult life transitions, to understand and adjust to unhelpful or self-destructive behaviours. I want to make your mind a happier place, she says.

Some self-help books can be a daunting, confusing and thoroughly uninspiring read. However, Zoe has brilliantly structured hers like a workout plan after it dawned on her that there was a parallel between the exercises she was doing in the gym, and the internal work she had done on herself. She realised that both physical and mental plans require commitment, consistency and responsibility in order to gain results.

Zoe believes we should be flexing our mind muscles daily if we want to stay on top of our mental health, just as we plan fitness or keep a tally on our five a day. Your Mental Health Workout is therefore an easy, actionable five-week plan designed for anyone, no matter your age or state of mental health.

Zoe stresses that you dont have to be in dire straits in order to try it: Some people might live their entire lives feeling a little bit anxious, she says. This is as much for them as it is for someone feeling mentally ill and is perfect for anyone feeling below par post-pandemic.

Zoes programme (see below) features a mental warm-up, followed by four weekly workouts (therapy, social events, exercise and self-care) and four daily workouts (mindfulness, connection, appreciation and movement). Theres a worksheet to keep you on track with your goals  all it takes (like any exercise plan) is some commitment. But just like a 30-day plank challenge or Couch to 5k, if you do commit results are guaranteed.

How to train your brain...

...with psychotherapist Zoe Astons six-step mental-fitness plan

1 Set Goals

As with any exercise plan, donning your gym kit will only get you so far  you have to work out to notice change.

To keep you motivated, Zoe suggests setting mental health targets. When we set goals we ignite hope, which in turn helps build psychological resilience. Think of it like your recovery period: how you bounce back when youre tired or burnt out, says Zoe.

2 Warm Up

As with any type of exercise, Zoe suggests warming up the mind muscles first. The main muscles that need activating are your self-esteem [like your core stability], she says. And your boundaries and vulnerability [your psychological range of motion]. Zoe then prescribes exercises to help us check in with ourselves daily. One way is looking in the mirror and describing what you see. Nothing is more important than how you feel and think about yourself, she says.

3 Weekly Workouts

These will get your major mental muscle groups moving. Find a therapeutic space Just as you would go to a personal trainer for fitness, when it comes to mental health Zoe suggests you have a place to go to or someone who can help you to help yourself.

Attend social events Zoe believes that socialising helps you to heal and take good care of your mental health. Social interaction can act like a diagnostic tool or gauge as to how you feel. Its important even if youre socially anxious.

Plan physical exercise We feel much better after an endorphin-fuelled body workout. Zoe suggests a minimum of 30 minutes of physical exercise three times a week, plus mindfulness exercises associated with movement, and asks us to check in on how we feel about our bodies when moving.

Practise self-care This fills you up with vitality and progresses your psychological stamina, says Zoe, who is a radical self-care advocate. She says many people have a block about taking care of themselves. Identify the things that make you feel good (and are good for you) and plan them into your week.

4 Daily Workouts

These smaller movements create definition and contentment.

Mindfulness This is about accepting the moment exactly for what it is without judgment and Zoe likens it to hydrating post-exercise because it refreshes us. In her book, she includes a dedicated mindfulness workout to help recognise those unwanted thoughts.

Connection Its vital we connect with ourselves and others. Ask yourself daily, How are you feeling?; keep a journal of your thoughts; look into your eyes and touch your body in a loving way (eg, self-massage).

Appreciation For this workout, write down three things you are grateful for and choose a positive affirmation to repeat three times a day. This exercise forces us to recognise the small joys we may have overlooked.

Movement Your head is very much part of your body, says Zoe, who invites us to move naturally (rather than formally in a gym). Dance to music or take a walk  anything goes, but its important as a form of release.

5 Physio for the soul

Zoe can help you identify your feelings and to understand that they are our mental health muscles. Check in with your emotions (eg, fear, guilt, shame) to discover what they are trying to tell you about what to do next.

6 Learn to go with your flow

It is likely, says Zoe, that at some point in our lives we will all experience feelings of anxiety, depression, obsession and self-sabotage. In this final section, she offers advice on how we can self-soothe, face our feelings and reconnect with them.

@susannahtaylor_

Need a running repair?

Online searches for running injuries have soared in the past year as people take up the sport**. Olympic athlete Ross Murray and physiotherapist Richmond Stace have these tips for keeping pain at bay

Ankle support for runners: searches up 250%

Supports only mask the issue, says Ross. His advice is to strengthen with 10-15 minute foot and ankle circuits three to four times a week, including balance exercises, calf raises and static/dynamic postures.

Sore achilles after running: searches up 250%

This means youre training too hard, says Ross. Cut back your running by 15 per cent until it doesnt hurt. Then increase the intensity on a bi-weekly basis by five to ten per cent.

How to help Shin splints: searches up 600%

There are many reasons for shin splints, says Richmond. Is training too intense? A lack of recovery time? The wrong running shoes, stress, ill health and poor sleep are all factors.

Lower back pain after running: searches up 200%

Richmond recommends regular daily movement if sedentary, cool downs, stretches and simple movements such as lumbar rolls, knees to chest and roll-downs after exercising.

Sore knee from running: searches up 400%

A good recovery programme includes stretching, range-of- movement exercises such as knee circles and strength training, says Richmond. Once better, he recommends a graded return to running.
Taurus 21 April-21 May The Sun in your birth sign this week makes a perfect aspect to Pluto, planet of power, so there will be no holding you back. The only danger is that you will take on too many things and wont be able to give your best to what is most important. CALL 0904 470 1162*

Gemini 22 May-21 June You will be under no illusions about what needs to be done this week. With luck youll also realise that there are no short cuts and what youre working on demands your very best efforts and undivided attention. The rewards should be considerable. CALL 0904 470 1163*

Cancer 22 June-23 July Something you do this week will turn heads and set tongues wagging. Youll love every moment of it but take care not to neglect friends and relatives who have stood by you during the bad times. Make sure they get some of the attention, too. CALL 0904 470 1164*

Leo 24 July-23 Aug With the Sun, your ruler, focusing on your professional and personal reputation, linked to power planet Pluto you can take great strides at work this week. Employers and other Very Important People will be on your side. You might soon be a VIP yourself. CALL 0904 470 1165*

Virgo 24 Aug-23 Sept If you demand the best you will get it this week. With the Sun linked to Pluto, planet of power, others will run to grant your requests. Will you abuse your new popularity? Most likely, but what is the point of being top dog if you cant lord it from time to time? CALL 0904 470 1166*

Libra 24 Sept-23 Oct The pressure will be on this week but it is nothing you cannot handle. On the contrary, youll make such a success of what you are doing that you will be showered with praise, even by those who, in the past, have openly doubted your abilities. CALL 0904 470 1167*

Scorpio 24 Oct-22 Nov Some of the changes taking place around you are worrying to say the least. However, the planets indicate that no matter how great the upheavals you have nothing to fear. In fact, you have plenty to look forward to. It is time to let go of the past. CALL 0904 470 1168*

Sagittarius 23 Nov-21 Dec A stunning Sun-Pluto aspect means there is no limit to how much you can do. When it comes to work and money matters this is the ideal time to push yourself just a little bit harder as the extra effort will pay off in a big way in the weeks to come. CALL 0904 470 1169*

Capricorn 22 Dec-20 Jan Romantically and creatively the sky is the limit this week. Pluto in your birth sign gives you such self-confidence that youll truly believe anything is possible. At other times that attitude might lead to disaster but now it will lead only to great success. CALL 0904 470 1170*

Aquarius 21 Jan-19 Feb Dont let your emotions get the better of you this week as once you start to lose your temper you wont be able to stop and there is no telling how much damage may be done. Tell yourself that whatever is annoying you is not worth getting upset about. CALL 0904 470 1171*

Pisces 20 Feb-20 March You will want to be on the move this week. You will know instinctively that you will accomplish more in the long term if you meet as many new people as possible. Dont wait for opportunity to come knocking  rap on a few doors yourself. CALL 0904 470 1172*

Aries 21 March-20 April If you know what you want and where to find it there is a good chance youll make it your own this week. Employers and other people in authority will assist you in any way they can but they wont be able to help you if you dont know what you need. CALL 0904 470 1161*

To discover more about yourself, visit sallybrompton.com

For a fuller weekly forecast, call the number next to your star sign, above. Calls cost 65p per minute plus your telephone companys network access charge and will last no longer than 6 minutes. SP: DMG Mobile & TV. Helpline: 0330 100 0601.
Aussie tradies can buy a brand new ute and claim it on tax to get a much more generous than usual refund.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday night announced the instant asset write-off scheme would be extended until June 2023, adding another year to the time limit announced in the October 2020 pandemic Budget.

'Over 99 per cent of businesses, employing over 11million workers, can write off the full value of any eligible asset they purchase,' he told Parliament.

'Tonight, we again go further, announcing the extension of these measures for a further year until 30 June 2023, so a tradie can buy a new ute, a farmer a new harvester and a manufacturer expand their production line.'

Aussie tradies can buy a brand new ute and claim it on tax to get a much more generous than usual refund

What is the instant asset write-off? The initial instant asset write-off, announced in the October 2020 Budget, allowed businesses to buy assets worth up to $150,000 and claim it on tax The program, officially known as 'temporary full expensing' has been extended to June 2023 A business can claim an expense like car - worth up to $59,136- over one financial year rather than eight Advertisement

Before the instant asset write-off scheme debuted late last year, a tradie buying a $40,000 Ford Ranger had to claim the price of the ute against their income tax over eight years.

Under this scheme, officially known as the 'temporary full expensing', a plumber or carpenter can claim the deduction against their income in one hit.

Tax agent H&R Block's director of tax communications Mark Chapman said that meant a business owner who made a $200,000 annual profit, could buy a $40,000 ute and thereby reduce their taxable earnings to $160,000.

Compared to the old system of only being to deduct $5,000 per year for eight years, the new instant asset write-off would leave the claimant $35,000 better off.

There is a cap on the claimable amount - business owners can only claim a deduction for a car worth up to $59,136 before GST, and that does include delivery vans and motorbikes.

For assets other than cars, the threshold is $150,000.

Before the instant asset write-off scheme debuted late last year, a tradie buying a $40,000 Ford Ranger had to claim the price of the ute against their income tax over eight years. Now it can be spread of just one year

But there is now no limit on the overall total cost of assets that can be claimed.

The instant asset write-off can be used on a wide range of assets, from new tables and chairs for cafe owners to laptops for accountants, along with EFTPOS machines, tools and equipment.

Accountant Ben Johnston, the director of Johnston Advisory, said small business owners needed to realise they weren't entitled to a refund of the purchase price of a new asset, but rather the purchase price is deducted from their taxable income.

'They assume that they go and spend $40,000 on a ute and it wipes $40,000 off their tax bill - it doesn't,' Mr Johnston told Daily Mail Australia.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Tuesday night announced the instant asset write-off scheme would be extended until June 2023, adding another year to the time limit announced in the October 2020 pandemic Budget. He is pictured on Wednesday the day after

'All the car yards and the big retailers, they have these massive, big marketing campaigns that focus on the instant asset write-off that confuse people into thinking that they're getting dollar-for-dollar savings with what they spend.'

Mr Johnston warned that the asset write-off should not trigger plumbers or carpenters to splurge on new utes for the sake of it.

'If you need that equipment, it's brilliant. I just don't think it's enticing enough to incur expenditure that you didn't need to,' he said.

Businesses that will make a loss in this financial year clearly won't have a taxable income to deduct against, but under the extended loss carry-back provisions announced in Tuesday's Budget they can retrospectively claim it against a pre-Covid profit.

Struggling businesses that made a loss in 2022 will be able claim that against the profits they made in the years before the pandemic

That means that losses made up to 2022-23 can be offset against the taxes paid on profits in the 2018-19 financial year.

While some employees might look at these provisions and think they can cash in by setting up a company and getting paid as a 'consultant' rather than a standard wage-earner, Mr Johnston said they should think again.

'It would be very, very dangerous doing that because it triggers a whole series of other rules such as personal services income,' he said.

'It opens up a can of worms in terms of workers' compensation, superannuation guarantee charges - the ATO's got a real focus on people that are trying to be contractors but are really employees.

'It would be a massive no no - it's a big don't.'
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Residents in a tiny drought-ravaged outback town who had to hold their breath when they showered because their water smelled so foul are basking in clean, fresh water since the New South Wales floods.

Remarkable photos show how formerly barren landscapes, nearly impossible to use for farming, wound up suffering horrendous floods which saw dozens lose their homes - but for some areas there was a bright side to the devastation.

Kathy Barnes, Shindys Inn publican at Louth, a town of just 40 people near the start of the Darling River, south-west of Bourke told Daily Mail Australia the rains broke the drought and dramatically improved life for people in the town.

They are now enjoying clean showers for the first time in years.

An aerial photo of the Darling River facing downstream from Dunlop Station near Louth, in outback NSW, shows the dry river bed in January 2019 (pictured top) compared with a photo of the same stretch of river on May 10, 2021 after floodwaters arrived (below). Some residents Louth residents see the muddy waters as 'gold' for their town

'We've got clean water and it's just beautiful,' Ms Barnes said.

An estimated 81,900 gigalitres fell on New South Wales in March - the equivalent of 160 Sydney Harbours.

Around 1,300 gigalitres made it as far as Bourke and was flowing beyond towards Menindee.

Louth brothers Justin and Bayley Bruce build a tepee by the Darling River (pictured, top) on April 5, 2020, while the same spot 13 months later is completely underwater in the photo taken on May 9, 2021 after NSW floodwaters arrived

As the huge amounts of water headed through the river system they end up back in places like Louth, which is 858km north west of Sydney via Dubbo and 99km south west of Bourke.

The town barely sees any rainfall and endures temperatures into the high 30s and 40s celsius. The record is 48.3 degrees.

As the floodwaters peaked around 10.2 metres at Louth and nearby Tilpa in late April, initially the waters were dirty, but gradually they cleared.

The tiny outback town of Louth is 850km from Sydney and 950km from Melbourne - and its residents are over the moon about finally having water

A chair is seen on the dry river bed of the Darling Barka river below the Louth Bridge in February 2020 in Louth (above), while 15 months later it's a very different scene

But even muddy water is considered clean compared to the water in the river during the drought.

When the river is dry, blue green algae grows in what water there is.

Because it is a bacteria, it smells, which made showering and washing clothes an unpleasant task.

A dog drinks from an algae-infested 'pothole' in Dunlop Station's weir in January 2019 (top), while the same area is pictured on May 10 (below)

'You'd have to go really fast and try not to smell,' she says.

'People in the city turn the tap on and out comes clear water, you're very lucky. You'd probably riot if you had to deal with the water we have.'

'Out here we dont have that luxury - water here is more valuable than gold.'

Ms Barnes said 18 months ago the river has bone dry, save for water collecting in a few potholes.

'A few months ago the river was under 2m, now it's around nine metres, it's just amazing, the difference it's made to everybody,' Ms Barnes says.

She knows the levels will drop unless more rains come, and although she'd like to to see it stay at six metres she knows that won't happen.

'It's dropped a metre in the last few days.'

'The heavy rain we saw in the northern Basin in late March has provided welcome flows after a long drought and rejuvenated river communities,' Matt Coleman, Murray Darling Basin Authority's Director of Basin Strategy and Knowledge told Daily Mail Australia.

This image of the Darling River facing upstream at Louth in February, 2020 shows a dry river bed looking more like a dirt road. On May 9, 2021 (pictured below) it's a very different scene

The rains would mean a return to better health for the river system.

'The health of the river environment will be improving thanks to waterways reconnecting with the floodplain and delivering water right through the system to the Menindee Lakes  connecting the northern and southern Basin,' mr Coleman said.

'The northern Basin typically experiences a boom-bust cycle of floods and droughts, and it can take many years for the river to fully recover from times of no-flow.'

Two boys play under the Louth Bridge, by the Darling River in February 2020 (top) and the same spot is pictured below in May, 2021 after floodwaters arrived at Louth

About 200km upstream, the Brewarrina Weir overflowed for the first time in years with the influx of water bringing back to life the heritage listed Aboriginal fish traps, also known as Baiame's Ngunnhu.

Further west, at Wilcannia out to Menindee Lakes, the floodwaters are still on their way.

Menindee Lakes are expected to fill for the first time in five years.
If you are a mainstream Democrat, you probably think the presidents agenda is moving in the right direction (though more programs to help the less affluent would always be welcomed). If you are a conservative, all you can see is more spending, more government programs and higher taxes on business, which, you think, will hurt economic growth.
The Australian founder of a company which has collapsed in a global financial disaster seemed destined to spend his working life as a sugar cane farmer in Queensland.

Now the billionaire might have to head back to the land after his $6billion business went bust, destroying dreams, ruining reputations and threatening tens of thousands of jobs.

Lex Greensill once strode the world stage and counted among his senior advisers former foreign minister Julie Bishop and onetime British prime minister David Cameron.

The 44-year-old was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles in 2017 for services to business.

The Australian founder of a company which has collapsed in a global financial disaster seemed destined to spend his working life as a sugar cane farmer in Queensland. Now Lex Greensill (pictured) might have to head back to the land after his $6billion business went bust

Lex Greensil was invested as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles in 2017 for services to business. He is pictured at Buckingham Palace with wife Vicky

Greensill lives with his doctor wife Vicky and their two children in an old vicarage (pictured) in the village of Saughall near Cheshire, about 300km north-west of London

Greensill has now grounded his fleet of four private jets and has little use for his suite of offices across the road from the Savoy Hotel in London.

The collapse of Greenhill Capital came quickly after global wealth manager Credit Suisse suspended $10billion of investment funds.

It is a swift fall for a man who said his business was motivated by his own farming family's financial struggles - sometimes waiting years to be paid by creditors.

Alexander David 'Lex' Greensill was born in Bundaberg where his parents grew sugar cane, sweet potato and melons and he was expected to follow them into the family business.

Instead, Greensill graduated from Kepnock State High School and studied law by correspondence through Queensland University of Technology.

He got a job as a clerk with a local solicitor, moved to Sydney and in 2011 he was off London where four years later he joined Morgan Stanley then Citigroup.

The collapse of Greenhill Capital came quickly after global wealth manager Credit Suisse suspended $10billion of investment funds. It is a swift fall for a man who said his business was motivated by his own family's financial struggles

Greensill has now grounded his fleet of four private jets and now has little use for his suite of offices across the road from the Savoy Hotel in London. He is pictured being invested as a Commander of the British Empire by Prince Charles

He served as a senior advisor to Cameron on 'supply chain finance' and had an office at 10 Downing Street. (He also once worked for US president Barack Obama).

Greensill had seen first-hand the impact late payments by retailers to his family and went out on his own in 2011, founding Greensill Capital, based in London.

The company specialised in providing small and medium-sized businesses access to so-called working capital finance to run their day-to-day operations.

This meant offering early payment to cover money due to be paid by bigger companies and government agencies.

Greenhill would charge the businesses seeking early payment a fee of about 1 per cent of the sum provided and it would be be paid in full by the suppliers' customers when the invoices were settled.

'We unlock capital so the world can put it to work,' its website stated. 'No other bank or financial services company has our passion and expertise.'

The company expanded quickly and Greensill Capital provided $143billion worth of finance to more than 10 million customers in 165 countries.

Greensill had seen first-hand the impact late payments by retailers to his family and went out on his own in 2011, founding Greensill Capital, based in London. A Gulfstream jet owned by Greensill Capital is pictured

The company expanded quickly and Greensill Capital provided $143billion worth of finance to more than 10 million customers in 165 countries. The interior of one of Lex Greensill's jets is pictured

Greensill had offices in Sydney, London, New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Singapore, Bogota and Bremen with more than 800 global employees.

'I had big dreams and I'm obviously thrilled but I would be lying if I said this was what I expected,' Mr Greensill told his local paper, the Bundaberg News-Mail, in 2019.

Greensill claimed blue-chip clients such as Airbus, Vodaphone and General Mills but 90 per cent of the company's revenue came from just five customers, according to documents tendered in a London court.

It has been reported more than half of Greensill's business came from British-Indian billionaire Sanjeev Gupta, whose businesses include a steelworks in South Australia's Whyalla.

In a speech at his old university in August 2019 Greensill said he had been driven by knowing how hard it was for farmers in regional Queensland to secure finance.

Two years ago Greensill spent $4.1 million to buy a three-level beachfront home at Bargara near Bundaberg called The Glass House', setting a new real estate price record for the region

'At all times my feet are still on the red soil ground of Bundaberg... farming teaches you humility and that keeps it real,' Lex Greensill told a Queensland University of Technology audience. His home near Bundaberg is pictured

He told that audience how he still got back behind the wheel of a sugar cane harvester 18 hours after meeting a bank boss in Tokyo.



'At all times my feet are still on the red soil ground of Bundaberg... farming teaches you humility and that keeps it real,' he said.

'My only claim to fame is that I'm the only boy from Bundaberg ever to have an office at number 10 Downing Street.'

That same year Greensill spent $4.1 million to buy a three-level beachfront home at Bargara near Bundaberg called The Glass House', setting a new real estate price record for the region.

In October last year, Greensill talked of selling a 'small stake' in his company for hundreds of millions of dollars - suggesting it was worth more than $6billion.

By early 2021 Greensill Capital was on the verge of bankruptcy and its German subsidiary was closed on March 3 by the country's financial regulatory authority.

Lex Greensill once strode the world stage and counted among his senior advisers former foreign minister Julie Bishop (right) and onetime British prime minister David Cameron (left)

Later in March the company revealed it was in 'severe financial distress' and unable to repay a $140million loan to global wealth Credit Suisse, which froze $10billion in funds.

Greensill Capital filed for insolvency protection on March 8 and has since come under legal and parliamentary scrutiny.



Lex Greensill has taken full responsibility for the collapse of his finance group ahead of being questioned by British lawmakers.

'I bear complete responsibility for the collapse of Greensill Capital,' he said in a video statement.

Greensill has also said a decision by the company's leading insurer Tokio Marine to withdraw cover ultimately led to the group's failure.

Finance house Athene Holding Ltd has looked at what remains of Greensill and offered just $60million for its computer systems and intellectual property.

Forensic accountant Stephen Clapham told Bloomberg he had examined some of Greensill's packaged loans and was unimpressed.

In 2018 Greenill told the Australian Financial Review that he was 'still a farmer at heart.' 'Bundaberg is my home,' he said. 'It's where I came from, and I visited there about eight times last year with my wife'

'There were red flags everywhere,' he said. 'If I were a professional investor, it would literally take me five minutes to decide that this was uninvestable.'

Cameron, who became an adviser to Greensill in 2018, has become embroiled in the disaster, giving evidence before two British parliamentary committees about his involvement in the company.

The Treasury Committee has released dozens of texts and emails Cameron sent to ministers and senior officials appealing for help in gaining access for Greensill to Covid-19 support programmes.

Greensill lives with his doctor wife Vicky and their two children in an old vicarage in the village of Saughall near Cheshire, about 300km north-west of London.

Fortunately, Greenhill's two brothers still run the 3,000 hectare family farming operation across four properties.

In 2018 Greenill told the Australian Financial Review that he was 'still a farmer at heart.'

'Bundaberg is my home,' he said. 'It's where I came from, and I visited there about eight times last year with my wife.

'I'm a farmer at heart. Whenever I'm home I jump on a tractor and have a play. I don't think of myself as a corporate titan.' And now he's not.
A vital gasoline pipeline that dried up after being hacked earlier this week has resumed normal operations - although many gas stations it serves are still out of fuel.

Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline had begun the process of restarting the pipeline's operations on Wednesday evening, warning it could take several days for the supply chain to return to normal. A spokesman for the energy supplier says normal operations have now resumed.

However, 79% of gas stations in Washington D.C. are still out of fuel along with 37% in Virginia and 35% in Maryland, Gas Buddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan told Fox Business on Saturday.

The outlet noted that conditions appear to be improving as D.C. previously had 88% of its gas stations without fuel - while panic buying appears to have also slowed. Shortages also eased in North Carolina and Virginia, while remaining about the same in Georgia.

Colonial Pipeline had paid 75 Bitcoin, or about $5million, to a ransomware group based in Russia for the decryption key after their network was held ransom, Bloomberg News reported.

'Since that time, we have returned the system to normal operations, delivering millions of gallons per hour to the markets we serve,' Colonial Pipeline said in a tweet Saturday.

A sign is seen as Exxon station is out of gas after a cyberattack crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, run by Colonial Pipeline, in Washington

A person fills their car with gas as people queue at a Shell gas station, after a cyberattack crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, run by Colonial Pipeline, in Washington, D.C.

An Exxon station is seen out of gas after a cyberattack crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, run by Colonial Pipeline, in Washington on Saturday

A pump reads out of order with no gasoline at a gas station in Bethesda, Maryland

A man drives through an Exxon station which is out of gas after a cyberattack crippled the biggest fuel pipeline in the country, run by Colonial Pipeline

Those markets include Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

'All of these markets are now receiving product from our pipeline,' the company said, noting how its employees across the pipeline 'worked safely and tirelessly around the clock to get our lines up and running.'

Gas shortages, which spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., have been improving supplies slumped to their lowest levels on Thursday night.

More than 13,400 gas stations surveyed in the east and south by fuel tracking app GasBuddy were still experiencing outages on Saturday, down from 16,200 early on Friday.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told The Associated Press on Friday that the nation is 'over the hump' on gas shortages, with about 200 stations returning to service every hour.

'Its still going to work its way through the system over the next few days, but we should be back to normal fairly soon,' she said.

A pump at a gas station in Silver Spring, Maryland, is out of service, notifying customers they are out of fuel on Thursday

Some stations were still out of gas in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Saturday. Driver Jermaine Barnes told CBS17 the shortage has made him more conservative with his trips.

'I'm not going places I dont need to go,' he said. 'I'm not visiting people. I'm watching where Im driving. Im doing everything different right now.'

Martha Meade, manager for public and government relations at AAA Mid-Atlantic, said many gas stations in the Virginia area still did not have gas on Saturday.

But she said 'lines have diminished from the height of the crisis' and 'panic buying has subsided.'

The nationwide average for a gallon of regular unleaded was $3.04 on Saturday, from $2.96 a week ago, according to AAA.

The pipeline outage accelerated increases in gasoline prices that were 'already rising due to higher crude prices and demand ahead of Memorial Day,' said AAA spokeswoman Ellen Edmonds, referring to the May 31 holiday that traditionally kicks off the U.S. summer driving season.

Places served by the pipeline saw the biggest price jumps this week - 9 cents in D.C. and 21 cents in North Carolina - but they should also see prices decline again as supplies improve, Edmonds said.

Multiple sources confirmed to Associated Press that Colonial Pipeline paid the criminals behind the cyberattack the nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency last Saturday for the software decryption key required to unscramble the data network.

The hacking group blamed for the attack, DarkSide, said it had hacked four other companies, including a Toshiba subsidiary in Germany.

Colonial Pipeline has not determined how the initial breach occurred, a spokeswoman said this week.

The pipeline system delivers about 45% of the gasoline consumed on the East Coast.

Steve Boyd, a senior managing director at fuel delivery firm Sun Coast Resources, estimated that with gasoline moving on the pipeline at half Colonial's normal speed, it could take 12 to 20 days for new deliveries to reach the northern-most point in Linden, New Jersey.

Sun Coast has 75 trucks taking supplies from terminals in Alabama and Georgia to retailers as far away as Virginia.

'If customers need us for another week or three weeks, we'll be there,' said Boyd.
Starbucks and Walt Disney World are the latest major companies to allow fully vaccinated customers to take off their masks - unless local or state regulations say otherwise.

The announcement follows Friday's news that Trader Joe's, Walmart and Costco are doing the same thing.

Starbucks said in a statement on its website Friday that masks are optional for fully vaccinated customers starting Monday.

Walt Disney World's change took effect Saturday. On its website, Disney World said masks are optional in 'outdoor common areas' but are still required for all attractions.

Neither company has indicated that guests will need to show proof of vaccination to be allowed to go maskless, with Starbucks saying its bathrooms would also remain shuttered for the time being.

Trader Joe's, Walmart and Costco's mask-wearing policy changes for customers already went into effect.

Vaccinated Walmart workers can stop wearing them on May 18, and the company offering workers $75 to get vaccinated.

Starbucks said in a statement on its website Friday that masks are optional for fully vaccinated customers starting Monday

Walt Disney World said on its website that masks are optional in 'outdoor common areas' but are still required for all attractions.

A woman and two children wear masks at a Piggy Wiggly supermarket in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin on May 15. Many businesses have now lifted rules ordering customers to mask up +

New Yorkers - many of them maskless - enjoy Central Park on May 15. The CDC says vaccinated adults can now go mask-free outdoors, as well as in many indoor spaces

Tulip Festival participants pictured maskless in Orange City, Iowa, on Saturday

Racing fans at the Preakness in Baltimore went mask-free on May 15. Spectator numbers were capped at 10,000 - a far cry from the 100,000 who usually attend

Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers attend a 'World Wide Rally for Freedom' in Concord, New Hampshire, on Saturday

Fans crushed into Houston's Minute Maid Park on Saturday to watch the Texas Rangers play the Houston Astros. The Lone Star State has lifted all COVID-19-related rules

One racegoer at the Preakness kept her mask on - but her three friends all decided to go bare-faced for a photo

A Walmart customer in Derry, New Hampshire in November 2020. The store announced it was lifting its rule saying customers must wear masks while shopping

A Costco store in Washington DC. The wholesaler has lifted its rule on masks, with vaccinated shoppers allowed to peruse its aisles bare-faced

A Trader Joe's shopper in New York in August 2020. TJ's has also lifted its mask rule - although customers must still cover up in individual states or counties with ongoing mask mandates

John Bechtold puts his face covering on as he passes his storefront sign that lists COVID-19 protective covering required to enter in his shop on Friday in Pittsburgh's South Side

A customer exits a corner market while wearing a protective mask in the SoHo neighborhood of the Manhattan

In half the states of the country, nothing will change. 14 states had already lifted their mask mandates, and 11 never had them in the first place

Both Costco and Trader Joe's said they would not require proof of vaccination, but employees at the grocery chain will still need to cover their faces.

Workers will need to answer 'yes' to a vaccination question in a daily health assessment in order to go maskless, the company said in a memo to employees posted on its corporate website.

'Integrity is one of our core values, and we trust that associates will respect that principle when answering,' the Walmart memo states. To get the bonus, workers will have to show their original vaccination certificate.

Walmart was one of the first retailers to mandate masks last July. Its move to allow vaccinated shoppers and workers to not wear masks could lead other chains to follow suit.

Tourists, some without face masks, walk the National Mall in Washington, DC on May 14

A group of young men are seen without face masks sitting in Washington Square Park, New York on May 13

Anni Bacchus joins coworkers from Atlanta Eats at a lunch on the Atlanta Beltline on Friday. The group said they were only sitting so close together because the CDC updated their mask guidelines for COVID-19 vaccinated people

People visiting the Santa Monica Pier wearing masks on Friday in Santa Monica

A number of visitors to the Santa Monica Pier were spotted wearing face masks on Friday

But several major chains, including CVS, Home Depot, Macy's and supermarket giant Kroger Co., said they are still requiring masks in stores for the time being, though some said they are reviewing their policies.

More than a dozen states quickly embraced new federal guidelines that say fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most cases.

But other states and cities and some major businesses hesitated amid doubts about whether the approach is safe or even workable.

As many business owners pointed out, there is no easy way to determine who has been vaccinated and who hasn't.

Industry leaders have warned of the potential for confusion and hard feelings among customers because of the varying rules from place to place. Even in states that have dropped mask mandates, stores and other businesses can still require face coverings if they want.

Plenty of people were still wearing masks along the Santa Monica Pier on May 14

Servers and diners in Santa Monica must still mask up. They're pictured on the famous promenade on May 14

The CDC's recommendations are non-binding, and actual policy is left for the relevant local authorities or employers to decide which means those in Santa Monica, pictured, must still wear masks

New guidelines, issued Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, essentially work on the honor system, leaving it up to people to do the right thing.

The CDC's recommendations are non-binding, and actual policy is left for the relevant local authorities or employers to decide.

It also doesn't apply to planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation, or to medical settings such as hospitals.

The situation has left CEOs and local officials caught in a dilemma -- whether to follow the scientific recommendations right away, or make sure people are comfortable with it.

Labor groups and others warned that employees at stores, restaurants, bars and other businesses could be left exposed to the coronavirus from customers and could be forced into the unwanted role of 'vaccination police.'

The City of Santa Monica has strict requirements for people to wear face coverings along with penalties for those who do not wear them when required

In Malvern, Pennsylvania, owner Sean Weinberg took down the mask signs Friday at Restaurant Alba, which he runs with his wife. He also emailed his employees to let them know they can forgo masks at work if they are fully vaccinated.

'Its just a headache we dont want to have to fight any more,' Weinberg said.

Half the states had mask requirements in place for most indoor spaces when the CDC issued its recommendations amid tumbling cases and rising vaccination rates.

Nearly 47% of the U.S. population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and cases have dropped to their lowest level since last September, at an average of about 35,000 a day.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted in making the announcement that the vaccine has proved powerfully effective in preventing serious COVID-19 illness.

Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Ohio, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kentucky, Washington, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado and Rhode Island announced plans to fall in line with the CDC guidance either immediately or in the coming weeks. Some cities, including New Orleans and Anchorage, did the same.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown said the new approach makes clear that vaccines are the fastest way to get back to doing the things 'we all love.'

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear called the guidance a 'game-changer.' And Washington Governor Jay Inslee said the change is 'a heck of a benefit.'

Other states, such as California, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Hawaii and Massachusetts, and cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul kept mask rules in place for the time being.

'We're frankly not there yet,' New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said.

Hawaii Governor David Ige said, 'We are unable to determine who is vaccinated and who is not vaccinated. The best mitigation measure is for everyone to wear a mask.'

Confusion over the guidance extended to the White House, where press secretary Jen Psaki said, 'I think we're still figuring out how to implement it.'

The CDC and the Biden administration had faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people in part to highlight the benefits of the shots and motivate other people to get inoculated.

Although no longer required outside, a sign advises visitors to wear masks at the Denver Zoo in Denver, Colorado, on May 13

Restaurant workers in places where mask mandates remain are finding themselves caught in the middle, said Jot Condie, the president of the California Restaurant Association. He said his phone has been 'blowing up' with reports of increasingly belligerent customers.

'The person who is not wearing a mask will say, @My president just told me that the CDC just issued guidance and Ive been vaccinated and Im not going to wear a mask,''he said.

Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said owners are concerned about being put in a difficult position.

'They're like, OK, now I have to deal with the honor system, hoping that that person that told me theyre totally vaccinated' is telling the truth, Dolch said.

The CDC announcement sent airline stocks soaring, though the guidance still calls for masks in crowded indoor settings such as planes, buses, trains, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, and says people should obey all local and state regulations.

A hild wears a mask while looking out the window of a beachfront restaurant in Santa Monica, Calif. A number of states immediately embraced new guidelines from the CDC that say fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks indoors or out in most situations

Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson, South Dakotas lone congressman, marked the announcement by sharing a video demonstrating how cast-off masks can now be used for things like suit pocket handkerchiefs, bookmarks or beer cozies.

'It seems too wasteful to just throw them away,' he said. 'I think Ill have my mother make them into a quilt.'

Shelby Lofton, a reporter for WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, tweeted: 'So, I guess Ill start wearing lipstick again. Also need to work on my poker face.'

In Detroit, a fully vaccinated Christoph Cunningham, 28, wore a mask as he rode an electric scooter to a bar for lunch and said he agrees with the relaxed guidelines.

'I have confidence in the science behind it all,' said Cunningham, who runs a catering business. 'Ill eventually take my mask off more and more.'

Some states and some businesses are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Maskless people in Atlanta are pictured

A sign requiring a COVID-19 protective mask is required to enter is in front of Dee's Cafe, in Pittsburgh's South Side neighborhood

The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, said the 1.7 million-member union is still trying to sort out what the change means for schools. Many school districts already ditched mask requirements in recent weeks, as had many states and cities, as virus numbers fell.

That meant the CDC announcement didnt mean much in places like the tourist town of Branson, Missouri, which dropped its mandate early last month after several mask supporters were voted out of office.

'I think it just further supports the decision we made to lift the mask mandate,' said the town's new mayor, Larry Milton. 'It was dividing our community. We heard loud and clear from voters that they wanted the mask mandate repealed.'
Disgraced former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has had apples hurled at him by inmates a week after the convicted rapist was jailed.

Hayne, 33, remains holed up in Parklea Jail's maximum security wing as he undergoes a mandatory 14-day Covid-19 isolation period after he was recently sentenced to five years and nine months for raping a young woman in Newcastle in 2018.

Inmates at the western Sydney jail spotted the high-profile prisoner when he was moved from a medical clinic to a prison yard on Friday.

The fruit pelted through the steel mesh fence separating Hayne from the general prison population missed the intended target, a prison source told the Daily Telegraph.

Jarryd Hayne (right) pictured with his wife Amellia Bonnici at a court appearance in March has already sparked anger from inmates in his first week at Parklea Jail

'Hayne was put in a little yard which the clinic uses  far enough away from others, but still easy for other wings to see him, and know it's him,' the source told the publication.

'And all the crims threw their apples at him. Just cheap apples. Nothing fancy.'

Hayne has made no special request to remain segregated from other inmates, despite the incident, sources say.

NSW Corrective Services confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the incident did occur but declined to comment further.

Hayne is expected to be transferred to the medium security wing when his isolation period ends this Friday and will likely serve much of his sentence as a minimum security prisoner.

The two-time Dally M Medal winner has been formally classified as a 'special interest inmate', meaning only Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin can decide on his classification.

There is speculation Hayne may later be transferred to Cooma jail in the NSW Snowy Mountains which high-profile white collar criminals have called home.

Notable prisoners at Cooma include former police office and convicted murdered Roger Rogerson and disgraced businessman Salim Mehajer.

However, it's understood the assessment process to determine Hayne's next placement could take some time.

Hayne was being moved from a medical clinic to a prison yard when he had apples pelted at him by other inmates. Pictured is the prison yard at Parklea Jail's maximum security unit

Inmates from other units at Parklea spotted the high profile prisoner through the steel mesh fence and threw fruit at him . Pictured are the grounds within Parklea Jail

Hayne will spend a minimum three years eight months behind bars and won't be eligible for parole until early 2025.

Hayne's lawyers lodged papers with the New South Wales Supreme Court on May 7, the day after the disgraced former footy star spent his first night behind bars.

He has filed a Notice of Intention to Appeal with the state's highest court - the first step in his attempt to overturn the jail term.

Hayne's legal team have 12 months to launch a formal appeal.
Two half brothers wrongfully sent to death row have been awarded $75 million in damages after spending decades behind bars for the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case on Friday decided Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should received $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison, The News & Observer reported.

The eight person jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages.

Raleigh attorney Elliot Abrams said: 'The first jury to hear all of the evidence - including the wrongly suppressed evidence - found Henry and Leon to be innocent, found them to have been demonstrably and excruciatingly wronged, and has done what the law can do to make it right at this late date.'

Brothers McCollum and Brown have pursued the civil case against law enforcement members since 2015, arguing that their civil rights were violated during the interrogations that led to their convictions.

The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them over the death of Sabrina Buie.

'Ive got my freedom,' McCollum said. 'Theres still a lot of innocent people in prison today. And they dont deserve to be there.'

Two half brothers, Henry McCollum, left, and Leon Brown, right, wrongfully sent to death row have been awarded $75 million in damages after spending decades behind bars for the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl

The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them over the death of Sabrina Buie, pictured

Attorney Abrams was part of the brothers legal team, which issued a statement saying the decades-long wait 'for recognition of the grave injustice' inflicted on the two by law enforcement was over.

It added that 'a jury...has finally given Henry and Leon the ability to close this horrific chapter of their lives. They look forward to a brighter future surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones.'

The two men were teenagers when they were accused of the crime, which happened in Red Springs in Robeson County.

Attorneys for the men have said they were scared teenagers who had low IQs when they were questioned by police and coerced into confessing. McCollum was then 19, and Brown was 15. Both were convicted and sentenced to death.

Henry McCollum holds a framed copy of his pardon, left. McCollum was the state's longest serving death row inmate when he was released in 2014. Leon Brown speaks in 2014, right

1976 school photo of Henry McCollum. Attorneys for the men have said they were scared teenagers who had low IQs when they were questioned by police and coerced into confessing. McCollum was then 19, and Brown was 15. Both were convicted and sentenced to death

In a June 10, 1987 photo, Leon Brown sits in the day room of his Death Row cell block in Raleigh, NC's Central Prison

McCollum spent most of his 31 years in prison on death row, becoming North Carolinas longest-serving death row inmate.

Brown - who the newspaper reported suffers from mental health conditions related to his time in prison and requires full-time care - had his sentence later changed to life in prison.

On Friday, the Robeson County Sheriffs Office, one of the defendants, settled its part of the case for $9 million. The town of Red Springs, originally named in the civil suit, settled in 2017 for $1 million.

Friday's judgement came against former SBI agents Leroy Allen and Kenneth Snead, who were part of the original investigation.

Scott MacLatchie, the lead defense attorney for the SBI agents, attempted during his closing argument to cast doubt on the brothers innocence, the newspaper reported, despite the fact that they had received full pardons of innocence.
Eric Clapton has hit out at 'propaganda' over vaccine safety, claiming he suffered alarming side effects after his Covid jabs.

The legendary guitarist, a lockdown sceptic, said his hands and feet became 'useless'  prompting fears he would never play again.

In a message to his music producer, he said: 'I took the first jab of AZ [AstraZeneca] and straight away had severe reactions which lasted ten days.'

Eric Clapton has hit out at 'propaganda' over vaccine safety, claiming he suffered alarming side effects after his Covid jabs. He is pictured above at a concert in March 2020

The 76-year-old said he 'recovered eventually' but suffered further 'disastrous reactions' six weeks later after the second shot.

He added: 'My hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks, I feared I would never play again...

'I should never have gone near the needle.

'But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone.'

The musician, who has emphysema, ended his email to Italian music mogul Robin Monotti Graziadei, saying: 'I've been a rebel all my life, against tyranny and arrogant authority, which is what we have now.'

Clapton criticised the Government earlier this year in an anti-lockdown song called Stand And Deliver. The song was in collaboration with Van Morrison, who is also a critic of restrictions.
The Muslim former prosecutor who led the crackdown on Rochdale's grooming gangs is to head the Catholic Church's drive to stamp out child abuse scandals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The appointment of Nazir Afzal as the first chairman of the new Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be announced on Tuesday.

Mr Afzal won plaudits a decade ago for overturning a Crown Prosecution Service decision and pursuing a gang of British Pakistani criminals involved in the rape and trafficking of 47 girls, resulting in 19 convictions.

The appointment of Nazir Afzal as the first chairman of the new Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be announced on Tuesday

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, described the appointment as a 'pivotal moment'

Birmingham-born Mr Afzal later criticised the white professionals in the CPS for 'over-sensitivity', asserting that 'political correctness and fear of appearing racist may have contributed to justice being stalled'. His appointment comes amid wide-ranging reforms to safeguarding in the Catholic Church after a review by child protection specialist Ian Elliott.

This followed severe criticism of child safety lapses in the Church by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA).

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, described the appointment as a 'pivotal moment'.

Mr Afzal said: 'The Catholic Church has recognised the failures of the past and the need to put things right. This is what attracted me to the role.'

Stephen Ashley, a former assistant chief constable, will be deputy chairman of the new agency. He is the author of a Home Office report on police conduct during investigations into sex offences by Jimmy Savile.
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Boris Johnson has today pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine rollout to a million jabs a day in an attempt to beat the increasing prevalence of the Indian variant of the virus amid fears it could derail the country's exit from lockdown.

Growing questions are also being asked about the failure to make people arriving into the country from India quarantine earlier, after it emerged the government failed to put India on the 'red list' even though infection rates were nearly 50 times higher among arrivals from the country than the rest of the UK.

Of the 3,345 people touching down in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7, some 4.8% tested positive for Covid, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England, Public Health England data shows.

It is the latest statistic to be brandished at the Prime Minister, with pressure growing over his decision to delay banning travel from the Asian nation until late April, even though flights to and from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh were restricted two weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, it was also claimed today upwards of 20,000 passengers who may have been carrying a virulent strain were given the green light to enter the country without quarantine as Mr Johnson put off enforcing a travel ban.

Fears are growing that the Indian variant of coronavirus is up to 50% more infectious than the Kent strain, which would mean it could spread widely enough through the younger unvaccinated members of the population that it could still serious third wave despite the success of the vaccine drive.

Ministers are hoping to accelerate the vaccine drive because the jab is still effective against the Indian variant and wider levels of vaccination could halt its spread, but as it stands lockdown restrictions will still be eased further on Monday.

Critics have this weekend branded the delay to closing the borders 'reckless, misguided and dangerous' with 122 cases of the rapidly-spreading variant already entering the UK by the time India was finally added to the red list.

Matt Hancock told the Commons on April 19 the move was being made, but it didn't actually come into force until 4am on April 23, even though No10 sources previously said that countries could be added 'at a few hours' notice'.

Therefore, some fear a substantial number of travellers, potentially infected with the variant, could have arrived in the UK across that intervening period.

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove has tried to make the case for harsher lockdown measures in areas like Bolton, hardest hit by the variant, but faced opposition in doing so by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, according to the Sunday Times.

Some have previously suggested that the delay was due to the Prime Minister's eagerness to keep relations strong with India, having planned a visit - which subsequently had to be cancelled - as part of efforts to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.

The backlash has intensified over the last two days, even though Mr Johnson, and health minister Edward Argar, have tried to defend the delay since Friday's Downing Street briefing.

But amid dire warnings from SAGE, that as many as 1,000 deaths a day from the new variant could occur within months, the PM is looking to increase the pace of the jab rollout.

Stockpiles of more than three million vaccines will soon be accessed, meaning daily doses can firstly be increased from 500,000 to 800,000, and then further to a million a day over the summer, according to the Telegraph.

In a further boost, the medicines regulator is expected to rubber-stamp Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Janssen vaccine this week, thus giving health chiefs even more supplies to distribute.

While the government is prioritising topping up those who've already had one jab with a second dose, sources suggest people as young as 35 could be invited to receive a vaccine within days.

It comes as:

Door-to-door Covid 'hit squads' are heading to Bolton and Blackburn, where the strain is at its most virulent;

Rapid spread of Indian variant could put the end of Covid curbs in jeopardy - but experts say there is no need to panic;

Jab sites prepare for flood of patients as doses are accelerated for over 50s and clinically vulnerable amid surge in infections;

The UK recorded another 2,027 Covid cases in 1% fall on last week as death toll rises by 7;

British Airways' boss calls on the government to reunite Britons with their families overseas by opening air travel to low-risk countries

Door-to-door Covid 'hit squads' are heading to Bolton and Blackburn, where the strain is at its most virulent, to focus on areas with the greatest 'vaccine hesitancy'. Pictured: A queue for the jabs at the pop up centre in Bolton

Boris Johnson (pictured) will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21

Ministers are planning to blitz areas where the Indian variant has taken hold by vaccinating entire households to stop Covid spreading 'like wildfire'. Pictured: A man gets his Covid vaccination in Bolton

In Bolton and Blackburn, the most infectious areas of the UK, Covid 'hit squads' are going door-to-door to offer entire multi-generational households inoculations.

Mr Johnson will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21.

Figures released yesterday showed hospital admissions down 1.2 per cent in a week to 103, with deaths down 8.9 per cent to seven.

Positive tests were fractionally down on last Saturday's figure, at just over 2,000.

A total of 36,320,867 first doses of the vaccine have now been administered  69 per cent of all adults in Britain  while second doses have reached 19,698,121.

The Government source added that there was 'no evidence' that vaccines were not effective against the Indian variant.

Nevertheless, a growing number of experts have issued warnings over the major easing of restrictions tomorrow.

The Prime Minister was sticking by plans to allow mixing indoors and physical contact in England, with health minister Mr Argar insisting they are acting 'calmly' over the threat.

However, scientists urged for a delay in the third stage of the road map to easing the lockdown as medics described the step as a 'real worry' while many await vaccination.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) concluded there is a 'realistic possibility' the strain is 50% more transmissible than the one that emerged in Kent.

If the higher transmissibility is confirmed, the experts said moving to step three could 'lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations' that is 'similar to, or larger than, previous peaks'.

Sage's Professor Susan Michie said the Government should suspend the unlocking, the Sunday Times reported.

'If we are following data not dates, it is surprising that the road map is going ahead without adjustment,' the University College London academic said.

'Opening indoor hospitality venues has the potential to increase Covid-19 transmission.'

And Professor Kit Yates, a member of the Independent Sage committee of experts, suggested a delay of a fortnight would buy the nation valuable time to progress with the vaccine programme.

'The more people we can vaccinate, the safer we become,' he told the Observer.

'Even a couple of weeks at this point could make a huge difference in the face of this seemingly more transmissible variant. A pause would also buy us time to understand more about the properties of the variant, which would put us in a better position to plan what comes next.'

The BMA's public health medicine committee co-chairman Dr Richard Jarvis urged the public to take a 'cautious approach' to social and physical contact.

'It is a real worry that when further measures lift on May 17, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated,' he said.

Monday's easing in England will allow people to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will permit physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.

Ministers accept that plans to end all legal restrictions on June 21 are in jeopardy, but Mr Argar said the existing data suggests 'there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine'.

'So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review,' he told BBC Breakfast.

Official data on Saturday showed 68.6% of UK adults had received a single dose of a vaccine, while 36.7% had received both.

Over 35s in England will be invited to book their vaccinations this week, multiple newspapers reported, as second doses were accelerated for the over 50s and clinically vulnerable.

Surge testing is also under way in several places in England including areas of Bolton, Blackburn, Sefton and London.

An emergency meeting will be held by experts at the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee on Thursday after it was found that India's Covid variant is now dominant in five local authorities in England. There are mounting concerns that it is more infectious than the currently dominant Kent strain

More than 4,000 people were vaccinated by a Covid 'jab bus' (pictured) which drove into Bolton yesterday

Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate - the number of people infected by each Covid case - is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low

Meanwhile, there was growing scrutiny of the move to only add India to the travel red list requiring quarantine in a Government-sanctioned hotel on April 23, despite it being announced four days earlier.

Yvette Cooper, chair of the Commons home affairs committee, accused ministers of having 'inexplicably delayed' the move 'after which many thousands of people had returned from India bringing in many hundreds of new variant cases'.

'This was predictable but it was not inevitable,' the Labour MP said, accusing ministers of having 'still not learned the basic lessons at the border'.

Layla Moran, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, said the delay would 'no doubt come to be seen as a catastrophic error of judgment'.

There were also questions over why Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to the red list weeks earlier on April 2, with the measure coming into force on April 9.

The Sunday Times estimated that at least 20,000 passengers who could have been infected with a virulent strain of Covid-19 entered during the delay.

A Government spokeswoman said: 'We have some of the toughest border measures in the world.

'We took precautionary action to ban travel from India on April 23, six days before this variant was put under investigation and two weeks before it was labelled as of concern. We have since sped up our vaccination programme and put in enhanced local support to curb transmission.

'Prior to India being placed on the red list in April anyone coming to the UK had to test negative and quarantine for 10 days.'

It comes as ministers are planning to blitz areas where the Indian variant has taken hold by vaccinating entire households to stop Covid spreading 'like wildfire'.

Figures show that in the two worst hotspots, Bolton and Blackburn, the virus is spreading three times faster in areas where the jab take-up is below 80 per cent.

With Mr Johnson warning that the Indian variant posed a threat to his roadmap out of lockdown, Ministers are now sending in the Army to help with a drive to target entire multi-generational households in the worst affected areas.

More than 4,000 people were vaccinated by a Covid 'jab bus' which drove into Bolton yesterday.

It comes as the NHS prepares to send invites to all over-35s by the end of the week to take up their vaccination.

And it was reported last night that at least 20,000 passengers were allowed to enter Britain while Mr Johnson delayed imposing a travel ban from India.

The PM only added India to the travel red list on April 23, three weeks after announcing a ban on flights from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data indicates an average of 900 people were arriving daily from India during the three-week period from April 2-23.

A Government spokesman pointed out that the most dominant of three strains from India was only identified as a concern six days after the country was put on the red list.

Ministers increasingly fear that a low take-up of the vaccine by ethnic minority communities is helping to spread the Indian variant.

According to NHS England data, 93.5 per cent of white people aged over 50 have had a Covid jab. This falls to 83.5 per cent for South Asians, and 67 per cent among black people in the same age bracket.

As of yesterday, Bolton's infection rate is the highest in the country at 192 cases per 100,000 people. Pictured: A seven-day cases rate by age in Bolton

A Warwick University model of a more infectious variant after lockdown is completely lifted on June 21 suggests that any more than a 30 per cent increase in transmissibility compared to the Kent variant could lead to an August peak of daily hospital admissions that is higher than either the first or second wave. In a worst-case scenario with a variant 50 per cent more transmissible, hospital admissions could surge to 10,000 per day or even double that (Thick lines indicate the central estimate while the thin lines are possible upper limits known as confidence intervals)

In areas of Blackburn and Bolton with the lowest vaccine take-up, the current weekly Covid rate is 261 cases per 100,000.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday urged everyone in communities affected by the Indian strain to get the jab.

He warned: 'If there are communities unprotected, the virus will find them and go through them like wildfire.'

Government sources confirmed that special door-to-door jab services may now be offered in Bolton and other affected areas to combat low vaccine take-up in ethnic-minority households.

The move would mean those in their 20s with no underlying health conditions getting the jab.

Ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq urged those in hotspots who were still hesitant about getting the jab to think of others.

She said: 'You would never go outside with a gun and start shooting people because you can see the destruction. But those without the jab don't see the impact of passing the virus on.'

Similar but less grim modelling by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested that a 50 per cent increase in transmissibility could trigger a peak of 4,000 admissions per day in July or August, possibly extending to 6,000 per day

The LSHTM model suggested hospitals could have another 30,000 inpatients by the end of July - up to around 45,000 - compared to the current 845

The LSHTM team suggested that there will be 1,000 deaths per day in August if the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible - which would be less than the 1,900 seen at the peak this January

Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth added: 'We have to be flexible and carry out a vaccine blitz in those areas most affected by the new Indian variant.'

There were huge queues for a 'jab bus' in Bolton yesterday after everyone in the town was invited to get vaccinated before 5pm.

Thousands waited in the pouring rain for injections as council officials went door-to-door urging residents to go to a bus parked in Great Lever  an area where vaccine take-up had been below average.

Bolton's infection rate is the highest in the country at 192 cases per 100,000 people. The Indian variant now makes up the majority of its new cases.

Nearly 20 million Britons have now had two doses. Yesterday, a further 2,027 cases were recorded. Seven people died.

Bolton: Jab teams in Covid hotspots defy advice and roll out crisis vaccine for young

By Jacinta Taylor in Bolton

Northerners are made of stern stuff but even they need a good reason to go out and be buffeted by driving rain and howling winds.

For the citizens of Bolton, that reason is the Indian variant of coronavirus.

'I'm here because I couldn't get an appointment with my GP,' explained mother-of-four Mel Flanagan as she waited patiently in a line stretching back across the car park of Essa Academy in the Lancashire town.

'I've been trying to get through for ages but just gave up in the end. The queue and the rain didn't put me off.'

During a day of confusion and mounting anxiety in the former mill town, it was wrongly announced that national guidelines on eligibility for a vaccine had been ditched and that adults of any age should could come forward for their jab.

Bolton has the unenviable title of capital of the Indian variant outbreak. Cases in the town are running at about 200 per 100,000  with Erewash in Derbyshire next highest on 163. Pictured: People queue to receive jab in Bolton

Forty-two staff inside the 'vaccination bus' did their best to inject as many doses as they could. Pictured: people wear face masks and carry umbrellas as they wait to have their coronavirus injections in Bolton on Saturday

Tory councillor Andy Morgan shared a tweet inviting locals to 'visit the vaccine bus', adding: 'The team will find a reason to vaccinate you. Closes at 5pm. The 4,000 vaccines must be used today.'

By the time the NHS had angrily denied his claim, demand at Essa Academy was so high that people were being turned away and asked to return again today.

Bolton has the unenviable title of capital of the Indian variant outbreak. Cases in the town are running at about 200 per 100,000  with Erewash in Derbyshire next highest on 163.

Forty-two staff inside the 'vaccination bus' did their best to inject as many doses as they could and the local authority put more boots on the ground as well as offering door-to-door testing.

There is a genuine sense of urgency. Infection rates in Bolton have soared by more than 250 per cent in the past week, with the vast majority of cases in the under-30s.

There has also been a slight uptick in hospitalisations, including patients in their 50s and 60s who are not vaccinated but would have been eligible.

Local officials are desperate that neither cases nor admissions accelerate and are relying on a sense of community spirit to beat the surge. Rashad, 32, was also in the queue in Bolton yesterday.

'I'm not looking forward to this at all but it will be worth it to keep myself and my community safe,' he said. In the line beside him, another man said: 'The community leaders have been urging people at prayers to come and get their vaccine. We all have our part to play.'

Bolton Council leader David Greenhalgh said the majority of cases of coronavirus in the town involved people in their teens, 20s and 30s who are not yet eligible for a vaccination.

'Bolton craves normality as this town has been disproportionately affected by local lockdowns,' he said. 'I visited the vaccination site today and there were still queues long after closing time, with vaccinators working extra time to help everyone.

'Clearly the surge in Covid cases in Bolton is linked to international travel, there's no doubt about that.'

Boris Johnson announced on Friday that second jabs for those over 50 would be brought forward, but Mr Greenhalgh wants the Government to supply more doses to allow the town to vaccinate everyone.

Uptake across the town is higher than 90 per cent but there are clusters in deprived areas such as Deane, Rumworth and Great Lever where it is far lower.

Uptake for the Covid jab across the town is higher than 90 per cent but there are clusters in deprived areas such as Deane, Rumworth and Great Lever where it is far lower. Pictured: Hundreds of people queue on the streets of Bolton this afternoon as part of efforts to speed up Britain's vaccine race

Despite fears over the Indian variant, the Government is pressing ahead with the latest stage of its roadmap tomorrow. Bolton is more cautious, advising care homes not to proceed with the planned easing of restrictions yet

Dr Helen Wall, the clinician in charge of Bolton's vaccination drive, said: 'I don't think there is hesitancy as such, I think it's more about the barriers to vaccination.

'There are some really deprived areas where people don't all have cars, they might not have money for the bus, they might not want to get on the bus because they catch Covid. Maybe they've got several children they are looking after, elderly relatives, there's all sorts of reasons.'

Despite fears over the Indian variant, the Government is pressing ahead with the latest stage of its roadmap tomorrow. Bolton is more cautious, advising care homes not to proceed with the planned easing of restrictions yet.

Few people not in search of a vaccine ventured into Bolton town centre, but Jayne Cadman had braved the rain. 'The virus is a worry for people and the town isn't as busy as it usually is,' she said.

Shaking his head, Peter Worsley, 75, who was hospitalised for two weeks with Covid-19 over Christmas, said: 'I think Bolton's infection rate is down to the fact that the Government was very slow in closing our borders to international travel. If we had taken action sooner then perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation now.'

Bedford: Town where people aged 11 to 22 are at centre of virus surge

By Matt Aitchison in Bedford

In the market town of Bedford, locals are concerned they could be plunged into another local lockdown amid a surge in Covid cases caused by the more infectious Indian variant.

The B.1.617.2 strain now accounts for almost three-quarters of cases in the town and is spreading fastest among people aged 11 to 22, according to the latest Bedford Borough snapshot.

Georgie Lawson, 66, said her biggest fear was the removal of freedoms as the rest of the UK prepares to open up. She added: 'I am worried about another lockdown. You do feel like a prisoner in your own home.'

Louise Jackson, Bedford council's lead on health and wellbeing, said: 'Local lockdowns don't work.

Our local economy can't sustain it, and people will just move elsewhere, they'll take the virus to Luton or London. And why wouldn't they? They've had a whole year of this.'

Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate - the number of people infected by each Covid case - is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low

In the town, there is growing concern about the number of cases, which have more than doubled in the last week to 105 per 100,000 people. Bill Gill, a 60-year-old retail manager who lives two miles from the town centre, said that despite having had both shots of the vaccine, he was concerned about the Indian variant. 'A lot of people are quite anxious to have a rise in cases just as things are opening up,' he said.

John Hillyard, 85, who has run a vegetable market stall in Bedford since 1960, said: 'We're all worried about it but we'll just have to do as we're told.'

On Friday, officials started vaccinating younger people  despite official guidance still restricting jabs to those aged 38 and over.

Teachers and parents with children at Bedford Academy were invited to use spare doses in a bid to quash the alarming spread.

Bedford Mayor Dave Hodgson told The Mail on Sunday: 'It wasn't easy within the current rules but we managed to get it done in partnership with our local hospital and the local clinical commissioning group who had a limited number of spare Pfizer vaccines going.

'The school is in an area with higher deprivation and increased levels of vaccine hesitancy so we think it was the right thing to do to help reduce transmission.'

As part of tomorrow's relaxing of guidelines, masks in schools can be ditched but Mr Hodgson said he had sent 'very strong guidance' to schools recommending that pupils should keep wearing them and remain in their bubbles.

His views were yesterday backed by Gurch Randhawa, professor in diversity and public health from Bedfordshire University, who said he thought the town was at a 'tipping point'.

'The Government has got to be really careful that they don't choose the wrong path,' he said. 'These populistic gestures of allowing children not to wear masks and permitting hugs are a bit premature, especially in light of the Indian variant being in circulation.'
Backseat footage captured the moment a self-driving taxi went rogue and drove away from technicians who arrived to help after it got stuck.

YouTuber Joel Johnson - whose channel 'JJ Ricks Studio' shares clips of his Waymo autonomous taxi rides in Chandler, Arizona - captured the entire incident that started when the the self-driving van got confused and by traffic cones.

The ride, shared by Johnson last Wednesday, started out normally - until 12 minutes in, when the self-driving Chrysler van tried to turn into a street, only to find one lane closed.

Confused by the unexpected blockage, the van stopped, and specialist roadside assistance was called out to help.

But before they could arrive, the van momentarily came back to life and completed its turn - only to stop again abruptly, causing a partial-traffic blockage.

'I don't think it was supposed to do that,' Johnson nervously tells a remote operator. 'Oh no, now it's blocking the entire road.'

YouTuber Joel Johnson - whose channel 'JJ Ricks Studio' is mainly videos of his Waymo autonomous taxi rides in Chandler, Arizona- captured his self-driving taxi going rogue

A YouTube video captures one passenger's chaotic ride in a Waymo self-driving taxi that continues to abruptly stop and drive off as it awaits roadside assistance

After the construction cones are removed the van then reversed several feet, meaning it was blocking the entire lane.

Johnson was filmed talking to a construction man who is asking him if he can move the car as other drivers are honking at the vehicle.

Johnson told him roadside assistance should be there any moment when the car starts moving and appears to almost collide with a passing vehicle.

The car continued driving before roadside assistance could arrive.

Johnson had a sense of humor about the confusions and said 'this has been a very fun turn of events.'

The car then got stuck again and roadside assistance was called once more and finally arrived.

But when they reached the car, the steering wheel turned sharply and Johnson tells the operator, 'you better hurry up its gonna escape,' as the taxi takes off.

The car abruptly stopped, meaning technicians could finally get into the vehicle and end the bizarre saga.

'What a sweet video this is gonna be, woo hoo!' Johnson said while laughing at the unexpectedly exciting ride.

Waymo currently owns 600 vehicles in its entire fleet with more than 300 vehicles operating in Arizona

Waymo currently owns 600 vehicles in its entire fleet with more than 300 vehicles operating in Arizona, The Verge reported.

For it's self driving vehicles, Waymo has a team of remote employees that monitor live footage on the vehicles and are able to help if the software needs human assistance.

But the company claims that the remote assistance team cant 'joystick' the vehicles and take over their driving, only offer suggestions to help extract the car from tough situations, The Verge reported.

The car company says that the incident Johnson captured was caused by a mistake made by a remote Fleet Response specialist.

'During that interaction the Fleet Response team provided incorrect guidance, which made it challenging for the Waymo Driver to resume its intended route, and required Waymo's Roadside Assistance team to complete the trip,' Waymo said in a statement.

'While the situation was not ideal, the Waymo Driver operated the vehicle safely until Roadside Assistance arrived. Throughout, Waymo's team was in touch with the rider, who provided thoughtful and helpful feedback that allows us to continue learning and improving the Waymo Driver. Our team has already assessed the event and improved our operational process.' the statement added.

In September 2020, an Arizona woman was killed when she was hit by a self-driving Uber SUV whose safety driver was distracted watching an episode of the television show The Voice.

The accident was the first death on record involving a self-driving car, and resulted in Uber ending its testing of the technology in Arizona, BBC News reported.
Sir Keir Starmer's top aide is considering legal action over a 'false' claim that she has been banned from the Labour leader's home  on the orders of his wife.

Labour MPs have been circulating on social media a strongly-denied claim on Twitter that Baroness Jenny Chapman, Sir Keir's political director, had been barred by his wife Victoria.

The claim was swiftly denied, but not before it was apparently shared by Labour MPs on their WhatsApp groups.

Keir Starmer arrives with Ruth Smeeth, left and his political director Jenny Chapman, to deliver his keynote speech during the party's online conference

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pictured in Darlington alongside Jenny Chapman. Labour insiders stressed that the claim was 'utter rubbish', but declined to comment further

However, The Mail on Sunday learned last night that Baroness Chapman had 'sought legal advice' over the suggestion that she was not welcome in the Starmer family home.

Labour insiders stressed that the claim was 'utter rubbish', but declined to comment further.

It followed dismal election results, which sparked turmoil in the party, with Sir Keir first sacking deputy party leader Angela Rayner as campaign co-ordinator, only to have to promote her next day to a new high-profile Shadow Cabinet role.

But the results  including the humiliating loss to the Tories of the Red Wall seat of Hartlepool  also appeared to trigger a bout of hostile briefings against key party figures including Lady Chapman, who was blamed by many Labour MPs for bungling the by-election campaign by insisting on Remainer candidate Paul Williams in the fiercely pro-Brexit North-East seat.

That was followed by claims that Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris spread baseless rumours about the private life of Mrs Rayner, who split from her husband Mark last summer. Mrs Harris subsequently quit as Sir Keir's parliamentary aide.

Mrs Rayner hit out at 'gutter politics' yesterday, telling The Times: 'My personal life is my personal life. It's not good for any of us if we start putting ourselves in that gutter arena.'

The deputy leader, now seen as a genuine contender to replace Sir Keir, also fuelled criticisms that the leader had been too soft on Boris Johnson when she effectively branded the PM a 'granny killer' for his management of the Covid crisis last year.

The Ashton-under-Lyne MP, 41, who became a grandmother herself at 37, declared that unlike the Prime Minister, 'I won't kill your granny', adding: 'He literally seeded the virus in care homes.'

Labour MPs privately say Sir Keir is severely weakened after being faced down by Mrs Rayner last weekend and failing to go through with what was thought to be a radical reshaping of his frontbench team.

In a new blow yesterday, the pollster Opinium claimed the Tories had a huge 13-point lead over Labour  an eight-point rise for Boris Johnson's party in a fortnight  with the Tories on 44 per cent and Labour on 31 per cent.

Opinium also reported that Sir Keir was 17 points behind Mr Johnson when voters were asked who would be best as PM  40 per cent compared with 23 per cent.

It followed dismal election results, which sparked turmoil in the party, with Sir Keir first sacking deputy party leader Angela Rayner

Labour's leader faces what some feel is a 'make-or-break' by-election in Batley and Spen after sitting MP Tracy Brabin, who had a slim 3,525 majority over the Tories, quit last week having won the West Yorkshire mayoralty contest.

Sir Keir's team appears to be putting its hopes on Kim Leadbeater, sister of murdered MP Jo Cox who previously held the seat, standing for the party and preventing the Tories inflicting another historic by-election defeat.

Ms Leadbeater is the founder and ambassador of the Jo Cox Foundation, established following the murder of her sister in 2016 by a man with links to a far-Right group.

Labour is also hoping that as Batley  unlike Hartlepool  has a large South Asian population, it will save the seat. But in a blow to those hopes, The Mail on Sunday understands pro-Palestinian campaigner and former MP George Galloway  who ousted Labour in the Bradford West by-election in 2012  is likely to stand for the seat.

Earlier last week, he tweeted that his Workers Party GB would field a candidate as 'the patriotic working-class alternative to #StarmerMustGo'.

And last night, one Labour MP said privately: 'That is a huge blow to our hopes of holding the seat.

'Kim Leadbeater would be a great candidate given the huge outpouring of sympathy and, of course, anger at what happened to Jo. But given what's going on in Gaza and Israel now, Galloway  who is a formidable campaigner  could end up handing the seat to the Tories.'

Mrs Rayner played down any leadership ambitions yesterday, saying the idea of becoming Prime Minister 'petrifies me'. She also made it clear that she believed Sir Keir was up to the top job, saying: 'I wouldn't stay otherwise.'

After defying Labour's poor showing in the May 6 elections and being voted in again as Greater Manchester mayor last weekend, so-called King of the North Andy Burnham is now considered a hot favourite to become Labour leader.

But Labour MPs insist that as Mr Burnham is not an MP, Mrs Rayner is in pole position to replace the leader in the near future as hard-Left ex-Corbyn supporters would back her. One said: 'The Left didn't trust Angie before, but the way she stood up to Starmer last week has won her a lot of credibility.'

However, a Labour spokeswoman said: 'The whole of the Shadow Cabinet is now relentlessly focused on learning from our election successes, addressing our challenges head on and holding the Government to account.'
Recently, Tejaswi Madivada had been practicing dance at home and when she landed on the wrong foot, the actress ended up with a fractured ankle.

The doctors have advised me six weeks of complete rest to walk, and three months rest to dance again. But I think that its okay because none of us are going anywhere because of the lockdown anyway, she adds lightly. But importantly for her, she tells us in between all that, she had managed to complete all her film shoots.

Slowing down

Despite the light talks, for someone who loves globetrotting, Tejaswi has been getting restless as she cant move her leg. But my friends have been making fun of me saying that this pause was necessary for me to slow down, she states with a smile.

But even before the fractured ankle, the current lockdown had hampered the actress travel plans. Talking about one of the reasons she loves to travel, Tejaswi says it helps her not to think much about her marriage, relationships and other life thoughts.

But when you are bedridden all those thoughts come back in your mind, especially the thought that I will turn 30 in a few weeks. I guess the world is in such a miserable place that none of us can move out. I never wanted to sit in a wheelchair, and while I have a beautiful house and a balcony, how long can one stay indoors? she asks, clearly not used to sitting in one place at all times.

Rediscovering art

Amidst talks of being bedridden, the Ice Cream actress, however, reveals some thoughts on having a boyfriend. Ive moved on from my past relationships and Im not game for any kind of relationships in my life; I think Ive had enough, she says with a smile.

Its a different experience for me to stay at home for this long. Although my friends have been helping me, Ive realised the need for a partner, but at the same time, I also hate such realisations.

Tejaswi claims to be someone who always loves to explore different art forms. Besides picking up reading to stay positive in these times she recently picked up painting as a stress buster. And she reveals an interesting back-story.

I tried my hand at painting in childhood but never explored later. I recently met a friend at Brindavan in Karnataka. During this interaction, his father reminded me of painting; he talked about how painting is the highest form of manifestation. It somehow rekindled my interest, recalls the actress stating that she created around ten paintings in three months.

The nature therapy

Tejaswi says shes doing all she can so her injury doesnt dampen her spirits in these tough times. So painting and reading aside, she has been trying to garb various avatars to give a humorous spin to her dreary state.

Ive dressed like Valkyrie, the fictional superheroine appearing in Marvel comics. I had even done a photoshoot in that avatar, she reveals adding that she loves doing such photoshoots.

I relish doing different things because they bring out the best in me. And I am trying different things to trigger humour and stay positive, she adds.

So also, for the last five months, Tejaswi had been extensively exploring nature with a child-like attitude. I am at my best when I am enjoying nature, she says, adding that spending time with nature has always been therapeutic for her.

For someone like me who likes extensive traveling, sitting at home is really challenging. But thats what life has been giving me right now, and I need experiences that are similar to those I get through traveling.
More than 600 medics have demanded that Boris Johnson end the controversial 'pills in the post' abortion scheme introduced at the start of lockdown.

In an open letter, they call for a reversal of the relaxation in abortion rules, citing evidence that some pills mailed after phone or online consultations were used when foetuses were beyond the stipulated ten-week limit  and even after the 24-week upper limit for surgical abortions.

They argue that the new rules also made it easier for men to coerce women into abortions against their will and failed to protect girls who were being abused by adults, or women trafficked into prostitution.

Abortion providers BPAS and Marie Stopes, along with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives, are lobbying to make the so-called 'telemedical abortions' permanent [File photo]

'The decision to permit the taking of medical abortion pills at home is a dangerous policy that must not be made permanent,' the letter says, adding that the move should be revoked 'to protect the welfare of women'.

A public consultation over whether to retain the policy beyond the pandemic concluded in February, and the Government is expected to announce its decision soon.

One signatory, Dr Calum Miller, of Oxford University, said an in-person medical examination was 'a critical safety measure to check the gestation of the pregnancy' and other possible medical issues, adding: 'We should not be failing women by eliminating the checks.'

More than 600 medics have demanded that Boris Johnson end the controversial 'pills in the post' abortion scheme introduced at the start of lockdown [File photo]

The medics are supported by several Tory MPs, including Scott Benton, who said: 'This not a debate about abortion itself, it is about ensuring women are safe.'

But abortion providers BPAS and Marie Stopes, along with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives, are lobbying to make the so-called 'telemedical abortions' permanent.

In a letter to Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week, they said the policy had 'allowed more than 100,000 women to end pregnancies from the comfort and privacy of their own homes'.

Clare Murphy, chief executive of BPAS, said: 'There is no clinical argument for reinstating previous restrictions. More women than ever have been able to access the care they need thanks to these temporary changes.'

Women wanting an early medical abortion take two separate tablets. Until April last year, the first had to be taken at a clinic but the second could be taken at home.

The rules were temporarily changed when the first lockdown was imposed so both pills could be sent in the post.

The Mail on Sunday previously reported that women have obtained pills as late as 32 weeks into pregnancy. Three police investigations into late abortions have been launched.
Londoners are the vainest people in Britain  as the most likely to pay for a gleaming Hollywood smile.

Almost a quarter of a million online inquiries for teeth whitening are made every year in the capital, according to a new survey.

Brummies are the second most likely to get their teeth whitened, making 34,000 inquiries to do so a year.

Almost a quarter of a million online inquiries for teeth whitening are made every year in the capital, according to a new survey (file photo)

Brummies are the second most likely to get their teeth whitened, making 34,000 inquiries to do so a year (file photo)

Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool came joint third with 19,200 inquiries a year.

People in Sheffield are least worried about having pearly whites, making just 5,760 inquiries, says the poll for expressdentist.com.
Leading infectious disease experts have condemned the World Health Organisation for its failure to properly investigate whether Covid-19 leaked from a laboratory.

In a highly significant move, 18 scientists from the world's top universities, including Cambridge, Harvard and Yale, have demanded further investigations into the origins of the pandemic.

'Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover [from animals to humans] both remain viable,' they wrote in a letter to the journal Science.

'More investigation is needed to determine the origin of the pandemic. Knowing how Covid-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks.'

The signatories include Ravindra Gupta, the Cambridge geneticist who has played a key role in Britain's response to variants.

Eighteen scientists from top universities, including Cambridge and Yale, have demanded further investigations into the origins of the pandemic. Pictured: Wuhan Institute of Virology

Another is Ralph Baric, a US epidemiologist who carried out controversial experiments on coronaviruses which included collaborating with Shi Zhengli  the Wuhan scientist nicknamed 'Batwoman'.

Their research manipulated bat viruses to make them more infectious to human beings.

Although the work by Baric and Zhengli was funded through the EcoHealth Alliance charity, leaked emails revealed that Baric declined to join the charity's British director Peter Daszak in efforts to dismiss suggestions of a possible lab leak.

When the pandemic erupted, Daszak secretly organised a statement with some fellow scientists to The Lancet which 'strongly condemned' conspiracy theories suggesting that Covid-19 did not have a natural origin.

US funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology was halted after it was reported by The Mail on Sunday.

Yet Daszak was asked to join a WHO joint study team into the pandemic origins, despite his clear conflicts of interest.

The new letter to Science criticises the WHO inquiry for claiming a laboratory leak was 'extremely unlikely' when there is no strong evidence to support either theory.

'We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data,' it said.

'A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimise the impact of conflicts of interest.'

The criticism demonstrates how the ground is shifting fast on the issue as scientists and politicians challenge the conventional wisdom that Covid emerged naturally in Wuhan, the site of several key Chinese laboratories.

These labs include the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which specialises in the study of bat-borne viruses and where there are known safety concerns.

Scientists have challenged the wisdom that Covid emerged naturally in Wuhan, the site of several key Chinese laboratories - including the Wuhan Institute of Virology (pictured)

Alina Chan, a molecular biologist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is one of the Science signatories, said the letter 'was a massive blow to the group that has been trying to cast a lab leak as a conspiracy theory and prevent an actual investigation from happening'.

Prof Gupta, professor of clinical microbiology at Cambridge who was named by Time magazine last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people for his work on HIV, is the first prominent British scientist to take the lab leak theory seriously in public.

Only a few scientists and journalists dared challenge the narrative that dismissed the idea of a possible lab leak for the first year of the pandemic, despite Beijing's apparent cover-up of events and silencing of any internal dissent.

The argument began to shift when Stanford microbiologist David Relman, another of the Science signatories, published a landmark paper demanding a serious investigation of both theories.

Earlier this month, Nobel-winning virologist David Baltimore flagged up suspicions over a unique feature of the new disease that enables it to bind to human cells.

'I said to my wife it was the smoking gun for the origin of the virus,' he said.

Baltimore, former president of the prestigious California Institute of Technology, told me he made his intervention 'to encourage more investigation of the origin'.

Ian Lipkin, a renowned virus hunter from Columbia University's school of public health and another signatory, said last week he was 'concerned' Wuhan scientists 'may not have exercised appropriate safety precautions'.

The Biden administration is largely backing the stance of Donald Trump, whose officials published concerns linking the Wuhan lab to the outbreak.

Anna Eshoo, the Democrat chairman of a congressional committee overseeing biotechnology, said she applauded the 18 'esteemed scientists' who were calling for a 'non-partisan and independent' investigation.
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Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit lost Baltimore's Preakness race on Saturday in a shock upset that came just days after the horse failed a drugs test.

Saturday's race saw 11-1 outsider Rombauer and jockey Flavien Prat romp home to victory, bagging themselves $600,000 in prize money. Medina Spirit finished third in the 1 3/16-mile race in Baltimore, and was passed for the first time in his career after going off as the 2-1 favorite.

A record-breaking $112.5 million was bet on Saturday's race - beating the previous record of $99.8 million wagered in 2019. That came despite Preakness being ordered to operate at 10 per cent of its usual capacity because of COVID-19, with just 10,000 spectators able to watch the race in-person.

The win at the Maryland city's Pimlico Race Course denied Medina Sprint's famed trainer Bob Baffert the chance at a Triple Crown trio of victories amid an ongoing drug scandal.

All eyes were on Medina Spirit after he failed a post-Derby drug test which showed double the permitted presence of the steroid betamethasone, but the horse was denied a controversial win by Rombauer's surprise victory.

Medina Spirit tested positive for the steroid in the wake of the Derby on May 1, but was allowed to compete at the Preakness after passing three drug tests beforehand. He will be stripped of his Derby win if the earlier test result is upheld.

11-1 outsider Rombauer, pictured with jockey Flavien Prat, won Saturday's Preakness race in Baltimore

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, pictured, came third. The shock loss happened days after the horse tested positive for a banned steroid, but trainer Bob Baffert denies wrongdoing

This is the moment Rombauer raced home to victory at Saturday's Preakness, beating 2-1 Kentucky Derby winner and favorite Medina Spirit

Rombaeur and Prat are welcomed into the winner's circle following Saturday's win at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore

This is the moment Rombaeur and Prat broke away from the pack, shortly before winning the Preakness. Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit is pictured behind with blue harness

Medina Spirit's trainer Bob Baffert - pictured after his Kentucky Derby win on May 1 - did not attend the Preakness, and denies claims he illegally drugged the champion horse

The Kentucky Derby champ had been tipped to bag a Triple Crown - wins at the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and the June 5 Belmont Stakes in Elmont, Upstate New York.

Baffert did not attend the Preakness, with a statement issued by his lawyer claiming the trainer feared his appearance would distract from the race.

Baffert said: 'As Medina Spirit prepares to run in the Preakness Stakes today, I want to keep the focus on this amazing equine athlete and not me, which is the primary reason I will not personally be in attendance.

'I do not want to serve as a distraction to what has always been of paramount importance  the joy of this great sport and the horses that make it possible.'

Baffert denied using banned drugs on Medina Spirit, and said the steroid found in the horse's system was also used to treat other conditions.

A masked racegoer enjoys the Preakness. Attendance was capped at 10,000 - far short of the usual 100,000 crowd, because of COVID-19-related social distancing measures

One spectator wore a racehorse themed mask for her trip to the Preakness

Preakness spectator Morga Allen donned an unusual butterfly hat for Saturday's race

Midnight Bourbon, who was 3-1, was second. Keepmeinmind was fourth and Baffert-trained Concert Tour ninth in the 10-horse field.

Saturday's race was capped to 10,000 spectators because of COVID-19 - a tenth the size of the crowd who usually attend.

Rombauer busted the bias of horses hugging the rail, going past Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit down the stretch and winning by 3 1/2 lengths.

Jockey Flavien Prat won the Preakness two years after being elevated to the Derby winner aboard Country House when Maximum Security was disqualified.

Trainer Michael McCarthy won his first Triple Crown race and captured the Preakness before Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, for whom he worked as an assistant before opening his own barn.

Rombauer is owned by John and Diane Fradkin, a far cry from Medina Spirit's Zedan Racing Stables and other horse racing conglomerates. He won for the third time in seven starts.

McCarthy said this week Rombauer's best weapon was between his ears and that his colt was training well. But few picked the long shot to win the Preakness, which was run in front of 10,000 fans at Pimlico Race Course.

Baffert was not in attendance, staying away because of the controversy with Medina Spirit, who still could be disqualified from the Derby.

Racing fans' anticipation for Preakness was upended last week when Medina Spirit trainer Bob Baffert announced that the Kentucky Derby winner had tested positive for anti-inflammatory drug betamethasone.

If that result is confirmed, Medina Spirit will only be the second Kentucky Derby winner in history to be stripped of the prized title for a medical violation.

The Medina Spirit scandal is the fifth to hit Baffert in the last year. He is the biggest star in American horse racing, and the most successful trainer in the history of the Triple Crown series, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Baffert has successfully appealed past penalties levied against him, but having a victory at the United States' most famous horse race overturned would badly tarnish his legacy.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that the U.S. had 'communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility'

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' while an AP journalist said the army had warned the tower's owner ahead of the strike

An Israeli air strike Saturday flattened a 13-floor building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and the US news agency the Associated Press in the Gaza Strip

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants

President Joe Biden phoned Israeli PM Bejnamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to express concern about the situation in Gaza - A UN Security Council meeting will take place later on Sunday

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News organizations demanded an explanation on Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.

Its destruction also sparked widespread protests across the United States. Model Bella Hadid was seen among those on the streets of Brooklyn.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gazas Hamas rulers and Israel.

With Palestinian protests against Israel across the U.S., on Saturday, President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the spiraling violence.

Biden told Netanyahu that he continued to support Israel's right to defend itself but expressed concern over deaths on both sides.

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A ball of fire erupts from a building housing various international media, including The Associated Press, after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday

Bella Hadid joins with protestors Brooklyn to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in New York on Saturday

Supermodel Bella Hadid joined a crowd of protesters Saturday who took to the streets of Bay Ridge for a demonstration in support of Palestine

Hadid was wearing a traditional dress, a Keffiyeh, a face mask and waving a large Palestinian flag as she marched along with thousands of others

Hadid flashed a peace sign and waved as the crowd chanted

BOSTON: Thousands gather during a rally to support Palestine at Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts on May 15, 2021

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN: Protestors speak out against the Israeli army in Gaza as well as the forced removal of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem

WASHINGTON D.C.: Jewish demonstrators show their solidarity with Palestinians over the ongoing conflict with Israel

BROOKLYN: People gather in Brooklyn to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in New York City

BROOKLYN: Protests are taking place worldwide against Israel as a result of recently escalated actions towards the Palestinian people

LOS ANGELES: Demonstrators holding signs and the flag of Palestine march to the Israeli Consulate during a protest against Israel and in support of Palestinians during the current conflict in the Middle East, in the Westwood area of LA

LOS ANGELES: Demonstrators holding signs march to Israeli Consulate during a protest against Israel and in support of Palestinians in LA

LOS ANGELES: A demonstrator takes part in a protest outside the Federal Building against Israel and in support of Palestinians in California

'He raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection,' the White House said.

Biden also reaffirmed the United States 'strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas' in his call with Netanyahu.

At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

Back in the United States, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.

Groups gathered to show solidarity with Palestinians in cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan.

Sobbing selfie: Bella Hadid, 24, posts sobbing selfie and talks about 'deep sense of pain' she feels for Palestine as she continues to takes sides on the geopolitical conflict

About two thousand people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, chanting 'Free, free Palestine' and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'

They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read 'End Israeli Apartheid' and 'Freedom for Gaza.'

Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Among them in Bay Ridge was Hadid who joined in supporting Palestinians.

Hadid was spotted wearing a traditional dress, a Keffiyeh, a face mask and was waving a large Palestinian flag.

She marched alongside thousands as she flashed a peace sign and waved.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said 'Not in my name' and 'Solidarity with Palestine' as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

A few dozen police officers looked on at the peaceful protest, dubbed 'Defend Palestine.

Earlier in the day, Hadid shared a sobbing selfie saying she felt a 'deep sense of pain,' for Palestinians as she continued to take sides  despite many calling her previous social media posts 'mis-informed.'

Just days ago the 24-year-old daughter of multi-millionaire Mohamed Hadid (a Palestinian real estate developer) was slammed for sharing a graphic that said Israel was not a country and accused of anti-semitism.

Hadid posted a closeup of her face with tears streaming down her cheeks as she continued to speak.

'I feel a deep sense of pain for Palestine and for my Palestinian brothers and sisters today and everyday. Watching these videos physically breaks my heart into 100 different pieces.

'You cannot allow yourself to be desensitized to watching human life being taken. You just can't. Palestinian lives are the lives that will help change the world. And they are being taken from us by the second. #FreePalestine'

Days ago the Malibu-raised socialite found herself in hot water after she shared a graphic with anti-semitic rhetoric  the multi-slide post reading (among other things) that Israel was not a country and was a land settled by colonizers.

Her post about the nation state  which was established in 1948 was said to have inflamed the very fraught situation and contributed to rising anti-semitism on a global scale. Numbers-wise Bella boasts 41.7M Instagram followers  three times the number of Jews in the world.

NEW YORK CITY: Activists supporting Palestine block traffic on Interstate 278 Saturday, in New York

HOUSTON, TEXAS: People participate in a demonstration at the Houston City Hall on May 15, 2021 in Houston, Texas

HOUSTON, TEXAS: A man leads a chant during a march to the Houston City Hall. The death toll in Gaza continues to rise as the region is seeing the worst outbreak of violence since the 2014 Gaza war

LOS ANGELES: People rally in support of Palestinians near the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles, California

LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles Sheriff deputies keep watch as people rally in support of Palestinians near the Consulate General of Israel in LA. Tensions have escalated between Israelis and Palestinians, leading to the heaviest offensive in years

LOS ANGELES: People demonstrate in support of Palestine during the Los Angeles Nakba 73: Resistance Until Liberation rally and protest outside the Consulate of Israel in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES: A demonstrator performs a backflip outside the Consulate of Israel in LA

HOUSTON, TEXAS: Ahmad El-rifai, 5, participates in prayer at the Houston City Hall on in Houston, Texas. People gathered during a rally to show support for Palestinians facing Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip

'I'm here because I want a Palestinian life to equal an Israeli life and today it doesn't,' said 35-year-old Emraan Khan, a corporate strategist from Manhattan, as he waved a Palestinian flag.

'When you have a nuclear-armed state and another state of villagers with rocks it is clear who is to blame,' he added.

Alison Zambrano, a 20-year-old student, travelled from neighboring Connecticut for the demo.

'Palestinians have the right to live freely and children in Gaza should not be being killed,' she told AFP.

Mashhour Ahmad, a 73-year-old Palestinian who has lived in New York for 50 years, said 'don't blame the victim for the aggression.'

'I'm telling Mr. Biden and his cabinet to stop supporting the killing. Support the victims, stop the oppression.

'The violence committed by the Israeli army recently is genocide,' he added, raising a poster above his head that said 'Free Palestine, End the occupation.'

BROOKLYN: People wave flags during a demonstration in support of Palestine in Brooklyn, New York

LOS ANGELES: People rally in support of Palestinians near the Consulate General of Israel in LA

HOUSTON, TEXAS: People gathered during a rally to show support for Palestinians facing Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip

HOUSTON, TEXAS: A woman leads a chant during a march to the Houston City Hall. People gathered during a rally to show support for Palestinians facing Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip

NEW YORK: An activist supporting Palestine runs with a pro-Palestine sign during a rally on Saturday, May 15, 2021, in New York. The rally supports Palestine in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine on the day Israeli airstrikes leveled several buildings in the Gaza strip

BROOKLYN: Activists supporting Palestine block traffic on Interstate 278 Saturday in New York

People block the Gowanus Expressway during a Nakba Day Defend Palestine protest in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

The Gowanus Expressway was blocked because of the protests on Saturday night

Palestinian protestors folded arms in what was a peaceful protest

The Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, has a large Arabic-speaking community

Some protesters walked onto Interstate 278 shutting down traffic in at least in one direction

The marches coincided with Nakba Day, which commemorates the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel's declaration of independence

Some religions Jews also appeared to show support for the Palestinian community

Thousands rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to stand with Palestinians calling for the end of what they see as an illegal occupation by Israel

President Joe Biden spoke separately Saturday with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, expressing his 'grave concern' over six days of violence that has left scores dead or wounded.

He expressed Washington's 'strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution as the best path to reach a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,' the White House said.

The protests were held on the anniversary of Nakba Day, or 'catastrophe,' that saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during Israel's creation in 1947-1948.

Throngs of people gathered in Copley Square in Boston, while a few hundred rallied on the Washington Monument grounds in the US capital.

Several thousand demonstrated in Montreal, calling for 'the liberation of Palestine.'

Protesters also denounced 'war crimes' committed by Israel in Gaza and carried placards accusing Israel of violating international law during the protest in the center of the Canadian city.

Earlier, a caravan of cars sounded their horns and drove with Palestinian flags blowing in the wind as they protested outside the Israeli consulate in the western part of Montreal.

A protester was arrested for breaking a window, a police spokesperson said, but otherwise the demonstration was peaceful.

A view of a 11-story building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City is seen as Israeli warplanes demolished it

Gaza: The bomb seen hurtling towards the building. Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building

The attack came roughly an hour after the Israeli military warned people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al-Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments

A view of a 11-story building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City is seen moments after an Israeli airstrike

The building housed The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments

Back in Gaza, as news organizations attempted to process the fast pace of events, the president of the Associated Press spoke out after the newsgatherer's bureau in Gaza City was blown to bits.

'The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,' AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

In a phone call with Pruitt, Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered 'unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world,' noting the 'indispensability' of reporting in conflict zones, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

The Secretary offered his unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world and noted the indispensability of their reporting in conflict zones. He expressed relief that the Associated Press team on the ground in Gaza remains safe.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a 'war crime' and a 'clear act' to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.

'The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms,' Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He said 'a highly advanced technological tool' that the militant group used in the fighting was 'within or on the building.'

A Palestinian man looks for belongings to salvage in a damaged building following Israeli air strikes in Gaza

Some 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza have sought refuge in UN-run schools and other public buildings after fleeing homes near the Israeli border for fear of a ground assault

Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces across the West Bank

Israeli soldiers take aim during clashes with Palestinian protesters in the city center of Hebron in the occupied West Bank

Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepts rockets fired from the Gaza Strip toward the coastal city of Tel Aviv on Saturday night

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without 'compromising' intelligence efforts. He added, however: 'I think its a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.'

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel 'provide a detailed and documented justification' for the strike.

'This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza,' the groups executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

'Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks,' Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. 'It's really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that you've had.'

Palestinians attend the funeral of two women and eight children of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City, who were killed after an Israeli air strike on Saturday,

Palestinians look at destruction caused by Israeli air strikes that killed ten members of Abu Hatab Hadidi family in Gaza City

Palestinians look at destruction caused by Israeli air strikes in Gaza City

A policeman stands on rubble from a building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City that was destroyed after Israeli warplanes demolished it

Palestinians gather around a car after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City

Ahead of the demolition, the AP placed urgent calls to the Israeli military, foreign minister and prime minister's office but were either ignored or told that there was nothing to be done.

For 15 years, APs top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agency's camera offered 24-hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt 'somewhat safe.'

'The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so it's less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down,' Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

Palestinian mourners cry during the funeral of Husam Asayra, 20 in the West Bank village of Asira al-Qibliya, near Nablus. The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel

An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in the Gaza Strip, at the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday

Family members who live in the al-Jala tower, a high-rise housing AP and other media offices, flee the building before Israeli airstrikes

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Malek Hamdan who was killed in clashes with Israeli forces, during his funeral in the village of Salem, near of the West Bank city of Nablus,

'The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone.' the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. 'A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.'

A video broadcast by Al-Jazeera showed the buildings owner, Jawwad Mahdi, pleading over the phone with an Israeli intelligence officer to wait 10 minutes to allow journalists to go inside the building to retrieve valuable equipment before it is bombed.

'All I'm asking is to let four people ... to go inside and get their cameras,' he said. 'We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you don't allow it, but give us 10 minutes.' When the officer rejected the request, Mahdi said, 'You have destroyed our life's work, memories, life. I will hang up, do what you want. There is a God.'

Late Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the building was used by Hamas military intelligence. 'It was not an innocent building,' he said.

Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting buildings. It also accused the group of using journalists as human shields.

For AP journalists, it was a difficult moment. Most of the AP staff has been sleeping in the bureau, which includes four bedrooms in an upstairs apartment, throughout the current round of fighting, believing that the offices of an international news agency were one of the few safe places in Gaza. In a territory crippled by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, it was equipped with a generator that offered the rare comforts of electricity, air conditioning and running water.

People take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip, after their building was hit by a rocket couple of minutes before, in Ramat Gan, central Israel

A woman surveys the damage in her home after it was struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel

Israeli security forces and emergency services work on a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ramat Gan

AP correspondent Fares Akram said he was resting in an upstairs room when he heard panicked screams from colleagues about the evacuation order. Staffers hastily gathered basic equipment, including laptops and cameras before fleeing downstairs.

'I am heartbroken,' Akram said. 'You feel like you are at home. Above all, you have your memories, your friends. You spend most of your time there.'

Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatars government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.

'This channel will not be silenced. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,' Halla Mohieddeen. on-air anchorperson for Al-Jazeera English said, her voice thick with emotion. 'We can guarantee you that right now.'

Early on Sunday, Hamas fired a heavy barrage of rockets at the metropolis of Tel Aviv, saying it was revenge for flattening the high-rise building.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents some 400 journalists working for international media organizations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, expressed its 'grave concern and dismay' over the attack.

'Knowingly causing the destruction of the offices of some of the worlds largest and most influential news organizations raises deeply worrying questions about Israels willingness to interfere with the freedom of the press,' it said. 'The safety of other news bureaus in Gaza is now in question.'

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the attack raises concerns that Israel is targeting the media 'to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza.' He demanded 'detailed and documented justification' for the attack.

The International Press Institute, a global network of journalists and media executives, condemned the attack as a 'gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms.'

The Israeli military has long had rocky relations with the foreign media, accusing international journalists of being biased against it.

The attack came a day after the Israeli military had fed vague - and in some cases erroneous - information to the media about a possible ground incursion into Gaza. It turned out that there was no ground invasion, and the statement was part of an elaborate ruse aimed at tricking Hamas militants into defensive underground positions that were then destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.

International journalists have accused the army of duping them and turning them into accessories for a military operation. The army said the error was an honest mistake.

Meanwhile, as Palestinian rocket salvoes hit coastal Tel Aviv, beach-goers in Israel's second most populous city were seen running to shelter, some taking cover by lying down on the floor against walls.

Tel Aviv residents fled amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said.

The group said the salvoes responded to overnight strikes on Gaza's Beach refugee camp, where a woman and four of her children were killed when her house was hit.

A streak of light is seen as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel May 15, 2021

Tel Aviv: Israeli beachgoers are seen rushing towards shelters in Tel Aviv. Rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Tel Aviv residents fled for cover amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said

Israeli beachgoers take cover in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip

Israeli beachgoers rush towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Israeli beachgoers and a dog are seen rushing towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 after the launching of rockets

Israeli beachgoers pictured going towards shelters in Tel Aviv. Israel, which is also trying to contain an outbreak of internal Jewish-Arab violence, is facing its bloodiest conflict with Palestinian militants in Gaza since a 2014 war

The moment the 13-floor building housing was destroyed by the Israeli air strike, sending a huge mushroom cloud into the sky, was captured on video.

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' Al Jazeera said in a tweet.

Broadcast footage from Al Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar's government, shows the building collapsing to the ground after the Israeli air strike, sending up a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris.

'This channel will not be silenced. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,' an on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. 'We can guarantee you that right now.'

Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building. AP's staff and others in the building evacuated immediately.

The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current conflict.

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones amid clashes with Israeli security forces near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021, as Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the 'catastrophe' of Israel's creation in 1948, which turned hundreds of thousands into refugee

Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli security forces amid clashes near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

A Palestinian protester takes cover from Israeli security forces amid clashes near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

Palestinian protesters react to tear gas fired by Israeli security forces amid clashes near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

The aftermath following the Israeli strike, which destroyed Jala Tower - a 13-floor building housing Al Jazeera television and Associated Press

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' Al Jazeera said in a tweet. It was reported the army had warned the tower's owner ahead of the strike on Saturday

Smoke billows as an air bomb is dropped on the Jala Tower during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, said: 'It's terrible, very sad, to target the Al Jazeera and other press bureaux'

A building housing various international media, including Al Jazeera and The Associated Press, collapses after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, May 15, in Gaza City

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, May 15

In a phone call with the officer, he was heard begging for an extra 10 minutes to allow journalists to retrieve their equipment before leaving.

'Give us ten extra minutes,' he urged, but the officer on the other end of the line refused.

Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, said: 'It's terrible, very sad, to target the Al Jazeera and other press bureaux'.

Israel alleged its 'fighter jets attacked a high-rise building which hosted military assets belonging to the military intelligence of the Hamas terror organisation'.

It said: 'The building also hosted offices of civilian media outlets, which the Hamas terror group hides behind and uses as human shields.'

Both sides have pressed for an advantage as ceasefire efforts gather strength.

The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel.

There were also widespread Palestinian protests on Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon shows rockets fired from the Gaza Strip being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system , on May 15, 2021

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon shows rockets fired from the Gaza Strip being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system , on May 15, 2021

A thick column of black smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 15

Families who live in Jala Tower, a high-rise housing AP and other media offices, flee the building before Israeli airstrikes on Saturday, May 15

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed on May 15. Israeli air strikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a key media building

Dust settles following the destruction of the Jala Tower in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, May 15

Smoke rises as the 13-floor building collapses after an Israeli airstrike hits Jala Tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera

Smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it collapses after being bombed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, May 15

Debris and smashed windows fall towards the ground after an Israeli airstrike hits the high-rise building on Saturday

A Palestinian policeman looks on at the rubble of the building that house the Associated Press and Al Jazeera's offices in Gaza City after it was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike

Israeli strike destroys Gaza building housing Associated Press An Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. Hours later, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a top leader of Gaza's ruling militant Hamas group. The Israeli military said Al-Hayeh's home served as part of what it said was the militant group's 'terrorist infrastructure.' Al-Hayeh is a senior figure in the Hamas political leadership in Gaza, and the attack marked a further escalation, signaling that Israel is going after Hamas' top leadership, and not just military commanders. His fate after the strike was not immediately known. Earlier, AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated their office building after the military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust. For 15 years, the AP's top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel's conflicts with Gaza's Hamas rulers, including wars in 2009 and 2014. The news agency's camera offered 24-hour live shots as militants' rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week. 'The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,' AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. 'We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.' 'This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,' he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more. The building that was targeted also housed the offices of Qatari-run Al-Jazeera TV, as well as residential apartments. The Israeli military said Hamas was operating inside it, a standard explanation, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims. Reporting by Associated Press Advertisement

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has been condemned as 'completely unacceptable' by Labour. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said: 'The targeting of media offices in Gaza by Israeli air strikes is completely unacceptable. Press freedom is a fundamental right.

'The devastating escalation of violence - including Hamas rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and air strikes on the Gaza City refugee camp - has cost more civilian lives and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

'The UK must join our international partners in calling for an immediate ceasefire, an end to all rocket attacks and air strikes, and work with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to prevent this dangerous situation deteriorating further.'

The spiralling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian 'intifada', or uprising, at a time when there have been no peace talks in years.

Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest.

US diplomat Hady Amr arrived on Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the UN Security Council is set to meet on Sunday.

Israel has turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official revealed.

Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has responded by pounding the Gaza Strip with strikes.

In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death on Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Earlier on Saturday, an airstrike hit a three-story house in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp, killing eight children and two women from an extended family.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with relatives.

She and three of the children, aged six to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his five-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.

Children's toys and a Monopoly board game could be seen among the rubble, as well as plates of uneaten food from the holiday gathering.

'There was no warning,' said Jamal Al-Naji, a neighbour living in the same building. 'You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?' he said, addressing Israel.

'Why are you confronting us? Go and confront the strong people!'

The baby boy is reported to have been found next to the body of his deceased mother. Hamas militants responded by firing more rockets into Israel as their battle entered a fifth consecutive night and a US envoy arrived for talks

The two nurses seen wearing face masks as one holds the baby boy at Al-Shifa Hospital. Ten members of a single family - eight children and two women - were killed when a three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following an Israel strike

A nurse holds the baby boy at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. An airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians, mostly children - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the battle erupted earlier this week

A man gestures as he prepares with others to bury the bodies of Palestinian children and their mother from the Al-Hadidi family, who were killed amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, during their funeral at a cemetery on May 15

Palestinians take part in the funeral of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City on May 15 - an extended family of 10 who were killed early in an Israeli air strike on the western Gaza Strip

Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians protest along Lebanon-Israel border Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians have protested along the Lebanon-Israel border, with some climbing a border wall and triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person. The protest on Saturday evening in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh saw hundreds marching and waving Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow flags of the militant Hezbollah group. Some protesters climbed a high border wall where they placed Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. Supporters of Hezbollah and the Palestinian revolution faction climb the wall during protest at the Al Odaisseh area opposite the Al-Mutaleh Israeli settlement at the Lebanese border with Israel, 15 May 2021 Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops fired warning shots near Adaisseh, wounding one person who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Lebanese and Palestinians from around Lebanon have been heading to the border to protest against Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past days. On Friday, Israeli troops opened fire at protesters who crossed a border fence, killing a 21-year-old Hezbollah member. Earlier Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border. Advertisement

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the air strike.

A furious Israeli barrage early on Friday killed a family of six in their house and sent thousands fleeing to UN-run shelters.

The military said the operation involved 160 warplanes dropping some 80 tonnes of explosives over the course of 40 minutes and succeeded in destroying a vast tunnel network used by Hamas.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the military aims to minimise collateral damage in striking military targets. But measures it takes in other strikes, such as warning shots to get civilians to leave, were not 'feasible this time'.

Israeli media said the military believed dozens of militants were killed inside the tunnels.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, but the military said the real number is far higher.

Gaza's infrastructure, already in widespread disrepair because of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007, showed signs of breaking down further, compounding residents' misery.

The territory's sole power plant is at risk of running out of fuel in the coming days.

The UN said Gazans are experiencing daily power cuts of eight to 12 hours and at least 230,000 have limited access to tap water.

The impoverished and densely populated territory is home to two million Palestinians, most of them the descendants of refugees from what is now Israel.

The conflict has reverberated widely. Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen daily violence, with mobs from each community fighting in the streets and destroying each other's property.

The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, with Palestinian protests against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, in an apparent attempt to present itself as the champion of the protesters.

During the conflict that spiralled from there, Israel said it wants to inflict as much damage as it can on Hamas' military infrastructure in Gaza.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Hamas will 'pay a very heavy price' for its rocket attacks, as Israel masses troops at the frontier.

US president Joe Biden has expressed support for Israel while saying he hopes to bring the violence under control.

Pedestrians look on as barricade tape surrounds an area hit by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, Israel, on May 15 in an image obtained from social media

A fireball and smoke billow up into the air during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeting the Ansar compound, linked to the Hamas movement, in the Gaza Strip early on May 15

A Palestinian firefighter speaks to colleagues following an Israeli strike on Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15

Palestinians inspect the damages following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence on May 15

Israeli man is killed by Hamas rocket in Tel Aviv as five-month-old boy is pulled ALIVE from rubble after air strike on Gaza refugee camp while US envoy arrives to broker talks

An Israeli man has been killed by a Hamas rocket in Tel Aviv and a five-month-old baby boy has been pulled alive from rubble following an overnight air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza City.

Several people also received minor injuries after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, according to the Times of Israel.

The launch came in response to Israel's airstrike on a house killing 10 Palestinians in Gaza City, with harrowing pictures show nurses holding a boy, who was reported to have been found next to the body of his deceased mother, at Al-Shifa Hospital.

A three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following the airstrike, killing at least 10 members of an extended family - eight children and two women - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the battle erupted earlier this week.

Another Israeli airstrike has also demolished Jala Tower, which housed Al Jazeera television and Associated Press, with broadcast footage showing a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris erupting from the 13-floor building.

A nurse holds a baby, Omar, who was pulled alive from underneath rubble while other members of his family perished, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday after an Israeli air strike hit al-Shati Refugee Camp without advance warning overnight

Mohammed al-Hadidi with his baby son who was pulled alive from underneath the rubble while three of his children, aged six to 14, and wife perished in the Israeli airstrike

United Nations Security Council to meet on Sunday over violence The United Nations (UN) said the Security Council would meet on Sunday to address the violence. But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no indication that Israel was ready to ease its campaign. 'I said we'd deliver heavy blows to Hamas and other terror groups, and we're doing that,' Netanyahu said. 'They're paying and will continue to pay dearly for that. It's not over yet.' Israel estimates that more than 30 leaders of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been killed. It has hit sites it describes as military targets such as Hamas bomb-making facilities and the homes of senior militant commanders. Advertisement

A US envoy arrived for talks, with the United Nations (UN) Security Council set to meet on Sunday. US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr, was due to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, where the latest outburst of violence began, on Saturday before heading to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian officials.

He wants to encourage a 'sustainable calm', State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

But despite intensifying diplomatic efforts to ease five days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, Israel's air force struck several sites in the coastal enclave overnight, while rockets again tore towards Israel.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with relatives. She and three of the children, aged six to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his five-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.

Eleven Palestinians died in clashes in the occupied West Bank on Friday and there were fears of worse violence today as Palestinians mark Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

Washington has been criticised for not doing more to end the intensifying violence after it blocked a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Friday.

The overall death toll in Gaza since Monday now tops 140, more than 30 of them children. Around 950 people have been wounded.
As 'Maverick' in the film Top Gun, fighter pilot Tom Cruise would race around between missions on his 249mph Kawasaki Ninja motorbike.

Now RAF pilots have been given their own two-wheeled transport, but in a rather more sedate form, after being issued with a fleet of e-scooters  with a top speed of 15.5mph.

Personnel at RAF Marham in Norfolk use the e-scooters to make the three-mile journey from their living quarters to work at the base.

RAF pilots are being issued with a fleet of e-scooters  with a top speed of 15.5mph. (Stock image)

Military chiefs bought 90 of the machines as part of Operation Astra, an initiative to encourage greener travel.

Officials say the move has reduced use of a shuttle bus that ferries staff between three locations, and led to plans for a 500,000 new car park being scrapped.

Marham station commander Group Captain Jim Beck said: 'We have introduced e-scooters for our personnel to reduce carbon vehicle use.

This has enabled greener and more flexible transport with the added bonus of saving money.'

Military chiefs bought 90 of the machines as part of Operation Astra and personnel at RAF Marham in Norfolk use the e-scooters to make the three-mile journey from their living quarters to work at the base. (Stock images)

Even the local tractors on the surrounding Norfolk roads travel comfortably faster than the e-scooters, while the supersonic aircraft based at Marham  the F-35B Lightning, the RAF's most advanced fighter jet  can fly at 1,200mph.

It has a range of 1,367 miles, while the e-scooter's battery lasts for 30 miles. Each jet costs 190 million, while the scooters were 500 apiece.

Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the original 1986 blockbuster movie, is scheduled for release in November but will unfortunately not see Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell, again played by Cruise, riding an e-scooter.

He gets another supercharged Kawasaki.
Tory MPs are vowing to prevent Boris Johnson from being suspended from the Commons over a 'freebie' holiday in Mustique with fiancee Carrie Symonds  by rejecting the verdict of Westminster's standards watchdog.

They are threatening to take the extraordinary step of voting down the sanction if Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, calls for it.

One senior Tory last night said the Prime Minister's 'mandate from the British people' could not be overturned by a standards inquiry. 'Which Red Wall Tory MP  elected in large part thanks to Mr Johnson  would accept a sanction to suspend him from the Commons?' he asked

Reports yesterday claimed Ms Stone had accused the Prime Minister of failing to come clean over the real cost of his holiday in December 2019, suggesting it was twice as much as the 15,000 he declared in the Commons register of interests

Another insisted that the party, which has a majority of 82 in the Commons, would simply not accept the verdict of an 'unfair' report.

But Labour MPs reacted in fury. Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: 'There can't be one rule for the PM and another for everyone else. If he has broken the rules again, he should face the same sanctions anyone else would expect.'

Reports yesterday claimed Ms Stone had accused the Prime Minister of failing to come clean over the real cost of his holiday in December 2019, suggesting it was twice as much as the 15,000 he declared in the Commons register of interests, and that the cost had not been met by Tory donor and Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross, as Mr Johnson claimed.

Deputy leader Angela Rayner said: 'There can't be one rule for the PM and another for everyone else. If he has broken the rules again, he should face the same sanctions anyone else would expect.'

Mr Johnson is understood to have refused to accept her ruling and is trying to overturn it. He reportedly told Ms Stone that he got the villa for half price as a last-minute bargain.

One Tory MP voiced anger that Ms Stone's exchanges with the Prime Minister had been leaked and warned that it 'hardly bodes well' for the conduct of other probes into how the PM financed the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

There is no suggestion of wrong-doing by Mr Ross, while Downing Street insisted that Mr Johnson had 'transparently declared the benefit' of the holiday and insisted that the Cabinet Office 'was content it was appropriate'.
Rape victims will have their phones returned by police within 24 hours as part of a new Government drive to increase convictions for sex attacks, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

A review led by Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, due to be published next month, will recommend a raft of measures that shift the focus from the credibility of rape victims towards the suspect's behaviour.

A report by the Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham last year concluded that police forces were taking 'excessive amounts of personal data' from victims' phones amid warnings that cases were being dropped due to the intrusive demands.

Rape victims will have their phones returned by police within 24 hours as part of a Government drive to increase convictions for sex attacks, The Mail on Sunday can reveal (stock image)

The report found practices were inconsistent across the country, with some forces downloading data and returning devices hours later, while others held on to phones for months or even years to carry out manual searches.

The Government proposals, backed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, will standardise the return of devices to victims within 24 hours. The aim is to cut the number of complainants dropping out of investigations before trial.

In 2019 the National Police Chiefs' Council introduced a consent form, allowing officers to download complainants' mobile phone data, after a series of rape cases collapsed at trial.

The procedure was criticised by some as a 'digital strip search'.

A court judgment last year and the Information Commissioner's report criticising the procedure resulted in the introduction of an amended 'digital processing form' to ensure a more proportionate policing approach.

The Government proposals, backed by Home Secretary Priti Patel, will standardise the return of devices to victims within 24 hours (stock image)

Studies have found that many of those accused of rape do not enter a guilty plea until the day of the trial in the hope that traumatised victims will not turn up at court to go through the ordeal.

At present, many complainants have their phones removed for months, leading to victims dropping complaints because they are left without a phone when they most need support from friends and family.

In the year to March 2020, 58,856 cases of rape were recorded by police forces in England and Wales which led to just 2,102 prosecutions, compared with 3,043 in the previous 12 months.

Last month Mr Buckland, a former criminal barrister, announced a new Victims' Code which would allow victims to be informed when an offender leaves prison. It also provided a mechanism for vulnerable victims to be able to pre-record their evidence ahead of a trial to avoid the stress of cross-examination in court.

The code is expected to form the basis of a consultation for a new victims' law later this year.
Every hospital in England is finally allowing pregnant women to have their partners at their sides for support, in a resounding victory for The Mail on Sunday's Lone Births campaign.

NHS England records reveal that all wards have now changed their policy, eight months after this newspaper first highlighted the plight of women being forced to give birth and attend traumatic scans alone.

This includes five wards that two weeks ago were still failing to comply with official guidance and not allowing partners to be present at all stages.

However, after The Mail on Sunday report, all five have changed their policies, NHS England sources said.

Every hospital in England is allowing pregnant women to have their partners at their sides for support. Pictured: Tory MP Alicia Kearns, who supported The Mail on Sunday campaign

Last night Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'The pandemic has undoubtedly been a difficult time for expecting and new parents, and The Mail on Sunday was right to shine a light on this important issue.

'I'm pleased mothers can safely have a partner, relative, friend or someone close with them throughout their pregnancy, care and birth, providing vital support while keeping everyone safe.'

In December, hospital trusts were told to find 'creative solutions' to ensure women have support 'at all stages' of pregnancy and labour.

However, not all trusts immediately complied with the instruction, and campaigners accused them of dragging their feet. The second Covid wave then set back progress, and many hospitals reimposed draconian restrictions.

Last month, NHS England issued new guidance calling for 'urgent action' from remaining trusts to start allowing partners to attend at all stages of pregnancy.

Despite this, five wards did not fully comply. One woman, who had been told to attend a 12-week scan at Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent, alone, said the anxiety was 'crippling' her.

She said ahead of the appointment that she had suffered two previous miscarriages and spoke of how she had already been admitted to hospital with a 'severe bleed' during the current pregnancy.

After The Mail on Sunday reported her case, the hospital changed its approach and allowed her partner to accompany her  before adapting its wider policy.

One woman was told to attend a 12-week scan at Medway Maritime Hospital, Kent, alone. After The Mail on Sunday reported her case, the hospital changed its approach (stock image)

The change comes as MPs said NHS reforms in the Queen's Speech will give the Government new powers to prevent such a problem from going unfixed for so long ever again.

Alicia Kearns, the campaigning Tory MP, spoke of the 'scandal that women's health is frankly second class', before saying the 'NHS White Paper in last week's Queen's Speech can change this'.

In an article for Mail Online she writes: 'For months, this newspaper has given a voice to women who had to experience stillbirths alone, who were alone when they learned their child had died in the womb or faced a lifetime of complications, and who have laboured, or even given birth, alone.

'Our campaign forced NHS trusts across the country to stop denying women their partners during scans, procedures and birth. Given the success of our world-leading vaccine programme, and as we beat this virus, we cannot allow NHS trusts to insist on blanket policies that stop mothers, children, cancer, stroke or any other patients benefiting from the vital support of a loved one.'

She said the new law will take the 'NHS bureaucracy to task on improving women's health'.

Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, Chief Midwifery Officer for NHS England, said: 'As the NHS has made repeatedly clear throughout the pandemic, hospitals must ensure that women are safely accompanied at every stage of their maternity journey, including for scans, wherever possible.

'All maternity units are now reporting that they are allowing partners or someone to support them for all scans, and with Government having now made testing capacity available and the next stage of restrictions being eased from tomorrow, there is currently no reason for women to be denied partners at every stage of their maternity care.'

By Alicia Kearns MP

Did you know that the dosages on every day medicines are set at the dose a man would need? Did you know that the impact of nutrition on pregnant women was researched using a cohort that was 100% male?

That pharmaceutical trials are too often made up of only men and so Government Ministers stepped in to make sure that COVID-19 vaccine trials were 50% male and 50% female?

Given the success of the vaccine programme, we cannot allow NHS Trusts to insist on policies that stop mothers benefitting from the support of a loved one, Alicia Kearns (above) says

The last few weeks there's been a lot of discussion about risks of vaccines. A one in 1,000 risk of a blood clot. No, that's not the AstraZeneca vaccine which has a risk of 1 in 250,000, it's the combined contraceptive pill.

Surely that should be making headlines and dominating pub discussions? Oh, I forgot, it's a risk only women have to take on when they decide whether or not to take the pill.

But behind the realisation that many women have had over the last few weeks  that perhaps a common medication might carry more risk than a lifesaving vaccine  there is a wider point: the scandal that women's health is frankly second class.

That's about to change. And quite rightly too  the Government is committed to putting women's health front and centre through the NHS White Paper and the Women's Health consultation. No Government has ever stepped up to improve women's health  so I hope that women everywhere take this opportunity to have our say.

For months, this newspaper has given a voice to women who had to experience stillbirths alone, who were alone when they learned their child had died in the womb or faced a lifetime of complications, and who have laboured, or even given birth, alone.

Our campaign forced NHS Trusts across the country to stop denying women their partners during scans, procedures and birth.

Given the success of our world-leading vaccine programme, and as we beat this virus, we cannot allow NHS Trusts to insist on blanket policies that stop mothers, children, cancer, stroke or any other patient benefitting from the vital support of a loved one.

I know this goes on, and I understand this pain, because just a few weeks ago, on my own in a hospital room, I was devastated to be told that my baby daughter needs major surgery.

Having experienced this, it is heart-breaking to continue to receive messages from people alone in hospital beds or kept away from loved ones.

There's been discussion about risks of vaccines. A one in 1,000 risk of a blood clot. No, that's not the AstraZeneca vaccine, it's the combined contraceptive pill (stock image)

The NHS White Paper in last week's Queen's Speech can change this. It proposes to allow Government further powers so that it can insist that Government guidance  such as partners being present - is followed and will break down the often-unnavigable bureaucracy too many patients continue to face.

The White Paper is also accompanied by 98 million for maternity care, including new maternal mental health hubs; I am particularly thrilled that one will be located in Leicestershire.

For generations, women have lived with a health and care system that is mostly designed by men, for men. We now have a chance to change that, as the Government is creating the first ever Women's Health Strategy for England.

No Government has ever taken NHS bureaucracy to task this hard on improving women's health, and all of us need to make sure our voices are heard to change things for good.

The Government survey covers maternity, mental health, education on women's health issues, quality of services, and the impact of COVID-19 on our health. We each have just under a month to have our say.

Because as our campaign to support mothers has shown, when we raise our voices together, we make our voices heard.

Alicia Kearns is the Tory MP for Rutland and Melton.
An Australia Post worker has been slammed as 'lazy' after he was caught on camera dropping off a package behind a letter box instead of walking a few extra steps to the front door.

Adrian Dewick was waiting for the parcel to be delivered to his home, south-west of Perth, in Western Australia, on Friday.

He had instructed the postal worker to leave the delivery in a safe place if he wasn't home at the time.

CCTV footage from his house showed the courier pull into the driveway before stepping out of the van with the package.

An Australia Post worker has been slammed as 'lazy' after he was caught on camera dropping off a package behind a letter box instead of walking a few extra steps to the front door

The postal worker makes a beeline for the letter box before throwing it down on the ground and leaving.

Mr Dewick said if the courier had just walked a few extra steps and knocked on the front door he would have noticed someone was at home.

'I heard kids out the front and went to check the cameras and saw the package behind my post box,' he said.

Mr Dewick said he feared the parcel could have been stolen because of where it was placed by the delivery driver.

'I went out just as one of the kids was looking at grabbing my package,' he said.

He has since uploaded footage of the delivery to Facebook where social media users were quick to criticise the drop-off.

'Love how they call that a safe place,' one person commented.

Another person added: 'Yeah that should be reported to Australia Post, that isn't a safe drop as its visible from the street.'

Mr Dewick has since uploaded footage of the delivery to Facebook where social media users were quick to criticise the drop-off

Social media users were quick to take to the Facebook post and criticise the drop-off at the home

Mr Dewick said he has made a complaint to the Australia Post and is waiting for a response.

The national courier details on its website a number of places it considers to be safe for postal workers to leave a package.

'Safe places are those that are hidden on your premises, at the front door/porch, in your mailbox (if it fits), under the carport/verandah or by the side gate,' the website reads.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Australia Post for comment.
Senior citizens must not worry. They must follow safety protocols despite vaccination as that is important and not give up.  Representational image

Hyderabad: Senior citizens who have taken both doses of Covisheild vaccine in six to eight weeks are worried if they have immunity against Covid-19 after the revision of duration by the Union health ministry to 12 to 16 weeks.

The new guideline has got many of them calling their doctors to check whether they have the required immunity or would require one more dose of the vaccine. Many of them are worried whether they are protected as they ventured out to super markets, bazaars and neighbourhoods for shopping and walks. It is only the last few days of lockdown that they have not moved out but were socially active after vaccination.

Dr Rahul Agarwal, general physician and internal medicine specialist at Medicover Hospitals says, "In a pandemic caused by novel and unknown viruses, there will be changes in vaccination protocol after real world evidence. It is inconvenient but we have to bear it. Senior citizens, healthcare and frontline workers have received both doses of vaccine. Those working closely with Covid-19 patients have shown reasonably good immunity after two doses. Senior citizens must not worry. They must follow safety protocols despite vaccination as that is important and not give up."

Wearing masks, sanitisation and social distancing must be followed even if both doses are administered, urged the doctors.
One of Britain's most prestigious museums has appointed a 'curator of discomfort' to address how its collections have helped perpetuate the legacy of 'white supremacy'.

The Hunterian Museum said historical racist ideologies had been 'used to justify looting and plundering' and it wanted to 'rewrite the narrative' on artefacts donated by explorers and missionaries.

The museum, founded in 1807 and part of the University of Glasgow, has appointed Zandra Yeaman to work with staff in the way exhibits are promoted to the public.

The University of Glasgow, has appointed Zandra Yeaman, pictured, to work with staff in the way exhibits are promoted to the public.

In a blog, she wrote: 'We need to acknowledge that the concept of different 'races' and 'racial groups' and the false notions of racial superiority developed during the 18th, 19th and early 20th Century are not attitudes that have been left in the past. These ideologies were used to justify the buying and selling of human beings, genocide, looting and plundering.'

The museum was built to house the collection of Dr William Hunter, an 18th Century obstetrician who acquired items from Captain Cook's voyages to the South Seas. The museum was later given items from other collectors.

In 2009, The Hunterian repatriated four severed Maori heads to New Zealand with full tribal honours.

Jeremy Black, emeritus professor of history at the University of Exeter, warned against using today's morals to examine history.

He said: 'Ideas like this are based on a hatred of the past. It's ahistorical in the sense that it doesn't understand the particular reasons why people did things in the past.

The museum was built to house the collection of Dr William Hunter, an 18th Century obstetrician. (Interior of Hunterian museum in University of Glasgow)

'It is based on a notion of race hatred. If you endlessly use the term 'white supremacy', what you are actually doing is propounding an idea that you are to be defined by your race  not by class, not by gender, not by nationality.

'If you appoint somebody to a role like this, they are inevitably going to find things to cause a fuss about, otherwise they will be irrelevant. You are creating a lobby which is going to stir up hatred between people and this is not healthy.'
Health chiefs faced a fierce backlash last night after ordering GPs to offer face-to-face appointments for patients.

Several Local Medical Committees  groups that represent grassroots GPs across the UK  wrote to members late on Friday urging them to reject the new guidance.

The letters, seen by The Mail on Sunday, call the move 'badly judged' and 'frankly ludicrous'. They also suggested that practices 'delete' the email from NHS England or 'file it as a memento to incompetence'.

Meanwhile, the British Medical Association (BMA) accused civil servants of being 'tone deaf' for not recognising 'the efforts GPs were making and the stress they were feeling as a result of massive workload pressures'.

Health chiefs faced a fierce backlash last night after ordering GPs to offer face-to-face appointments for patients. Several Local Medical Committees  groups that represent grassroots GPs across the UK  wrote to members late on Friday urging them to reject the new guidance. (File image)

Doctors on social media also rounded on the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), which last weekend echoed this newspaper's concerns about policymakers trying to make 'digital-first' services normal practice.

NHS England's updated guidance means all patients will be able to request an in-person appointment with their doctor, unless they have Covid symptoms.

Telephone and online appointments  popular with many patients, who find them more efficient  will remain. But crucially, practices must respect patients' preference for face-to-face care.

RCGP chief Professor Martin Marshall said it was 'encouraging' that this left room for 'shared decision-making between GP and patient on the most appropriate method of consultation'.

Yet GPs on Twitter called the response 'poor', 'limp' and 'tepid'. One suggested doctors had been 'shafted by the college'. In an online poll, 10 per cent of respondents said they'd rather quit medicine than accept the new rules.

NHS England's updated guidance means all patients will be able to request an in-person appointment with their doctor, unless they have Covid symptoms

Insiders yesterday admitted that while the vast majority of GPs had been offering face-to-face appointments, there were 'pockets' where practices had 'basically shut up shop'.

A source said: 'The NHS guidance was blunt  most of us have been offering a good service in really difficult circumstances. People are feeling besieged as it is, and this went down badly.'

Evidence suggests that phone and online consultation forms have actually increased GPs' workloads, and many are suffering from long days of back-to-back telephone appointments.

The insider added: 'We know there are pockets of poor practice, where doctors have basically shut up shop, and you do get lazy GPs who'd rather do everything over the phone or on email. The new orders were aimed at this minority, but were sent to everyone, and that was upsetting.' The policy shift is a victory for this newspaper's campaign to Let Us See Our GPs Face To Face.

Until last week, there were concerns that policymakers intended to extend digital services, despite their unpopularity.

But on Thursday, there was an apparent change of heart.

Tory MP Dr Dan Poulter, a psychiatrist, said: 'Great credit should go to The Mail on Sunday for highlighting this very important issue. This campaign will help improve the quality of care patients receive and could help save lives.'

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday's Medical Minefield podcast, GP leader Professor Dame Clare Gerada, a pioneer of the virtual appointment eConsult system, said the real problem was understaffing that existed before the pandemic.

'We don't have enough GPs,' she said. 'Investment [over the past year] has gone almost entirely into hospitals. GPs are the front door of the health service. And if we don't protect the front door, then I'm afraid all of us are going to suffer.'
Princess Michael of Kent has fallen ill with blood clots, it was reported last night.

The royal, 76, who is married to the Queen's first cousin Prince Michael of Kent, is said to have been ill for nearly a month.

A source close to the princess claimed she has 'sought medical attention' after amid the concerns for her health.

The source told The Sun: 'It has been a worrying time for those around her. It has been difficult for those close to her to see her suffering. She's really been through it.'

Princess Michael of Kent, 76, who is married to the Queen's first cousin Prince Michael of Kent (both pictured), has been reportedly been unwell from blood clots for nearly a month

Princess Michael's spokesman Simon Astaire told the publication: 'I cannot comment on health issues.'

MailOnline has contacted Princess Michael's representatives for comment.

The 76-year-old is understood to have had both of her Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccinations earlier this year, though no link has been established between the jabs and the blood clots.

Earlier this year, it was decided that Britons under-30 would be offered an alternative vaccine to AstraZeneca because of the higher incidence of blood clots in recipients.

However the benefits of getting the vaccine for older people still outweighed the risks because the incidence of blood clots was so low and the risk posed by coronavirus so much higher for older age groups.

It comes after the royal was diagnosed with coronavirus last November and suffered from 'extreme fatigue and terrible fevers'.

Simon Astaire said Princess Michael tested positive for the virus after her housekeeper 'fell ill three weeks' previously, and she and her husband remained in isolation at Kensington Palace.

A source close to the princess, 76, (pictured in 2019) claimed that Princess Michael has 'sought medical attention' after amid the concerns for her health

The royal was diagnosed with coronavirus last November, soon after Prince Charles (pictured in November) announced in March 2020 that he tested positive for the disease

Prince Michael of Kent, 76, is the paternal cousin of the Queen.

His father, Prince George, Duke of Kent, was the younger brother of King Edward VIII and the Queen's father, King George VI.

In 1978 Prince Michael married divorcee Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz in Vienna.

She was then given the title Princess Michael of Kent.
Boris Johnson told his Cabinet that he does not want another Chilcot Inquiry before they signed off a probe into the Governments handling of the pandemic.

The Prime Minister warned against the Covid inquiry dragging on for nearly a decade.

He was speaking in response to a question from Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey on how long it will take, sources said.

Boris Johnson warned against the Covid inquiry dragging on for nearly a decade

In the meeting last week, Ministers decided the independent public inquiry will start in Spring 2022. Sir John Chilcots inquiry into Britains involvement in the war in Iraq lasted seven years and cost 13 million.

When it was launched, then-Tory leader David Cameron called it an establishment stitch-up.

Last night a Downing Street source said: The terms of reference need to be established, but there is a desire to conduct the inquiry quickly, but without forgoing thoroughness.

Another insider said the Prime Minister wanted Covid to be fresh in peoples minds when they are interviewed.

Meanwhile, a Government source warned the inquiry will be a lawyer-fest, referring to the high fees typically charged.

Mr Johnson said the inquiry will place the states actions under the microscope. Announcing it in the Commons he said: The state has an obligation to examine its actions as rigorously and candidly as possible, and to learn every lesson for the future.

The Prime Minister was speaking in response to a question from Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, pictured, on how long it will take, sources said

No 10 told reporters the inquiry would have legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence. Individual offices could be requested to hand over written and electronic communication. The terms of reference of the inquiry are yet to be set, and the Government will select who chairs it  although they are legally obliged to be independent.The Prime Minister has not committed to the inquiry being led by a judge.

William Wragg, the Conservative MP who chairs the public administration and constitutional affairs select committee, last week said it should have the fullest scope, given the extensive impacts of the pandemic.
The Government insists that hunters will face a total ban on bringing trophies of lions, elephants, rhinos and other endangered species back to the UK.

Campaigners fear a 'blood money' exemption could allow hunters to still ship trophies if they pay towards conservation.

But Environment Secretary George Eustice is said to have ruled that out and intends to introduce the 'toughest legislation in the world' later this year.

Almost 200 trophies were brought into the UK in 2019, including 15 tusks and other trophies of African elephants, 12 leopard and 12 lion trophies, according to official figures

A Whitehall source last night promised a 'robust ban' that would include all species on the 'endangered' and 'critically endangered' lists compiled by The International Union for Conservation of Nature.

A Westminster source told The Mail on Sunday: 'There's no point having loopholes. We will be announcing details soon, but campaigners will be very happy with it. It's going to go much further than existing controls.'

Almost 200 trophies were brought into the UK in 2019, including 15 tusks and other trophies of African elephants, 12 leopard and 12 lion trophies, according to official figures.

At present, a hunter who wants to bring in parts of a threatened species needs a permit from the Government to ensure that taking the trophy is not 'detrimental' to species conservation.

According to a recent opinion poll, 85 per cent of people want trophy hunting outlawed.
The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 ballots is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued claims that the results were rigged.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database 'unhinged' and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations.

'We can't indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country,' Richer tweeted.

Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.

The former president's statement came as Republican Senate President Karen Fann has demanded the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors come to the Senate to answer questions raised by the private auditors she has hired.

The Senate took possession of 2.1 million ballots and election equipment last month for what was supposed to be a three-week hand recount of the presidential race won by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Instead, the auditors have moved as a snail's pace and had to shut down Thursday after counting about 500,000 ballots. They plan to resume counting in a week, after high school graduation ceremonies planned for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, which they rented for the recount.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database 'unhinged' and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations

Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas, in Phoenix earlier this month

Trump's statement said, in part, that 'the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms.'

Richer and the board say that statement is just plain wrong.

In recent days, both he and the board have begun aggressively pushing back at what they see as continuing falsehoods from Republicans who question Trump's loss.

'Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations,' Richer tweeted Thursday.

'I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didnt run. Enough.'

The board, led by Republican Chairman Jack Sellers, have been aggressively using Twitter in recent days to push back, firing off a series of messages slamming the private company doing the audit. The board plans to hold a public hearing Monday to further to refute lies and lay out facts about these issues.

'I know you all have grown weary of lies and half-truths six months after 2020 General Elections,' Sellers said Friday in announcing Monday's meeting.

Fann sent Sellers a letter on Wednesday requesting that county officials publicly answer questions at the Senate on Tuesday, but she stopped short of her threat to issue subpoenas.

Fann repeated the Senates demand for access to administrative passwords for vote-counting machines and internet routers.

County officials say they have turned over all the passwords they have and have refused to give up the routers, saying it would compromise sensitive data, including classified law enforcement information held by the sheriffs office.

'Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations,' Richer tweeted Thursday. 'I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didnt run. Enough.'

Trump claimed an audit of the Maricopa County ballots may have uncovered evidence of fraud. A contractor is seen recounting ballots in Phoenix earlier this month

Former President Donald Trump touted the Arizona audit ordered by the GOP-controlled legislature, and said there was 'probably fraud'

Fann proposed allowing its contractor to view data from the routers at county facilities under supervision of the sheriffs office. 'The Senate has no interest in viewing or taking possession of any information that is unrelated to the administration of the 2020 general election,' she wrote.

The county says the passwords the Senate is seeking are maintained by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which makes the vote-counting machines and leases them to the county.

The company said in a statement Thursday that it cooperates with auditors certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and did so for two prior audits of 2020 results in Maricopa County, but wont work with Cyber Ninjas.

Fann has hired Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm, to oversee an unprecedented, partisan review of the 2020 election in Arizonas largest county. They are conducting a hand recount of all 2.1 million ballots and looking into baseless conspiracy theories suggesting there were problems with the election, which have grown popular with supporters of Trump.
In the market town of Bedford, locals are concerned they could be plunged into another local lockdown amid a surge in Covid cases caused by the more infectious Indian variant.

The B.1.617.2 strain now accounts for almost three-quarters of cases in the town and is spreading fastest among people aged 11 to 22, according to the latest Bedford Borough snapshot.

Georgie Lawson, 66, said her biggest fear was the removal of freedoms as the rest of the UK prepares to open up.

The B.1.617.2 strain now accounts for almost three-quarters of cases in the town and is spreading fastest among people aged 11 to 22

She added: I am worried about another lockdown. You do feel like a prisoner in your own home.

Louise Jackson, Bedford councils lead on health and wellbeing, said: Local lockdowns dont work.

Our local economy cant sustain it, and people will just move elsewhere, theyll take the virus to Luton or London. And why wouldnt they? Theyve had a whole year of this.

In the town, there is growing concern about the number of cases, which have more than doubled in the last week to 105 per 100,000 people.

Bill Gill, a 60-year-old retail manager who lives two miles from the town centre, said that despite having had both shots of the vaccine, he was concerned about the Indian variant.

In the town, there is growing concern about the number of cases, which have more than doubled in the last week to 105 per 100,000 people

On Friday, officials started vaccinating younger people  despite official guidance still restricting jabs to those aged 38 and over

A lot of people are quite anxious to have a rise in cases just as things are opening up, he said.

John Hillyard, 85, who has run a vegetable market stall in Bedford since 1960, said: Were all worried about it but well just have to do as were told.

On Friday, officials started vaccinating younger people  despite official guidance still restricting jabs to those aged 38 and over. Teachers and parents with children at Bedford Academy were invited to use spare doses in a bid to quash the alarming spread.

Bedford Mayor Dave Hodgson told The Mail on Sunday: It wasnt easy within the current rules but we managed to get it done in partnership with our local hospital and the local clinical commissioning group who had a limited number of spare Pfizer vaccines going.

The school is in an area with higher deprivation and increased levels of vaccine hesitancy so we think it was the right thing to do to help reduce transmission.

As part of tomorrows relaxing of guidelines, masks in schools can be ditched but Mr Hodgson said he had sent very strong guidance to schools recommending that pupils should keep wearing them and remain in their bubbles.

His views were yesterday backed by Gurch Randhawa, professor in diversity and public health from Bedfordshire University, who said he thought the town was at a tipping point.

The Government has got to be really careful that they dont choose the wrong path, he said. These populistic gestures of allowing children not to wear masks and permitting hugs are a bit premature, especially in light of the Indian variant being in circulation.
A British national has been saved from his sinking yacht after a 26-hour rescue operation off the coast of Australia.

The 40-year-old man had been sailing from Tahiti - a French Polynesian island nearly 8,000km from Australia -when his 50-foot Beneteau yacht hit rough seas 95 nautical miles off the coast of Newcastle, in New South Wales, at 12am on Friday.

The Marine Area Command received reports the vessel was taking on water and rescue teams were dispatched to track down the yacht.

Port Stephens Water Police and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority finally managed to find the vessel 73 nautical miles off the coast at 10am.

A British national has been saved from his sinking yacht after a 26-hour rescue operation off the coast of Australia (pictured)

The man was rescued from the yacht and his vessel was towed safely to Newcastle Harbour at 1.30am on Saturday.

The man was handed over to Australian Border Force where he was processed through immigration.

Police then escorted him to Sydney where he was placed into mandatory hotel quarantine.

New South Wales Police would not comment on why the man had been sailing and whether he was intending to land in Australia.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Australia Border Force for comment.
No new locally-acquired coronavirus cases have been reported in New South Wales for the eighth consecutive day, with restrictions for millions in Sydney set to ease at midnight.

Wearing face masks will no longer be compulsory on public transport from midnight on Sunday with restrictions set to ease thanks to the city's potential outbreak being contained.

Private gatherings at home will no longer be restricted to 20 people indoors, which was brought in after a couple in Sydney's eastern suburbs tested positive last week.

It is still not known how patient zero, dubbed 'BBQ Man', caught the virus, with officials having spent the last week searching for the missing link between him and infected travellers in hotel quarantine - the only way Covid-19 typically enters Australia.

But with no new cases for over a week, officials are allowing the easing to go ahead, regardless of the fact the missing link between infections hasn't been traced.

Drinking while standing at indoor venues, group singing indoors, and dancing at nightclubs will also be allowed from 12.01am Monday.

More than 12,200 tests were conducted on Saturday with three overseas-acquired cases recorded in hotel quarantine.

Masks will no longer be compulsory on public transport across Greater Sydney from 12.01am Monday (pictured, a commuter at Sydney's Central Station on May 6)

NSW Health continues to strongly encourage the wearing of masks on public transport and in other settings where physical distancing is not possible.

Temporary restrictions were enforced across the Greater Sydney, Central Coast and Illawarra regions on May 6 after 'BBQ Man' passed the virus onto his wife and potentially put thousands of Sydneysiders at risk by visiting a host of venues across the city while unknowingly infected.

The infected eastern suburbs resident travelled across the city on May 1 and May 2, visiting four separate BBQ stores over the space of a few hours.

Restrictions will be eased after no further locally-acquired transmission was recorded from thousands of tests in the last week.

But health officials have admitted how the man became infected remains a mystery.

Revellers will again have the option of standing instead of sitting while drinking at venues. Pictured are revellers at a Sydney bar

Nightclub revellers can return to the dancefloor from 12.01am Monday. Pictured is a packed dance party before the pandemic hit in 2020

'Despite extensive, ongoing investigations into the source of the two eastern suburbs cases, NSW Health has not yet identified how the initial case was exposed to the virus,' NSW Health's Dr Natalie Klees said.

'As these two cases have shown, Covid-19 may re-emerge at any time, so it is important that we all continue to take practical measures to stay COVID-safe.'

Weddings were spared from the recent restrictions, with up to 20 guests were allowed on the dance floor.

Residents are urged to continue scanning QR codes when checking in to and out of venues, staying home and getting tested for Covid-19 if unwell, and practising good hand hygiene.

Hospitality workers will no be required to wear masks from Monday. Pictured is a waitress serving diners at Yama Gardens in Darlinghurst

People arriving into NSW from Greater Melbourne are reminded they must complete a declaration form that confirms they have not attended a venue of concern after a Melbourne man tested positive several days after he left hotel quarantine in South Australia and travelled across the city while infectious.

NSW currently has 75 active cases, including a patient in intensive care on a ventilator.

Almost 920,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been administered to date in NSW, including jabs overseen by state and federal governments.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has shared a story blasting the 'white supremacy' of the housing market just weeks after her own $3 million property portfolio was revealed.

Cullors made the remark while sharing an NPR story about black home ownership levels on her Instagram account.

She wrote: 'Thank you @npr for highlighting the history of racism inside of the housing market and why Black homeownership has always been a way to disrupt white supremacy.'

The issues were addressed in an NPR documentary, We Hold These Truths, which looked at how black people have been systematically discriminated against by the real estate industry and government policy over decades.

The report - which focuses on the experiences of black people living in Compton, California, revealed that just 41.8 per cent of black households owned their homes. that rate is almost identical to the black home ownership level 50 years ago, in the early 70s.

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullor has bemoaned the history of racism inside the housing market despite her own impressive property portfolio

Cullors shared an NPR story about black home ownership rates on her Instagram with a caption explaining her own thoughts

In 1970, two years after the Fair Housing Act passed, the national homeownership rate for black households was 41.8%. By 2019, it was 42.3% - just a net increase of 1.2% from five decades earlier.

Experts say reasons for the lower homeownership rate ranges from historic underemployment and low wages to a recession-related foreclosure crisis that hit black communities particularly hard.

But Cullors has not faced any such issues getting on the property ladder - after it was revealed she owns four houses in desirable California neighborhoods, often where mainly white people live, worth a total of almost $3 million.

Last month, the 37-year-old, who set up BLM with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi back in 2013, faced scrutiny over her $3 million empire, which consists of four homes.

Cullors set up BLM with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi back in 2013. She said she has 'spent the last week with security' after her homes were first pictured in the media

She described scrutiny of her property empire as a 'racist and sexist' attack by the 'right-wing media'.

Cullors bought a $1.4 million home in the largely white district of Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles.

In the zip code, 88 per cent of residents are white and 1.8 per cent black, according to the census.

The New York Post also reported that Cullors has also bought three other homes since 2016 at a total cost of around $3 million.

This includes a $415,000 'custom ranch' on 3.2 acres in Conyers, Georgia, with its own pool and airplane hangar.

Additionally, property records show Cullors has also bought two other Los Angeles homes including a three-bedroom home in Inglewood for $510,000 and four-bedroom home in South LA for $590,000.

Cullors has a successful career as an equality consultant, and has also published multiple books on combatting racism and prejudice.

It emerged last month that Cullors had bought this $1.4 million home in a majority-white area of LA

She has also bought three other homes including this one in Georgia - altogether totaling around $3 million

Cullors grew up in the Van Nuys neighborhood of LA, which she described as 'impoverished'

Cullors has tried to deflect criticism from some on the left who questioned whether her ownership of four homes contradicts her ideology as a 'trained Marxist' and anti-capitalist.

She has said she has invested in the properties to provide for her family and sees her wealth 'as my family's money, as well.'

In 2015 described herself as a 'trained Marxist', and last December elaborated on her views, saying 'I do believe in Marxism.'

'I'm working on making sure that people don't suffer, I'm working to make sure people don't go hungry,' she explained in a YouTube video.

Black Lives Matter raked in around $90 million in donations last year but does not release a full accounting of its spending. The organization said Cullors has been paid $120,000 since 2013 but has not received any payment since 2019.

There is also no suggestion that she used BLM funds to pay for her properties.

The $1.4 million home Patrisse Cullors purchased in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles

The light-filled and airy home is just 20 miles from where she grew up, but a world away in style

Cullors branded the focus on her homes and finances as 'racist and sexist' and said it was common in the black community for people to invest in properties to provide for their family members.

'And the fact that the right-wing media is trying to create hysteria around my spending is, frankly, racist and sexist and I also want to say that many of us that end up investing in homes in the black community often invest in homes to take care of their family,' she said.

'You can talk to so many black people and black women particularly that take care of their families, take care of their loved ones especially when they're in a position to.'

The homes she has bought 'directly support the people that I love and care about', she said, adding that she is not 'renting them out in some Airbnb operation.'

'The way that I live my life is a direct support to black people, including my black family members, first and foremost.

Cullors' new home has high ceilings and a sliding door leading out to the tree-filled yard

'For so many black folks who are able to invest in themselves and their communities they choose to invest in their family and that is what I have chosen to do.'

Cullors has become one of the most high-profile campaigners in the US since founding BLM in 2013, with a best-selling memoir, a follow-up on the way, a deal with Warner Bros to produce content, and regularly being paid for speaking engagements.

Her 2018 memoir was a best-seller and her follow-up Abolition is out in October.

She also works as a professor of Social and Environmental Arts at Arizona's Prescott College.
Narasapur MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, who was arrested by the AP-CID on charges of sedition in Hyderabad on Friday, was sent to judicial remand till May 28 by a CID special court in Guntur on Saturday. (Photo: Facebook @K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju)

Vijayawada: Narasapur MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju, who was arrested by the AP-CID on charges of sedition in Hyderabad on Friday, was sent to judicial remand till May 28 by a CID special court in Guntur on Saturday.

In a day-long drama, the MP made several futile efforts to avoid jail by getting the bail. At first, he moved a house motion before a vacation bench of the AP High Court, headed by Justice K. Suresh Reddy. However, it dismissed his petition.

Later, in the afternoon, the MP moved a special petition which was heard by a two-member division bench of the High Court comprising Justice C. Praveen Kumar and Justice K. Lalitha. He alleged that he sustained injuries when the CID sleuths used third degree measures on him during the interrogation.

The court issued directions to constitute a three-member medical board headed by the Guntur Government General Hospital medical superintendent to examine his injuries. It warned of severe action if the injuries were found to have been inflicted on the MP during CID custody. It also asked the medical board to take videography of its examination of the MP. It was left to the medical board to decide on further hospitalisation. However, it rejected the MPs plea to allow his family members and his family doctor to be present during the examination and also the CRPF security personnel.

In the evening, the CID court said that after examination by the medical board, the MP should be provided treatment at GGH and allowed for treatment in Ramesh Hospitals. Once, the MP recovers from his injuries, he would be sent to judicial remand.

Meanwhile, additional advocate general P. Sudhakar Reddy said that the MP was trying to mislead the court and that the court dismissed his bail petition. He said the MP was normal until afternoon and his family members served him lunch. But soon after his bail petition was dismissed by the court, he enacted a drama that he was beaten up by the CID sleuths severely. The court set up a medical board and asked it to examine the MP and submit a report by Sunday afternoon, he added.

Earlier, Rajus bail petition was dismissed by the single-judge bench quoting the guidelines framed for hearing bail applications during summer vacation. The court said that in criminal matters pertaining to anticipatory bail matters, bail applications, if bail is refused by magistrates and sessions judge and criminal appeals and criminal revisions cases in which the accused were convicted, only if the trial court gives an order dismissing the bail application can a bail application be moved before the High Court.

As many as 48 videos of the MP posted on various platforms of social media targeting the state government and stirring up communal disharmony with his hate speeches were submitted to the CID court. The CID denied his allegations of third degree measures and maintained that they followed established norms during the inquiry.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam alleged that the Chief Minister, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, was targeting the Kshatriya community. However, there were no takers for its charges. Several politicians and industrialists from the predominant Kshatriya community from West Godavari found no fault with the government. The tone and tenor of the language used by the MP in targeting the government and his behaviour show that he doesnt deserve to be an MP and it is also unbecoming of a human being, said a prominent person from East Godavari.
A Bengal tiger filmed roaming through a quiet Houston neighborhood last Sunday has finally been found after a six-day search.

The big cat, named India, was handed in to cops in the Texas city on Sunday, and is now being cared for by an animal shelter.

The nine-month-old cub - which is tame, but has sharp claws - will be transferred on Sunday to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, a sanctuary for animals including other tigers.

Houston Police shared a photo of India wearing a turquoise sparkly collar while being fed a bottle of milk by Gia Cuevas, the wife of alleged murderer Victor Cuevas, who owned the tiger.

'We got him and he's healthy,' Houston Police Department Commander Ron Borza says in the video.

Police were notified by BARC, the local animal shelter where India has been taken, that a concerned citizen in contact with Gia Cuevas wished to hand him over.

It was not immediately clear where the tiger has been all week and why Cuevas decided now to contact police.

Borza said during a press conference Saturday night that India had been shuttled through multiple 'safe houses' to try and hide the big cat while cops hunted for him this week.

India the Bengal tiger is pictured after she was rescued on Saturday. She is now being cared for in a shelter

The Houston Police Department shared a video showing India had been found

'She wanted to turn the tiger over to us,' Borza said.

Police met Gia Cuevas on the west side of town and transferred the tiger over to police custody, who brought India to the animal shelter.

'The tiger appears to be in very good health,' he said.

However, he noted that India had been in a 'very small crate when he was brought to us today.'

'As you can tell, he's in a much bigger crate now and he seems to be doing just fine,' Borza said.

Police allowed Cuevas to come along as they delivered the tiger to BARC 'because of the stress the tiger has been through in the last couple of weeks.'

'He was obviously agitated and we got in the trailer with him, Gia fed him while we sat there and fed him. The animal likes attention,' Borza said.

'But in no way, shape or form, should you have an animal like that in your household.'

He added that India is only nine months old and already weighs 175 pounds.

'Full grown, that animal can get to 600 pounds. He still has his claws and could do a lot of damage if he decided to,' Borza said.

'Lucky for us, he's very tame and he'll be going to a sanctuary tomorrow where he will hopefully live the rest of his life in a very safe environment.'

He added: 'I work out every day and that animal was extremely powerful. If he wanted to overcome you, he could do it instantly.'

'No doubt about it, you should not have that in your home. And it's not good for the tiger. He needs to be out roaming around.'

India was first spotted around a neighborhood in west Houston on Sunday, to the consternation of frightened locals

The big cat was bundled into a white Jeep. Owner Victor Cuevas was later arrested, but there was no sign of India - until he was handed in on Sunday

Cuevas denied owning India, but his wife Gia has since told police the big cat was theirs. Cuevas was bailed after being charged with a 2017 murder, and is now back in jail

Police have not determined where Victor Cuevas purchased the tiger. Cops do not have immediate plans to charge Gia Cuevas for keeping the tiger, even that is illegal.

After his arrest, Cuevas insisted that India wasn't his, and that the cat's real owner was a man called Deandre.

Texas state law allows tigers to be kept as pets but Houston has its own city rules which prohibits them in private homes.

'It's a feel good story. I think people get tired of turning on the news every night and it's all doom and gloom. This thing turned out really well,' Borza said.

India was filmed roaming west Houston last Sunday, shortly before alleged murderer Cuevas was seen bundling him into a white Jeep Cherokee.

Cuevas was later pulled over by cops, but there was no sign of India. He is reported to have been passed between a series of safe houses in recent days in a bid to keep her away from law enforcement.

Cuevas, who was on bail over a July 2017 shooting outside a Japanese restaurant, is now back in jail.

The mission to track down India after he was spotted roaming Houston has grown online with even Tiger King star Carole Baskin joining the search by offering a $5,000 reward to help find the tiger, KHOU reported.
A middle-aged father says he has been rejected from 237 jobs in just 17 months because employers think he is too old.

Western Australia man Nicolas Winterson is just 53 and struggling to land himself a full-time job despite a lifetime of experience in the Navy and senior investigation roles.

He served with the Royal Australian Navy for 10 years, worked as a high-level fraud and forensics manager for 20 years and speaks Malay and Bahasa Indonesia.

At one point he was the director of forensic services at KPMG Australia - a globally recognised firm that provides audit, tax and advisory services.

Nicolas Winterson has served with the Royal Australian Navy for 10 years, worked as a high-level fraud and forensics manager for 20 years and speaks Malay and Bahasa Indonesia (stock image)

Mr Winterson has applied for 237 job in just 17 months and has been rejected by all of them - including Bunnings

Mr Winterson has been applying for every possible job under the sun and handing in his application for both senior and junior roles.

He has put in an application to work at ASIO, the police force, home affairs office and even hardware giant Bunnings.

Though every single application has been rejected despite his impressive resume and lifelong experience.

A distraught Mr Winterson believes recruiters are overlooking his candidacy for the roles because of one thing that is out of his control.

'They think 53 is too old,' he told The West Australian.

'Recruiters have a bias against people over a certain age  they're after young people.

'But it's really tough I have to tell you because some of these roles, I fit the job description perfectly.'

Mr Winterson says he was even told by a Bunnings employer that he did not get the job because the hardware giant was looking for 'certain types of people'.

The 53-year-old has an 11-year-old son and fears he won't be able to look after him much longer if he isn't hired by someone.

Mr Winterson has more than 20 years of experience as a senior investigator though was still unable to land a job with the police force (stock image)

The Australian Human Rights Commission and Australian Human Resources Institute released a report in April that looked into ageism in the Australian workforce.

It found more employers were more reluctant to hire workers over a certain age while there had also been a slight shift in perception in what age group would be classified as an 'older worker'.

Almost 17 per cent of recruiters classified 51-57 year olds as 'older workers' in 2021, compared to only 11 per cent in 2018.

A worrying 46.7 per cent of employers admitted they would be more reluctant to hire a worker over a certain age.
Victoria's chief health officer has indicated Australia's harsh international border closure isn't the answer to keeping Covid out and that it could be more practical to let the virus run through the community when people are vaccinated.

Professor Brett Sutton attended an event last month where he was filmed stating Australians would need to accept the reality of coronavirus to avoid becoming a hermit nation.

The audio recordings, which were leaked to The Age, suggest Professor Sutton has joined a chorus of many voices urging the Prime Minister to reconsider keeping Australian borders closed until at least mid-2022.

'We need to somehow communicate to the public that we've gotten to a place of complacency because we've driven transmission to zero,' he said.

'But, we will face newly emerging transmission, and a critical juncture where we need to make a call on letting it run.'

Professor Brett Sutton suggested 'letting Covid run' through the community after all adults have been offered a vaccination

Victoria's chief health officer indicated Australia's harsh international border closure isn't the answer to keeping Covid out of the nation and that it could be more practical to let the virus run through the community (pictured people lining up to check in for a flight from Sydney)

Professor Sutton suggested the best time to 'let Covid run' through the nation would be after a vaccine had been offered to every Australian.

'I think that'll be when we've got as high vaccination coverage for the adult population as we can possibly get to, so everyone being offered it, and building that confidence in vaccines as much as we can  then we need to really say ''look, we can't sit on our hands here''.'

Prof Sutton, who guided Victoria through two disastrous Covid-19 waves, urged the population to 'step up' and get vaccinated to allow Australia to reopen for international tourism.

His comments echo those of Nick Coatsworth, Australia's former national deputy chief medical officer, who said the concept of Australia indefinitely eradicating Covid was a 'false idol'.

Instead, he suggested Australians accept the reality of the virus.

'I think we've been incredibly successful but with that success becomes a risk that we will be aiming for something that's essentially not achievable,' he told the Today show.

'Elimination is what we've effectively got in Australia at the moment with no cases, but if we're not going to get to eradication because this virus is going to be circulating in the globe for many years if not indefinitely, then at some point we need to consider that that virus will also be within our own borders.'

Professor Sutton suggested the best time to 'let Covid run' through the nation would be after a vaccine had been offered to every Australian

Former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth (pictured) says Australia needs to prepare for reopening international borders and the reintroduction of Covid in the community

In a recent speech delivered at the Royal Australian College of Surgeons annual scientific meeting, Dr Coatsworth warned against a 'vocal few' activist doctors using social media to undermine public confidence in vaccines.

'Waiting [to vaccinate] is not a valid option either individually or for public health,' he said.

Dr Coatsworth's comments come after a report that warned Australia could 'lose a decade' and become a 'hermit nation' if the expert advice is largely ignored.

'Ultimately when we allow Covid-19 back on our shores and it circulates in our community, we [need to be] prepared and comfortable for that to happen.'

The federal government has indicated international borders could be re-opened in the first half of next year - based on projections that most of the population will be fully vaccinated by then.

Dr Coatsworth said 'misinformation' from some doctors has the potential to undermine the vaccination national program.

He pointed to some doctors being 'anti' AstraZeneca and deliberately promoting Pfizer as a 'better' option.

'That is not advocacy, it is not policy debate, it is narcissism thinly cloaked as activism,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Prof Sutton, who guided Victoria through two disastrous Covid-19 waves, urged the population to 'step up' and get vaccinated to allow Australia to reopen for international tourism

'There is a big difference between someone who has a medical degree in a particular sub-specialty to our top vaccination experts.'

Dr Coastworth's series of recommendations comes as close to half of the 150 Australians booked on the first repatriation flight home from India on Friday were not allowed to board the plane.

A total of 42 had tested positive for Covid, forcing them to remain in the Covid-ravaged nation, where the reported number of deaths stands at over 266,000 people - and the figure is rapidly rising.

On Friday, former NSW Premier Mike Baird launched a report, dubbed 'A Roadmap to Reopening' which outlined the importance of Australia opening its borders as soon as possible in 2022.

Authors of the detailed report include the likes of respected Sydney based lawyer Mark Rigotti, University of Sydney school of architecture dean Robyn Dowling, and PricewaterhouseCoopers chief executive Tom Seymour, according to Perth Now.

A report, dubbed 'A Roadmap to Reopening' which outlined the importance of Australia opening its borders as soon as possible in 2022 - was launched by former NSW Premier Mike Baird on Friday (pictured an international traveller)

Failure to re-open the borders as soon as possible in 2022 could see Australia become a 'hermit nation' according to the report

'If Australia is not ready to re-open effectively when the world recovers from the worst of the pandemic, we face enormous dislocation socially and prolonged pain economically,' the report reads.

'We need to move from the anxiety of the last year to a more confident and outward looking future.

'If we do not, it is no exaggeration to say that young people, in particular, face a lost decade.'

The report goes onto suggest a three step approach to re-opening.

Widespread and rapid vaccination is highly recommended, followed by detailed testing of overseas arrivals.

A detailed quarantine system factoring in the needs of different employment industries was also viewed as integral.

'Safe re-engagement requires industry and place-specific strategies anchored in public health principles  by guiding by the objective of reopening our society  not reverting into a hermit nation,' Mr Rigotti said in a statement
A shooting victim is critically-ill after five people were shot near a McDonald's in the Bronx as gun crime continues to spike in New York City.

Cops received calls for the shooting around 9.05pm for one man who was shot in Claremont Park behind the McDonald's. The shooting did not happen at the McDonalds, a spokesperson for the NYPD told DailyMail.com.

John Miller, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism, was overheard at the scene saying that one of the five victims died - though that victim was still listed as being in critical condition by a police spokesperson.

The other four victims walked into a BronxCare Health System hospital with non-life threatening gunshot wounds.

The New York Post reported that the circumstances of the shooting remain unclear because those four victims are not being cooperative with police.

Cops said that no arrests have been made, but an independent journalist with ScooterCaster reported that police have two people in custody.

Five people were shot near a McDonald's in the Bronx on Saturday night as gun crime continues to spike in the Big Apple

A police officer is seen looking for evidence in the parking lot of the McDonald's in the Bronx

Police officers are seen looking for evidence after closing down a block of Clay Avenue behind the McDonald's following Saturday night's shooting

Trash is seen lining a road behind the McDonald's in between the park where cops said the victims were shot

More trash is seen littered near the crime scene. People who live in the neighborhood said people often gather in the McDonald's parking lot to drink

A member of the NYPD is seen looking for evidence after closing down a block of Clay Avenue behind the McDonald's

The crime scene is pictured behind the McDonald's parking lot. It is said to have been a gathering spot for people to drink

Two bottles of Corona beer are pictured among other trash seen at the crime scene

NYPD data shows that for the week of May 5 to May 9, there have been nine murders in New York City  compare to two in 2020

John Miller, the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism, was overheard at the scene saying that one of the five victims died

The other four victims walked into BronxCare Health System with non-life threatening gunshot injuries.

Cops are checking hospitals for additional possible victims, according to Citizen App

Police have roped off an entire city block on Clay Avenue between the McDonalds and Claremont Park

Cops are checking hospitals for additional possible victims, according to Citizen App.

One man who lives in the neighborhood told a DailyMail.com photographer that the McDonald's has a large parking lot where people often gather to drink on weekends.

Crime scene photos show the area around the McDonald's littered with trash after what appeared to have been a weekend tailgate party. Police have roped off an entire city block on Clay Avenue between the McDonald's and Claremont Park.

NYPD data shows that for the week of May 5 to May 9, there have been nine murders in New York City  compare to two in 2020, marking a 350% increase year-over-year.

There have been a total of 146 murders in New York City in 2021 as of May 9 compared to 115 by the same date in 2020, a 27% increase.

The data shows that there have been a whopping 43 shooting victims last week compared to 16 that same week in 2020, marking a 168% increase.

Those 43 victims last week were shot in a total of 36 shooting incidents, indicating an uptick in mass shootings versus individual shootings. Last year, there were 16 shooting victims at 15 shooting incidents, the data shows.

There have been a total of 505 shooting victims in New York City as of May 9, nearly double the number of 275 by the same date in 2020.

The NYCFireWire, a Twitter account and platform that shares police scanner information, indicated that there have been a number of possible shootings across the five boroughs on Saturday night.

The platform tweeted that there was a reported incident of a man shot in front of a 7-Eleven in the Midtown Manhattan.

According to the platform, bullet casings were also found in the Edgemere neighborhood of Queens in the Rockaways.

Another possible shooting was reported by NYCFireWire at the Johnson Houses, a NYCHA housing project in Manhattan.
A man has been arrested after a woman's body was found 'upside down' in the stairwell of Melbourne housing commission complex.

Police were called to the Surrey Road apartment complex in South Yarra shortly before 9pm on Saturday night after horrified neighbours reported the grim discovery.

The body of a 63-year-old woman was located in an open air stairwell and she was pronounced dead when police arrived.

Investigators remained at the scene on Sunday morning collecting evidence, which was taken away in brown paper bags.

Detectives were also at the building speaking to shocked neighbours and witnesses.

A barefoot man in handcuffs was filmed being escorted from the complex by two Homicide Squad detectives shortly after midday.

A South Yarra man was arrested after a woman's body was found in a open air stairwell in Melburne housing commission complex on Saturday night

The South Yarra man, 41, is assisting with police inquiries.

No charges have yet been laid.

Shocked neighbours described the grim discovery of the woman's body as 'a horror scene'.

'Her head was on the ground. She was upside down,' one neighbour told the Herald Sun.

'It was awful. I couldn't sleep last night. She died cold on a concrete floor.'

Another neighbour told the publication he constantly feared for his safety at the complex.

'I may have known (the victim) by sight,' he said.

The woman is yet to be formally identified.

The exact cause of the woman's death is yet to be determined but is being treated as suspicious, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

The South Yarra housing commission complex remained cordoned off by police on Sunday

Homicide Squad detectives are also investigating following the unrelated discovery of another woman's body in Chelsea in Melbourne's southeast on Saturday.

The 78-year-old woman was located deceased inside her Drinan Road home after police conducted a welfare check about 10.30am.

The elderly woman's death is also being treated as suspicious.

Shocked residents have described the area as 'really quiet and pleasant... where nothing ever happens'.

Anyone with information about either incident is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Passengers were forced to evacuate from Sydney domestic and international train stations during a police search for a suspicious package.

NSW Police began their operation at 1pm on Saturday, with terrified passengers asked to leave the station and use alternartive transport.

'A police operation is under way at the International and Domestic railway stations at Sydney Airport,' NSW Police media officials wrote in a statement.

'The platforms have been evacuated as a precaution. More info will be available as it comes to hand.'

The operation was over by 3pm when police confirmed no dangerous items were found in the station.

Passengers have been forced to evacuate from Sydney domestic and international train stations amid an ongoing police operation

Buses are operating instead of trains for several routes and several destinations are no longer in service at all while the operation is underway.

'On the T8 Airport and South Line trains are travelling via Sydenham and not stopping at Green Square, Mascot, Domestic Airport, International Airport or Wolli Creek due to a police operation at Domestic Airport,' Transport NSW said in a statement.

'Passengers wishing to travel to these stations are advised to delay their trip until replacement buses are operating.

'Passengers already travelling should allow plenty of extra travel time, listen to station announcements and check information displays for updates.'

The disruption within the train network did not impact flights, but a spokeswoman from Sydney Airport has urged travellers to monitor the delays and seek alternate transport to the airport.
A new history book by an acclaimed British author has reportedly been dropped by its US publisher over concerns it was 'too white'.

Richard Cohen was asked to produce more for work for his upcoming book 'The History Makers' because publishers were concerned the 780-page book failed to feature enough black historians, academics and writers.

Mr Cohen, 75, who wrote the acclaimed Chasing The Sun, is said to have written 18,000 extra words covering the work of black historians.

Academics such such as Frederick Douglass and Booker T Washington are said to have been covered in the additional work.

But US publisher Random House has still decided to drop the book, according to the Guardian.

Mr Cohen, 75, who wrote the acclaimed Chasing The Sun, is said to have written 18,000 extra words covering the work of black historians after concerns were raised by publishers that the book did not fairly reflect the contribution of black academics

Mr Cohen, 75, told the paper the move 'was to do with the publisher's sensitivities'.

The book is still due to be published in the UK by Weidenfeld & Nicolson next month.

According to the publisher, the book is: 'An epic exploration of who writes about the past and how the biases of certain storytellers continue to influence our ideas about history (and about who we are) today'.

The book covers around 2,500 years of history and looks through the eyes of its most famous observers.

Richard Cohen was asked to produce more for work for his upcoming book 'The History Makers'

These include Roman historian Tacitus, French writer Voltaire and legendary English playwright William Shakespeare.

Work by modern day historians such as David Starkey also features.

But Random House, part of the larger Penguin Random House group, are said to have raised concern that the initial work did not feature the significant contribution of black historians and academics.

Mr Cohen is said to have responded by writing extra content, including a new chapter largely about black history and expanding on his chapter on the American Civil war.

A section on the work of Frederick Douglass, a man who escaped slavery before writing about his experience, was part of the additional content, according to the Guardian.

Historian and equal rights activist WEB Du Bois is also said to have featured in the extra content, along with Leo Africanus, a 16th Century Berber diplomat and author who wrote historical pieces on the Magreb and Nile Valley.

MailOnline has contacted Mr Cohen and Random House for comment.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that the U.S. had 'communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility'

Strike took place at his home Khan Younis, in the Gaza strip, with a strike also ordered on his brother's home

Israeli military chiefs ordered a missile strike on the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar - the top Hamas leader in Gaza

The assailant was 'shot by officers', police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said without giving further details

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Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian driver who crashed his car into a police roadblock, injuring six officers, in a flashpoint Jerusalem neighbourhood on Sunday.

The incident occurred in Sheikh Jarrah, in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, which is the focus of a court case in which several Palestinian families could be evicted from homes claimed by Jewish settlers.

Video obtained by Reuters showed a car slamming at high speed into the roadblock in what police said was a deliberate attack. Police said officers opened fire, killing the driver, whose name was not immediately released.

Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Gaza's ruling Hamas Islamist mlitant group, praised what he described as the 'heroic and daring operation' in Sheikh Jarrah.

Hamas began rocket strikes on Israel on Monday after weeks of tensions over the possible Sheikh Jarrah evictions and clashes between police and Palestinians at Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces inspect the spot where a car-ramming attack wounded several people, including four police officers, in the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on Sunday

Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli warplanes target the Palestinian enclave, early on May 17, 2021

Smoke billows from a fire following Israeli airstrikes on multiple targets in Gaza City on May 16, 2021

A streak of light appears as Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, on May 16

An Israeli drone releases stun grenades on Palestinians demonstrating against the latest tensions in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank as well as the bombing of the Gaza Strip by Israel, on May 16

Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City as Israeli warplanes target the Palestinian enclave, early on May 17, 2021

After nightfall, police brought a mobile crane to winch concrete barriers into place, blocking the entrance to the potential eviction site and an adjacent tomb reputed to be the burial place of Simon the Just, an ancient Jewish high priest.

It comes as shocking pictures show dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after another night of air strikes in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The Israeli military last night continued strikes on the Gaza Strip - while Hamas fired rockets back - as the latest conflict moved into its seventh day.

According to reports, Palestinian medical expert Dr Moeen Alalool is among those who have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.

Dr Alalool, a consultant neurologist, was reportedly killed alongside his five children.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers in solidarity with Gaza strip and jerusalem near the Jewish settlement of Beit El near Ramallah on May 16, 2021

An Israeli army drone launches teargas canisters over Palestinian protesters during clashes at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, May 16

Israeli security forces work at the scene of what police said was a suspected car-ramming attack, at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem

A ball of fire and a plume of smoke rise above building in Gaza city as Israeli forces shell the Palestinian enclave, early on May 17, 2021

A member of the Israeli security forces stands guard at the scene of a car-ramming attack which wounded several people, including four police officers, in the flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem

Israeli police officers after being hit by a car in a ramming attack, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem

On Sunday, Israeli medics said two people are dead and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue.

The bleacher was packed with ultra-Orthodox worshippers and collapsed during prayers at the beginning of a major Jewish holiday. A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.

Rescue workers are on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital. The collapse comes weeks after 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel.

Amateur footage showed the collapse occurring during prayers Sunday evening in Givat Zeev, just outside Jerusalem, at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The ultra-Orthodox synagogue was packed with hundreds of people.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it dispatched medics and other search and rescue troops to assist at the scene. Army helicopters were airlifting the injured.

Shocking pictures have shown dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after another night of air strikes in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Pictured: An injured child is pulled from the wreckage of a home in Gaza following an Israeli air strike

Members of Israeli security transport the injured following the collapse of bleachers at a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the occupied West Bank, on May 16

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men and children gather at the scene where a grandstand seating at a synagogue collapesed in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the occupied West Bank outside Jerusalem, on May 16

People and members of the Israeli security forces evacuate an injured child after the collapse of grandstand seating at a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the occupied West Bank outside Jerusalem, on May 16

Medics evacuate an injured an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man after the collapse of grandstand seating at a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the occupied West Bank outside Jerusalem, on May 16

Medics and members of the Israeli security forces evacuate an injured man after the collapse of grandstand seating at a synagogue in the Israeli settlement of Givat Zeev in the occupied West Bank outside Jerusalem, on May 16

Israel last night targeted the home of a top Hamas leader, as its president vowed to continue launching airstrikes on Gaza.

Military forces said they targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar, in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza Strip last night.

Sinwar is the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory. The Israeli military also launched a strike on the home of his brother.

It comes as the UN Security Council - the UN body charged with ensuring international peace and security - met today to discuss the conflict.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has said the US 'has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels' to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israel's U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gaza's Hamas rulers against Israel 'completely premeditated' to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of 'a vicious plan' by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.

This morning, photographs, which are too graphic to publish, show dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after Israeli air strikes last night. Other pictures show rescuers helping injured children from bombed out homes.

According to the Gaza health ministry, 174 Palestinians have died since the start of the conflict on Monday.

Palestinian demonstrators are seen next to burning tires during a protest over tension in Jerusalem and Israel-Gaza escalation, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on Sunday

A Palestinian demonstrator is seen next to burning tires during a protest over tension in Jerusalem and Israel-Gaza escalation, near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank

Among the people killed are 47 children, it said. In Israel, 10 people have been killed in total, with barrages of rockets fired from Gaza.

It also comes as the White House warned Israel that journalists' lives are 'paramount' after the owner of a Gaza tower block housing international news media was given one-hour to evacuate it, before it was destroyed by an IDF air strike.

Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes into the early hours of Sunday, with the destruction of the 12-storey building that housed the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations drawing international rebuke.

The United States told Israel 'that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Saturday.

U.S. President Joe Biden later spoke to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to restore calm.

However Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leaders have both insisted they would pursue their campaigns, leaving no end to the hostilities in sight.

'The party that bears the guilt for this confrontation is not us, it's those attacking us,' Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

'We are still in the midst of this operation, it is still not over and this operation will continue as long as necessary.'

This morning, photographs, which are too graphic to publish, show dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after Israeli air strikes last night. Other pictures show rescuers helping injured children from bombed out homes (pictured)

Palestinian firefighters evacuate families from the balcony of a building whose entrance is blocked by rubble after intensive bombardments on Gaza

As the crisis in the Middle East deepened, and with rocket strikes having now taken place for almost a week, Israeli military chiefs last night launched a missile strike on the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. Pictured: People walk past debris in the street after an Israeli air strike

A Palestinian man mourns over the bodies of a family member killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday. According to the Gaza health ministry, 174 Palestinians have died since the start of the conflict on Monday

Palestinians load the bodies of members of a family who were killed in an Israeli airstrike overnight on Gaza City's Rimal residential district

The funeral of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy who was killed during clashes with the Israeli army during a protest in the West Bank city of Hebron in the early morning

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Sderot shows rockets fired from the Gaza Strip being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system, on May 16

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Sderot, bordering the Gaza Strip shows rockets fired from the Palestinian enclave being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system, on May 16

Israel last night targeted the home of a top Hamas leader, as its president vowed to continue launching airstrikes on Gaza. Pictured: Smoke rises following air strikes in Gaza

Excavators work to clear the rubble at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza. Israli military last night targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. Sinwar is the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory. The Israeli military also launched a strike on the home of his brother

A damaged building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City, today. Crowds can be seen gathering around the remains of the building

People insect the the rubble of the Yazegi residential building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City yesterday

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - the country's military - meanwhile defended the strike of the Al Jazeera building, saying it was a legitimate military target, containing Hamas military offices, and that it had given warnings to civilians to get out of the building before the attack.

But the strike was condemned by Al Jazeera and the AP, which asked the Israelis to put forward evidence.

'AP's bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,' the news organisation said. 'We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.'

The IDF defended its actions, writing on Twitter: 'We'll say it again: When Hamas places military assets inside such a building, it becomes a lawful military target. This is clear international law.

'All the multi-story buildings targeted by the IDF were used for military purposes within each building.'

The hostilities showed no sign of letting up as they entered a seventh day on Sunday, with Palestinians saying at least 145 people have been killed since the conflict began on Monday, including 41 children.

Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children. Missiles fired from Gaza at Israel's second most populated city of Tel Aviv causing beach-goers to run for shelter on Saturday.

Netanyahu said Israel's air and artillery barrage had eliminated dozens of Hamas militants and taken out 'hundreds' of the Islamist militant group's sites including missile launchers and a vast tunnel network.

But world leaders expressed grave concern on Sunday after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed eight children, and as Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Pictured: A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. The 12-storey block in Gaza City brought down by Israeli air strikes housed the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations

The aftermath following the Israeli strike, which destroyed Jala Tower - a 13-floor building housing Al Jazeera television and Associated Press

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' Al Jazeera said in a tweet. It was reported the army had warned the tower's owner ahead of the strike on Saturday

Fire erupts from the Andalus Tower as it is destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, early on May 16, 2021. Israel pummelled the Gaza Strip with air strikes, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a building housing international media outlets

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike struck the Andalus Tower in Gaza city, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 15, 2021

Rockets are being fired from Gaza targeting Israeli cities in response to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2021

Smoke billows from a fire following Israeli airstrikes on multiple targets in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, early on May 16, 2021

Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system (left) intercepts rockets (right) fired by the Hamas movement from Gaza city towards Israel early on May 16, 2021

Pictured: Missiles fired from Gaza and Iron Dome interceptors are seen flying over Tel Aviv

Israeli forces' flares light up the sky in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 16, 2021

Palestinian medical personnel carry the body of a Palestinian man who was shot and killed in his vehicle by Israeli soldiers, near the Fawwar refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, 15 May 2021

Pictured: Medical personnel from a Palestinian Ambulance carry a Palestinian man who was shot and killed in his vehicle by Israeli soldiers, near the Fawwar refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, 15 May 2021

The hostilities showed no sign of letting up as they entered a seventh day on Sunday, with Palestinians saying at least 145 people have been killed since the conflict began on Monday, including 41 children

Israeli fighter jets struck several sites in the densely populated Gaza Strip, with one strike on a three-storey building in the Shati refugee camp killed 10 members of an extended family - two mothers and their four children each. Israel's army claimed the building was used by senior Hamas officials.

Meanwhile, as Palestinian rocket salvoes hit coastal Tel Aviv, beach-goers in Israel's second most populous city were seen running for shelter, some taking cover by lying down on the floor against walls.

Joe Biden expressed 'strong support' for Israel's strikes in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas missile attacks on its territory, but raised concerns about civilian casualties and the protection of journalists on a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The White House said Biden on Saturday also shared his 'grave concern' about intercommunal violence within Israel and escalating tensions in the West Bank.

Biden and Netanyahu also discussed Jerusalem, with Biden saying it should 'be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds.'

Biden also held his first call since taking office with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the violence, in which he called for Hamas, the PA's rival, to stop firing rockets into Israel.

The White House says Biden 'expressed his support for steps to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy the dignity, security, freedom, and economic opportunity that they deserve' and highlighted the resumption of U.S. aid to the Palestinians under his administration.

In response to the destruction of the 12-storey tower on Saturday, an international network of journalists and media executives 'vehemently' condemned the Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press and broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said after Saturday's airstrike that 'the targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict.'

She added that 'it represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms.'

Pictured: Palestinian protesters burn an Israeli flag in the occupied-West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 15,2021, as they commemorate the Nakba, the 'catastrophe' of Israel's creation in 1948

Israeli forces intervene in a rally marking the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba Day (Catastrophe) and protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip in Hebron (Al-Khalil), West Bank on May 15, 2021

Pictured: Palestinians protesters clash with Israeli security forces in the occupied-West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 15,2021, following a demonstration against the Israeli attack on Gaza

Pictured: A Palestinian protester releases fireworks towards Israeli security forces amid clashes in the occupied-West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 15,2021

Firefighters try to extinguish fire after Israeli forces destroyed a 12-storey building where residential flats and offices are in the central are of Gaza City, Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers in solidarity with Gaza strip and jerusalem near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

A Palestinian protester takes cover from Israeli security forces amid clashes near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

Palestinian protesters seek cover during clashes with Israeli troops at Huwwara checkpoint near the West Bank City of Nablus, 15 May 2021

Pictured: Palestinian protesters seek cover during clashes with Israeli troops at Huwwara checkpoint near the West Bank City of Nablus, 15 May 2021

Palestinian demonstrator throws back a tear gas canister after Israeli forces intervened in the demonstration with tear gas during a demonstration to protest against Israeli attacks over Jerusalem and Gaza, on May 15, 2021

Palestinian protesters react to tear gas fired by Israeli security forces amid clashes near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021

Tel Aviv residents fled amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said.

The group said the salvoes responded to overnight strikes on Gaza's Beach refugee camp, where a woman and four of her children were killed when her house was hit.

Hamas began its rocket assault on Monday after weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near the city's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Speaking to crowds of protesters in the Qatari capital of Doha, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday the fighting was primarily about Jerusalem.

'The Zionists thought ... they could demolish Al-Aqsa mosque. They thought they could displace our people in Sheikh Jarrah,' said Haniyeh.

'I say to Netanyahu: do not play with fire,' he continued, amid cheers from the crowd. 'The title of this battle today, the title of the war, and the title of the intifada, is Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,' using the Arabic word for 'uprising'.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza since Monday, the Israeli military said on Saturday. It said about 1,000 were intercepted by missile defences and 380 fell into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 air and artillery strikes into the densely populated coastal strip, saying they were aimed at Hamas and other militant targets.

The bombardments have sent columns of smoke above Gaza City and lit up the enclave's night sky.

Tel Aviv: Israeli beachgoers are seen rushing towards shelters in Tel Aviv. Rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Tel Aviv residents fled for cover amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said

Israeli beachgoers take cover in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip

Israeli beachgoers rush towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Israeli beachgoers and a dog are seen rushing towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 after the launching of rockets

Israeli beachgoers pictured going towards shelters in Tel Aviv. Israel, which is also trying to contain an outbreak of internal Jewish-Arab violence, is facing its bloodiest conflict with Palestinian militants in Gaza since a 2014 war

The moment the 13-floor building housing news organisations was destroyed by the Israeli air strike, sending a huge mushroom cloud into the sky, was captured on video.

Broadcast footage from Al Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar's government, showed the Jala Tower collapsing to the ground after the Israeli air strike, sending up a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris.

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' Al Jazeera said in a tweet.

'This channel will not be silenced. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,' an on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. 'We can guarantee you that right now.'

Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building. AP's staff and others in the building evacuated immediately.

The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current conflict.

Smoke billows as an air bomb is dropped on the Jala Tower during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, said: 'It's terrible, very sad, to target the Al Jazeera and other press bureaux'

A building housing various international media, including Al Jazeera and The Associated Press, collapses after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, May 15, in Gaza City

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, May 15

In a phone call with the officer, he was heard begging for an extra 10 minutes to allow journalists to retrieve their equipment before leaving.

'Give us ten extra minutes,' he urged, but the officer on the other end of the line refused.

Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, said: 'It's terrible, very sad, to target the Al Jazeera and other press bureaux'.

Israel alleged its 'fighter jets attacked a high-rise building which hosted military assets belonging to the military intelligence of the Hamas terror organisation'.

It said: 'The building also hosted offices of civilian media outlets, which the Hamas terror group hides behind and uses as human shields.'

Both sides have pressed for an advantage as ceasefire efforts gather strength.

The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel.

There were also widespread Palestinian protests on Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon shows rockets fired from the Gaza Strip being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system , on May 15, 2021

This picture taken from the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon shows rockets fired from the Gaza Strip being intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system , on May 15, 2021

A thick column of black smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 15

Families who live in Jala Tower, a high-rise housing AP and other media offices, flee the building before Israeli airstrikes on Saturday, May 15

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed on May 15. Israeli air strikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a key media building

Dust settles following the destruction of the Jala Tower in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday afternoon, May 15

Smoke rises as the 13-floor building collapses after an Israeli airstrike hits Jala Tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera

Smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it collapses after being bombed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, May 15

Debris and smashed windows fall towards the ground after an Israeli airstrike hits the high-rise building on Saturday

A Palestinian policeman looks on at the rubble of the building that house the Associated Press and Al Jazeera's offices in Gaza City after it was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike

Israeli strike destroys Gaza building housing Associated Press An Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. Hours later, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a top leader of Gaza's ruling militant Hamas group. The Israeli military said Al-Hayeh's home served as part of what it said was the militant group's 'terrorist infrastructure.' Al-Hayeh is a senior figure in the Hamas political leadership in Gaza, and the attack marked a further escalation, signaling that Israel is going after Hamas' top leadership, and not just military commanders. His fate after the strike was not immediately known. Earlier, AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated their office building after the military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust. For 15 years, the AP's top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel's conflicts with Gaza's Hamas rulers, including wars in 2009 and 2014. The news agency's camera offered 24-hour live shots as militants' rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week. 'The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,' AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. 'We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.' 'This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,' he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more. The building that was targeted also housed the offices of Qatari-run Al-Jazeera TV, as well as residential apartments. The Israeli military said Hamas was operating inside it, a standard explanation, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims. Reporting by Associated Press Advertisement

An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has been condemned as 'completely unacceptable' by Labour. Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said: 'The targeting of media offices in Gaza by Israeli air strikes is completely unacceptable. Press freedom is a fundamental right.

'The devastating escalation of violence - including Hamas rocket attacks on Tel Aviv and air strikes on the Gaza City refugee camp - has cost more civilian lives and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

'The UK must join our international partners in calling for an immediate ceasefire, an end to all rocket attacks and air strikes, and work with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to prevent this dangerous situation deteriorating further.'

The spiralling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian 'intifada', or uprising, at a time when there have been no peace talks in years.

Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest.

US diplomat Hady Amr arrived on Friday as part of Washington's efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the UN Security Council is set to meet on Sunday.

Israel has turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official revealed.

Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has responded by pounding the Gaza Strip with strikes.

In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death on Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

Earlier on Saturday, an airstrike hit a three-story house in Gaza City's Shati refugee camp, killing eight children and two women from an extended family.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with relatives.

She and three of the children, aged six to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his five-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.

Children's toys and a Monopoly board game could be seen among the rubble, as well as plates of uneaten food from the holiday gathering.

'There was no warning,' said Jamal Al-Naji, a neighbour living in the same building. 'You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?' he said, addressing Israel.

'Why are you confronting us? Go and confront the strong people!'

The baby boy is reported to have been found next to the body of his deceased mother. Hamas militants responded by firing more rockets into Israel as their battle entered a fifth consecutive night and a US envoy arrived for talks

The two nurses seen wearing face masks as one holds the baby boy at Al-Shifa Hospital. Ten members of a single family - eight children and two women - were killed when a three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following an Israel strike

A nurse holds the baby boy at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. An airstrike on a house in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians, mostly children - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the battle erupted earlier this week

A man gestures as he prepares with others to bury the bodies of Palestinian children and their mother from the Al-Hadidi family, who were killed amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, during their funeral at a cemetery on May 15

Palestinians take part in the funeral of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City on May 15 - an extended family of 10 who were killed early in an Israeli air strike on the western Gaza Strip

Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians protest along Lebanon-Israel border Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians have protested along the Lebanon-Israel border, with some climbing a border wall and triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person. The protest on Saturday evening in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh saw hundreds marching and waving Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow flags of the militant Hezbollah group. Some protesters climbed a high border wall where they placed Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. Supporters of Hezbollah and the Palestinian revolution faction climb the wall during protest at the Al Odaisseh area opposite the Al-Mutaleh Israeli settlement at the Lebanese border with Israel, 15 May 2021 Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops fired warning shots near Adaisseh, wounding one person who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Lebanese and Palestinians from around Lebanon have been heading to the border to protest against Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past days. On Friday, Israeli troops opened fire at protesters who crossed a border fence, killing a 21-year-old Hezbollah member. Earlier Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border. Advertisement

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the air strike.

A furious Israeli barrage early on Friday killed a family of six in their house and sent thousands fleeing to UN-run shelters.

The military said the operation involved 160 warplanes dropping some 80 tonnes of explosives over the course of 40 minutes and succeeded in destroying a vast tunnel network used by Hamas.

Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the military aims to minimise collateral damage in striking military targets. But measures it takes in other strikes, such as warning shots to get civilians to leave, were not 'feasible this time'.

Israeli media said the military believed dozens of militants were killed inside the tunnels.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, but the military said the real number is far higher.

Gaza's infrastructure, already in widespread disrepair because of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007, showed signs of breaking down further, compounding residents' misery.

The territory's sole power plant is at risk of running out of fuel in the coming days.

The UN said Gazans are experiencing daily power cuts of eight to 12 hours and at least 230,000 have limited access to tap water.

The impoverished and densely populated territory is home to two million Palestinians, most of them the descendants of refugees from what is now Israel.

The conflict has reverberated widely. Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen daily violence, with mobs from each community fighting in the streets and destroying each other's property.

The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, with Palestinian protests against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, in an apparent attempt to present itself as the champion of the protesters.

During the conflict that spiralled from there, Israel said it wants to inflict as much damage as it can on Hamas' military infrastructure in Gaza.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Hamas will 'pay a very heavy price' for its rocket attacks, as Israel masses troops at the frontier.

US president Joe Biden has expressed support for Israel while saying he hopes to bring the violence under control.

Pedestrians look on as barricade tape surrounds an area hit by a rocket fired from Gaza, in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv District, Israel, on May 15 in an image obtained from social media

A fireball and smoke billow up into the air during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeting the Ansar compound, linked to the Hamas movement, in the Gaza Strip early on May 15

A Palestinian firefighter speaks to colleagues following an Israeli strike on Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15

Palestinians inspect the damages following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence on May 15

Israeli man is killed by Hamas rocket in Tel Aviv as five-month-old boy is pulled ALIVE from rubble after air strike on Gaza refugee camp while US envoy arrives to broker talks

An Israeli man has been killed by a Hamas rocket in Tel Aviv and a five-month-old baby boy has been pulled alive from rubble following an overnight air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza City.

Several people also received minor injuries after rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, according to the Times of Israel.

The launch came in response to Israel's airstrike on a house killing 10 Palestinians in Gaza City, with harrowing pictures show nurses holding a boy, who was reported to have been found next to the body of his deceased mother, at Al-Shifa Hospital.

A three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following the airstrike, killing at least 10 members of an extended family - eight children and two women - the highest number of fatalities in a single hit since the battle erupted earlier this week.

Another Israeli airstrike has also demolished Jala Tower, which housed Al Jazeera television and Associated Press, with broadcast footage showing a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris erupting from the 13-floor building.

A nurse holds a baby, Omar, who was pulled alive from underneath rubble while other members of his family perished, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Saturday after an Israeli air strike hit al-Shati Refugee Camp without advance warning overnight

Mohammed al-Hadidi with his baby son who was pulled alive from underneath the rubble while three of his children, aged six to 14, and wife perished in the Israeli airstrike

United Nations Security Council to meet on Sunday over violence The United Nations (UN) said the Security Council would meet on Sunday to address the violence. But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no indication that Israel was ready to ease its campaign. 'I said we'd deliver heavy blows to Hamas and other terror groups, and we're doing that,' Netanyahu said. 'They're paying and will continue to pay dearly for that. It's not over yet.' Israel estimates that more than 30 leaders of Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have been killed. It has hit sites it describes as military targets such as Hamas bomb-making facilities and the homes of senior militant commanders. Advertisement

A US envoy arrived for talks, with the United Nations (UN) Security Council set to meet on Sunday. US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr, was due to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, where the latest outburst of violence began, on Saturday before heading to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian officials.

He wants to encourage a 'sustainable calm', State Department deputy spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

But despite intensifying diplomatic efforts to ease five days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, Israel's air force struck several sites in the coastal enclave overnight, while rockets again tore towards Israel.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with relatives. She and three of the children, aged six to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his five-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.

Eleven Palestinians died in clashes in the occupied West Bank on Friday and there were fears of worse violence today as Palestinians mark Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

Washington has been criticised for not doing more to end the intensifying violence after it blocked a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Friday.

US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr (pictured left), was due to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem on Saturday before heading to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian officials. But Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) gave no indication that Israel was ready to ease its campaign

'There was no warning,' said Jamal Al-Naji, a neighbour living in the same building. 'You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?' he said, addressing Israel.

'Why are you confronting us? Go and confront the strong people!'

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the airstrike.

Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing with Gaza on Saturday to allow in 10 ambulances carrying seriously injured Palestinians for treatment in Egyptian hospitals, medical officials said.
Scott Morrison has hit back at calls for Australians to be brought home from India if they have tested positive for Covid after dozens stranded in the South Asian nation were kicked off the first mercy flight back home following a temporary travel ban.

The Qantas repatriation flight from New Delhi to Darwin on Saturday that could have seated 150 was about half-full because more than 40 people who tested positive pre-flight along with 30 of their close contacts were barred from returning.

About 80 returnees who were allowed to board after returning negative tests are now in quarantine in the Howard Springs, with the Prime Minister declaring Australia will not import the virus from Covid-ravaged India.

'Making sure we have a rigorous testing regime is very important and I have seen the suggestions from others who seem to think that we can put people who have tested Covid positive on planes and bring them into Australia,' Mr Morrison said on Sunday.

'I mean that just doesn't make any sense.'

Jatin Wig and his family were among the group of passengers who were stopped from boarding the first repatriation flight from India to Australia after a temporary travel ban was lifted

About 70 passengers were barred by authorities from boarding the Qantas flight from New Delhi before it landed in Darwin, in the Northern Territory, at 9.25am on Saturday. The passengers who were allowed to board are pictured walking from the plane

Poll Do you think Covid-positive Australians should be brought back from India? Yes No Do you think Covid-positive Australians should be brought back from India? Yes 25 votes

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As part of precaution all passengers were required to undergo pre-flight quarantine measures which included staying in a hotel and getting tested for Covid.

However there are reports of some inconsistency in the testing results, adding to the frustration of Australians wanting to return home.

Several passengers have been re-tested for the virus and at least three have returned a negative result while others have claimed the information on their results came back with the wrong gender, age or time of testing.

Mr Morrison conceded India is a very difficult environment to operate in right now.

'We will work closely with Qantas who are obviously conducting that testing regime as part of their process and they will get every support from us,' he said.

'I hope and intend for us to get even more home in the other repatriation commercially facilitated flights in the weeks ahead.'

A Qantas spokesperson said the airline will review its pre-flight testing procedures after it was revealed CRL Diagnostics, the laboratory that conducted the tests, is no longer accredited by India's National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories, ABC reported.

The laboratory is however still registered with national medical research body Indian Council of Medical Research and allowed to conduct Covid tests.

The flight could have seated 150 passengers and was the first plane to leave India for Australia after the federal government closed the border to the Covid-ravaged country on April 27

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 'it doesn't make sense' to have Covid positive passengers returning to Australians. Pictured, Defence personnel supporting the arrival of repatriated Australians from India

'If there are concerns we will work together with DFAT to ensure the process is working as it should,' the Qantas spokesperson said.

NABL chief executive N Venkateswaran said the laboratory had been suspended in April for 'non-compliance with NABL accreditation norms'.

'Due to confidentiality, we will not be able to say more than that the lab was found not complying with accreditation norms and hence suspended.'

CRL Diagnostics managing director Ravi Tomar said the suspension stemmed from the misuse of the NABL logo and that the laboratory was appealing for it to be lifted.

Jatin Wig and his family were among the group of passengers who were stopped from boarding the plane.

Mr Wig's wife and toddler had tested positive to the virus despite showing no symptoms.

The family was left in disbelief at the result and got re-tested for the virus before the result came back negative.

The Australians returning from India will be isolated at Howard Springs facility outside Darwin until they are cleared to travel on

The Qantas plane had up to 80 Australians on board after 40 were refused because of positive Covid tests

'This is crazy,' Mr Wig said. 'I'm not really sure what to believe anymore.'

'Obviously, there is something wrong with the initial tests, so many of them showed positive (results) and all of them (are) asymptomatic.'

University of New South Wales epidemiologist Mary-Louise McLaws said the high volume of positive results and low number of passengers who actually displayed symptoms should have been a warning sign about the validity of the tests.

Following the arrival of the mercy flight on Saturday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said testing in India prior to further flights will continue to ensure Australia is protected from the virus.

'We're dealing with a situation where we've seen more than 800,000 new Covid cases a day, there are new variants of the virus,' he told reporters in Melbourne.

'We've got to maintain our health settings because we know how damaging to the livelihoods of Australians an outbreak would be.'

Asked what medical assistance would be given to infected Australians left behind in Delhi, Mr Frydenberg said the High Commission in India was working with them.

Buses were waiting at the airport to ferry the passengers to their two weeks of quarantine (pictured)

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 'the next step' on the reopening of the international border 'is how we can safely have international students come back'. Pictured are Australian National University students in Canberra

More than 9,000 Australians are registered as wanting to return, with about 900 of them said to be desperate or vulnerable.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Australians in India are very frustrated and while they are there, they are exposed to real health concerns.

He said if Australians had been brought home by last Christmas as the government had promised, they would not be Covid positive now.

'If Scott Morrison had of kept his commitment, they wouldn't be exposed to this danger,' he told reporters in Narangba, Queensland.

'If the federal government had have listened to (Queensland) Premier Palaszczuk last October the quarantine centres that she proposed, appropriate facilities, would be built now, would be opened, would be able to be used.'

More than 9000 Australians are registered as wanting to return, with about 900 of them said to be desperate or vulnerable.

The next government-facilitated flight is expected into Darwin on May 23, bringing up a total of 40 such flights since March 2020.

Mr Morrison said travel to countries with low-rates of Covid without strict quarantine was 'still many months away', with international students the priority when it came to reopening the border.

'We are always working on the next step and the next step is how we can safely have international students come back,' he said.

'I welcome the fact that universities are stumping up to work with state governments to put those facilities in place to support those customers coming back, the students coming back.'
A young girl has been left fighting for life with horrific burns after a LandCruiser allegedly ploughed into her bike then dragged her 173m down the road.

Sarah Degier, 11, was allegedly struck by a teenage driver while riding her bike to school in Dalby, 209km west of Brisbane, on Thursday morning.

The 18-year-old allegedly hit the schoolgirl as he was exiting a carpark, only becoming aware that something was wrong when horrified bystanders who heard her screams waved him down.

Sarah was allegedly dragged more than 100 metres across the bitumen, suffering extensive burn-related injuries due to the abrasions.

Sarah Degier, 11, (pictured) suffered horrific burns to the majority of her body after she was allegedly dragged down the road by a car on Thursday

She was rushed to Dalby Hospital before being airlifted to Queensland Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

'She was on her stomach as she was dragged under the car, so she's had major damage to her palms, elbow, hips, chest and one leg - one leg has been saved from major injuries but everything else on her front is abrasions and grazes,' Sarah's father Shane told the Courier Mail.

'All her fingers but one pinky finger has abrasions.'

The P-plate driver was charged with driving without due care and attention causing grievous bodily harm.

A police officer who was one of the first on the scene said Sarah should be commended for her bravery, with paramedics telling her family she smiled and asked how she could help them when they arrived.

Mr Degier said his daughter does not remember being hit but recalls being pinned beneath the car.

Despite the unimaginable pain Sarah has endured, he said she has been 'absolutely amazing'.

Sarah's father Shane and his wife Kate (pictured) said they are grateful for the efforts of emergency responders and hospital staff throughout their ordeal

'As an adult, you would be so scared as you're being dragged away when the car didn't immediately stop - I couldn't imagine how that would feel, let alone being 11 and experiencing that,' he said.

Sarah has already undergone two surgeries at Brisbane Mater Hospital and doctors are yet to determine how many more she will need.

Mr Degier and his wife Kate said they are grateful to emergency responders, Dalby Hospital staff, LifeFlight crews, surgeons and Queensland Childrens Hospital staff, who have been wonderful throughout their ordeal.

Although hospital fees have been covered, a fundraiser has been set up to help make Sarah's long road to recovery as comfortable as possible and to keep her in 'high spirits' as she braces for more operations.

The campaign has so far reached $2260 of the $5000 goal, with Mr Degier since taking to the page to thank those who have rallied behind them.

'We are grateful for all of your love and support.'
Finance department officials said that they have been given verbal instructions not to clear any bills except for those pertaining to wages and urgent bills of the health department. (Photo: Twitter @TelanganaCMO)

HYDERABAD: The state government has decided not to settle any bills except for paying this months salaries and pensions and clearing emergency bills of the health department. The decision was taken in the wake of the prevailing Covid-19 situation.

Finance department officials said that they have been given verbal instructions not to clear any bills except for those pertaining to wages and urgent bills of the health department.

Revenue generating sources have been impacted because of lockdown. Even sales in liquor outlets have taken a beating as business timings have been restricted to four hours. Consequently, there has been a decline in tax collection. Land registrations have been put on hold and taxes from the transport department have also nosedived.

Given the precarious situation, indications are that the government is keen on securing funds to meet emergency requirements in the drive to contain the impact of coronavirus.

According to finance department officials, although the government wanted to pay retirement gratuity this month, it may be compelled to postpone it.

Meanwhile, there is no clarity on implementation of the revised PRC.

They said that all departments have been asked to prepare only wage bills and keep all other payments pending. They said it would be difficult to pay GPF, medical reimbursement and leave cash bills for government employees. Almost all bills are pending in wings like irrigation, roads, GHMC, municipality and panchayati raj. Incidentally, those departments have not cleared bills for works that were executed last month. Tokens have been issued for some bills but payments have not been made.

Authorities state that bills to the overall tune of Rs 19,000 crore are pending across departments. The break-up is: irrigation department Rs14,000 crore, R&B (Rs1,200 crore), GHMC (Rs1,000 crore), panchayat raj (Rs 900 crore) and Rs 800 crore for works related to Mission Bhagiratha, among others. Officials have made it clear that the bills will not be paid even this month.

With regard to the 12,751 gram panchayats, although cheques were issued in the second week of March, nearly Rs 1,300 crore remain outstanding.

Though some funds were released for Palle Pragathi, cheques are not being honoured for various projects and works, including Prakruthi Vanalu, Vaikunta Damas and Haritha Haram.
Matt Hancock went on the defensive today after being accused of personally intervening to help a shamed former Tory minister land a 180million PPR contract.

The Health Secretary insisted that Brooks Newmark received no special treatment as he brokered a deal for international firms to supply millions of pairs of goggles to the NHS last year.

Mr Newmark, 63, a father of five, quit just months after being made minister for civil society in 2014 after he was exposed as having exchanged lewd photographs with a male journalist posing as a glamorous 20-year-old Tory PR woman.

A Freedom of Information probe by the Sunday Times today discovered National Audit Office emails showing that last May, at the height of the first Covid lockdown, he lobbied the Government on behalf of a Hong Kong firm.

After a string of email exchanges with Mr Hancock and his senior aides the company was awarded a 178million deal in June.

But Mr Hancock angrily defended his conduct today, saying it was 'absolutely appropriate for anybody to get in contact with anybody at the Department of Health when the country desperately needed PPE'.

He told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme: 'Of course when someone approaches the Health Secretary in the middle of a pandemic when you are desperately short of PPE it is perfectly reasonable for the Health Secretary to then send on the email and say ''can we have a look at this?''.'

'I didn't have anything to do with the signing of any of these contracts  I wanted it to be looked at and by-the-way, 90 million goggles later I'm glad that I did.'

The Health Secretary helped Brooks Newmark broker a deal for international firms to get involved with the supply of vital gloves,masks and other equipment.

Mr Newmark,a father of five, quit as minister for civil society in 2014 after he was exposed as having exchanged lewd photographs with a male journalist posing as a glamorous 20-year-old Tory PR woman.

But Labour's deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said: 'It is a recurring theme of the pandemic that ministers have bent over backwards to help their donors, friends and supporters while other companies have had to beg to provide equipment that could help.

'Returning to normal after this crisis is over must not mean a return to Conservative cronyism, deals for mates, and one rule for them and another for the rest of us.'

In one of the emails, replying to Mr Newmark's proposal, Mr Hancock wrote: 'Thanks. Definitely one for the PPE team who are firing on all cylinders now.'

The Health Secretary was then copied into a message on May 28 by one of his aides to Lord Deighton, the PPE Tsar, saying 'Please see below from former MP Brooks Newmark ... an excellent PPE proposal that the health secretary and I would be very grateful if Lord Deighton could look into urgently.'

Days later the deal was completed.

Mr Newmark's career and marriage collapsed after he was exposed in 2014. He exchanged explicit pictures online with someone he believed to be a young blonde Tory named Sophie. In fact, the profile had been created by a male freelance reporter.

The MP, who led David Cameron's drive for greater representation of women in politics, also sent explicit photographs to a young single mother weeks after being appointed as a minister in 2014.

He bombarded her with up to 40 naked pictures and told her 'I am desperate for sex with you' during a two year affair. He stepped down as MP for Braintree at the 2015 election.

He declined to respond to the Sunday Times, while a Government spokesman said its priority had 'always been saving lives'.
A freezing cold snap will continue to batter Australia's southeast until Wednesday when the weather is expected to ease and return to more bearable temperatures.

Canberra woke up to a blast of icy weather on Sunday morning as the mercury clocked just -5.4C and our capital city is expected to reach 0C later tonight.

The Bureau of Meteorology said while Canberra experienced its coldest day of the year so far, a series of cold fronts sweeping across the country have left many states grabbling with colder-than-usual temperatures.

Canberra woke up to a blast of icy weather on Sunday morning as the mercury clocked just -5.4C (pictured: people riding bikes in Canberra)

The cold weather across eastern states is expected to ease on Wednesday (pictured: cold snap in Sydney)

'Perisher Valley near the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales had the coldest weather on Sunday at - 9.5C and almost 95km away in Cooma temperatures reached - 9.6C,' Meteorologist Dean Marramore said.

Mr Marramore told Daily Mail Australia that Victoria, inland New South Wales and Southern Queensland had cold mornings and below zero temperatures that are expected to last until Wednesday.

'All eastern states can expect to experience temperatures two to six degrees below average on Monday and Tuesday before above average temperatures will return on Wednesday,' Mr Marramore said.

'The warmer weather is expected to arrive by the weekend with temperatures reaching two or three degrees above average.'

Perisher resort in Australia's alpine region reached 9.5C on Sunday claiming the coldest temperatures across Australia (pictured)

The cold burst is expected ease on Wednesday temperatures becoming more stable next week. Pictured: A snow-covered visitor to the Mt Buller resort in eastern Victoria this week

Melbourne residents woke up to hail cover in the city on Saturday (pictured)

Sydney is expected to enjoy mostly sunny weather throughout the week as maximum temperatures reach 21C on Wednesday, with possible showers on Friday.

Tasmania is also expected to heat up around the middle of the week with maximum temperatures reaching 18C on Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr Marramore said the worst of Adelaide's weather is behind them and the state is set to reach mid to high teens by Monday with sunny or partly cloudy conditions throughout the week.

A suburban Melbourne street covered in hail on Saturday morning after a cold front swept through the city (pictured)

The cold snap that saw snow fall in Brindabella, NSW (pictured) is set to ease on Wednesday

But Darwin is expected to have sunny conditions for the week and months ahead.

'Alice Springs might have a light frost in the southern parts of the region but it will heat up throughout the week and beyond,' Mr Marramore said.

Perth is ready for a warm and sunny week with temperatures set to peak at 27C - two to eight degrees above average for the week.

BoM weather map shows the cold front moving over Victoria and Tasmania bringing cold, wet and windy weather (pictured)

The slow transition into warmer weather comes as Australia was hit with a cold snap over the weekend with Victoria waking up to a blast of icy weather on Saturday with snow in the Dandenongs and hail in Melbourne.

The chilly weather in the Victorian capital continued throughout the day with the mercury sitting at just 12C by 3pm, marking it the coldest day of the year for the city.

The Bureau of Meteorology said a series of cold fronts sweeping across the state from the Great Australian Bight - the strongest on Friday night - was causing the cold weather.

Snow falling at Perisher on Saturday as staff gear up to the start of the ski season just under a month (pictured)

The Australian alps are set for a particularly good snow cover in 2021 with about 25cm falling in the last week (pictured)
The new challenger to the BBC - GB News - is set to launch at the end of the month, insiders have said.

The brand new British 24-hour news channel will begin broadcasting showreels from presenters on May 27 and will go live four days later on May 31, sources told the Sunday Telegraph.

It is backed by American broadcaster Discovery and will be headed up by news veteran Andrew Neil, who is known for his challenging interview style.

It further boasts a line up of some of British journalism's best known faces including ex-ITV News anchor Alastair Stewart and BBC presenter Simon McCoy.

GB News, which is set to launch at the end of the month will be headed up by veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil

The website for GB news features it's log and a brief message stating only that 'GB News is coming soon'

Other notable presenters include Mail Online columnist Dan Wooton, Times Radio journalist Gloria De Piero and Sky News's Colin Brazier.

Brazier said of the channel: 'Sometimes watching the existing news offerings can feel like being in the audience for an extended sociology lecture - and I don't think this will.'

GB News has denied that the launch date is set in stone.

A spokesperson said: 'The only confirmed dates are related to technical launches.

'No date has been decided for the launch of live programming. That decision will not be made for some time, possibly weeks.'

News industry heavyweights including Simon McCoy (l) and Alastair Stewart (r) will join the brand new channel

News UK owner Rupert Murdoch had plans last year to launch a channel of his own, which would have been of similar content as a challenger to the left-leaning news coverage offered by the BBC, but has since decided it was not 'commercially viable'.

The news channel has poached a range of other star journalists and news industry heavyweights from press and TV across the political spectrum.

The channel will have an on-demand streaming service available on Sky, Virgin Media, Youview and Freesat and will air on Freeview channel 236.
The husband of a British woman savagely murdered during a burglary in Greece has paid tribute to his 'forever love' as police confirmed the arrest of a man on the Bulgarian border.

Caroline Crouch, 20, was strangled to death in front of her 11-month-old daughter Lydia in an affluent suburb of Athens while her husband, helicopter pilot Babis Anagnostopolous was tied up and gagged.

The family's dog, Bruno, was also strangled to death with his own lead.

Detectives investigating the murder today confirmed they have arrested an unnamed Georgian man on the Bulgarian border.

This afternoon, Caroline's heartbroken husband Babis posted a wedding day picture and told his beloved wife they would be 'together forever'.

Under the photo of the newlyweds holding hands and beaming with joy on a beach, the helicopter pilot wrote in Greek: 'Together forever. Have a nice trip my love.'

Babis, who had been tied up and left after the robbery, had only been able to raise the alarm after using his nose to dial the police on his phone.

Babis Anagnostopolous shared a tribute to his wife Caroline Crouch after she was savagely murdered during a burglary at their home in a suburb of Athens, Greece. Under the photo taken on their wedding day he writes: 'Together forever. Have a nice trip my love'

Detectives investigating the savage murder of Caroline Crouch (left) who was killed in front of her baby (pictured) during a burglary in Athens have arrested a Georgian man on the Bulgarian border

The Georgian man was arrested in Evros, in the far north-east of Greece, which is the main route to Bulgaria

A Georgian man was earlier arrested in Evros, in the far north-east of Greece, which is the main route into Bulgaria, local newspaper Vima reported.

The suspect, who was travelling by car, was held following a routine police stop to cross check his identification when they discovered he was travelling on a fake passport.

A police source said DNA analysis suggested he was one of five people who tied up an old couple and their cleaning lady in a burglary in Pikermi on March 7.

The home is just 20 minutes drive from the Glyka Nera neighbourhood where Caroline was murdered.

It was also revealed that Babis has helped police to identify two of the weapons carried by the raiders.

He said the burglars were armed with a silver Colt and a black pistol.

Police said the weapons were unusual to find in Greece and believe tracing them could prove vital in identifying Caroline's killers.

The helicopter pilot Charalambos Anagnostopolous (pictured), known as Babis, saw the face of his 20-year-old wife's killer as he leapt onto the bed where they were sleeping

Caroline was killed at her home in Athens, Greece, that she shared with husband Babis Anagnostopoulos and their infant daughter Lydia

Almost every inhabitant of Alonnisos flocked to the island's Agia Paraskevi church to pay their respects to Caroline Crouch on Friday

Babis, who saw the attackers, will tomorrow be shown mug-shots of 30 suspects thought be involved in his wife's murder.

Officers have linked 12 break-ins in the past six months around the Greek capital which involved some 30 known criminals to the 20-year-old Briton's murder.

An Albanian organised crime group comprising of Roma and other nationalities is believed to be behind the break-in and the murder.

Tomorrow detectives will show mug-shots of known criminals to heart-broken widower Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, known as Babis, who saw the face of his 20-year-old wife's killer.

The helicopter pilot, known as Babis, caught a glimpse of the man as he leapt on to the bed where he was sleeping with wife Caroline to stop her screaming.

The killer had been wearing a motorcycle balaclava to hide his identity. But the face covering slipped down while he was struggling with the 20-year-old British mother.

Babis has described the assassin as being tall, dark-skinned, overweight and under 30.

A police source told Mega TV: 'We suspect that three members of the gang went into the house and one member waited outside as a look-out.

'We believe that the killer felt compelled to murder Caroline because she had seen his face and would identify him to the police.

'But they spared husband Babis because they thought he was unconscious and unable to see.'

It is also thought it possible the attacker killed Caroline, a black belt kickboxer, because she fought back.

Police say a gang of burglars broke into Caroline (left) and Babis's (right) home, tied him up, tortured and killed her, then stole 33,000 in cash and jewellery and fled

A source close to the investigation told the Sun attackers could have 'taken fright' at the violent struggle Caroline put up before she was strangled to death

A source close to the investigation told the Sun attackers could have 'taken fright' at the violent struggle Caroline put up before she was strangled to death.

He said: 'the DNA we now have may provide the answers.'

Babis was asleep at his home near Athens alongside wife Caroline, a student, and their 11-month-old daughter when a gang of thieves broke in around 4:30am on Tuesday.

Investigators say the gang approached the couple's house and broke a security camera outside.

They then removed security pins from a basement window and climbed inside the property, where they found the family's dog downstairs. Police say the husky was strangled using its own leash before its body was hanged from a stair banister.

Babis told the police the masked raiders - armed with handguns - then tied him up on the floor and tied Caroline to the bed before demanding 'where's the money?' in broken Greek.

He said the couple had a large amount of cash at home because they had recently bought a plot of land and needed to pay builders for work, and he revealed his hiding spot - inside a Monopoly box - quickly in order to spare his loved ones being tortured.

But the thieves demanded more money and jewellery, then pointed a gun at his infant daughter's temple before suffocating Caroline when she started screaming, according to Greek media.

Police have described the crime as the 'most heinous' they have ever investigated, and say it was carried out with a 'brutality' that is rare in Greece. Pictured: the house (right) where the murder took place

Investigators say Tuesday's raid began around 4.30am when the gang approached the couple's house (pictured) and broke a security camera outside

Pictured: Marks seen on the door and windows in the rear yard of the house where the burglars are believed to have entered into the house

Police say hooded men broke into the home in the Glyka Nera suburb while one stood guard, strangled the family dog, tied up the husband, then tortured and suffocated his wife

Detectives have cordoned off the couple's home in the Glyka Nera neighbourhood of Greece as investigations continue

The murder of Caroline Crouch, pictured with Babis Anagnostopoulos, was described by police as one of the most 'heinous' crimes ever investigated

Caroline, who is thought to have been born Greece but has a British passport, began dating Babis in 2017, married him in 2019, and gave birth in June last year

Caroline was killed in front of her infant daughter after thieves broke into the home she shared with her husband

'I heard my wife screaming for help tied to the bed while I was tied to the floor,' Babis is said to have told police. 'We screamed not to be hurt.

'The baby was crying, my wife was crying and someone or some people were looking for the house to find more money and jewelry. Suddenly they left the room and I couldn't hear my wife's voice anymore.'

Speaking to Greek TV outside the family home later the same day, Babis added: 'I wish no one ever goes through what we went through last night. It was a nightmare.

'We begged the thieves not to harm us. We told them where the money was and asked them to leave us alone. The police will catch them.'

Police were called to the scene by Babis, who managed to get to a phone and dial the emergency number with his nose.

Police have described the crime as the 'most heinous' they have ever investigated, and say it was carried out with a 'brutality' that is rare in Greece.

A 250,000 reward for information has been offered, and investigators are thought to be working on the theory that the gang was well organised, likely surveilled the couple before the raid, and somehow knew they were keeping a large amount of cash at home.

Caroline was laid to rest yesterday on the island of Alonnisos, where she spent most of her childhood.

Caroline Crouch was carried into the Agia Paraskevi church in an open casket for her funeral on the island of Alonnisos on Friday

Widower Babis pictured with his 11-month-old daughter at the burial of Caroline on the island of Alonnisos

Susie Dela Cuesta pictured above at her daughter's graveside on the island of Alonnisos in Greece yesterday

Beautiful wreaths are left outside the church for Caroline's funeral while flowers were left on wooden tables by mourners

A black hearse carrying her coffin - which was covered with carefully placed white roses - could be seen this morning entering the ferry at the port of Volos, central Greece, on its way to the island of Alonissos
One man is fighting for life in hospital and another is being questioned by West Australian police following an altercation outside a licensed venue.

Homicide detectives are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened in Bunbury on Saturday night.

They say two men were involved in an altercation outside the premises on Stephen Street, just after 10.30pm.

During the fight, both men fell to the ground before being separated by onlookers.

One of them, aged 43, received critical head injuries.

He was rushed to Bunbury Regional Hospital where he remains on life-support, police said.

A 29-year-old man was taken into custody and was assisting investigators with their inquiries on Sunday.

Detectives would like to speak to anyone who witnessed the incident or saw the men before they came to blows.

It is believed a number or people were outside the venue at the time.
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Thousands of people in Indian covid hotspot Bolton today joined queues that went round the block as Matt Hancock proclaimed the vaccines could provide protection against the troublesome variant the day before the next step of the easing of the third national shutdown.

Coronavirus 'hit squads' are going door-to-door in Bolton and Blackburn, the most infectious areas of England, to offer entire multi-generational households inoculations as rates of the Indian strain double in the Greater Manchester city in a week amid a third virus surge.

Yesterday thousands of residents queued outside a mobile jabs centre to get a jab after it emerged there were 4,000 available that had to be used on the day. Today, huge numbers lined the streets near the Essa Academy school, a pop-up vaccine hub, to receive a covid vaccine.

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group has urged anyone with a BL3 or BL4 postcode to attend as Boris Johnson today pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine roll-out to a million a day, with one person commenting: 'I can't believe how many people are here, it's crazy. They're queuing round the block for a jab.'

Four people are known to have died from the Indian variant but appearing on TV this morning Mr Hancock said those who had been hospitalised were 'largely people who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it'.

The Health Secretary said that a new Oxford University investigation showed that the innoculations available were effective against the variant which is now dominant in some Northern towns.

Appearing on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday he said: 'There's new very early data out from Oxford University, and I would stress that this is from the labs, it's not clinical data, and it's very early.

'But it does give us a degree of confidence that the vaccines work against this Indian variant, but it is clearly more transmissible and has been spreading fast in the groups where there's a cluster.

'That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease. We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.'

But Mr Hancock did strike a note of more caution over the final release from lockdown on June 21, saying the final decision would not be taken until June 14.

Sage's Professor John Edmunds urged the country not to panic over the new variant, telling the BBC's Marr that those who have been vaccinated are unlikely to experience more than mild Covid symptoms from it.

Meanwhile a growing number of questions are also being asked about the failure to make people arriving into the country from India quarantine earlier, after it emerged the government failed to put India on the 'red list' even though infection rates were nearly 50 times higher among arrivals from the country than the rest of the UK.

Of the 3,345 people touching down in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7, some 4.8 per cent tested positive for Covid, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England, Public Health England data shows.

It is the latest statistic to be brandished at the Prime Minister, with pressure growing over his decision to delay banning travel from the Asian nation until late April, even though flights to and from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh were restricted two weeks earlier.

Labour's Yvette Cooper today called for tomorrow's lifting of the ban on international travel to be halted.

It comes as:

Door-to-door Covid 'hit squads' are heading to Bolton and Blackburn, where the strain is at its most virulent;

Rapid spread of Indian variant could put the end of Covid curbs in jeopardy - but experts say there is no need to panic;

Jab sites prepare for flood of patients as doses are accelerated for over 50s and clinically vulnerable amid surge in infections;

The UK recorded another 2,027 Covid cases in 1% fall on last week as death toll rises by 7;

British Airways' boss calls on the government to reunite Britons with their families overseas by opening air travel to low-risk countries

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire, as Bolton's case rate doubles in a week

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire, as Bolton's case rate doubles in a week

People line up outside a mobile vaccination centre, amid the spread of the Indian covid variant, in Bolton

The Health Secretary said that a new Oxford University investigation showed that the innoculations available were effective against the variant which is now dominant in some Northern towns.

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire

Door-to-door Covid 'hit squads' are heading to Bolton and Blackburn, where the strain is at its most virulent, to focus on areas with the greatest 'vaccine hesitancy'. Pictured: A queue for the jabs at the pop up centre in Bolton

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire

The surge means that Bolton neighbourhoods account for six out of the 10 regions nationally with the highest case rates

Door to door testing kit distributors in Bolton today as the area's covid case rate surges amid the spread of the Indian variant

Boris Johnson (pictured) will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21

'Hug carefully': Brits are urged to be cautious ahead of unlocking Matt Hancock today warned people to 'be careful' when hugging others on Monday, as England prepares to finally unlock from Covid lockdown. Theatres, cinemas and art galleries will be allowed to open across the country for the first time this year when more lockdown measures are eased tomorrow. Restaurants and pubs will also be able to serve customers indoors since December. Ahead of the big unlock, venues have already begun selling out, with the famous Globe Theatre reportedly sold out until the middle of next month And Grayson Perry's Manchester Art Gallery exhibition is also said to booked out throughout the rest of May. But delivering a stark reality check, the Health Secretary warned about the 'risk' of meeting indoors - as fears continue to raise over the spread of the Indian variant in the UK. Speaking to Sky News this morning, Mr Hancock said: 'We should all be careful, we all know the risks, outside is safer than inside - so even though you can, from tomorrow, meet up inside, it's still better to meet up outside. 'Of course there are people who have been yearning to have some physical contact - you should do that carefully. 'If you've had both jabs more than two weeks ago, that's much safer. Asked who he planned to hug first, with the Government set to relax rules tomorrow on contact with close family and friends, he said: 'I was asked on Tuesday and I said the thing I'm really looking forward to is hugging my mum, she's had two jabs - actually dad got quite upset about that. 'I'm really looking forward to hugging you as well, dad, but we'll probably do it outside and keep the ventilation going: hands, face and space.' It comes as art venues will be able to indoor areas for the first time this year. Measures are being lifted on Monday to allow all art venues, museums and theatres to open as part of a raft of new lockdown easing measures. Advertisement

Mr Hancock defended the timing of when the Government put India on the travel 'red list' although he sidestepped questions on whether the decision was linked to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's planned - and then postponed - trip to the country.

The Health Secretary told Sky News: 'This variant was notified as a variant under investigation after we'd already put India on the red list. The decision to put India on the red list was taken because of the high positivity rate of people coming from India and looking at the epi-curve in India.

'When we put Pakistan on the red list at the start of April that's because the proportion of people testing positive coming in from Pakistan was three times higher the proportion coming from India, and it was only after we put India on the red list that this variant went under investigation, and then earlier this month it became a variant of concern.'

Asked about the impact of Mr Johnson's planned trip to India in late April in a bid to assist trade talks, Mr Hancock replied: 'We take these decisions based on the evidence.'

He then went on to repeat comments made about the Government's approach to India.

Prof Edmunds also defended the Government, saying that closing the border earlier would have delayed the variant's arrival but not prevented it.

He added that people should be 'concerned but not panicking' when it comes to the spread of the Covid-19 variant first identified in India.

He said while the variant is a 'new threat' the UK is in a much better position compared to before Christmas when the Kent variant was detected.

Speaking on BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, he said: 'I think we should be concerned but not panicking. We're in a much, much better place now than we were when the Kent variant first hit us back in November, December.'

He added: 'Now the hospitals are empty, thankfully, or virtually empty of Covid patients and two-thirds of the adult population have been vaccinated.

'So we are in a much better position now to cope with this new threat - and it is a new threat - but we're not in the same position as we were back in December.'

Meanwhile, it was also claimed today upwards of 20,000 passengers who may have been carrying a virulent strain were given the green light to enter the country without quarantine as Mr Johnson put off enforcing a travel ban.

Fears are growing that the Indian variant of coronavirus is up to 50 per cent more infectious than the Kent strain, which would mean it could spread widely enough through the younger unvaccinated members of the population that it could still serious third wave despite the success of the vaccine drive.

Ministers are hoping to accelerate the vaccine drive because the jab is still effective against the Indian variant and wider levels of vaccination could halt its spread, but as it stands lockdown restrictions will still be eased further on Monday.

Critics have this weekend branded the delay to closing the borders 'reckless, misguided and dangerous' with 122 cases of the rapidly-spreading variant already entering the UK by the time India was finally added to the red list.

Matt Hancock told the Commons on April 19 the move was being made, but it didn't actually come into force until 4am on April 23, even though No10 sources previously said that countries could be added 'at a few hours' notice'.

Therefore, some fear a substantial number of travellers, potentially infected with the variant, could have arrived in the UK across that intervening period.

Matt Hancock warns British holidaymakers to stay away from amber list countries like Spain, Italy, France and Greece British holidaymakers planning a desperate bolt for the sun from Monday should avoid countries on the UK's amber list even though they can visit them, Matt Hancock said today. The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, they should not unless it is 'absolutely necessary'. It came as ministers faced increasing questions over delays in putting India on the UK's red list, which critics say allowed the current Indian variant to gain a foothold in the UK. Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries - including Portugal - without having to quarantine on their return. But the vast majority of popular tourist destinations remain in the amber zone. This requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states. Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Daisy McAndrew on Times Radio today, Mr Hancock said: 'We have a green list where it's okay to go and that's why we've brought the green list in. 'But what I would say is that people should not travel to amber or red list countries unless it's absolutely necessary. And certainly not for holiday purposes.' Advertisement

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove has tried to make the case for harsher lockdown measures in areas like Bolton, hardest hit by the variant, but faced opposition in doing so by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, according to the Sunday Times.

Some have previously suggested that the delay was due to the Prime Minister's eagerness to keep relations strong with India, having planned a visit - which subsequently had to be cancelled - as part of efforts to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.

The backlash has intensified over the last two days, even though Mr Johnson, and health minister Edward Argar, have tried to defend the delay since Friday's Downing Street briefing.

But amid dire warnings from SAGE, that as many as 1,000 deaths a day from the new variant could occur within months, the PM is looking to increase the pace of the jab rollout.

Stockpiles of more than three million vaccines will soon be accessed, meaning daily doses can firstly be increased from 500,000 to 800,000, and then further to a million a day over the summer, according to the Telegraph.

In a further boost, the medicines regulator is expected to rubber-stamp Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Janssen vaccine this week, thus giving health chiefs even more supplies to distribute.

While the government is prioritising topping up those who've already had one jab with a second dose, sources suggest people as young as 35 could be invited to receive a vaccine within days.

Mr Johnson will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21.

Figures released yesterday showed hospital admissions down 1.2 per cent in a week to 103, with deaths down 8.9 per cent to seven.

Positive tests were fractionally down on last Saturday's figure, at just over 2,000.

A total of 36,320,867 first doses of the vaccine have now been administered - 69 per cent of all adults in Britain - while second doses have reached 19,698,121.

The Government source added that there was 'no evidence' that vaccines were not effective against the Indian variant.

Nevertheless, a growing number of experts have issued warnings over the major easing of restrictions tomorrow.

The Prime Minister was sticking by plans to allow mixing indoors and physical contact in England, with health minister Mr Argar insisting they are acting 'calmly' over the threat.

However, scientists urged for a delay in the third stage of the road map to easing the lockdown as medics described the step as a 'real worry' while many await vaccination.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) concluded there is a 'realistic possibility' the strain is 50% more transmissible than the one that emerged in Kent.

People line up outside a mobile vaccination centre in Bolton as the area's covid case rat surges in the past week

People line up outside a mobile vaccination centre in Bolton amid the spread of the Indian covid variant

A woman walks past an information board by a mobile vaccination centre in Bolton amid surging covid cases

Ministers are planning to blitz areas where the Indian variant has taken hold by vaccinating entire households to stop Covid spreading 'like wildfire'. Pictured: A man gets his Covid vaccination in Bolton

Women 'will suffer most' if we go back to the office every day, claims boss of Aviva insurance Women will be the biggest losers if workers are forced to return to offices five days a week after the pandemic, the boss of insurance giant Aviva has warned. Chief executive Amanda Blanc said the lockdown had given businesses a chance to reassess working patterns to help women who are saddled with the brunt of childcare and other responsibilities at home. Aviva has emailed its 16,500 staff to say that it is 'safe' to return to the office if they wish to do so, according to a memo seen by The Mail on Sunday. But Ms Blanc, who is also the Government's Champion for Women in Finance, warned that ordering employees back to workplaces full-time risks damaging the careers of mothers and 'puts the female agenda back'. 'We cannot go back to working as we did before,' she told the MoS. 'If all you're doing is coming back to the office for a video call or to work on a report, then that can be done from home. 'If that's what people want, that's what they should be able to do. We've got to think about how we bring people back to work, so it isn't just a workplace where men come back and women stay at home because they've taken a primary care role, looking after children or parents. 'For me, I'm determined it's balanced. I'm very conscious of that, and we need to think very carefully that we don't put the female agenda back.' Many firms have started to recall employees to offices. Guidance to work from home is expected to be dropped on June 21 when lockdown restrictions are due to be lifted, though this could be delayed by the spread of the Indian Covid variant. But plans vary dramatically between companies, ranging from permanent 'flexible' working  where staff can work wherever they wish  to returning to offices all week. Advertisement

If the higher transmissibility is confirmed, the experts said moving to step three could 'lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations' that is 'similar to, or larger than, previous peaks'.

Sage's Professor Susan Michie said the Government should suspend the unlocking, the Sunday Times reported.

'If we are following data not dates, it is surprising that the road map is going ahead without adjustment,' the University College London academic said.

'Opening indoor hospitality venues has the potential to increase Covid-19 transmission.'

And Professor Kit Yates, a member of the Independent Sage committee of experts, suggested a delay of a fortnight would buy the nation valuable time to progress with the vaccine programme.

'The more people we can vaccinate, the safer we become,' he told the Observer.

'Even a couple of weeks at this point could make a huge difference in the face of this seemingly more transmissible variant. A pause would also buy us time to understand more about the properties of the variant, which would put us in a better position to plan what comes next.'

The BMA's public health medicine committee co-chairman Dr Richard Jarvis urged the public to take a 'cautious approach' to social and physical contact.

'It is a real worry that when further measures lift on May 17, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated,' he said.

Monday's easing in England will allow people to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will permit physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.

Ministers accept that plans to end all legal restrictions on June 21 are in jeopardy, but Mr Argar said the existing data suggests 'there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine'.

'So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review,' he told BBC Breakfast.

Official data on Saturday showed 68.6% of UK adults had received a single dose of a vaccine, while 36.7% had received both.

Over 35s in England will be invited to book their vaccinations this week, multiple newspapers reported, as second doses were accelerated for the over 50s and clinically vulnerable.

Surge testing is also under way in several places in England including areas of Bolton, Blackburn, Sefton and London.

An emergency meeting will be held by experts at the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee on Thursday after it was found that India's Covid variant is now dominant in five local authorities in England. There are mounting concerns that it is more infectious than the currently dominant Kent strain

More than 4,000 people were vaccinated by a Covid 'jab bus' (pictured) which drove into Bolton yesterday

Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate - the number of people infected by each Covid case - is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low

Meanwhile, there was growing scrutiny of the move to only add India to the travel red list requiring quarantine in a Government-sanctioned hotel on April 23, despite it being announced four days earlier.

Yvette Cooper, chair of the Commons home affairs committee, accused ministers of having 'inexplicably delayed' the move 'after which many thousands of people had returned from India bringing in many hundreds of new variant cases'.

'This was predictable but it was not inevitable,' the Labour MP said, accusing ministers of having 'still not learned the basic lessons at the border'.

Layla Moran, who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, said the delay would 'no doubt come to be seen as a catastrophic error of judgment'.

There were also questions over why Bangladesh and Pakistan were added to the red list weeks earlier on April 2, with the measure coming into force on April 9.

The Sunday Times estimated that at least 20,000 passengers who could have been infected with a virulent strain of Covid-19 entered during the delay.

A Government spokeswoman said: 'We have some of the toughest border measures in the world.

'We took precautionary action to ban travel from India on April 23, six days before this variant was put under investigation and two weeks before it was labelled as of concern. We have since sped up our vaccination programme and put in enhanced local support to curb transmission.

'Prior to India being placed on the red list in April anyone coming to the UK had to test negative and quarantine for 10 days.'

It comes as ministers are planning to blitz areas where the Indian variant has taken hold by vaccinating entire households to stop Covid spreading 'like wildfire'.

Figures show that in the two worst hotspots, Bolton and Blackburn, the virus is spreading three times faster in areas where the jab take-up is below 80 per cent.

With Mr Johnson warning that the Indian variant posed a threat to his roadmap out of lockdown, Ministers are now sending in the Army to help with a drive to target entire multi-generational households in the worst affected areas.

More than 4,000 people were vaccinated by a Covid 'jab bus' which drove into Bolton yesterday.

It comes as the NHS prepares to send invites to all over-35s by the end of the week to take up their vaccination.

And it was reported last night that at least 20,000 passengers were allowed to enter Britain while Mr Johnson delayed imposing a travel ban from India.

The PM only added India to the travel red list on April 23, three weeks after announcing a ban on flights from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data indicates an average of 900 people were arriving daily from India during the three-week period from April 2-23.

A Government spokesman pointed out that the most dominant of three strains from India was only identified as a concern six days after the country was put on the red list.

Ministers increasingly fear that a low take-up of the vaccine by ethnic minority communities is helping to spread the Indian variant.

According to NHS England data, 93.5 per cent of white people aged over 50 have had a Covid jab. This falls to 83.5 per cent for South Asians, and 67 per cent among black people in the same age bracket.

As of yesterday, Bolton's infection rate is the highest in the country at 192 cases per 100,000 people. Pictured: A seven-day cases rate by age in Bolton

A Warwick University model of a more infectious variant after lockdown is completely lifted on June 21 suggests that any more than a 30 per cent increase in transmissibility compared to the Kent variant could lead to an August peak of daily hospital admissions that is higher than either the first or second wave. In a worst-case scenario with a variant 50 per cent more transmissible, hospital admissions could surge to 10,000 per day or even double that (Thick lines indicate the central estimate while the thin lines are possible upper limits known as confidence intervals)

In areas of Blackburn and Bolton with the lowest vaccine take-up, the current weekly Covid rate is 261 cases per 100,000.

Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday urged everyone in communities affected by the Indian strain to get the jab.

He warned: 'If there are communities unprotected, the virus will find them and go through them like wildfire.'

Government sources confirmed that special door-to-door jab services may now be offered in Bolton and other affected areas to combat low vaccine take-up in ethnic-minority households.

The move would mean those in their 20s with no underlying health conditions getting the jab.

Ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq urged those in hotspots who were still hesitant about getting the jab to think of others.

She said: 'You would never go outside with a gun and start shooting people because you can see the destruction. But those without the jab don't see the impact of passing the virus on.'

Similar but less grim modelling by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested that a 50 per cent increase in transmissibility could trigger a peak of 4,000 admissions per day in July or August, possibly extending to 6,000 per day

The LSHTM model suggested hospitals could have another 30,000 inpatients by the end of July - up to around 45,000 - compared to the current 845

The LSHTM team suggested that there will be 1,000 deaths per day in August if the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible - which would be less than the 1,900 seen at the peak this January

Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth added: 'We have to be flexible and carry out a vaccine blitz in those areas most affected by the new Indian variant.'

There were huge queues for a 'jab bus' in Bolton yesterday after everyone in the town was invited to get vaccinated before 5pm.

Thousands waited in the pouring rain for injections as council officials went door-to-door urging residents to go to a bus parked in Great Lever  an area where vaccine take-up had been below average.

Bolton's infection rate is the highest in the country at 192 cases per 100,000 people. The Indian variant now makes up the majority of its new cases.

Nearly 20 million Britons have now had two doses. Yesterday, a further 2,027 cases were recorded. Seven people died.

Bolton: Jab teams in Covid hotspots defy advice and roll out crisis vaccine for young

By Jacinta Taylor in Bolton

Northerners are made of stern stuff but even they need a good reason to go out and be buffeted by driving rain and howling winds.

For the citizens of Bolton, that reason is the Indian variant of coronavirus.

'I'm here because I couldn't get an appointment with my GP,' explained mother-of-four Mel Flanagan as she waited patiently in a line stretching back across the car park of Essa Academy in the Lancashire town.

'I've been trying to get through for ages but just gave up in the end. The queue and the rain didn't put me off.'

During a day of confusion and mounting anxiety in the former mill town, it was wrongly announced that national guidelines on eligibility for a vaccine had been ditched and that adults of any age should could come forward for their jab.

Bolton has the unenviable title of capital of the Indian variant outbreak. Cases in the town are running at about 200 per 100,000  with Erewash in Derbyshire next highest on 163. Pictured: People queue to receive jab in Bolton

Forty-two staff inside the 'vaccination bus' did their best to inject as many doses as they could. Pictured: people wear face masks and carry umbrellas as they wait to have their coronavirus injections in Bolton on Saturday

Tory councillor Andy Morgan shared a tweet inviting locals to 'visit the vaccine bus', adding: 'The team will find a reason to vaccinate you. Closes at 5pm. The 4,000 vaccines must be used today.'

By the time the NHS had angrily denied his claim, demand at Essa Academy was so high that people were being turned away and asked to return again today.

Bolton has the unenviable title of capital of the Indian variant outbreak. Cases in the town are running at about 200 per 100,000 - with Erewash in Derbyshire next highest on 163.

Forty-two staff inside the 'vaccination bus' did their best to inject as many doses as they could and the local authority put more boots on the ground as well as offering door-to-door testing.

There is a genuine sense of urgency. Infection rates in Bolton have soared by more than 250 per cent in the past week, with the vast majority of cases in the under-30s.

There has also been a slight uptick in hospitalisations, including patients in their 50s and 60s who are not vaccinated but would have been eligible.

Local officials are desperate that neither cases nor admissions accelerate and are relying on a sense of community spirit to beat the surge. Rashad, 32, was also in the queue in Bolton yesterday.

'I'm not looking forward to this at all but it will be worth it to keep myself and my community safe,' he said. In the line beside him, another man said: 'The community leaders have been urging people at prayers to come and get their vaccine. We all have our part to play.'

Bolton Council leader David Greenhalgh said the majority of cases of coronavirus in the town involved people in their teens, 20s and 30s who are not yet eligible for a vaccination.

'Bolton craves normality as this town has been disproportionately affected by local lockdowns,' he said. 'I visited the vaccination site today and there were still queues long after closing time, with vaccinators working extra time to help everyone.

'Clearly the surge in Covid cases in Bolton is linked to international travel, there's no doubt about that.'

Boris Johnson announced on Friday that second jabs for those over 50 would be brought forward, but Mr Greenhalgh wants the Government to supply more doses to allow the town to vaccinate everyone.

Uptake across the town is higher than 90 per cent but there are clusters in deprived areas such as Deane, Rumworth and Great Lever where it is far lower.

Uptake for the Covid jab across the town is higher than 90 per cent but there are clusters in deprived areas such as Deane, Rumworth and Great Lever where it is far lower. Pictured: Hundreds of people queue on the streets of Bolton this afternoon as part of efforts to speed up Britain's vaccine race

Despite fears over the Indian variant, the Government is pressing ahead with the latest stage of its roadmap tomorrow. Bolton is more cautious, advising care homes not to proceed with the planned easing of restrictions yet

Dr Helen Wall, the clinician in charge of Bolton's vaccination drive, said: 'I don't think there is hesitancy as such, I think it's more about the barriers to vaccination.

'There are some really deprived areas where people don't all have cars, they might not have money for the bus, they might not want to get on the bus because they catch Covid.

'Maybe they've got several children they are looking after, elderly relatives, there's all sorts of reasons.'

Despite fears over the Indian variant, the Government is pressing ahead with the latest stage of its roadmap tomorrow. Bolton is more cautious, advising care homes not to proceed with the planned easing of restrictions yet.

Few people not in search of a vaccine ventured into Bolton town centre, but Jayne Cadman had braved the rain. 'The virus is a worry for people and the town isn't as busy as it usually is,' she said.

Shaking his head, Peter Worsley, 75, who was hospitalised for two weeks with Covid-19 over Christmas, said: 'I think Bolton's infection rate is down to the fact that the Government was very slow in closing our borders to international travel. If we had taken action sooner then perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation now.'

Bedford: Town where people aged 11 to 22 are at centre of virus surge

By Matt Aitchison in Bedford

In the market town of Bedford, locals are concerned they could be plunged into another local lockdown amid a surge in Covid cases caused by the more infectious Indian variant.

The B.1.617.2 strain now accounts for almost three-quarters of cases in the town and is spreading fastest among people aged 11 to 22, according to the latest Bedford Borough snapshot.

Georgie Lawson, 66, said her biggest fear was the removal of freedoms as the rest of the UK prepares to open up. She added: 'I am worried about another lockdown. You do feel like a prisoner in your own home.'

Louise Jackson, Bedford council's lead on health and wellbeing, said: 'Local lockdowns don't work.

Our local economy can't sustain it, and people will just move elsewhere, they'll take the virus to Luton or London. And why wouldn't they? They've had a whole year of this.'

Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate - the number of people infected by each Covid case - is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low

In the town, there is growing concern about the number of cases, which have more than doubled in the last week to 105 per 100,000 people.

Bill Gill, a 60-year-old retail manager who lives two miles from the town centre, said that despite having had both shots of the vaccine, he was concerned about the Indian variant. 'A lot of people are quite anxious to have a rise in cases just as things are opening up,' he said.

John Hillyard, 85, who has run a vegetable market stall in Bedford since 1960, said: 'We're all worried about it but we'll just have to do as we're told.'

On Friday, officials started vaccinating younger people - despite official guidance still restricting jabs to those aged 38 and over.

Teachers and parents with children at Bedford Academy were invited to use spare doses in a bid to quash the alarming spread.

Bedford Mayor Dave Hodgson told The Mail on Sunday: 'It wasn't easy within the current rules but we managed to get it done in partnership with our local hospital and the local clinical commissioning group who had a limited number of spare Pfizer vaccines going.

'The school is in an area with higher deprivation and increased levels of vaccine hesitancy so we think it was the right thing to do to help reduce transmission.'

As part of tomorrow's relaxing of guidelines, masks in schools can be ditched but Mr Hodgson said he had sent 'very strong guidance' to schools recommending that pupils should keep wearing them and remain in their bubbles.

His views were yesterday backed by Gurch Randhawa, professor in diversity and public health from Bedfordshire University, who said he thought the town was at a 'tipping point'.

'The Government has got to be really careful that they don't choose the wrong path,' he said. 'These populistic gestures of allowing children not to wear masks and permitting hugs are a bit premature, especially in light of the Indian variant being in circulation.'
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A Libyan network operating drugs rackets in north-west England are reportedly being linked to the Isis-inspired Manchester Arena terror atrocity in May 2017 which killed 22 innocent people.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) suspect that suicide bomber Salman Abedi, the son of Libyan dissidents who sought to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi and replace his regime with an Islamic government, had help with preparations for the attack at the Ariana Grande concert, the Sunday Times reports.

An investigation by the paper alleges that members of the network received numerous calls from Salman days before the bombing, and were caught on CCTV checking a car packed with explosives. One was allegedly caught on camera footage 'wiping down' the car the day after the bombing.

At least seven drug dealers are currently under investigation by police in connection with the bombing, the Sunday Times reports. However, one of the suspects was allegedly allowed to fly out of Britain to Libya shortly after the bombing, despite being under investigation.

And three suspects are reportedly refusing to appear as witnesses at the ongoing public inquiry into the attack for fear they will 'incriminate' themselves, with one of these allegedly connected to the Libyan network. Many of its members are thought to be the children of dissidents who fled Gaddafi's regime in the 1990s, and became attracted to the influence of Isis as its power grew during the war in Syria.

Salman himself is said to have joined the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and fought against Gaddafi, aged 16, alongside his father in the Arab Spring during school holidays before returning to Britain.

It comes amid growing concerns that a wider network behind the attack is evading justice, after just one person - Salman's younger brother Hashem Abedi, has been charged for the atrocity so far. Hashem was sentenced to a minimum jail term of 55 years last year at the Old Bailey.

When the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was asked if it had only ever received one full file asking for a charging decision on a Manchester Arena bombing suspect, a spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Our lawyers have worked closely with the investigation team since the horrific attack at Manchester Arena, giving advice on all of the suspects arrested and making a charging decision on Hashem Abedi.

'We continue to work closely with the investigation team, ready to make charging decisions on any suspects if requested to by Greater Manchester Police.'

When MailOnline asked GMP if a suspect had been allowed to fly to Libya while under investigation, and how many people are being investigated in relation to the bombing, a spokesperson said: 'The investigation continues to establish if anyone else was involved in the arena attack.

'It would not be appropriate to comment upon any other investigations that may or may not be being conducted. A thorough investigation was conducted in the search for the truth.

Those individuals who were suspected to have been involved were arrested or interviewed under caution if it was both possible and appropriate to do so. The investigation team are keen to identify and speak to anyone who may have been in contact with Salman Abedi and Hashem Abedi and we will continue to follow up any remaining or new reasonable lines of enquiry to determine if anyone else assisted them.'

Handout photo issued by Greater Manchester Police of the CCTV image of Salman Abedi at Victoria Station making his way to Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017

Handout photo taken from the Twitter feed of Greater Manchester Police of a CCTV still of a white Nissan Micra used by Salman, the bomber in the Manchester Arena terror attack

Police found DNA belonging to the father of Salman and Hashem (left), Ramadan (right), on different parts of the interior of the car. However, Ramadan has previously denied he or any family member were involved

Later in March, successful attempts were made to buy 55 litres of hydrogen peroxide. One of the bank accounts used allegedly belonged to Yahya Werfalli (left), a student and a childhood friend of the Abedis. some of the network allegedly visited the convicted terrorist recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah (right) while he was in custody

The scene close to the Manchester Arena after the terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert

Timeline - How the Abedi brothers 'used friends and family in Manchester Arena bomb plot' January-April 2017 - Salman and Hashem allegedly use friends and family to buy sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide online. These materials - chemicals used to make the explosive TATP - are delivered to Lindum Street, Rusholme, south Manchester. April 2, 2017 - Salman and Abedi take the chemicals to a flat in the Somerton Court tower block in Blackley, north Manchester. They are mixed there and the bomb is created. A Nissan Micra is used to transport the materials. April 14-15, 2017 - The chemicals and other bomb-making paraphernalia are stored in the Micra and driven south to Devell House, an block of flats yards from Manchester's main hospitals. Salman and Hashem fly to Libya with their parents, leaving the car in a parking bay outside the block. April 15-May 15, 2017 - Police now suspect the car was 'minded' by a Libyan network in a Devell House flat. Elyas Elmehdi allegedly texts Ahmed Alzilitni. The messages are deleted but Alzilitni is seen on CCTV checking the door handle of the car. At one stage, Elmehdi receives a six-minute call from Salman in Libya. May 18-19, 2017 - Salman returns from Libya, arriving at Manchester. He is caught on CCTV outside Devell House at 12.29pm, checking the Micra. He leaves to arrange his new flat in Granby House, and is is seen on CCTV taking a suitcase upstairs loaded with materials from the car. May 19, 2017 - At Granby House, Salman builds the bomb. Three members of the drug gang have their phones traced to the Granby House area in the days before the attack. The phone of a fourth man, Ahmed Taghdi, acquitted of being part of the gang, was traced to within 500m of Granby House the day before. May 22, 2017 - Salman takes a taxi to Shudehill bus station in east Manchester and catches a tram to Victoria station, next to the arena where Ariana Grande is playing. He detonates the bomb, contained in his rucksack, at the City Room entrance at 10.31pm, killing 23 people including himself. May 23, 2017 - As Theresa May raises the terror alert level to critical and police say they are hunting a 'network', Taghdi is caught on CCTV at Devell House checking on the Micra. Advertisement

The Sunday Times alleges that police suspected that a network based at Devell House, a block of flats in Rusholme, south Manchester, was 'minding' a car used to store explosive materials for the bomb for more than a month before the arena bombing.

After the attack, one member of the network was allegedly seen rubbing one of the car doors in what is thought to be a possible attempt to clean away forensic evidence.

Others were allegedly caught on CCTV repeatedly 'checking' the vehicle after receiving phone calls traced to Libya, while others' mobile phones were 'cell sited' close to a flat where Salman built his bomb.

The newspaper alleges that none of the members of the Devell House group has been charged with any offences relating to terrorism. However, police told the inquiry last week that the inquiry into those members of the network is still 'active', while a separate task force has been charged with investigating the hold Libyan gangs have over Manchester's drug trade.

One senior source in counter-terrorism policing in the north-west of England told the Sunday Times: 'There was a great deal of evidence relating to suspicious behaviour around a certain group of criminals in the lead-up [to] and after the Arena attack.

'Those individuals have not been charged, but investigations into those members and their links to the attack are still very much active.'

The police investigation into the arena bombing, called Operation Manteline, found that Salman and Hashem obtained the chemicals for the construction of the bomb between January and April 2017.

The brothers lived in Fallowfield, south Manchester, part of an area nicknamed 'Little Tripoli' due to its Libyan population.

They used the bank accounts of associates to buy the hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide they needed to make the bomb, the Sunday Times reports. Together with acetone, commonly used as a paint dissolver, they manufactured triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, an unstable explosive material sensitive to detonation by friction, impact, heat or a spark.

The Sunday Times alleges the purchase of one litre of sulphuric acid, costing 30.21, was made via the Amazon account of 22-year-old cousin Alharth Forjani - who allegedly told police Hashem tricked him by saying it was for a 'car battery'.

According to the paper, five litres of sulphuric acid were bought two weeks later by a younger relative who cannot be named due to legal restrictions. Again, the relative reportedly claimed that Hashem told him it was for a car battery.

In March 2017, Mohammed Soliman, 24, who reportedly worked in a takeaway shop with Hashem, allegedly purchased 10 litres of sulphuric acid shortly after money was deposited into his account. Soliman is said to have fled the UK and is now thought to be living in Libya.

That same month, Zuhir Nassrat, 22, said to be another friend of the Abedi brothers, allegedly attempted to buy 15 litres of hydrogen peroxide. However, the Amazon sale reportedly failed because of insufficient funds.

A day later, Nassrat allegedly tried to buy 10 litres of the same chemical. It failed again. Nassrat has also reportedly since fled Britain to Libya.

Later in March, successful attempts were made to buy 55 litres of hydrogen peroxide. One of the bank accounts used allegedly belonged to Yahya Werfalli, a student and a childhood friend of the Abedis.

Werfalli, 25, claimed he thought he was taking part in a scam to make money. However, he was later sentenced for that fraud.

Investigators linked Hashem to one of the email addresses used to buy hydrogen peroxide. According to the Sunday Times, the Gmail address included Arabic words, which translated into English to: 'We have come to slaughter'.

The Sunday Times has reported that the chemicals were delivered a mile from the terrorists to an address in Lindum Street, Rusholme, but that the TATP was created in a tower block flat in Somerton Court, in Blackley, north Manchester.

Four weeks before the bombing, the Abedi brothers used an old white Nissan Micra to transport their batch of TATP from Somerton Court to the Devell House apartment block in Rusholme.

The Micra also contained tin snips for shaping metal, blue plastic drums, a black plastic container, packs of screws and nails, a hacksaw, a hammer and a pair of pliers, the paper reports.

Police found DNA belonging to Salman's father Ramadan on different parts of the interior of the car. However, Ramadan has previously denied he or any family member were involved, saying in 2017: 'We don't believe in killing innocents. This is not us.'

DNA belonging to Ishmale Abedi, Salman's older brother, was also found on a hammer in the boot. Ishmale denies any involvement in the plot and is currently living in a new house with his wife and child.

Ishmale is refusing to co-operate with the public inquiry into the bombing, telling the Sunday Times: 'I don't want to be seen because obviously the neighbours don't know who I am or what's going on. It's not safe for me. I've been instructed by the police not to talk to anyone.'

The Nissan Micra was parked in the car park of Devell House between April 15 and May 18 - when Salman and Hashem travelled to Libya with their parents.

According to the Sunday Times, Operation Manteline obtained CCTV evidence showing members of a Libyan network repeatedly checking on the car. Though the individuals claimed they thought there were drugs in the vehicle, police reportedly had their doubts.

Undated handout photo issued by the Manchester Arena Inquiry of Salman Abedi

DNA belonging to Ishmale Abedi (left), Salman's older brother, was also found on a hammer in the boot of the car. Ishmale denies any involvement in the plot. Right, undated photo of Hashem Abedi

Handout photo taken from the Twitter feed of Greater Manchester Police of a CCTV still of Salman Abedi, the bomber in the Manchester Arena terror attack

The scene close to the Manchester Arena after the terror attack at an Ariana Grande concert

Manchester's 'Little Tripoli': How Libyan network in north-west England includes Gaddafi exiles who 'supported Isis as terror group grew in power in Syrian war' The Abedi brothers lived in Fallowfield, south Manchester, part of an area nicknamed 'Little Tripoli' due to its Libyan population. Their parents Ramadan Abedi and Samia Tabbal, escaped Libya after fighting against Muammar Gaddafi's regime in the 1990s. Ramadan was reportedly part of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which sought to overthrow the Gaddafi government and replace it with an Islamic regime. Ramadan and Samia were just some of many Libyan dissidents who were granted refuge in Britain and headed to south Manchester, where the 'Little Tripoli' community grew. The Abedis attended Didsbury mosque, where sermons allegedly calling for 'armed jihad' were delivered six months before the bombing. The mosque later denied the allegation and called the BBC's report misleading. When Gaddafi's hold on power weakened during the Arab Spring of 2010-11, many Libyan expats living in Manchester returned to the North African country to fight the regime. It is during this time that Salman allegedly fought against Gaddafi with hsi father at 16 during school holidays. The fighters returned to the UK and turned to jihadism and terrorism as Isis' influence grew. Many of the Libyan dissidents would become supporters. According to Salman's sister Jomana, Abedi carried out the Arena attack allegedly in anger at the US for dropping bombs on children in Syria. Advertisement

Investigators allegedly identified a drugs gang known as the Devell House group operating from the block, whose members included Elyas Elmehdi and Ahmed Alzilitni.

The paper reports that some of the network had visited the convicted terrorist recruiter Abdalraouf Abdallah while he was in custody at Belmarsh prison and Altcourse prison.

Abdallah was allegedly praised by some in the Libyan diaspora in Manchester after being left paraplegic while fighting in Libya in 2011, and is also suspected of radicalising the Abedis.

Elmehdi was arrested and interviewed five times and admitted allowing Salman to park the car at Devell House as a 'favour', the Sunday Times reports.

On May 7, Elmehdi reportedly sent a series of text messages to Alzilitni which were deleted after they were sent. Following the exchange, Alzilitni was caught on CCTV checking the door handle of the Nissan Micra.

The paper reports that before Salman's return to the UK on May 18, Elmehdi received a phone call from Salman lasting about six minutes. After that call, Elmehdi rang Alzilitni, and then one of his associates was seen checking the Micra.

Alzilitni was reportedly subsequently seen on CCTV with the Micra the day before the bombing and spent some time walking around it

Later that day, Elmehdi was allegedly seen peering into the Micra's passenger window, actions that contradicted the account he gave to GMP during an interview. He then fled to Libya before he could be questioned further.

Three days after the bombing, Alzilitni was allegedly seen again with the Micra and was viewed wiping down the door frame.

In 2019, Elmehdi was convicted in his absence of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, along with Alzilitni and a third man. Though police suspect that Elmehdi and Alzilitni were knowing participants in the plot, they deny any knowledge.

Five days before the attack, Salman returned to the UK from Libya and left the airport for Devell House and the Micra. He was caught on CCTV outside the block, opening the boot, checking the explosive materials inside and closing it.

Salman then arranged access to a new rental property at Granby House - the fourth and final address used for the plot and where Salman constructed the bomb. He later returned to the Micra with a suitcase and loaded up the items, including the TATP.

Police were reportedly able to track the movements of the Devell House network using mobile phone 'cell site' data. At least three people connected to Devell House were allegedly found in the area of Granby House, where Salman was building his bomb.

One of these was allegedly Alzilitni, while the mobile phone of a second man, Ahmed Taghdi, was reportedly tracked to within 500 metres of Granby House the day before the attack.

Taghdi, who had received military training in Libya, also helped Salman buy the Micra.

The Sunday Times reports that the security services had evidence that Taghdi and Salman had previously visited Abdallah in prison, while mobile phone analysis allegedly showed that Taghdi was in contact with the Abedi brothers while they were in Libya before the bombing.

Police also allegedly found phones and a laptop connected to Taghdi that contained 'extensive Isis-related material'. However, Taghdi was never charged with terror offences and has denied all knowledge of a bomb plot.

A third man allegedly in the vicinity of Granby House was Elyas Blidi, whose mobile phone was pinpointed close to the flats three days before the attack.

However, Blidi was charged but found not guilty of being part of a drugs conspiracy and has allegedly not been charged with terror offences. Though he was allegedly interviewed four times by counter-terrorism police, he has reportedly denied all knowledge of the plot.

The Sunday Times reports that GMP's Xcalibre task force is investigating the supply of Class A drugs by Libyan gangs, many of whose members are now suspected of having links to terrorism.

Ishmale Abedi, Abdallah and Taghdi have been called later this year to give evidence to the public inquiry into the bombing. However, all three have allegedly refused to help the inquiry.

The inquiry's legal team is now said to be exploring options to compel the three men to provide evidence or risk fines or prison.

Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough told the Sunday Times that Taghdi's involvement in his inquiry had been 'significant' and 'relevant', and said he would be the subject of periodic police reviews.

He added that detectives are seeking to question five people in connection with the bombing, including Salman's parents and Elmehdi.

'The investigation continues to establish if anyone else was involved in the Arena attack,' Barraclough said. 'It would not be appropriate to comment upon any other investigations that may or may not be being conducted.'
Tony Abramson's remarkable collection of historic Anglo-Saxon coins has sold at auction for a staggering 856,000

A finance director's remarkable collection of historic Anglo-Saxon coins has sold at auction for a staggering 856,000.

Tony Abramson, a former president of the Yorkshire Numismatic Society, started collecting coins aged four, in the 1950s.

His passion developed during his teenage years and he went to great lengths to bolster his collection in the decades that followed until it reached 1,200 coins.

The first half of his collection, consisting of 576 coins, was sold by London auctioneers Spink & Son earlier this year, sparking a bidding war.

The marquee lot was this 7th century gold shilling depicting Eadbald, King of Kent, which fetched a world record 40,800

Tony Abramson started collecting the coins aged four, in the 1950s, and managed to amass 1,200 coins including this Anglo-Saxon gold shilling which sold for 30,000

The first half of his collection, consisting of 576 coins including this Northumbria, Aldfrith, Primary Phase, Sceat, was sold by London auctioneers Spink & Son earlier this year

A coin displaying Bishop Paulinus, the missionary who converted pagan kings to Christianity and later served as the first Bishop of York, went for 30,000, another record price

More than 400 bidders were involved in the online auction which lasted a massive 12 hours because of the high level of interest.

The marquee lot was a 7th century gold shilling depicting Eadbald, King of Kent, which fetched a world record 40,800.

A coin displaying Bishop Paulinus, the missionary who converted pagan kings to Christianity and later served as the first Bishop of York, went for 30,000, another record price.

A gold shilling of Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, was sold for 34,800.

In total, the collection achieved a hammer price of 714,000, over double the 330,000 pre-sale estimate. With extra fees included, the final price was 856,000.

Most of the coins, previously housed at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, were found with a metal detector in the last 30-40 years.

More than 400 bidders took part in the online auction for the coin collection, including this Post-Crondall Types pale gold shilling which sold for 9,000

In total, the collection achieved a hammer price of 714,000, over double the 330,000 pre-sale estimate, helped by this Northumbria coin which sold for 20,400

The auction house Spink & Son was apparently hit with 'frenzied online and telephone bidding' during the sale of the coins, including this Eardwulf Sceat which was bought for 8,400

Gregory Edmund, specialist at Spink & Son, said: 'A modest pre-sale estimate was easily eclipsed with a thrilling final hammer price reaching more than double of the initial estimate and achieving dozens of world records.

'Tony was delighted with the result.'

Edmund said the auction room was hit with 'frenzied online and telephone bidding' over the 12 hour period as 'investors and the trade fought with all their might to share in the spoils of Tony's extensive cabinet.'

He explained Abramson's collection is unparalleled by any private or museum collection in existence, saying,'this is the most important collection of early Anglo-Saxon coins ever to come to market.'

Gregory Edmund, specialist at Spink & Son, said Abramson's collection, which included this pale gold shilling sold for 22,800, is unparalleled by any private or museum collection in existence

Edmund said the collection of coins, such as this sceat which sold for 1,320, 'is the most important collection of early Anglo-Saxon coins ever to come to market'

A gold shilling of Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, from around 630-650 was sold for 34,800

He added: 'Tony's work has been pioneering in 'shining a light' on the Dark Ages.

'It shows the shift from pagan to Christian belief evolved in early British mindset as the imagery evolved on the coinage, the language evolved from Runic to Latin, and the concept of kingship came into being.

'The depth and coverage of the coins enables a picture to be told of virtually every county in England and how fledgling economies developed in the aftermath of the Roman Empire.'

The sale of the rest of the collection is due to take place in the autumn.

Edmund said 'Tony's work has been pioneering in 'shining a light' on the Dark Ages, with coins from all over Northumbria, including this one which sold for 5,400
Britain has recorded four new daily Covid deaths and 1,926 cases today as Matt Hancock urged people to hug 'carefully' and get jabbed to prevent the new Indian strain spreading 'like wildfire'.

The government's Covid dashboard showed there was an eight per cent increase in cases over last week, as most of the UK prepares to loosen Covid restrictions tomorrow.

The UK's daily death toll has doubled on last week, from two on May 9 to four today - bringing the UK total to 127,679 dead.

There were a reported 129 people on ventilation in hospital in the UK and 991 people currently hospitalised due to virus, as of Thursday May 13 - the latest figures available.

England recorded three deaths, within 28 days of a positive Covid test, and 1,471 new daily cases of coronavirus, as the country prepares to open theatres, cinemas and art galleries for the first time this year tomorrow.

Scotland has recorded no new deaths and another 292 cases of coronavirus, with the latest daily figures from the Scottish Government showing a test positivity rate of 2 per cent.

With the exception of Glasgow and Moray, mainland Scotland is due to move from Level 2 to Level 3 restrictions on Monday.

There have been a further 54 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 212,149.

Public Health Wales said there had been one further death, taking the total in the country since the start of the pandemic to 5,559.

Pubs, restaurants and cafes will be able to serve indoors, and cinemas and other businesses allowed to reopen, as Wales moves to Covid alert Level 2 as of Monday.

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has reported 109 new positive cases of Covid-19 in the past 48 hours.

No further deaths linked to the virus were recorded in the same period. The Department of Health was unable to update its Covid-19 dashboard on Saturday due to technical issues.

New evidence gives a 'high degree of confidence' that coronavirus vaccines work against the Indian variant, Matt Hancock said as he urged people to get jabbed.

The Health Secretary said on Sunday it is 'appropriate' to push on with the major easing of restrictions in England on Monday despite concerns from scientists that it could be 50 per cent more transmissible than the Kent strain.

Hancock also warned people to 'be careful' when hugging others tomorrow, when restaurants and pubs in England will be able to serve customers indoors for the first time since December.

Matt Hancock today warned people to 'be careful' when hugging others on Monday, as England prepares to finally unlock

Mr Hancock did not rule out the possibility of imposing local lockdowns in areas such as Bolton to stem the spread of the variant, although he said it is 'relatively widespread in small numbers' elsewhere.

Today thousands of people in hotspot Bolton joined queues reaching went round the block. Coronavirus 'hit squads' are also going door-to-door in Bolton and Blackburn, the most infectious areas of England, to offer entire multi-generational households inoculations as rates of the Indian strain double in the Greater Manchester city in a week amid a third virus surge.

Ministers are hoping surge testing and the acceleration of second vaccine doses can allow a safe opening up of the nation, with jabs due to be extended to the over-35s this week.

Number of vaccination doses given by region: A total of 56,677,012 vaccine doses had been administered in the UK as of May 15. NHS England data shows a total of 5,926,072 jabs were given to people in London between December 8 and May 15, including 3,901,114 first doses and 2,024,958 second doses. This compares with 5,793,036 first doses and 3,247,099 second doses given to people in the Midlands, a total of 9,040,135. The breakdown for the other regions is: - East of England: 3,662,210 first doses and 2,019,248 second doses, making 5,681,458 in total - North East and Yorkshire: 4,810,429 first and 2,711,714 second doses (7,522,143) - North West: 3,871,550 first and 2,249,933 second doses (6,121,483) - South East: 4,992,876 first and 2,757,942 second doses (7,750,818) - South West: 3,294,018 first and 1,952,205 second doses (5,246,223) Public Health Wales said a total of 2,019,160 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have now been given in Wales. The agency said 915,674 second doses have also been administered. In Scotland a total of 3,020,335 people have received the first dose of a Covid vaccination and 1,621,031 have received their second dose. In Northern Ireland a total of 1,548,336 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to date. Advertisement

Four people are known to have died from the Indian variant but appearing on TV this morning Mr Hancock said those who had been hospitalised were 'largely people who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it'.

Hancock said five people who have had a single jab have been hospitalised with the Indian variant in Bolton, and one who had received both.

He told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC: 'We think that there are five people who have ended up in hospital having had one jab.'

Asked about people who have received two jabs, he said: 'We think there's one person, but that person was frail.

'A small number have had one jab and then there's one case where they've had two jabs and they've ended up in hospital and they were frail.'

Asked if anyone had died with the Indian variant after receiving two jabs, Mr Hancock said: 'Not that we're aware of.'

Mr Hancock said there are now more than 1,300 cases of the Indian variant in total and it is becoming 'the dominant strain' in areas including Bolton and Blackburn in the North West.

But offering good news over plans to ease restrictions without unleashing a fresh wave of infections and deaths, Mr Hancock said there is 'new very early data' from Oxford University giving confidence that existing vaccines work against the variant.

'That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease,' the Health Secretary told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

'We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.'

Oxford University said the data is preliminary and it is unable to share the research because it is not yet written up in a manuscript.

But Sir John Bell, the regius professor of medicine at the university, said the result of lab experiments investigating whether the vaccine neutralises the variant 'looks okay'.

He told Times Radio: 'It's not perfect, but it's not catastrophically bad.

'There's a slight reduction in the ability to neutralise the virus but it's not very great and certainly not as great as you see with the South African variant... It's rather close to the Brazilian version where the vaccine serum seems to be very effective in neutralising the virus.'

Mr Hancock warned the highly transmissible variant can 'spread like wildfire among the unvaccinated groups' as he urged people to come forward for jabs when eligible.

'In Bolton, where we've seen a number of people in hospital with this new Indian variant, the vast majority of them have been eligible for a jab but not taken the jab,' he said.

Door-to-door Covid 'hit squads' are heading to Bolton and Blackburn, where the strain is at its most virulent, to focus on areas with the greatest 'vaccine hesitancy'. Pictured: A queue for the jabs at the pop up centre in Bolton

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire, as Bolton's case rate doubles in a week

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire, as Bolton's case rate doubles in a week

As Government scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport warned the pandemic is at a 'perilous moment', Mr Hancock insisted it is right to continue with Monday's easing of restrictions.

People will be able to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will be permitted physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.

The Health Secretary said the extent of the increase of transmissibility of the variant is unknown 'so that's why it's appropriate to continue down the road map but people need to be cautious and careful'.

He did not rule out that the easing may have to be reversed if the Indian variant proves to be very-highly transmissible, and he said the possibility areas such as Bolton could be forced into local lockdown if testing and vaccinations are not effective enough.

'Given though Bolton has been in some form of kind of a lockdown for a year, it's not a step we want to take but of course we might have to take it and we will if it's necessary to protect people,' he told Ridge.

With surge testing also underway in areas of Blackburn, Sefton and London, Mr Hancock said the Government will decide on June 14 whether all legal restrictions can be ended in the final step of the road map out of lockdown on June 21.

And he confirmed that over-35s will be invited to book their Covid-19 jabs this week.

Theatres, cinemas and art galleries will be allowed to open across the country for the first time this year when more lockdown measures are eased tomorrow

Restaurants and pubs will also be able to serve customers indoors since December. Pictured: A waitress at a bar brings out pints to customers in Edinburgh

Ahead of the big unlock, venues have already begun selling out, with the famous Globe Theatre reportedly sold out until the middle of next month. Pictured: The National Theatre in London is also opening tomorrow

Ahead of the big unlock in England tomorrow, venues have already begun selling out.

Seats at the famous Globe Theatre reportedly unavailable now until the middle of next month

And Grayson Perry's Manchester Art Gallery exhibition is also said to booked out throughout May and into June.

'We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome': Matt Hancock backs jabs to beat Indian Covid variant Matt Hancock backed England's vaccine roll-out to beat the new Indian Covid variant today, saying there was evidence existing jabs could deal with the highly contagious new strain and keep the move out of lockdown on track. The Health Secretary said that a new Oxford University investigation showed that the innoculations available were effective against the variant which is now dominant in some Northern towns. Four people are known to have died from the Indian variant but appearing on TV this morning Mr Hancock said those who had been hospitalised were 'largely people who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it'. It came as Boris Johnson today pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine roll-out to a million jabs a day in an attempt to beat the increasing prevalence of the variant amid fears it could derail the country's exit from lockdown. Appearing on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday he said: 'There's new very early data out from Oxford University, and I would stress that this is from the labs, it's not clinical data, and it's very early. 'But it does give us a degree of confidence that the vaccines work against this Indian variant, but it is clearly more transmissible and has been spreading fast in the groups where there's a cluster. 'That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease. 'We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.' But Mr Hancock did strike a note of more caution over the final release from lockdown on June 21, saying the final decision would not be taken until June 14. Sage's Professor John Edmunds urged the country not to panic over the new variant, telling the BBC's Marr that those who have been vaccinated are unlikely to experience more than mild Covid symptoms from it. Meanwhile a growing number of questions are also being asked about the failure to make people arriving into the country from India quarantine earlier, after it emerged the government failed to put India on the 'red list' even though infection rates were nearly 50 times higher among arrivals from the country than the rest of the UK. Of the 3,345 people touching down in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7, some 4.8 per cent tested positive for Covid, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England, Public Health England data shows. Advertisement

But delivering a stark reality check, the Health Secretary today warned about the 'risk' of meeting indoors.

The warning comes as fears continue over the spread of the Indian Covid variant in the UK.

Speaking to Sky News this morning, Mr Hancock said: 'We should all be careful, we all know the risks, outside is safer than inside - so even though you can, from tomorrow, meet up inside, it's still better to meet up outside.

'Of course there are people who have been yearning to have some physical contact - you should do that carefully.

'If you've had both jabs more than two weeks ago, that's much safer.

Asked who he planned to hug first, with the Government set to relax rules tomorrow on contact with close family and friends, he said: 'I was asked on Tuesday and I said the thing I'm really looking forward to is hugging my mum, she's had two jabs - actually dad got quite upset about that.

'I'm really looking forward to hugging you as well, dad, but we'll probably do it outside and keep the ventilation going: hands, face and space.'

It comes as art venues will be able to indoor areas for the first time this year.

Measures are being lifted on Monday to allow all art venues, museums and theatres to open as part of a raft of new lockdown easing measures.

But, with Britons now having had their freedoms curtailed for the last five months, many are now rushing to get back to visit their favourite cultural sites.

According to the Sunday Times, Shakespeare's Globe in London tickets are sold out until the middle of next month.

And the paper reports that Grayson Perry's upcoming exhibition at Manchester's has also booked out until the end of next month.

The vast majority of free tickets up until June were reportedly booked within eight hours of going online.

A waiting list has been set up, with opening times to be extended, with 500 people already signed up.

Similarly, tickets for exhibitions at the Tate Modern and David Hockney's exhibition at the Royal Academy have also sold out until later this year.

In the cinemas, families are busy booking up Peter Rabbit 2, while Oscar-winning Nomadland is expected to be a firm favourite with movie-fans.

It comes as, despite his cautious tone, Mr Hancock backed England's vaccine roll-out to beat the new Indian Covid variant.

He said there was evidence existing jabs could deal with the highly contagious new strain and keep the move out of lockdown on track.

The Health Secretary also said that a new Oxford University investigation showed that the innoculations available were effective against the variant which is now dominant in some Northern towns.

Four people are known to have died from the Indian variant but appearing on TV this morning Mr Hancock said those who had been hospitalised were 'largely people who are eligible for the vaccine but have not taken it'.

It came as Boris Johnson today pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine roll-out to a million jabs a day in an attempt to beat the increasing prevalence of the variant amid fears it could derail the country's exit from lockdown.

Appearing on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday he said: 'There's new very early data out from Oxford University, and I would stress that this is from the labs, it's not clinical data, and it's very early.

'But it does give us a degree of confidence that the vaccines work against this Indian variant, but it is clearly more transmissible and has been spreading fast in the groups where there's a cluster.

Boris Johnson (pictured) will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21

'That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease.

'We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.'

But Mr Hancock did strike a note of more caution over the final release from lockdown on June 21, saying the final decision would not be taken until June 14.

Sage's Professor John Edmunds urged the country not to panic over the new variant, telling the BBC's Marr that those who have been vaccinated are unlikely to experience more than mild Covid symptoms from it.

Over 35s will be invited to get their Covid jabs this week as Britain steps up its vaccine drive amid Indian variant fears By Georgia Simcox for MailOnline Those aged over 35 will be invited to get their Covid-19 jabs this week amid fears over the Indian variant, the Health Secretary said. Matt Hancock announced that those in the younger age bracket will be able to start booking their jab within days as Britain steps up its vaccine drive. He told the BBC: 'This coming week we're going to be opening up vaccination to the 35s-and-over across the country because this isn't just about accelerating the vaccination programme in Bolton, it's about going as fast as we possibly can nationwide.' The Health Secretary said the Indian variant is 'relatively widespread' but in lower numbers currently across most of the country. Mr Hancock added that it is 'quite likely' the Indian variant of Covid-19 will become the dominant variant in the UK. He told the Andrew Marr show: 'I think it's quite likely this will become the dominant variant. We don't know exactly how much more transmissible it is but I think it is likely it will become the dominant variant here. 'What that reinforces is the importance of people coming forward for testing and being careful because this isn't over yet. 'But the good news is because we have increasing confidence that the vaccine works against the variant, the strategy is on track - it's just the virus has just gained a bit of pace and we've therefore all got to be that bit much more careful and cautious.' Advertisement

Meanwhile a growing number of questions are also being asked about the failure to make people arriving into the country from India quarantine earlier, after it emerged the government failed to put India on the 'red list' even though infection rates were nearly 50 times higher among arrivals from the country than the rest of the UK.

Of the 3,345 people touching down in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7, some 4.8 per cent tested positive for Covid, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England, Public Health England data shows.

It is the latest statistic to be brandished at the Prime Minister, with pressure growing over his decision to delay banning travel from the Asian nation until late April, even though flights to and from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh were restricted two weeks earlier.

Labour's Yvette Cooper today called for tomorrow's lifting of the ban on international travel to be halted.

Mr Hancock defended the timing of when the Government put India on the travel 'red list' although he sidestepped questions on whether the decision was linked to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's planned - and then postponed - trip to the country.

The Health Secretary told Sky News: 'This variant was notified as a variant under investigation after we'd already put India on the red list. The decision to put India on the red list was taken because of the high positivity rate of people coming from India and looking at the epi-curve in India.

'When we put Pakistan on the red list at the start of April that's because the proportion of people testing positive coming in from Pakistan was three times higher the proportion coming from India, and it was only after we put India on the red list that this variant went under investigation, and then earlier this month it became a variant of concern.'

Asked about the impact of Mr Johnson's planned trip to India in late April in a bid to assist trade talks, Mr Hancock replied: 'We take these decisions based on the evidence.'

He then went on to repeat comments made about the Government's approach to India.

Prof Edmunds also defended the Government, saying that closing the border earlier would have delayed the variant's arrival but not prevented it.

He added that people should be 'concerned but not panicking' when it comes to the spread of the Covid-19 variant first identified in India.

He said while the variant is a 'new threat' the UK is in a much better position compared to before Christmas when the Kent variant was detected.

Speaking on BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, he said: 'I think we should be concerned but not panicking. We're in a much, much better place now than we were when the Kent variant first hit us back in November, December.'

He added: 'Now the hospitals are empty, thankfully, or virtually empty of Covid patients and two-thirds of the adult population have been vaccinated.

'So we are in a much better position now to cope with this new threat - and it is a new threat - but we're not in the same position as we were back in December.'
Police are beating people who are breaking lockdown rules with batons in India as the country grapples with a deadly second wave of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, villagers in northern India are being urged by officers not to bury their dead in rivers after scores of bodies washed up on the shore of the Ganges.

In the northern state of Assam, police officers were seen beating people into compliance after they were caught breaking new curfew rules amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Police officers were strict at enforcing the lockdown and punishing rule breakers after Assam imposed new Covid restrictions, which saw the curfew extended by two hours in urban areas.

It comes as India registered another 4,077 deaths on Sunday, taking the total fatalities to a devastating 270,294.

In the northern state of Assam, police officers were seen beating people into compliance (pictured) after they were caught breaking new curfew rules amid a surge in Covid-19 cases

Photographs showed officers wearing face masks using large batons to beat rule breakers after Assam imposed new Covid restrictions, which saw the curfew extended

The restrictions ban movement of people and vehicles from midday until 5am in urban areas, the Government announced on Saturday. Pictured: Police officer wields baton against a man

The new restrictions in Assam will ban movement of people and vehicles from midday until 5am in a bid to curb the rapid spread of the virus, the Government announced on Saturday.

Shops were previously allowed to open until 1pm before the curfew came into force from 2pm for 15 hours, NDTV reported. Meanwhile, the curfew will remain in place from 6pm in rural areas.

The changes mean people will only be allowed movement for seven hours between 5am and 12pm, according to an order signed by Assam Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah.

The odd-even rule, which states vehicles with odd registration numbers will be allowed on odd days while even registration numbers will be granted movement on even days, will also continue.

The restrictions have reportedly also seen the opening of liquor shops be moved from 10am to 9am in a bid to prevent 'overcrowding'.

The police's strict enforcing of lockdown rules came after the state recorded 5,347 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday.

The two-hour extension of the curfew came after the state recorded 5,347 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday. Pictured: Police officers confront man defying Assam's new curfew

Photographs showed a police officer wielding a large baton and chasing a man who broke the new Covid-19 restrictions in the northern state of Assam

The changes now mean people will only be allowed movement for seven hours between 5am and 12pm. Pictured: Police officer beats cyclist with baton for defying curfew

Meanwhile, vehicles with odd registration numbers will be allowed on odd days while even registration numbers will be granted movement on even days

The new restrictions come in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, as Assam has currently recorded more than 41,947 active cases, while 2,060 people have died in the state from the virus.

Last March, police used rattan canes to beat people into compliance as New Delhi's typically bustling streets and train station were all-but cleared of people in an unprecedented move to try and slow the spread of the disease.

It comes as police have urged villagers in northern India not to bury their dead in rivers after scores of bodies washed up on the shore of the Ganges amid a second wave of coronavirus.

Dozens of bodies were also discovered in shallow sand graves, prompting police to investigate.

In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers to ask villagers not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. 'We are here to help you perform the last rights,' they said.

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow graves in the sand of the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.

Two police officers wielding batons were pictured approaching a pedestrian who was defying the new curfew imposed in Assam in a bid to curb the rapid spread of Covid-19

Police officers beating Covid rule breakers comes as Assam has currently recorded more than 41,947 active cases, while 2,060 people have died in the state from the virus

Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayahraj, India on Saturday

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow graves in the sand of the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state. Pictured: Several bodies are seen buried in shallow graves on Saturday in Prayagraj

Indian government reassures citizens 5G does not cause Covid The Indian government has been forced to reassure its citizens that 5G has not caused the second wave of coronavirus following a spate of conspiracy theories circulating on social media. Officials pointed out that there are no 5G networks in India as the country only approved 5G trials last week and they won't start for months. The government described the conspiracy theories as 'baseless and false' and urged the public not to be 'misguided' by the rumours. India's Department of Telecommunication said in a statement: 'Several misleading messages are being circulated on various social media platforms claiming that the second wave of coronavirus has been caused by the testing of the 5G mobile towers. 'These messages are false and absolutely not correct... the general public is hereby informed that there is no link between 5G technology and the spread of Covid-19 and they are urged not to be misguided by the false information and rumours spread in this matter.' A prominent message circulating on social media states that the radiation from cell phone towers 'mixes with the air and makes it poisonous and thats why people are facing difficulty in breathing and are dying', reports Coda Story. Advertisement

Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. 'I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19,' he said.

Earlier this week, authorities installed a net across the Ganges to catch the corpses of Covid victims after dozens washed up on the river's banks.

Mr Sehgal said some villagers did not cremate their dead, as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance and disposed of them in rivers or digging graves on riverbanks.

K.P. Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground for those who died of COVID-19 on the Prayagraj riverbank and the police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront.

Sehgal state authorities have found 'a small number' of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but didn't give a figure.

Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organization that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas.

He said relatives have been disposing of the bodies in the river because they could not afford wood for traditional Hindu cremations or the cost of performing the last rites. The cremation cost has tripled up to 15,000 rupees (145).

Health authorities last week retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on the Ganges River bank in neighboring Bihar state.

It prompted authorities to install a net across the Ganges to catch the corpses of other Covid victims.

The discovery of the bodies in Bihar state on Tuesday last week stoked fears that the virus was raging unseen in India's vast rural hinterland where two-thirds of its people live.

The infected bodies surfaced in the river along the border of the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which the Ganges runs through.

Bihar's water resources minister Sanjay Kumar said on Twitter on Wednesday that a 'net has been placed' in the river on the state border with Uttar Pradesh and patrolling increased.

He said the impoverished state's government was 'pained at both the tragedy as well as harm to the river Ganges'.

Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.

Kumar added that postmortems confirmed that the corpses had been dead for four to five days.

Four relatives carry a dead body of a Covid-victim past shallow graves covered with cloths on the banks of the Ganges River in Shringverpur village on Saturday

It comes as India registered another 4,077 deaths on Sunday, taking the total fatalities to a devastating 270,294

Dozens more bodies of Covid victims in Inida washed up on the banks of the Ganges on Tuesday, as ambulance drivers were spotted dumping corpses into the water

Press reports said as many as 25 bodies had also been recovered in the Gahmar district of Uttar Pradesh state.

The Hindu daily quoted a local police official there as saying there were long queues at cremation grounds in the northern state.

'It is possible that in hurry some disposed of the bodies in the river like this,' Hitendra Krishna was quoted as saying.

A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40 kilometres southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital.

District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of death.

India's official Covid-19 death toll soared past a quarter of a million on Wednesday, but many experts believe the real number is several times higher.

This is particularly the case now that the surge has spread beyond major cities into rural areas where hospitals are few and far between and record-keeping poor.

A video reportedly showing bodies thrown into the water by ambulance drivers was shared widely on social media, and was picked up by local news outlets.

Another showed the bodies washed up on the shores of the Ganges, with wild dogs walking in the shallows and sniffing at the victims.

The infected bodies (pictured) surfaced in the river along the border of the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the Ganges run through

Health workers in India were filmed reportedly dumping bodies in the Ganges (pictured)

People have reacted with horror to the footage, partly out of fear that relatives could not carry out the sacred funeral rites for their loved ones.

It comes after more than 150 rotting bodies were dumped into the river on Monday in the same region.

India's two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls.

Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of India's crumbling health care.

Janardhan Singh Sigriwal, a Bihar Member of Parliament for the country's ruling BJP party, claimed that the coronavirus victims were being dumped by ambulance drivers from a bridge.

Meanwhile, officials in the Katihar district have opened an investigation after the video of the bodies being dumped by hospital staff circulated online.

A senior figures from the hospital has been asked to report to local authorities within the next day to explain the incident.

It is reported that the bodies of the coronavirus victims were unclaimed, and that was why staff were attempting to get rid of them quickly, rather than having to perform the full last rites, which involves burying or cremating them.

On Monday, the decomposed bodies were discovered on the banks of the Ganges in the northern state of Bihar, with residents telling local officials they had seen dozens floating downstream.

There were more than 150 bodies spotted in the river on Bihar's border, according to the Times of India. However, local officials denied the number, putting the figure at between 40 and 45.

One local official told NDTV: 'They are bloated and have been in the water for at least five to seven days. We are disposing of the bodies. We need to investigate where they are from, which town in UP (Uttar Pradesh) - Bahraich or Varanasi or Allahabad.

'The bodies are not from here as we don't have a tradition of disposing of bodies in the river.'

Pictured: Dogs paddle in the shallows, attracted by the bodies of reported victims of the coronavirus disease that have washed up on the shore of the Ganges in India

Harrowing footage showed dozens of bodies washed up at the sides of the River Ganges in northeastern Bihar state on Monday

The Health ministry reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday and representing the lowest single-day rise in more than three weeks

Indian covid sufferers are now contracting deadly 'black fungus' infection with spike causing a shortage of the drugs to treat it A growing number of current and recovered Covid-19 patients in India are contracting a deadly and rare fungal infection, doctors said on Monday. Mucormycosis, dubbed 'black fungus' by medics, is usually most aggressive in patients whose immune systems are weakened by other infections. 'The cases of mucormycosis infection in Covid-19 patients post-recovery is nearly four to five times than those reported before the pandemic,' Ahmedabad-based infectious diseases specialist Atul Patel, a member of the state's Covid-19 taskforce, told AFP. In the western state of Maharashtra, home to India's financial hub Mumbai, up to 300 cases have been detected, said Khusrav Bajan, a consultant at Mumbai's P.D. Hinduja National Hospital and a member of the state's Covid-19 taskforce. Some 300 cases have been reported so far in four cities in Gujarat, including its largest Ahmedabad, according to data from state-run hospitals. The western state ordered government hospitals to set up separate treatment wards for patients infected with 'black fungus' amid the rise in cases. 'Mucormycosis - if uncared for - may turn fatal,' the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the scientific agency leading the government's response, said in a treatment chart released on Twitter. Covid-19 sufferers more susceptible to contracting the fungal infection include those with uncontrolled diabetes, those who used steroids during their virus treatment, and those who had prolonged stays in hospital ICUs, the ICMR added. Treatment involves surgically removing all dead and infected tissue and administering a course of anti-fungal therapy. But Yogesh Dabholkar, an ear, nose and throat specialist at Mumbai's DY Patil Hospital, told AFP that the drugs used to treat those infected with the fungus were expensive. One of the treatment drugs was also running short in government hospitals due to the sudden spike, he added. 'The mortality rate is very high... Even the few that recover, only recover with extensive and aggressive surgery,' Bajan said. 'This is a fast-moving infection. It can grow within two weeks... It's a Catch-22, coming out of a virus and getting into a fungal infection. It's really bad.' Reporting by AFP Advertisement

The local administration believes that the deceased were Covid patients and local villagers have been left terrified the disease could spread further after dogs were seen wading near the bodies.

After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilizing, said Dr. V.K. Paul, a government health expert.

The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284.

It also reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday and representing the lowest single-day rise in more than three weeks. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.

Federal health officials warned against interpreting a 'plateauing' in the rise as a sign for complacency, however, and urged states to add intensive care units and strengthen their medical workforce.

Even though India is the world's largest vaccine-producing nation, it has fully vaccinated only 2.9 per cent of its population of 1.35 billion, or just over 40.4 million people, health ministry data shows.

India's supply of vaccine doses should rise to 516 million doses by July, and more than 2 billion between August to December, boosted by domestic production and imports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a statement.

Vaccines were resulting in milder infections and preventing loss of life, states told Vardhan on Saturday, according to the statement.

But the average vaccination rate over seven days fell to 1.7 million, from 1.8 million a week ago, after Maharashtra, the richest state, and Karnataka in the south put vaccinations on hold for adults younger than 45.

India could protect itself from future waves of the pandemic by vaccinating 510 million people, or more than 40 per cent of its population, over the next few months, surgeon Devi Shetty told news channel India Today in an interview.

'There is no other solution and that is the cheapest solution,' he added. 'It is the best solution we have to save millions of lives.'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened vaccinations for all adults from May 1, doubling the number of those eligible to an estimated 800 million, though domestic production will stay largely flat, at about 80 million doses a month, until July.

Authorities in Modi's western home state of Gujarat said they would halt vaccinations on Monday and Tuesday to take protective measures against a cyclone expected to hit its coast next week.

A second batch of the Sputnik V vaccine imported from Russia arrived in the southern technology hub of Hyderabad on Sunday.

India's massive second wave of infections began in February, putting hospitals and medical workers under unprecedented pressure.

But cases have fallen steadily in states hit by an initial surge of infections, such as Maharashtra and the northern state of Delhi, after they imposed stringent lockdowns.

The capital, Delhi, extended its lockdown by a week to next Monday to build on recent gains, Reuters partner ANI reported.

Total infections have risen by more than 2 million this week and deaths by nearly 28,000. Deaths rose by 4,077 on Sunday.

On Saturday, federal health officials said the proportion of positive tests had dipped to 19.8 per cent this week from 21.9 per cent last week, sparking hopes that daily infections had begun to stabilise.

But surges have been seen in states such as Tamil Nadu in the south and rural areas. The government issued new guidelines on Sunday to curb the spread of the virus in India's vast countryside, urging more surveillance of flu-like symptoms.

Bodies of COVID-19 victims were found to have been dumped in some rivers, the government of the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh said in a letter seen by Reuters, in the first official acknowledgement of the alarming practice.
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Those aged over 35 will be invited to get their Covid-19 jabs this week amid fears over the Indian variant, the Health Secretary said.

Matt Hancock announced that those in the younger age bracket will be able to start booking their jab within days as Britain steps up its vaccine drive.

He told the BBC: 'This coming week we're going to be opening up vaccination to the 35s-and-over across the country because this isn't just about accelerating the vaccination programme in Bolton, it's about going as fast as we possibly can nationwide.'

The Health Secretary said the Indian variant is 'relatively widespread' but in lower numbers currently across most of the country.

Matt Hancock announced that those in the younger age bracket will be able to start booking their jab within days as Britain steps up its vaccine drive

Mr Hancock added that it is 'quite likely' the Indian variant of Covid-19 will become the dominant variant in the UK.

He told the Andrew Marr show: 'I think it's quite likely this will become the dominant variant. We don't know exactly how much more transmissible it is but I think it is likely it will become the dominant variant here.

'What that reinforces is the importance of people coming forward for testing and being careful because this isn't over yet.

'But the good news is because we have increasing confidence that the vaccine works against the variant, the strategy is on track - it's just the virus has just gained a bit of pace and we've therefore all got to be that bit much more careful and cautious.'

The Prime Minister pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine rollout to a million jabs a day amid fears the Indian variant could derail the country's exit from lockdown.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) concluded there is a 'realistic possibility' the strain is 50 per cent more transmissible than the one that emerged in Kent.

More than 56 million vaccinations have been administered in the UK, with 36.3m receiving the first dose and 19.7m receiving the second jab

It would mean it could spread widely enough through the unvaccinated members of the population to cause a serious third wave despite the success of the vaccine drive.

Ministers are hoping to accelerate the vaccine drive because the jab is still effective against the Indian variant and wider levels of vaccination could halt its spread, but as it stands lockdown restrictions will still be eased further on Monday.

Matt Hancock said that five people who have had a single jab have been hospitalised with the Indian variant in Bolton, and one who had received both.

Asked about people who have received two jabs, he said: 'We think there's one person, but that person was frail.

'A small number have had one jab and then there's one case where they've had two jabs and they've ended up in hospital and they were frail.'

Mr Hancock said they are not aware of anyone who had died with the Indian variant after receiving two jabs.

The Prime Minister pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine rollout to a million jabs a day amid fears the Indian variant could derail the country's exit from lockdown

In Bolton and Blackburn, the most infectious areas of the UK, Covid 'hit squads' are going door-to-door to offer entire multi-generational households inoculations.

Cases of the B.1.617.2 strain have more than doubled in the past week across the UK, with 1,313 cases detected by May 12, up from the 520 the previous week.

Ministers are pushing on with a major easing of restrictions on Monday despite concerns over the Indian variant.

Professor John Edmunds said if things deteriorate quickly with the new variant, action will have to be taken.

Asked about Monday's easing of restrictions, the Sage scientist told the Andrew Marr Show: 'I think we have to monitor this very carefully, I don't think we should rule anything out.

'So if things look like they're getting worse rapidly then I do think that action needs to be taken.'

He said it is 'very early days' when it comes to this variant, adding: 'I think that we are still quite uncertain about many, many things including the effectiveness of the vaccines.'

Outlining two approaches which could be taken to tackle the spread of the new variant, he said one was to 'try and stamp on it locally' while another would be an attempt to 'improve vaccine coverage across the UK as best as possible, and let's see how it goes'.

Asked whether all restrictions are likely to end on June 21 as planned, Prof Edmunds said: 'I think we'll know much more about that in the next few weeks as we see how this variant spreads and the impact that it's going to have.

'I think at the moment it's a bit too early to say.'

As to whether the situation could have been avoided had the border to India been closed more quickly, he said: 'I don't think it would have been avoided, it could have delayed things a little bit.'

More than 56 million vaccinations have been administered in the UK, with 36.3m receiving the first dose and 19.7m receiving the second jab.

In the UK, 2,027 people tested positive for the virus yesterday while it was announced 7 people had died.
Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann now believe she was killed in Portugal by German suspect Christian Brueckner.

Detectives initially feared the convicted rapist had moved Madeleine to Germany from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old vanished 14 years ago.

But now prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation in Germany, claims the police are convinced she died in Portugal, reports the Sunday Mirror.

He has previously said he has 'concrete evidence' Bruckner, 44, killed Madeleine.

It comes after Madeleine's parents said this month they 'hang on to hope, however small' that they will see their daughter again on what would have been her 18th birthday.

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (left) now believe she was killed in Portugal by German suspect Christian Brueckner (right)

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as Maddie, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. Pictured: Praia da Luz beach (file)

But now prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation in Germany, claims the police are convinced she died in Portugal

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine McCann, known as Maddie, disappeared from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. She was on holiday with her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann; her two-year-old twin siblings; and a group of family friends and their children. She and the twins had been left asleep at the apartment, while the McCanns and friends dined in a restaurant 55 metres (180 ft) away. The parents checked on the children throughout the evening, until Kate discovered she was missing at 10pm. What followed is widely regarded as one of the most reported on missing person investigations in the world. Portuguese authorities closed their enquiries in July 2008 but Maddie's parents continued with private detectives. Scotland Yard launched their own investigation - Operation Grange - in 2011 and enquiries are ongoing. Advertisement

Brueckner is currently serving a prison term in Germany for raping a pensioner in Portugal and is thought to be the man responsible for her abduction.

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as Maddie, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

She had been left sleeping alone with her younger twin siblings while her parents were dining in a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.

Mr Walters earlier this week revealed that new evidence has been gathered in recent days, though he declined to reveal specifics.

Investigators believe convicted child sex offender Brueckner  referred to as Christian B in Germany due to the country's strict privacy laws  murdered Madeleine after abducting her from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

When asked where he believed Maddie was killed, Mr Wolters told the newspaper: 'In Portugal. I am optimistic we will solve this case.'

Authorities hope to be in a position to charge Brueckner by the end of the summer, with a reconstruction soon due to take place in the Praia da Luz resort following a tip-off from a key witness.

Mr Wolters told the Sun on Wednesday: 'We are still building the case and at some time in the future we shall share the details with the suspect and his lawyer  but now is not the time.

'I cannot disclose the type of evidence we have been given, it is not forensic I can tell you that but it is new circumstantial evidence which all adds to the working theory that he is the man responsible.

'We have always insisted that the man we identified as the main suspect is the man we believe committed the crime and we are not looking for anyone else. I am optimistic that we will solve this case.'

Last July, German police found a hidden cellar at an allotment near Hanover where Brueckner allegedly lived in 2007.

Police discovered the basement in the foundations of a building which had been demolished later that year.

Mr Walters told the Sunday Mirror: 'Since Christian B did not have the allotment at the time of Maddies disappearance, he could not have buried a body there.'

Police officers were seen carrying large blue bags away from a German allotment where kidnapping suspect Christian Brueckner allegedly lived in 2007

Kate and Gerry (pictured in 2017) will lay presents and cards in her bedroom which is understood to remain as a shrine to her and unchanged since she was snatched 14 years ago

It comes after Madeleine's parents said this month they 'hang on to hope, however small' that they will see their daughter again as they marked the 14th anniversary of her disappearance alone.

In a message shared online earlier this month, Kate and Gerry McCann noted that this year's anniversary was even more poignant because it would have been missing Maddie's 18th birthday.

The message, which was shared on the Find Madeleine website, read: 'Every May is tough  a reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen.

'This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating Madeleines 18th birthday. Enough said.'

On Friday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick vowed to continue the search for Madeleine.

The Met has so far spent more than 12.5 million since 2011 investigating Madeleine's disappearance as part of Operation Grange.

Interviewed on LBC by Nick Ferrari, Commissioner Dick said the investigation will 'continue until there is nothing left do do'.

She said: 'We are working closely with Portuguese authorities and the German authorities, and we will continue until there is nothing left to do.'

Asked if there are funding issues with the investigation, she said: 'There is not a funding issue. So far (we have) received support every time we have felt there was a line of inquiry to pursue.'

To continue the investigation, the Met has to secure a special grant from the Home Office to continue the probe.

Detectives received a further 300,000 in March to continue the investigation until 2022.

Brueckner was identified as a suspect in June, but prosecutors do not have enough evidence to charge him.

At the time, the Met said its active investigation into Madeleine's disappearance, Operation Grange, is a missing person inquiry as there is no 'definitive evidence whether Madeleine is alive or dead'.

Brueckner is currently serving a prison sentence for drug trafficking and is expected to remain behind bars until 2026 after losing a bid to overturn a rape conviction.

He was last year found guilty of the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old American woman in the same Portuguese resort from which Madeleine vanished and sentenced to seven years in jail, at a court in Brunswick, Lower Saxony.
Italy opened its doors to British tourists desperate for a dose of Mediterranean sun today - just as Matt Hancock warned holidaymakers to avoid Europe for the time being.

Rome today lifted a five-day quarantine requirement for visitors from the UK, other EU states and Israel who pass a Covid test as they seek to kick-start the tourist industry.

But as visitors began to flock back to hotspots including Venice the Health Secretary attempted to slam shut the door to Europe when foreign travel for UK nationals restarts.

Mr Hancock warned British holidaymakers planning a desperate bolt for the sun from tomorrow they should avoid countries on the UK's amber list, including Italy.

On a Sunday media round he said that due to the rate of Covid cases on the continent countries like Spain, France and Greece should not be visited unless it is 'absolutely necessary'.

Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries - including Portugal - without having to quarantine on their return.

But the vast majority of popular tourist destinations - including Italy - remain in the amber zone. This requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states.

Boris Johnson last week conceded that the ranking system was unlikely to be altered in the near future.

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Daisy McAndrew on Times Radio today, Mr Hancock said: 'We have a green list where it's okay to go and that's why we've brought the green list in.

'But what I would say is that people should not travel to amber or red list countries unless it's absolutely necessary. And certainly not for holiday purposes.'

It came as ministers faced increasing questions over delays in putting India on the UK's red list, which critics say allowed the current Indian variant to gain a foothold in the UK.

But as visitors began to flock back to hotspots including Venice the Health Secretary attempted to slam shut the door to Europe when foreign travel for UK nationals restarts tomorrow.

Authorities in Rome today lifted a five-day quarantine requirement for visitors from the UK, other EU states and Israel who pass a Covid test as they seek to kick-start the tourist industry.

The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, he urged against it unless 'absolutely necessary.

Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, the vast majority of popular tourist destinations like Spain (Grand Canaria in the Canary Islands pictured) remain in the amber zone. This requires visitors to quarantine for 14 days at home upon their return.

Downing Street released the full list of countries on green, amber and red lists ahead of a loosening of restrictions tomorrow

The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, he urged against it unless 'absolutely necessary'.

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

Asked why the Government did not just add amber countries to the red list if they were that bad, Mr Hancock said: 'There are lots of different reasons and really acute reasons that people have to travel.

'For instance people have dying relatives abroad. And then we have the amber list and the red list for the type of isolation you need to go into when you come home.

'And everybody goes through a testing regime, whether you're in green, amber, or red, so that we can spot the new variants and spot a problem in the other country.'

Travel firms have reported a surge in demand for trips to Portugal, after the Government put the country on its green list for travel.

EasyJet has added 105,000 extra seats to its flights serving green-tier destinations, while Tui will use aircraft which normally operate long-haul routes to accommodate the surge of people booked to fly to Portugal.

Only a dozen countries and territories are on the green list but most are either remote islands or do not currently allow UK tourists to enter.

Meanwhile an Oxford University medical expert told the same programme that UK holidaymakers should forget about foreign holidays this year.

Regius Professor of Medicine Sir John Bell: I don't think anybody's going on a holiday, except in the UK'

Regius Professor of Medicine Sir John Bell cautioned that there are 'broad swathes of Europe that are largely unvaccinated' and are therefore 'pretty vulnerable to new variants, be it Indian or otherwise, sweeping across the continent'.

'I don't think anybody's going on a holiday, except in the UK, because I think there will be pretty substantial border controls,' he said.

'And I think that's probably a legitimate position to take. But if you want to go to the Falkland Islands, good luck to you...

'Having people flying around and coming back with whatever local variant they run into, that is not a good idea.

'People just have to get used to the fact that Cornwall or Bournemouth or wherever is not so bad.

'And they should just enjoy the summer and then we can get back to this properly when things settle down.'

But the boss of British Airways today called on the Government to reunite Britons with their families overseas by urgently opening up air travel to low-risk countries.

In a rallying cry to Ministers, Sean Doyle said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a 'compelling case' for putting them on the green list for quarantine-free travel from early next month.

In a rallying cry to Ministers, Sean Doyle said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a 'compelling case' for putting them on the green list for quarantine-free travel from early next month

Many were missing out on key family milestones such as the birth of a first grandchild or a parent's funeral, he said (file photo)

The BA chief executive said the six million British expatriates around the world were desperate to see their loved ones after 'a very tough 14 months'.

He revealed that he had received letters from BA customers sharing what he called the 'tragic human circumstances' of being unable to fly abroad.

Many were missing out on key family milestones such as the birth of a first grandchild or a parent's funeral, he said.

Mr Doyle told The Mail on Sunday: 'You've got people who have got elderly or frail parents they have been unable to see.

'You've also got people who have suffered bereavements who haven't been able to come back and grieve.

'These are massively emotional situations people are finding themselves in, and I think as people get vaccinated, as infections fall, one of the things people want to do first is to get out and reconnect with loved ones.

'When travel can be safely opened up, that's something we would be very keen to enable.'
A severely mentally ill man was abused by caregivers who landed him in the hospital twice after taking him drag racing and giving him marijuana, according to a lawsuit.

Tyler Berry, 30, has autism, bipolar disorder and several physical health conditions including a life-threatening endocrine disorder and blindness that leave him needing 24-hour care.

But staff at assisted living service Spread Your Wings LLC in Marina, California repeatedly mistreated him and denied him important medications, according to a law suit filed by his mother, Brandy Berry.

In one alleged incident, a caregiver attacked him after he woke her up from a drunken stupor.

Tyler Berry, 30, has autism, bipolar disorder and several physical health conditions including a life-threatening endocrine disorder and blindness that leave him needing 24-hour care

The lawsuit, filed by Santa Cruz law firm Scruggs, Spini and Fulton and seen by the The Mercury News, names four employees at the complex, where Berry was moved in February after his mother was unable to properly look after him due to her full time job.

The caregivers used Berry's apartment as a 'party pad' and would invite friends over to drink and smoke marijuana, the law suit claims.

On March 23, they allegedly gave Berry marijuana which - due to his health conditions - caused a dangerous drop in his blood pressure that required him to be admitted to a hospital emergency room.

The suit claims that on April 12, two off-duty staff members and the on-duty caregiver picked Berry up and drove him to a local highway where they started racing each other in a 'drag race'.

The driver of the car Berry was in lost control and swerved off the road, where it rolled over 'several times'.

Berry had to be cut out of the car and suffered concussion, bi- lateral contusions to his lungs, a bruise to his chest wall, and a broken rib, it is claimed. He spent two days in hospital.

One of the three people involved in the incident had allegedly been suspended for misconduct and banned from having any contact with Berry.

A third incident saw a caregiver pass out while drunk and then assaulting Berry when he tried to wake her up, the suit alleges.

Personal injury lawyer David Spini called employees' actions 'beyond outrageous', adding: 'To take advantage of and cause actual harm to the most vulnerable members of our community is beyond belief.'

The suit noted that case notes which caregivers were meant to use to log any incidents at the end of their shifts did not make a reference to either of the two hospitalizations.

Spini said the case had been referred to the Monterey County Adult Protective Services which investigates claims of criminal abuse. The department declined to comment.

Berry's mother started a GoFundMe page to raise funds to move her son into a new home.

In the latest update on May 2, she wrote: 'Thank you so much for all the donations and shares!! Because of this, I was able to find and fund a safe placement for Tyler for the next 2 weeks.

But staff at assisted living service Spread Your Wings LLC in Marina, California repeatedly abused him and denied him important medications, according to a law suit filed by his mother, Brandy Berry

'He was discharged from the hospital this evening, is at home with me tonight, and will be headed to his new placement tomorrow.

'My ultimate goal is to find quality care for him so he can go back to his home. I'm eternally grateful to all the kindness and generosity of so many people!!!'

The future of Berry's care is still uncertain because his mother needs to work full time.

On its website, Spread Your Wings boasts of its 'high quality supported living service' for adults with developmental disabilities.

This includes managing residents' finances, arranging medical treatment and providing advice to make 'fundamental life decision'.

The company, which also has offices in San Jose, Lodi, Pleasanton and Sacramento states that 'every individual is treated with respect, dignity, and pride'.

Dailymail.com has contacted the company for comment.

The suit noted that case notes which caregivers were meant to use to log any incidents at the end of their shifts did not make a reference to either of the two hospitalizations.

Spini said the case had been referred to the Monterey County Adult Protective Services which investigates claims of criminal abuse. The department declined to comment.

Berry's mother started a GoFundMe page to raise funds to move her son into a new home.

In the latest update on May 2, she wrote: 'Thank you so much for all the donations and shares!! Because of this, I was able to find and fund a safe placement for Tyler for the next 2 weeks.

'He was discharged from the hospital this evening, is at home with me tonight, and will be headed to his new placement tomorrow.

'My ultimate goal is to find quality care for him so he can go back to his home. I'm eternally grateful to all the kindness and generosity of so many people!!!'

The future of Berry's care is still uncertain because his mother needs to work full time.

On its website, Spread Your Wings boasts of its 'high quality supported living service' for adults with developmental disabilities.

This includes managing residents' finances, arranging medical treatment and providing advice to make 'fundamental life decision'.

The company, which also has offices in San Jose, Lodi, Pleasanton and Sacramento states that 'every individual is treated with respect, dignity, and pride'.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a teenager from Gwynedd, north Wales, who vanished two weeks ago.

Frantisek 'Frankie' Morris, 18, from Llandegfan in Anglesey, was last seen near the Vaynol Arms, Pentir, on May 2, pushing a bike.

Mr Morris had attended a party in Waunfawr, near Snowdonia National Park, the night before his disappearance.

The teen was last seen near the Vaynol Arms, Pentir, on May 2, pushing a bike

North Wales Police have revealed that one man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, while a second man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.

Authorities have launched an appeal for drivers in the area at the time to come forward, in the hope that they will be able to help solve the mystery surrounding the teen's disappearance.

They are also asking party-goers who attended the rave in Waunfawr to provide information.

Pictures have been released of the cars in the area at the time.

Earlier this week, police released an image of Mr Morris pushing his bike near the Vaynol Arms pub in Pentir taken around the time he was last seen.

The bike, which reportedly had a puncture, was found near the pub on May 9.

After his disappearance, the teenager's mother, Alice Morris, said in a dedicated Facebook group set up to help share information about his whereabouts that she fears something bad happened to him.

Police in North Wales are urgently appealing for information relating to the disappearance of 18-year-old Frankie Morris (pictured left and right) who has not been seen since May 2

Mrs Morris is said to live in the Czech Republic and cannot fly over to the UK to join the search for her son without taking two Covid tests and quarantining for 10 days.

She wrote: 'I do think that he visited one of his friends in Bangor and something bad probably happened to him there.

'I have been asking the police to investigate the people who he knows in Bangor and go to their houses to check but the response seems to me to be a bit slow.

'I think they should make it a priority to investigate all his friends in Bangor.'

Chief Inspector Owain Llewelyn said: 'I would now like to make a further appeal to the drivers of the cars in the images to come forward, as they may hold vital information which will assist us with our enquiries.

Police released images of a number of cars in the hope the drivers would come forward, as they may hold vital information over the whereabouts of Mr Morris

'Due to the ongoing investigation, the road from Pont Felin, Pentir heading towards Waen Wen will be closed until further notice.

'Motorists and the public are advised to avoid the area and use alternative routes.'

Chief Insp Llinos Davies previously said: 'I would like to appeal directly to Frankie and want him to know that our only concern is to know that he is safe and well.

'I urge Frankie or anyone who knows of his whereabouts to make contact with us. We will need to check on Frankie's welfare, but his confidentiality and wishes will be respected.

'We continue to be concerned about Frankie, and are still utilising a considerable amount of both police and partner agency resources, both of which have been dedicated to finding Frankie for nearly a week.

The Vaynol Arms Pub in Pentir, Bangor, where the teen was last seen

'We are working closely with Frankie's family to explore every possible line of enquiry at this difficult time. If you have any information regarding Frankie's whereabouts, please get in touch.'

Anyone with information is advised to contact police on 101.
Spencer Benbolt Junior, 13, was killed when an industrial bin he was sleeping in with his two friends was emptied by a council worker

A mother whose young son was crushed to death as he slept in a skip bin penned an eerie Facebook post six weeks prior to the tragedy suggesting he had run away before.

Spencer Benbolt Jnr, 13, and two friends aged 11 and 12, were inside the dumpster in Port Lincoln on South Australia's west coast when it was emptied by a council worker at 5.20am on Tuesday.

Spencer - known as Budda to his loved ones - suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene while the other two boys walked away unscathed.

As police investigate why the three youths were sleeping on the streets, a Facebook post has surfaced revealing it was not the first time Spencer had disappeared from his family home.

In April, his mother Deborah Betts, shared a photo of her son with superimposed text saying: '[Has] anybody seen my son Spencer Benbolt Jr?'

'He goes by Budda Spencer. He hasn't been home since Tuesday morning. If you see him or know where he is, please let me know.'

Ms Betts added that she had contacted police and Spencer had been listed as a missing person.

'Come home please, I'm worried about him  please hunt him home if you see him,' the message continued.

Spencer's mother Deborah Betts (pictured) has made a series on Facebook posts since Spencer's death expressing her heartbreak

In April, Ms Betts shared a photo of Spencer on Facebook urging him to 'please come home'

The post was also shared by Deborah's sister, Jay, who wrote that her nephew was 'somewhere at somebody's house  just want to get the word out so we can go pick him up'.

Since Spencer's death, Ms Betts has made a series of Facebook posts expressing her heartbreak and slamming trolls who have weighed in on the tragedy and suggested he was homeless.

'You don't know sh** so I suggest you all shut your holes and keep your opinions to yourselves,' she wrote on Wednesday.

'My son had a home and had a loving family who cared and worried about him so who gives you any right to speak on my son's name.'

A day later, the shattered mother, who has four other sons, paid tribute to her 'baby', saying she would miss his 'crazy stories'.

Pictured: The scene where Spencer Benbolt Junior, 13, died after he and two friends fell asleep in a bin, which was then collected by a garbage truck

Spencer - known as Budda to his loved ones - suffered catastrophic injuries and died at the scene while the other two boys walked away unscathed

Ms Betts has made a series of heartbreaking posts mourning the loss of her son

'Still thinking of you, wishing it was all a dream,' she wrote on Thursday.

'Knowing we are not going to hear your crazy stories any more.

'My heart is broken into a million pieces my baby, just want you here with me, your dada and brothers.'

The police investigation into Spencer's death shifted to his family home on Tuesday as officers try to uncover why he was sleeping in a bin when he had his own bed to return to.

'I will never wish this pain my feeling on anyone I loved my son since the doctors plaid him in my arms,' Ms Deborah wrote about her son Spencer (pictured)

The trio had been wandering the streets for hours on Monday night before seeking shelter in the bin next to a McDonald's as the temperature fell to 13C and the wind and rain set in.

Friends of the youngster have suggested he was supporting his two mates on an 'adventure' that night.

Ms Betts hit out at 'trolls' through her Facebook page to reject any idea that Spencer wasn't being properly looked after prior to his death.

'I will never wish this pain my feeling on anyone I loved my son since the doctors laid him in my arms,' she wrote.

Her posts have received hundreds of comments from family members and friends supporting the grieving mother and her claims Spencer was well looked after.

'Don't worry about what anyone says my Aunty always remember you and uncle Spencer done a completely good job raising your sons. Gonna miss my baby brother you just focus on your self and block all the negativity out,' a family member replied.

'They are so disgusting and cruel, they don't know sh**. Those who knew him know how loved and cared for he was,' another replied.

Ms Betts hit out at 'trolls' through her Facebook page rejecting any idea that Spencer wasn't being properly looked after prior to his death

Friends have said Spencer was looking after his two mates in the dumpster when he climbed in

Munnalita Kojcic and her son arrived at the scene to lay flowers on Wednesday, explaining they were heartbroken when they learned what happened to Spencer

South Australian MP Connie Bonaros has called for an independent inquiry to be launched to probe all of the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

The probe would look into 'any failures, shortcomings or neglect of obligations and responsibilities' and examine any allegations of neglect or abuse of process by government staff.

Friends and family have said the only reason Spencer got into the bin was because he didn't want to leave his two younger mates in there alone.

They visited the Grand Tasman Hotel about 12.30am to ask for glasses of water before walking six minutes to the edge of town toward the McDonald's, where they crawled into the skip bin and fell asleep.

A family member said they would stick together as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy.

'There's a certain way we grieve in our culture,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'We have our family here now and we need to be together.'
A Space Force commander has been removed from his post after blasting diversity and inclusion training in the military as 'critical race theory rooted in Marxism'.

Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier appeared on a podcast to promote his new self published book when he made the comments which led to a 'loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead', according to a statement from the Space Force.

Lohmeier said: 'The diversity, inclusion and equity industry and the trainings we are receiving in the military...is rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism.

'Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be.

'That wasn't just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.'

He described the the New York Times 1619 Project as 'anti-American', adding: 'It teaches intensive teaching that I heard at my base - that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified white supremacy as the law of the land.

'If you want to disagree with that, then you start (being) labeled all manner of things including racist.'

A spokesperson told The Military Times: 'This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast.

'Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.'

Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier has been removed from his post after blasting diversity and inclusion training in the military as 'critical race theory rooted in Marxism'

Lt Col. Matthew Lohmeier appeared on a podcast to promote his new self published book, pictured, when he made the comments which led to a 'loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead', according to a statement from the Space Force

Lohmeier, a former fighter pilot, had been the commander of 11th Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base Colorado.

In November last year he received a Thanksgiving call from President Donald Trump after joining the Space Force the previous month.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the head of Space Operations Command, is understood have removed him from his role Friday.

It is not clear what temporary role Lohmeier will fill during the investigation or if he could face any consequences beyond being removed from his command post. DailyMail.com has contacted the Space Force for additional comment.

Lohmeier told The Washington Examiner: 'What you see happening in the U.S. military at the moment is that if you're a conservative, then you're lumped into a group of people who are labeled extremists, if you're willing to voice your views.

'And if you're aligned with the Left, then it's OK to be an activist online because no one's gonna hold you accountable.'

He said active service members have written to thank him for his comments 'because we don't have a voice anymore'.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, pictured, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead', the Space Force said

CRITICAL RACE THEORY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN? The fight over critical race theory in schools has escalated in the United States over the last year. The theory has sparked a fierce nationwide debate in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests around the country over the last year and the introduction of the 1619 Project. The 1619 Project, which was published by the New York Times in 2019 to mark 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived on American shores, reframes American history by 'placing the consequnces of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the center of the US narrative'. The debate surrounding critical race theory regards concerns that some children are being indoctrinated into thinking that white people are inherently racist or sexist. Those against critical race theory have argued it reduces people to the categories of 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color. Supporters, however, say the theory is vital to eliminating racism because it examines the ways in which race influence American politics, culture and the law. Advertisement

A Space Force spokesman told The Washington Examiner: 'Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead.'

Members of the military are allowed to express their personal opinions when not in uniform but are prohibited from 'partisan political activity'.

Critical race theory claims to highlight how historical inequities and racism continue to shape public policy and social conditions today.

Those who are against it say people are being indoctrinated into thinking that white people are inherently racist and that it reduces people to the categories of 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color.

The issue has become one of the frontline skirmishes in the country's culture wars in the wake of last year's Black Lives Matter protests.

Lohmeier had said of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's diversity and inclusion program: 'I don't demonize the man, but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member this agenda  it will divide us. It will not unify us.'

Austin in February ordered military leaders to spend time talking to their troops about extremism in the ranks.

Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said then that while extremism has been a problem in the military in the past, the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which left five people dead, was a 'wake-up call' for military leaders. He said that Austin wants to get a better handle on the breadth of the problem.

Lohmeier's book Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military looks at the 'impact of a neo-Marxist agenda' on American security.

He has said he discussed the book with his superiors prior to writing it.

In an email to The Military Times Lohmeier said: 'My intent never has been to engage in partisan politics.

'I have written a book about a particular political ideology (Marxism) in the hope that our Defense Department might return to being politically non-partisan in the future as it has honorably done throughout history.'
Kamala Harris has shared a heartfelt message congratulating her stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, who graduated from the Parsons School of Design this week.

The Vice President posted her sweet note to Instagram on Saturday accompanied by a photo that showed her smiling alongside the 22-year-old college grad.

'Congratulations to our daughter Ella on her graduation. I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve,' Harris wrote.

She signed off the note with the words 'Love, Momala' - the affectionate name that Ella and her older brother, Cole, call their stepmom.

Ella and Cole, 26, are the children of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and his first wife, Kerstin.

They have been Harris' step-children since 2014 when she tied the knot with Doug in Santa Barbara.

Kamala Harris has shared a heartfelt message congratulating her stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, who graduated from the Parsons School of Design this week

Earlier this week, Doug also took to Instagram to share a snap congratulating Ella after she attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons - a prestigious design school located in New York City.

The photo showed Ella clad in a traditional cap and gown as her attorney dad beamed alongside her.

'My darling Ella, we are such proud parents!' he captioned.

'We love you so much, and are very much looking forward to all you do in the future. And, to the other Class of 2021 graduates out there, huge congratulations!'

Past Parsons graduates include Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Anna Sui, Narciso Rodriguez, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, Isaac Mizrahi, Derek Lam, Prabal Gurung, and Jenna Lyons.

Ella is preparing to launch a career as a designer, having already made her mark on the fashion world with her own knitwear designs and a modeling contract with IMG Models.

Doug also took to Instagram to share a snap congratulating Ella after she attained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons - a prestigious design school located in New York City

Ella and Cole (right) are the children of Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and his first wife, Kerstin. They have been Harris' step-children since 2014 when she tied the knot with Doug in Santa Barbara. The blended family are pictured together in a recent photo

The Vice President often boasts about the close relationship she has with her stepdaughter, who affectionately calls her 'Momala'

Ella completed the past year of her degree virtually and ,in student profile on Parsons' website, she opened up about what it was like to complete college remotely.

She wrote that she had spent the year studying in an apartment she shares with roommates, and preferred to dress in athleisure for her Zoom classes.

She listed her favorite streaming service as Hulu, her go-to pandemic snack as hummus, and her favorite social media app as 'none.'

Though she didn't share exactly what her post graduation plans are, she wrote that she is most excited to start her career.'

Meanwhile, on Instagram, Ella said that she spent her last year of school 'creating a collection of knitwear/crochet pieces in response to my adolescent diary and childhood photographs using excess yarn from the pants I was making.'

'I will be expanding this collection during the summer with more vests, pants, headpieces, and hopefully sweaters (when I master the art of the sleeve),' she said.

Pandemic school: Ella wrote that she spent the year studying in an apartment she shares with roommates and preferred to dress in athleisure for her Zoom classes

On Instagram, she said that she spent her last year of school 'creating a collection of knitwear/crochet pieces in response to my adolescent diary and childhood photographs using excess yarn from the pants I was making'

Fans who have followed Ella on Instagram are familiar with her sense of style, as well as the knitwear she sells online.

'I think the goal is definitely to have my own knitwear brand, label, whatever you call it,' she told Garage.

'Setting up a shop, most likely online of where I can just have a bunch of different pieces that I'm constantly creating and doing my commission-based work and having that all be in a shop.

'Id like to try and stay a one-woman show, but I think as stuff has started ramping up with my knitwear, it's been harder. I'm only one woman, I can only make so many commissions while I'm also trying to just enjoy life.'

Big moment: Ella has certainly been enjoying her newfound status as a fashion favorite since taking the Inauguration by storm

In addition to designing clothes, Ella has also made money modelling them.

She signed with IMG Models earlier this year after she turned heads attending Harris' Inauguration in Washington DC.

'It's not really about shape, size or gender any more,' said Ivan Bart, the president of IMG Models.

'Ella communicates this moment in time. There's a cheekiness and a joy she exudes.'

He said his response to seeing her at the inauguration was: 'Wow, she's communicating fashion.'

Ella said the approach from Bart took her back, even though she had been dabbling in modeling for a smaller agent.

'I was pretty surprised when everything with IMG was happening because when I was younger, I never saw that as being part of my timeline,' she told The New York Times.

'As someone who, like a lot of young girls out there, had self-confidence issues, it is intimidating and scary to go into this world that is hyper-focused on you and the body.'

On her way! Soon after the Inauguration, it was announced that she had signed with IMG Models

Voila! In February, she appeared in her first designer fashion show, just three weeks after it was announced that she had signed with IMG Models
San Diego officials have been slammed for spending public money on 'divisive and misleading' billboards telling black mothers that racism could hurt their babies - before they're even born.

The billboards argue that racial discrimination is behind higher rates of miscarriages and maternal deaths among black women.

They include claims that 'Our black babies are nearly 60% more likely to be premature due to discrimination' and 'Racism hurts your baby long before they're born'.

Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilmember and chairman of Reform California, a conservative political action committee, said the claims were not supported by data and could discourage women from seeking medical care.

The adverts argue that racial discrimination is behind higher rates of miscarriages and maternal deaths among black women. This one reads: 'Racism hurts your baby long before they're born'

'The big lie is that somehow America is filled with racism - when in fact, America has made so much progress on that issue,' he told Fox News. 'It's truly something to celebrate.'

He said the billboards send a 'dangerous and divisive message,' and should be taken down by the county's health department.

'I would presume that this will discourage African-Americans from trusting their doctors, trusting the health care system, because they're being told that health care providers in their area are all racists.'

The billboards - which went up some time in the last two weeks - are part of San Diego's Perinatal Equity Initiative, which falls under the California Department of Public Health.

The campaign was set up with funding approved by Governor Gavin Newsom to address disparities in the health outcomes of black babies and mothers.

Statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that black babies were more likely to be born prematurely between 2017 and 2019  at a rate of 14% nationally and 12.2% in California, but provides no cause for that disparity.

White babies were born prematurely 9.2% of the time nationwide and 7.7% in California. The numbers for Hispanics are 9.8% and 9.1%.

'It's not supported by the data it is a false narrative that is being disseminated with our tax dollars,' DeMaio said.

The billboards in San Diego County were put up some time in the last two weeks, according to reports

The Perinatal Equity Initiative's website says that the date comes from state and county health departments between 2016 and 2018, which showed that black babies were born prematurely 11.2% of the time, compared to 7.2% for white ones.

The campaign insists this disparity is due to race alone, while DeMaio - a former Republican San Diego City Council member turned radio host - believes that poverty and low incomes are the main reasons.

The American Academy of Family Physicians states on its website: 'Poverty and low-income status are associated with a variety of adverse health outcomes, including shorter life expectancy, higher rates of infant mortality, and higher death rates for the 14 leading causes of death.'

Meanwhile, a study carried out last year and published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that disparities exist even between women of the same 'high socioeconomic status', but said more research was needed on why this was the case.

It is unclear how much the billboards cost taxpayers. Dailymail.com has contacted officials for comment.
Olympic champion Torah Bright has urged mothers to 'embrace our quirkiness' after a photo of her breastfeeding her 10-month-old son while in a headstand sparked an online debate.

Bright, Australia's most successful Winter Olympian having won a gold and silver medal in the snowboard halfpipe, posted the photo last week as she marked Mother's Day.

The image of her breastfeeding son Flow was part of a series of photos she uploaded alongside the caption 'becoming a mother has unleashed something inside of me'.

Olympic champion Torah Bright posted this photo of her breastfeeding her 10-month-old son Flow to her social media accounts as she marked Mother's Day

Bright responded to criticism after the photo attracted thousands of comments on her social media accounts

She said: 'My prayer for all mothers, now and in the future is that they be heard. Honoured. Respected and encouraged to trust their intuition'

'My prayer for all mothers, now and in the future is that they be heard. Honoured. Respected and encouraged to trust their intuition.'

The breastfeeding photo attracted thousands of comments, including one that read 'now that's a balanced meal'.

Another said: 'Breastfeed anywhere, anytime', while a third commentator wrote 'What an awesome mama bear. Love her'.

But Bright was also criticised for her breastfeeding approach, with one commenting 'I'm not saying it's not beautiful. Breastfeeding is between a mum and a child. This is way too much. It's not about handstands and seeing how that child could actually latch on for likes'.

Bright said she was disappointed with the critical comments, many of which came from other mothers, adding 'disclaimer: this is not a sustainable breastfeeding practice'.

'Reading some of the comments make me sad,' Bright wrote in an Instagram story.

Bright's breastfeeding photo attracted thousands of comments on her social media accounts

Bright is pictured with son Flow and her partner, fellow snowboarder Angus Thomson

'In my world mother's should be each other's cheerleaders (it's hard enough). Embrace our quirkiness and finding the joy in every sh***y thing that is motherhood.

'We all do it differently, it is not wrong or right. Motherhood is pure. I only now consider myself a wonder woman because I have joined the sacred mothers club with you. Nothing but respect to all mothers.'

Bright said she was 'not looking for praise', telling how she walks 'this earth to the beat of my own drum, led by my intuition and search for love and joy... obviously'.

She also posted a quote from Mary Poppins that read 'In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap, the job's a game'.

'Growing up with this as one of my favourite mantras... no wonder I play around with the jobs of motherhood, all in the name of fun,' Bright said.
A man who has been on the sex offender registry for decades after he was convicted of a crime in Idaho that today is legal gay sex was cleared by a federal judge in Montana this week.

But the state's attorney general is appealing the ruling, claiming it weakens the state's sex offender registry law and opens it up to additional challenges from out-of-state lawyers.

Randall Menges was 18 years old in 1993 when he was convicted of 'crimes against nature' for having sex with two 16-year-old boys, even though police reports said the activity was consensual and the legal age of consent in Idaho when a defendant is 18 is 16 years old.

Menges spent seven years behind bars and was required to register as a sex offender.

But U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the state of Montana has no valid reason to require Menges to remain on the registry and cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said laws criminalizing consensual sodomy or oral sex were unconstitutional.

Christensen wrote in his decision on Tuesday, 'None of the governmental interests in maintaining a sexual offender registry are served by Menges' inclusion.

'Engagement in intimate sexual contact with a person of the same sex, without more, cannot be said to render someone a threat to the public safety,' Christensen said.

After the ruling, Menges said, 'I guess I'm just grateful, honestly, that the judge actually listened and was fair because for the last few years of my life .... I don't feel like anything's been fair.'

Randall Menges, front, along with his attorneys Matthew Strugar and Elizabeth Ehret, outside the Russell Smith Federal Courthouse in Montana

Randall Menges was 18 years old in 1993, when he was convicted of 'crimes against nature' for having sex with two 16-year-old boys, even though police reports said the activity was consensual and the legal age of consent in Idaho when a defendant is 18 is 16 years old

Elizebeth Ehret, one of Menges' lawyers, tweeted this after the federal court ruling

Christensen ordered the state to remove Menges from the registry on or before May 21, expunge any records indicating he was ever subject to registration, and alert all agencies that may have been provided information about Menges' registration.

Elizabeth Ehret, one of Menges lawyers tweeted on May 12, 'WE WON. Gay Montanans cannot be forced to register as sex offenders for consensual gay sex.'

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen said the state of Montana has no valid reason to require Menges to be on the registry.

While Menges and his lawyers won the battle, they still have to fight a war.

A spokesperson for the Montana's attorney general said in a statement that it's appealing the decision to protect the state's sex offender laws from lawyers 'who are more interested in politics than the safety of Montana children.'

Menges moved to Montana in 2018, hoping to start a new life, NBC News reported, but a 2005 state law says anyone on a registry in another state must register as sex offenders if they move to Montana.

Another one of Menges' lawyers, Matt Strugar, who challenged a similar law in Mississippi, told NBC News that there are probably hundreds of people in Menges' predicament, and forcing them to register as sex offenders is a violation of their right to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

'I'm outraged that in 2021 that we have what is essentially a registry of gay sex,' Strugar told NBC News.

'If someone's not a molester or a rapist, they shouldn't be subjected to what I have,' Menges said to NBC News. 'If we can change the law, at least it'll have been worth it.'
British Airways cabin crew have not been showing up for flights to India, amid fear they will catch Covid.

Night flights have been axed in a bid to get crew back on board and the airline's bosses have had to write a letter to staff begging them to continue to fly.

India is currently ravaged with infections and has claimed more than 270,000 lives amid almost 2.7 million cases.

A letter to frontline staff from executives read: 'If you do not feel comfortable operating these flights then please complete a form and you will be removed.'

British Airways cabin crew for flights to India are said to be too frightened to fly as the country is ravaged by millions of cases of Covid

An employee told the Sun on Sunday: 'Crew are scared of working on the flights.'

The airline has had to reduce flights to the country since it was red-listed but is still currently operating seven flights a week to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

British Airways have been contacted for comment.
The father of a young girl who died after waiting two hours in a hospital's emergency room has praised a new program that will prevent other children from dying.

Aishwarya Aswath, seven, was rushed to Perth Children's Hospital on April 3 after she came down with a fever the day before and her condition rapidly deteriorated.

Her devastated parents Aswath Chavittupara and Prasitha Sasidharan claim they repeatedly begged reception staff for help as the little girl's eyes clouded over and her hands went cold - but had to wait more than two hours to be seen.

Aishwarya died within hours of doctors starting treatment, sparking an urgent review of the emergency department by Western Australia Health.

WA Health Minister Roger Cook met with Mr Chavittupara and Ms Sasidharan on Friday to discuss a new prevention program called Aishwarya's Care, which will allow parents to be actively involved in the assessment of their ill child's health.

Mr Chavittupara welcomed the new system which will be rolled out state-wide in all hospitals with paediatric services.

Aishwarya Aswath died after allegedly being made to wait for two hours for treatment in the Perth Children's Hospital emergency room, her parents claim

'This model of care should give more rights to the concerned parents, and not just wait for the triage process,' Mr Chavittupara told The West Australian.

'Parents know their kids better. If they are really worried they can use this system - Aishwarya's Care - and they should get the care they need.

'When my daughter was young she said she always wanted to become a teacher, and she wanted to be called Miss AC. Aishwarya's Care will stand for that.'

It is understood the program, which Aishwarya's family will help develop, will be similar to a system introduced in Queensland in 2013 after the death of Rockhampton toddler Ryan Saunders.

The two-year-old died in 2007 after a streptococcal infection was misdiagnosed as mumps and the illness developed into toxic shock syndrome.

Ryan's Rule allows patients and parents to demand to see the nurse in charge for a review of a loved one's treatment if their condition is not improving.

If they are not satisfied with the response, they can call a special hotline to have the case reviewed again.

Aswath Chavittupara and Prasitha Sasidharan (pictured) have welcomed a new program, named after their daughter, which will be rolled out in hospitals across the state to prevent patients from dying

While existing WA rules apply to patients in wards, AMA President Andrew Miller Aishwarya's Care will give parents rights in triage centres.

Mr Miller said it was disappointing the system was only being introduced now, after there were calls for change five years ago after a seven-month old boy died in similar circumstances.

Similar programs are also already in place in NSW (REACH- Recognise, Engage, Act, Call, Help is on its way), and in the ACT (CARE - Call And Respond Early) which encourage parents to seek secondary medical advice if concerned.

Aishwarya's death was investigated by Western Australia's Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) and its report was delivered to Aishwarya's parents on Wednesday.

Health Minister Roger Cook said it appeared Aishwarya had died of sepsis after contracting an infection related to group A streptococcus.

The state coroner will hold a public hearing into her death.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on face mask wearing but did little to clear up lingering confusing caused by the change in policy.

She also said those who are not vaccinated must still wear face coverings and it would be done on the 'honor system.'

'The honor system is to be honest with yourself. If you are vaccinated, we are saying you are safe, you can take off your mask, and you are not at risk of severe disease or hospitalization from COVID-19. If you are not vaccinated, you are not safe. Please go get vaccinated or continue to wear your mask,' she said on Fox News Sunday.

Walensky said the order change came because the science has 'really just evolved' regarding how protected vaccinated people are from getting COVID-19.

'We now have science that has really just evolved even in the last two weeks that demonstrates that these vaccines are safe, they are effective,' she said on ABC's This Week.

But, adding to the confusion, she also said the order wasn't blanket approval for everyone to stop wearing face masks.

'We also need to say that this is not permission for widespread removal of masks,' she added. 'For those who are vaccinated, it may take sometime for them to feel comfortable removing their masks, but also that these decisions have to be made at the jurisdictional level, at the community level. Some communities have been hit harder than others, have lowered vaccination rates than others.'

She said most decisions on the matter would be made at the 'community level.'

'We want to deliver the science of the individual level, but we also understand that these decisions have to be made at the community level,' Walensky noted.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on face mask wearing but said those not vaccinated must still mask up, telling Fox News Sunday the 'honor system' would be used

In four media appearances on Sunday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky didn't clear up any of the linger confusing brought about the CDC's abrupt change on wearing a face mask

In four media appearances on Sunday, Walensky didn't address questions about the confusion being caused by the new policy that says fully vaccinated Americans do not have to wear masks outdoors and in most indoor settings, aside from crowded places such as buses and planes

Despite the new policy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention some businesses still require face coverings and many states have not changed their own policies.

'Can you see, since this is big news for every American, can you see how your guidance, the vaccinated people can take their masks off, but requirements from businesses, local governments, to keep the masks on, are sending a mixed message,' CNN's Dana Bash asked her.

'I know that we need to do the hard work - this was individual guidance - to understand what this means for communities, what this means for businesses,' she said.

'And what we're really asking in those settings is to say, in terms of the honor system, people have to be honest with themselves. You're protected if you're vaccinated. You're not if you're not vaccinated,' she noted.

Walensky instead said businesses should try to make sure their employees are vaccinated.

'This was individual guidance to understand what this means for communities, what this means for businesses,' she said on State of the Union.

'What we're saying to those essential workers, is that if those workers are vaccinated, they are safe so it's really, we are really asking the businesses to work with their workers to make sure that they have the paid time off to get themselves vaccinated so they can be safe,' she said.

The CDC director dismissed the idea of a 'vaccine mandate' on a federal level but conceded some local communities and businesses may take that step.

'We're not counting on vaccine mandates at all. It may very well be that local businesses, local jurisdictions will work towards vaccine mandates. That is going to be locally driven and not federally driven,' she said on NBC's Meet the Press.

She also said it would be up to individual businesses to decide whether or not people must prove they are vaccinated.

'I think thats really going to have to be industry-by-industry,' she said on Fox News Sunday. 'I can see why in certain situations, for example the cruise ship industry, would be important to understand how protective the people who are taking the voyage are. I can also see how difficult it might be in other situations. So I think that thats going to have to be an industry-by-industry discussion.'

Despite the new policy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention some businesses still require face coverings and many states have not changed their own policies above people in Michigan keep their face coverings on

The change in CDC policy brought about mask confusion with some taking them off as seen above in Times Square in New York

The new CDC policy 'was individual guidance to understand what this means for communities, what this means for businesses,' Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on CNN's State of the Union

There was massive mask confusion following CDC updating its recommendations for face coverings as some governors lifted their states' mask mandates while others keep them in place.

Businesses were also caught off guard with major retailors now having to weigh whether or not to require coverings in their stores and how to be sure who is vaccinated and who is not.

Even Saturday Night Live addressed the issue.

'A lot of people had questions such as "What does that mean?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Is this a trap?"' cast member Kate McKinnon, who played Dr. Anthony Fauci, said at the beginning of the show's cold open.

Walensky was asked about the confusion during her appearances on ABC, CNN, Fox and NBC but didn't address the question directly, instead encouraging people to get vaccinated if they have not been.

But she dismissed the idea there would be a 'vaccine police.'

'We are asking people to take their health into their own hands, to get vaccinated and if they don't they continue to be at risk,' she said.

And she told CNN an 'honor system' would be in place.

'In terms of the honor system, people have to be honest with themselves. You're protected if you're vaccinated, you're not if you're not vaccinated,' she said on State of the Union.

Additionally, several medical experts told The Washington Post they were worried the change in policy came too soon would undercut two of the simplest and effective tools in preventing the transmission of COVID-19 - wearing masks and physical distancing.

Slightly more than 121 million Americans have been fully vaccinated - about a third of the population - and the Pfizer vaccine was just approved for 12-to-15-year olds. Doctors said that is not enough people to start lifting preventative measures.

Walensky said as communities review their next steps in the reopening process, they should factor in the protections for those vaccinated.

'I think it's really important to understand that, as communities are working one at a time locally to figure out what their policies are going to be as they open up, that they understand what is important and what is true for individuals who are vaccinated,' she said on NBC's Meet the Press.

'This was not permission to shed masks for everybody everywhere,' she added. 'This was really science driven, individual assessment of your risk.'

Asked why guidance wasn't ready for states, communities, businesses and travel before announcing the new rule, Walensky said there wasn't time for it to be ready.

'It was very clear that places were starting to make their own assessments and we wanted to make sure that they understood that it was safe at the individual level. It was going to be nearly impossible for us to revise all the thousands of pages of our guidance simultaneously and release it all one at a time. We needed this building block, this first step, so that we could say, "This is the science upon which all future guidance will be based upon,"' she said.

The CDC director, appearing on four of the Sunday morning public affairs shows, was pressed repeatedly about the sudden shift in face mask guidance.

The new announcement came on Thursday. But on Tuesday, Walensky told senators at a hearing on Capitol Hill that we must 'maintain public health measures we know will prevent the spread of this virus: mask hygiene, hand hygiene, and physical distancing.'

'Things in this pandemic are starting to turn around,' she said on Fox News Sunday. 'And whats also happening is were getting data, evolving data, on the science.'

She said there was no outside pressure - political or otherwise - that caused the change in policy.

'I can tell you it certainly would have been easier if the science had evolved a week earlier and I didnt have to go to Congress making those statements. But I'm delivering the science as the science is delivered to the medical journals,' she said.

She said she was 'cautiously optimistic' the end of the pandemic was in sight.

'I think its premature to declare victory. We have to remain humble. Weve had way to many curveballs in this pandemic come to us. But I am really cautiously optimistic that we are in a good place right now, that cases continue to come down. We are watching it really carefully,' she said.

But, before she testified on Tuesday, Walensky had made the decision the night before to approve a recommendation from CDC officials to significantly change its policy so fully vaccinated individuals did not have to wear masks or physically distance in most cases, The Washington Post reported.

'We were actively reviewing that science during the past week. We were making decisions and moving in our subject matter experts while working just as I was testifying in front of Congress and those -- that what was happening,' she said on ABC's 'This Week.'

'I told the American people I deliver the science as soon as we have,' she added.
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Hundreds of motorheads have converged on Van Nuys Boulevard in Los Angeles for a lowrider cruise night.

Lowriders - customized vintage vehicles featuring extravagant paint jobs and wire-spoke wheels - first became popular in L.A. back in the 1960s.

During that decade, many Mexican Americans became famous for modifying their cars before cruising down highways every Saturday night in a bid to show them off.

While lowrider culture lost some of its popularity in recent years, The Los Angeles Times reports that it has recently undergone a resurgence as the coronavirus pandemic wanes.

Stay-at-home orders have given L.A. residents the time to tinker with their vehicles, while lowrider cruise nights are social events that allow participants to safely social distance.

Saturday's meet-up along Van Nuys saw drivers showing off their flashy cars as pedestrians watched from the sidewalk and admired the handiwork.

Hundreds of motorheads converged on Van Nuys Boulevard in Los Angeles for a lowrider cruise night on Saturday

Lowriders - customized vintage vehicles featuring extravagant paint jobs and wire-spoke wheels - first became popular in L.A. back in the 1960s

Just before sundown, the eye-catching vehicles made their way to Van Nuys for the start of cruise night

While lowrider culture lost some of its popularity in recent years, The Los Angeles Times reports that it has recently undergone a resurgence amid the coronavirus pandemic

One participant showed off his modified vehicle as he cruised along the boulevard on Saturday night

The LA Times reported this weekend that 'cruising is back in a major way all around Southern California'

A group of motorheads were seen checking out the wares in a trunk before the beginning of cruise night

The LA Times reported this weekend that 'cruising is back in a major way all around Southern California'.

The Van Nuys Boulevard cruise night occurs once a month, and has attracted onlookers who 'post up on the sidewalk with folding chairs and coolers'.

Other events are happening all across the area, and are expected to grow even larger as more COVID restrictions begin to ease.

However, some say that lowrider culture has never really disappeared, but is rather attracting a legion of new fans.

'I hear people saying lowriding is making a comeback. It's never gone,' Juan Ramirez told The LA Times.

'But a lot of people are starting to adapt to this culture, t's crazy now.'

Lowrider Lona Aguire told the publication that cruise nights are about much more than just the flashy vehicles.

'It's all about fun the love of the care and the love of the culture,' she stated.

The Van Nuys Boulevard cruise night occurs once a month, and has attracted onlookers who 'post up on the sidewalk with folding chairs and coolers'

One vintage vehicle featured an extravagant paint job and wire spoke wheels, elevating its body up into the air

Cruise nights attract motorheads of both sexes and all ages. While lowriding culture originated in the Mexican American community, other cultures have also joined in on cruise nights

One excited driver inspects another car in his rearview mirror during the event on Saturday night

some say that lowrider culture has never really disappeared, but is rather attracting a legion of new fans
Twenty Indonesian fishermen have been saved from a submerged boat following a coordinated response by a Japanese fishing vessel and Australian authorities.

The vessel was sinking 670 nautical miles west off the coast of Perth, Western Australia, on Thursday when Indonesian authorities notified the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

After days stranded at sea Japanese fishing vessel FUKUSEKI MARU 15 arrived to assist the crew on Saturday who were then transferred to HMAS Anzac.

Twenty Indonesian fishermen were saved from submerged boat off Western Australia (pictured)

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority dropped life jackets to the fishermen and the ADF deployed life rafts to the crew on Friday.

A 33-year-old man had suffered a serious injury to his hand and was taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch, Western Australia, via helicopter for further treatment.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority Executive Director Response, Mark Morrow, said the rescue mission was an 'incredible achievement' by everyone involved.

'Yesterday, Japanese fishing vessel FUKUSEKI MARU 15 reached the Indonesian fishermen, whose boat was sinking, and was able to render assistance to those onboard,' Mr Morrow said.

'Their quick response was instrumental to the success of this time-sensitive mission.

After days stranded at sea, Japanese fishing vessel assisted crew on Saturday and were later transferred onto HMAS Anzac (pictured)

'HMAS Anzac was then able to arrive with medical and interpreter support for the rescued fishermen.

'The successful saving of 20 lives at sea is an incredible achievement of which all responding authorities should be proud. We appreciate the assistance of the Australian Defence Force and FV FUKUSEKI MARU 15 in this search and rescue mission.'

Defence Minister Peter said HMAS Anzac was hours away from docking after a recent mission as families waited at the wharf - before the ship was redirected.

'I also want to acknowledge the patience and goodwill of the families of Anzac's crew, who are now waiting longer to see their loved ones following a long deployment,' he said.

'We will have your sailors back with you as soon as possible.

'Their efforts in bad weather and high sea state should make all Australians proud. They helped save 20 lives.'
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Matt Hancock today defended the timing of travel restrictions on India but dodged questions on whether the decision was linked to Downing Street's planned trade mission as Labour urged the Government to delay the resumption of global travel tomorrow amid concerns over a third covid surge.

Critics have warned that tougher action should have been taken sooner against India, which was only added to the UK's 'red list' of banned destinations on April 23, two weeks after neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh - despite reports that the virus was bringing the country's health system to the brink of collapse.

The Health Secretary argued in a round of interviews that testing rates were lower in Pakistan at the time, and that the proportion of arrivals testing positive for covid was three times higher than from India.

But data from Public Health England shows that 4.8 per cent of the 3,345 people landing in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7 tested positive, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England.

Official figures also show Bolton and Blackburn are the most infectious parts of the country, with a doubling in cases in the past week largely as a result of the more transmissible Indian variant.

It is the latest statistic to be brandished at Mr Johnson, with pressure growing over his decision to delay banning travel from the Asian nation until late April amid allegations that he refrained from doing so for fear of offending Narendra Modi and torpedoing the chance to strike a major trade deal.

Labour chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper called for a 'slow down' in the easing of travel restrictions alongside her colleague Steve Reed, the Shadow Communities Secretary, who accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of 'not always following the science in the way he ought to be doing'.

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran alleged Mr Johnson 'put the pursuit of a post-Brexit trade deal with India ahead of public health', adding that a public inquiry must examine whether the decision was political or scientific.

Though SAGE scientist Professor John Edmunds urged the country not to panic over the new variant, which is not thought to be vaccine resistant, he admitted that the spread of the variant could have been delayed had the border to India been closed more quickly. This could prove to be critical as No10 accelerates its vaccine roll-out so that a million jabs are given out per day in a race against the variant.

Grim modelling by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine suggested that a 50 per cent increase in transmissibility could trigger a peak of 4,000 admissions per day in July or August, possibly extending to 6,000 per day

The LSHTM model suggested hospitals could have another 30,000 inpatients by the end of July - up to around 45,000

The LSHTM team suggested that there will be 1,000 deaths per day in August if the variant is 50 per cent more transmissible

People line up outside a mobile vaccination centre in Bolton amid the spread of the Indian covid variant

Matt Hancock pictured right. Pictured left, Labour MP and Chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper

Matt Hancock warns British holidaymakers to stay away from amber list countries like Spain, Italy, France and Greece British holidaymakers planning a desperate bolt for the sun from Monday should avoid countries on the UK's amber list even though they can visit them, Matt Hancock said today. The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, they should not unless it is 'absolutely necessary'. It came as ministers faced increasing questions over delays in putting India on the UK's red list, which critics say allowed the current Indian variant to gain a foothold in the UK. Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries - including Portugal - without having to quarantine on their return. But the vast majority of popular tourist destinations remain in the amber zone. This requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states. Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Daisy McAndrew on Times Radio today, Mr Hancock said: 'We have a green list where it's okay to go and that's why we've brought the green list in. 'But what I would say is that people should not travel to amber or red list countries unless it's absolutely necessary. And certainly not for holiday purposes.' Advertisement

Speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News, Mr Hancock said he believed it is 'quite likely' the Indian variant will become the dominant strain in the UK as official estimates suggest it could 50 per cent more transmissible.

'This variant was notified as a variant under investigation after we'd already put India on the red list,' the Health Secretary said. 'The decision to put India on the red list was taken because of the high positivity rate of people coming from India and looking at the epi-curve in India.

'When we put Pakistan on the red list at the start of April that's because the proportion of people testing positive coming in from Pakistan was three times higher the proportion coming from India, and it was only after we put India on the red list that this variant went under investigation, and then earlier this month it became a variant of concern.'

Mr Johnson's late April visit to India was postponed on the 19th of last month in light of the spiralling coronavirus crisis there. Asked about the impact of the Prime Minister's planned trip to India on the 'red list' decision, Mr Hancock replied: 'We take these decisions based on the evidence.'

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show this morning, Ms Cooper said: 'It's the Government which is ultimately in charge of this. Look at what they've done with the Indian variant - this was not inevitable. They should have put India on the red list at the same time as Pakistan and as Bangladesh.

'Since then we've had this three-week period in which thousands of people have returned from India, and that probably includes hundreds of the new Indian variant cases. I don't get why they're going ahead with lifting some of the international travel restrictions tomorrow. I think that they should be being much cautious about that.'

International travel should fully resume when there are safeguards against new variants, Ms Cooper added, but said the quarantine and surveillance measures should be 'much stronger'.

Mr Reed, the Shadow Communities Secretary, accused Mr Johnson of 'not always following the science in the way he ought to be doing' as he levelled: 'If the Government was prioritising the protection of the borders we may not even have this level of uncertainty.'

Thousands of people in Bolton today joined queues that went round the block as 'hit squads' went going door-to-door in the most infectious areas of England to offer entire multi-generational households inoculations.

Yesterday thousands of residents queued outside a mobile jabs centre to get a jab after it emerged there were 4,000 available that had to be used on the day. Today, huge numbers lined the streets near the Essa Academy school, a pop-up vaccine hub, to receive a covid vaccine.

NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group has urged anyone with a BL3 or BL4 postcode to attend as Mr Johnson pledged to increase the speed of Britain's vaccine roll-out to a million a day, with one person commenting: 'I can't believe how many people are here, it's crazy. They're queuing round the block for a jab.'

Critics have this weekend branded the delay to closing the borders 'reckless, misguided and dangerous' with 122 cases of the rapidly-spreading variant already entering the UK by the time India was finally added to the red list.

Matt Hancock told the Commons on April 19 the move was being made, but it didn't actually come into force until 4am on April 23, even though No10 sources previously said that countries could be added 'at a few hours' notice'.

Therefore, some fear a substantial number of travellers, potentially infected with the variant, could have arrived in the UK across that intervening period.

People line up outside a mobile vaccination centre in Bolton as the area's covid case rat surges in the past week

Vaccinations for thousands at the Essa Academy Bolton, Lancashire, as Bolton's case rate doubles in a week

An emergency meeting will be held by experts at the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies committee on Thursday after it was found that India's Covid variant is now dominant in five local authorities in England. There are mounting concerns that it is more infectious than the currently dominant Kent strain

Meanwhile, SAGE suggested the R rate for England had risen slightly to somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1, from a possible high of 1.0 last week. If the number is above one it will mean the outbreak is growing. The R rate - the number of people infected by each Covid case - is now almost redundant, however, because it is guaranteed to rise above one as lockdown is lifted and is particularly unreliable when case numbers are low

Matt Hancock warns British holidaymakers to stay away from amber list countries like Spain, Italy, France and Greece British holidaymakers planning a desperate bolt for the sun from Monday should avoid countries on the UK's amber list even though they can visit them, Matt Hancock said today. The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, they should not unless it is 'absolutely necessary'. It came as ministers faced increasing questions over delays in putting India on the UK's red list, which critics say allowed the current Indian variant to gain a foothold in the UK. Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries - including Portugal - without having to quarantine on their return. But the vast majority of popular tourist destinations remain in the amber zone. This requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states. Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Daisy McAndrew on Times Radio today, Mr Hancock said: 'We have a green list where it's okay to go and that's why we've brought the green list in. 'But what I would say is that people should not travel to amber or red list countries unless it's absolutely necessary. And certainly not for holiday purposes.' Advertisement

Cabinet Secretary Michael Gove has tried to make the case for harsher lockdown measures in areas like Bolton, hardest hit by the variant, but faced opposition in doing so by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, according to the Sunday Times.

Some have previously suggested that the delay was due to the Prime Minister's eagerness to keep relations strong with India, having planned a visit - which subsequently had to be cancelled - as part of efforts to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal.

The backlash has intensified over the last two days, even though Mr Johnson, and health minister Edward Argar, have tried to defend the delay since Friday's Downing Street briefing.

But amid dire warnings from SAGE, that as many as 1,000 deaths a day from the new variant could occur within months, the PM is looking to increase the pace of the jab rollout.

Stockpiles of more than three million vaccines will soon be accessed, meaning daily doses can firstly be increased from 500,000 to 800,000, and then further to a million a day over the summer, according to the Telegraph.

In a further boost, the medicines regulator is expected to rubber-stamp Johnson & Johnson's single-dose Janssen vaccine this week, thus giving health chiefs even more supplies to distribute.

While the government is prioritising topping up those who've already had one jab with a second dose, sources suggest people as young as 35 could be invited to receive a vaccine within days.

Mr Johnson will proceed as planned with tomorrow's reopening of pubs and restaurants for indoor dining, but has warned that the Indian variant poses 'a real risk of disruption' to the end of social distancing on June 21.

Figures released yesterday showed hospital admissions down 1.2 per cent in a week to 103, with deaths down 8.9 per cent to seven.

Positive tests were fractionally down on last Saturday's figure, at just over 2,000.

A total of 36,320,867 first doses of the vaccine have now been administered - 69 per cent of all adults in Britain - while second doses have reached 19,698,121.

The Government source added that there was 'no evidence' that vaccines were not effective against the Indian variant. Nevertheless, a growing number of experts have issued warnings over the major easing of restrictions tomorrow.

The Prime Minister was sticking by plans to allow mixing indoors and physical contact in England, with health minister Mr Argar insisting they are acting 'calmly' over the threat.

However, scientists urged for a delay in the third stage of the road map to easing the lockdown as medics described the step as a 'real worry' while many await vaccination.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies concluded there is a 'realistic possibility' the strain is 50 per cent more transmissible than the one that emerged in Kent.

If the higher transmissibility is confirmed, the experts said moving to step three could 'lead to a substantial resurgence of hospitalisations' that is 'similar to, or larger than, previous peaks'.

Sage's Professor Susan Michie said the Government should suspend the unlocking, the Sunday Times reported.

'If we are following data not dates, it is surprising that the road map is going ahead without adjustment,' the University College London academic said.

'Opening indoor hospitality venues has the potential to increase Covid-19 transmission.'

And Professor Kit Yates, a member of the Independent Sage committee of experts, suggested a delay of a fortnight would buy the nation valuable time to progress with the vaccine programme.

'The more people we can vaccinate, the safer we become,' he told the Observer.

'Even a couple of weeks at this point could make a huge difference in the face of this seemingly more transmissible variant. A pause would also buy us time to understand more about the properties of the variant, which would put us in a better position to plan what comes next.'

The BMA's public health medicine committee co-chairman Dr Richard Jarvis urged the public to take a 'cautious approach' to social and physical contact.

'It is a real worry that when further measures lift on May 17, the majority of younger people, who are often highly socially mobile and could therefore be most at risk of a more infectious strain, are not yet vaccinated,' he said.

Monday's easing in England will allow people to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will permit physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.

Ministers accept that plans to end all legal restrictions on June 21 are in jeopardy, but Mr Argar said the existing data suggests 'there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine'.

'So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review,' he told BBC Breakfast.

Official data on Saturday showed 68.6 per cent of UK adults had received a single dose of a vaccine, while 36.7 per cent had received both.

Over 35s in England will be invited to book their vaccinations this week, multiple newspapers reported, as second doses were accelerated for the over 50s and clinically vulnerable.

Surge testing is also under way in several places in England including areas of Bolton, Blackburn, Sefton and London.

Wish you were here? Italy reopens to tourists including sun-starved Brits TODAY as Matt Hancock warns holidaymakers to AVOID amber list European countries when foreign travel restarts tomorrow over Covid transmission fears

Italy opened its doors to British tourists desperate for a dose of Mediterranean sun today - just as Matt Hancock warned holidaymakers to avoid Europe for the time being.

Rome today lifted a five-day quarantine requirement for visitors from the UK, other EU states and Israel who pass a Covid test as they seek to kick-start the tourist industry.

But as visitors began to flock back to hotspots including Venice the Health Secretary attempted to slam shut the door to Europe when foreign travel for UK nationals restarts.

Mr Hancock warned British holidaymakers planning a desperate bolt for the sun from tomorrow they should avoid countries on the UK's amber list, including Italy.

On a Sunday media round he said that due to the rate of Covid cases on the continent countries like Spain, France and Greece should not be visited unless it is 'absolutely necessary'.

Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, British holidaymakers can travel to a small list of 12 green list countries - including Portugal - without having to quarantine on their return.

But the vast majority of popular tourist destinations - including Italy - remain in the amber zone. This requires them to quarantine for 14 days at home upon return, but they avoid the expensive hotel quarantine required for people visiting red list states.

Boris Johnson last week conceded that the ranking system was unlikely to be altered in the near future.

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Daisy McAndrew on Times Radio today, Mr Hancock said: 'We have a green list where it's okay to go and that's why we've brought the green list in.

'But what I would say is that people should not travel to amber or red list countries unless it's absolutely necessary. And certainly not for holiday purposes.'

It came as ministers faced increasing questions over delays in putting India on the UK's red list, which critics say allowed the current Indian variant to gain a foothold in the UK.

But as visitors began to flock back to hotspots including Venice the Health Secretary attempted to slam shut the door to Europe when foreign travel for UK nationals restarts tomorrow.

Authorities in Rome today lifted a five-day quarantine requirement for visitors from the UK, other EU states and Israel who pass a Covid test as they seek to kick-start the tourist industry.

The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, he urged against it unless 'absolutely necessary.

Under a traffic light system that comes into effect tomorrow, the vast majority of popular tourist destinations like Spain (Grand Canaria in the Canary Islands pictured) remain in the amber zone. This requires visitors to quarantine for 14 days at home upon their return.

Downing Street released the full list of countries on green, amber and red lists ahead of a loosening of restrictions tomorrow

The Health Secretary said that although nations like Spain, Italy, France and Greece can be visited if people are willing to quarantine at home afterwards, he urged against it unless 'absolutely necessary'.

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

Asked why the Government did not just add amber countries to the red list if they were that bad, Mr Hancock said: 'There are lots of different reasons and really acute reasons that people have to travel.

'For instance people have dying relatives abroad. And then we have the amber list and the red list for the type of isolation you need to go into when you come home.

'And everybody goes through a testing regime, whether you're in green, amber, or red, so that we can spot the new variants and spot a problem in the other country.'

Travel firms have reported a surge in demand for trips to Portugal, after the Government put the country on its green list for travel.

EasyJet has added 105,000 extra seats to its flights serving green-tier destinations, while Tui will use aircraft which normally operate long-haul routes to accommodate the surge of people booked to fly to Portugal.

Only a dozen countries and territories are on the green list but most are either remote islands or do not currently allow UK tourists to enter.

Meanwhile an Oxford University medical expert told the same programme that UK holidaymakers should forget about foreign holidays this year.

Regius Professor of Medicine Sir John Bell: I don't think anybody's going on a holiday, except in the UK'

Regius Professor of Medicine Sir John Bell cautioned that there are 'broad swathes of Europe that are largely unvaccinated' and are therefore 'pretty vulnerable to new variants, be it Indian or otherwise, sweeping across the continent'.

'I don't think anybody's going on a holiday, except in the UK, because I think there will be pretty substantial border controls,' he said.

'And I think that's probably a legitimate position to take. But if you want to go to the Falkland Islands, good luck to you...

'Having people flying around and coming back with whatever local variant they run into, that is not a good idea.

'People just have to get used to the fact that Cornwall or Bournemouth or wherever is not so bad.

'And they should just enjoy the summer and then we can get back to this properly when things settle down.'

But the boss of British Airways today called on the Government to reunite Britons with their families overseas by urgently opening up air travel to low-risk countries.

In a rallying cry to Ministers, Sean Doyle said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a 'compelling case' for putting them on the green list for quarantine-free travel from early next month.

In a rallying cry to Ministers, Sean Doyle said data on vaccination and infection rates for countries including the US, Spain and Greece made a 'compelling case' for putting them on the green list for quarantine-free travel from early next month

Many were missing out on key family milestones such as the birth of a first grandchild or a parent's funeral, he said (file photo)

The BA chief executive said the six million British expatriates around the world were desperate to see their loved ones after 'a very tough 14 months'.

He revealed that he had received letters from BA customers sharing what he called the 'tragic human circumstances' of being unable to fly abroad.

Many were missing out on key family milestones such as the birth of a first grandchild or a parent's funeral, he said.

Mr Doyle told The Mail on Sunday: 'You've got people who have got elderly or frail parents they have been unable to see.

'You've also got people who have suffered bereavements who haven't been able to come back and grieve.

'These are massively emotional situations people are finding themselves in, and I think as people get vaccinated, as infections fall, one of the things people want to do first is to get out and reconnect with loved ones.

'When travel can be safely opened up, that's something we would be very keen to enable.'
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Israel claims to have shared 'smoking gun' evidence with the US that Hamas used the destroyed building that housed The Associated Press and Al Jazeera in Gaza City, as news organizations demand answers.

Government officials said the Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu shared a 'smoking gun' with US President Joe Biden in their phone call on Saturday.

A source close to Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said: 'We showed them the smoking gun proving Hamas worked out of that building'. He added Biden had 'found the explanation satisfactory', without providing details of the evidence.

He said the intelligence had not been shared more widely because the US were the only country to request more information on the strike on the Al-Jalaa building, the Jerusalem Post reported.

The Israeli Air Force dropped three bombs on the building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust, on Saturday afternoon after giving journalists a one hour warning to evacuate the premises.

Israel has claimed to have evidence Hamas operated from the Gaza city building housing the offices of the Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera, and other media outlets

Gaza: The bomb seen hurtling towards the building. Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building

A view of a 11-story building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City is seen moments after an Israeli airstrike

The strike destroyed the Gaza offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, which has covered events in the Strip from the building for 15 years

Government officials said the Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu shared a 'smoking gun' with US President Joe Biden in their phone call on Saturday. Sources said Biden 'found the explanation satisfactory'

IDF spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said the force had been 'very clear' about the evidence on which the strike was based.

He said 'a Hamas research and development unit, Hamas military intelligence, and offices of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization' were housed in the building.

'A building that has Hamas and Islamic Jihad assets in it needs to be brought down', he said, adding he hoped the strike would deter Islamist organizations from using media offices as human shields in the future.

On Sunday, the United States told the United Nations Security Council it has made clear to Israel and the Palestinians that it is ready to offer support 'should the parties seek a ceasefire'.

'The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict,' U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council. 'Because we believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security.'

As the Security Council held its first public meeting - after two private briefings last week - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's campaign in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza was continuing at 'full force'.

Washington - a strong ally of Israel - has been isolated at the United Nations over its objection to a public statement by the Security Council on the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in years because it worries it could harm behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

'We call upon the U.S. to shoulder its responsibilities, take a just position, and together with most of the international community support the Security Council in easing the situation,' said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired Sunday's meeting because China is president for May.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is 'actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire' and called on them 'to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed.'

On Saturday, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus made similar claims Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development.

He said 'a highly advanced technological tool' that the militant group used in the fighting was 'within or on the building.'

But, Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without 'compromising' intelligence efforts. He added, however: 'I think it's a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.'

During a call on Saturday, Biden told Netanyahu he continues to support Israel's right to defend itself but expressed concern over deaths on both sides.

'He raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection,' the White House said.

Biden also reaffirmed the United States 'strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas' in his call with Netanyahu.

At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

The IDF said in a statement: 'The building housed the offices of civilian media, which the terrorist organisation Hamas hides behind and uses as human shields,

'The terror organization Hamas deliberately places its military assets in the heart of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.'

The Israeli military has not yet provided any evidence to back up the claims.

Israel 'destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices,' Al Jazeera said in a tweet. It was reported the army had warned the tower's owner ahead of the strike on Saturday

A thick column of black smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 15

The aftermath following the Israeli strike, which destroyed Jala Tower - a 13-floor building housing Al Jazeera television and Associated Press

A thick column of black smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on May 15

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed on May 15. Israeli air strikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a key media building

A Palestinian policeman looks on at the rubble of the building that house the Associated Press and Al Jazeera's offices in Gaza City after it was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike

Smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it collapses after being bombed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Saturday, May 15

The Associated Press and Al Jazeera both condemned the strike.

Sally Buzbee, AP's executive editor, has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike.

She said the Israeli government has yet to provide clear evidence for why they bombed the press building.

'We are in a conflict situation,' Buzbee said. 'We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we don't know what that evidence is.'

'We think it's appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation,' she added.

'The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,' AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement.

'We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.'

'This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,' he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

'We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.'

But some are skeptical an office of reporters were completely unaware they were sharing a building with Hamas militants.

'Difficult to believe this crew turned out to be renting office space in a Hamas building,' Sen. Ted Cruz's, R-Texas, tweeted.

'Doesn't say much for their reporting abilities if they missed a Hamas staging office a floor away,' a Twitter user commented.

A 2014 piece by a former AP reporter turned Atlantic reporter suggested that reporters were aware of Hamas activity but wouldn't report it.

'When Hamas's leaders surveyed their assets before this summer's round of fighting, they knew that among those assets was the international press. The AP staff in Gaza City would witness a rocket launch right beside their office, endangering reporters and other civilians nearbyand the AP wouldn't report it,' Matti Friedman wrote.

He claimed that Hamas fighters would regularly 'burst into the AP's Gaza bureau and threaten the staffand the AP wouldn't report it.'

For AP journalists, it was a difficult moment. Most of the staff has been sleeping in the bureau, throughout the current round of fighting, believing that the offices of an international news agency were one of the few safe places in Gaza

An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in the Gaza Strip, at the Israel-Gaza border on Saturday

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Malek Hamdan who was killed in clashes with Israeli forces, during his funeral in the village of Salem, near of the West Bank city of Nablus,

Family members who live in the al-Jala tower, a high-rise housing AP and other media offices, flee the building before Israeli airstrikes

Pictured: Palestinian protesters burn an Israeli flag in the occupied-West Bank town of Bethlehem on May 15,2021, as they commemorate the Nakba, the 'catastrophe' of Israel's creation in 1948

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike struck the Andalus Tower in Gaza city, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 15, 2021

Pictured: Medical personnel from a Palestinian Ambulance carry a Palestinian man who was shot and killed in his vehicle by Israeli soldiers, near the Fawwar refugee camp, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, 15 May 2021

Fire erupts from the Andalus Tower as it is destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, early on May 16, 2021. Israel pummelled the Gaza Strip with air strikes, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing a building housing international media outlets

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt 'somewhat safe.'

'The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so it's less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down,' Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

Akram said he was resting in an upstairs room when he heard panicked screams from colleagues about the evacuation order. Staffers hastily gathered basic equipment, including laptops and cameras before fleeing downstairs.

'I am heartbroken,' Akram said. 'You feel like you are at home. Above all, you have your memories, your friends. You spend most of your time there.'

For AP journalists, it was a difficult moment. Most of the AP staff has been sleeping in the bureau, which includes four bedrooms in an upstairs apartment, throughout the current round of fighting, believing that the offices of an international news agency were one of the few safe places in Gaza.

In a territory crippled by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade, it was equipped with a generator that offered the rare comforts of electricity, air conditioning and running water.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents some 400 journalists working for international media organisations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, expressed its 'grave concern and dismay' over the attack.

'Knowingly causing the destruction of the offices of some of the world's largest and most influential news organisations raises deeply worrying questions about Israel's willingness to interfere with the freedom of the press,' it said. 'The safety of other news bureaus in Gaza is now in question.'

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the attack raises concerns that Israel is targeting the media 'to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza.' He demanded 'detailed and documented justification' for the attack.

The International Press Institute, a global network of journalists and media executives, condemned the attack as a 'gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms.'

Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed 'unwavering support' for AP and Pruitt terming the wires agency's coverage of conflict zones 'indispensable'

A fireball and smoke billow up into the air during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeting the Ansar compound, linked to the Hamas movement, in the Gaza Strip early on May 15

Palestinians take part in the funeral of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City on May 15 - an extended family of 10 who were killed early in an Israeli air strike on the western Gaza Strip

This morning, photographs, which are too graphic to publish, show dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after Israeli air strikes last night. Other pictures show rescuers helping injured children from bombed out homes (pictured)

Excavators work to clear the rubble at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza. Israli military last night targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. Sinwar is the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory. The Israeli military also launched a strike on the home of his brother

Israeli security forces and emergency services work on a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ramat Gan

A woman surveys the damage in her home after it was struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel

People take cover in a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza strip, after their building was hit by a rocket couple of minutes before, in Ramat Gan, central Israel

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones amid clashes with Israeli security forces near the Hawara checkpoint south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on May 15, 2021, as Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the 'catastrophe' of Israel's creation in 1948, which turned hundreds of thousands into refugee

The baby boy is reported to have been found next to the body of his deceased mother. Hamas militants responded by firing more rockets into Israel as their battle entered a fifth consecutive night and a US envoy arrived for talks

A damaged building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City, today. Crowds can be seen gathering around the remains of the building

Israel last night targeted the home of a top Hamas leader, as its president vowed to continue launching airstrikes on Gaza. Pictured: Smoke rises following air strikes in Gaza

Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed 'unwavering support' for AP and Pruitt terming the wires agency's coverage of conflict zones 'indispensable'.

For 15 years, the AP's top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israel's conflicts with Gaza's Hamas rulers, including wars in 2009 and 2014.

The news agency's camera offered 24-hour live shots as militants' rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a 'war crime' and a 'clear act' to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict.

'The aim of this heinous crime is to silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza,' he said in a statement.

Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatars government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.

'This channel will not be silenced. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,' Halla Mohieddeen. on-air anchorperson for Al-Jazeera English said, her voice thick with emotion. 'We can guarantee you that right now.'

A Palestinian firefighter speaks to colleagues following an Israeli strike on Rafah town in the southern Gaza Strip on May 15

Palestinians inspect the damages following Israeli air strikes in Gaza City amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence on May 15

A man gestures as he prepares with others to bury the bodies of Palestinian children and their mother from the Al-Hadidi family, who were killed amid a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence, during their funeral at a cemetery on May 15

Palestinians inspect their destroyed houses following overnight Israeli airstrikes in town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, on May 14

Palestinians work at the site of destroyed houses in the aftermath of Israeli air and artillery strikes as cross-border violence between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants continues

A Palestinian man carries the corpse of a toddler, killed in what was believed to have been an Israeli air strike, before his burial in Beit Lahya in the northern Gaza Strip

Damage to buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip is seen on Friday morning after a heavy night of bombing from Israel

As the crisis in the Middle East deepened, and with rocket strikes having now taken place for almost a week, Israeli military chiefs last night launched a missile strike on the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. Pictured: People walk past debris in the street after an Israeli air strike

A Palestinian man mourns over the bodies of a family member killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday. According to the Gaza health ministry, 174 Palestinians have died since the start of the conflict on Monday

Shocking pictures have shown dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after another night of air strikes in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Pictured: An injured child is pulled from the wreckage of a home in Gaza following an Israeli air strike

Palestinian firefighters evacuate families from the balcony of a building whose entrance is blocked by rubble after intensive bombardments on Gaza

Israeli beachgoers rush towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Israeli beachgoers take cover in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 following the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip

Tel Aviv residents fled for cover amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said

Tel Aviv: Israeli beachgoers are seen rushing towards shelters in Tel Aviv. Rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement towards Israel

Israeli beachgoers and a dog are seen rushing towards shelters in the central city of Tel Aviv on May 15 after the launching of rockets

Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians protest along Lebanon-Israel border Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians have protested along the Lebanon-Israel border, with some climbing a border wall and triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person. The protest on Saturday evening in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh saw hundreds marching and waving Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow flags of the militant Hezbollah group. Some protesters climbed a high border wall where they placed Palestinian and Hezbollah flags. Supporters of Hezbollah and the Palestinian revolution faction climb the wall during protest at the Al Odaisseh area opposite the Al-Mutaleh Israeli settlement at the Lebanese border with Israel, 15 May 2021 Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops fired warning shots near Adaisseh, wounding one person who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Lebanese and Palestinians from around Lebanon have been heading to the border to protest against Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past days. On Friday, Israeli troops opened fire at protesters who crossed a border fence, killing a 21-year-old Hezbollah member. Earlier Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border. Advertisement

A video broadcast by Al-Jazeera showed the building's owner, Jawwad Mahdi, pleading over the phone with an Israeli intelligence officer to wait 10 minutes to allow journalists to go inside the building to retrieve valuable equipment before it is bombed.

'All I'm asking is to let four people ... to go inside and get their cameras,' he said. 'We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you don't allow it, but give us 10 minutes.' When the officer rejected the request, Mahdi said, 'You have destroyed our life's work, memories, life. I will hang up, do what you want. There is a God.'

Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.

'The targeting of news organisations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms,' Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel 'provide a detailed and documented justification' for the strike.

'This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the spectre that the Israel Defence Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza,' the group's executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

'Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks,' Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday.

'It's really difficult to wake up one day and then you realise that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that you've had.'

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

'The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone.' the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said.

'A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.'

Both news organisations have demanded an explanation for the airstrikes, which also sparked widespread protests across the United States. Model Bella Hadid was seen among those on the streets of Brooklyn.

Groups gathered to show solidarity with Palestinians in cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan on Saturday.

About two thousand people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, chanting 'Free, free Palestine' and 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.'

They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read 'End Israeli Apartheid' and 'Freedom for Gaza.'

Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said 'Not in my name' and 'Solidarity with Palestine' as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

A few dozen police officers looked on at the peaceful protest, dubbed 'Defend Palestine.

BOSTON: Thousands gather during a rally to support Palestine at Copley Square in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday

LOS ANGELES: Demonstrators holding signs and the flag of Palestine march to the Israeli Consulate during a protest against Israel and in support of Palestinians during the current conflict in the Middle East, in the Westwood area of LA

Bella Hadid joins with protestors Brooklyn to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in New York on Saturday

NEW YORK CITY: Activists supporting Palestine block traffic on Interstate 278 Saturday, in New York

BOSTON: Thousands of protesters rally to support Palestine at Copley Square on May 15, calling for an end to international and US funding of the Israeli military

BOSTON: Protesters held placards calling on the US and international community to grant and protect Palestinian freedom

BROOKLYN: Protests are taking place worldwide against Israel as a result of recently escalated actions towards the Palestinian people

BROOKLYN: People gather in Brooklyn to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in New York City

WASHINGTON D.C.: Jewish demonstrators show their solidarity with Palestinians over the ongoing conflict with Israel

DEARBORN, MICHIGAN: Protestors speak out against the Israeli army in Gaza as well as the forced removal of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem

BROOKLYN: The Gowanus Expressway was blocked because of the protests on Saturday night

Thousands rally in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to stand with Palestinians calling for the end of what they see as an illegal occupation by Israel

Some Orthodox Jews also appeared to show support for the Palestinian community by attending rallies in Brooklyn, New York, on Nabka Day on Saturday
An Arizona mother told a police officer that she was 'hearing voices telling her to kill her kids' just hours before police found her two young children dead.

The mom, later identified as 40-year-old Yui Inoue, flagged down a Tempe, Arizona police officer as he was heading out for patrol around 7am Saturday when she made the jarring statement, Tempe Police Sgt. Steven Carbajal during a press conference.

Officers raced to her apartment - about 11 miles outside of Phoenix - and found a nine-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy dead 'with obvious signs of physical trauma,' Carbajal said. He didn't elaborate further.

'It was a very tragic what officers encountered, and we're trying to support the father and our officers right now,' Carbajal said. 'Our officers are really struggling.'

Tempe, Arizona police officers found two children - ages nine and seven - dead after their mom told them she was hearing voices

Tempe, Arizona Police Sgt. Steven Carbajal said the children's dad and his officers were visibly shaken up by this incident

Police were called to the same apartment about 6.5 hours earlier for a domestic call, but officers separated the parents and saw the children were fine

Tempe police in Arizona, about 11 miles outside of Phoenix, tweeted this Saturday evening

Inoue was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, Carbajal said in a statement Saturday night.

The kids' mom, Yui Inoue said she was hearing voices before he allegedly killed her two young kids

Officers responded to a domestic call from the apartment around 12:30am the same morning because the mom and dad were fighting, Carbajal said.

Police separated the couple, checked on the children, who who were fine at the time, and left the scene when tensions settled down, he said.

'It didn't seem like there was an immediate threat to the children,' Carbajal said. 'Parents, couples, argue and they have disagreements, and they have issues that come up' that often don't require that type of intervention.

The children's father wasn't home at the time of the incident and is not considered a suspect, the Arizona Republic reported.

Carbajal said the father 'broke down' when police told him what happened to the children, according to the local newspaper.

Police told the Arizona Republic that they don't have any previous records of domestic calls to the house.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended his attacks on the Gaza strip, saying a country has a right to defend itself, and argued the United States knows 'd**n well' it would do the same thing.

In a defiant interview on CBS' Face the Nation, Netanyahu denied any political motivation for the attacks that have left 174 Palestinians dead, including 47 children. In Israel, 10 people have been killed in total, including two children, with barrages of rockets fired from Gaza.

'I think any country has to defend itself, and we'll do whatever it takes to restore order and the security of our people,' he said.

He argued he was fighting Hamas, a terrorist organization that hid behind civilians, as tensions rose between Israelis and Palestinians to levels not seen since a 2014 war.

'Frankly, if Hamas thought that they could just fire on our rockets and then sit back and enjoy immunity, that's false. We are targeting a terrorist organization that is targeting our civilians and hiding behind their civilians, using them as human shields. We're doing everything we can to hit the terrorists themselves, their rockets their rocket caches and their arms, but we're not going to just let them get away with it,' he said.

And, when pressed on the issue, he snapped back to interviewer John Dickinson.

'What would you do if it happened to Washington and New York? You know d**n well what you'd do,' Netanyahu said.

With the conflict between Israel and Palestine entering its seventh day, the international community is stepping up: the United Nations Security Council met on Sunday. And President Joe Biden spoke on Saturday with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to restore calm.

U.S. Sec. of State Blinken says Israel has an extra burden to avoid civilian casualties in response to attacks. PM Netanyahu argues Israeli forces are meeting it: The Israeli army is second to none in seeking to minimize civilian casualties while protecting our own civilians. pic.twitter.com/toJX0gRTym  Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 16, 2021

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his attacks on the Gaza strip to an American audience, appearing on CBS' Face the Nation

Israel targeted the home of a top Hamas leader, as its president vowed to continue launching airstrikes on Gaza. Pictured: Smoke rises following air strikes in Gaza

Netanyahu, meanwhile, denied his actions were about staying in power.

'That's preposterous,' he said.

'Anybody who knows me knows that I've never, ever subordinated security concerns, the life of our soldiers the life of our citizens for political interests, that's just hogwash,' he added.

'I'll do what I have to do to protect the lives of Israeli citizens and to restore peace and make peace with for our countries. I'm glad that we have a restoration of some considerable calm within Israel. That's my goal to restore peace and quiet and to assure tranquility,' he noted.

Among the Israeli targets was a high-rise that housed media outlets including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) - the country's military - defended the destruction of the building, saying it was a legitimate military target, containing Hamas military offices, and that it had given warnings to civilians to get out of the building before the attack.

Netanyahu said it was a 'perfectly legitimate target.'

There was 'an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization housed in that building that plots and organizes terror attacks against Israeli civilians so it's a perfectly legitimate target,' he told CBS.

The Israeli prime minister said it wasn't luck that no one was killed in that strike but because people in the building were warned ahead of the attack.

'It wasn't luck. It's because we took special pains to call people in those buildings to make sure that the premises were vacated. And that's why we brought down that building,' he said.

He also said the information regarding the attack had been shared with U.S. authorities.

But the strike was condemned by Al Jazeera and the AP, which asked the Israelis to put forward evidence.

'AP's bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building,' the news organization said. 'We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.'

A series of attacks on Sunday morning escalated the situation with world leaders expressing concern about the on-going battle as Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli fighter jets struck several sites in the densely populated Gaza Strip, with one strike on a three-storey building in the Shati refugee camp killed 10 members of an extended family - two mothers and their four children each. Israel's army claimed the building was used by senior Hamas officials.

This morning, photographs, which are too graphic to publish, show dead children being pulled from the wreckage of homes in Gaza after Israeli air strikes last night. Other pictures show rescuers helping injured children from bombed out homes (pictured)

Excavators work to clear the rubble at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza. Israli military last night targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. Sinwar is the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory. The Israeli military also launched a strike on the home of his brother

Meanwhile, as Palestinian rocket salvoes hit coastal Tel Aviv, beach-goers in Israel's second most populous city were seen running for shelter, some taking cover by lying down on the floor against walls.

Biden expressed 'strong support' for Israel's strikes in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas missile attacks on its territory, but raised concerns about civilian casualties and the protection of journalists in his call with Netanyahu.

The White House said Biden on Saturday also shared his 'grave concern' about intercommunal violence within Israel and escalating tensions in the West Bank. Biden and Netanyahu also discussed Jerusalem, with Biden saying it should 'be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds.'

Hamas began its rocket assault on Monday after weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near the city's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Speaking to crowds of protesters in the Qatari capital of Doha, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday the fighting was primarily about Jerusalem.

'The Zionists thought ... they could demolish Al-Aqsa mosque. They thought they could displace our people in Sheikh Jarrah,' said Haniyeh.

'I say to Netanyahu: do not play with fire,' he continued, amid cheers from the crowd. 'The title of this battle today, the title of the war, and the title of the intifada, is Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem,' using the Arabic word for 'uprising'.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza since Monday, the Israeli military said on Saturday. It said about 1,000 were intercepted by missile defences and 380 fell into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 air and artillery strikes into the densely populated coastal strip, saying they were aimed at Hamas and other militant targets.

The bombardments have sent columns of smoke above Gaza City and lit up the enclave's night sky.
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Boris Johnson has condemned acts of 'shameful racism' after a convoy of cars bearing Palestinian flags drove through a Jewish community in north London while the passengers screamed 'f*** their mothers, f*** their daughters'.

Metropolitan Police confirmed that four arrests were made after one of the cars was stopped at around 6.30pm on Sunday. Footage on social media had showed the vehicles passing down Finchley Road with passengers heard to shout offensive language and threats against Jews.

Onlookers were left horrified after the convoy yelled: 'F*** the Jews... F*** all of them. F*** their mothers, f*** their daughters and show your support for Palestine. Rape their daughters and we have to send a message like that. Please do it for the poor children in Gaza.'

A police spokesman said officers received reports of people shouting anti-Semitic abuse from a car travelling within a convoy of vehicles through the St John's Wood area on the afternoon of Sunday, 16 May.

'Four men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences. They were taken into custody at a west London police station where they remain,' the spokesman said.

While 'appalling' incidents of antisemitism have been reported, many peaceful pro-Palestinian protests have taken place across Britain - amid rising tensions in Israel. Officers engaged with protesters at a planned demonstration on Whitehall during the afternoon. 'The event passed peacefully and concluded without any arrests,' police said.

It comes amid reports that a senior London rabbi was attacked by two youths near his Essex synagogue.

Rabbi Rafi Goodwin's injuries are being assessed in King George's Hospital after he suffered cuts to his head and around one eye, following the attack in the Limes Estate area - which is not believed to be linked to world events, Jewish News reports.

An email sent to members of the community this evening said: 'From the description of how the incident started, it does not, at this point appear to be an antisemitic attack.'

An Essex Police spokesman told MailOnline officers attended Limes Avenue shortly after 1.15pm today following reports of a religiously-aggravated assault on a man in his 30s in Chigwell.

A convoy of cars bearing the Palestinian flag drove through a Jewish community in north London today while the passengers screamed 'f*** their mothers, f*** their daughters

Onlookers were left horrified after the convoy yelled: ''F*** all of them. F*** their mothers, f*** their daughters and show your support for Palestine. Rape their daughters and we have to send a message like that. Please do it for the poor children in Gaza'

Prime Minister Mr Johnson Tweeted: 'There is no place for anti-Semitism in our society. Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britain's Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today'

While 'appalling' incidents of antisemitism have been reported, many peaceful pro-Palestinian protests have taken place across Britain - amid rising tensions in Israel. Pictured: Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn addresses the crowd in Bonn Square at the 'Speak up for Palestine' demonstration held in Oxford

'It is believed that two teenagers stepped out in front of the victim's vehicle whilst he was driving, they shouted at him and spoke in a derogatory way about his religion before going on to damage his car,' the spokesman added.

Rabbi Rafi Goodwin's injuries are being assessed in King George's Hospital after he suffered cuts to his head and around one eye, following the attack in the Limes Estate area, Jewish News reports

'When he got out of his car to confront them, he was attacked with an unknown object causing him to require hospital treatment. During the attack the victim's phone was also stolen. The two boys  believed to be aged between 15 and 18  are believed to have left the scene on foot.

'They have both been described as being of Asian ethnicity, one was 5ft 9ins tall and wore his hair in an Afro-style and the other was described as being 5ft 7ins tall.

'Both wore black jackets and the latter wore grey tracksuit bottoms. We know that this incident may be concerning for those in the local area, and we are working quickly to identify those responsible and to liaise with community leaders for any further support for those impacted.'

It is not suggested that the assault was motivated by the current conflict in Israel

The Finchley Road footage, along with other incidents that have emerged following large pro-Palestine rallies over the weekend, has received cross-party criticism.

Prime Minister Mr Johnson Tweeted: 'There is no place for anti-Semitism in our society. Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britain's Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today.'

TORY MP CRITICISED FOR 'PRIMITIVES' TWEET Tory MP Michael Fabricant has been criticised for describing pro-Palestine demonstrators clashing with police as 'primitives'. Anti-racism campaign Hope Not Hate called for the Conservative Party to suspend the backbencher on Sunday, accusing him of 'hateful racism that stirs up division'. Largely peaceful demonstrations took place across the UK over the weekend in solidarity with the people of Palestine, as Israel and Hamas exchange rocket fire in a deadly conflict. The MP for Lichfield shared a video of clashes with police outside the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday. He tweeted: 'These primitives are trying to bring to London what they do in the Middle East.' Mr Fabricant deleted the message after it drew criticism on social media. Hope Not Hate said: 'The tense situation requires steady leadership from people who want to bring communities together, not hateful racism that stirs up division. The Conservatives must suspend Michael Fabricant for this disgraceful comment.' Director of the British Future think-tank Sunder Katwala tweeted: 'Anybody who realises that it is racist to hold British Jews responsible for Israeli policy should also be able recognise the racism here in Michael Fabricant's tweet.' Mr Fabricant sought to justify the comments, saying that 'attacks on the British police as shown in the video are disgraceful'. He told the PA news agency: 'It is primitive behaviour by people who preach anti-Semitism or racism of any kind, whether they be Jewish, Christian or Muslim. 'And the sort of anti-Semitism displayed by Hamas in the Middle East must not be repeated here in the UK.' Mr Fabricant's remarks came as video from a separate demonstration in the capital appeared to show anti-Semitic abuse being shouted from a car on Sunday in footage that drew criticism from across the political spectrum, including from Boris Johnson. 'There is no place for antisemitism in our society,' the Prime Minister tweeted. The Metropolitan Police said nine officers were injured as they attempted to disperse crowds outside the embassy on Saturday and 13 arrests were made. The Conservative Party is yet to respond to a request for comment. Advertisement

Superintendent Jo Edwards, in charge of the policing operation, said: 'This behaviour was utterly shocking and will not be tolerated. I understand that this would have caused considerable concern within the community and we have arranged extra patrols in the St John's Wood and Golders Green areas this evening.'

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: 'Hate crimes are inexcusable and have no place in our city. I've been in touch with the Met Police Commissioner about the appalling reports of antisemitic attacks this weekend.

'Londoners can expect to see high visibility police patrols, and the Met Police have been working closely with the Community Security Trust. My team and I will continue to monitor the situation closely.

The incident comes after thousands of people marched through London on Saturday to the gates of the Israeli embassy, while protests took place in other cities across the UK and Ireland in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee their homes after a week of sustained conflict.

Since Monday night, Palestinian militant group Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, whose military responded by barraging the Gaza Strip with tank fire and air strikes.

Mike Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, said: 'The scenes I've witnessed in my constituency today have left me sick to my stomach.

'The blatant and open anti-Semitism on display today, deliberately targeting areas with large Jewish populations is nothing short of incitement and I have urgently raised the matter with the Home Secretary, Commissioner and Mayor.'

Home Secretary Priti Patel also described the scenes as 'disgusting anti-Semitism'.

'There is no place for this hatred in the UK,' she tweeted.

'I expect @metpoliceuk to be taking this seriously.'

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq condemned the 'horrifying' scenes of anti-Semitism in Finchley, adding that there is 'no place' for 'vile hate speech'.

Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, tweeted: 'I have seen the footage of horrifying antisemitic behaviour on the Finchley Road in my constituency.

'It has been referred to the police and I hope action can and will be taken. This vile hate speech has no place in Hampstead and Kilburn or anywhere else.'

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, told MailOnline: 'This convoy and demonstration were utterly predictable and preventable. They have been advertised for a week.

'Jews have had to witness the shocking reality that in 2021, people can drive through the capital of our country calling for our daughters to be raped, with nobody in sight to protect us or take action.

'There must be an immediate police crackdown on those responsible for these acts of Jew-hatred, and an inquiry into why the Metropolitan Police Service permitted these protests to go ahead without proper measures in place to stop this criminality, in full knowledge that today's scenes were likely to the point of certainty.

'Britain's Jews will not wait until this persistent antisemitic incitement leads to violence. We pray that it will not take bloodshed on our streets before the authorities realise they have let this go too far. These antisemitic thugs must face the full force of the law.'

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators scuffle with police during a demonstration in London on Sunday

A group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators crowd around a group of police officers who were forced to stand against their van

The Metropolitan Police confirmed they have launched an urgent probe into the incident.

'We are aware of a video appearing to show anti-Semitic language being shouted from a convoy of cars in the St John's Wood area this afternoon,' the Met Police said. 'Officers are carrying out urgent enquiries to identify those responsible. This sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.'

JEWISH COMMUNITY 'AFRAID ANTI-SEMITIC THREATS COULD TURN INTO ACTIONS' Members of the Jewish community are 'very afraid' that 'threats could turn into actions', a rabbi has said, in the wake of an anti-Semitic incident in London. A video, shared on social media, showed a convoy of cars covered with Palestinian flags passing down Finchley Road in north London, with passengers showing offensive language and threats against Jews. Four men have been arrested, the Metropolitan Police said on Sunday evening. Rabbi Herschel Gluck told the PA news agency: 'People are very concerned and very afraid about where this will lead. 'There is always the fear that threats could turn into actions.' He added: 'It is very important to emphasise in London that the Muslim and Jewish communities stand shoulder to shoulder and in a great spirit of solidarity. There aren't tensions locally, all these tensions are coming from people who have never seen a Jew and they are coming from outside London. 'I think it is important to stress that the Muslim and Jewish communities in London do not have any issues. 'The friendship and cooperation between our communities are as strong as ever.' The Metropolitan Police said the vehicle involved had been identified and the force was making enquiries to locate the occupants. In Chigwell on Sunday morning, an assistant rabbi was attacked a short distance from his synagogue, suffering blows to the head and face. Mr Gluck said: 'Whenever a person is attacked like this, it touches me deeply. The person themselves, their families, their congregation, and their friends are all affected by this. Even though it is an individual, it has much broader and wider ramifications.' He continued: 'At the moment, of course, we don't know what the motives are. But we are living in a time when, because of the situation in the Middle East, everyone is nervous, everyone is scared, everyone is concerned. 'People feel very insecure at the moment because of the heightened tensions in the world.' Advertisement

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer described the incident as 'utterly disgusting.'

'Anti-Semitism, misogyny and hate have no place on our streets or in our society,' he said. 'There must be consequences.'

Referring to the video of the convoy, Housing and Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said: 'This, on the streets of London, is deeply disturbing. Vile, criminal hatred like this must not be tolerated.'

In a statement Mr Jenrick continued: 'Whatever your view of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, there is no justification for inciting anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim hatred. The incidents of anti-Semitism we have seen in recent days have been shameful.

'Some of the language used on marches this weekend and in posts on social media is intimidating, criminal and racist.

'We must not tolerate this vile, shameful hate in our country. These actions must stop.'

Cabinet minister Michael Gove described another video appearing to show protesters shouting anti-Semitic abuse as 'deeply concerning'.

Meanwhile spokesperson for Community Security Trust, a charity providing safety for the Jewish community in the UK, Dave Rich said: 'This video of vile antisemitism being shouted from a car as it passed through an area of London with a large Jewish community has caused enormous upset and alarm.

'It is outrageous and we are working closely with the police to assist in identifying the culprits.

'Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish festival of Shavuot and it is disgraceful that Jewish people should be subjected to this kind of intimidation as they prepare to celebrate.'

Nigel Farage also condemned the convoy of cars, which were seen filling the roads across north London, as their horns blared and called on Home Secretary Priti Patel to act.

'This footage from Golders Green is shocking, provocative and dangerous,' Mr Farage tweeted. 'The Home Secretary and the police must act right now.'

It comes after nine police officers were injured and missiles were thrown amid efforts to disperse pro-Palestine protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday.

Further protesters have gathered in the capital today, with pro-Palestinian protesters scuffling with police.

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick condemned the violence he has seen in the last few days.

'Whatever your view of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, there is no justification for inciting anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim hatred.

'The incidents of anti-Semitism we have seen in recent days have been shameful. Some of the language used on marches this weekend and in posts on social media is intimidating, criminal and racist.

'We must not tolerate this vile, shameful hate in our country. These actions must stop.'

Thousands of people marched through the capital on Saturday to the gates of the embassy in Kensington, while protests took place in other cities across the UK and Ireland in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators hold the Palestian flag during a demonstration on Sunday as police look on

Thousands of people marched through the capital on Saturday to the gates of the embassy in Kensington, while protests took place in other cities across the UK and Ireland in solidarity with the people of Palestine

The Metropolitan Police said nine people were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in London, and a further four were arrested on suspicion of breaching the Health Protection Regulations.

The force said small pockets of disorder had followed a largely peaceful demonstration.

Protesters were seen scaling buildings, climbing on the gates of Kensington palace, setting off fireworks and clambering to the top of traffic lights outside the embassy.

A video showed that some clashed with police, with one officer shown on the ground injured while another man was arrested. A separate video showed people throwing drinks at officers stationed at the palace gates.

Meanwhile, in Paris protesters defied a strict order against large gatherings to express their anger over the treatment of the Palestinian people. Riot police reacted with force, spraying desperate Parisians with water cannons to try to dispel the crowds.

In Birmingham hundreds of demonstrators descended on the city centre today in support of Palestine amid escalating violence between the Arab state and Israel.

Organisers in London say 'immediate action' is needed by the UK Government to help end the 'brutal' violence against the Palestinian people.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told the crowds international action provides 'succour, comfort and support' to those suffering in the conflict. Crowds chanted 'oh, Jeremy Corbyn' and threw roses as he took to the stage.

Nine police officers were injured and missiles were thrown amid efforts to disperse pro-Palestine protesters outside the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday. Pictured: Metropolitan Police arrest a pro-Palestinian demonstrator outside the Israeli Embassy in central London on Saturday, May 15, 2021

Metropolitan Police arrest a pro-Palestinian demonstrator outside the Israeli Embassy in central London on Saturday, May 15, 2021. Thousands of people marched through the capital on Saturday to the gates of the embassy in Kensington, while protests took place in other cities across the UK and Ireland in solidarity with the people of Palestine

Nine people were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in London, the Metropolitan Police said. Pictured: Metropolitan Police arrest a pro-Palestinian demonstrator outside the Israeli Embassy in central London on Saturday, May 15, 2021

Other speakers outside the Israeli embassy were Labour MP Zarah Sultana and rapper Lowkey. The names and ages of the children killed in the conflict were read out, followed by a minute's silence.

People were told to move further down the road as a matter of crowd safety, and there were cheers as organisers told them the turnout was 'the biggest pro-Palestine demonstration since 2014'.

Organisers said demonstrator numbers were estimated at 150,000. Coloured smoke was set off along Kensington High Street and some demonstrators climbed on to buildings and bus stops.

Among the buildings to be scaled were the offices of the MailOnline, where protesters climbed on scaffolding and set off fireworks.

It comes as thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee from their homes after a week of sustained conflict.

Since Monday night, Palestinian militant group Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, whose military responded by barraging the Gaza Strip with tank fire and air strikes.

At least 126 people have been killed in Gaza, including 31 children and 20 women. In Israel eight people have been killed, including a six-year-old boy and a soldier.

Free Palestine protesters throw drinks, eggs and flares at the police in Kensington, central London near the Israeli Embassy. Police were injured on Saturday in clashes with pro-Palestine protesters in London, as thousands marched through London's Hyde Park to the Israeli Embassy in solidarity with the people caught in ongoing conflict with Israel

Pictured: The moment a drink is thrown at police officers outside the gates to Kensington Palace by pro-Palestine protesters

Thousands of people demonstrate through central London in a march organised by Stop the War

Protesters scaled scaffolding and held up flags as they took part in demonstrations in London on Saturday

At Kensington Palace demonstrators scaled a wall as they held placards that read 'Free Palestine'

Pictured: Supporters of Palestine attend a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in London, Britain, 15 May 2021

Pictured: Supporters of Palestine burn the Israeli flag during a demonstration outside the Israeli embassy in London, Britain, 15 May 2021

A large banner reading 'National Demonstration for Free Palestine. Exist! Resist! Return!' was held aloft

Protesters climbed up traffic lights as thousands of people marched through the streets of London

Protesters scaled scaffolding for a better view of the stage as thousands of people descended on the area

Muslims who attended the pro-Palestinian protest take a moment to pray in a street in Kensington

People scaled buildings as they clamoured for the best view of the makeshift stage during the demonstration

Smoke billows after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City targeted the Ansar compound on Saturday

Mr Corbyn added: 'Think what it's like being a mother or father and seeing a building bombed in front of you, knowing your family is in there, and you can do nothing,' said Mr Corbyn.

'It's our global voices that will give succour, comfort and support in those settlements alongside Gaza and all over the West Bank, East Jerusalem who are suffering at this time.

'End the occupation now. End all the settlements now and withdraw then. End the siege of Gaza now.'

Husam Zumlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told crowds: 'This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression. Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity. Thank you for standing with us.'

The crowd stretched back to Bayswater Road from Kensington High Street.

Former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told crowds they were part of a 'worldwide movement for justice'.

'We must remember we are part of an international movement,' she said. 'This is a worldwide movement for justice. Palestinian people are having their land seized... and they are now being killed in their homes. All of this is illegal.'

Demonstrators on Broadmead in Bristol during a march in solidarity with the people of Palestine

Demonstrators gathered near Marble Arch before marching through Hyde Park to the Israeli embassy

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators attend a protest in London following a flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (pictured) told the crowds international action provides 'succour, comfort and support' to those suffering in the conflict. Crowds chanted 'oh, Jeremy Corbyn' and threw roses as he took to the stage

Crowds brought placards out with them. Signs read 'Freedom for Palestine' and 'Stop bombing Gaza'

Organisers claimed around 150,000 descended on central London for the solidarity march on Saturday

Protesters stood above the entrance to Marble Arch underground station near Hyde Park

Demonstrators waved placards as they marched towards Kensington on Saturday afternoon

Images from Birmingham show protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding Free Palestine banners as they called for an end to airstrikes. It is estimated up to one thousand people filed down crowded streets from Victoria Square to the Bull Ring.

Saturday is the Palestinian Nakba day, which marks the anniversary of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arabs from their homes more than 70 years ago.

The Birmingham protests came after an Israeli rocket destroyed a media building in Gaza and an Israeli airstrike hit a Gaza refugee camp, killing ten people, including eight children.

Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on Israeli cities, killing one person in Tel Aviv.

The fighting began May 10 when Hamas fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint site sacred to Jews and Muslims.

On Saturday, demonstrators in London marched from Marble Arch Station to the Israeli embassy, holding banners and chanting.

The Metropolitan Police said: 'Officers are engaging with a group of people who have gathered for a demonstration in central London this afternoon.

'A policing plan is in place to ensure everybody is kept safe and to reduce the spread of Covid-19.'

It comes amid reports an Israeli air strike destroyed a high-rise building that housed the AP, Al-Jazeera and other media in the Gaza Strip.

The AP said the air strike came roughly an hour after the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate the building.

Demonstrators walk through Hyde Park as they make their way to the Israeli embassy in London, during a march in solidarity with the people of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict with Israel

Protesters at a rally to express solidarity with Palestine at Marble Arch on May 15 in London after several Israeli cities experienced clashes between Jewish and Arab mobs in recent days

Among those expected to address the crowds are former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana. It comes as thousands of Palestinians have been forced to flee from their homes after a week of sustained conflict

The news agency said there was no immediate explanation as to why the building was targeted.

The demonstration in London was organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop The War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain.

A spokesperson for the organisers said: 'It is vital that the UK Government takes immediate action. It must stop allowing Israel's brutal violence against and oppression of the Palestinian people to go unpunished.

'The bombardment of Gaza which is killing civilians including children is a war crime. The UK Government is complicit in these acts as long as it continues to offer Israel military, diplomatic and financial support.'

It comes after a week of rising tensions, when Israel on Thursday pressed ahead with a fierce military offensive in the Gaza Strip, killing as many as 11 senior Hamas military figures and toppling a pair of high-rise towers housing Hamas facilities in a series of airstrikes.

The Islamic militant group showed no signs of backing down and fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities, including heavily populated Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Palestinian militants have stockpiled enough missiles to continue bombing Israel for the next two months, security experts have warned, as escalating fighting led the UN to warn of 'all-out war'.

PARIS: Marches in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were also held today in a dozen French cities, but the focus was on Paris, where riot police got ready as organizers said they would defy a ban on the protest. Pictured, Protesters face water cannons in Paris on Saturday

PARIS: French riot police run towards a pro-Palestinian rally called against Israel's bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in Paris on May 15, 2021

PARIS: Smoke fills the air during a pro-Palestinian rally called against Israel's bombardment of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, in Paris on May 15, 2021

BERLIN: Police officers intervene in demonstrators as people gather to stage a demonstration in support of Palestinians and to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2021 in Berlin

BERLIN: Police officers intervene in demonstrators as people gather to stage a demonstration in support of Palestinians and to protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip, on May 15, 2021 in Berlin

Meanwhile, street clashes continued on Israel's streets across the country, with Jewish and Arab citizens both attacking one-another in numerous incidents, leading to over 370 arrests across the country.

The conflict sparked hundreds of demonstrators across the US Wednesday. In Downtown Chicago, a rally organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, drew a crowd of nearly 1,000 protestors who said Palestinians were being mistreated. One woman held sign that said: 'Free Palestine!'

In New York, protesters clashed in Times Square, with both sides screaming at each other and separated by barricades. Pro-Israel supporters could be seen draped in flags.

In Cleveland, an Israel supporter asked people not to forget the people suffering in that country, even though he said Palestinians are made out to be the victims.

And in Los Angeles, pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in front of the city's federal building; the prior day in the city there had been skirmishes between the factions, but photos from the scene showed only Israel supporters waving American and Israel flags.

A protester wears a mask with the Palestinian flag painted on it as demonstrators marched through Hyde Park

Flares were set off as the march continued through Hyde Park en route to the Israeli embassy

Protesters held white roses and draped themselves in the Palestinian flag as they marched on Saturday

Hundreds of people joined the protest as demonstrators marched in solidarity with the Palestinian people

Demonstrators started gathering outside Marble Arch Station at midday for the march on Saturday

Marches in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were also held today in a dozen French cities, but the focus was on Paris, where riot police got ready as organizers said they would defy a ban on the protest.

Paris police chief Didier Lallement ordered shops closed around the starting point of the planned march in a working-class neighbourhood in northern Paris after an administrative court confirmed the ban.

Authorities noted a banned July 2014 pro-Palestinian protest against an Israeli offensive in Gaza that degenerated into violence and running battles with police to justify the order against Saturday's march.

Pictured: Israeli boy, five, killed by Hamas rocket shrapnel A five-year-old boy killed in Israel by rocket fire from Gaza has been pictured, after he became one of the country's seven victims of the latest cross-border conflict. Ido Avigal was fatally stuck by shrapnel after the building he was in with his mother was hit by a missile on Wednesday night. In the building, found in the town of Sderot on the border with Gaza, seven people were hurt when it suffered a direct hit from a rocket. Ido Avigal, who was killed in his home in Sderot by a rocket fired from Gaza on May 12, 2021. Avigal was pronounced dead several hours later, becoming the seventh Israeli victim of the cross border conflict that started earlier this week The boy's mother grabbed him and took him into a fortified room when the in-coming rocket sirens sounded, according to local Hebrew media reports cited by the Times of Israel. However, in a rare tragedy, shrapnel from the rocket punctured the shelter's window, critically wounding the boy and also injuring his mother. Avigal was pronounced dead several hours later, becoming the seventh Israeli victim of the cross border conflict that started earlier this week. Advertisement

Organizers said they intend to 'denounce the latest Israeli aggressions' and mark the fleeing of Palestinians after Israel declared independence in 1948.

In Israel heightened tensions led to street brawls in areas populated by Jews and Arabs, with an Arab man dragged from his car and beaten by Jewish ultranationalists in one attack, while in another a Jewish citizen was attacked by sticks and stones by Arab Israeli protesters.

At least 122 people have been killed in Gaza since violence escalated on Monday, according to the enclave's health ministry. Eight people have been killed in Israel, medical officials said.

One of the Israelis - a five-year-old boy named Ido Avigal - was killed by shrapnel on Wednesday night in the Gaza border town of Sderot when rockets struck the building he was living in with his mother.

Britain's Boris Johnson led international leaders in calling for the two sides to step back from the brink, but a UN Security Council meeting failed to agree on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel's key ally, diplomats said.

Pleas for calm appeared in vain as Israeli and Palestinian leaders traded blood-curdling threats and further rocket strikes, with a rocket setting off alarms in the north of Israel in the early hours of Thursday morning - some 62 miles North of Gaza - sending thousands of Israelis to shelters.

And after a senior Hamas commander was killed Wednesday, the Islamist militant group responded with a barrage of rockets into southern Israel which rescue workers said killed a six-year-old boy.

Israel's defence minister Benny Gantz vowed more attacks on Gaza to bring 'total, long-term quiet' before they would consider truce talks after six days of violence. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military would only use 'increasing force' in the conflict.

'We eliminated senior Hamas commanders and this is just the beginning,' he said. 'We will inflict blows on them that they couldn't even dream of.' The leader of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh hit back, vowing that 'if Israel wants to escalate, we are ready for it'.

Six high-ranking commanders and a further five key Hamas figures were 'neutralised' on Wednesday, including Brigadier General Bassem Issa and Jamal Zabda, head of the group's rocket unit, according to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).

On Tuesday, Mr Johnson tweeted a plea for both sides to 'step back from the brink' and 'show restraint'. He added: 'The UK is deeply concerned by the growing violence and civilian casualties and we want to see an urgent de-escalation of tensions.'

His calls were backed up by similar messages from the EU, the US, Russia and Turkey.

The UN's Middle East peace envoy Tor Wennesland warned the latest violence was 'escalating towards a full-scale war'. And UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he was 'gravely concerned' by the ongoing troubles.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad fired more than 1,000 missiles in the first 48 hours of the conflict which began on Monday, an average of one every three minutes, and has enough to keep the bombardment going for two months.

Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said: 'According to our estimates we're talking about between 20,000 and 30,000 rockets in Gaza today, rockets and mortars.

'We've seen a constant expansion in terms of range and also in terms of the size of the warheads. They have an advanced arsenal of rockets, I think it's on a par with the fire capabilities of a few small European countries.'

Six high-ranking commanders and a further five key Hamas figures were 'neutralised' on Wednesday, including Brigadier General Bassem Issa and Jamal Zabda, head of the group's rocket unit, according to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)

While Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system has intercepted nine out of ten Palestinian rockets, the remainder have killed at least six civilians and injured more than 90. Families in Tel Aviv have taken cover in underground shelters.

Israel's retaliation has included hundreds of air strikes on Gaza, led by F-35 stealth bombers and Apache attack helicopters, which are understood to have killed 32 and wounded more than 300. Israel says most of the dead were terrorists and insists the children killed were victims of stray Palestinian rockets.

The UN security council met Tuesday to discuss the crisis. The heaviest offensive between Israel and Hamas since a 2014 war in the Hamas-ruled enclave has increased international concern that the situation could spiral out of control.

'Israel has gone crazy,' said a man on a Gaza street, where people ran out of their homes as explosions rocked buildings.

Israel's army last week said it had received a rocket warning in the north of the country, the first time the alert has been given there since hostilities soared between Israel and Palestinians earlier this week.

The approximately 1,500 rockets fired from Gaza by Hamas militants since Monday had so far set off warnings in southern and central Israel, but not in the north, the army said.

However in the small hours of the morning of May 6, alarms not only sounded in the economic capital Tel Aviv in the middle of the country - where residents rushed to shelters - but also in Jezreel Valley in the north.

There was no immediate word of a rocket strike or casualties in Nahalal, some 100 km (62 miles) from Gaza.
Matt Gaetz has told an Ohio rally he is 'being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors' after his alleged wingman agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in their ongoing child sex trafficking investigation.

The Republican congressman also compared controversial earmarks - which allow funding for House members' personal projects - to the probe, NBC reports.

Gaetz told the crowd Saturday: 'I'm being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors.

'Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that's the corruption.'

He received a standing ovation for his keynote speech to around 400 Republicans at the Ohio Political Summit. A number of Republican candidates are reported to have backed out of the event due to Gaetz's involvement.

On Friday federal prosecutors dropped 27 charges against Gaetz's alleged wingman, Joel Greenberg, in exchange for his cooperation and testimony.

His cooperation as a close associate of Gaetz signals a significant escalation in the Justice Departments investigation and potentially raises the legal and political jeopardy the Florida congressman is facing.

Earmarks have traditionally been used to pay for much-needed infrastructure projects. They have come under increased scrutiny of late after a decade-long ban was overturned, allowing Democratic and Republican lawmakers to insert funding projects into appropriation bills.

Matt Gaetz has told an Ohio rally he is 'being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors' after his wingman agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in their ongoing child sex trafficking investigation

The Republican congressman also compared controversial earmarks - which allow funding for House members' personal projects - to the probe, NBC reports. Gaetz told the crowd Saturday: 'I'm being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors. 'Yet, Congress has reinstituted a process that legalizes the corrupt act of exchanging money for favors, through earmarks, and everybody knows that that's the corruption'

Greenberg is expected to plead guilty to six federal charges - including sex trafficking of a child - during a court appearance in Orlando on Monday. He had been facing 33 counts with a maximum of life behind bars.

In March, it was revealed that Gaetz is under investigation for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl and trafficking her across state lines.

Investigators are also looking into allegations he paid women for ecstasy-fueled sex at Florida hotels after being introduced to them by Greenberg.

The plea agreement makes no mention of Gaetz, who has vehemently denied the allegations and any wrongdoing and has insisted he will not resign his seat in Congress. He has not been charged with any crime.

As part of his plea agreement, Greenberg admitted that he recruited women for commercial sex acts and paid them more than $70,000 from 2016 to 2018, including at least one underage girl he paid to have sex with him and others.

Prosecutors say Greenberg met the girl online - from a website where she was posing as an adult - and had a first meeting with her on a boat, paying her $400.

He later invited her to a hotels in Florida, where he and others would have sex with her and also supplied the girl and other people with ecstasy, according to the plea deal. In total, prosecutors say Greenberg had sex with the girl at least seven times.

Gaetz received a standing ovation for his keynote speech to around 400 Republicans at the Ohio Political Summit

A number of Republican candidates are reported to have backed out of the event due to Gaetz's involvement. Several fans posed for selfies with the Republican

'Greenberg also introduced the Minor to other adult men, who engaged in commercial sex acts with the Minor,' the plea agreement states. The plea deal, signed Wednesday, does not identify the men.

Prosecutors say Greenberg also used his position as the Seminole County tax collector to access a state drivers information database to 'investigate' the women he was having sex with and had searched for the underage girl at least once because he 'had reason to believe the minor was under the age of 18,' the plea agreement says.

For prosecutors to agree to reduce the charges from a staggering 33 to just six indicates that Greenberg has handed over information that is of significant value, legal experts told Business Insider on Thursday.

Greenbergs legal problems began last summer when he was arrested on charges of stalking a political opponent.

He mailed fake letters to the school where his opponent taught, signed by a nonexistent 'very concerned student' who alleged the teacher had engaged in sexual misconduct with another student, according to an indictment filed against him.

Greenberg was charged in August with sex trafficking a girl between ages 14 and 17 and using a state database to look up information about the girl and other people with whom he was engaged in 'sugar daddy' relationships, according to the indictment.

Charges on allegations he embezzled $400,000 from the Seminole County tax collectors office were added earlier this year, according to the indictment.

On Friday federal prosecutors dropped 27 charges against Gaetz's alleged wingman, Joel Greenberg, in exchange for his cooperation and testimony

Roger Stone, Matt Gaetz and Joel Greenberg pictured in a selfie together in 2017. Matt Gaetz 's alleged wingman Joel Greenberg has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to six felony counts

Investigators have also been looking at whether Gaetz and his associates tried to secure government jobs for some of the women, the people said.

They are also scrutinizing Gaetzs connections to the medical marijuana sector, including whether his associates sought to influence legislation Gaetz sponsored.

The people had knowledge of the investigation but spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.

Greenberg allegedly confessed in a letter to Donald Trump ally Roger Stone that the pair paid for sex with the 17-year-old girl in a bid to get a pardon from the then-President, the Daily Beast reported.

'On more than one occasion, [the 17-year-old] was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida's 1st Congressional District and myself,' Greenberg reportedly wrote in the letter.

One message said to have been sent by Greenberg to Stone allegedly said he was pressured to 'flip' and cooperate with prosecutors.

Gaetz's wider actions in congress have also come under close scrutiny in recent weeks, with claims he showed off nude photos of women he said he had slept with to other lawmakers on the House floor and that he played a sleazy Harry Potter themed sex game scoring points for sleeping with married colleagues, virgins and in sorority houses.

Gaetz, 38, and his fiancee Ginger Luckey, 26, in a photo shared on Twitter by Gaetz on December 10 under a photograph of Ronald Reagan

Gaetz with Trump. Greenberg is said to be cooperating with federal investigators for months amid the probe into the congressman

Gaetz and Greenberg pictured together at the White House. To reduce charges from 33 to 6 indicates Greenberg has valuable information for prosecutors, say legal experts

It has also been claimed that he regularly attended gated community house parties with other Republican lawmakers where cellphones were handed over at the door and the 'frat party boy' Florida representative would discuss politics while popping pills.

Meanwhile, as well as the federal investigation, the House Ethics Committee has also launched an inquiry into a string of allegations including 'sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct.'

In a bizarre twist in the saga, the lawmaker has instead claimed he is the victim of an elaborate extortion plot by a former Justice Department official seeking to free an American hostage from Iran.

'The first indictment of Joel Greenberg alleges that he falsely accused another man of sex with a minor for his own gain. That man was apparently innocent. So is Congressman Gaetz,' said Harlan Hill, a spokesman for the lawmaker.
A Mexican-American laborer who claimed to have invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos, setting his life on an incredible rags-to-riches pathway, was exposed on Sunday as having invented key parts of the story.

Richard Montanez, 62, has written two books telling his remarkable tale, and commands up to $50,000 for motivational speeches. A biopic of his life, Flamin' Hot, is currently being made by Eva Longoria.

Yet The Los Angeles Times spoke to former colleagues and executives at the food company, who called into question Montanez's story.

In particular, one woman, Lynne Greenfeld, said that she was put in charge of developing the brand and came up with the Flamin' Hot name and product idea.

'It is disappointing that 20 years later, someone who played no role in this project would begin to claim our experience as his own and then personally profit from it,' she told the paper.

Montanez has not commented on the claims.

Montanez, 62, claims to have come up with the Flamin' Hot Cheetos - yet his story is unraveling

Montanez's second book will be published next month by Portfolio

Montanez was certainly involved in product development - a remarkable feat for someone who joined the company in 1976 as a janitor.

He claims that, as a janitor, he rang the chief executive and pitched the idea for Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Yet Frito-Lay said its records show he was not a janitor when Flamin' Hot was born. He had been promoted to machinist operator by October 1977, shortly after his hiring.

In that role, he writes in his new memoir, he spearheaded a program to reduce waste along the assembly line.

Greenfeld joined the company in 1989, and was tasked with finding a product that appealed to spicier tastes and could rival the flavor-filled snacks that were selling well in the mid West.

Six of the former employees remember inspiration coming from the corner stores of Chicago and Detroit - not from California, where Montanez worked.

Flamin' Hot Cheetos are one of the company's best-known products and biggest sellers

Fred Lindsay, a salesman for the Chicago region, remembers clearly working to develop the snack.

'The funny thing is, I heard maybe a year ago that some guy from California was taking credit for developing hot Cheetos, which is crazy,' Lindsay told The LA Times.

'I'm not trying to take credit; I'm just trying to set the record straight.'

By August 1990, test versions of Flamin' Hot were launched in Chicago, Detroit and Houston. By early 1992, they were on sale nationwide.

Montanez's version of events does not fit the timeline.

Montanez's tale is that he felt empowered to invent Flamin' Hot Cheetos after watching a motivational video from Roger Enrico, the CEO of the company, that encouraged all Frito-Lay workers to 'act like owners' and take charge of the business.

Yet Enrico did not start work until the beginning of 1991 - by which point the product had already been invented, and tested.

Montanez claims that he called Enrico to pitch the idea and that Enrico flew out to Rancho Cucamonga, California, weeks later to witness his pitch in person.

Enrico died in June 2016, aged 71, in a snorkeling accident in the Cayman Islands.

Al Carey, the only senior executive to support Montanez's version of events, conceded that there were issues with some details, and said that Enrico was not in attendance at the infamous meeting.

'Of course stories grow, and the longer we get away from the date the stories evolve,' Carey said.

But, he insisted, Montanez did invent Flamin' Hot.

'I'll bet Richard's added a little flavor to it,' Carey said.

'The product that we know today as Flamin' Hot Cheetos was definitely not out in the market' before his meeting with Montanez, Carey said.

'That product was developed by those guys in the plant.'

Montanez and his wife are pictured at a 2014 gala celebrating the contributions of Latinos

Yet the LA Times spoke with 20 people who worked at the Frito-Lay divisions responsible for new product development 32 years ago, and none recall Montanez's meeting with Enrico and coming up with the mega-selling product.

'If that story existed, believe me, we would have heard about it,' said Ken Lukaska, who worked as a product manager for the core Cheetos brand when Flamin' Hots were rolling out nationally.

'This guy should run for office if he's that good at fooling everyone.'

Montanez certainly played a role in marketing for the company, rising to become a director at the brand.

Montanez began telling his Flamin' Hot story in the early 2000s, and retired in 2019

Roberto Siewczynski worked on the Sabrositas test market in 1994 as an outside consultant, and remembers Montanez being deeply involved in the process.

He said Sabrositas' marketing campaign aligns with what Montanez describes in his memoir for Flamin' Hot, and concludes that the two stories became intertwined.

'I did go to Rancho Cucamonga,' said Siewczynski.

He told The LA Times he was surprised to learn that the Sabrositas project was being led by production and distribution workers, not the marketing department, as a community-driven campaign focused on the Latino market in Los Angeles.

'It was, 'Hey, the plant really wants to do this; Richard really wants to do this,' and they cut out a lot of the traditional management.'

Montanez began telling his story in the early 2000s, and Greenfeld heard of it in 2018.

She was asked by the company's lawyers about the Flamin' Hot name, and told them she definitively came up with it herself.

In 2019, when Longoria's film was in early discussion, Frito-Lays got in touch with the production company to warn them Montanez's story was not quite as it seemed.

Longoria is proceeding with the film, however, and casting has been completed.

Longoria is currently preparing to direct Flamin' Hot, based on Montanez's story

Jesse Garcia (left) will play Montanez in the biopic, with filming due to start this summer

Jesse Garcia, star of Quinceanera, who has also appeared in Jarhead and Narcos, is playing Montanez and filming will take place this summer in New Mexico.

Longoria has not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment, but told Variety earlier this month: 'my biggest priority to make sure we are telling Richard Montanez's story authentically.'

Montanez's second book is out next month - the publishers, Portfolio, have not responded to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

'None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin' Hot test market,' Frito-Lay wrote in a statement to The Times.

'We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market.

'That doesn't mean we don't celebrate Richard.

'But the facts do not support the urban legend.'
Hamilton County, New York - a small, rural, Republican-leaning county northwest of Albany - has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, busting stereotypes about who's willing to get the shot.

The county boast a vaccination rate of 65 percent - strongly outpacing the national average of 37 percent who are fully vaccinated, according to federal data and an analysis by ABC News.

That flies in the face of some surveys that have shown Republicans to be less-apt to get the vaccine: In January, only about 40 percent of Republicans said they would get the vaccine, according to a YouGov/Economist poll.

The latest poll, taken last week of 1,500 adults, shows Republicans are accepting the vaccine in greater numbers: 62 percent of Republican respondents said they had or would get the vaccine; 87 percent of Democrats said they'd get theirs.

Hamilton County is mostly Republican, with 68 per cent of the vote going to former President Donald Trump during the 2020 election.

Hamilton County is entirely in the federally protected Adirondack Park, which doesn't allow for development, and has a population of less than 4,836, according to the 2010 Census, which is the least populated county in the state

Residents receive COVID-19 shots at Wells Community Hall vaccination site, a former school gym, in Hamilton, County, New York

County Board Chairman told ABC News that Hamilton County is 'very, very rural'

There are infrastructure and technology challenges, including spotty broadband and cell service, and doesn't have any hospitals or pharmacies, ABC News reported. Here is Route 8 in the village of Speculator in Hamilton County

Hamilton County has a 65 per cent vaccination rate, compared to the 36 per cent national average

County Board Chairman said he hopes the CDC's relaxed mask guidelines urges the vaccine holdouts to get the shot

The latest YouGov/Economist poll found that 69 percent of adults have had a first dose, are fully vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19

The county is entirely in the federally protected Adirondack Park, which doesn't allow for development, and has a population of less than 4,836, according to the 2010 Census, which is the least populated county in the state.

There are infrastructure and technology challenges, including spotty broadband and cell service, and doesn't have any hospitals or pharmacies, ABC News reported.

Combine all the factors, and it could equal low vaccine rates, local officials said, but they've bucked that idea.

'We've watched nationally, this political fight over COVID,' Hamilton County Board Chairman Bill Farber, a Republican told ABC News. 'We defied the odds, didn't we?'

'Rather than getting caught up in it being a Republican or a Democrat issue, it really was seen as a community issue,' Hamilton Coutny Board Chairman Bill Farber told ABC News.

That was in large part because the vaccination push was a grassroots effort detached from political warfare, Farber told ABC News.

Schools and a fire house became vaccination sites, and business owners provided the county with lists of their employees as soon as they were eligible to be vaccinated, Farber told the news outlet.

Information spread by word of mouth.

Instead of hearing a politician say get vaccinated, people in Hamilton County heard it from a trusted friend or neighbor, he said.

'Rather than getting caught up in it being a Republican or a Democrat issue, it really was seen as a community issue,' Farber told ABC News. 'I think that was our saving grace.'

And the county itself had 'pandemic plan' in place for over a decade that included schools, the fire department, ambulance squad, law enforcement and community leaders, ABC News reported, something most small, rural areas across the country didn't have pre-2020.

Technology barriers were overcome by volunteers, like Adele Burnett, jumping into action, and the county opened clinics to best match the availability of the next eligible group of people, ABC News reported.

When Burnett, director of tourism in Inlet, one of the small towns in Hamilton, heard the health department needed help registering people for vaccines, she teamed up with other members of the local COVID-19 task force to put together lists of people they knew were eligible to get vaccinated and called to see if they could register them for vaccines, according to ABC News.

"We'd actually pick up the phone and start making calls," she told the news outlet. "They didn't have to sit there on the computer refreshing the page."

While 100 per cent vaccination is likely out of reach for any place, including Hamilton County, Farber told ABC News that the CDC's relax mask-wearing guidelines for fully vaccinated people might compel some of the holdouts.
A grieving father has called for a change in the law after his son died from an allergic reaction while celebrating his 18th birthday with a meal out at Byron Burgers.

Owen Carey, from Crowborough in East Sussex, died with his girlfriend by his side after eating dairy in a grilled chicken breast at Byron's branch at the 02 Arena in Greenwich, London, on April 22 2017.

Mr Carey had been celebrating his 18th birthday with his family and made staff aware of his allergies, but was not told the chicken was marinated in buttermilk.

Within 55 minutes of ingesting the dish, he had collapsed and was pronounced dead at St Thomas's Hospital later that afternoon.

His family are now calling for a change in the law that puts responsibility on restaurant staff to enquire about allergies to ensure both parties have the issue in their mind.

The family of Owen Carey, from East Sussex, died from a severe allergic reaction after eating chicken at Byron's branch, are calling for a change in the law to help prevent future deaths

Owen's father Paul Carey (pictured with Owen) says that restaurants should list potential allergens on their food menus so customers are aware of potential dangers when they order

Owen's father Paul Carey told the Sun: 'Owen was well-versed from a young age about his allergies and always checked in restaurants and, on this occasion, he had asked the waiter.

'Had the waiter listened, or the buttermilk been listed on the menu, Owen would be with us today.'

At an inquest into his death in 2019, a coroner raised concerns about the dangers of more tragedies occurring unless action was taken.

Assistant coroner Briony Ballard, who investigated Mr Carey's death, has now said that unless action is taken around food allergy information 'there is a risk that future deaths will occur'.

Ms Ballard said in a 'report to prevent future deaths', which has been sent to health officials, that she had concerns about the lack of a national register recording severe food anaphylactic reactions.

Owen was celebrating his 18th birthday and had made the waiter aware of his allergies but was not told the grilled chicken he ordered was marinated in buttermilk prior to being cooked

Pictured: the Byron restaurant at the o2 in Greenwich where Owen and his family celebrated

Terrifying air ordeal that began just three minutes after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse bit into her sandwich Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, who was allergic to sesame, died after eating a Pret baguette that didn't list it as an ingredient Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, was on a dream trip to Nice with her best friend and her father when she ate a sandwich laced with sesame seeds not listed on the label. July 17 2016: BA flight BA342 from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Nice lasted approximately 1 hour 50 mins. 9.50am: Natasha bought the sandwich and around developed an itchy throat around three minutes later. 10.15am: After take off she took a dose of Piriton to try and counter the itchy throat. 10.45am: Natasha developed large red welts on her stomach and her father took her to the toilet and administered two EpiPens. 10.50am: Natasha loses consciousness. 10.55am until 11.45am: Doctor Pearson Jones attended to Natasha for the next 50 minutes, including CPR when she suffered a cardiac arrest while the flight was descending into Nice. Midday: Five French paramedics attend to her while the plane is on the tarmac for around an hour. She is then transported to the local A&E department but her heart failed to properly restart. 8pm: Natasha is pronounced dead in hospital. Advertisement

The inquest heard fatal food anaphylaxis is responsible for around 150 deaths in the UK over the past 25 to 30 years.

Ms Ballard said a national register recording the circumstances around deaths from food allergies 'could then be analysed and learnt from' by specialists.

Byron's chief executive officer Simon Wilkinson said in a statement issued after the inquest that he 'wholeheartedly' agreed with the coroner's call for a national register to record severe food reactions.

He said Byron's menus are now as 'descriptive as possible' without eliminating the need for customers to consult an allergy guide.

The prominence and size of allergen notices were also enlarged on Byron's latest menu he said at the time.

He added that each employee will have their own personal training module and records of when they complete them.

Owen's family told the Sun that they received a letter from the company apologising 'for all the pain' they had suffered but that their insurers refused to pay out any compensation.

When the coroner's report was published, Owen's family said they were determined to campaign for change in honour of his memory.

Speaking with the Sun, Paul added: 'At the moment restaurants are only required to have a sign saying, "If you have allergies, please tell the waiter".

'But that's what Owen did and the system fell down for him.

'There are 14 allergens recognised in EU law, and we want all restaurants to be compelled to stick them on the menu, using standardised symbols or numbers with a key, just as many menus already use V for vegetarian.

'They take a lot of room describing the succulent burger, or the tasty salad, so why not list allergens as well?

'We also want it to be mandatory that the waiter initiate a discussion with the customers about allergens.'

'It's not difficult - it's not rocket science and it will save lives.'

A new law was announced in June 2019 requiring all food businesses to label full ingredients on pre-packaged food following the death Natasha Ednan-Laperouse.

The 15-year-old, from Fulham, west London, died of anaphylaxis after collapsing on a flight in 2016.

She suffered a severe allergic reaction after unknowingly eating sesame in a baguette from Pret a Manger.

Supported by Natasha's family, Owen's family says the same should apply to restaurant menus.

A petition to bring Owen's Law into reality has been launched on the Government's website.
Tuition fees could be cut from 9,250 to a maximum of 7,500 but critics fear arts and humanities could disappear from universities.

According to a Government consultation which is due to begin next month, ministers are aiming to switch more students into science, technology, healthcare and technical courses.

Science degrees would be topped up by extra Government funding which could lead to subjects such as languages, philosophy, theology, history and the creative arts being removed from universities, The Times reports.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Conservative Home website that the number of people already taking up science and engineering-based degrees

Aston University is already planning to close its history and language department. (University of Aston residence)

London South Bank plans to stop teaching history and human geography, Aston University is already planning to close its history and language department and Hull University is cutting degree courses in foreign languages.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Conservative Home website that the number of people already taking up science and engineering-based degrees shows many are 'starting to pivot away from dead-end courses that leave young people with nothing but debt.'

The move comes amid growing concern in the Treasury that the current student loan scheme is unaffordable.

Peers warned it would cost about 1 trillion by 2040 with close to 83 per cent of loans never being repaid in full.

Data shows that salaries for arts graduates from degree courses can earn as little as 12,000 a year.

The reason most degrees are never repaid in full is that graduates do not earn enough until they meet the 27,295 a year threshold to begin repayments.
A young girl from Gaza has survived an Israeli airstrike that destroyed her home and killed her mother and all four of her siblings.

Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, has been reunited with her father after being pulled from the rubble of her home and rushed to Gaza's Shifa hospital on Sunday.

The girl was trapped for seven hours under the debris.

She has since been reunited in hospital with her father, who was also being treated for his wounds. 'Forgive me, my daughter. You screamed to me to come to you, but I couldn't come,' Riyad Eshkuntana told her after medics brought them together in adjoining beds.

The Palestinian family's home was hit in Israeli air strikes early on Sunday on Gaza City, a wave of attacks that Gaza health officials said killed 42 people including 10 children and raised the death toll in Gaza from a week of bombardment to 192.

Rescuers carry Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as they pull her from the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16

Suzy was then reunited in hospital with her father Riyad as both are being treated for their injuries. Mr Eshkuntana told the six-year-old as they lay in adjoining beds: 'Forgive me, my daughter. You screamed to me to come to you, but I couldn't come.'

Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, is treated by a medic at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes

Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, is treated by a medic at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City

Israel says it is attacking the militant Islamist Hamas movement that controls the densely populated Gaza Strip and that along with Islamic Jihad and other militant groups has fired 2,800 rockets towards Israeli cities.

Those rocket barrages have killed 10 people in Israel, including two children. They have also sent millions of Israelis scrambling to 'safe rooms' and shelters as rocket warning sirens go off at all hours of the day and night.

'The reason we have these casualties is because Hamas is criminally attacking us from civilian neighbourhoods,' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. broadcaster CBS.

The strike on the Eshkuntana home was in the same area as an Israeli strike on a militant tunnel system in Gaza. The collapse of the tunnel system caused the houses above to collapse and led to unintended civilian casualties, the military said.

Rescuers carry Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as they pull her from the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City

Rescuers search for people in the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City on May 16

Dozens of rescue workers, police officers, relatives and neighbours gathered at the wreckage of the Eshkuntana house during the search and rescue operation.

After several hours workers under the collapsed walls began to chant 'Allahu Akbar' - God is greatest - a signal that someone would be brought out alive.

Suzy, covered in dust and too weak to raise her head, wept as she was taken to an ambulance.

Rescuers search for people in the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza

Rescuers search for people in the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes, in Gaza City

Riyad Eshkuntana kisses his daughter Suzy's hand as they are treated at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building

At the hospital, relatives anxiously asked for details as the casualties arrived.

'Is this Yehya? It is Yehya?' cried women and men waiting at the reception hall, shortly before medics told them that the four-year-old boy, Suzy's brother, was dead.

Two of the women fainted.

Minutes later, the body of a girl was rushed in. 'They brought Dana. Dana, Dana, are you okay?' they asked. But the young girl was also dead, along with another brother and sister.

Seeing Suzy with her eyes open brought a brief moment of joy before she was quickly taken away for X-rays. Doctors said she was bruised but had no severe injuries, and she was brought to a hospital bed next to her father.

Riyad Eshkuntana said he had believed his family were secure because there were doctors living in the same building, and he had put the children in what they believed to be a safe room.

A relative stands by Palestinian girl Suzy Eshkuntana, 6, as she lies in bed at a hospital after being pulled from the rubble of a building amidst Israeli air strikes

Rescuers help Riyad Eshkuntana after they pulled him from the rubble of a building at the site of Israeli air strikes

'Suddenly, a strange rocket, like fire and flame, destroyed two walls,' he told Reuters. The parents ran to check on their children when a second explosion hit, collapsing the ceiling.

'I heard my son Zain calling: 'Daddy, daddy'. His voice was okay, but I couldn't turn to look at him because I was trapped,' he said.

When rescuers first called out for survivors, Eshkuntana was too weak to shout back, but when someone returned half an hour later he was able to get their attention.

Lying on the hospital bed next to his surviving daughter, his head bandaged, he said at first he had wanted to die.

'I was filled with all the anger of the universe, but when I heard that one of my daughters was alive, I said thank God because this girl might capture some - even a little - of my daughters' smile because she is their sister.'
Oxford University reportedly plans to teach that imperial measurements are 'tied deeply to the idea of the Empire' in a bid to make science courses less 'Eurocentric'.

The University has suggested imperial measurements, including the mile, inch, pound and ounce, should be 'decolonised' due to its links to the British Empire.

Decolonising plans by Oxford's maths, physics and life sciences departments suggest the teaching of the measurements in the curriculum may change, according to The Telegraph.

It comes after a pledge from Oxford's vice-chancellor Louise Richardson to embed teaching on colonialism and the Empire into courses and 'diversify' the maths and life sciences curriculum.

Oxford University reportedly plans to teach that imperial measurements are 'tied deeply to the idea of the Empire' in a bid to make science courses less 'Eurocentric' (stock image)

Undergraduates and scholars will reportedly conduct research this summer to determine how Oxford's science teaching can be made less 'Eurocentric', before drawing up proposals for lecturers to apply recommendations to the syllabuses.

The plans support a 'cultural shift' in teaching and hope to see Oxford students' learn and understand the 'global historical and social context to scientific research'.

The eight-week decolonising project is said to be considering a new curriculum on the 'history of modern measurement' and its 'ties' to 'Empire and Imperial standardisation'.

While imperial measurements, including weight, length and volume, could also be given historical context in Oxford University's physics curriculum.

The British imperial system was introduced in the 1824 British Weights and Measures Act and were widely adopted as the traditional system of weights and measurements by 1826 - prior to the adoption of the metric system in 1965.

An Oxford spokesman told The Telegraph: 'The university supports the diversifying STEM curriculum project, which is looking at how curricula might change to acknowledge questions of diversity and colonialism.

'We value the input of students into this work; all recommendations arising from the project will be referred to departments to consider next steps.'

MailOnline has contacted Oxford University for comment.

The decolonising project is considering a curriculum on the 'history of modern measurement' and its 'ties' to 'Empire and Imperial standardisation'. Pictured: Aerial view of Oxford University

Following last summer's Black Lives Matter protests, Oxford University vowed to ensure its degrees educated pupils on colonialism.

A letter, signed by 35 college principals last June, said: 'The university has, as Britain does, a history that is marked by colonialism and imperialism. The recent protests have also brought a renewed focus on this era of Oxford's history.'

The mathematical, physical and life sciences faculties were also given grants to help them increase diversity in their syllabuses.

Professor Richardson said in a letter to the university's student union: 'Many departments in social sciences have begun work on making their curriculum more inclusive and adding diverse voices to it.

'This includes steps such as integrating race and gender questions into topics, embedding teaching on colonialism and empire into courses, changing reading lists to ensure substantial representation of a diverse range of voices, and ensuring better coverage of issues concerning the global South in syllabuses.'

Protesters at the university last year called for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes, a mining magnate and former Prime Minister of South Africa's Cape Colony, to be torn down.

The imperialist leader is divisive due to some seeing him as a racist and complicit in paving the way for apartheid in South Africa.

But in February, it was reported that the controversial monument may be allowed to remain at Oxford University - in a compromise deal which will see him joined by a black philosopher.

Governors at Oriel College said last year they wanted to remove the statue, after a long-running campaign was given a boost by widespread Black Lives Matter protests.

However, they fear the move might now be blocked by new laws protecting historic monuments.

The legislation - which follows the toppling of slave trader Edward Colston's statue by protesters in Bristol last summer - will mean full planning permission is required before any historic monuments can be removed.

It comes after Oxford University vowed to ensure it educated pupils on colonialism after protesters last year called for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes (pictured) to be torn down

An independent commission set up to examine the legacy of Rhodes is said to be considering a new tribute to the first African-American to win a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford as a concession.

Alain LeRoy Locke is viewed as the 'father of the Harlem Renaissance', a cultural movement in the 1920s and 1930s that championed black intellectual and artistic production.

He was denied entry to several Oxford colleges because of racial prejudice before eventually being admitted to Hertford College in 1907 under the Rhodes scheme.

The scholarship was set up in 1902 through Rhodes's will to enable 'outstanding young people from around the world' to study at Oxford.

However, the mining magnate, who founded Rhodesia in southern Africa, is a controversial figure who believed in white supremacy.

Sources told the Daily Mail that officials are believed to be looking at commemorating Mr Locke.

Another option the commission is said to be exploring is the possibility of relocating the Rhodes statue to Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum.

Elsewhere, The Queen's Speech has now unveiled a new bill threatening institutions and student unions in England and Wales with fines if they bar controversial guests.

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill aims to end 'no-platforming' on campuses by giving a regulator the power to issue fines.
A suspect in Friday's terrifying New York subway slashing spree that saw four people randomly stabbed and a fifth sucker punched was caught with a bloodied knife and a victim's backpack, prosecutors say.

Joseph Foster, 18, was charged Sunday with first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon over his alleged role in the shocking attacks which left one victim blind in one eye.

Surveillance footage shows another victim trying to escape from a train before Foster allegedly dragged him back inside, according to Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Katherine Byrns, who suggested the attacks were part of a gang 'initiation'.

Joseph Foster, 18, was charged Sunday with first-degree robbery, two counts of second-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon over his alleged role in the shocking attacks which left one victim blind in one eye. Pictured are cop cars responding to the incident

The backpack which Foster was found with belonged to the blinded victim and had a bloodied kitchen knife inside, it is claimed.

Foster has a three-year-old daughter and was previously arrested on January 13 on first-degree robbery charges for an alleged knifepoint mugging and stabbing of a cyclist. He was released without bail, the New York Post reported.

Two other suspects have been charged over the incident: a 16-year-old minor and Taquarious Soto-Burgos, who is set to be arraigned later Sunday. NYPD has released a surveillance camera image of a fourth suspect they are hunting; they haven't realized images of the suspects apprehended.

Prosecutors say Foster and his co-conspirators 'embarked on a violent robbery spree' just after 4 a.m. Friday that began with several thefts at 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue before continuing south.

The first attack took place at around 4:20am, when a 44-year-old man on the southbound 4-train was slashed in the left side of his cheek, police said.

He got off at the 14th Street/Union Square station, but the suspects stayed on the train beat two sleeping men about five minutes later.

One man, 41, was woken up with sucker punch to the face, and the second man, 40, was slashed across the face, police said. They got off the train at Astor Place in Manhattan.

Three men have now been charged and police are hunting a fourth suspect (pictured in a surveillance camera image)

The suspects continued to wreak havoc on the train by slashing a fourth man, 44, across the face while he boarded the train from the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station at 4:30am and threw his phone on the tracks, police said.

About 30 minutes later, a fifth victim, 48, told police in the area of Yankee stadium that he stabbed in the eye, slashed in the back and left side of his neck, and robbed of his backpack in the area of 79th Street-Broadway subway station.

The brazen acts of violence were the latest of 15 assaults on the subway system last week alone, according to Transit Worker Union boss Tony Utano, and appear to part of the epidemic of violence that has gripped New York City's underground rail lines.

Friday's attack happened two days after four commuters were beaten over the course of three hours in unprovoked subway attacks, including a victim who was spat on and slashed in the face.

The unnamed victim was seated on a bench at the Times Square station on the southbound platform for the No. 1, 2 and 3 lines when he was approached by an unidentified man Wednesday morning.

He told police the assailant began talking to him, at which point he removed his headphones and asked: 'Are you talking to me?'

This week's violence on the subways were the latest in a rash of random assaults in a year-long trend sparked by the pandemic.

Murder rates in New York have gone up by 15.8% year-on-year, robbery is up 28.6% and rape has increased by 53%, according to official figures from the NYPD

Police leaders in the city previously say the random street and subway attacks is returning New York to its 1980s nadir, when lawlessness and murder were commonplace.

There was a tough crackdown in the 1980s, which lowered crime levels made neighborhoods that were previously known as no-go areas safe to walk around, even at night.

But now, there are fears the city is returning to the bad old days, including areas like today's attacks in Midtown Manhattan, which have generally been considered to be safe.

In an essay written exclusively for DailyMail.com on Wednesday, Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins blamed Mayor Bill de Blasio and fellow officials for New York City's descent into lawlessness.

'As the city burns, more lives are lost, and devastated families mourn, these buffoonish 'leaders' continue to say the police are the problem  not the solution,' wrote Mullins.

NYPD figures from April show the overall crime index rose 30.4% compared to the same month last year.

This was driven by a 166% increase in shooting incidents, a 35.6% increase in felony assault, and a 66% increase in reported thefts.

Murder rates in the city have gone up by 15.8% year-on-year, robbery is up 28.6% and rape has increased by 53%, according to official figures from the NYPD.

Unprovoked attacks are leaving some residents on edge and even looking for self-defense classes.
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A manhunt is underway for a suspected arsonist who's wanted for torching more 800 than acres of wildland in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles County on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Police Department said a police helicopter crew spotted what appeared to be a person setting fires in the area on Friday night. That suspect is still on the loose Sunday evening.

What started as a 15-acre brush fire around 10pm Friday turned into an inferno by Saturday afternoon and is still raging Sunday evening.

The Palisades wildfire in California already chewed up more than 800 acres of land

Strong winds are pushing the flames towards a multi-million dollar residential neighborhood

Firefighters have been fighting the wildfire since 10pm Friday and have resorted to battling the flames using helicopters

More than 500 homes in Topanga County were evacuated Sunday

What started as a 15-acre brush fire on Friday grew to an 800-acre wildfire by Sunday

Smoke can be seen for miles above the wildfire

The Pacific Palisades area sky is light up red Saturday night as the fire rages

A firefighter looks at the flames from the Palisades fire cresting the hills in the distance in Topanga State Park, North West of Los Angeles on Saturday

The Los Angeles Fire Department is hoping for rain to help their fight, but the flames are headed towards dense, thick material that will fuel the fire even more

The fire forced the evacuations of more than 500 multi-million dollar homes in nearby Topanga Canyon, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Some of the homes included ranches with livestock that was being moved to an emergency animal shelter established at Pierce College about eight miles away, ABC News reported.

'We are expecting the rain to stop around noon time and fire activity to begin again,' LAFD spokeman David Ortiz told ABC Los Angeles station KABC on Sunday.

'We're trying to keep it up out of the old growth, which is 50-60 years that hasn't burned. So there's a lot of dense, thick material there - oily plants that have died out because of the drought. So that's our objective today is to try to keep it out of that and protect the communities and neighborhoods to the west of this fire because that's what's closest to it.'

The Los Angeles Fire Department resorted to battling the fire with helicopters and air-tankers, which are dropping fire retardant and water on the flames in areas hard for firefighters on the ground to reach, officials told ABC News.

'Much of the area remains inaccessible. This is primarily an air-based operation with both fixed wing and rotary working together,' Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Margaret Stewart told ABC News Saturday evening.

Firefighting helicopters continuously drop water on the water

As of Sunday, the fire continues to rage

A firefighting helicopter drops water onto the fire Saturday evening

Smoke rises from a brush fire is seen behind homes in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles Saturday
Chinese, Pakistani FMs hold phone talks over bilateral ties, Afghan issue

Xinhua) 11:17, May 16, 2021

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that he expects China and Pakistan to take the opportunity of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties to open up a brighter prospect for bilateral relations.

In a telephone conversation with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Wang said the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan is unique, and China-Pakistan relations have become a model of friendly cooperation between countries.

Wang noted that over the past 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two sides have firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other's core interests.

Wang stressed that China will continue to stand firmly with Pakistan in the face of the pandemic until Pakistan completely wins the battle against the epidemic.

China has always given priority to Pakistan in its vaccine cooperation, and stands ready to provide more support to Pakistan in its fight against the pandemic and provide maximum convenience for Pakistan's purchase of anti-epidemic materials in China, Wang said.

China is ready to work with Pakistan to step up efforts to implement the outcomes of the video conference of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on COVID-19 and play a bigger role in regional economic recovery, Wang added.

Wang said that the hasty withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan has severely impacted the Afghan domestic peace process and negatively affected regional stability.

Under such circumstances, China expects the United Nations to play its due role, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to pay more attention to the situation, and Afghanistan's neighbors to strengthen communication, speak with one voice and take coordinated actions, Wang said.

Noting that Pakistan has an important traditional influence on the Afghan issue, Wang said China recognizes and appreciates Pakistan's efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan and calls for all parties in Afghanistan to reach a political arrangement acceptable to all sides under the "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned" framework and jointly seek a development path suited to Afghanistan's national conditions.

Under the current circumstances, China and Pakistan should continue to strengthen strategic coordination in order to exert a more positive influence on the peace process in Afghanistan and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, Wang said.

For his part, Qureshi congratulated the landing of China's Tianwen-1 probe on Mars, and said bilateral relations have achieved fruitful results since the establishment of diplomatic ties.

The Pakistani foreign minister said his country hopes to jointly celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and push forward the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China.

He thanked China for its strong support for Pakistan's fight against COVID-19 and expressed hope that his country would continue to enhance anti-epidemic cooperation with China.

Pakistan appreciates the joint statement on the Afghan issue issued at the China+Central Asia foreign ministers' meeting, and maintains that U.S. and NATO troops should leave Afghanistan in an orderly and responsible manner, and supports Afghanistan's neighboring countries in playing a bigger role in pushing forward the peace process in Afghanistan, Qureshi said.

Pakistan stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with China under the framework of such mechanisms as Pakistan-China-Afghanistan trilateral dialogue to jointly push forward the peace and reconciliation process in Afghanistan, Qureshi added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday defended the new face mask guidelines amid confusion on the issue, saying the scientific data backed up the policy change and he hopes people use it as motivation to get vaccinated.

'There's been an accumulation of data on showing in the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines. It is even better than in the clinical trials, well over 90% protecting you against disease,' Fauci said on CBS' Face the Nation.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday announced an abrupt change in policy, that fully vaccinated Americans do not have to wear masks outdoors and in most indoor settings, aside from crowded places such as buses and planes.

Some businesses and states, however, still require face coverings, leading to confusion.

Fauci, who serves as director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, said the change in policy came because of new data and studies.

'We're seeing that it is very unlikely that a vaccinated person, even if there's a breakthrough infection, would transmit it to someone else. So, the accumulation of all of those scientific facts, information and evidence brought the CDC to make that decision to say now when you're vaccinated, you don't need to wear a mask, not only outdoors, but you don't need to wear it indoors,' he said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci defended the CDC's policy change on face masks, saying the scientific data backed up the decision

Dr. Fauci said he hopes people use the new face mask policy as motivation to get vaccinated

Fauci also said he hopes the new policy will serve as motivation for those who haven't gotten vaccinated to do so. About 121 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data - about 37% of the population. Around 157 million Americans - about half the population - has had at least one dose of the vaccine.

'The underlying reason for the CDC doing this was just based on the evolution of the science that I mentioned a moment ago. But if, in fact, this serves as an incentive for people to get vaccinated, all the better. I hope it does, actually,' he said.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky also on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on face mask wearing but did little to clear up lingering confusing caused by the change in policy.

She also said those who are not vaccinated must still wear face coverings and it would be done on the 'honor system.'

'The honor system is to be honest with yourself. If you are vaccinated, we are saying you are safe, you can take off your mask, and you are not at risk of severe disease or hospitalization from COVID-19. If you are not vaccinated, you are not safe. Please go get vaccinated or continue to wear your mask,' she said on Fox News Sunday.

Walensky said the order change came because the science has 'really just evolved' regarding how protected vaccinated people are from getting COVID-19.

'We now have science that has really just evolved even in the last two weeks that demonstrates that these vaccines are safe, they are effective,' she said on ABC's This Week.

But, adding to the confusion, she also said the order wasn't blanket approval for everyone to stop wearing face masks.

'We also need to say that this is not permission for widespread removal of masks,' she added. 'For those who are vaccinated, it may take sometime for them to feel comfortable removing their masks, but also that these decisions have to be made at the jurisdictional level, at the community level. Some communities have been hit harder than others, have lowered vaccination rates than others.'

She said most decisions on the matter would be made at the 'community level.'

'We want to deliver the science of the individual level, but we also understand that these decisions have to be made at the community level,' Walensky noted.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on face mask wearing but said those not vaccinated must still mask up, telling Fox News Sunday the 'honor system' would be used

In four media appearances on Sunday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky didn't clear up any of the linger confusing brought about the CDC's abrupt change on wearing a face mask

In four media appearances on Sunday, Walensky didn't address questions about the confusion being caused by the new policy that says fully vaccinated Americans do not have to wear masks outdoors and in most indoor settings, aside from crowded places such as buses and planes

Despite the new policy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention some businesses still require face coverings and many states have not changed their own policies.

'Can you see, since this is big news for every American, can you see how your guidance, the vaccinated people can take their masks off, but requirements from businesses, local governments, to keep the masks on, are sending a mixed message,' CNN's Dana Bash asked her.

'I know that we need to do the hard work - this was individual guidance - to understand what this means for communities, what this means for businesses,' she said.

'And what we're really asking in those settings is to say, in terms of the honor system, people have to be honest with themselves. You're protected if you're vaccinated. You're not if you're not vaccinated,' she noted.

Walensky instead said businesses should try to make sure their employees are vaccinated.

'This was individual guidance to understand what this means for communities, what this means for businesses,' she said on State of the Union.

'What we're saying to those essential workers, is that if those workers are vaccinated, they are safe so it's really, we are really asking the businesses to work with their workers to make sure that they have the paid time off to get themselves vaccinated so they can be safe,' she said.

The CDC director dismissed the idea of a 'vaccine mandate' on a federal level but conceded some local communities and businesses may take that step.

'We're not counting on vaccine mandates at all. It may very well be that local businesses, local jurisdictions will work towards vaccine mandates. That is going to be locally driven and not federally driven,' she said on NBC's Meet the Press.

She also said it would be up to individual businesses to decide whether or not people must prove they are vaccinated.

'I think thats really going to have to be industry-by-industry,' she said on Fox News Sunday. 'I can see why in certain situations, for example the cruise ship industry, would be important to understand how protective the people who are taking the voyage are. I can also see how difficult it might be in other situations. So I think that thats going to have to be an industry-by-industry discussion.'
Princess Diana's brother on Sunday night lambasted the BBC after its director-general shelved Monday's bombshell Panorama probe into the scandal over her famous interview.

Tim Davie dramatically pulled the plug on Friday, around the time he was handed a potentially devastating report by former judge Lord Dyson into how journalist Martin Bashir secured the 1995 chat.

On the same afternoon, it was announced that Bashir, who had been on sick leave from his role as religion editor, had resigned from the corporation to 'focus on his health'.

On Sunday night, Earl Spencer tweeted: 'Well, there's a surprise. What's next? My guess: a rush by the BBC director-general to get Lord Dyson's report out, before its expected publication date on Friday, so he can claim, with apparent regret: 'Sadly this Panorama is now no longer relevant'.'

Princess Diana's brother lambasted the BBC after its director-general shelved the bombshell Panorama probe into the scandal over her famous interview (pictured) with Martin Bashir

Both the programme and the report are expected to expose failings at the highest levels of the corporation, which is accused of a cynical cover-up.

The BBC has been plunged into fresh turmoil over the mess left 26 years ago by Bashir's interview with Diana, in which she famously declared 'there are three of us in this marriage'.

After the Daily Mail revealed last November that Bashir allegedly spun a web of lies to trick the Princess of Wales into doing the interview, the BBC launched two inquiries.

It commissioned former Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson to conduct an investigation. And it asked veteran reporter John Ware to make a programme for Panorama  in effect, the flagship current affairs show investigating itself.

On Friday at 6pm, almost six months on, Lord Dyson delivered his findings to BBC top brass. They will be published later this week.

Shortly before, Mr Davie held a video conference call with the production team and senior executives in which it was decided to 'postpone' tonight's programme.

Earl Spencer (pictured in 2015) took to Twitter on Sunday night to criticise the decision to shelve the Panorama TV expose, which was due to go out on Monday

Tim Davie (pictured) pulled the plug on Friday, around the time he was given a potentially devastating report by Lord Dyson into how journalist Bashir secured the 1995 chat

The Mail has been told that during the meeting, it was pointed out to the director-general that he had agreed to let the Panorama be broadcast in advance of the Dyson report. He allegedly replied: 'Really, guys?'

Amid questions over whether it will ever be aired, Lord Spencer  who is said to have given testimony to the camera that is 'utterly devastating for the BBC'  has told friends he intends to wait and see what Lord Dyson says in his report, and 'weigh up his options'.

One source said: 'As far as Charles Spencer is concerned, he has faith in Lord Dyson. He has none whatsoever in Tim Davie doing the right thing.

'Apart from anything else, Spencer has evidence of senior figures in the BBC briefing against him even very recently.

He's not going to let this go: he's vowed to get to the bottom of what happened in 1995-96, and all that's followed by way of cover-up over the past 25 years.'

The special had originally been slated for broadcast a month ago, but delayed by the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

BBC sources said the decision to can tonight's Panorama programme was 'ludicrous', adding that it had been brave of the BBC to commission a film into its own potential failings  but cowardly to shelve it on the day top brass were privately shown Lord Dyson's findings.

Mr Ware, who is freelance but also one of Panorama's most experienced journalists, has spent months probing the scandal. He did not respond to phone calls or text messages yesterday.

On the same afternoon, it was announced that Bashir (pictured), who had been on sick leave from his role as religion editor, had resigned from the corporation to 'focus on his health'

Another BBC stalwart who has known Mr Ware for decades said: 'John is one of the most trusted journalists in Britain. He took on this job without fear or favour. You can imagine how he must be feeling.

'He has exposed many things about the way the BBC handled the Princess Diana interview  at their behest  yet they have taken the cowardly decision to censor his findings.'

Allies of Bashir, 58, who has undergone heart surgery, said at the weekend he was justified in urging the BBC to drop the programme because he was a member of staff and it owed him a duty of care while on sick leave.

It was claimed Bashir, through his representatives, has 'aggressively played the health card'.

Jonathan Munro, head of BBC newsgathering, told staff on Friday that Bashir had 'stepped down'.

It is understood Bashir, who sold his London townhouse in November and moved to Winchester, did not receive a payoff.

All participants in Lord Dyson's inquiry  including Earl Spencer and Bashir  will be able to read his report two hours before it is made public.

A BBC spokesman said: 'We can confirm that this Panorama is postponed due to a significant duty of care issue.'
Almost $100million worth of the illicit drug ice has been found hidden in electric barbecue grills and water heaters imported from Thailand.

Australian Border Force found the haul in a consignment that came by sea cargo at Port Botany from Thailand on May 4.

NSW Police said it was in 62 large cardboard boxes labelled as food items and electric grills - with pictures show small BBQs stuffed with white crystals.

NSW Police said it was discovered in 62 large cardboard boxes labelled food items and electric barbecue grills

The consignment allegedly contained 316kg of methylamphetamine, with an estimated potential street value of $94.5million

During a subsequent deconstruction, the consignment was found to contain about 316kg of a crystallised substance which was then tested

The consignment was examined by ABF officers, who noted inconsistencies.

During a deconstruction, the consignment was found to contain about 316kg of a crystallised substance which was then tested.

The haul allegedly contained 316kg of methylamphetamine, with an estimated potential street value of $94.5 million.

'Sometimes a cartel will get nervous about a shipment and just leave it,' a law enforcement source told The Daily Telegraph.

'Other times the crooks who have to pick it up are arrested for something else and can't get word out about the shipment. They can get cold feet for any number of reasons.'

'You would expect someone in Sydney expecting a major shipment like this is going to be pretty angry when it doesn't show up,' he said.

Strike Force Kansa has been established and as joint investigations continue, police are urging anyone with information about the import to come forward.

Police are hoping that anyone with any information about the drugs will contact them.

Anyone with information that may assist investigators is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
From Monday people over the age of 50 can get their COVID-19 vaccination from a GP.

Up until now, those aged over 50 who were not in one of the vulnerable groups or key occupations had only been able to get their jab at special vaccination hubs, but now it will also be through local GPs.

Australia's vaccination program topped three million on Friday and Prime Minister Scott Morrison believes it is accelerating, noting even on Saturday a record 30,000 people got the jab.

'If you are over 50, you can go to your GP who are providing these vaccines,' Mr Morrison told reporters in Gladstone, Queensland on Sunday.

'We will continue to see that build.'

Since opening up the vaccination process to this age group in the past couple of weeks, it has only been available at special vaccination hubs (pictured, the AstraZeneca jab being administered on Friday in Melbourne)

He said about 85 per cent of residents in aged care facilities had now been vaccinated, but he urged more of those people over 70 who are living at home to get the jab.

'That is a very high priority for us because if there were to be an outbreak in Australia, they are the Australians most at risk and that is where our focus is the most at the moment.'

But he remains cautious on when Australia's borders can open up again, even as some of his backbenchers are calling for travel to resume earlier than the mid-point of 2022 as forecast in the Budget last week.

Those forecasts assumed all Australians who wanted the jab would be vaccinated by the end of this year, but international flights would not get into full swing until the latter half of 2022.

From Monday, Australians over 50 can get the vaccine from their local GP instead of at vaccination hubs (pictured, a woman at the Claremont Showground in Perth with AstraZeneca vaccine)

Mr Morrison said by the end of the year there would still be millions of Australians who would not be vaccinated, including children and those who have chosen not to be vaccinated.

Australia would also have to see if the virus spreads or intensifies in other countries.

Acting Victoria Premier James Merlino believes reopening Australia's border has always been dependent on the success of the Commonwealth's vaccine program, the efficacy of the vaccine and making sure there is an alternative quarantine hub.

HOW TO BOOK IN FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE How can I book or register for a Covid-19 vaccination? Use the Covid-19 vaccine eligibility checker: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covid-19-vaccine-eligibility-checker Will I be able to choose where I can book? If you are eligible to book, you will be able to view and select clinic locations based on the location you enter. What happens if there are no clinics or appointments in my area? More appointments will become available as more clinics come on-board, and more vaccine becomes available. People are encouraged to continue to check the vaccine clinic finder each week if they cannot secure a suitable appointment at this stage. Australians currently overseas Australia's COVID-19 vaccinations will only be available to people currently in Australia. Australian citizens currently overseas should consult their local health professional for advice on vaccine options that may be available locally. Source: Health Department Advertisement

'Once we can get to a point where the vaccine has been successfully rolled out to a large extent, we can start making further changes,' he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Morrison has defended the testing regime in India which prevented around 70 people flying to Australia on the first flight following the lifting of the travel ban from the subcontinent.

About 80 returnees are now in quarantine in the Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory after they landed from India on Saturday.

The plane was only half full because more than 40 people who tested positive pre-flight along with about 30 of their close contacts were barred from returning.

A nurse is seen speaking to a woman before giving her Covid-19 jab in western Sydney on May 7

However there are reports of some inconsistency in the testing results, adding to the frustration of Australians wanting to return home.

The prime minister conceded India is a very difficult environment to operate in right now.

'We will work closely with Qantas who are obviously conducting that testing regime as part of their process and they will get every support from us,' Mr Morrison said.

'I hope and intend for us to get even more home in the other repatriation commercially facilitated flights in the weeks ahead.'
Several Met Police officers and civilian staff could face disciplinary action after looking up information on murdered Sarah Everard.

It is claimed more than 30 people accessed information on the disappearance of the 33-year-old and later arrest of PC Wayne Couzens without authorisation.

An investigation was launched into the searches by its Directorate of Professional Standards, according to the Sun.

Those involved are said to have accessed information on the murder of Sarah Everard, 33

The 35 people involved will be quizzed on their reasons for looking up the case.

They could potentially face criminal charges.

The Met Police has been approached for comment by the MailOnline.

Sarah Everard was abducted and killed on her way home in Clapham on Wednesday 3rd March.

A vigil in Sarah's memory was later overtaken with violence, when dozens of police officers moved in on the Clapham Commons bandstand at the vigil.

They are also said to have looked up the arrest of PC Wayne Couzens who faces trial later this year

Last week Commissioner Cressida Dick said she had considered an all-female squad to police the vigil.

Britain's top police officer yesterday said she weighed up deploying only women due to 'sensitivities' over the death of Miss Everard, allegedly kidnapped and killed by a serving Met officer.

The Met Commissioner faced calls to quit after ugly scenes of officers arresting women at the March 13 vigil for the 33-year-old marketing executive in Clapham, south London.

Police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, is charged with kidnapping and murdering Ms Everard, who went missing while walking home from a friend's flat in south London on March 3 and faces trial in October.
Speeding millions of holidaymakers, workers and students around the country, they have been part of British life since 1976.

But after sterling service as the workhorse of the railways, the InterCity 125 has taken its final journey on the main network.

The historic farewell came at London St Pancras on Saturday  with a record-breaking locomotive taking the spotlight.

Trainspotters thronged the platform to admire the 43 102, painted in the swallow livery in which it broke the record for a diesel: 148.5mph in 1987.

The InterCity 125 has taken its final journey on the main network and the historic farewell for the locomotive (pictured at Leeds railway station) came at London St Pancras on Saturday

It carried a commemorative plate declaring: 'The last HST from London  1976-2021.'

After covering tens of millions of miles since 1978 it will be retired and displayed at the National Railway Museum site in Shildon, County Durham.

InterCity 125s, also known as High Speed Trains or HSTs, were developed in the early 1970s before coming into regular service in 1976.

Under the slogan 'Let the train take the strain', they provided almost all services from London to the West Country and South Wales, and many trains on the East Coast Mainline between London, Yorkshire and Scotland.

East Midlands Railway, running from London to the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, was the last route to and from the capital to have the trains in regular service.

They have been replaced by Hitachi locomotives, currently being inspected after cracks were found.

InterCity 125s (pictured in 1985), also known as High Speed Trains or HSTs, were developed in the early 1970s before coming into regular service in 1976

Paul Williams, co-driver of 43 102 on its last journey to Leeds, said: 'It is seen as the train that saved the railways. The railways were in decline because of the motorways. People were leaving the railways because the trains were old and decrepit.

'British Rail wanted this new face of the train and came up with the HST. It did its job. It was only seen as a ten-year stop gap until the railways were electrified.'

Anthony Coulls, of the National Railway Museum, said: 'The power car 43102 is really assured of its place in history.

'It's the fastest diesel train in the world and growing up, every kid wanted a 125 on their Hornby train set. I never got one, but now we're getting the full-size version.'

He added: 'The fact that 40 years on, they are just leaving service, demonstrates just how successful these trains were.'

A small number of 125s have been modernised and remain in use on local services in the West Country, in Scotland and on the Cross Country route from Scotland and the North East to south-west England.
A school principal has defended a legal loophole which permits students to bring religious knives to campus, despite a recent alleged lunchtime stabbing.

Emergency services were called to Glenwood High School in Sydney's north-west on May 6 after a male student, 16, was allegedly stabbed twice in the stomach during a fight with another boy.

He was rushed to hospital while the other student, 14, was charged with two counts of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The student is accused of using a religious knife in the alleged incident, which sent the school into lockdown.

School principal Sonja Anderson addressed the alleged incident in a letter sent home to parents last Friday, which was obtained by 2GB.

A boy allegedly stabbed at Glenwood High School on May 6 is yet to return to school. Pictured are police at the scene

Ms Anderson acknowledged the use of knives 'used as a weapon in a dangerous, violent or threatening way is never acceptable'.

Poll Should students be allowed to bring knives to school for religious reasons? Yes No Undecided Should students be allowed to bring knives to school for religious reasons? Yes 21 votes

No 633 votes

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But she added possession of a knife for genuine religious reasons is specified as a reasonable excuse under the The NSW Summary Offences Act.

'We are currently working with community representatives to discuss how best to enable students to meet aspects of their religious faith and, at the same time, ensure our schools remain a safe place for students and staff,' the letter states.

'Once we have discussed this issue further with the community representatives we will provide further guidance to NSW public schools.'

The school's position on knives sparked outraged 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham.

'I'm sorry but knives don't belong in schools,' he told listeners on Monday.

A boy, 14, was arrested at the school and has since charged with two counts of wounding a person with intent to cause grievous bodily harm

'I don't care what your religion is. And the NSW Police and Department of Education should make this crystal clear.

'Queensland's got it in black and white. The law states that it's not a reasonable excuse to possess a knife in a school for genuine religious purposes.'

Fordham doesn't understand why some students can't bring peanuts to school in NSW but students can bring a knife for religious reasons.

'I would have thought the solution here is pretty simple. No knives on school ground for any reason whatsoever, full stop,' he said.

Even NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was surprised about the policy and will meet with the education minister to discuss possible changes.

'I was quite taken aback to learn that students can take knives to schools,' she told reporters on Monday.

The principal of Glenwood High School (pictured) told parents that a student being in possession of a knife for genuine religious reasons is specified as a reasonable excuse

'Students shouldn't be allowed to take knives to school under any circumstances and I think it doesn't pass the common sense test to have students taking weapons of any description to school.'

'I'll talk to the Education Minister about it but my strong view is that no student should be allowed to take a weapon to school. Full stop.'

NSW Department of Education quoted the letter sent by Ms Anderson when contacted for comment by Daily Mail Australia.

The department also confirmed the alleged incident is currently before the courts and is unable comment further.

Ms Anderson also provided an update on the injured student, who is 'progressing well' is being provided with support and expected to return to school soon.
Priti Patel will be challenged in the Commons over claims she broke the Ministerial Code by lobbying to secure a 20million PPE deal for a firm represented by a friend.

On Saturday the Daily Mail revealed that the Home Secretary wrote to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in April last year urging him to finalise a contract for surgical masks from Pharmaceuticals Direct Ltd (PDL).

She had been asked to intervene by her former adviser Samir Jassal, a Kent Tory councillor and former parliamentary candidate.

The deal was not finalised after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the masks were 'not suitable' for the NHS.

Priti Patel will be challenged in the Commons over claims she broke the Ministerial Code by lobbying to secure a 20million PPE deal for a firm represented by a friend

But weeks later, PDL was awarded a no-competition contract worth 102.6million for better quality masks following negotiations between the Government and Mr Jassal.

Senior civil servants wrote emails expressing their concern that these masks were costing the taxpayer almost double the going 'benchmark' price.

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds have already demanded an inquiry by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, describing the disclosures as a 'glaring and flagrant' breach.

Now Mr Thomas-Symonds is set to put down an Urgent Question, which would require Miss Patel to give a full account to MPs.

The Mail revealed that the Home Secretary wrote to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove in April last year urging him to finalise a contract for surgical masks from Pharmaceuticals Direct Ltd, after being asked to intervene by her former adviser Samir Jassal (circled), a Kent Tory councillor and former parliamentary candidate

Miss Patel insists she has done nothing wrong. Her spokesman said that not passing on Mr Jassal's representations would have been a 'dereliction of duty' at 'a time of national crisis'.

The PDL deal is also being challenged in a High Court judicial review by the Good Law Project.

Yesterday its executive director, Jolyon Maugham QC, said: 'We need to know: Who is this man Jassal  and why is the Home Secretary using her position to push his commercial interests? Something feels very wrong indeed.'

Labour is also planning to question Mr Hancock about why he recommended a PPE bid from a friend who brokered a deal to sell goggles worth 180million.

Former Tory minister Brooks Newmark had teamed up with the owner of a dog food company who had set up a firm to broker PPE deals for international suppliers.

He resigned from government in 2014 after sending sexually explicit photos to an undercover male journalist he thought was a female party activist.

Yesterday Mr Hancock told the Andrew Marr Show that it was 'absolutely appropriate' for Mr Newmark to contact him and for him to recommend his bid.

He added that it was an 'excellent proposal' but said all he did was 'ping it on'.

In a separate development, Boris Johnson's long-time aide Lord Udny-Lister apologised for approving a 187million loan to property developer Delancey  where he was a paid adviser.
Bill Gates asked two women who worked at Microsoft and his philanthropic foundation out on dates while still married to Melinda, and mishandled a sexual harassment case against one of his top financial investors, a new report claims.

The Gates, one of the world's richest couples with a fortune of $130billion, announced this month they were getting divorced, with Melinda saying the marriage is 'irretrievably broken' in divorce filings.

The New York Times reported that Gates, 64, asked out a Microsoft employee in 2006 after watching her make a presentation.

'If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened,' Gates emailed the employee, according to the Times.

The woman took his advice and pretended it never happened.

A couple of years later, Gates asked out an employee with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The pair were in New York for a work trip, when he told her: 'I want to see you. Will you have dinner with me?'

The woman told the Times the approach made her feel uncomfortable, but she laughed it off.

The report said there was no expectation that the women would suffer professional repercussions for spurning Gates' advances.

It's not clear whether Melinda Gates, who met Bill at Microsoft in the late 1980s, was aware of her husband's advances.

Bill and Melinda Gates were one of the world's richest couples with a fortune of $130billion, announced this month they were getting divorced, with Melinda saying the marriage is 'irretrievably broken' in divorce filings

The couple, seen here after receiving the Commander of the Legion of Honor in Paris in 2017, met on the job at Microsoft in 1987. And Bill Gates went on to ask out female employees years after their 1994 marriage

Bill Gates emailed a Microsoft employee in 2006 after watching her make a presentation asking her out. 'If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened,' he wrote

Melinda was also unhappy about the way sexual harassment allegations against Gates' key moneyman Michael Larson, above, were handled

Melinda, who now goes by Melinda French Gates, was also upset at the way allegations of sexual harassments against Michael Larson, one of Gates' key lieutenants and the manager of his personal fortune, were handled.

Larsen has overseen the enormous expansion of Gates' personal fortune through an investment vehicle, Cascade Investment.

In 2017, a person wrote to Bill and Melinda to complain that Larson was harassing a female staff member at a bicycle shop part-owned by a venture capital firm Rally Capital, owned by the former married couple.

The woman reached a settlement in 2018, signing a non-disclosure agreement and receiving a payout.

However, Melinda was not happy with the outcome and ordered an independent investigation.

According to the New York Times, Larson was placed on leave during the investigation but was reinstated and still leads Cascade Investments.

The tipping point though appears to have been revelations about Gates' close ties to Jeffrey Epstein, which caught Melinda by surprise when they were first reported in October 2019.

Their friendship began in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Gates continued to spend time with Epstein despite Melinda expressing concerns.

She hired divorce lawyers the same month that revelations emerged about their relationship, which culminated in the announcement this month that their 27 year marriage was over.

Bill was already a billionaire he married Melinda in the early 1990s. He founded Microsoft in 1975 and became the world's youngest billionaire in 1987 at the age of 31. He also met Melinda that year when she was working at the company where he served as CEO.

Gates' spokeswoman Bridgitt Arnold denied Gates had mistreated employees.

'It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gates's divorce,' Ms. Arnold said.

'Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated,' she told The Times.

The couple are pictured with their three kids in a 2019 family photo. The kids - Jennifer (center), Rory (right) and Phoebe (left) are now aged 25, 21 and 18.

'The claim of mistreatment of employees is also false. The rumors and speculation surrounding Gates's divorce are becoming increasingly absurd, and it's unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge of the situation are being characterized as 'sources.'

Bill, 64, and Melinda, 56, met in 1987 - the same year he became the world's youngest billionaire at the age of 31 - married in Hawaii in 1994, and have three children together: Jennifer, 25, Rory, 21, and Phoebe 18.

They also established the world's largest charitable foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in 2000 which has contributed more than $50billion to causes including eradicating polio and malaria. The foundation has also been a major investor in coronavirus treatments.

In a joint statement posted to their Twitter accounts on Monday, the pair said their work with the foundation will continue but their marriage will not, adding: 'We no longer feel we are able to grow as a couple in this next phase of our lives.'

While the couple have no prenup, it appears a lot of the work of dividing up their estate - which includes properties in five states, a private jet, an astonishing art collection and a fleet of luxury cars - has already been done, as their divorce papers repeatedly refer to a 'separation contract' which both have signed. The contract itself has not been made public.
The AFP tipped off the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre

Six girls and eight boys, aged between two and 17, were removed on May 7

The arrest of an accused paedophile in Victoria led to 14 children being rescued

Pictures have emerged showing authorities in the Philippines rescuing a baby from a seedy den that was allegedly used to film child pornography - after they were tipped off by the arrest for an accused paedophile in Victoria.

Six girls and eight boys, aged between two and 17, were removed from harm on May 7 after the Australian Federal Police provided intelligence from the Victorian man's arrest to the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre.

The Philippine National Police arrested three women and a man in Bombon, in the province of Camarines Sur, accused of facilitating the online child sexual abuse.

Investigators from the Victorian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team, comprising AFP and Victoria Police, in March charged Anthony Scott, 68, with possession of child abuse material.

A young child is seen being rescued from the alleged child sex ring in the Philippines, with the youngest just two years old

Six girls and eight boys (pictured, some of the victims), aged between two and 17, were removed from harm on May 7

The maximum penalty for the offence is 15 years imprisonment.

They then tipped off the AFP International Command in the Philippines.

A computer seized from the man contained child abuse material and records of online chat conversations allegedly facilitating 'pay per view' child abuse content in the Philippines, police alleged in a Victorian court.

Among the evidence seized in the Philippines last week were digital devices containing child sexual exploitation material, a sex toy, and several money transfer receipts showing foreigners as senders, police allege.

The child victims have been placed in the care of a local social welfare office.

'Our investigators are dedicated to protecting children in Australia from abuse and work with law enforcement across the world to do the same,' AFP Commander Todd Hunter said on Monday.

The Philippine National Police arrested three women and a man in Bombon, in the province of Camarines Sur, accused of facilitating the online child sexual abuse

'Our message to offenders accessing or exchanging child abuse material online is that we will never stop trying to identify anyone involved in bringing harm to children and bringing them before the court.'

The investigation into the Australian man was linked to an earlier Victorian arrest of a man charged by the AFP for allegedly paying for live-streamed child abuse.

Police traced the initial arrest to the Philippines, which led to the rescue of nine children, aged two to 16, and the arrest of a woman by Philippine authorities.

Brigadier General Alessandro Abella from the Philippine National Police Chief of the Women and Children Protection Centre said child sex abuse incidents are 'borderless crimes.

'Our pursuit to rescue and protect children from online sexual exploitation will not stop until we have arrested the last trafficker and abuser doing this vile crime,' he said.
Tens of thousands of dementia sufferers are being rushed to hospital every year because of shocking failings in Englands social care system.

Emergency admissions of people with dementia soared by 27 per cent over four years because inadequate social care leaves them unprotected from infections, falls and dehydration.

An investigation launched by the Alzheimers Society to mark Dementia Action Week found that nearly two-thirds of these admissions could have been avoided if decent care had been in place.

To make things worse, a poll found that almost three-quarters of family carers said their loved one with dementia had experienced medical issues because of a lack of support. One in nine said this had culminated in them being rushed to hospital.

Upsetting: Angela McDonnell in PPE visits her mother Maureen, who has dementia, in her care home

The dramatic findings come as the Alzheimers Society calls for the Government to publish a funding solution for social care to ensure dementia sufferers receive high-quality and affordable care.

The charity is campaigning for parity for the social care workforce with the NHSs workforce  with better pay, training and working conditions for carers. As part of the Mails End the Dementia Care Scandal campaign, a petition signed by more than 365,000 readers calling for urgent action on care funding was delivered to No 10 in October 2019.

But over 18 months later, the Government has still failed to reveal its plan.

Kate Lee, chief executive officer at the Alzheimers Society, said: Lockdown has left people with dementia cut off from vital support and care.

Interrupted routines, loneliness and isolation have contributed to rapid symptom progression, meaning theres now more people than ever fighting for scarce dementia care. Without urgent action, avoidable hospital admissions will skyrocket, costing the NHS millions.

She was failed over and over again As an A&E nurse and great-grandmother of three, Margaret Mills spent her life caring for others. But her family say she was let down terribly at the end of her life by a social care system that struggled to deal with her dementia. In her last 18 months, she endured five trips to hospital before she died of sepsis in December 2019, aged 89, from a foot wound missed by care home staff and nurses. Mrs Mills, a widow from Epping, Essex, started having home care after being diagnosed with dementia in 2018. But her daughter Helen Taylor, herself a carer, worried that the staff were inexperienced and didnt have enough time on their visits to make sure her mother was properly taken care of. She said: There were times when I could see my mum hadnt taken her medication when she was meant to or hadnt eaten. Because of her dementia, it took time and effort to coax my mum to eat. Mrs Taylor, 63, added: She kept falling and having to go to hospital. But when she was missing meals and medication it was not surprising. It was an incredibly distressing time. In August 2019 Mrs Mills moved into a care home. Mrs Taylor said the staff were lovely but many did not seem to understand the needs of her mother, who would often refuse food. She added: They said my mum was difficult, but many people with dementia will refuse things because they are confused or distressed. Mrs Taylor said: My mum was failed over and over again because the people caring for her didnt understand dementia. She was a nurse her whole life, and the system failed her. She added: No one is taking responsibility for the mess we call social care  it cant keep going on like this. Advertisement

Boris Johnson promised when he became Prime Minister in July 2019 that he would publish a plan his team had prepared to fix the social care crisis once and for all.

But nothing has been published and last weeks Queens Speech included no new proposals and devoted just nine words to the issue  a devastating blow for the 850,000 people in the country living with dementia.

Mrs Lee added: Decades of chronic underfunding and neglect have led to a care system thats inadequate and deeply unfair  the pandemic has exposed these failings like never before.

People with dementia have been worst hit, accounting for over a quarter of all deaths and many more rapidly deteriorating from lockdowns knock-on effects. Family carers are exhausted. This cannot be the kind of society that we expect today and that we want to grow old in  never again must people affected by dementia face such devastation.

The legacy of this terrible year must be a reformed social care system, which is free at the point of use and put on an equal footing with the NHS.

We need a system that gives every person with dementia the support they deserve.

The Alzheimers Society investigation, which involved Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts, found that in four years the number of people sped to hospitals rose from 60,023 in 2015 to 76,369 in 2019. Cases included falls, delirium, gastroenteritis, influenza, chest infections, urinary tract infections and dehydration.

In 2019, nearly two-thirds  65 per cent or almost 50,000  of all emergency admissions of people with dementia were cases caused by failures in care. The numbers span both those in care homes and people who receive care at home.

During Dementia Action Week, the Alzheimers Society is releasing a hard-hitting TV ad which is calling on the Government to cure the care system. Backed up by billboard advertising, the heart-wrenching advert exposes the stark reality of being a dementia carer not receiving adequate support. In a supporting survey of 795 unpaid dementia carers, almost half (48 per cent) reported that they had performed tasks they felt unqualified to carry out because of a lack of support.

The key demands Coronavirus has exposed the dire state of social care. The PM promised on the steps of No 10 to fix social care. The Alzheimers Society is asking that the legacy of this disastrous year for those worst hit  people affected by dementia  is for the Government to publish a long-awaited plan to rebuild the social care system. That way, people affected by dementia should get the accessible, high-quality and affordable care they deserve. The plan should include: A budgeting plan, including a funding solution

Parity for the socialcare workforce with the NHS workforce including pay, training and working terms and conditions

Ensuring the reforms consider not just funding, but also improving the quality of care

Needs of those with dementia put front and centre of a new system Advertisement

As a result, they reported three-quarters (72 per cent) of people with dementia having medical issues at home.

Three in ten had experienced avoidable falls, one in six missed medication, one in five hurt themselves in the house and one in nine reported their loved one being rushed to hospital in an avoidable emergency.

This devastating lack of support means many family carers are at breaking point, with 95 per cent admitting it impacts their physical or mental health.

The Alzheimers Society said that while an increase in the number of people with dementia has contributed in part to the rise in avoidable admissions, much of the increase is thought to be due to cuts in spending on adult social care.

The charity warned it expects hospital admissions to increase sharply, costing the NHS millions, unless drastic action is taken to improve dementia care.

In the last month alone, the Alzheimers Society has heard reports of people with dementia losing the ability to walk, getting pneumonia, and being rushed to hospital with kidney damage from dehydration. All of this is avoidable with quality care, the charity said.

It added that, with no drugs to cure or slow down the condition, it is social care that people with dementia rely on every day. But lack of time and dementia-specific training among the overworked and underpaid care workforce means sufferers arent getting the support they need, either in their homes or in residential care, leading to emergency admissions and more pressure on the NHS.

For advice, call the Alzheimers Society Dementia Connect support line on 0333 150 3456 or visit www.alzheimers.org.uk

Mums carers just dont have enough time

By Elliot Mulligan for MailOnline

Before Maureen McDonnell moved into a care home she was physically active, fully mobile and enjoyed dancing with her daughter.

But the 83-year-old from London, who has advanced vascular dementia, has since been rushed to hospital twice because of failings in the social care system.

After moving into the home, her daughter noticed she was often left sitting in her chair and her mobility was rapidly declining.

Angela said: Because of my mums dementia, I know she wont drink and will sit in the same position for hours on end unless shes encouraged to move. But if she doesnt move, shell end up very ill and in a lot of pain.

Her daughters fears turned out to be well-founded and her mothers lack of movement meant she soon developed arthritis in her spine.

While at the hospital her daughter also found out her mother had been given sleeping pills by the care home. After a week of rest at her family home, Mrs McDonnell began to walk again with her daughters help.

Close: Maureen McDonnell hugs daughter Angela

She soon moved back into the care home with advice to walk around at least three times a day.

But once lockdown began in March last year, Mrs McDonnells family were not allowed to see her or take her out for walks.

They had to wait until June to be able to see her through a window at the care home, where her daughter noticed one of her mothers legs was very swollen and she was limping badly.

Mrs McDonnell was taken to hospital again where a doctor said she had developed deep vein thrombosis from sitting still for too long. She was also badly dehydrated.

Angela said: When I speak to the carers there, its clear that they just dont have enough time to look after my mum in the way she needs.

Im not sure they really understand her needs all the time either.

When I told them she needs to be walked three times a day to keep her mobile, they came back saying they arent going to force her to get up and walk if she doesnt want to.

But I know shes very placid and just needs encouragement, because she wont do it by herself because of her dementia.

My mum means the world to me, and its heart-breaking to see her lose her mobility and be in pain for something as simple as being encouraged to move around a few times a day.

Sign the Alzheimer's Society petition at: action.alzheimers.org.uk/dailymail
Key new evidence uncovered by police in the search for Madeleine McCann has been revealed as phone records showing a suspect's movements in Portugal.

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as Maddie, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007.

Officers investigating her disappearance believe she was killed in Portugal by German suspect Christian Brueckner, 44.

Earlier this week prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation in Germany, alluded to new evidence which has been gathered in recent days, though he declined to reveal specifics.

A source told The Sun they relate to phone records.

Police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (left) now believe she was killed in Portugal by German suspect Christian Brueckner (right)

They said: 'For a long time German officers have said many key pieces of the jigsaw were missing about Christian B's movements in the Algarve.

'This new information may help provide one of those pieces.'

Earlier today it was reported police investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann now believe she was killed in Portugal by the suspect.

Detectives initially feared the convicted rapist had moved Madeleine to Germany from Praia da Luz, where the three-year-old vanished 14 years ago.

Mr Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation in Germany, claims the police are convinced she died in Portugal, reports the Sunday Mirror.

Brueckner is currently serving a prison termfor raping a pensioner in Portugal and is thought to be the man responsible for her abduction, have new leads.

Three-year-old Madeleine, known as Maddie, vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal's Praia da Luz on May 3, 2007. Pictured: Praia da Luz beach (file)

Kate and Gerry (pictured in 2017) will lay presents and cards in her bedroom which is understood to remain as a shrine to her and unchanged since she was snatched 14 years ago

Investigators believe convicted child sex offender Brueckner  referred to as Christian B in Germany due to the country's strict privacy laws  murdered Madeleine after abducting her from the holiday apartment in Praia da Luz.

But now prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters, who is leading the McCann investigation in Germany, claims the police are convinced she died in Portugal

When asked where he believed Maddie was killed, Mr Wolters told the newspaper: 'In Portugal. I am optimistic we will solve this case.'

Authorities hope to be in a position to charge Brueckner by the end of the summer, with a reconstruction soon due to take place in the Praia da Luz resort following a tip-off from a key witness.

It comes after Madeleine's parents said this month they 'hang on to hope, however small' that they will see their daughter again as they marked the 14th anniversary of her disappearance alone.

In a message shared online earlier this month, Kate and Gerry McCann noted that this year's anniversary was even more poignant because it would have been missing Maddie's 18th birthday.

The message, which was shared on the Find Madeleine website, read: 'Every May is tough  a reminder of years passed, of years together lost, or stolen.

'This year it is particularly poignant as we should be celebrating Madeleine's 18th birthday. Enough said.'

On Friday, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick vowed to continue the search for Madeleine.
Advertisement

Plastic from British supermarkets is being illegally dumped and burned on Turkish roadsides, it has been claimed.

Waste from major chains including Tesco, Aldi and M&S is among rubbish strewn across Turkey's Adana province, according to an investigation by Greenpeace.

The UK exports more than 500,000 tons of plastic waste every year  enough to fill two-and-a-half Olympic swimming pools.

Almost half of this ends up in Turkey  and is almost impossible to recycle. As such, it is often burnt and left in fields or dumped along the roadside.

Plastic from British supermarkets is being illegally dumped and burned on Turkish roadsides (pictured: rubbish in the Adana province), it has been claimed

Waste from major chains including Tesco (pictured), Aldi and M&S is among rubbish strewn across Turkey's Adana province, according to an investigation by Greenpeace

There is no suggestion the waste comes directly from supermarkets and is much more likely to be household waste which has made its way abroad. Pictured: M&S Irish unsmoked back bacon packet found by investigators

Almost half of the UK's exported plastic waste ends up in Turkey (left and right)  and is almost impossible to recycle. As such, it is often burnt and left in fields or dumped along the roadside

It is illegal to export plastic waste from the UK unless it is intended to be recycled or sent to an energy plant. Pictured: Plastic waste that is dumped and burned in Adana province in Turkey

A team of investigators found plastic packaging from UK, German and global food and drinks brands and supermarkets. Pictured: Sainsbury's little ones plastic packaging

Greenpeace found used fizzy drink cans, crisp packets and sweet wrappers among items being shredded and burnt in Adana province in Turkey rather than recycled

The UK exports more than 500,000 tons of plastic waste every year  enough to fill two-and-a-half Olympic swimming pools

It is illegal to export plastic waste from the UK unless it is intended to be recycled or sent to an energy plant.

But Greenpeace found used fizzy drink cans, crisp packets and sweet wrappers among items being shredded and burnt rather than recycled.

There is no suggestion the waste comes directly from supermarkets and is much more likely to be household waste which has made its way abroad.

The amount of plastic taken by Turkey has skyrocketed since China announced in 2017 that it would no longer accept British waste.

The amount of plastic taken by Turkey has skyrocketed since China announced in 2017 that it would no longer accept British waste. Pictured: Covid rapid antigen test packet found among the plastic waste

In just four years, Turkey went from taking 12,000 tons to 210,000 tons. Pictured: Plastic waste dumped and burned in Adana province in Turkey

Greenpeace investigators claimed that there was plastic packaging (pictured) from UK, German and global food and drinks brands and supermarket found in the Adana province in Turkey

Sainsbury's sultana packet was found amid piles of plastic waste by Greenpeace investigators. There is no suggestion the waste comes directly from supermarkets and is more likely to be household waste

The increase of waste in Turkey (pictured at Adana province) has led to Turkish ministers banning imports on many types of plastic waste early this year  to little effect

Nina Schrank, senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said it is 'appalling' to see 'plastic from UK supermarkets' shelves ending up 3,000 kilometres away in burning piles'

The Mail's Banish the Bags and Turn the Tide on Plastic campaigns have played a major role in raising awareness about the harms of plastic pollution (pictured: Plastic found in Adana province in Turkey)

In just four years, it went from taking 12,000 tons to 210,000 tons. It has led to Turkish ministers banning imports on many types of plastic waste early this year  to little effect.

Nina Schrank, senior plastics campaigner at Greenpeace UK, said: 'It is appalling to see plastic from UK supermarkets' shelves ending up 3,000 kilometres away in burning piles on the side of Turkish roads.

'We must stop dumping our plastic waste on other countries. The heart of the problem is overproduction  the UK is the second biggest user of plastic waste per person in the world, behind the US.'

The Mail's Banish the Bags and Turn the Tide on Plastic campaigns have played a major role in raising awareness about the harms of plastic pollution.

A recent YouGov poll showed that 86 per cent of Britons are concerned about the amount of plastic waste produced by the country.

The same poll also found 62 per cent support banning exports of plastic waste.

A YouGov poll showed 86 per cent of Britons are concerned about the plastic waste produced by the country. It also found 62 per cent support banning exports of plastic waste Pictured: Tesco cat food packaging found by Greenpeace team

Plastic packaging for Volvic water was found by Greenpeace investigators among plastic waste that had been dumped on Turkish roadsides

Greenpeace UK's Nina Schrank has argued that the heart of the plastic waste problem lies with 'overproduction', adding 'the UK is the second biggest user of plastic waste per person in the world, behind the US'

The Greenpeace investigation has claimed that the plastic waste from the UK has been illegally dumped and burned on Turkish roadsides
Three in four Australians want the international borders closed until the Covid-19 pandemic is under control around the world, a Newspoll has found.

As many as 73 per cent of voters support the government's approach to keep the border closed until mid-2022, according to a YouGov survey of 1,506 people conducted for The Australian.

Only 21 per cent of voters believe the country should open up when everyone has been offered a vaccination, a view supported by several health experts including former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth.

The federal budget assumes the borders, which have been closed since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will open in mid-2022. Pictured: Sydney's Coogee Beach in November

Speaking on the Today show on Monday morning, Dr Coatsworth said Australians will have to get used to the virus circulating in the community next year.

'I think it's completely reasonable for three-quarters of Aussies to not want the borders open right now.

'What we have to start a conversation with the community about is, what do we do in 2022,' he said.

Poll Should Australia's border open once everyone has been offered the vaccine? Yes No Undecided Should Australia's border open once everyone has been offered the vaccine? Yes 458 votes

No 241 votes

Undecided 34 votes Now share your opinion





'What do we do when the majority of Australians are vaccinated and immune, safe from hospitalisation, safe from death from Covid-19 but there's still critical events going on that people want to attend around the world.

'Do we still put them in hotel quarantine in 2022 at their own expense?

'This is a conversation we need to get the community involved in. There will be Covid-19 circulating within the community in the future.'

Dr Coatsworth made similar comments in a speech at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons on Sunday in which he called eradication of the disease a 'false idol'.

'It is clear we will not have our borders closed indefinitely,' he said.

'We will not have quarantine stations in perpetuity while we aim for the false idol of eradication.'

'At a point in the future when a significant majority of our community is vaccinated, there will be pressure to open our borders. We must not resist that. In fact, when the time is right, we should be leading the calls for it.'

A group of Liberal MPs also wants the country to open its borders as soon as possible.

Jason Falinkski, the member for Mackellar in Sydney's northern beaches, said it was understandable people had adopted a 'fortress mentality' during the coronavirus pandemic.

'But it doesn't need to be that way,' he told Seven.

'We spent a lot of money keeping families safe, we don't want to keep them apart.'

Mr Falinski wants people who are vaccinated to be able to reunite with friends and family overseas.

Australia's borders to the outside world will remain virtually shut through to mid-2022 according to federal budget forecasts released on Tuesday evening

He suggested vaccinated people could quarantine at home rather than in a hotel upon their return to Australia.

'Instead of playing to people's worst fears we should be playing to people's best hopes,' he said.

The maximum sampling error of the YouGov poll is 25 per cent, meaning the true figure of Aussies who want the borders to stay closed could between 48 and 98 per cent.

Earlier this year Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country could treat the virus 'like flu' once everyone has been offered the vaccine, which is expected by the end of this year.

But he dropped this language as global cases surged in April, largely due to a rapid increase in India where mutant strains of the disease have caused chaos.

Federal budget documents on Tuesday said that inbound and outbound international travel into Australia 'will remain low through to mid-2022.'

Officials assume there will then be a 'gradual' return to normal travel after that point.

In the meantime, 'safe travel zones' will be established, as Australia has done with the New Zealand travel bubble.

Last year the Government predicted international borders would be open in October 2021 after the whole adult population has been offered a vaccination.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's budget contained the 'assumption' that overseas travel will not return until 2022

However, this timeline has now been pushed back as Australia's vaccination rollout falls behind due to supply shortages and vaccine hesitancy.

Even when the borders open, Treasury officials admit the number of Aussies travelling overseas won't return to pre-pandemic levels for some time.

Tuesday's forecast is only a government assumption which could be wrecked at any point by a serious Covid outbreaks or mutant virus variants.

At the weekend, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the border would remain closed 'indefinitely' to protect the Australian way of life.

'We sit here as an island that's living like few countries in the world are at the moment,' he said.

'We have to be careful not to exchange that way of life for what everyone else has.'

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 2020 unless granted special exemptions.

Only citizens, permanent residents and some visa holders have been allowed to enter under some of the strictest Covid-19 border rules in the world.

The budget documents also say the government expects occasional Covid-19 outbreaks to plague the country throughout the rest of the year.

However, they believe they will successfully be contained by authorities.

The government also believes there won't be 'extended or sustained state border restrictions' this year.

But the government is at the mercy of the virus and premiers such as West Australia's Mark McGowan on that.

International students are likely to begin trickling back into the country at the end of 2021 and re-enter Australia in increasing numbers in 2022.
The Victorian Royal Commission into the suitability of gaming giant Crown to hold a Melbourne casino licence will hear evidence from Monday, revealing its first four witnesses.

The commission will question Timothy Bryant and Jason Cremona from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

Questions will focus on the gambling regulator's monitoring of Crown, its investigation into the 2016 arrests of 19 staff across four Chinese cities, and junket operations.

All those arrested in 2016 were later charged with gambling promotion offences, and remain the subject of an ongoing class action against Crown.

The commission will question Timothy Bryant and Jason Cremona from the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation (pictured, Crown complex in Melbourne)

In 2019 media reports, it was alleged that Crown junket operators brought in high-rolling gamblers from China with links to organised crime.

The revelations led to the establishment of the Bergin inquiry in NSW, which in February found Crown unfit to run a casino at its newly built Barangaroo complex in Sydney.

The other two witnesses to be questioned in week one of the Victorian commission are Dr Murray Lawson, director of Ethics and Risk Culture at top accounting firm Deloitte Australia, and Nick Stokes, head of financial crime and money laundering reporting officer at Crown Resorts Limited.

Written submissions to the Victorian royal commission closed on April 26.

Inquiry CEO Elizabeth Langdon on Saturday released 30 submissions received from the public online. She said 46 had been lodged in total but not all were suitable for publication.

To provide greater opportunity for people to engage with the commission, she said relevant documents had been translated into eight languages.

Mr Finkelstein has been given until August 1 to report back to the government with recommendations.
After months of deliberation, Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua will take place this summer after the former confirmed the mouthwatering showdown.

Fury took to social media on Sunday evening to declare that heavyweight unification bout with his British rival will take place on August 14 in Saudi Arabia.

Joshua, 31, holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, while Fury, 32, is the WBC champion.

Tyson Fury (pictured) has confirmed he's fighting Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia on August 14

The British heavyweight rivals have agreed to meet in the Middle East for their mega-fight

In a video posted to Twitter, Fury said: 'I have got some massive news. I have just got off the phone with Prince Khalid of Saudi Arabia and he told me this fight is 100 per cent on, August 14.

'All eyes of the world will be on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

'I cannot wait, I repeat, cannot wait to smash Anthony Joshua on the biggest stage of all-time.

'This is going to be the biggest sporting event ever to grace the planet Earth. Do not miss it.'

Fury hasn't fought since beating Deontay Wilder in February 2020 to become the WBC holder

Plans for a fight between the pair were set in motion when Fury defeated Deontay Wilder to capture the WBC title in February last year, just a couple of months after Joshua avenged his only career loss to Andy Ruiz Jr.

Joshua retained his three belts last December with a ninth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev but the unbeaten Fury's planned trilogy fight against Wilder has failed to materialise.

A proposed homecoming against Agit Kabayel in December was scotched, meaning Fury, who proclaims himself as the lineal champion in the division, has not fought in more than 12 months since stopping Wilder in Las Vegas.
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From tomorrow, it is no longer illegal to fly off on holiday. But what will it be like at the airport and when you get on board? Travel Editor Sarah Hartley and our Holiday Hero columnist Neil Simpson took off from Heathrow to find out  and here discuss their adventure...

Sarah: Before March 2020, I was a confident traveller who jumped on planes so often that flying rules were ingrained.

Now? I feel daunted but completely over-excited, as if Im flying for the first time  not least because I need to familiarise myself with the new reality of air travel. Passport, check. Insurance, negative Covid test, face mask, hand sanitiser, check. And remind me, what is the hand luggage allowance? Im exhausted already.

Taking off again: Sarah and Neil share a toast on their first flight since the rules eased

Neil: Im an airport geek. I happily arrive hours ahead of flights to get my fill of people- and plane-watching. I kept flying whenever it was possible last year, taking in lots of European capitals and UK cities including Manchester and my beloved Newcastle.

Mask-wearing wasnt fun. But I kept thinking of supermarket staff (and cabin crew) who wear them all day and decided I could hardly complain. Im also impressed by my fellow passengers. Mask-compliance seems higher in airports and planes than in shops and buses at home. But even with passenger numbers down, I noticed queues getting longer at check-in, security and immigration.

Sarah: If Im taking an early flight, I book into an airport hotel the night before so the first day of holiday isnt spent feeling washed out.

Signs showing some of the changes at Heathrow Airport. Neil writes: 'A hand-sanitising station greets you at the entrance to Terminal 5, and inside you cant miss the message on every massive advertising screen about the strict measures being taken to keep everyone safe'

You cant beat a Hilton  its beds and pillows give me the best nights sleep, and the one at Terminal 4 has just had a swish 3 million refurb. Its good to see my room has a seal on the door to show its been cleaned to Covid-secure standards. The hotel is sleek, chic and takes inspiration from a first-class aircraft cabin, but for now its like a ghost ship, with friendly staff simply waiting to welcome holidaymakers tomorrow.

Neil: A hand-sanitising station greets you at the entrance to Terminal 5, and inside you cant miss the message on every massive advertising screen about the strict measures being taken to keep everyone safe.

Sarah: 'You cant beat a Hilton  its beds and pillows give me the best nights sleep, and the one at Terminal 4 (pictured) has just had a swish 3million refurb'

Sarah: Im surprised by how normal it feels to stroll through the airport, but somehow it is a much more pleasing experience than before. Everywhere is spotless. The cleaners are out in full force, wiping surfaces and door handles. I feel as if Im overseas already  Singapore perhaps?

One sign carries the request: Where possible use the Heathrow and airline apps for a touchless experience. I use the British Airways app on my mobile for the first time and it takes me a few attempts to scan my boarding pass correctly. Im told its probably because my screen has a crack.

I have an equally embarrassing situation at security. I forget the hand sanitiser attached to my handbag, which, of course, I should have put in a clear plastic bag alongside my contact-lens solution and toothpaste. There are businessmen behind and ahead of me and I fumble removing my shoes and over-stuff my tray. When it appears after X-ray, a shoe is missing. Cinderella shoe? shouts a security adviser.

Only one person is allowed to meet someone from a flight in arrivals halls at Heathrow to stop crowds gathering

Neil: The airport is filling up  although theres no holiday traffic until tomorrow. Id say half the seats are taken in the main areas, yet it doesnt feel overcrowded.

The clear signs are very reassuring  every other chair is covered up to ensure social distancing.

Hand-sanitiser stations are everywhere  in the end we stopped counting. There are touch-free fountains to refill water bottles and you can even use your phone to order and pay for food in outlets. The airline lounges are already doing brisk business but now you must scan a code to order food and drink  surely a bonus for those prone to mindless grazing.

Sarah: I do wonder how my parents and other older travellers might manage such a new and digital experience. Theyve only just mastered the NHS app. Im also not sure about the cleaners spraying empty seats with chlorine  I wouldnt want to smell of chlorine after sitting down.

And I cant tell if the airport really is cleaner because my mask prevents me from smelling whiffs from the toilets or fast-food outlets which I usually find so unpleasant.

Its a shame there are no longer any free newspapers and magazines to grab as you board. Our flight is busy with a mix of business travellers, students, older couples, a few young children and a couple of babies. At take-off I have butterflies  a mix of excitement and nerves Sarah Hartley

I take a peek at Duty Free, where social-distancing rules apply  you can still spritz perfume or test hand cream as before, but you have to sanitise before and after handling goods.

Somehow I just didnt fancy it.

Neil: Forget priority boarding for those in business class at the front. Most airlines ask people sitting in the back rows to board first. Its so that passengers dont walk past each other to get to their seats.

Sarah: Its a shame there are no longer any free newspapers and magazines to grab as you board. Our flight is busy with a mix of business travellers, students, older couples, a few young children and a couple of babies. At take-off I have butterflies  a mix of excitement and nerves. Id forgotten the mysterious clunking noise a plane makes until it reaches cruising altitude. And how much my ears pop.

Neil: The new safety measures are made clear  we are kindly requested not to walk up and down or congregate in the galley.

If you want to use the loos during a flight, youre encouraged to check the green Vacant light is on before leaving your seat, to cut the number of people standing in the aisles. But queues are still likely. One more reason to do as frequent flyers do and use the facilities in the terminal. And we can remove our face masks when we are eating or drinking, of course.

Sarah: I like the fact every passenger is given a sanitising hand wipe in a plastic bag to use, then seal in the bag and give back. The woman in front of me wipes over her tray and armrests too. It feels so good to be flying again, she says to Tom Gibb, the in-flight cabin manager. She looks euphoric.

Sarah said that before her flight she felt 'daunted but completely over-excited, as if flying for the first time'

Its picking up again, he replies with a wink, adding: Fingers crossed! Passengers seem more attentive of the safety briefing and we are reminded that if an oxygen mask descends, we should remove our face masks first. Logical, but in a panic who knows what Id do? I usually settle back to read the in-flight magazine but you can only view it online. Its not as satisfying  I love to flick through paper  and somehow I dont feel Im going on holiday reading a screen. Forget, too, the rattle of the Duty Free trolley and those temperamental card machines  ordering from the online shop is now your only option.

Chef Tom Kerridge has devised a new onboard British Airways range which you must pre-order. Its delicious if you want a super-filled sarnie: the ham and smoked cheddar looks good, but I opt for the brie and apple chutney ploughmans.

Customers can then customise their journey by purchasing food, drink and in-flight retail items up to 12 hours before departure. BA offers a complimentary snack and bottle of water on all flights to economy-class passengers.

Neil: My tips for travel? Pay attention to announcements. Its easy to ignore the safety video and other instructions but theyve all changed. Arrivals are different as well. When the seatbelt sign goes off, the crew ask everyone to stay seated until their row number is called. They want only a few people standing up at a time. Its not a good look to be the idiot who didnt listen.

Sarah: It feels much more ordered  youre told to disembark a few rows at a time. Great for control freaks  awful if youre late for a connection!

Neil: My advice for holidaymakers this summer is to add an extra hour. Dont arrive at the last minute  Covid-test rules come with a lot of admin. And dont check in without checking out the latest rules.

Sarah: Arrivals felt a bit disappointing. Did you know that only one person is allowed to meet someone from a flight in the arrivals hall to stop crowds gathering? Its not clear how youd police that one. Imagine if the last scene of the film Love Actually had been shot during the pandemic  dry eyes all round!

Hilton Heathrow ( hilton.com ) offers King guest rooms from 99 a night. Sarah and Neil flew with British Airways ( ba.com ).

Worried flight crews will be rusty when travel reopens? MailOnline meets BA's chief pilot and cabin safety manager at its training academy to find out how aircrew have been kept match fit during lockdown (and for a quick Boeing 777 flying lesson)

By Ted Thornhill

With foreign holiday travel reopening for Britons from May 17, nervous fliers have just one question  are the flight crews rusty?

I meet British Airways' Chief Pilot, Captain Al Bridger, to seek reassurance for them  and get it in spades.

The BA cabin safety manager, Matt Whipp, during a tour of the airline's incredible cabin crew safety training centre, similarly declares that passengers have nothing to worry about.

BA's Chief Pilot, Captain Al Bridger, used to captain 747s but now flies 777s after completing a conversion course (he passed first time)

Considering the vast reduction in operations that the airline has had to instigate as a result of the pandemic  how can they both be so confident that the aircrews are 'match fit'?

Captain Bridger, 54, reveals why pilots are ready for action in one of the most exciting 'classrooms' in the world  a multi-million-pound Boeing 777 simulator at BA's Flight Training Centre near Heathrow.

It's an apt location in many ways, not least because Captain Bridger has just used this very simulator to qualify to fly the 777. He used to captain BA's Jumbos, but needed to complete a conversion course, just like any other pilot, after the fleet was retired (he passed first time).

Captain Bridger (pictured in a BA 777 simulator): 'We keep on top of surveying the pilots, on top of looking at how the simulator details are running. We are safety-led throughout. It's in our DNA. It's what we do. We haven't seen a change in our safety data throughout'

The simulator is so realistic that his first flight at the controls of a real 777 was to New York with passengers on board (and a training captain by his side).

The bike is a good analogy in the sense of actually flying the aeroplane Captain Al Bridger

I get a thrilling taster of the lessons he had when he lets me take the sim 777 for a spin.

But first, I have some crucial questions to ask him on behalf of nervous fliers everywhere. To begin with, should passengers be worried about getting on a BA flight post-lockdown? Just how much like riding a bike is flying a plane?

Captain Bridger, a former RAF Phantom fighter-jet pilot, says: 'I know exactly what you mean. And I know the apprehension that people might have. The bike is a good analogy in the sense of actually flying the aeroplane. But also, it's exposure to the aircraft that's really important. We've been flying throughout. Yes, a reduced amount of flying, but [our pilots] have been flying cargo and vital PPE around the world and flying customers, so the pilots have been exposed to the flying operation, which is really important.

'We haven't furloughed pilots and just sent them away. We've been doing flexible furloughs, so they've been still connected with the operation and still flying.'

The British Airways flight simulator hall, which houses 15 full-motion simulators that are available 365 days a year, 24 hours a day - and they cover every Airbus and Boeing aircraft type in the fleet

The pilots at BA have also been connected to flying via the 15 amazing full-motion flight simulators that the airline owns, which cover every Airbus and Boeing aircraft type in the BA fleet.

They've been available 365 days a year, 24 hours a day to help keep the pilots' skills honed - and 4,000 practice sessions were logged last year over and above regulatory training assessments.

Captain Bridger says: 'These sims have been available the whole time, which is amazing. We've got a great pilot-led community system whereby they can come and book sims and come and practice, jump on the bike and use these incredible pieces of kit to keep their hand in.'

Which aspects of flying the plane would Captain Bridger be most worried about going rusty?

Captain Bridger gives MailOnline's Ted a quick flying lesson in the Boeing 777 simulator. Here Ted is moving the throttles up for take-off

Ted finds time for a quick selfie before take-off (left) and on the right Captain Bridger lets him get a feel for the 777's turning circle before coming in to land

He says: 'We keep on top of surveying the pilots, on top of looking at how the simulator details are running. We are safety-led throughout. It's in our DNA. It's what we do. And so we look at the safety data all the time and we focus on any areas we think the pilots need to concentrate on. And it's worked really well.

'The pilots have been incredible, so professional. They've kept on top of their skills, they've kept on top of all the information they need to have to go flying and we haven't seen a change in our safety data throughout.'

All pilots must pass bi-annual simulator assessments, but Captain Bridger points out that on top of that regulation, BA has 'recency requirements'  'we need every pilot at the controls every 35 days'.

He adds: 'Our industry is one of the most regulated on the planet. And we stick to that regulation and go beyond it.'

In addition, the pilots have also been taking part in online skill sessions to pinpoint areas they need to get support with.

'I think our pilots would say that our training is excellent,' says Captain Bridger. 'Our trainers are absolutely on top of their game - world-leading at getting the best out of our people. And it's fantastic to see.'

Are there some aircraft in the fleet that are easier to keep on top of in terms of flying technique? Captain Bridger says not.

A British Airways Boeing 777 coming in to land at Glasgow Airport earlier this year

'I think you can take them all as being the same,' he reveals. 'We're very standard in our procedures. I came off the 747 and on to the 777 very recently and lots of the procedures I recognised, because we keep it very standard, across all our aircraft types, which is really good.

'So, the pilots have it ingrained in them that they're used to these flying procedures we have. So when they come back on the aircraft, they're ready to do it.'

In addition, they're encouraged to think through how they'd fly a plane from A to B during their downtime.

All pilots must pass bi-annual simulator assessments, but Captain Bridger points out that on top of that regulation, BA has 'recency requirements'  'we need every pilot at the controls every 35 days'. Pictured is a BA simulator training session

BA DURING THE LOCKDOWN Pilots Throughout the pandemic British Airways has continued to fly cargo services, some passenger services and continued its pilot training schedule and also used this time to re-train some of its pilots on different aircraft types  possible due to its (owned) 'industry leading' pilot training centre/flight simulators. British Airways has 15 full-motion state-of-the-art flight simulators at its Heathrow flight training centre, the most of any UK commercial carrier and more than the vast majority of international airlines. Its 'highly-trained pilots' have had increased access to its full-motion simulators during the pandemic, which are used for training around the clock - 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Flying aircraft is one of the most highly regulated professions in the world and all BA's pilots take part in recency checks and recurrent training requirements every six months by law. Cabin crew British Airways cabin crew are trained at its state-of-the-art training facilities at the British Airways Global Learning Academy, near Heathrow. The Global Learning Academy includes full-size aircraft cabin mock-ups, emergency slides and doors, and medical training classrooms. Its 'highly trained cabin crew have continued with their safety training throughout the pandemic, meaning they are ready to resume flying when needed'. Advertisement

Captain Bridger continues: 'We encourage them to think about it. I'll sit at home in an armchair or wake up in the morning and I'll think through what I'm going to do on the aircraft.

'I'll think through what switches I'm going to move. How I'm going to fly a sector from literally getting on to getting off.

'And you can do that in your own head at home. Which is really important. And the pilots are brilliant at doing that.'

Captain Bridger is clearly 1,000 per cent confident in his flight crews, but he argues that some apprehension about getting back at the real-world controls after a break is only to be expected.

He says: 'We're all human beings, we're all apprehensive. I flew in the Jumbo and in that last fabulous flight out of Heathrow [in December], but I hadn't flown for a long time, and I came to do a course in February and I was apprehensive, I'll be totally honest with you. There's a voice in your head saying "I hope I don't mess this up". But actually, it came back very quickly, and that comes back to the core training that we do and the procedures that we use, and it's all in there. You jump in the seat and it comes back, it's amazing.'

The only thing missing now? The customers.

Captain Bridger says: 'The pilots love interacting with the customers. It's a big part of the job. And we're ready to welcome them back.'

I find out just how strict flight safety is when Captain Bridger lets me loose at the controls of the 777 simulator, which feels so real it sets my heart racing.

It's an enthralling experience to 'taxi' out to the Heathrow runway and guide such an immense plane 'into the air'  with the most expert of help, of course.

Landing is exciting too - but harder. Even with the help of Heathrow's precision approach path indicator ('Papi') lights. These red-and-white guide lights, positioned at the landing zone of the runway, indicate to pilots whether they're at the correct angle of approach.

If they're all red or all white, you're too low or too high. Two white and two red and you've positioned the plane perfectly.

Captain Bridger lets me land on my first of two attempts with four white lights shining  'for the experience of landing'.

It all seems fine to me, but I'm told that landing would have been aborted in real life and a 'go around' initiated.

The aviation industry is, quite rightly, a tough crowd to please.

After my piloting skills have been put to the test, Mr Whipp gives me a tour of the cabin crew safety training centre at the BA Global Learning Academy nearby  and I'm duly extremely impressed.

It's not so much a training centre as a training town.

The vast academy provides cabin crew with mock versions of everything they use during day-to-day operations  and kit they need for emergencies.

There are doors from every aircraft type in the fleet, emergency slides and mock cabins for single and twin-aisle aircraft for evacuation drills, a CPR training cabin with a sloping floor to mimic the angle of flying and a mock cabin complete with business and first-class seating for customer service training.

Ted is given a tour of British Airways' amazing cabin crew training facility by cabin safety manager Matt Whipp (pictured)

Mr Whipp says: 'We are so ready for our cabin crew to get back in the sky and to welcome our customers back on board in a very safe environment and we've got this fantastic state-of-the-art facility at British Airways that helps us do that.'

Have there been any specific worries voiced by crew about going back?

Mr Whipp says: 'Nothing specific. I think it's just confidence. When they come back into the training centre and re-do all the practical assessments and are hands-on again with the equipment, their confidence is raised at the end of the course.'

Here Mr Whipp reveals the BA medical training cabin, which is deliberately angled to mimic the feeling of being airborne

The BA training facility has two full-size emergency slides - one used in single-aisle aircraft, the other (right) in wide-bodied planes, including the A380

Mr Whipp, pictured here in BA's mock business class cabin, said: 'Aviation is ready  and British Airways is ready  to welcome people back. And they'll have a lovely time'

Mr Whipp explains that the crew are assessed regularly when they come into training but are also assessed by the senior cabin crew member during every pre-flight briefing, who will fire questions at them about safety and procedures to make sure they're on top of things  'determining whether they should be flying or not'. If the knowledge has waned in any way, they won't fly, says Mr Whipp.

And do pilots have any input with the training?

'Absolutely,' says Matt. 'It's all about working as one team. At British Airways, we do it brilliantly. We have a lot of combined training. Just last week I was in here and there was a flight crew member with a cabin crew group as well, talking about an abnormal scenario and they were playing their part with the handsets and the interphone and then they can all practise the communication.

'On a lot of occasions, we will do combined training. With locked flight deck doors, it's even more important now that communication between the flight crews and the cabin crews is absolutely on-point. And on the vast majority of pre-flight briefings, the flight crew will be involved in that too. They'll come in and talk about what's expected on the flight, whether it's turbulence or whatever it may be.'

Mr Whipp reveals that, what's more, cabin safety intelligence is shared between BA and other global airlines.

He adds: 'I'm in an International Air Transport Association [Iata] cabin safety group with a lot of global airlines and before the pandemic, and during the pandemic, we share best practice and support each other to make sure that globally aviation is a safe environment. We also have a UK group  and again, from a safety point of view, we can share best practice. We're confident and we want our customers to be confident. Aviation is ready  and British Airways is ready  to welcome people back. And they'll have a lovely time.'

Ready for take-off now? Visit www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb/ to book.
Ben Savage has expressed his desire to perform in a reunion of the hit ABC sitcom Boy Meets World.

The 40-year-old actor recently spoke to Us Weekly and told the media outlet that he would be more than happy to reprise his role as Cory Matthews, whom he played for the show's entire run.

The performer also noted that various members of the series' cast have had discussions about a potential reunion over the past few decades and expressed that many of them would be interested in producing a special episode.

Future plans: Boy Meets World star Ben Savage recently expressed his desire to perform in a reunion of the hit 1990s sitcom; he is seen at the 2016 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

'I think that if the right project came along at the right time, and everyone was on board, I think itd be a lot of fun. I think its a really nice group of people, and theyre a very talented group,' he said.

Savage also expressed that Boy Meets World's cast was well put together and surmised that they would share the same chemistry on a potential continuation project.

'I think it was just a funny, talented group, and I think they worked really well together. And I think itd be fun if we explored that in the future, of course,' he stated.

The actor went on to note that many of the show's actors were also featured in its follow-up series, Girl Meets World, which ran on Disney Channel from 2014 to 2017.

High expectations: The actor told Us Weekly that he viewed the prospect of acting with his old castmates again as 'a lot of fun'; he is pictured with Rider Strong, Danielle Fishel and Will Friedle in 1993

Praise: Savage referred to his former costars as a 'funny, talented group' who 'worked really well together'; he is pictured at New York Comic Con in 2018

Savage then spoke about the impact he felt that the show made on its viewers and remarked that, although Boy Meets World may have been seen differently in modern times, he was confident that its timeless quality would still resonate.

He said, 'I think it explored a lot of important themes that young kids deal with. I mean, its obviously a different world, and technologies changed, but I think it was a fun show about a really average kid.'

The performer also reflected on his experience working on the program and told the media outlet about a specific location on set that holds sentimental value for him.

Changing times: The actor also commented that, although Boy Meets World was set in the 1990s, its themes were still relevant; he is seen with costar William Daniels in 1993

'Theres a street there called New York Street  and if they ever need to film a New York scene, thats where they go. I love that because we had such a good time there,' he recalled.

Savage concluded by talking about his favorite parts of the sitcom and expressed that the crew's first efforts were among his most beloved.

'I like the early seasons as well. Were talking early years...They all have a special place for me,' he said.

Boy Meets World first premiered in 1993 and ran for seven seasons, with its final set of episodes airing in 2000.

Keeping it going: Several of the show's cast members reprised their roles for the continuation series Girl Meets World, which aired on Disney Channel

The show was centered on Cory Matthews, an average sixth-grader who navigates the pitfalls of his life from his middle school days until his graduation from college.

After the series' end, many of the cast members reprised their role in Girl Meets World, which followed Matthews' daughter Riley, played by Rowan Blanchard, as she moved through her adolescence.

The series ran for a total of three seasons, and its final episode aired in 2017.

Series co-creator Michael Kelly was displeased with the show's cancellation and attempted to find a network for a potential fourth season, although none expressed interest in the prospect.
She made a name for herself on the 2019 series of Love Island.

And Belle Hassan looked incredible as she headed out for dinner with friends in London on Saturday night.

The TV beauty, 23, showcased her jaw-dropping cleavage style in blue cut-out jeans and a crossover white and orange body suit.

Stunning: Belle Hassan looked incredible in a busty white and orange bodysuit as she headed out for dinner with her former co-stars on Saturday night

The star completed her look with orange sandals and a matching orange bag, and accessorised her outfit with gold hoops and a stylish watch

Her blonde locks fell loose in bouncy curls and her glamorous make-up enhanced her natural beauty.

The reality star was joined by fellow Love Islander Joe Garret as they headed out for dinner together.

Beauty: The TV beauty, 23, showcased her incredible style in blue cut out jeans and a crossover white and orange body suit

Close friends: The reality star was joined by fellow Love Islander Joe Garret as they headed out for dinner in London

Belle rose to prominence on the 2019 summer series of Love Island, where she struck up a short-lived romance with Anton Danyluk, which ended just five weeks after they left the villa.

It comes after Belle had a candid discussion about her mental health with her dad, British actor and Hollywood hardman Tamer Hassan on his podcast Family Business.

Revealing how difficult things were for her when she was younger, a clearly emotional Belle said: 'It's not something that's easy for me to talk about. I don't mind talking about it but it's not easy.

As you know dad, when I was a kid I did go through a stage of self harming. For me that was something I really struggled with, and again it all came from a thing of'

Belle could then be heard struggling to compose herself, as her dad told the audience: 'We're all welling up here. Take your time.'

Expressing sympathy for those in similar situations, Belle continued: 'Mental health has been something that has been close to me.

'I think when I've worked with young girls, I've seen that in so many of them.'

'It's normal to hate yourself, it's normal to feel like you're not enough, you're worthless, you're this, you're that.

'Being young and feeling like that about yourself is horrible.'
A year-and-a-half after nearly being shot and killed during a brazen afternoon attack and chase just outside his hometown of Chicago, Lil Reese has been shot once again.

The rapper, 28, was among three people who were shot Saturday morning in a parking garage connected to a luxury high-rise condominium in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, according to CWB Chicago.

A graphic video of the bloody aftermath has surfaced online. It reportedly shows a man, believed to be Reese, laying on the ground bleeding from the head, another wounded man walking out of the garage, and bystanders yelling about a stolen vehicle and mentioning Reese's name.

Shot again! Lil Reese, 28, was among three people shot in a parking garage connected to a luxury high-rise condominium in the River North neighborhood in Chicago Saturday morning

Witnesses reported seeing several people 'who were all shooting at each other' in what police think may have been some sort of carjacking.

Reese (born Tavares Lamont Taylor) was grazed in the eye with a bullet, while a 20-year man suffered a superficial gunshot to the knee. Both are listed in fair to good condition.

A third man, 27, was wounded several times in the body, and at last check was listed in critical condition.

The manager for the rapper's Instagram page shared a message to his 1.7 million fans and followers, writing, 'Everyone keep praying for Reese & his family,' in a post on Saturday afternoon.

Coming together: The manager for the rapper's Instagram page shared a message to his 1.7 million fans and followers

Fair to good condition! Police found Reese (born Tavares Lamont Taylor) outside of the garage bleeding profusely; he was reportedly grazed in the eye with a bullet

Officers interviewed three people who were walking to their vehicle just before 10 a.m. when they heard what they thought was a car crash, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

Moments later, they heard a couple of loud 'pops' that turned out to be gunshots.

The group ended up driving to the third floor of the garage and found a car crashed into a cement barrier. While looking over the area they heard someone yell out: 'Shots fired!', which prompted them to turn their car around and drive off.

When police arrived at the scene they found Reese bleeding profusely from the head, while being accused of stealing someone's car.

The other man in the video was also accused of taking part in the alleged car theft, but he denied being involved in any way.

A stolen Dodge Durango, littered with bullets, was also found crashed at the scene.

Police investigation: Police are looking into whether the shootings were part of a carjacking; Reese is seen in NYC in 2016

2019 shooting: The Traffic rapper was critically injured during a shooting and car chase just outside of Chicago in November 2019; he is pictured in NYC in 2016

Back in November 2019, Reese was critically injured when his vehicle was riddled with bullets during an attack and chase that ended at a busy intersection in Country Club Hills, Illinois, just outside Chicago.

A man armed with an AK47 assault rifle shot the rapper in the neck while he was trying to put money into his mother's bank account in the middle of the afternoon, in what he believed to be a case of mistaken identity.

Witnesses heard as many as a dozen gunshots ring out during the chase, according to Complex.

Investigators said they found an empty vehicle with blood saturating the driver's seat and the side door.

It turns out Reese asked someone in a vehicle just behind to give him a ride to a local hospital. It's believed that if he had waited for an ambulance, there was a good chance he would have died.

No one has been arrested and convicted for the shooting.

Making his mark: The rapper's biggest commercial success to date came with the single I Don't Like with Chief Keef, which hit 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 2012; they are seen together in photo from August 2020

Lil Reese has past worked with rappers including Chief Keef and Lil Durk, who took to Twitter Monday evening with a brief mention of his ailing peer, writing, 'Reese good' with a blue heart emoji.

His biggest commercial success to date came with the single I Don't Like with Chief Keef, which hit 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 2012.

Reese sent out a tweet just before the 2019 shooting, writing, 'If you not on s*** or dont got s*** going for yoself dnt come around me...'

Friends chime in: Lil Durk took to Twitter after the 2019 shooting and made a brief mention of his ailing peer, writing, 'Reese good' with a blue heart emoji

Speaking out: Reese sent out a tweet just prior to the 2019 shooting
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Land Details Community Details Acres Apx: 0.35

Parking Type: Private

Region: Berkshire - South

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Middle School: Lenox Memorial

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Former EastEnders actor Paul Nicholls revealed on Saturday that he once 'feared he would die' from his harrowing drug addiction.

The actor, 42, who appeared on Albert Square as schizophrenic Joe Wicks, recalled the moment he pressed the 'f**k it button' in his brain during a four-day drug binge last year following a relapse.

He began combining a cocktail of substances after struggling to overcome his spiralling depression which still blights him, but confirmed he is now seeking help.

'I've still got so much shame': Former EastEnders actor Paul Nicholls revealed on Saturday that he once 'feared he would die' from his harrowing drug addiction (pictured in 2017)

During the conversation with The Sun, he said: 'The rabbit hole I went down led to places that I never thought I'd end up in  in flats with people that I didn't know.

'I was taking lots of dihydrocodeine, a very strong opiate pain killer and on top of that, cocaine... every time I relapsed cocaine is always present.

'At certain points I'd be gone for three or four days and not sleep at all. I stopped caring, I pressed the 'f*** it' button.

'The last time I ended up in a flat with people smoking stuff, doing this and doing that. They recognised me. I was looking around and I thought, 'If I don't stop, I will die'.

Shocking: The actor, 42, who appeared on Albert Square as schizophrenic Joe Wicks, recalled the moment he pressed the 'f**k it button' in his brain during a four-day drug binge

Cocktail of substances: He said: 'I was taking lots of dihydrocodeine, a very strong opiate pain killer and on top of that, cocaine... every time I relapsed cocaine is always present' (pictured in 2003)

'I've still got so much shame around this stuff.'

Paul is now attending Narcotics Anonymous after fighting hard to stay sober in recent months.

The EastEnders star joined the soap in 1996 but left a year later after failing to overcome his drink and drug problems.

However, Paul insists his trouble with addiction began in 2017 when he endured a near-fatal accident in Thailand. He was rescued three days after being trapped at the base of a waterfall.

Candid: He added: 'The last time I ended up in a flat with people smoking stuff, doing this and doing that. They recognised me. I was looking around and I thought, 'If I don't stop, I will die''

He was found semi-conscious and suffering from hypothermia after falling from the jungle above and smashing his leg, something the actor admits he has never fully recovered from.

According to Paul, he battled 37 different infections including malaria, cholera and dengue fever. He also revealed that he was left in hospital on his own in Samiu for six months on intravenous antibiotics before returning to Manchester.

The following year, Paul suffered from a stroke which almost killed him, sending him to 'rock bottom'.

He remembered collapsing before waking approximately 16 hours later to find he couldn't feel the right side of his body.

Early departure: The EastEnders star joined the soap in 1996 but left a year later after failing to overcome his drink and drug problems

According to Paul, it took him three hours to make his way to the phone to call an ambulance. He was paralysed throughout half of his body and felt like his 'life was over,' as he broke down in tears to the publication.

He had to attend physio to regain movement, but felt the damage was already done as his illness triggered a deep depression and subsequent relapse.

His friends encouraged him to join Narcotics Anonymous, where he now feels he can see 'hope' on the horizon.

Trauma: However, Paul insists his trouble with addiction began in 2017 (pictured) when he endured a near-fatal accident in Thailand. He was rescued three days after being trapped at the base of a waterfall

Paul stated his only vice now is smoking, but he tries to stick to vaping.

He has since found happiness with former dancer Hemma Kathrecha and lives with her and her two-year-old son.

The actor, who has also appeared in Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge of Reason, detective drama Death in Paradise and Channel 4's Ackley Bridge, said he's open to a return to EastEnders and wants to get back into work.

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123
Halle Berry isn't letting online trolls stop her from posting romantic PDA with her latest beau.

The 54-year-old actress shared a snap of her kissing boyfriend Van Hunt, 51, while sporting revealing bikini bottoms to Instagram on Saturday.

'We do this thing called whatever the f*** we want!,' she captioned the intimate photo of the pair.

PDA: Halle Berry, 54, shared a snap of her kissing boyfriend Van Hunt, 51, while sporting revealing bikini bottoms to Instagram on Saturday, with the caption: 'We do this thing called whatever the f--- we want!'

The Monster's Ball star wore the colorful pink and green-printed bottoms to showcase her sculpted legs.

She paired the item with a white t-shirt that she pulled up at the bottom to reveal a peek of her abs.

Her stunning ombre locks hung down in styled waves that blew in the Southern California breeze.

Halle added a pair of Lolita-inspired red heart sunglasses as she planted a smooch on her love.

Romance: The pair have been dating since September and the romance is going from strength to strength; seen here in April

Her new man: The former Bond girl has frequently posted about her relationship since they went public as a couple last year

Meanwhile, the musician stayed a bit more covered up in a white long-sleeve hoodie and green pants.

The pair have been dating since September and the romance is going from strength to strength.

The former Bond girl has frequently posted about her relationship since they went public as a couple last year.

Berry explained how 'fun' it is to share her life on Instagram in an interview with Essence earlier this week.

Sharing: Berry explained how 'fun' it is to share her life on Instagram in an interview with Essence earlier this week

'I love that its so fun. I think thats the part of it that I try to lean into and not to take myself seriously. To try and stay a part of whats happening but still be age appropriate,' she said with a laugh.

'Not try to do the things my daughters doing at 13, but try to stay up with whats happening and stay connected with my children. Its their world and its what theyre growing up in. I have to know whats happening and understand it,' she told the publication.

She also loves that social media has provided an outlet for her 'own voice' after feeling like 'the story that was perpetuated about me just wasnt true but it was editorialized by people and it was out of my control.'

'Now I get to control and show different sides of myself. I really love that,' she went on.

Outlet: Berry also loves that social media has provided an outlet for her 'own voice' after feeling like 'the story that was perpetuated about me just wasnt true but it was editorialized by people and it was out of my control'

Avoiding negativity: But that doesn't mean Instagram doesn't have it's downsides, as the Oscar winner points out, it is tough to avoid all the 'negativity': 'I just really want to like, slap these trolls because it really is damaging to people'

But that doesn't mean Instagram doesn't have it's downsides, as the Oscar winner points out, it is tough to avoid all the 'negativity.'

'The thing I hate, and this will never stop, I know because its the nature of the world, but I really hate the negativity that gets on there. I just really want to like, slap these trolls because it really is damaging to people,' she confessed.

Halle continued: 'Its damaging to young people and I really wish that if you really didnt have something [nice] to say, dont say it. If youve got something so negative to say about somebody, why are you on their page?'

She shares daughter Nahla, 13, with her ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubrey and her son Maceo, seven, with her third ex-husband Olivier Martinez.

Worries: The X-Men performer admitted that she worries for younger people on social media who may take negative comments to heart, like her teen daughter

The X-Men performer admitted that she worries for younger people on social media who may take negative comments to heart, like her teen daughter.

'I see that with my daughter and it infuriates me,' she said. 'Thats one of the reasons Ive kept them out of the media, to protect them, for this very reason.'

As Nahla gets older and becomes more interested in platforms like Instagram with her friends, Halle just reminds her not to get caught up on the trolls.

'Its not something she should take to heart. While thats easier said than done, I think as a mother, all I can do is reiterate that message and hope that in the quiet of her mind, shes listening,' she concluded.
Katie Price has reportedly been left 'deeply disappointed' and 'cut ties' with a convicted fraudster who tried to make thousands from her disabled son Harvey.

According to The Mirror, PR aide James Austin invoiced web firm Memmo for 3,750 saying he was a promoter and would get the 18-year-old to star in videos.

However it is thought that the former glamour model, 42, wasn't aware of this deal and raged to fans in a now-deleted Instagram video that she wouldn't touch him 'with a bargepole' and warned: 'If he approaches you to do posts for me it's not legit.'

Claims: Katie Price has reportedly been left 'deeply disappointed' and 'cut ties' with a convicted fraudster who tried to make thousands from her disabled son Harvey

Sources claimed that Austin, who runs PR company Lucky7 and has several snaps of Harvey, Katie and her fiance Carl Woods on the business' Instagram page, invoiced Memmo for 3,750 on April 22.

A spokesman for the star said she was 'deeply disappointed by the way James Austin conducted his business' and added: 'Katie is the only person who manages her son'.

Austin reportedly confirmed he received the money but denied that Katie didn't know about the deal as he only 'entertains work' for her when he's told by the model.

He said: 'Katie, Carl and Harvey were aware of the deal for months. For her to say she didn't know is wrong.'

Accusations: It has been claimed that PR aide James Austin (pictured) invoiced web firm Memmo for 3,750 saying he was a promoter and would get the 18-year-old to star in videos

Austin, who is not part of Katie's main management team, also addressed his past convictions, saying he 'regrets what happened 10 years ago'.

In 2008, Austin was convicted for using his grandparents' names in a fraud worth tens of thousands and he was jailed for two years in 2012 after being arrested for passing fake notes at Royal Ascot, according to The BBC.

Additionally, in 2017 postman Lee Chapman accused Austin of leaving him out of pocket after signing him as a lookalike of footie star Jamie Vardy, however Austin claimed Chapman breached his contract while talking to The Mirror.

Memmo told the publication that they were on 'good terms' with Katie and her team after 'resolving the matter directly'.

Featured: Katie's teenage son appears in at least three snaps on Austin's Instagram page, with the caption encouraging potential collaborators to get in touch via email

Work: The model, who reportedly raged in a now-deleted Instagram video that she wouldn't touch Austin 'with a bargepole', also appears in numerous pictures on the Instagram page

MailOnline has contacted James Austin and Katie Price's representatives for further comment.

Proud mum Katie often shares videos and pictures of her son, who has launched his own charity clothing range to raise awareness about autism and also starred in a BBC documentary about his complex needs.

Harvey, 18, has multiple disabilities including blindness and ADHD and also has an excessive appetite caused by genetic condition Prader-Willi Syndrome.

Katie has also been sharing regular updates with fans about her son's weight struggles and last November revealed he'd tipped the scales at 29-stone.

Describing his condition as a 'cruel and horrible illness' in an interview with The Sun last year, she revealed Harvey is constantly hungry and loses his temper if he isn't fed.

The former Loose Women panellist continued: 'He'll smash things up if you say no. I've had to re-plaster my walls because he'll bash holes in them with his head. He knows what nice things taste of.'

In December, Katie revealed Harvey had lost eight pounds in just a week after embarking on a lifestyle overhaul with her boyfriend Carl Woods.

Detailing the teen's new health journey, the ex-Page 3 star told OK! magazine: 'Weve got some gym stuff for him and put it all in Carls garage.

'Prep Kitchen are also going to send meals to his school. We want to try anything to help him lose his weight. Hes lost 4kg this week, so at least hes lost something.'
Pub baron Justin Hemmes has finalised negotiations to purchase a huge block of land in the heart of the celebrity-soaked tourist town of Byron Bay, a report claims.

The Merivale boss has splurged $50million on the sprawling block in NSW's hottest beachside town, which formerly housed a Woolworths supermarket, according to The Sunday Herald Sun,

Hemmes is said to be planning a $20million redevelopment of the site to create a new 'mega venue' similar in layout and style to his popular Coogee Pavilion establishment in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

New buy: Pub baron Justin Hemmes, 48, (pictured) is understood to have splurged $50million on a giant block of land in Byron Bay, with plans to spend another $20million on building a 'mega venue' similar to the Coogee Pavilion

The massive block on Byron's Jonson Street spans 4,128sqm and has a flexible B2 Local Centre zoning, which allows for mixed-use development such as retail, residential and hotels.

The Byron Bay property market has become a hot-spot for rich investors, particularly since the Covid pandemic hit, with many hoping to buy a slice of Australia's hottest holiday destination.

The town's value is only expected to soar once international tourists again return to Australia.

However, there has also been a local rebellion, with locals refusing to sell to cashed-up investors, despite big offers.

'Mega venue': The site, located on Byron's Jonson St spans 4,128sqm and supports a flexible B2 Local Centre zoning, which allows for a wide range of mixed-use development this includes retail, residential and hotels

Pictured: The location of Hemmes' new Byron Bay establishment

Byron battle: It comes months after a handful of rejected offers to buy some of Byron Bay's landmark pubs. Stu Laundy (pictured) and Justin were said to be in a fierce battle to buy the iconic Pacific Hotel in Yamba, close to Byron Bay

In March, neither hotelier Justin nor his pub baron rival Stu Laundy could offer enough money to secure the historic Bangalow Hotel, which is 14km inland from Byron Bay.

The rival pub barons became locked in a bidding war for the 60-year-old pub, which is owned by NRL star Tom Mooney and wife Cathryn, with the top bid reaching a staggering $50 million.

However, both despite the huge money on offer, neither was successful, with the Mooney family holding firm and declaring the pub would be in their hands for the foreseeable future.

At war: The rival pub barons were reportedly locked in a bidding war for the 60-year-old pub (pictured) which is currently owned by NRL star Tom Mooney and wife Cathryn, with bids reaching up to $50 million

The family also own the The Rails Hotel in Byron Bay and The Pacific Hotel in Yamba, which is an hour-and-a-half south of Byron.

Laundy and Hemmes were also reportedly also eyeing off The Pacific Hotel.

However, it's unclear whether that property was part of the Bangalow Hotel negotiations or whether the Pacific Hotel is still on the table.

Still up for grabs? Laundy and Hemmes were also reportedly also eyeing off The Pacific Hotel last week, according to The Herald Sun last month

Laundy and Hemmes have been locked in a bidding war, as it's understood the pair recently battled over Chris Hemsworth's local watering hole The Lennox Hotel in nearby Lennox Head.

Bachelorette star Laundy, in partnership with hotelier Fraser Short, purchased The Lennox Hotel with an offer of close to $40million.

In August last year, Laundy and Fraser confirmed they had also bought Byron Bay's trendy venue The Farm for $16 million.

Laundy, who appeared on Channel 10's The Bachelorette in 2017, has a share of his family's $500 million fortune.

Cha-ching! Laundy, who appeared on Channel 10's The Bachelorette in 2017, has a share of his family's $500 million fortune

Hemmes' family's fortune is worth about $1.06 billion.

His property portfolio includes the Sydney pubs, Beresford Hotel in Surry Hills, which he bought in 2010, the Queen Victoria Hotel in Enmore in 2015 and Bondi's Royal Hotel, which he bought in 2017.

Hemmes also recently bought his ex Kate Fowler a $7.5 million mansion Dover Heights, which is Sydney's most exclusive suburbs.
EastEnders star Samantha Womack is reportedly dating Coronation Street actor Oliver Farnworth.

The actress, 48, has been secretly dating the soap star, 38, after they grew close while working on the 2019 stage adaptation of The Girl On The Train.

It comes after Samantha revealed she had secretly split from her husband Mark in 2018 after nine years of marriage, and it's reported her estranged spouse has given her new relationship his seal of approval.

New romance! EastEnders star Samantha Womack, 48, is reportedly dating Coronation Street actor Oliver Farnworth, 38

A source told The Sun: 'They couldn't be happier and have loved dating away from the public eye.

'They've met each other's families and it all feels very natural. They're totally smitten with each other.

'Plus her ex Mark is happy for her too. It's all very grown-up and modern.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Samantha Womack and Oliver Farnworth for comment.

Break up: It comes after Samantha revealed she had secretly split from her husband Mark in 2018 after nine years of marriag (pictured in 2014)

It comes after Samantha revealed she secretly split from her husband Mark in 2018 after nine years of marriage.

The Soap star confirmed the couple have been separated for a while but are cohabiting 'happily' with their children Benjamin, 19, and Lili Rose, 15, at their Bedfordshire farmhouse.

The thespian, who is also stepmum to Mark's son Michael, 25, from a previous relationship, insisted they're amicable and are in 'no rush' to change their unconventional living situation.

The media personality told OK! magazine: 'Our family home is big enough and we're co-existing happily. There's no rush to change things.

'But now feels like the right time to be honest and admit we're no longer together. It would be naive to say that moving on has been easy for us both. It's not an easy route but we've always been honest with each other about everything.'

Close: The soap star confirmed the couple have been separated for a while but are 'cohabiting happily' with their children at their Bedfordshire farmhouse (pictured in 2013)

The TV star, who met the Emmerdale actor, 59, on the set of Liverpool 1 back in 1998 and tied the knot in May 2009, admitted she wants to be 'best friends' with her ex's future partners as they've started to see other people since their break-up and even give each other dating advice.

Samantha and Mark started their romance soon after their respective marriages ended.

The blonde called it quits from Junfan Mantovani in 1998 after just one year of marriage, while the Liverpool native was married to Mary Therese McGoldrick from 1995 until 1997.

Early beginnings: The TV star met the Emmerdale actor, 59, on the set of Liverpool 1 back in 1998 (pictured in 1998)

Samantha revealed talks of a split started 'about four years ago' as her husband wanted to lead a 'quiet life' while she is 'more out there'.

Despite being separated for quite some time, the theatre star insisted they've had 'some of their best times together' as a family during the coronavirus lockdown.

The mother-of-two candidly confessed she feared she and Mark 'failed' as a couple, but is content their son and daughter are 'happy that we're happy' as they're 'soulmates' and 'still love each other'.

Earlier this year, Murphy's Law star Mark appeared on Lorraine Kelly to discuss his new stint on Emmerdale, but kept mum on his split from Samantha.

'We're soulmates': Samantha and Mark have taken things slow when it comes to divorcing legally, and are even considering getting a house abroad (pictured in 2000)

'We wanted to find the right time': In March, the Murphy's Law star appeared on Lorraine to discuss his new stint on Emmerdale, but kept mum on his split from Samantha (pictured)

Return to TV: Mark started playing new policeman Di Malone earlier this year (pictured with Katherine Dow-Blyton as Harriet Finch)

The Brighton-born star said that they had sat down with their kids to decide when was the right time to announce the news publicly, with friends and family already being aware of the breakdown of their marriage.

Samantha and Mark have taken things slow when it comes to divorcing legally, and are even considering getting a house abroad and having two places to live.

Just days earlier, news surrounding her close pal and former co-star Rita Simons' split from her husband of 14 years, Theo Silveston, emerged.

The couple, who haven't been living together for two years, have decided to officially divorce, the Daily Star reports.

Helping hand: The blonde said her former on-screen sister Rita Simons has been supporting the couple (they played Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell on EastEnders, pictured in 2013)

Shock divorce: Just days earlier, news surrounding her close pal and former co-star Rita's split from her husband of 14 years, Theo Silveston, emerged (pictured in 2013)

The 43-year-old's representative confirmed the divorce proceedings to the publication on Friday and suggested that she is doing well, despite the unfortunate news.

They said: 'Rita and Theo have been separated for almost two years and Theo moved out of the family home some time ago.

The insider added: 'The split has been a big change for Rita, but she knows it's the right decision.

It's over: The agent of the 43-year-old confirmed the couple have separated after they began 'growing apart' and they actually haven't lived together for two years

Rita shares twin daughters, Jamiee and Maiya, 14, with her hairdresser husband who she tied the knot with in 2006 after apparently meeting through a mutual friend when they were just 19.

Theo runs the award-winning, Kink hair salon in London, and he reportedly moved out of their family home in Elstree, Hertfordshire in 2018.

Another source claimed that the I'm A Celeb star is sure she has made the right decision and intends on putting their family home up for sale.

Moving on: The couple allegedly met through a mutual friend at the age of 19 and despite the split they remain amicable and plan to co-parent their twin daughters, Jamiee and Maiya, 14,

According to the source, she is looking forward to a fresh start and a future full of new possibilities.

In May, Rita cryptically implied she had been in a bad place as she wrote on Instagram: 'I've been to dark places in the last few years.'

She divulged that she was battling problems in her personal life and admitted that she has finally found 'healing' and 'peace'.

Dedication: Back in May, the I'm A Celeb star showed off her jaw-dropping physique as she credited working out during lockdown with helping her 'heal' from personal problems

Rita credited working out during lockdown with helping her 'heal' from personal problems.

She wrote: 'I haven't been too vocal on social media during lockdown..not about my own life anyway But I wanted to share this with you...before lockdown I was 100% a workaholic and 1000% stressed out.

'I was trying to deal with work and personal problems at the same time. I've been to some pretty dark places in the last few years both mentally and physically but I don't tend to shout about it. (Apart from the insomnia!)

Sensational: Rita displayed her washboard abs in a vest top and leggings as she hailed the benefits of exercise for lifting her out of a 'dark' mental space

Honest: The lengthy Instagram caption detailed her struggles with her mental health during lockdown and previously

'Irony is that in these last few months, where the world is more messed up than ever and I've been forced to stop working, I have had the time to heal, to spend more time at home with my kids.

'In no way do I want to detract from the real s**t, and the hero's, the frontline workers and the families who have lost loved ones, but the truth is we all have our own unique version of lockdown.

'Some have it worse than others. No, this has not been 'the great leveler' (thanks madge) infact it has shown so much inequality amongst us. But MY Lockdown has meant I have found peace. And I am grateful for that.'
Popular comedy Birds Of A Feather has been axed by ITV after Pauline Quirke ruled out appearing in future episodes.

Co-stars Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph, who play Tracey Stubbs and Dorien Green in the sitcom, had hoped last year's Christmas special would convince TV chiefs to commission a new series.

But despite attracting an audience of 7.9 million, ITV has decided against ordering more episodes after Ms Quirke, who played Tracey's sister Sharon, decided not to take part in the special.

It comes amid surprise at the recent dismissal by Ms Robson, 63, of claims about a falling-out with Ms Quirke, 61.

Popular comedy Birds Of A Feather has been axed by ITV after Pauline Quirke (pictured with Lesley Joseph and Linda Robson) ruled out appearing in future episodes

Ms Robson  who has known Ms Quirke since they were ten years old  described the reports as 'a load of old codswallop', but sources on the show insist the rift  which was first reported by The Mail on Sunday in February  is genuine.

'Without Pauline, the view is that there is no Birds Of A Feather,' said a source.

'You cannot have Tracey without Sharon, and there is no way Pauline will be going back. Things are bad between her and Linda.

'Linda and Lesley gave it a go but, despite the figures being good, ITV won't be recommissioning it.'

Sources close to Ms Robson and Ms Joseph claim that Ms Quirke and her husband Steve Sheen, who acts as her manager, wanted to negotiate a better deal to appear in the show.

Ms Robson and Ms Joseph had hoped they could keep the sitcom going by replacing Ms Quirke's character with a younger lookalike.

Linda Robson (pictured with Ms Quirke) and Lesley Joseph, who play Tracey Stubbs and Dorien Green, had hoped last year's Christmas special would convince TV chiefs to do a new series

Ms Robson insisted in an interview earlier this month that she and Ms Quirke remained close, even though her friends briefed the MoS earlier this year about the bust-up between the pair.

After the rift was revealed, it was alleged that matters became so heated at one point that childhood friends Ms Robson and Ms Quirke had to be separated by crew members during filming at Teddington Studios in West London.

One source said: 'They will never speak again. It is desperately sad, but also staggering that Linda would pretend they are friends. They are not.'

Birds Of A Feather, which tells the story of two sisters whose husbands are jailed for armed robbery, ran for nine series on the BBC between 1989 and 1998 and was revived by ITV in 2014.

Neither Ms Robson nor Ms Quirke responded to requests for comment last night.
Ashley Tisdale was spotted stepping out in Los Angeles for a leggy stroll and a cup of iced coffee this weekend.

The 35-year-old High School Musical actress was cradling her beloved dog Ziggy Stardust who is named after David Bowie's onetime alter ego.

Her latest appearance comes less than two months after she and her husband Christopher French welcomed their firstborn daughter Jupiter Iris.

On the move: Ashley Tisdale was spotted stepping out in Los Angeles for a leggy stroll and a cup of iced coffee this weekend

Ashley was wearing a trendily torn white t-shirt and slipped into a pair of frayed Daisy Dukes to step out over the weekend.

After announcing her pregnancy last September and going public with the sex in October she revealed last month that the baby was born March 23.

Ashley broke the news by posting a heart-melting black and white snap that showed little Jupiter's hand resting in hers.

She shared pictures of her baby's face for the first time this past Sunday in honor of Mother's Day and has posted even more since then.

Canine company: The 35-year-old High School Musical actress was cradling her beloved dog Ziggy Stardust who is named after David Bowie's onetime alter ego

Casual cutie: Ashley was wearing a trendily torn white t-shirt and slipped into a pair of frayed Daisy Dukes to step out over the weekend

To be a mom,' she reflected in the caption of her Mother's Day post last weekend. 'You dont know how hard it is until you become one.'

The onetime Disney Channel star wrote: 'Mothers you are truly goddesses and single moms you are my superheroes.'

Ashley, who married Christopher in 2014, gushed: 'The past 6 weeks have been such a blessing. Jupiter you are everything and more.

Cute as a button: Her latest appearance comes less than two months after she and her husband Christopher French welcomed their firstborn daughter Jupiter Iris

'Baby with a side of pizza': This Saturday she uploaded a heartwarming Insta Stories snap that showed Christopher bottle-feeding their little bundle of joy

Hot couple: The onetime Disney Channel star has been married to Christopher since 2014

Her pregnancy was not without its issues as she revealed that while she was expecting she suffered from plantar fasciitis.

The medical condition has the nickname 'policeman's heel' and involves pain caused by inflamed tissue between the toes and heel.

She wrote on Insta Stories while pregnant: 'It literally hurts to walk on my feet. I've never felt pain like this and I'm hoping once the baby is here it lets up.'

The Scary Movie 5 actress allowed: 'I know there could be worse things but for someone who is constantly on their feet it can be pretty unbearable.'

Baby mine: Ashley broke the news by posting a heart-melting black and white snap that showed little Jupiter's hand resting in hers
Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies has announced she's expecting twins with her rocker husband Ben Gillies.

The 40-year-old reality star, who underwent seven rounds of IVF over the course of two years, announced the happy news on her Instagram page on Sunday.

Alongside a picture cradling her four-month bump, Jackie wrote: 'Im having TWINS! It has been a bumpy IVF journey but all worth it. Thank YOU for your support XOXO!'

Baby joy! Real Housewives of Melbourne star Jackie Gillies, 40, (pictured) has announced she's expecting twins with her husband Ben Gillies

Jackie also spoke to The Herald Sun about her 'rollercoaster' journey with IVF, where she said: 'Ive gone through over seven rounds of IVF, egg retrieval and transfers.

'A lot of ups and downs and its been emotionally challenging but to get to where weve got to has been so rewarding. Youve got to keep pushing forward and having faith.'

She added that former Silverchair drummer Ben, who she married in 2010, is ecstatic with the news - but while the happy couple know the gender already, they want to keep the news private for now.

Jackie admitted her faith has been 'completely and utterly tested' after trying to get pregnant seven months after appearing on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018.

Daddy cool: She added that former Silverchair drummer Ben is ecstatic with the news - and while the happy couple know the gender already, they're going to keep it private for now

However, she went on to say that she 'knew deep in my soul that it would happen,' and even said her late grandmother visited her in a dream and confirmed she would have twins.

In August 2020, Jackie went into hospital to have her eggs retrieved, and shared an inspiring message for other women who might also be having fertility issues.

'This is what pre-egg retrieval looks like. IVF. Ladies, you got this, for anyone out there going through IVF!' she wrote.

Her post came months after Jackie confirmed to Stellar magazine that she had quit The Real Housewives of Melbourne to focus on starting a family with Ben in February 2020.

'Ladies, you got this': Jackie Gillies spoke about her heartbreaking IVF journey in August. Pictured before a procedure to retrieve her eggs

At the time, she revealed that she was on her fourth round of IVF, but had kept her treatments under wraps because she was worried about being judged.

She decided to share her experience because she wanted to be more 'honest' with herself and possibly help other women going through the same thing.

She explained that her time in the South African jungle on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018 had made her realise she wanted to be a mother.

'Do I know I'm definitely going to have children? From the depths of my heart, yes. But what I haven't been prepared for is the way it was going to come,' she said.
Elsa Pataky has announced that filming for her new Netflix action film Interceptor has officially wrapped.

The wife of Chris Hemsworth shared the news on Sunday via Instagram by uploading behind-the-scenes photos taken during filming, alongside a caption that read: 'It's a wrap for #interceptor, @netflix it's being a tough but amazing project.'

'So much fun!! Thanks to all the cast and crew that made it possible. You guys rock!' the Spanish actress, 44, continued.

That's a wrap! Elsa Pataky, 44, shared behind-the-scenes photos from the set of her military Netflix action film Interceptor as filming officially wrapped on Sunday

In the images, Elsa, who plays the film's lead role of army lieutenant JJ Collins, is seen looking bloodied and bruised thanks to some very realistic special effects makeup.

Elsa looked completely unrecognisable as she ditched her boho-chic style for full military gear while looking bloody and bruised.

In one image, Elsa is seen posing on-set with one of her twin sons, both wearing matching blue bathrobes.

Realistic: In the images, Elsa, who plays the film's lead role of army lieutenant JJ Collins, is seen looking bloodied and bruised thanks to some very realistic special effects makeup

Set visits: One image shows Elsa posing with one of her twin sons - both wearing matching blue bathrobes

Transformation: Elsa showed off her huge biceps as she posed alongside her stunt double in one of her Instagram photos

Elsa will lead the film as a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

Elsa's husband Chris is producing the action film alongside Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero, and Peter D. Graves.

Australian actor Luke Bracey will co-star, but Elsa's husband is not expected to act in the movie, instead settling for a behind-the-scenes role.

Starring role: Elsa will lead the film as a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States. Pictured alongside her co-stars

Looking good! The model shared this photo of herself posing alongside her stunt double outside the filming studio

In March, Elsa told News Corp that she has been rehearsing moves for the film using a toy pistol at home with Chris and their three children.

'I brought home a toy gun to practice with and was showing my kids a fight I have to do and they were really excited. Especially my daughter, who has two brothers who keep telling her 'we're stronger than you' and she says 'no way!'

The actress continued: 'She can now see in what ways she can be stronger.'
He has made bicycle riding with friends and family an integral part of his daily exercise routine in recent years.

And on Saturday Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with his son Joseph Baena for a ride through the streets of Los Angeles to the Gold's Gym in Venice Beach, just over a block away from the Pacific Ocean.

The Terminator star, 73, kept it sporty in black sweatpants, a blue 'Arnold classic' tee with his likeness on the front of it, and black sneakers.

Bonding time: Arnold Schwarzenegger, 73, was joined by his son Joseph Baena, 23, for his near daily bike ride in Los Angeles on Saturday

The former governor of California wore a bright green puffer jacket for the ride, and then pulled it off and tied it around his waist when her arrived at the famed gym with Joseph.

Baena, 23, came prepared for a workout in black shorts, a matching t-shirt, and black-and-white Vans sneakers.

After their bike rides, the duo typically get in a good workout at Gold's Gym.

Long and winding road: The father-son duo made their way through the streets of Venice beach en route to the famed Gold's Gym, which is just about a block from the Pacific Ocean

By the afternoon, Baena took to Instagram to share a few photos taken on the set of a new film he's working on.

'Having a great time on set of "Bully High,"' he wrote in the caption of the photo showing him in front of the camera with a couple of young female actors playing students.

'Finally know what it's like to be a private school kid,' he joked.

Baena was born in October of 1997 as the result of an extramarital affair between Arnold and his family's former housekeeper Mildred Patricia.

At the time, Schwarzenegger was married to Maria Shriver, whom he would end up separating and divorcing from after his secret affair was made public.

Following in father's footsteps: By Saturday afternoon, Baena took to Instagram to share a few photos taken on the set of the upcoming film Bully High

Game time: The aspiring actor also asked his 296,000 Instagram fans and followers if they could guess what character he's playing in Bully High

In an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV in February, the California native revealed he will officially follow in his dad's footsteps with his first movie role in upcoming sci-fi comedy The Chariot.

During the conversation he dished on how he's been trying to duck the constant comparisons with his famous father,

'I'm following my father's footsteps because I'm doing my own thing,' Baena explained. 'I'm pursuing acting because I want to pursue acting. So really the pressure is just from myself.'

Pumping up: Baena capped off his Saturday with an evening workout

The California native has been chronicling his body transformation in recent years by posting photos and videos taken in the gym on social media

It appears the aspiring actor is keeping his options open when it comes to his career. Earlier this month, Baena shared that he's 'super excited to start a new career in residential real estate.'

'Not your average realtor!' he began in the caption of a photo showing his standing out front of a home for sale.

'Looking forward to growing and learning from my amazing team @aria_properties, but more so looking forward to putting you guys in a new home! I'll be primarily based in West LA and Silicon Beach, so if you're buying, selling or need help shoot me a DM. Your support means the world-tag someone who needs a home.'
The logo of eBay is seen at eBay Korea's Seoul headquarters on March 16. Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



MBK Partners' bid to acquire eBay Korea is drawing a lukewarm response from the market amid concerns that the Seoul-based private equity firm (PEF) may focus on the e-commerce firm's quantitative growth for possible resale of the company.



Three other conglomerates  Lotte, Shinsegae and SK  are also jumping on the race for the high-stakes acquisition of the nation's third-largest e-commerce company. MBK is the only PEF participating in the bid.



With the final bidding schedule drawing near, all eyes are on what the next moves will be if MBK succeeds in taking over the company, as no other PEFs submitted a bid for the acquisition of the e-commerce giant whose valuation is estimated to reach as high as 5 trillion won ($4.42 billion).



One possible scenario is that MBK aims to increase the valuation of Homeplus by acquiring eBay. Homeplus is Korea's major discount retail store chain which MBK acquired back in 2015. Under the bolt-on strategy, MBK can chalk up profits by generating synergies between the online and offline retail giants and push for resale of eBay at a higher price in a short period of time.



Such a strategic move, however, is expected to draw backlash from within the acquired entity. MBK sold Homeplus' properties worth trillions of won after acquiring the firm, according to the retail store chain's union. The number of Homeplus employees has also been on the decline since MBK took over the company.



According to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of Homeplus employees was 25,359 as of December 2015, but the figure dropped to 20,830 as of February this year.



The union of Homeplus stepped up its criticism of MBK, urging it to ensure job security. It argued that MBK's aggressive restructuring of stores was the root cause behind the shrinking workforce.



But Homeplus is in a position that the company has not pushed for any forceful layoffs and the decline is attributable to retirements based on the rule on legal retirement age.



As a number of PEFs take similar strategies to retrieve invested capital after acquiring certain companies, concerns are also resurfacing that MBK's possible acquisition of eBay Korea does no good to the latter's qualitative, longer-term growth.



For employees of eBay Korea, MBK's approach reminds them of the escalating dispute between Homeplus' union and MBK's management.



MBK took over the retail giant for a surprising price of 7.2 trillion won, but the firm's earnings have since declined. Homeplus' operating profit reached 309.1 trillion won in 2016, but it dropped to 160.1 billion won in 2019.



In a desperate move to recoup the investment, MBK rushed to sell four stores in 2020 and secured cash worth more than 1 trillion won.



This has drawn a strong backlash from the union members of Homeplus. They argued MBK focused too much on cutting down debts by selling Homeplus assets, rather than pushing for stable growth of the company.



"Several offline discount chain stores are suffering from falling revenues, as more and more people jump into online transactions," an industry source said. "The sales of assets can also be seen as part of an inevitable move amid the firm's declining profits."



It is likely that eBay Korea employees are concerned that such a scenario may recur if MBK takes over the company.



Amid the unceasing conflict between MBK and Homeplus employees, some executives of the union shaved their heads as a sign of protest against MBK management on Thursday.



A group of 11 union leaders  including nine female members  staged the protest in front of MBK headquarters in Seoul, urging the PEF to stop selling Homeplus stores and guarantee employees' job security.



"The union demands Homeplus' management introduce a salary step system, which the firm's non-union members  particularly among the young generation  consider an outdated idea at a time when most other firms adopt a performance-driven salary system," the source said.



EBay Korea was the e-commerce leader with a market share of 18 percent as of 2016, but it has lost its ground slowly to domestic portal giant Naver.



The final bidding for the eBay acquisition will be made as early as the end of May.




She's the jaw-dropping Australian influencer who is never afraid to flash the flesh on social media.

And Tammy Hembrow did just that on Sunday, as she stripped down to a tiny string bikini while parading around her Gold Coast home.

The blonde bombshell, 27, appeared to go make-up free as she showcased her tiny waist and rock-hard abs for the camera.

Sizzling: Tammy Hembrow, 27, flaunted her pert derriere to her followers on Sunday as she stripped down to a very skimpy string bikini

She then turned around to unveil her pert derriere to fans, flashing a winning smile in the process.

Penning an inspiring message in the caption, Tammy wrote: 'Your competition isn't other people - it's your procrastination.'

'It's the unhealthy food you eat. It's the knowledge you neglect. It's the negative energy you tolerate. Compete against that,' she advised.

Gorgeous: The blonde bombshell, 27, appeared to go make-up free for the occasion as she poised her tiny waist and rock-hard abs at the camera while playing with her hair

It comes after Tammy - who is a mother to son Wolf, five, and daughter Saskia, four - revealed that she's thinking about having children with her boyfriend Matt Poole.

She recently shared on Instagram a screenshot of a message exchange between the pair that discussed their family plans.

In the messages, the pair got onto the topic of babies after discussing how they wanted oysters for dinner.

Sweet: Tammy recently shared a screenshot of a message exchange between herself and boyfriend Matt Poole that discussed their family plans

Watch this space! The Gold Coast businesswoman shared the exchange on her Instagram Story and excitedly wrote in the caption: 'Told you he wants one guys'

Matt asked her how many people would be coming over, to gauge how many dozens of the oysters were needed.

'Just you and me baby baby... Should I buy some?' Tammy wrote.

'Also should we make one?' she then cheekily asked, referring to a 'baby'.

He wrote back: 'Haha love both... oysters and a baby.'

Motherhood: Tammy is already a proud mother to two children - son Wolf, five, and daughter Saskia, four - who she shares with ex-fiance, Reece Hawkins

The businesswoman shared the exchange on her Instagram Story and wrote in the caption: 'Told you he wants one guys.'

Tammy shares her children with her ex-fiance, Reece Hawkins.

The former couple split acrimoniously in 2018, but have since moved forward as co-parents.

After the split, Reece moved on with his Instagram model wife, London Goheen, welcomed their son, named Stone, on March 7.

Moving on: Tammy and Reece split acrimoniously in 2018, but have since moved forward as co-parents. After the split, Reece moved on with his Instagram model wife, London Goheen (right), welcomed their son, named Stone, on March 7

Tammy and her surfer beau went public with their romance in September during a trip to the Whitsundays.

That month, Matt also made his debut on his girlfriend's YouTube channel, disclosing in a Q&A video that he'd been the first to say 'I love you'.

'We had a little fight over nothing, and then when he was trying to make up with me and apologise, he told me he loved me,' she said with a smile.

Aside from being an Ironman, he also runs a popular restaurant on the Gold Coast called Maman Bar and Kitchen.
Foxtel recently announced that Selling Houses Australia would be returning for its 14th season with a brand new lineup of presenters.

And on Sunday, the renovation series put out a casting call for members of the public to feature in the upcoming spin-off series, Selling In The City.

According to the show's official casting page, producers are looking for five apartments, warehouse conversions or townhouses to undergo refurbishment on the show.

Calling all renovation gurus! Foxtel is casting for upcoming Selling Houses Australia spin-off series, Selling In The City - but there is a catch. Pictured L-R: presenters Wendy Moore, Andrew Winter and Dennis Scot

'Is it time for an upgrade? Do you need more space? Or has the latte life lost its appeal?' the website reads.

'Whether you are quickly outgrowing your tiny city home or your eyes are just set firmly on your next big property step then we want to hear from you.'

'Apply now so our team of experts can help your current property reach its full potential allowing you to move on up that property ladder.'

New host: Former House Rules judge Wendy Moore (pictured) will be replacing Shaynna Blaze on the upcoming series

However, successful applicants hoping to pocket all proceeds of sale will be disappointed.

As a condition of participating on the program, applicants must pay 3.5% of the independent assessed value of the total property before filming.

In order for sellers to qualify for the show their house must already be on the market and must remain on the market after the makeover until it sells.

It comes just days after the network announced that former House Rules judge Wendy Moore will be replacing presenter Shaynna Blaze on Selling Houses Australia.

Filming conflicts: According to the report, the schedule clashes with her successful interior design business and an upcoming 'passion' project. Shaynna confirmed the news on Twitter

Shaynna announced her departure from Selling Houses Australia in March.

The interior design guru is leaving the show, which is one of Foxtel's biggest hits, due to a schedule clash.

As reported by the Herald Sun, Selling Houses' filming dates coincided with development of Shaynna's upcoming 'passion project'.
Kendall Jenner has been busy touting her soon-to-be released tequila line 818, which she announced on Instagram back in February.

And in anticipation of the May 17 launch, the 25-year-old supermodel has plastered her image on the front of Mel & Rose liquor store in West Hollywood, California.

The famed storefront, which offers wine, spirits & gifts, unveiled the giant 818 tequila billboard to their Instagram following on Saturday.

Coming soon! Kendall Jenner has been busy touting her soon-to-be released tequila line 818, which she announced on Instagram back in February

'SWIPE to see where you can pick up your @drink818 ;)' read the post's caption, urging customers to partake in their exclusive 818 presale.

For the promotional image, Jenner can be seen sitting atop a large pile of agave plants, which were given the aesthetically pleasing 'pineapple cut' for the shoot.

Kendall, showcasing a slight smirk, went braless in a nude toned tank top, which she paired with some boot-cut light wash jeans.

To complete her ensemble, the KUWTK star slipped on some stylish lace-up boots and cradled a bottle of 818 in her hands.

Promo: And in anticipation of the May 17 launch, the 25-year-old supermodel has plastered her image on the front of Mel & Rose liquor store in West Hollywood, California

She wore her brunette hair in a sleek middle part and loose waves that rested on her shoulders as she posed for the camera.

In mid-February, Jenner announced she was launching her own brand of tequila, writing to her Instagram followers that she had been working on the product for 'four years.'

'For almost 4 years, Ive been on a journey to create the best tasting tequila,' she began in her caption, along with a video of herself taking a swig.

'After dozens of blind taste tests, trips to our distillery, entering into world tasting competitions anonymously and WINNING....

818: In mid-February, Jenner announced she was launching her own brand of tequila, writing to her Instagram followers that she had been working on the product for 'four years'; Kendall pictured with Kourtney Kardashian in May

'3.5 years later i think weve done it! this is all weve been drinking for the last year and i cant wait for everyone else to get their hands on this to enjoy it as much as we do! @drink818 coming soon,' the runway star concluded.

Upon announcing that her tequila line would be called 818, Jenner received backlash from those labeling the marketing move as 'cultural appropriation' since she appeared to be taking an entire area code for herself.

Not giving into the uproar on social media, Kendall has continued to advertise the brand, even bringing her own bottle with her as she ventures to upscale restaurants around Los Angeles.

All of the hype around 818 comes amid Jenner's ongoing Vogue series, Open Minded, which debuted last week.

Four years: 'For almost 4 years, Ive been on a journey to create the best tasting tequila,' she began in her caption, along with a video of herself taking a swig

In the latest episode, Kendall admitted that her 'relationship with social media is a bit addictive' at this time.

'I don't like [it] and I'm not proud to say that,' she said. 'but I also feel like that's something that probably most of us can relate to.'

The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star chatted with Dr. Jorge Partida of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health about the subject.

She said of social media, 'There's just literally too much. I find that the more I'm looking at the screen, the more detached I feel with my own body or to what's happening right in front of me.'

The eldest daughter of Caitlyn and Kris Jenner said that 'there really is no escaping it,' as she remains one of the most followed celebs on multiple platforms, including 163 million followers on Instagram and 31.4 million more on Twitter.

Award winning? 'After dozens of blind taste tests, trips to our distillery, entering into world tasting competitions anonymously and WINNING....' captioned the star

Uproar: Upon announcing that her tequila line would be called 818, Jenner received backlash from those labeling the marketing move as 'cultural appropriation' since she appeared to be taking an entire area code for herself

Kendall, who is currently linked to Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker, said aspects that upset her are the quick judgments made by people online without regard to context or accuracy, and 'the amount of negativity that' she sees.

'Something that boils my blood, that really frustrates me and I think upsets me the most is when it's someone claiming a false narrative for me,' she said. 'The Internet, I guess, bases things off of such small moments with no context.

'They don't know the before or the after and they'll take that and run with it and then completely judge you off of this one little thing.'

Jenner said she's rankled by 'something as simple as [people] didn't like what I looked like in [a] photo,' adding, 'Because of social media, everything is highlighted, everything is heightened whether good or bad.

Mental health: All of the hype around 818 comes amid Jenner's ongoing Vogue series, Open Minded, which debuted last week

'I feel most of my social media anxiety is actually more the overwhelmingness of it all,' she said. 'I have moments of feeling like I'm breaking or feeling like I can't take it anymore because sometimes it does feel like  I can never do anything right.'

The Los Angeles native explained how she's progressively dealt with anxiety over the years.

'I remember being really young - I'd say eight, nine, 10 - and having shortness of breath and going to my mom and telling her that,' she said, noting that it's progressed with her rise to fame.

Jenner said that she's felt like a 'real hypochondriac' at times as a result: 'I've had times where I feel like I need to be rushed to the hospital because I think my heart's failing and I can't breathe and I need someone to help me. Sometimes I think I'm dying.'
She recently underwent surgery to remove a potentially cancerous lump from her neck.

And Demi Jones continued her recovery as she stepped out in London for a glamorous night out on Saturday.

The Love Island 2020 star, 22, displayed her cleavage and toned legs in a multicoloured halterneck dress as she headed to a rooftop bar in the capital.

Glamour: Demi Jones continued her recovery as she stepped out in London for a glamorous night out on Saturday

The vibrant purple and orange gown was paired with strappy orange sandals and a nude handbag as she walked along.

Her flame red tresses were pulled into a sleek ponytail while a glamorous palette of make-up enhanced Demi's stunning features.

Demi's outing comes after she had her 'potentially cancerous' neck lump removed earlier this month.

Peachy: The star showed off her pert posterior as she posed up a storm

Radiant: The Love Island 2020 star, 22, displayed her cleavage and toned legs in a multicoloured halterneck dress as she headed to a rooftop bar in the capital

She took to Instagram to share a post-surgery selfie as she explained she was 'very sleepy' and that the procedure was 'painful'.

Demi looked tired in the picture as she sat in her hospital bed in a gown and told fans she would catch up with them soon.

She wrote: 'I did it - very sleepy and painful, catch up soon.'

Before the procedure the beauty shared another picture as she prepared to head to hospital, writing: 'Thank you for all your messages. Signing off now. I'll update you all after my surgery.'

Earlier in April Demi revealed she had found a lump in her neck and had to have it removed as doctors feared it could be cancerous.

Post-surgery: Demi's outing comes after she had her 'potentially cancerous' neck lump removed earlier this month

After the revelation she thanked fans and said she was 'overwhelmed with support' and said she had received 'thousands of kind messages'.

Posting a gorgeous snap of herself sporting a full face of glam and wearing an off-white sweatshirt, the reality star penned: 'I'm so overwhelmed with support.'

'I had thousands of kind messages yesterday.'

Signing off her post on a happy note, Demi added: 'I feel positive today. Thank you.'

A day earlier, Demi emotionally shared the news with her followers on her Instagram Stories after receiving some test results.

Emotional: Demi emotionally revealed in April she had to have the lump removed which doctors fear could be cancerous

Demi wiped away tears as she revealed she would have the lump removed in the next few weeks so that medics could determine whether it is cancerous.

Sat in her car after receiving the results, Demi told fans: 'I went to get my results today for my lump. And they think it could be cancerous so I have to have it operated on and removed in the next couple of weeks.

'Nothing is for certain but I'm really worried. I'm sure it'll be fine. It's a shock because you don't think, I was sat there in this waiting room and it was full of old people and I was the only young one there. I thought I'm so young for god's sake.

'I know loads of women go through this,I'll be fine. It might not even be cancer but they've got to cut it out to find out. I'm shocked at the moment.

'I'll be ok, when I get it removed it'll be fine.'

Demi then shared a post which encouraged her followers to get any lumps checked if they are worried.

She wrote: 'Please don't put off getting lumps checked, if appointments keep getting cancelled then you need to chase it up. I was supposed to have this appointment six months ago.

'At my scan they said "everything looks fine" and went to send me on my way. I challenged it and asked if they could do more, in which they said 'oh well we can test the fluid if you want us to?'

'Thank god I asked as it was the fluid that can be potentially cancerous. Always push!'
Her forthcoming Netflix action film Interceptor is officially in the can.

But Elsa Pataky, 44, made sure to continue to show behind-the-scenes footage from the project on Sunday, including her preparations for a hand-to-hand combat scene with a choreographer.

The intense-looking fight scene preparations ended with the wife of Chris Hemsworth miming being punched in the face.

Fight! Elsa Pataky, 44, made sure to continue to show behind-the-scenes footage from the project on Sunday, including her preparations for a hand-to-hand combat scene with a choreographer

The Spanish actress added a caption that read, 'Thanks to all my stunt team. You are amazing!!'

Another Instagram Story showed Elsa's extensive stunt team, including her own stunt double Hayley Wright.

In yet another, the mother-of-three showed off her remarkable physical transformation by performing biceps curls with a resistance band.

Gratitude: The Spanish actress added a caption that read, 'Thanks to all my stunt team. You are amazing!!'

Brutal: The intense-looking fight scene preparations ended with the wife of Chris Hemsworth miming being punched in the face

Pataky shared the news that Interceptor had wrapped via Instagram on Sunday, by uploading behind-the-scenes photos taken during filming.

Elsa added a caption that read: 'It's a wrap for #interceptor, @netflix it's being a tough but amazing project.'

'So much fun!! Thanks to all the cast and crew that made it possible. You guys rock!' the actress continued.

Ripped: In yet another, the mother-of-three showed off her remarkable physical transformation by performing biceps curls with a resistance band

That's a wrap! Elsa shared behind-the-scenes photos from the set of her military Netflix action film Interceptor as filming officially wrapped on Sunday

In the images, Elsa, who plays the film's lead role of army lieutenant JJ Collins, is seen looking bloodied and bruised thanks to some very realistic special effects makeup.

Elsa looked completely unrecognisable as she ditched her boho-chic style for full military gear while looking bloody and bruised.

In one image, Elsa is seen posing on-set with one of her twin sons, both wearing matching blue bathrobes.

Realistic: In the images, Elsa, who plays the film's lead role of army lieutenant JJ Collins, is seen looking bloodied and bruised thanks to some very realistic special effects makeup

Set visits: One image shows Elsa posing with one of her twin sons - both wearing matching blue bathrobes

Transformation: Elsa showed off her huge biceps as she posed alongside her stunt double in one of her Instagram photos

Elsa will lead the film as a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States.

Elsa's husband Chris is producing the action film alongside Kathy Morgan, Christopher Mapp, Robert Slaviero, and Peter D. Graves.

Australian actor Luke Bracey will co-star, but Elsa's husband is not expected to act in the movie, instead settling for a behind-the-scenes role.

Starring role: Elsa will lead the film as a soldier who must save the world when 16 nuclear missiles are launched in the United States. Pictured alongside her co-stars

Looking good! The model shared this photo of herself posing alongside her stunt double outside the filming studio

In March, Elsa told News Corp that she has been rehearsing moves for the film using a toy pistol at home with Chris and their three children.

'I brought home a toy gun to practice with and was showing my kids a fight I have to do and they were really excited. Especially my daughter, who has two brothers who keep telling her 'we're stronger than you' and she says 'no way!'

The actress continued: 'She can now see in what ways she can be stronger.'
Married At First Sight star Jules Robinson has revealed she and husband Cameron Merchant are suffering from food poisoning.

The couple looked somewhat worse for wear as they relaxed on the couch while suffering with their bout of ill-health.

'We are parked here,' Jules wrote, showing Cam laying on the couch.

Oh no! Married At First Sight stars Cameron Merchant and Jules Robinson (both pictured) got struck down with food poisoning on Sunday

'Coming back from the dead of food poisoning... we think,' she said.

Usually bubbly Cameron looked somewhat long-faced as he lay on the couch with track pants and a jumper on.

It comes after Jules revealed she purchased her own engagement ring a year before meeting husband, Cameron.

On the couch: 'Coming back from the dead of food poisoning... we think,' Jules wrote, showing cam lazing on the couch

The 38-year-old revealed on Instagram this month she'd purchased the ring when she was single about 12 months before going on the Nine show in 2019.

Jules also explained that the rings she and Cameron exchanged at their televised wedding had fake diamonds, but she still wears hers for sentimental reasons.

'FYI I still wear my MAFS band on my right hand. And times have changed as mine isn't real diamonds. I missed out,' she wrote.

Details: Jules revealed on Instagram this month she'd purchased the ring when she was single about 12 months before going on the Nine show in 2019

'I love the ring all the same though,' she added.

Jules then spoke about her other ring - the one she'd bought herself.

'The other ring is the engagement ring I brought myself a year before I met Cam,' she explained.

Life of luxury: The family only recently came back from staying at a $1,300-per-night resort on the Gold Coast. Pictured with their son Oliver, six months

Buying your own engagement ring is actually becoming increasingly popular, with some women saying it creates a more equal partnership because there is less of a financial burden on men.

Jules and Cam have proven to be one of Married At First Sight's greatest success stories after rising to fame in season six.

After falling in love on the social experiment, they got engaged and legally tied the knot in late 2019 in a lavish ceremony that was broadcast on A Current Affair.

The couple welcomed son Oliver 'Ollie' Merchant in October last year.
Married At First Sight star Georgia Fairweather gained a legion of fans when she appeared on the last season of the show.

On Sunday, the bubbly blonde stripped down to a number of skimpy bikinis for some fun in the sun on the beach.

Georgia showcased her curves in a short clip on Instagram wearing a number of racy swimsuits as she strolled on the sand.

Beach babe: Married At First Sight star Georgia Fairweather (pictured) flaunted her trim frame in a range of stylish bikinis as she strolled on the beach in a racy clip she posted on Sunday

Georgia first wore a rainbow bikini with the beauty flaunting her toned midriff and pert derriere.

The reality star then showcased a similar halter neck bikini in blue, with the design of the bikini allowing it to be worn a multitude of ways.

'Did you know @aweswim multiverse bikinis can be worn 14 different ways?!' the blonde starlet wrote.

She added: 'Here are a couple of my favourite ways to wear the bubblegum multiverse.'

Stylish: 'Did you know @aweswim multiverse bikinis can be worn 14 different ways?!' the blonde starlet wrote, showcasing the versatility of the swimwear

The racy content comes after the end of Georgia's rocky relationship with bisexual-ex, Liam Cooper.

Shortly after leaving the experiment, a video obtained by Channel Nine showed a frustrated Georgia asking 'what the f*** is wrong with Liam?'

'I'm back home in Brisbane. First place I come to see my ponies. That's where I do my best thinking,' a make-up free Georgia said to the camera.

Glam girl: The racy content comes after the end of Georgia's rocky relationship with bisexual-ex, Liam Cooper

'This morning I was pushing the wheelbarrow full of horse s*** in the rain and I thought to myself, 'Yeah I'm so glamorous. I'm so high maintenance.'

'Like what the f--- is wrong with Liam? Like what goes through his brain?' she added.

She went on to question why he left her to defend herself 'about this accusation of being too glamorous or high-maintenance or whatever you want to call it.'

Not happy! Shortly after leaving Married At First Sight a video obtained by Channel 9 shows a frustrated Georgia Georgia Fairweather (pictured) asking 'What the f*** is wrong with Liam?'

'He's meant to be the one that knows me the best, and he's the one throwing the accusations. No one else in the room [at the final dinner party] was telling me that,' she continued.

Despite being content about her decision to call him out on his unacceptable behaviour in her final vows, Georgia also admitted she started to miss him.

Liam brutally dumped Georgia after she turned on him during a dramatic commitment ceremony in April.

After confessing his love for her, she called him out as 'manipulative and insecure' in her final vows.
Kelly Brook has said she has no plans to marry or settle down and start a family with her boyfriend Jeremy Parisi.

The 41-year-old model and actress revealed she values the freedom of having few attachments too much to consider having children anytime soon.

Speaking to Notebook Magazine, Kelly said that she currently has a bucket list she is working through, but that 'a wedding is not on it'.

'I've got a bucket list and I have to say a wedding is not on it!' Kelly Brook has revealed she has no interest in getting married to beau Jeremy Parisi or settling down to have children any time soon

Kelly said: 'I feel like marriage and children are not things I've wanted. I like travelling and being with my partner, I like animals working and being independent and I like my freedom. I like being spontaneous.

'There are so many things I love, and I think marriage and children would stop me doing those things.'

She also said that she isn't saying 'never' to marriage and children, with thoughts of a family creeping into her mind 'every now and again'.

Her latest interview follows comments she made earlier this month in which she admitted that she would like beau Jeremy Parisi, 36, to propose, laughing as she added: 'Not hinting or anything!'

Happy couple: The model and actress revealed she values the freedom of having few attachments too much to consider having children anytime soon

The glamour model also branded herself 'a bit of a nag' while giving an insight into their home life together during lockdown.

Speaking to OK! Online, Kelly said of their future plans: 'At the moment there are no wedding plans or engagement plans. I think we've just had quite a massive year as a couple.'

She explained that they had 'kept each other going' amid the coronavirus pandemic and joked they'd focused of 'trying not to kill each other' but insisted they were stronger than ever and happy as they are, at the moment.

The radio host continued: 'I'm all up for women proposing to their partners, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, however, I would ideally like Jeremy to propose to me if he wanted to... Of course that'd be lovely... Not hinting or anything Jeremy,' added the star, with a giggle.

Hand in hand: Kelly said that children and a family are things she hasn't wanted in her life to this point, valuing travel and time with her partner instead

Kelly also described herself as being 'a bit of a nag' at home, which she put down to being a 'clean freak.'

The Heart Radio presenter revealed that Jeremy has become a better cook during lockdown and praised him for having sumptuous meals ready for her to come home to.

She also revealed that she longs for more time back on her Kent farm, confessing: 'I've been living in London for the past two years and that's starting to take its toll. City life is way too fast paced,' adding that she feels 'time poor' at the moment.

Kelly admitted she always thought she would retire from showbusiness aged 30 because models didn't have a long shelf-life.
Work has been underway on the highly anticipated remake of classic TV series The Darling Buds Of May for the past several weeks.

And Sabrina Bartlett was spotted getting into character as Mariette Larkin earlier this week, as she shot scenes for ITV's The Larkins in the Croydon area.

The 29-year-old actress, who shot to fame through her role as Siena Rosso on hit Netflix show Bridgerton, looked glam as she galloped around the set on a horse.

Shooting star: Sabrina Bartlett was spotted getting into character as Mariette Larkin earlier this week, as she shot scenes for ITV's The Larkins in the Croydon area

Sporting a red-and-pink striped T-shirt and grey jodhpurs with a pair of black boots, the London native smiled broadly as she rode the horse before rolling cameras.

With her chestnut brown tresses styled in voluminous curls, the screen star highlighted her natural beauty with a light palette of makeup.

She was joined on the set by comedian and actor Bradley Walsh, who is taking on the role of the role of her screen dad Pop Larkin in the upcoming adaptation.

He was pictured in character on set on Friday as he donned a checked shirt, a brown waistcoat and dark grey trousers.

Co-star: She was joined on the set by comedian and actor Bradley Walsh, who is taking on the role of the role of Pop Larkin in the upcoming adaptation

Getting into character: Ensuring he gave his best performance possible, the beloved TV star was seen rehearsing his lines in character in between takes

Pop style: The star was pictured in character on set on Friday as he donned a checked shirt, a brown waistcoat and dark grey trousers

I'm hair: The Chase Host, 60, sported the signature sideburns made famous by Sir David Jason

Masks: In keeping with COVID-19 safety regulations, crew members were seen wearing masks

Chilling out: The actor, singer, comedian and host looked relaxed as he spent time on the set

Ensuring he gave his best performance possible, the beloved TV star was seen rehearsing his lines in character in between takes.

The Chase Host, 60, sported the signature sideburns made famous by Sir David Jason, who played Pop Larkin in the original ITV series in the 1990s.

Crew members were seen capturing all of the action on camera as they milled around the set of the show, which is being filmed in the Croydon area.

In a statement after his role as Pop Larkin was announced, the actor commented: Im thrilled to be asked to be part of this much loved and iconic series of stories.

'The warmth and affection that HE Bates has generated through his books is so uplifting and I cannot wait to be part of the Larkin family. Itll be a hoot!'

Gallop: The 29-year-old actress, who shot to fame through her role as Siena Rosso on hit Netflix show Bridgerton, looked glam as she galloped around the set on a horse

Expert: Sabrina was under the watchful eye of an equestrian expert as she rode around the set

Stylish: Sporting a red-and-pink striped T-shirt and grey jodhpurs with a pair of black boots, the London native smiled broadly as she rode the horse before rolling cameras

Beauty: With her chestnut brown tresses styled in voluminous curls, the screen star highlighted her natural beauty with a light palette of makeup

Busy: Work has been underway on the highly anticipated remake of classic TV series The Darling Buds Of May for the past several weeks

The new six-part series will be shown on ITV but this time it is called The Larkins and will be penned by The Durrells writer Simon Nye.

Set in the Kent countryside, the family drama follows the lives of The Larkins and their six children as they navigate their idyllic life while dealing with threats from government officials.

It was announced earlier this month that Bridgerton star Sabrina will play Pop Larkin's daughter Mariette Larkin in the new TV version of HE Bates novels.

The role was responsible for launching the career of Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, 51, who portrayed Mariette in the original ITV series.

Speaking to the Radio Times, Sabrina revealed she was really REALLY excited to be appearing in the remake.

Upcoming series: The new six-part series will be shown on ITV but this time it is called The Larkins and will be penned by The Durrells writer Simon Nye

Castmember: It was reported earlier this month that Bradley's son Barney is joining the cast

Family ties: Bradley's son Barney, 23, will play a village policeman in the show, reports The Sun

Plot: Set in the Kent countryside, the family drama follows the lives of The Larkins and their six children as they navigate their idyllic life while dealing with threats from government officials

Son: A source said of Bradley and Barney, 'Their adventures [in Breaking Dad] gained around 5 million viewers an episode, and producers hope to bring some of that audience to The Larkins'

Pair: Added the source, 'Pairing Bradley and Barney adds to the growing anticipation for this reinvention of a show which holds a special place in the hearts of a generation of viewers'

She said: 'I cant wait to bring these heart-warming stories to life alongside such a wonderful team. Its just the perfect dose of escapism we all need right now.'

Also among the cast is Joanna Scanlan, 59, who takes over from Pam Ferris as Pops wife Ma Larkin.

Mariettes love interest Cedric Charley Charlton is played by Tok Stephen and was previously played by Philip Franks in the original series.

Meanwhile, it was reported earlier this month that Bradley Walsh's son Barney  who already stars alongside his father in their travel show Bradley Walsh & Son: Breaking Dad  is joining the cast.

Aspiring screen star Barney, 23, will play a village policeman, according to The Sun.

Country living: The popular original '90s family drama, which was set in '50s, starred Sir David Jason as Pop Larkin  who lives on a farm in the Kent countryside

Catchphrase: Bradley's predecessor David introduced his catchphrase 'perfick' on the show, that followed him and his wife Ma and their children in all their antics

Iconic series: In a statement after his role as Pop Larkin was announced, the actor commented, Im thrilled to be asked to be part of this much loved and iconic series of stories'

Love: Bradley added in his statement, 'The warmth and affection that HE Bates has generated through his books is so uplifting and I cannot wait to be part of the Larkin family. Itll be a hoot!'

Varied career: Bradley's varied career as seen him act in TV shows Coronation Street, Law & Order: UK and Doctor Who, among many others

Many talents: The star has also enjoyed a successful singing career, releasing two hit albums

A source said: 'Their adventures [in Breaking Dad] gained around 5 million viewers an episode, and producers hope to bring some of that audience to The Larkins.

'Pairing Bradley and Barney adds to the growing anticipation for this reinvention of a show which holds a special place in the hearts of a generation of viewers.'

The popular original '90s family drama, which was set in '50s, starred Sir David Jason as Pop Larkin  who lives on a farm in the Kent countryside.

David introduced his catchphrase 'perfick' on the show, that followed him and his wife Ma and their children in all their antics.

Catherine Zeta Jones' fame rose rapidly after appearing on the show, leading to her move to Hollywood, where she met and married screen star Michael Douglas.

Picturesque: The cast and crew gathered at the picturesque setting as production rolled on

Lookalike: Sabrina Bartlett (left) has been cast as Mariette in the ITV remake of The Darling Buds of May - the same role that catapulted Catherine Zeta Jones (right) to stardom

A vision: The role was responsible for launching the career of Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, now 51, who portrayed Mariette in the original ITV series (pictured in 1991)

Matriarch: Among the cast is Joanna Scanlan, 59, (left) who takes over from Pam Ferris (right) as Pops wife Ma Larkin

Original cast: The popular '90s family drama, which was set in 50s, followed Pop Laarkin, his wife Ma and their children in all their antics
MasterChef star Conor Curran was sent home on Sunday night's episode.

The 27-year-old restaurant manager left the culinary competition after plating up semolina orange cake with Sicilian olive ice-cream and anise syrup.

Conor landed in the bottom two alongside Amir Manoly but proved to be gracious during his exit from the show.

Gone: MasterChef's Conor Curran, 27, (pictured) was eliminated from the series after plating up a less than impressive olive ice cream for the judges on Sunday night

'I don't feel any tears or negativity,' the Melbourne cook said, adding he was pleased to be in the top 24 chefs in Australia.

Tasked with showing the judges what he had 'mastered' in the challenge, Conor was a sea of calm in the kitchen.

He chose the dessert as he had been praised for his ice cream previously. However, this time he received little feedback until he plated up at the judges' table.

Gracious: 'I don't feel any tears or negativity,' the Melbourne cook said, adding he was pleased to be in the top 24 chefs in Australia

'Can you see the grain?' Jock said, casting a critical eye over the ice-cream.

Melissa agreed, saying the ice cream was 'icy'.

'I think what makes Conor's ice-cream in the past fantastic was that velvety, creamy, beautiful texture,' she said.

Not so impressed: 'I think what makes Conor's ice-cream in the past fantastic was that velvety, creamy, beautiful texture,' Melissa said of the dish

'And today, that isn't the case, sadly. It is icy.'

Andy agreed with the other two judges critique.

'The flavours are ok. For me, there's a couple of technical flaws that are really distracting,' Andy said.

Not so great: Andy agreed with the other two judges critique. 'The flavours are ok. For me, there's a couple of technical flaws that are really distracting,' Andy said. Pictured: Melissa

'The ice-cream. It's grainy, it's lumpy. It's icy. That's a problem.'

It was a rough night for Conor who served up dry beef in his stew earlier in the night. He landed in the cook-off alongside Justin Narayan, Amir, and Dan Dumbrell.

Elsewhere, Amir scraped through the challenge by the skin of his teeth after he failed to wash his herbs for his falafel.

Still here! Elsewhere, Amir (L) scraped through the challenge by the skin of his teeth after he failed to wash his herbs for his falafel. (R) Conor

A clearly emotional Amir was forced to remake the Middle Eastern dish within 10 minutes with him clearly disappointing the judges.

Despite emotionally telling the Jock, Melissa and Andy he wasn't happy with what he had produced - it was Jock who went in to bat for him.

'I've got to say, up until that last 10 minutes, you could see he was a master at doing this,' he said, before the end of the challenge.

MasterChef continues Monday at 7.30pm on Channel 10
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Assembly to seek retroactive compensation for small biz, paid vaccine leave



By Lee Kyung-min



Korea's fiscal soundness is expected to deteriorate further, following a legislative move seeking greater financial assistance for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and across-the-board one-day paid leave for people receiving vaccinations against COVID-19.



The Ministry of Economy and Finance says trillions of won needed for each scheme will lead to a significant increase in the country's debt, already on a steep rise over the past year amid expansionary fiscal policies maintained to weather the global health crisis.



Another round of debt financing  the government's issuing of bonds to raise money  will hike the country's debt-to-GDP ratio to an all-time high of nearly 50 percent this year and further to 60 percent in 2024, putting Korea's long-established track record of fiscal discipline to the test.



Korea's relative success characterized by effective quarantine measures has kept its economic contraction limited compared to its global peers, but mismanagement of snowballing debt could become another crisis quickly with far-reaching consequences, experts say.



A report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI) on the economic outlook for the first half of this year said Korea's debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 44 percent in 2020, up from 37.7 percent in 2019, saying government measures are needed to curb rapid increases of the fiscal deficit.



Retroactive compensation for SMEs



The National Assembly Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee is reviewing bills to grant small businesses compensation for losses suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is seeking to organize a hearing to be attended by experts and figures representing the SMEs.



At issue is whether to compensate them retroactively, meaning small business owners could receive full compensation for a drop in sales in the periods when the government-imposed gathering bans and reduced business hours were in effect. In this case, the business owners will have to return the previously given cash assistance of up to 3 million won ($2,600). At least 2 trillion won and up to 8 trillion won will be needed for this, with criteria remaining uncertain over what period of time should be recognized and which businesses should be included.



The discussion first emerged in January but was stalled the following month, as the country's top policymakers showed differences of opinions over the rising government debt and the need to help those hit by the pandemic. The discord was settled after President Moon Jae-in said in late February that the government should consider legislating the measure, practically giving the order from the top to follow the directive.



Seoul National University professor Kim So-young said the measure is needed, since the suffering of many small business owners resulted directly from three rounds of social distancing rules.



"The key is how best to measure the economic damage accurately, which seems quite plausible given their sales figures will speak volumes," he said.



The clearly targeted measure in his view is preferable to giving financial assistance to the country's entire population, since the emergency relief might be shared with to business owners whose financial status had already been shaky long before the pandemic.



"Taxpayers' money should be spent to help those who really suffered. The government needs to dramatically revise spending plans to remove redundant state-run projects."



Paid vaccine leave



At least 2.5 trillion won will be needed to finance a bill that allows 70,000 won in pay each for the country's over 1.82 million salaried employees after receiving vaccinations. The bill passed the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, April 27.



The spending will soar to 6.2 trillion won, if the assistance is expanded to the country's entire population. The figure will jump further to 9.2 trillion won if an additional half-day leave is recognized.



The ministry said in a written opinion to the committee that vaccine-related spending will spike uncontrollably, given the uncertainty over the number of vaccines to be administered and the possibility of virus mutation.



Of 87 countries where Korean mission officials are dispatched, the ministry added, only seven have implemented vaccine leave without the government shouldering the cost for the leave.






Craig McLachlan took part in an explosive interview with 7NEWS Spotlight, which aired on Sunday.

It was a chance for the actor, 55, to speak out after he was acquitted of sexual harassment charges in December.

During the 90 minute special, McLachlan bizarrely defended himself in multiple self-penned songs.

Odd moments: Craig McLachlan (pictrured) took part in an explosive interview with 7NEWS Spotlight, which aired on Sunday. During the 90 minute special, McLachlan bizarrely defended himself in multiple self-penned songs

He also acted out portions of a hit musical in his living room, as a means of illustrating how he could not have committed the offenses he was accused of.

However, not everyone was impressed, with many viewers sharing their concerns on Twitter.

One person Tweeted: 'I have no opinion on the guilt or innocence of Craig McLachlan but WTF was that show? Interview? Mockumentary? Song and dance man audition? F**king weird.'

Performer: He also acted out portions of a hit musical in his living room, as a means of illustrating how he could not have committed the offenses he was accused of

'This is so cringe' another wrote, while someone else agreed, 'Well that interview went down like a lead balloon'.

Yet another added: 'Flicked over to channel 7 and f**k this is embarrassing for all concerned.'

One more penned: 'Ha! And there you have it folks - a tortuous hour long publicity stunt to revive a dead career.'

Questions: However, not everyone was impressed, with many viewers sharing their concerns on Twitter

Someone wondered: 'What's with the musical interludes?' while another viewer asked, 'Is this the tenth musical number?'

Another asked: 'Am I really awake because I could be dreaming this completely bizarre production?'

'Everyone involved in this Craig McLachlan show should be fired. Out of a canon. Into the sun,' another dubious viewer Tweeted.

Opinions: Industry insiders also weighed in, including Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones

Industry insiders also weighed in, with Kevin Perry, co-editor of TV Blackbox, writing: 'It's not my place to say who is guilty and who is innocent.

'I will say that #CraigMcLachlan interview was a poorly produced piece of Television that will only foster the prejudices many people already feel about that case.'

Former Gogglebox star Yvie Jones Tweeted: 'He's literally using this opportunity to perform again!!! This is truly bizarre.'

Shock: During the interview, McLachlan shared shocking footage of the moment he contemplated taking his own life. He also recounted the shocking moment a woman shielded her children from him in a supermarket, shortly after the allegations were made public

'I've been trying to think of a way to describe the Channel Seven special on Craig McLachlan that aired tonight. I am speechless. It was just simply bizarre,' TV Week editor Amber Giles wrote.

'WTF is going on with this Craig McLachlan interview. I never seen someone use performance art to defend themselves. If he starts miming his defense I'm done!' radio star Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann wrote.

During the interview, McLachlan shared shocking footage of the moment he contemplated taking his own life.

In December, McLachlan was found not guilty of indecently assaulting actors during the running of a hit musical. Pictured leaving court with girlfriend Vanessa Scammell

The former Neighbours star was seen in self-filmed video clips, sitting on what he called the 'Will I? or Won't I? log' alongside a waterway.

McLachlan went on to admit that he did eventually attempt suicide, but by chance, he was unsuccessful.

He also recounted the shocking moment a woman shielded her children from him in a supermarket, shortly after the allegations were made public.

Elsewhere in the interview, McLachlan stormed of the interview in tears, after claiming he had remained friends with one of his accusers for years after the alleged assault.

Police had alleged McLachlan either indecently assaulted or assaulted four complainants in Melbourne between April 26, 2014 and July 13, 2014. In a 105 page decision, Melbourne Magistrate Belinda Wallington found McLachlan not guilty of all charges

In December, McLachlan was found not guilty of indecently assaulting actors during the running of a hit musical.

Police had alleged McLachlan either indecently assaulted or assaulted four complainants in Melbourne between April 26, 2014 and July 13, 2014.

In a 105 page decision, Melbourne Magistrate Belinda Wallington found McLachlan not guilty of all charges.

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on: 13 11 14
They have been enjoying several meals out recently after outdoor dining returned in England.

And Trinny Woodall dressed in all pink as she joined her partner Charles Saatchi for lunch at their favourite restaurant Scott's in Mayfair, London, on Sunday.

The presenter, 57, brightened up the rainy day and looked effortlessly chic in a long fuchsia coat and matching pink trousers as she chatted with Charles, 77, outside the swanky eatery.

Fashionista: Trinny Woodall dressed in all pink as she joined her partner Charles Saatchi for lunch at their favourite restaurant Scott's in Mayfair, London, on Sunday

She completed her look with a pair of chunky white trainers and wore a white leather bag across her body as she beamed at her partner and at one point tenderly reached up to caress his face.

The fashionista styled her brunette locks into a blow-dried hairdo and added a slick of radiant make-up.

Meanwhile, the founder of M&C Saatchi looked equally as stylish in a blue tailored trouser suit with a crisp white shirt underneath.

Close: The presenter, 57, brightened up the rainy day and looked effortlessly chic in a long fuchsia coat and matching pink trousers as she chatted with Charles outside the swanky eatery

The couple, who are regulars at the swanky seafood restaurant, were seen enjoying their meal at an outdoor table before standing at the front waiting for a taxi home.

Trinny and Saatchi have been dating since 2013, following the businessman's divorce from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

The couple were twice spotted enjoying meals at Scott's last month following the return of outdoor eating in England.

Style: She completed her look with a pair of chunky white trainers and wore a white leather bag across her body as she beamed at her partner

On April 13, the couple arrived at the eatery to enjoy al fresco dining with friends, before meeting one another again for lunch on April 24.

Last month, Trinny shared her worries after losing a clump of hair in the shower but didn't give a specific reason why.

Yet only recently, the star discussed her recent hair loss, admitting it was caused by an unfortunate combination of COVID-19 and stress.

The stylist contracted the potentially deadly virus three-months-ago and revealed she is now taking supplements and seeking the advice of a trichologist to understand the link between hair loss and COVID.

Glowing: The fashionista styled her brunette locks into a blow-dried hairdo and added a slick of radiant make-up

Suave: Meanwhile Elsewhere, the founder of M&C Saatchi looked equally as stylish in a blue tailored trouser suit with a crisp white shirt underneath

Speaking to her Instagram followers in a candid video, she said: 'I thought we would have a little Sunday evening chat and I've had a lovely day with Lyla but I want to chat about hair loss.

'Because since I did the Lives on Facebook, and I did two Lives. I did a Live with Greg Williams about hair transplants and the following week I did a really nice Live with Shabir at Victoria Health and with Josh Wood.

'And this was pre-my hair starting to fall out, so it's very fortuitous, it's very odd and not like tempting fate, the opposite of that really.'

Trinny, who was seen wearing a bright fuchsia shirt and dewy make-up, revealed her hair started falling out shortly after her discussions with the hair and health experts.

Out and about: The couple, who are regulars at the swanky seafood restaurant, were seen enjoying their meal at an outdoor table before standing at the front waiting for a taxi home

Couple: Trinny and Saatchi have been dating since 2013, following the businessman's divorce from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson

'About a week after I did both those Lives, I started to notice that whenever I did that...' she said as she ran her hand through her chestnut locks, pulling out a chunk of hair in the process.

Placing the strands in front of the camera, she continued: 'I started to get - I don't know if you can see here how much hair I'm getting each time I do that but like this.

'I'm just collecting my hair at the moment.'

She proceeded to show a transparent container full of hair as she tried to keep track of her hair loss.

Making the most of it: The couple were twice spotted enjoying meals at Scott's last month following the return of outdoor eating in England

'There will probably be more hair in this then there is on my head soon.

'I'm being sarcastic because I don't want to get stressed by it but I do want to have an action plan and I want to chat to you about it and I just thought, what always eases my mind is sharing.'

Trinny then revealed the names of several trichologists recommended to her as she asserted her hair loss is due to coronavirus and stress, not because of the menopause.

Trichology is the study of diseases or problems related to the hair and scalp and was founded in 1902.

According to Sky News, nearly a quarter of Covid sufferers will experience hair loss within six months of contracting the illness, with women at a higher risk.

Research into long-term symptoms in Wuhan, China, discovered that 359 out of 1,655 hospital patients who had the virus suffered from hair loss.
Former Bachelor Matty 'J' Johnson is now a father-of-two.

And on Sunday, the 33-year-old proved fatherhood isn't a bed of roses while sitting through bath time with 15-month-daughter, Marlie Mae.

Taking to Instagram, Matty shared a relatable parenting moment when Marlie kept screaming as he sat next to her.

Busy busy: Matty 'J' Johnson looked every inch the tired father as daughter Marlie-Mae screamed in the bath on Sunday

Matty could be seen wincing as Marlie screamed her lungs out while he was every inch the doting dad next to her.

'Not sure she quite grasps the concept of whispering,' he wrote, hilariously.

Matty, who shares his daughters Laura Byrne, shares a number of relatable parenting moments.

Earlier in the month, Laura, 35, discovered the hard way that kids will repeat everything.

Not so loud! 'Not sure she quite grasps the concept of whispering,' he wrote, hilariously

Posting to her Instagram she admitted that her daughter Marlie-Mae had started swearing after hearing her do the same.

Laura revealed Marlie Mae wouldn't stop saying 's**t', as she shared a video of the little girl continuously repeating the swear word.

She explained that she accidentally let the profanity slip while the family - including Laura's fiance Matthew 'Matty J' Johnson and the couple's three-month-old daughter Lola - were in the car driving to Byron Bay.

Bit tired: Matty J looked every inch the busy dad as he filmed himself wincing during bath time at the loud screams

Laura said they'd almost reached their destination when Matty's mum called them to tell them they'd left a suitcase in Brisbane.

'So when we were in the car and we realised our luggage was still in Brisbane, I said a word that you definitely shouldn't say in front of toddlers, and this is what we're now dealing with...' Laura said in a video posted to Instagram Stories.

She then shared a video of Marlie-Mae tottering around in a pair of adult shoes while repeatedly saying 's**t'.

New word: Laura revealed the 15-month-old wouldn't stop saying 's**t'

'What are you doing, girlfriend? What are you saying?' asked Laura from behind the camera.

As Marlie-Mae walked around the room, she continued to say 's**t', seemingly oblivious to the word's meaning.

'Christ... Give me strength,' Laura captioned the video.
Victoria Beckham is offering a concierge service to prospective customers of her clothing line, which features dresses for 1,700 and jackets for 1,800.

The fashion designer, 47, is stepping up customer service at her label and is giving fans the chance to try on her clothing at home with no obligation to buy.

Prospective buyers can pay 15 for a concierge service and get some of her designer wears sent straight to their house.

Service: Victoria Beckham is offering a concierge service to prospective customers of her clothing line

A 'Style Concierge' will also arrive to guide punters through the designs or they can wait outside while customers try on the designs at their own pace.

To make sure the service is environmentally friendly, Victoria promises that for every delivery that is booked, a tree will be planted.

The former Spice Girl announced the service on her website: 'Created with ease and comfort in mind, you can now try the latest Victoria Beckham pieces at home, before you purchase.

'The service brings the in-store shopping experience to you.

Concierge: The fashion designer, 47, is stepping up customer service at her label and is giving fans the chance to try on her clothing at home with no obligation to buy.

'Order multiple sizes, styles or take the opportunity to try something a little out of your comfort zone. We'll then return the pieces you don't want, and swiftly complete the payment for the pieces you do, all from the comfort of your own home.

'Simply select the pieces you want to try and they'll be delivered to via the Concierge Style team in a dedicated van. The service is carbon neutral too and for every appointment booked a tree is planted.

'On the day of your appointment, your pieces will arrive with a Style Concierge, via a dedicated van. Each piece will be steamed, hung in a garment bag and transported on a rail.

'Your Style Concierge can be on-hand for advice and alterations or wait outside for you to try the pieces at your leisure.

Charge: Prospective buyers can pay 15 for a concierge service and get some of her designer wears sent straight to their house

How it works: A 'Style Concierge' employee will also arrive to guide punters through the designs or they can wait outside while customers try on the designs at their own pace

'Pay for the pieces you'd like to purchase via card reader or a private SMS link and simply hand back any pieces you don't want to your Style Concierge, who will return them for you.'

The service is only available to Londoners where the brand's flagship store is based.

MailOnline has contacted a representative for Victoria Beckham for comment.

It comes after Victoria shared a sweet family snap alongside her eldest son Brooklyn via Instagram on Saturday.

'We miss you!' It comes after Victoria cuddled shirtless son Brooklyn in sweet snap taken by his fiancee Nicola Peltz, which she shared via Instagram on Saturday

The fashion mogul wrapped her arms around the aspiring photographer, 22, in a picture taken by his fiancee Nicola Peltz, 26, and admitted she missed him.

Lamenting how her son has been living in the US with Nicola during the pandemic, Victoria wrote in the caption: 'We miss you @brooklynbeckham and @nicolapeltz! (on photography duty!) kisses xx'.

Victoria and her husband David Beckham were living in Miami from January until April before they returned home to the UK with their three youngest children.

On Mother's Day, Victoria shared a heartwarming Mother's Day with all four kids Brooklyn, Romeo, 18, Cruz, 16, and Harper, nine.

The former Spice Girl gushed on Instagram: 'Mum's are so special we get celebrated twice! Happy Mother's Day to all of you celebrating today.'
I'm A Celebrity bosses need to decide within the next two weeks whether the show returns to Australia or remains in Wales for a second year.

The ITV series filmed in Gwrych Castle last year after the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible for the show to travel safely to Australia.

A source told MailOnline: 'ITV need to decide in the next two weeks whether they go to Australia or Wales this year. It's decision time!

Decision: I'm A Celebrity bosses need to decide within the next two weeks whether the show returns to Australia or remains in Wales for a second year

'Wales is pencilled as we know but clearly everyone wants to return to Australia.

'However if they choose Australia there is every chance it could be cancelled later down the line because of Covid If they choose Wales, it is guaranteed it will happen.'

The source added that if the show does remain in Wales for another series, ITV will have to fork out more cash than they would for Australia.

They added: 'It costs MORE to film in Wales than fly to Australia as it's a four month set build.

Change: The ITV series filmed in Gwrych Castle last year after the Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible for the show to travel safely to Australia (Ant and Dec pictured in Australia in 2019)

'That's why they have to make a decision now. Time is running out. And there is no show without them. So it's all pointing to being Wales. Oz is far too risky.'

An ITV spokesperson has since confirmed to MailOnline that bosses have 'plans in place' for both locations.

They said: 'No decisions have been made regarding the location for the new series and we have contingencies and plans in place for all possible options.'

A source told MailOnline: 'ITV need to decide in the next two weeks whether they go to Australia or Wales this year. It's decision time!' (pictured with 2020 winner Giovanna Fletcher)

It comes after reports the show's location remained up in the air after Australia warned international borders will remain closed indefinitely.

Earlier this week, Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said reopening the borders too soon would expose the country to another and more ruthless outbreak of Covid - with Finance Minister Simon Birmingham pushing the date to 2022.

Due to current regulations, travel to Australia is only permitted if travellers are 'exempt' or have been 'granted an individual exemption'.

According to The Mirror, 'talks are thought to be ongoing at ITV' while Gwrych Castle is said to 'have an agreement' to host I'm A Celebrity again this year.

Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly recently said that plans to return to Australia for I'm A Celebrity this year are 'still up in the air'.

Cost: The source added that if the show does remain in Wales for another series, ITV will have to fork out more cash than they would for Australia

The Prime Minister said Australians had come to accept local lockdowns as 'part of living with Covid-19' and that residents did not have 'an appetite' for change.

He warned that reopening the borders too soon would expose the country to another and more ruthless outbreak of Covid-19, like the ones experienced in the UK, India and Europe.

'We sit here as an island that's living like few countries in the world are at the moment,' he told The Sunday Telegraph.

'We have to be careful not to exchange that way of life for what everyone else has.'

Australians have been banned from leaving the country since March 2020 without special exemptions, and only citizens and permanent residents have been allowed to enter under some of the strictest Covid-19 border rules in the world.

But Mr Morrison denied adopting an 'elimination strategy' and said suppressing the virus remained the Government's primary focus.

'Australia's COVID suppression strategy has not changed to an 'elimination' strategy nor is 'zero cases' our goal,' he clarified on Sunday.

'There will always be cases as we return Australians home from overseas. As always, we will continue to listen to the medical advice and make decisions in the best health and economic interests of all Australians.'

Last year, the Government predicted international borders would be open in October 2021 after the adult population had been offered a vaccine.

They said: 'That's why they have to make a decision now. Time is running out. And there is no show without them. So it's all pointing to being Wales. Oz is far too risky'

However Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the date will be pushed back to some time in 2022 amid the slow vaccine rollout and uncertainty over the Covid-19 vaccine's ability to protect against mutating strains of the virus.

Earlier this month, hosts Ant and Dec said that plans to return to Australia for I'm A Celebrity this year are 'still up in the air'.

The Geordie duo, both 45, revealed producers are having conversations with Australia 'to see if they'll let us in' for the show which is set to air this autumn, although they added that they would 'happily go back to Wales' for the next series.

Speaking on Lorraine, Dec said of the upcoming series: 'It's still all up in the air, people are having conversations with Australia to see if they'll let us in.

'If not, we've got a lovely alternative to go back to Wales, which we had a great time there.

Unsure: It comes after hosts Ant and Dec said that plans to return to Australia for I'm A Celebrity this year are 'still up in the air'

'We had a really lovely series and the people of North Wales made us feel very welcome. We'd gladly go back there. But we'll see whether it's Oz or Wales, we're not quite sure yet.'

In March, ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall confirmed that bosses are hoping the show will return to the jungle as that is how the show is 'meant to be'.

Speaking as the network published its group annual results, she said: 'If we can go back to Australia  and this show is meant to be in Australia  then that's what we'll do. We have a very good plan if not, as we have already done it once (in the castle).'

Prior to the confirmation, hosts Ant and Dec sparked claims that this year's series will be returning to Wales.

The presenting duo said they'd be 'very happy' to remain in the UK for filming when the series returns later this year, joking they 'wouldn't miss the jet lag'.

'It's a waiting game': It comes after it was reported last month that I'm A Celebrity will not know if it's able to a return to its usual home in Australia for the upcoming 2021 series until September (Ant and Dec pictured at Gwyrch Castle in 2020)

Last year's I'm A Celebrity was relocated to Gwrych Castle in Wales after plans to record the usual show in Australia became impossible due to COVID.

Speaking to Digital Spy magazine, Ant said: 'If during coronavirus we have to stay put and do it in Wales again, I'd be very happy.

'We were very welcomed in Wales. There were cardboard cut-outs of me and Dec in the butcher's, and the local school did a tribute. We'd happily go back there. We'd miss the sunshine, mind.'

Dec added that he 'wouldn't be disappointed' if filming was once again taking place in Wales later this year, adding: 'The people in Wales were lovely...

'They made us feel very welcome. I had a lovely time. I will miss the sunshine, but I will not miss the jet lag of coming back from Australia.'
You wait years for a handsome duke  and then two come along at once.

As Bridgerton fans dry their tears over the news that Rege-Jean Page will no longer be appearing as the Duke of Hastings, they might be consoled by the advent of a new duke  Fabrice, Duc de Sauveterre.

Played by handsome French actor Assaad Bouab, this duke began romancing Lily James's character Linda Radlett in last night's episode of the BBC's adaptation of The Pursuit Of Love.

Bouab, 40, may be familiar already thanks to his role as a CIA agent in Netflix's Messiah and his starring role in the French drama Call My Agent.

As Bridgerton fans dry their tears over the news that Rege-Jean Page will no longer be appearing as the Duke of Hastings, they might be consoled by the advent of a new duke  Fabrice, Duc de Sauveterre (Assaad Bouab, pictured with Lily James as Linda Radlett)

He is already a heart-throb in France, where he is regularly named as one of the best looking men in the country.

Half-Moroccan, he was raised in Rabat and is married.

As with the Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton romancing Daphne Bridgerton, there are some decidedly racy scenes in episode two which may lead to tactical tea-making for some viewers.

The BBC production used an 'intimacy co-ordinator', Elle McAlpine, to choreograph the love scenes. She had previously worked on the BBC's costume drama Gentleman Jack.

Bouab, 40, is already a heart-throb in France, where he is regularly named as one of the best looking men in the country

Bouab said Miss McAlpine made things more simple for him. 'All the questions can be asked. There's no shame. And we ask, "OK, what can we do? How far we can go here etc?" So it makes the thing easy, in a way. It's funny.'

He added: 'It's electric. It's surprising, it's connecting, it's together. I really had great moments with Lily.'

Bouab said he found it 'very challenging' to be included in the BBC drama. He added: 'I was a bit nervous to be part of The Pursuit Of Love with all those great actors and actresses. I was shaking, I was nervous.

Played by handsome French actor Assaad Bouab, this duke began romancing Lily James's character Linda Radlett in last night's episode of the BBC's adaptation of The Pursuit Of Love

'And the challenge for me is like, "OK, let's try to be as much as I can self-confident and to try to be Fabrice." But it was not easy at all.'

He's happy, however, to be thought of as a heart-throb. "What can I say? I would be lying if I say, 'Oh, no!"' he said.

The Duc de Sauveterre is a character which author Nancy Mitford based on her love affair with Gaston Palewski.

A French politician, he was a close associate of General de Gaulle and an Anglophile who attended both Oxford University and the Sorbonne. Mitford dedicated The Pursuit Of Love, written in 1945, to him.

As with the Duke of Hastings in Bridgerton romancing Daphne Bridgerton, there are some decidedly racy scenes in episode two which may lead to tactical tea-making for some viewers

He was a notorious womaniser and had an affair with Mitford which started in the 1940s and continued on and off until her death in 1973  the writer lived in Paris and then Versailles in the post-war years.

During that time he married a French duchess and another woman and had a child out of wedlock.

The character of the duke also appears in her 1949 novel Love In A Cold Climate.

The final episode of The Pursuit Of Love  which is set between the two world wars and follows Miss James's character in search of the ideal husband  airs on BBC1 next Sunday night. The whole series is also available to watch on iPlayer.
She may not be able to return to the dancefloor quite yet.

But that didn't stop Katya Jones from strutting her stuff as she celebrated her 32nd birthday last week.

The Strictly Come Dancing pro looked a little worse for wear after a five-and-a-half hour lunch with BBC co-stars Janette Manrara and Luba Mushtuk.

Party! Katya Jones looked a little worse for wear after a five-and-a-half hour lunch with BBC co-stars Janette Manrara and Luba Mushtuk as she celebrated her 32nd birthday

Wearing a mini-dress and thigh-high black boots, the Russian dancer was spotted on the streets of Soho as she posed with a red handbag and a 'Dancing Queen' sign.

Katya, who has danced with celebrities such as presenter Mike Bushell, has in the past hit the headlines for her off-show antics.

In 2018 she was pictured kissing her dance partner, comedian Seann Walsh while she was still married to now ex-husband Neil Jones.

It comes after Katya paid tribute to former flame Neil on his 39th birthday with a series of 'embarrassing' throwbacks earlier this month.

Birthday girl: The Russian dancer was spotted on the streets of Soho as she posed with a red handbag and a 'Dancing Queen' sign

Outfit: Katya donned a denim mini dress and a pair of black thigh-high boots for her boozy birthday outing

The first shot saw Neil smile for the camera with friends as held a giant balloon which read 'Happy Birthday', while another picture saw the gang all pose on a boat as they partied.

Katya also posted some vintage images of her and Neil from their marriage, including a shot of them alongside two pals who appeared to be at a party.

The dancer captioned the post: 'Happy Birthday @mr_njonesofficial! Geez, you're getting old.

'But still full of life, energy and positivity! Keep that smile on your face and keep that hair ginger! Sorry I used to straighten it (swipe for some embarrassing phktos).

Pals: Katya looked in good spirits as she posed for a playful snap with her gal pals

Pose: Katya struck a playful pose as she placed her birthday cake on her head for a fun snap

'May it be a great year for you!! Lots of love. #strictlycomedancing #birthday #happybirthday (sic)'

Earlier this year, Katya spoke out about the demise of her seven-year marriage to Neil.

In an interview with Waggel, the star reflected on how she found her 30th birthday 'challenging' because her marriage to Neil was going 'downhill'.

Talking about the dark period, she said: 'In 2019 I turned 30, it was a challenging time. I didn't like where I was, it felt like I was in limbo actually.

Show: Katya and her fellow pros will be back on the dancefloor later this year for the next series of Strictly

Style: Fellow Strictly star Janette looked stylish in a beige coat and burgundy boots

'My relationship was going downhill. I didn't feel happy in my own company until May 2020, when I spent my birthday in lockdown.'

Katya also revealed she has used the time since her split from Neil to 'better myself' and hasn't dated since they broke up.

She said: 'I've come out of a marriage, not even a long-term relationship, but a marriage. Neil and I were together for 12-years, married for seven.'

The professional dancer said she hasn't even thought about dating because 'I've just been with this person for such a long time'.

Birthday boy: Katya paid tribute to ex-husband Neil Jones as she wished him well on his 39th birthday with a series of cheeky throwback photos earlier this month

Still close: The dancer captioned the post: 'Happy Birthday @mr_njonesofficial! Geez, you're getting old. But still full of life, energy and positivity!' (pictured in 2019)

Katya added she is 'happy on my own' but does have days where she wants to 'sit down and binge Netflix with someone else'.

The Strictly star also ruled out the prospect of meeting someone on a dating app because she is an 'old romantic'.

While Katya has remained single since the breakdown of her marriage, Neil had a turbulent brief romance with Columbian dancer Luisa Eusse.

The couple split in January after their relationship was marred by claims Luisa had cheated on Neil and was also just using him for a visa into the country.

Katya admitted she got 'jealous' when their dog Crumble, whom they share custody with, spent time with Luisa, but says she is sure if the situation arises again when one of them is in a relationship, it will be 'absolutely fine'.
Working alongside your parents always has the potential to be a little awkward.

But spare a thought for Martha West whose latest job saw her filming on the set of The Pursuit Of Love, where her father is thought to have grown close to Lily James.

Married actor Dominic West, 51, and his 32-year-old co-star were famously pictured looking cosy on a visit to Rome after filming wrapped on the drama last year. The pair enjoyed an amorous al fresco lunch and rode around the city on a scooter together.

Miss West, 23, made her appearance in last nights instalment of the BBC series playing her fathers fictional daughter and Miss Jamess sister. It is her first acting role since 2009. She makes a brief appearance on the show, with her character Jassy running away from home and moving to Beverly Hills to marry a man she has just met.

Martha West, pictured, whose latest job saw her filming on the set of The Pursuit Of Love, where her father is thought to have grown close to Lily James

Miss West, 23, made her appearance in last nights instalment of the BBC series playing her fathers fictional daughter and Miss Jamess sister. (Martha West and dad Dominic West at the 2017 GQ Men of the Year Party)

Miss Wests mother is aristocrat Polly Astor, with whom West was in a relationship before rekindling his romance with and later marrying Catherine Fitzgerald in 2010.

West has four other children with Miss Fitzgerald - Dora, 15, Senan, 13, Francis, 12, and Christabel, seven.

The Pursuit of Love follows Miss James character Linda Radlett in search of the ideal husband. West plays her father in the programme.

The three-part series is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Nancy Mitford and has been written and directed by Emily Mortimer.

It is set in Europe between the two World Wars and follows the adventures and misadventures of Linda and Fanny as they hunt for the ideal husband.

The Pursuit of Love concludes on BBC1 on Sunday at 9pm. All three episodes are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
Filming for the 2021 season of The Block is well under way in Melbourne.

And as the Nine renovation show prepares to hit screens later this year, a handful of industry professionals have been allowed to view the near-completed properties - and they predict the homes have the potential to break price records.

According to realestate.com.au, there are three reasons why the experts believe this year's houses will fetch higher prices than in previous years.

Firstly, they are located in a quiet cul-de-sac, meaning the buyers will most likely be families; secondly, there is more land on offer for each property; and thirdly, all of the homes have a 'pretty cool feature' that has never been seen on The Block before.

The biggest Block ever! As the new season of The Block prepares to hit screens later this year, a handful of industry professionals have been allowed to view the near-completed properties - and they predict the homes have the potential to break price records. Pictured: host Scott Cam

Buyer's advocate Emily Wallace, one of the experts who visited the homes, told the website each reno was 'very different' and tailored for the post-Covid market.

'There's plenty of buyers missing out on properties in this sector at the moment, so that demand will likely still be there when The Block houses go under the hammer later in the year,' Ms Wallace said.

The homes are located in Bronte Court in Hampton, an affluent suburb 14km from Melbourne's CBD which has been compared to Ramsay Street - the cosy neighbourhood setting of soap opera Neighbours.

They are said to be just two weeks away from completion.

Factors: There are three reasons why the experts believe this year's houses will fetch higher prices than in previous years. Firstly, they are located in a quiet cul-de-sac, meaning the buyers will most likely be families; secondly, there is more land on offer for each property; and thirdly, all of the homes have a 'pretty cool feature' that has never been seen on The Block before. Pictured: Bronte Court in Melbourne's Hampton, where The Block is currently being filmed

In the past, The Block has renovated homes in a former hotel, an office building and a run-down warehouse.

But the crucial difference this year is that the properties are being targeted specifically at families, rather than couples or investors, meaning they are likely to fetch higher prices on auction day.

'In previous seasons, there has been a mix of targeted buyers with layouts designed for wealthy downsizing couples, young couples or families,' Ms Wallace said. 'But this year each design has been targeted at families.

'Family homes in Bayside, in particular Hampton, are hot property and The Block houses tick a lot of boxes.'

Beachside: The homes are located in Hampton (pictured), an affluent suburb 14km from Melbourne's CBD which has been compared to Ramsay Street - the cosy neighbourhood setting of soap opera Neighbours

She added that every reno this year has a 'pretty cool feature with a twist' that has never been seen on The Block before, and takes the family homes 'to a new level'.

While the 2021 cast has yet to be announced, this year is rumoured to be a 'fans vs. favourites' season, including 2019 team Mitch Edwards and Mark McKie and 2017 contestants Ronnie and Georgia Caceres.

Love Island twins Luke and Josh Packham seemingly confirmed their involvement in March when they were pictured filming a promo in Melbourne alongside hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft.




Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Sunday called on government offices to consider the provision of various incentives to encourage more people to roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated.







The prime minister made the request at a coronavirus countermeasures meeting held in Seoul.







"A survey of those aged 65 or older who received the (AstraZeneca) vaccine showed 89.5 percent of preventive effect and 100 percent prevention of death," he said during the meeting, adding that most of the side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations were mild fever and muscle pain.







He asked the people to trust the government and get vaccinated, without being swayed by unfounded claims about vaccines.







"This is the way to protect yourselves, your neighbors and the country," he said.







He also asked related offices to speed up efforts to sign bilateral agreements with major countries to exempt vaccinated people from two-week quarantine in each country. (Yonhap)


Leroy Bull was about 12 the first time he dowsed. He and his cousins were at a family reunion in Watertown, NY, and his grandfather, a dairy farmer and water dowser, took them all outside, handed them willow sticks, and told them to find the underground water vein. Mine snapped down so fast it surprised me, the 77-year-old Stamford resident recalls.

That was just the beginning of a lifelong fascination and side career in dowsing. A former federal food inspector, Bull says he has found about 3,200 wells on four different continents so far. He says his accuracy rate is about 95 percent. The rare misses, he says, have to do with rock formations that can get in the way of an accurate reading.

Dowsing details Dowsers typically use one of the following: y-rods (forked stick, divining rod), which are usually 12-24 inches long and made of wood, metal or plastic; l-rods (angle rod, swing rod, pointing tool), usually made from wire; bobbers (wand, spring rod), any flexible rod, branch or wire; or pendulums, anything you can hang on a string or chain. Asking the right question is critical to dowsing success, dowsers say. It may take a series of questions to get all the information a dowser needs, including asking, for instance, about the depth of a particular vein of water. Dowsers believe it's important to ask permission before starting to dowse. "Can I? May I? Should I?" Bull has tweaked the "should" question to "Is this the appropriate time?" "Shoulding is not a nice thing to do to people," he says. See More Collapse

Most people associate dowsing with finding water, often using sticks made from willow or witch hazel that point downward or pendulums that swing over a water vein. But thats not all dowsing is said to discover. Dinosaur bones, bodies lost in lakes, lost pets, missing stones from engagement rings, holes in pipes creating underground leaks  Bull has been called to find all this and more. My wife and I have been flown to Japan 12 times for me to find time capsules buried by grade-school kids, he says, noting his biochemist-biophysicist wife also dowses. In 12 trips Ive found 13 time capsules. Bull also does remote dowsing, standing over a property map with a pendulum to discover water veins, for instance.

The equipment is just a means to the end, he says. A knife, fork and spoon are used to propel food to your face. The equipment is just to show you youve found the energy.

While Bull and other dowsers  the American Society of Dowsers, with about 2,000 members, has chapters across the U.S.  point to their successes as proof that dowsing works, the scientific community remains skeptical of this tradition first uncovered in cave paintings in Africa dating back 6,000-8,000 years. An article by the U.S. Geological Survey, a part of the federal Department of the Interior, notes that water exists under so much of the earths surface that it would be hard not to find water. To locate ground water accurately, however, as to depth, quantity, and quality, a number of techniques must be used, the report notes.

Bull remains nonplussed. You and I have been living in a primordial soup of frequencies, he says. All you do with your head is separate it out by recognizing the frequency of what you want to find.

Dowsers, he says, use both sides of their brain in ways that other people may not. You and I feel our environment in our medulla oblongata [early brain], he says. If you can send information to your cortex, then you know what you feel from your environment. Now your conscious mind must tell your arms when to turn your tool. If you cant send the information you feel from your environment from your medulla to your cortex, you cant do it.

At this point in his career, Bull, who is one of about 100 dowsers in Connecticut, doesnt necessarily need a rod or pendulum to sense what is missing. His daughter, a medical physicist at Sloan Kettering, uses her hand to sense water and other objects. When her palm turns warm, she walks that way, he says.

You see in your minds eye the answer, he continues. You can ask the pertinent question and see which way the pendulum is swinging. He tells a story of standing on property where people were building a house and wanted to know where to dig the well. All of the land was going uphill away from me. I could see it all at the same time. I saw little gold lines running through the grass. I realized they were underground water veins. In the upper-right-hand corner of the lot was a place where they cross, and in my minds eye it was going beep beep beep. I quote saw that intuitively without using the stick. It becomes automatic, like power steering.

Asking the right question is critical to dowsing success, Bull says.  Where is the best location for a water well for these people for what they want to do? The rod will swing when you walk over the place that answers that question. You need to be concentrating on the target you want. If you think of your new Subaru, youre going to miss.

This article originally appeared in Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for the newsletter to get the latest and greatest content from Connecticut Magazine delivered right to your inbox. On Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.
FAGRADALSFJALL VOLCANO, Iceland (AP)  Pandemic or no pandemic, the world will never stand still. That's perhaps no clearer than in Iceland, where a volcano has awoken from a slumber that has lasted 6,000 years, give or take a year or two.

The glow from the bubbling hot lava spewing out of the Fagradalsfjall volcano can be seen from the outskirts of Icelands capital, Reykjavik, 32 kilometers (20 miles) away. For others around the world, there's always the live feed.

But this is the Reykjanes Peninsulas first eruption of any volcano in around 800 years, and nothing quite matches the exhilaration of bearing witness to Planet Earth's raw power up close and personal. Fagradalsfjall itself is made up of the Icelandic words for beautiful valley mountain.

Miguel Angel Morenatti, a Seville-based freelance photographer for The Associated Press, loves Iceland and brought forward his trip to the North Atlantic island nation when he heard of the eruption on March 19.

As a landscape photographer, Iceland is a paradise, he said.

Getting to the peak is not for everyone. It's an arduous climb, taking two to three hours, but for Morenatti it's been an experience that his five senses have never known. Morenatti hopes the photos he took capture some of this wonder of nature.

When you finish the climb, you contemplate in amazement what happens there, he said. An impressive image, a Dante-esque sound, and a smell of gases that reaches your throat.

With international travel slowly opening up, more and more people will be able to make the same journey to marvel at the volcanic show. And with summer looming, daylight will stretch into the small hours, so there won't be such a hurry to make that arduous trek up.

Still, with the coronavirus pandemic still raging in many parts of the world, Iceland has strict rules on who can enter the country, which has a population of around 400,000. Getting fully vaccinated is key.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database unhinged and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations.

We cant indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country, Richer tweeted.

Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.

The former president's statement came as Republican Senate President Karen Fann has demanded the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors come to the Senate to answer questions raised by the private auditors she has hired. The Senate took possession of 2.1 million ballots and election equipment last month for what was supposed to be a three-week hand recount of the presidential race won by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Instead, the auditors have moved as a snail's pace and had to shut down Thursday after counting about 500,000 ballots. They plan to resume counting in a week, after high school graduation ceremonies planned for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, which they rented for the recount.

Trump's statement said, in part, that the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms.

Richer and the board say that statement is just plain wrong. In recent days, both he and the board have begun aggressively pushing back at what they see as continuing falsehoods from Republicans who question Trump's loss.

Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations, Richer tweeted Thursday. I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didnt run. Enough.

The board, led by Republican Chairman Jack Sellers, have been aggressively using Twitter in recent days to push back, firing off a series of messages slamming the private company doing the audit. The board plans to hold a public hearing Monday to further to refute lies and lay out facts about these issues.

I know you all have grown weary of lies and half-truths six months after 2020 General Elections, Sellers said Friday in announcing Monday's meeting.

Fann sent Sellers a letter on Wednesday requesting that county officials publicly answer questions at the Senate on Tuesday, but she stopped short of her threat to issue subpoenas.

Fann repeated the Senates demand for access to administrative passwords for vote-counting machines and internet routers. County officials say they have turned over all the passwords they have and have refused to give up the routers, saying it would compromise sensitive data, including classified law enforcement information held by the sheriffs office.

Fann proposed allowing its contractor to view data from the routers at county facilities under supervision of the sheriffs office. The Senate has no interest in viewing or taking possession of any information that is unrelated to the administration of the 2020 general election, she wrote.

The county says the passwords the Senate is seeking are maintained by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which makes the vote-counting machines and leases them to the county. The company said in a statement Thursday that it cooperates with auditors certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and did so for two prior audits of 2020 results in Maricopa County, but wont work with Cyber Ninjas.

Fann has hired Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm, to oversee an unprecedented, partisan review of the 2020 election in Arizonas largest county. They are conducting a hand recount of all 2.1 million ballots and looking into baseless conspiracy theories suggesting there were problems with the election, which have grown popular with supporters of Trump.

___

Associated Press reporter Jonathan J. Cooper contributed.
The scene is about to change inside Connecticut stores this week when masks will no longer be required for those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

While the state has been among the nations leaders for its high vaccination rate, some Connecticut communities are still lagging behind. And the latest state data shows only one person in a line of five people at a grocery store in some of Connecticuts larger cities will be fully vaccinated.

With major retailers in these communities like Walmart, Costco and Trader Joes prepared to shed their mask mandates on Wednesday, it remains unclear how or if businesses will monitor who is vaccinated and whether young children who are not eligible for the vaccine will be required to wear face coverings.

Dr. David Banach, head of infection prevention at UConn Health, said lifting mask mandates for those fully vaccinated is grounded in good scientific principal.

The challenge is the implementation ... ensuring that the guidance is followed, is gonna be challenging, Banach said.

Unlike Israel, often touted by Gov. Ned Lamont as an early success story for COVID-19 vaccination, the U.S. has largely held off issuing vaccine passports that would allow people to prove they have been fully vaccinated.

New York has started a voluntary digital pass system that works through a phone app where users can show their vaccine or recent negative test status. But the Lamont administration has said it has no plans for an official vaccine passport system in Connecticut.

The lifting of the mask mandate on Wednesday coincides with the states plan to relax the remaining COVID restrictions. Lamont said fully vaccinated people should continue to wear a mask in certain crowded settings indoors. Business owners can also opt to still require masks, Lamont said.

Stew Leonards, the grocery retailer with stores in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington, as well as New York and New Jersey, is among the Connecticut businesses that plans to keep its mask requirement for now.

The grocery chain has posted a survey on Twitter, asking customers how they would feel if the company lifted its mask mandate. The poll has generated about 200 responses so far with 45 percent saying they are comfortable shopping without the mask mandate, while 29 percent said they are not comfortable and 23 percent said they are not ready to go maskless yet, but maybe in the near future.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Public Health said Friday there are plans to incorporate the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into Connecticuts COVID guidance and orders.

We anticipate that guidance and orders will be generally consistent with what the CDC released (Thursday), with a few local modifications that will be announced shortly, said Maura Fitzgerald, the agencys COVID-19 spokesperson. Under the CDC rules, fully vaccinated people will still need to wear a mask on public transit, health care settings and in other congregate areas, Fitzgerald said.

Fully vaccinated people now comprise around 45 percent of the states 3.6 million population, according to data released by the governors office last Thursday. People are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 two weeks after their second shot of either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or two weeks after their shot of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

But that high vaccination rate is undercut by lagging immunization coverage in some of the states largest cities.

A review of town-by-town vaccination data updated each week shows that in Hartford, less than 26 percent of the citys 122,000 residents are fully vaccinated. In Bridgeport, Connecticuts largest city at 144,000, less than 27 percent of residents are fully vaccinated.

That means that in a line of five Bridgeport residents at a grocery store, theres a good chance only one will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The data shows suburban towns surrounding the states major cities often have significantly higher vaccination rates. Simsbury, a town of about 25,000 northwest of Hartford, has almost 54 percent of residents fully vaccinated.

In Danbury, a little more than 34 percent of the citys roughly 85,000 residents are fully vaccinated. In New Haven, the states second largest city at around 130,000 residents, only about 35 percent are vaccinated. In Torrington the number is just over 40 percent. In Norwalk, a little less than 42 percent are fully vaccinated. In Stamford, about 43 percent of residents are vaccinated.

Some communities are exceeding the state average for full vaccination.

Greenwich and Middletown each have nearly 47 percent of their residents fully vaccinated. At that rate, stores in those towns could see about two out of five people who would be fully vaccinated.

Connecticuts Lower Connecticut River Valley region includes communities with the states highest vaccination rates. Lyme leads the state with nearly 65 percent of its residents fully vaccinated. Across the river, Old Saybrook and Essex each have more than 62 percent of their residents fully vaccinated.

In those towns, three out of five residents in a grocery store line would likely be vaccinated, the states data shows.

Some infectious disease experts pointed out that many people may also have some natural immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19.

How that overlaps with vaccination, its hard to know, but probably the overall people who have seen COVID before have some degree of antibody responses, said Dr. Luke Davis, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.

Davis said hes concerned about the communities where vaccination rates are low.

I kind of feel like COVIDs going to find its way, he said. Its a respiratory virus, its transmitted quite easily under certain conditions ... I have a feeling its going to find its way eventually.

Banach pointed out that many of the states underserved communities that now have lower vaccination rates have also seen higher rates of COVID cases throughout the pandemic.

Banach said people with compromised immune systems may not get the full protection from the vaccine. For those people, masking will likely remain important, he said. The CDC also recommends people with compromised immune systems continue to take protective measures.

The doctors said the goal going forward should be to focus on increasing vaccination in communities where there is a disparity.

Its not just a population-level immunity, Davis said. Its immunity in all communities ... disease anywhere is disease everywhere.
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South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden / Yonhap



By Nam Hyun-woo



Vaccine sharing, chip investments and the North Korea issue are projected to top the agenda for this week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden.



Officials in both countries' presidential offices are already dropping hints at a bilateral vaccine partnership, and this move is anticipated to be backed by South Korean chipmakers' substantial investments in the U.S. Building from cooperation in these areas, the leaders of the two nations are expected to explore measures to encourage North Korea to return to talks.



According to Cheong Wa Dae, Moon will have a summit with Biden at the White House on May 21 (U.S. time). This summit will be Moon's first in-person meeting with Biden since the latter took office on Jan. 20, and Moon will be the second foreign leader to have an in-person summit with the U.S. president, following Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.



The two countries' COVID-19 vaccine partnership is anticipated to be the top priority. Recently there has also been speculation that Korea could become a vaccine production hub in Asia, with investments from foreign pharmaceutical companies.



"The U.S. has the core technology and raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, while South Korea's biologics production capacity is the second-largest in the world," presidential chief of staff for policy Lee Ho-seung said during a radio appearance last week. "When those two aspects are combined, South Korea could be a global hub for vaccine production, so (the summit) could be an opportunity to realize this vision."



U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has also dropped hints about vaccine talks happening during the summit. During her meeting with U.S. Congressman Andy Kim last week, Harris said she will meet South Korean government officials and discuss the issue of sharing vaccines with Seoul ahead of Moon's visit to Washington.



While the U.S. is sitting on an abundance of vaccine doses, South Korea has been struggling to secure enough doses to meet the government's goal of achieving herd immunity by November.









Against this backdrop, the two countries are reportedly preparing for a memorandum of understanding between their respective disease control authorities to enable a so-called vaccine swap, under which the U.S. would provide its surplus vaccines to South Korea during the first half of this year, and Seoul would return the favor after producing or importing enough vaccines during the second half of this year.





A cargo plane unloads 438,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at Incheon International Airport, May 12. Courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Rama Rao also thanked Indigo Airlines for transporting the concentrators and called on corporates to step up and contribute to the battle against Coronavirus. (Representational Image/PTI)

Hyderabad: The Telangana government was taking every step required and possible to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, minister K.T. Rama Rao said here on Sunday. He thanked the Central government for increasing the supply of oxygen, remdesivir injections and vaccines to the state that would help further in treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Rama Rao was speaking at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad after receiving 200 oxygen concentrators donated to the state by Greenko, a renewable energy company. The concentrators arrived on a special flight from China and were handed over to the government in the presence of Rama Rao, and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar.

He said the state was ensuring continuous oxygen supply to avoid any deaths due to the oxygen supply crisis. Led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the state government was working with complete coordination with medical institutions, he added.

Rama Rao also thanked Indigo Airlines for transporting the concentrators and called on corporates to step up and contribute to the battle against Coronavirus.

Speaking on the occasion, Somesh Kumar said 200 oxygen concentrators would help provide 2 metric tonnes of oxygen.
He also informed the Chief Minister that the required amount of oxygen for Telangana state would be supplied from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, Angul from Odisha and from Durgapur in West Bengal.  Twitter

Hyderabad: The Centre has decided to increase the quota of oxygen, remdesivir injections and supply of Covid-19 vaccines to Telangana state. Union railway minister Piyush Goyal informed this over the phone to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Saturday.

He told the Chief Minister that the supply of remdesivir injections would be increased from 5,500 to 10,500 from Monday. The Centre also decided to supply an additional 200 tonnes of oxygen following the demand for more supply from the state government, the Union minister said.

He also informed the Chief Minister that the required amount of oxygen for Telangana state would be supplied from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, Angul from Odisha and from Durgapur in West Bengal.

Goyal also requested the Chief Minister to coordinate the supplies. He responded positively to the demand made by Chandrashekar Rao to increase the vaccination quota. He asked Rao to give priority to the second dose of vaccines. The Chief Minister told the Union minister that in Telangana state priority was given to the second dose.

Goyal explained to the Chief Minster that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had instructed him to supply required amounts of oxygen, Remdesivir, and other vaccines to the state to curtail the Coronavirus spread and against the backdrop of the High Courts verdict that the state government should offer treatment to all patients which had increased the burden on the state.
Bengaluru: Gale-force winds, heavy rainfall and high tidal waves swept the coastal belt of Kerala, Karnataka and Goa as Cyclone Tauktae hurtled northwards towards Gujarat on Sunday, leaving four people dead, damaging hundreds of houses, uprooting electricity poles and trees and forcing evacuation.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Tauktae which has taken the form of a "very severe cyclonic storm" is likely to intensify further during the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening.

An estimated 1.5 lakh people are being shifted from low-lying coastal areas in Gujarat while 54 teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed in the state.

Maharashtra too was bracing for impact as the Met department predicted heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in north Konkan, Mumbai, Thane and Palghar and extremely heavy rainfall in Raigad on Monday.

Four deaths have been reported from Karnataka's Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga districts in cyclone-related incidents.

The water level in many dams across Kerala showed a rising trend after heavy rains in the catchment areas, prompting authorities to sound an alert.

Gusty winds and heavy rains started lashing several parts of Goa since Sunday morning.

Power supply in a majority of areas of Goa was disrupted as hundreds of electric poles were uprooted due to the high-speed winds, state Power Minister Nilesh Cabral told reporters.

"Many high tension 33 KV feeders are down due to the falling of trees. Even the 220 KV lines bringing power to Goa from neighbouring Maharashtra have been damaged," he said.

The electricity department deployed its full force for the restoration work, but it was getting hampered due to the strong winds, he said.

The state Fire and Emergency Services control room was flooded with hundreds of calls from locals about the falling of trees and blocked roads, its director Ashok Menon said.

"Our force has been working since last night to clear the roads and remove trees which have fallen on the power lines," Menon said.

In Karnataka, over 70 villages in seven districts including Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu and Hassan have been affected by the cyclone, the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority officials said.

The highest rainfall of 385 mm was recorded at Nada Station in Kundapura taluk of Udupi district, which was the worst affected, and 15 stations recorded more than 200 mm of rainfall in the district.

The rainfall was accompanied by strong winds with speed reaching up to 90 km/per along.

According to the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD, by May 18 the wind speed is expected to increase to 150-160 km per hour, gusting up to 175 km per hour.

Officials said nearly a dozen relief camps are functioning in the state. There has been damage to 112 houses, 139 electricity poles and other infrastructure in coastal areas.

ICG says all but 19 fishing boats have returned to ports in Maharashtra, Gujarat

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on Sunday said that all fishing boats, except 18 in Maharashtra and one in Gujarat, have reached their harbours or taken shelter at nearby ports. "Pre-emptive measures in full swing for Maharashtra & Gujarat. Barring 18 boats from Maharashtra and one boat from Gujarat, all boats have either returned harbour or taken shelter in nearby ports," the ICG said on Twitter.

Cyclone Tauktae: Karnataka CM orders shifting of people from low-lying areas

With Cyclone Tauktae wreaking havoc in the coastal districts of the state, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday asked district in-charge Ministers and Deputy Commissioners to visit affected areas and carry out rescue and relief works. Yediyurappa on Sunday called Ministers incharge of coastal districts and Deputy Commissioners there and took stock of the situation there, his office said in a statement. The Chief Minister has directed the officials to call the Ministers concerned or him directly if in need of any emergency assistance from the state government, it added. District administrations have been ordered to shift people from low lying areas, he had said, eight relief camps have been set up in three districts that can accommodate about 10,000 people where food and other basic amenities will be made available.

Cyclone Tauktae: Mumbai civic body moves 580 COVID-19 patients

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation shifted 580 patients from Covid care centres in the city as a precautionary measure after India Meteorological Department warned that Cyclone Tauktae is likely to pass close to the city, a BMC official said on Sunday. Officials are also contemplating a possible shut down of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link as a precautionary measure because of IMD's announcement that the cyclone may pass close to the city on Sunday.
This drug is not used widely, hence production is not as per the present demand. We are procuring it along with other alternative drugs like posaconazole and fluconazole to treat patients.  AFP

Hyderabad: The state government has decided that all black fungus cases can be referred for multidisciplinary treatment at the Government ENT Hospital.

The ENT Hospital is the nodal centre for treating cases of black fungus or mucormycosis, according to Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Ramesh Reddy. Patients who are Covid-19 positive and developed black fungus will be treated at Gandhi Hospital, said the official.

The government also pointed out the drug liposomal amphotericin B used in treating black fungus was in short supply and steps had been taken to procure sufficient stocks.

Dr Ramesh Reddy said, "This drug is not used widely, hence production is not as per the present demand. We are procuring it along with other alternative drugs like posaconazole and fluconazole to treat patients. People must not panic but approach hospitals on time for treatment."

The DME stated that all private hospitals had been asked to keep oxygen flow meters in sterile conditions to minimise infections. The nodal centre will work for the benefit of patients and also help doctors to coordinate with black fungus affected patients.
SpiceJet had approached the DGCA for permission since the rest for the pilots was not in a suitable environment as mandated by Indias Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR). (Representational Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Pilots flying a SpiceJet flight had no option but to spend 21 hours resting in the aircraft in the Croatian Capital Zagreb after authorities there refused to allow them to get off the plane as they did not have a RTPCR negative certificate. The airline blamed Croatian authorities for changing orders mid-air and insisting on RTPCR negative tests after initially saying it was not required. The aircraft was apparently on a charter flight SG-9035 on May 11 on the New Delhi-Tbilisi (Georgia)-Zagreb ( Croatia ) sector with two sets of Cockpit crew . Aviation regulator DGCA has admonished the airline for the incident, a DGCA official said on condition of anonymity. SpiceJet had approached the DGCA for permission since the rest for the pilots was not in a suitable environment as mandated by Indias Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR).

When contacted, a SpiceJet spokesperson said, Prior to departure from India, e-mail confirmation was received from Croatian authorities that RTPCR is not required for Crew. On arrival in Zagreb, Crew was told that orders have changed. Due to sudden and massive increase in COVID cases in India, they have now been instructed that RTPCR is required. This came as a surprise.

The SpiceJet Spokesperson added, Since the Crew could not fly back immediately due FDTL restrictions, bedding, food and water was provided in the aircraft. The Aircraft was cleaned. DGCA permission was obtained. Crew rested in the aircraft for 21 hours (as mandated by regulation). They then flew back to Delhi. All crew confirmed that they were comfortable and happy with the arrangements.

SpiceJet had also decided that the return flight to Delhi would be operated without passengers or cargo and had obtained its crew consent.
Once in a week and in between patients, all components of humidifiers must be soaked in antiseptic solution for 30 minutes, rinsed with clean water and dried in air.  Representational image/MedicineNet

Hyderabad: Excessive use of steroids, antibiotics and improper infection control measures in patients on oxygen therapy are some of the causes for mucormycosis, or black fungus, in Covid-19 recovered patients, according to experts.

During the second wave of the pandemic, there has been a surge in Covid 19 recovered patients suffering from mucormycosis which is attributed to improper use of steroids and inappropriate management of patients on oxygen therapy.

In treating Covid-19 patients there is abuse, misuse and overuse of antibiotics and steroids. This is leading to invasive fungal sinusitis. The sugar levels of patients are not being monitored and they are coming back with this deadly infection, said Dr C. Shekar Singh, ENT specialist.

The rising cases led to the Director of Public Health Dr Srinivasa Rao sending out an urgent note to all the hospitals treating Covid-19 patients to judiciously use steroids, antifungals and antibiotics.

The health department also noted that the humidifiers which are used for oxygen therapy must be operated with clean and sterile water only.

A senior doctor from the Government ENT Hospital said, "Due to shortage of staff, lack of trained nurses and insufficient doctors in all departments, there is no proper monitoring of infection control measures in hospitals. In the districts and even on the outskirts of Hyderabad, we are worried that handling of equipment is not in sterile condition. It is suspected that tap water and mineral water is being used which is also another cause."

The handling of equipment and its sterilisation is important but due to the high load of patients with low oxygen levels, the oxygen therapy machines are always full. For this reason, the protocols of disinfection are not being followed.

Dr Srinivasa Rao asked all hospitals to use sterilised or distilled water, check water levels twice daily, and wash humidifiers with soap water and dry before reuse.

They also stated that once in a week and in between patients, all components of humidifiers must be soaked in antiseptic solution for 30 minutes, rinsed with clean water and dried in air.
The photo on the right shows the swollen face of a clothing shop employee who was allegedly hit by the wife of Belgian Ambassador to Korea Peter Lescouhier, and the left photo shows a blurred view of the scene of the incident. Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



The wife of Belgian Ambassador to Korea Peter Lescouhier is likely to avoid punishment over her alleged assault of a clothing shop employee, because she has decided to maintain her diplomatic immunity, according to police, Sunday.



Officers of Yongsan Police Station said they sent an official query to the embassy asking whether the wife of Ambassador Lescouhier, named in multiple media reports as Xiang Xueqiu, intends to maintain her diplomatic immunity, which allows diplomats and their family members to avoid arrest, detention or indictment in a host country.



The embassy sent a letter informing police of her intention to maintain diplomatic immunity, Yongsan police confirmed on Friday.



As the decision makes it impossible for her to be tried here, police said that they will close the case instead of sending it to the prosecution.



Police have been looking into the case since the incident occurred on April 9 when she visited a clothing shop in Seoul. As she left, the worker came after her to ask if she paid for the apparel she was wearing at the moment, because it was the same item the shop was selling.



Xiang then came back into the store and pulled the employee's arm and hit her in the head. She also slapped another worker in the face who tried to stop her, according to surveillance camera footage.



The case received nationwide attention through media reports, and the ambassador's wife faced mounting criticism for her assault. The Belgian Embassy in Seoul released a statement on April 22 saying, "The Ambassador of Belgium sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife which happened on April 9 and wants to apologize on her behalf."



Xiang did not immediately respond to the police request for questioning, with the embassy saying she had been hospitalized for a stroke. On May 6, she appeared at the Yongsan Police Station and was questioned.


SVIMS Director Dr B. Vengamma has expressed concerns that nearly 90-95 per cent of 575-600 Covid-19 patients currently being treated at the hospital are all oxygen-dependent.  PTI

TIRUPATI: In the wake of curbs imposed by the Tamil Nadu government on supply of oxygen to other states to meet acute shortage in the state, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences in Tirupati stares at a grim situation. Hitherto, it was getting assured supply from TN.

Sri Padmavathi Medical College for Women and Hospital attached to SVIMS in Tirupati, which has been designated as a Covid-19 hospital, has 145 ICU, 328 oxygen beds and 49 ventilators for Covid care. For the supply of oxygen to Covid patients, the hospital uses one of the two 11KL capacity oxygen tankers located on its premises. Apart from this, it also has 220 bulk oxygen cylinders in stock.

SVIMS has an oxygen-supply arrangement with TN-based Airwater company, which used to supply nearly 24 KL oxygen every week in three trips in the pre-Covid days. As fresh Coronavirus infections continued to surge, the supply was hiked and SVIMS was receiving nearly 13 KL of oxygen every day in two trips  8KL and 5KL  for the past few weeks from the same vendor.

The vendor has, however, reportedly taken a U-turn now, expressing his inability to honour the old arrangement in view of the latest curbs imposed by TN government. The unfortunate development sent the SVIMS management into a huddle and they have taken up the issue to the notice of Chittoor District Collector M. Hari Narayanan as well as the State Covid-19 Command Control.

Confirming the development with media, SVIMS Director Dr B. Vengamma expressed concerns that nearly 90-95 per cent of 575-600 Covid-19 patients currently being treated at the hospital were all oxygen-dependent. The vendor stated that he is able to supply only 8KL of oxygen per day due to the new curbs. But we are in need of 12-13 KL of oxygen every day as 90-95 per cent of the patients are depending on oxygen, she said.

Maintaining that they have taken the issue to the notice of Collector and Covid Command Control, the SVIMS Director expressed hope that AP government would come to the rescue of the hospital and arrange adequate quantities of oxygen supply.

Meanwhile, Collector Hari Narayanan informed that there was no shortage of oxygen in SVIMS and other government Covid hospitals. People need not panic by listening to rumours. There has been a real-time monitoring on supply, use and requirement of oxygen at the State Covid Hospital attached to SVIMS, SVRRGGH and the District hospital. With the support of police, oxygen is being supplied to all hospitals through green channels from refilling centres, he added.
The Group of Ministers will discuss the tightening of measures at a meeting today. The CM will also conduct a review to decide on the measures. (Photo: DC/Narayana Rao)

VIJAYAWADA: The chances of total lockdown are likely in AP with the surge in daily Covid-19 positive cases remaining above 20,000 and in view of more than 20% positivity rate in the second wave.

The state government had imposed a curfew for 18 hours per day from 12 noon to 6 am till May 18 towards containment of Covid-19, but the situation continues to worsen in the state.

The Group of Ministers would take up the issue of the need for complete lockdown at a meeting on Monday. The Chief Minister will also conduct a review on the day to decide on the tightening of the curfew norms, either by reducing relaxation hours or imposing full lockdown to contain the surge of Covid-19.

According to sources, earlier the Coronavirus infections were found to be higher in urban areas, but currently, the Covid-19 is swiftly spreading to rural areas. It would be a daunting task for the government to contain the pandemic in rural areas as the medical infrastructure is poor and inadequate.

The sources said that the government is considering imposing a full lockdown, allowing only medical, health, essential commodities and emergency services. Curfew may begin at 9 am or 10 am, reducing the hours of relaxation.

As many as 24,171 new Coronavirus cases were registered on Sunday, which is all-time record since the outbreak of Covid-19 in AP 14 months ago. Around 20,000 to 22,000 new Corona infections are being registered daily for the past few days, which has become a big worry for the government. The AP government imposed the curfew to control the spread of Coronavirus but the surge in cases is continuing every day, as huge crowds are mingling without following any Covid protocols such as wearing face masks or maintaining physical distance, during the relaxation window from 6 am to 12 noon.

The swift increase in Coronavirus cases is worryingly accompanied by a constant positivity rate of over 20 percent. The apex medical research body Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommends a lockdown is compulsory if the positivity rate exceeds 10 percent. In 11 districts in AP, the average positivity rate remains above 20 percent, with Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and Anantapur districts facing more alarming conditions.

Further, adding to government worries are reports of the ongoing house-to-house fever survey. Alarmingly, 39,000 people have been found to be suffering from fever so far during the survey. Barring two to three districts, the remaining districts are facing pathetic conditions as new infections continue to surge.
Anandaiah said he is not expecting any trouble from authorities since he is using natural ingredients. He has distributed his wonder medicine to nearly 50,000 persons. (Representational Photo: PTI)

NELLORE: Krishnapatnam, a small and quiet village located close to Sea Coast and Krishnapatnam Port, is abuzz with activity for the last one month with hundreds of people thronging the habitation for locally made medicines for Covid-19 prevention and cure.

Though they are not aware of the composition of the medicines and their authenticity, distressed kin of hapless Covid patients have been rushing to the village for the medicine hoping that it will save the victims life.

A resident and self-made ayurveda doctor Bonigi Anandaiah is preparing the medicines and distributing them free of cost. He claims that he uses locally available leaves besides honey, pepper, green camphor, nutmeg (Jajikaya), black cumin, and cinnamon to produce the medicine.

A railway contractor with roots tracing to Mallam village near Naidupeta, and now living in Chennai, Duvvuru Rama Raghava Reddy said his village is almost free from the deadly virus after his relatives and friends distributed the medicine to the residents, including some Covid patients.

He said they have provided 40 kgs of honey and ayurveda ingredients worth Rs one lakh to help Anandaiah prepare the medicine and serve more people.

A resident of Mallam and contract worker in APSPDCL, B. Srikanth said his 70-year-old grandmother, who was on oxygen till Wednesday, is back home and doing well without oxygen support after they applied some eye drops given by Anandaiah.

A construction engineer, B. Mohan Rao Chaitanya of Nellore, said the medicine saved a couple living next door. While the woman was discharged in two days, the saturation level of her husband increased to 98 from 70 two days back.

Meanwhile, Anandaiah said he is not expecting any trouble from authorities since he is using natural ingredients. He has distributed his wonder medicine to nearly 50,000 persons.

Speaking to this newspaper, Anandiah said he is preparing four kinds of ayurveda medicines and eyedrops to help Covid patients to recover.

He gave code names such as P (meant for clearing infection in lungs), F (to clear poisonous substances from the body), L (to activate the liver) and K (for critical cases) apart from the eyedrops.

He said that the eyedrops will activate the brain which is affected by poor oxygen supply and reduces the patients dependence on oxygen. An ardent devotee of Guravaiah Swamy and a disciple of Avadhoota Venkaiah Swamy, Anandaiah attributed his knowledge to his guru Dr Vivekananda, an expert in ayurveda and Siddha medicine, living near Chennai.

One of his associates said a large number of government employees and even some peoples representatives have availed of the medicine.

When contacted, district collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu said he is deputing a team of medical officers, including doctors from Ayush department, to examine the medicine and submit a report.
VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing oxygen allotment, enabling AP to resolve the oxygen crisis. In a letter to the PM, he also sought an allocation of 910 MT of oxygen to AP to save the lives of Corona patients in these critical times.

The Chief Minister wrote, I place on record my gratitude for supporting Andhra Pradesh in fighting the COVID Second wave by increasing the allotment of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) from 480 MT as on 24th April to 590 MT on 6th May and also allotting 7 ISO containers. I also profusely express my thanks for running a special train from Reliance plant, Jamnagar, yesterday with 80 MT of LMO to AP. I wish to bring to your kind notice that the AP Government had taken action to add 30,000 more ICU and oxygen beds in view of Covid pandemic. The present level of caseload and hospital admissions itself requires 910 MT of LMO every day.

The letter further said: It is to bring to your notice that due to reduced storage at RINL, Visakhapatnam, we are able to draw daily production of 100 MT LMO only in place of 170 MT allotted.The CM urged that similarly, the government is facing problems in getting the allocated quantity from Tamil Nadu, which is creating serious emergency situations in various big hospitals in Rayalaseema region. He informed the PM that on May 10, the LMO supplies from Chennai and Karnataka were delayed by a few hours, which led to the unfortunate incident of 11 deaths due to lack of oxygen in Tirupati.

Pointing out the dire situation in Rayalaseema region, and its dependence on the supplies from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the CM lamented that APs request to DPIIT to increase allocations from the two states was not considered.

The Chief Minister stated, With such a situation in Rayalaseema region, the Oxygen Express from Jamnagar, Reliance plant carrying 80 MT of LMO served us as a life saviour, in its true sense. It will stabilise the LMO supplies to the Rayalaseema region hospitals for the next 2 days. We are trying our best to lift the stocks from Odisha using the ISO Containers, but we are not able to meet the demand from Rayalaseema region of AP.

The CM pleaded that in order to meet the LMO demand from Rayalaseema region the Centre should continue the Oxygen Express from Jamnagar every day with at least 80 MT of LMO. He said this would help stabilise the situation in Rayalaseema in view of increasing caseload.

The Chief Minister appealed to the PM thus, I request you to direct the concerned authorities to continue the Oxygen Express from Jamnagar Reliance plant till the caseload comes to manageable levels and also request allocation of 910 MT of LMO to our State to tide over the crisis.
The MP and his supporters hoped to get bail after submitting the medical report in the court by the CID, but the tests took a long time and by the evening he was shifted to the district prison at Guntur. (Photo: Facebook @K. Raghu Rama Krishna Raju)

VIJAYAWADA: The AP High Court on Sunday directed the CID to shift YSR Congress rebel MP K. Raghu Ramakrishna Raju to a private hospital (Ramesh Hospitals) for treatment following a CID special court order. The MP is currently lodged in the Guntur district jail.

The CID special court had directed the CID to shift the MP to Ramesh Hospitals for treatment after the completion of medical tests at the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Guntur. He was shifted to the jail after completion of the tests that held amidst high security. Reports said a team of specialists at GGH conducted 15 to 18 tests on him.

The MP and his supporters expected to secure bail after submission of the medical report in the High Court by the CID, but the tests took a long time and, by evening, he was shifted to the district prison at Guntur.

Sources said the injuries on the feet of the MP were not due to police third degree action but due to an illness Raju is suffering from.

His lawyers objected to shifting the MP to the. Advocate Adinarayana said that the court clearly ordered to shift MP to Ramesh Hospitals for treatment after completion of medical tests at GGH but the CID did not honour the orders and instead shifted him to the jail with an ulterior motive.

The lawyers then informed the High Court about the issue of shifting Raju to the jail and skipping treatment at Ramesh Hospitals, thus violating the court orders. The High Court judges read the report submitted by the GGH medical committee on the health of the MP.

The report clearly stated there were no injuries on the body of the MP and added that he was in perfect health. The High Court then ordered the CID to implement the orders of CID court and shift him to Ramesh Hospitals for treatment.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) P. Sudhakar Reddy said that the High Court had issued orders at 6.40 pm on Saturday, rejecting examination by private doctors and the presence of CRPF security and family members during the tests.

He informed the court that he himself had arranged the GGH medical team. He said that the CID court ordered to send Raju to Ramesh Hospitals at 8.30 pm, which meant its orders came after the orders of High Court. He said that he took the issue to the notice of the CID court. The AAG informed the High Court that the CID court would amend the judgment once the High Court order copy was submitted. He stated that the CID court ordered to upload the judgment copy of the High Court online and said it would be done by the night.

The AAG objected to sending Raju to Ramesh Hospitals, stating it was sending him to Telugu Desam office. He said that it was not good to send Raju there as the report was submitted by GGH doctors after a careful examination. The High Court ordered him to file an affidavit in this regard.
Senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari took his colleagues by surprise at the partys working committee meeting last week when he referred to Ahmed Patels passing and suggested that someone be appointed to take his place. Mr Tiwari pointed out that as Congress president Sonia Gandhis political secretary, Patel played a pivotal role in bridging the gap between her office and the party at large. Stating that this communication had broken down after Patels death, Mr Tiwari requested that the Congress president fill this spot with the appointment of a senior party leader who has administrative experience and a good working relationship with party workers. This left everyone wondering if Mr Tiwari was pitching for former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh.

At a time when the country is witnessing its worst health crisis, it would be expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modis Cabinet colleagues would have enough on their plate these days. And yet Union ministers are busy writing articles or getting well-wishers to pen newspaper columns either attacking the Opposition or trying to burnish Mr Modis image which has been severely dented by his governments poor handling of the pandemic. For instance, urban development minister Hardeep Puri obviously has plenty of time to respond extensively on Twitter to critics about the Centres decision to continue with the Central Vista redevelopment project, which includes the construction of a palatial new home for the Prime Minister, during the pandemic. Mr Puri was beside himself with anger that canards were being spread about the PMs dream project though he was unable to explain the rush to declare the construction as an essential service at a time when people are battling for their lives due to lack of oxygen, hospital beds and medicine. Then, again a furious Mr Puri posted lengthy tweets in response to Congress leader Jairam Rameshs post mocking the decision to use Mr Modis photograph on vaccine certificates. Mr Puris colleagues are similarly engaged but none has cared to empathise with those suffering or offered condolences to families who have lost their loved ones.

Pragya Thakur, the controversial Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, finally put in an appearance in the Madhya Pradesh capital last week after a gap of over two months. Ms Thakur ensured that her arrival was duly noted by the local media as photographers and reporters were assembled to witness and record the distribution of face masks and steamers to needy persons by her. She subsequently disappeared after the photo-op. Pragya Thakur has acquired a reputation for going missing on the pretext of undergoing medical treatment each time the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Madhya Pradesh government are in trouble. Thakur was nowhere to be seen during the first wave of the pandemic last year and it was no different this time which prompted a Congress leader to announce a reward for the missing MP. Her absence has been particularly glaring during the second surge of coronavirus infections as Bhopal has been among the worst affected cities in the state.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchans donation of Rs. 2 crores to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee for a covid centre at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj has set the proverbial cat among the pigeons. With the DSGMC heading into elections, Bachchans donation has become a hot-button issue with the committees former presidents Paramjit Singh Sarna and Manjit Singh G.K. coming down heavily on the current head Manjinder Singh Sirsa for accepting money from the actor. According to them, Bachchan was closely associated with Rajiv Gandhi and was suspected of supporting the anti-Sikh riots which followed Indira Gandhis assassination in 1984. Bachchans money, they maintained, is tainted and should not have been accepted by the DSGMC. They demanded that Sirsa be removed immediately. Several other members of the Sikh community also joined this chorus with an eye on the DSGMC elections.

The plight of Bharatiya Janata Party legislators in Uttar Pradesh today is similar to that of their counterparts in Punjab some months ago. Like Punjab MLAs and MPs, who went into hiding when faced with the wrath of agitating farmers, legislators belonging to the saffron party in UP are now at the receiving end as they are unable to respond to desperate requests from their constituents for hospital beds and oxygen. The health infrastructure in the state has proved to be woefully inadequate as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged both cities and the rural areas, taking a heavy toll on peoples lives. Predictably, the BJP MLAs are a worried lot. The Assembly elections are due early next year and, if peoples anger persists, they will have a tough time getting re-elected. Meanwhile, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanaths office is busy putting a gloss on the horror stories being reported on a daily basis, pointing to an article on the WHO website praising the state governments efforts in micro planning, house visits and concurrent monitoring of the coronavirus cases, ensuring that nobody missed access to health care services.
The sanction to such a super-spreader event, just because it catered to what the BJP perceives to be its vote bank, was decidedly against the interests of the vast number of Hindus, and Indians as a whole. (PTI)

Although the BJP likes to appropriate our ancient wisdoms, it is becoming increasingly clear that the government does not follow their injunctions.

Oriental despotism was the label that misinformed and biased historians often dismissively used for politics in ancient India. The truth is that political science was a sophisticated discipline then. The most important texts on this subject are, of course, Kautilyas Arthashastra and the Shanti Parva passage in the Mahabharata. Apart from these, there are important sections in the Ramayana, the Dharmashastras, Thiruvalluvars Thirukkural, and later during the Gupta period, the Nitisara (Essence of Politics) of Kamandaka, and the Nitivakyamrita of the Jain scholar, Somadeva Suri. Kautilya mentions that there were at least four schools of political science that predated his work, and names as many as 13 authors prior to him that contributed to them.

Ancient political theory focuses extensively on the responsibilities of a ruler. Matsya Nyaya, where big fish eat the small at will, was a prescription for anarchy. The institution of kingship was essential to prevent this state of anarchy. The philosophical sanction for a ruler was thus quite akin to Lockes Social Contract, wherein people themselves, in their own self-interest, concur in one of them assuming the power of a ruler. In todays context, such a ruler, elected democratically, is the Prime Minister.

All our ancient texts categorically state that the ruler is duty bound to work for the welfare of the people, and discuss the qualities needed for this purpose. The Arthashastra says: The kings pious vow is readiness in action, his sacrifice, the discharge of his duty. In the happiness of his subjects lies the kings happiness, in the welfare of his subjects, yogakshema, his welfare. The kings good is not that which pleases him, but that which pleases his subjects. The Shanti Parva admits of no double standards. Let the king first discipline himself. Only then must he discipline his subordinates and subjects, for that is the proper order of discipline. The king who tries to discipline his subjects without first disciplining himself becomes an object of ridicule in not being able to see his own defects.

These explicit injunctions have been much too often breached before too. But, in the current context, we see just how flagrantly they were violated in the preparation for and handling of the pandemics vicious second wave. The intention here is not to politicise a tragedy, but to understand the gulf between what the BJP professes to believe in, and what those in power actually do.

Firstly, it is clear that the PM did not discipline himself first while instructing his subjects to do so. There is little point in coining the slogan, do gaz ki doori, mask hai zaroori, when this was the first rule thrown to the winds in the dozens of political rallies addressed by him.

True, other political parties were equally guilty. But there is an important difference. They were not the ruling party at the centre, nor did they coin this catchy slogan. According to the Mahabharata, the leader must serve by example, or else he will become an object of ridicule.

The permission given to hold the shahi snans in the Kumbh Mela is a classic example of doing what pleases oneself but is not for the good of the people. The sanction to such a super-spreader event, just because it catered to what the BJP perceives to be its vote bank, was decidedly against the interests of the vast number of Hindus, and Indians as a whole. Lakhs of people in such mask-less proximity made a mockery of the public posturing to the contrary of the leader.

We have also seen how readiness in action, was missing. A spectacular lack of preparation in anticipation of the inevitability of a second wave was evident. There was a delay of eight months in inviting bids for oxygen plants after India declared the pandemic to be a disaster on March 14, 2020. And, out of the 162 oxygen plants planned for, only 33, as per the health ministry, have been installed. The position of oxygen supply has somewhat improved now, but when the crisis was fully upon us, there was gross lack of coordination too in the distribution of available oxygen. The number of hospital beds and ventilators remained stagnant in the mistaken hubris that we have conquered the virus.

Our vaccine policy is in shambles. The Centre announced that those in the 18-44 age group could be vaccinated from May 1, even when they knew that vaccines are just not available for this purpose. Earlier, millions of vaccines were exported or gifted abroad, and no planned steps were taken to timely boost production or increase stocks. The current policy, where each state is independently floating global tenders, often from the same producer, is anarchic, impractical and a blatant abdication of responsibility by the Centre. Indeed, there is a verifiable attempt to pass the buck to the states when the responsibility in such matters is clearly that of the central government. Under the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA) 2005, the primary responsibility for prevention of disaster, or the mitigation or preparedness and capacity building for dealing with threatening disaster situations, is that of the Centre.

Our ancient seers were repositories of much wisdom. The BJP swears by them, and invokes them with smug proprietorship, but the practices they adopt tell an entirely different story. Chanakya must be wondering how those of his descendants, who proudly  even exclusively  claim him as their own, have drifted so far away from his precepts.
Israeli forces' flares light up the sky in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 16, 2021. (Photo: AFP)

Gaza City: The UN Security Council was due to meet Sunday after Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed eight children and demolished a building housing media offices, sparking international outcry.

Israeli forces pummeled the densely populated Gaza Strip on Saturday, the sixth day of bombardments on the Palestinian enclave controlled by Islamist group Hamas, which fired back rocket barrages.

One strike on Gaza killed 10 members of an extended family.

The children "didn't carry weapons, they didn't fire rockets", said Mohammad al-Hadidi, one of the grieving fathers.

At least 159 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed since the cross-border fire began last week.

The UN Security Council was due to meet Sunday to discuss the bloodiest conflict between the Jewish state and Palestinian militants since 2014.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "dismayed" by civilian casualties in Gaza and "deeply disturbed" by Israel's strike on the tower housing news bureaus, a spokesperson said Saturday.

Guterres "reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs", he said.

Israel ally Washington, which blocked a UNSC meeting scheduled for Friday, has been criticised for not doing enough to stem the bloodshed.

US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr was to hold talks Sunday with Israeli leaders before meeting Palestinian officials to seek a "sustainable calm", the State Department said.

US President Joe Biden again underscored Israel's right to defend itself in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden also expressed his "grave concern" over the violence as well as for the safety of journalists.

In a televised statement late Saturday, Netanyahu thanked Biden for "unequivocal support".

Netanyahu told the US that Israel did its utmost to safeguard civilians in its Gaza bombing campaign.

"The proof is that towers containing terror sites are cleared of uninvolved people prior to being attacked," he said.

'Without prior warning'

Mohammed al-Hadidi said he had lost most of his family in a strike on a three-storey building in the Shati refugee camp that killed 10 relatives -- two mothers and their four children each. Israel's army claimed the building was used by senior Hamas officials.

"They are striking our children -- children -- without prior warning," said the devastated father, whose five-month-old baby was also wounded in the explosion.

Palestinian militants responded with volleys of rockets into Israel, killing a man on the outskirts of commercial capital Tel Aviv, police and medics said.

Balls of flame and a mushroom cloud of debris shot into the sky Saturday afternoon as Israel's air force flattened the 13-floor Gaza building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, after giving a warning to evacuate.

"It is clear that those who are waging this war do not only want to spread destruction and death in Gaza, but also to silence media that are witnessing, documenting and reporting the truth," Al Jazeera's Jerusalem bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, told AFP.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said he was "shocked and horrified" by the attack.

Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer had told him he had just an hour to evacuate the building.

Israeli defence officials said the building housed not only news bureaus but offices of Hamas militants.

AFP Chair Fabrice Fries said the agency "stands in solidarity with all the media whose offices were destroyed in Gaza" and called on all parties "to respect the media's freedom to report on events".

Israel continued to pound Gaza through the night, damaging another building of around a dozen floors and killing at least two. Around 30 others were wounded in western Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Biden also spoke to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in their first call since the US president took office.

Growing toll

Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza since Monday have killed 147 people including 41 children, and wounded another 1,100.

Palestinian armed groups have fired at least 2,300 rockets at Israel, killing 10 people, including a child and a soldier, and wounding over 560 Israelis. Israeli air defences have intercepted many rockets.

Palestinians on Saturday marked the Nakba, the "catastrophe" that saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during Israel's creation in 1947-1948.

Two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces Saturday in the West Bank, the day after some of the worst clashes in recent years in the territory left 11 Palestinians dead.

A Palestinian security source said the fighting was the "most intense" since the second intifada, or uprising, that began in 2000.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged protests across the world, including in Paris, where police used water cannon against them.

Al-Aqsa

Israel is also trying to contain Jewish-Arab violence within its borders.

Major clashes broke out at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound -- Islam's third-holist site -- on May 7 following a crackdown against protests over planned Israeli expulsions of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem.

At a protest in the district Saturday, an AFP journalist saw Israeli forces beating a woman inside a car and shoving a young female protester to the ground.

Some 10,000 Gazans have fled homes near the Israeli border for fear of a ground offensive, the UN said.

"They are sheltering in schools, mosques and other places during a global Covid-19 pandemic with limited access to water, food, hygiene and health services," UN humanitarian official Lynn Hastings said.

Mixed Jewish-Arab towns within Israel have also seen mob violence, with more than 750 people arrested this week, police said.

Israel's northern borders with Lebanon and Syria, with which it remains technically at war, were also tense.

Three rockets were launched from Syria Friday, while Israel's army said it fired "warning shots" towards potential infiltrators from Lebanon, killing a Lebanese protester.
Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party speaks during a plenary session of the National Assembly in this April 20 photo. Yong, who gave birth to a boy on May 8, proposed a bill to allow children under 24 months old to enter the National Assembly's meeting rooms and plenary chamber. Yonhap



By Kwon Mee-yoo



The National Assembly's plenary chamber and meeting rooms are currently "no kids zones." But what if a lawmaker has to take care of a newborn child while doing their job? The Assembly has again begun to discuss this issue after Rep. Yong Hye-in of the minor opposition Basic Income Party gave birth on May 8.



She said that she would propose a bill to revise the National Assembly Act, so that members of the National Assembly may be allowed to bring in their infants  under 24 months of age who need attention  to the plenary chamber and other meeting rooms.



Currently, under Article 151, no person other than National Assembly members, the prime minister and people necessary for examining bills can have access to the meeting place.



"Babies in the National Assembly will let more people recognize that pregnancy, childbirth and childcare are not private but social issues. Now is the right time to pass this bill," the 30-year-old lawmaker said. "Babies cry and whine. Babies entering the National Assembly, a place considered solemn, will let the public know that babies can go anywhere with their parents."



Conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon joined in the proposal with Yong, saying that the revision will sound an alarm in Korea's Assembly, which is behind the times.



"The National Assembly should reflect public sentiment, but it often clings to the rules and customs of the past. I will cooperate regardless of party differences to protect the nation and the people," Kim said in a statement.



Yong is the third woman to deliver a child during a legislative term, following former Rep. Jang Ha-na in 2015 and Rep. Shin Bo-ra in 2018.



Shin was the first female lawmaker to take maternity leave in Korea, but she had to report her absence to the speaker for each plenary session, as maternity leave is not guaranteed for legislators, who do not fall into the category of a "worker" according to the Labor Standards Act.



Shin proposed bills to allow childcare leave for lawmakers and to allow them to bring babies into the plenary chamber, but the bills were scrapped automatically when the 20th Assembly expired.



Female lawmakers on the rise



The move for changes comes with more young women making their way into the Assembly. The number of female lawmakers was in the single digits for each Assembly throughout the 20th century, but the number increased significantly in the 2000s  from 21 women in the 16th National Assembly to 57 in the current 21st National Assembly  due partially to parties' own quotas on young people and women affecting their nominations for the general elections.



Many countries allow babies to enter their parliaments. Australian Senator Larissa Waters breastfed her baby in the parliament in 2017, which marked the first such instance in the nation's history. "I had hoped to not only be able to feed my baby, but also to send a message to young women that they belong in the parliament," Waters was quoted as saying.



U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth cast a vote in the Senate with her newborn baby in 2018.



If the bill is passed, Yong's baby will be the first baby to enter the Assembly, as a part of the waves of changes towards increasing diversity in Korea's Assembly.



In 2020, a dog named Joy entered the Assembly for the first time in Korea's history. Joy is the guide dog of visually impaired pianist-turned-lawmaker Kim Ye-ji of the PPP. At that time, the Assembly lifted its ban on animals to allow guide dogs inside.


Any registered voter, regardless of party, can vote on ballot questions in a primary election.
CORRECTS DATE TO MAY 15 A view of a 11-story building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City is seen moments after Israeli warplanes demolished it, Saturday, May 15, 2021. The airstrike Saturday came roughly an hour after the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate the building. There was no immediate explanation for why the building was targeted. The building housed The Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments.
Lowman S. Henry: Pa. can restore liberty with 'yes' votes on May 18
Shehnaaz Wins Hearts With Her Latest Clip; Rubina Makes Natural Lip Tint With Cherries Post Recovery

Social medias sweetheart Shehnaaz Gill recently turned producer for her brother Shehbaz Badeshas latest music video, titled Little Star. Also starring Giorgia Andriani, the track is peppy and successfully managed to impress fans as well as Shehnaazs BFF Sidharth Shukla. Well, last night Shehnaaz took to her social media handle to share a short video with Little Star playing in the background while she raised the temperature with her killer looks. Just like her other videos on Instagram, this one also won many hearts and left fans wanting more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shehnaaz Gill (@shehnaazgill)

Bigg Boss 14 winner Rubina Dilaik, on the other hand, decided to begin her morning today by enjoying fresh cherries. The actress took to her official account yesterday to announce that she has recovered 70% after testing positive for novel coronavirus and thanked her fans for their love and blessings. Well, in her latest post Rubina looks gorgeous as she devours cherries and also turns it into her very own natural lip tint! Now thats the real definition of Cherry Lips. Take a look:

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rubina Dilaik (@rubinadilaik)

Rubina was quarantined for 17 days at her Shimla home on 1st May after she tested positive for novel coronavirus. Meanwhile, her husband Abhinav Shukla is in Cape Town shooting for Rohit Shettys stunt reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi 11.
Shreyas Talpade Reveals Nagesh Kukunoor Asked Him To Cancel His Wedding To Shoot For Iqbal: 'I Didnt Know What To Do'

Shreyas Talpade's debut Iqbal is one of the most memorable films in his now very long filmography. His critically acclaimed debut comes with an equally interesting back story about how he landed the part. Shreyas in a recent interview revealed he had decided to quit his acting career on TV in favour of marrying his then-girlfriend and now wife Deepti Talpade and after they had set a date for their wedding day, Iqbal happened.

The actor had auditioned for a small role in the film but ended by bagging the lead after auditioning. He was told to clear his schedule for three months as the shoot would commence in Hyderabad. Shreyas reveals that when he asked for a day off on New Years Eve to get married he was asked to cancel his wedding by filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shreyas Talpade (@shreyastalpade27)

On bagging Iqbal right before his wedding Shreyas told Times Of India, I was very happy till, on December 28, Nagesh told me we would be shooting in Hyderabad from the day after. I was shocked and asked if I could get a day off on December 31. Nagesh was very disappointed, thinking I was asking for leave to party the night away till I told him I was getting married. He was livid and asked me to cancel the wedding, saying his Iqbal couldnt be married. Here I was, a middle-class guy whose wedding cards had gone out, being told to cancel it; I didnt know what to do. It was after a lot of convincing, and assuring him that I would keep the wedding under wraps, that he let me have a day off.

Shreyas and Deepti later arrived in Hyderabad on January 1, where the actor commenced shooting for his debut and got a fever on his wedding night. The actor also revealed that he kept denying his marital status in the press and at the premiere of Iqbal his wife attended as Nageshs sister. The films producer Subhash Ghai even refused to believe that Shreyas was married after learning the truth as he totally convinced everyone with his performance that he was 18.

Well, all did turn out well for Shreyas and Deepti in the end and we couldnt be happier that the actor did not give up acting as he had initially planned.
State-news

Mississippi Supreme Court strikes down medical marijuana ballot initiative

Caleb Bedillion / BY CALEB BEDILLION Daily Journal Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph questions attorneys presenting arguments over a lawsuit that challenges the state's initiative process and seeks to overturn a medical marijuana initiative that voters approved in November 2020, Wednesday, April 14, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Rogelio V. Solis I AP Mississippi Supreme Court Associate Justices T. Kenneth Griffis, left, Dawn Beam, center and Josiah Dennis Coleman, listen to attorneys presenting arguments, Wednesday, over a lawsuit that challenges the states initiative process and seeks to overturn a medical marijuana initiative that voters approved in November 2020.

TUPELO  In a ruling that will cast a long shadow on state politics, the Mississippi Supreme Court has invalidated a popular medical marijuana proposal as well as the ability of voters to directly amend the state constitution.

In a 6-3 decision released Friday afternoon, the court majority found that the Initiative 65 medical cannabis referendum was improperly placed on the 2020 ballot. The court said that the Constitutional provisions for a voter referendum require that signatures be gathered equally from five congressional districts. The state only has four.

The state constitution contains a ballot-initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress, Justice Josiah Coleman wrote for the majority. To work in todays reality, it will need amending  something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court.

Joining Coleman in the majority were Justices Michael Randolph, Leslie King, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis.

Dissenting from the majority view were Justices Robert Chamberlin, James Kitchens and James Maxwell.

In a dissenting opinion, Chamberlin wrote that the majority ruling does not avoid absurdity, rather, it invites it.

Friday's ruling came after Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler challenged the validity of Initiative 65's certification for the ballot, filing suit just days before voters approved a medical marijuana program.

Mississippi now has no legal provision for medial marijuana. The program widely approved by voters required that legal medical pot be available no later than August.

In 2020, about 73% of voters supported Initiative 65 over an alternative program proposed by the Legislature. This, even as prominent political leaders rallied against Initiative 65.

As required by Initiative 65, the Mississippi State Department of Health has been writing the regulations and provisions needed to operate the program.

During a question and answer session streamed online Friday, State Health Office Dr. Thomas Dobbs said MSDH will "discontinue any further work on that project."

He added that "if the Legislature wants to do something in statute, we stand ready to assist with all we've learned."

Without a valid referendum process, current efforts to put early voting, Medicaid expansion and the old state flag on the ballot are now cut short.

Medical marijuana supporters dismayed

Advocates for medical marijuana decried the court's ruling.

"The Mississippi Supreme Court just overturned the will of the people of Mississippi," said Ken Newburger, executive director for the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association. "Patients will now continue the suffering that so many Mississippians voted to end. The Court ignored existing case law and prior decisions. Their reasoning ignores the intent of the constitution and takes away peoples constitutional right. Its a sad day for Mississippi when the Supreme Court communicates to a vast majority of the voters that their vote doesnt matter."

Dr. Matt Wesson, a Tupelo-based ophthalmologist, was a strong supporter of Initiative 65. He told the Daily Journal on Friday that he was "very disappointed" in the Court's ruling because it "goes against the will of the voters."

A politically broad coalition had supporter Initiative 65, including libertarian conservatives, some more business-oriented Republicans and most of the state's Democratic voters.

On Friday, for example, the Republican mayor of Ocean Springs criticized the state's high court for its ruling.

"What happens in Jackson is that apparently they don't care what our voices are and they are going to do whatever it is that they want to do," Mayor Shea Dobbs said.

Legislature could take action

The Mississippi Legislature failed in this year's session to write a statutory program that could take effect if the court struck down Initiative 65. The state Senate approved such legislation and repeatedly tried to revive the effort. The House declined to take up any such legislation and approve it.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said in a statement to the Daily Journal that he anticipates reviving medical marijuana legislation again in the 2022 session.

"The Senate passed backstop legislation which we anticipate revisiting in January," Hosemann said.

Lawmakers can't take up any medical pot legislation until next year's session  unless Gov. Tate Reeves calls a special session this year to consider the matter. The governor's office declined to answer questions from the Daily Journal about whether Reeves might call a special session.

Instead, a spokesperson for Reeves provided the following statement:

"Like most Mississippians, Governor Reeves is interested and intrigued by the Supreme Courts decision on the recent ballot initiative. He and his team are currently digesting the Courts 58 page Opinion and will make further comment once that analysis is complete."

A spokesperson for Secretary of State Michael Watson said the agency is still reviewing the high courts ruling.

Congressional districts at heart of court ruling

Mississippi's constitutional provision for a voter-initiated referendum were written at a time when the state had five congressional districts  and the state Supreme Court decided the Constitution as written only allows for a valid referendum when there are five congressional districts.

The state has had only four congressional districts for 20 years, and the most recent round of congressional apportionment will leave the state with four districts for at least the next decade.

Under a 1992 constitutional amendment, Mississippi voters can force a referendum onto the ballot by gathering signatures equal to 12% of the total number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election. However, the constitution also requires that no more than 20% of the signatures can come from any single congressional district. That requires five districts in order to reach the total signatures needed.

Since the state lost a congressional district, referendum organizers have gathered signatures from the former five congressional districts, a strategy the state attorney general's office had deemed sufficient to must constitutional muster.

The state Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the Constitution requires signatures be collected from the actual congressional districts currently in use at any given time.

The court minority disagreed, and thought that use of the old five districts was legitimate, while also arguing that the clear intent of the constitution is to allow voter-initiated referendums.
Yoo Yeon-chul, executive director of the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit Preparatory Office, poses at his office in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



By Kang Seung-woo



Calls for accelerated action concerning the climate crisis, fueled by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, have been growing steadily. Korea's hosting of an international summit on the environment later this month is expected to serve as an opportunity to show the nation's commitment to and efforts toward containing climate change in accordance with those of the international community, according to the executive director of the event.



The 2021 P4G Seoul Summit is the first-ever multilateral environmental summit to be hosted by the Korean government. It is scheduled to take place on May 30 and 31, and is themed, "Inclusive Green Recovery towards Carbon Neutrality." The upcoming event was originally planned for June 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



P4G, which stands for "Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030," is an international initiative to accelerate the response to climate change and the implementation of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Launched in 2017, it is comprised of 12 countries: Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Vietnam and Korea.







"The upcoming summit is the first multilateral summit on the environment to be hosted by Korea, adding more significance to the occasion," Yoo Yeon-chul, executive director of the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit Preparatory Office, said in an interview with The Korea Times.



"The summit will further unite our global resolve for carbon neutrality, and strengthen climate action to build back better and greener in the post-COVID world."





President Moon Jae-in delivers a keynote speech during the inaugural P4G Summit at the DR Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, in this Oct. 20, 2018 photo. Yonhap



The Seoul summit carries extra weight, as it will take place at a very important inflection point in terms of the international community's actions on climate challenges, he added.



"2021 is the first year when the international community begins to take action for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, despite the lingering COVID-19 pandemic," Yoo said.



The Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015 by the U.N. to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels, making efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius.



"Also, followed by a number of important climate summits held this year, it will serve as a stepping stone to the COP26, to be held in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in November," he added.



In April, U.S. President Joe Biden hosted the Leaders Summit on Climate, which involved 40 world leaders, including President Moon Jae-in, who, during the event, set a higher goal for the nation in terms of cutting carbon emissions. The COP26 is the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference, scheduled to run from Nov. 1 to 12.



In order to further highlight the significance of the Seoul summit, the government has come up with several action plans under its theme, which Yoo believes will help Koreans become "more aware of environment-related issues and guide them toward climate action."



"First, we would like to bring together the commitment of the international community to pursue 'green recovery' in an 'inclusive' manner, while secondly, we hope to gather the solidarity of the participating countries on pursuing carbon neutrality," the executive director said.



"More importantly, Korea will make sure that due efforts are made to contribute to tackling climate change and achieving the SDGs. This will include making ambitious commitments on a domestic policy level, as well as expanding our assistance to developing countries in their efforts to achieve global goals.



"Finally, through our short-term Green New Deal policy and long-term carbon neutrality goal, we are sending a message to the market and businesses that Korea's climate-related objectives are clear, predictable and reliable."



The two-day summit will adopt the Seoul Declaration, in which the government will flesh out differentiated goals and strategies in five sectors  water, food and agriculture, energy, cities and the circular economy.



"We would like to reaffirm the global challenges ahead of us and our commitments for an inclusive green recovery toward carbon neutrality," Yoo said.



The summit "will also address areas and actions we need to pursue together, such as public-private partnerships and sustainable development," he added.





A logo of the P4G Seoul Summit. Including an image from Joseon-era painter Jeong Seon's "Clearing after Rain on Mount Inwang," the logo represents Korea's dynamism and the close cooperation of the P4G partners. / Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs



Public-private partnerships



Against the backdrop of climate change, there have been a large number of international conferences on the environment or climate.



However, Yoo, who doubles as the nation's ambassador for climate change, said that the P4G summit stands out among other multilateral forums, as it focuses on accelerating public-private partnerships for sustainable growth.



"P4G, unlike other international bodies, brings governments, businesses and civil society all together in one place. This means we can take an integrated approach through public-private partnerships to address climate change and achieve the SDGs," he said.



According to him, most other international bodies are comprised of either governments only, businesses only or civic groups only, but P4G is an inclusive multilateral platform encompassing various stakeholders, prompting concerted efforts to respond to climate change, which cannot be solved by the efforts of a single actor.



"Also, P4G is led by like-minded countries which focus on supporting developing countries in their climate change responses, thereby playing a bridging role between developed and developing countries," Yoo said.



"Thus, P4G bridges government assistance and business investment. That is, the governments support the early stages of projects, and businesses actively invest in later stages, ultimately leading to sustainable business models."



The Seoul summit will be the second of its kind after the 2018 inaugural event in Copenhagen, Denmark. The executive director said that there will be a couple of things that will distinguish the upcoming event from the first event, although their purposes will remain the same.



"First, one week ahead of the summit, there will be P4G Green Future Week from May 24 to 29, encompassing a total of 10 Green Future Sessions, aimed at raising public awareness on carbon neutrality and gathering our global resolve to build back better and greener in the post-COVID world," Yoo said.





Yoo Yeon-chul, executive director of the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit Preparatory Office, poses with another logo of the summit that depicts the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals' five areas  food and agriculture, water, energy, cities and the circular economy  at his office in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Dundalk Chamber is calling on the public and companies to support local shops and help sustain jobs as they reopen tomorrow, Monday.

Commenting on the announcement that there are now over 360 local shops and businesses redeeming Shop Local Gift Vouchers Chamber President Sean Farrell is calling on members of the public and the business community to get behind the Shop Local Vouchers Scheme and use them as gifts for special occasions such birthdays, retirements, weddings and for staff rewards.

He said: "Every 10 spent locally on Irish products generates more than 40 of benefit to the local community in terms of employment.

"The retail sector employs more people than any other sector in the Irish economy. "Retailers and suppliers are currently under significant pressure and its now more important than ever to shop local.

"Local shops use local services such as accountants, insurance brokers and suppliers.

Mr Farrell is calling on local employers to get behind this voucher scheme as shops reopen and give the Shop Local Gift Vouchers as the staff reward.

Employers can save 56% on staff rewards by giving employees a Shop Local Gift Voucher instead of cash, he said.

Paddy Malone PRO of Dundalk Chamber said: Businesses can reward their staff with a 500 tax free payment.

"You are entitled to give one each and every year.

"Under the Small Benefits Exemption Scheme, company Directors and Employees can receive a non-cash bonus of up to 500 in value on a completely tax-free basis each year and he would encourage all employers to buy this voucher for the town.

By buying the Shop Local Gift Vouchers not only can you save money by taking advantage of the Government Small Benefit Exemption Scheme, but it is also a fully deductible business expense for your company.

If you have not availed of the Small Benefit Exemption Scheme so far in 2021, Paddy said he would encourage people to do so before 31st December 2021 and use Shop Local Gift Vouchers for this.

He continued: "The added advantage of these vouchers is that they do not expire over time unlike other vouchers.

If you want to buy vouchers you can purchase online on www.dundalk.ie/vouchers or directly from the Dundalk Chamber Offices by calling Tel: 042 9336343 or email accounts@dundalk.ie

To check out the full list of outlets who are redeeming the Shop Local Gift Vouchers visit http://shoplocal.dundalk.ie
CPC Party School holds 1st high-level forum on Party building

Xinhua) 11:17, May 16, 2021

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Saturday held a high-level forum on Party building as a major part of a series of academic events held by the school to mark the CPC's centenary.

As the very first edition of the forum, this year's event was focused on the historical experience of building the century-old Party.

Xie Chuntao, vice president of the school, said when addressing the forum that it is an important task of scholars in this field to summarize the great achievements and successful experience of the Party over the past 100 years, especially the period since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

Experts and scholars attending the forum exchanged views on Party-building experience in various aspects and the development of Party building-related disciplines.

The high-level forum on Party building will be held annually.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
The Korean government is conducting a study on opening the domestic worker market to foreigners, amid a serious manpower shortage. gettyimagesbank



Some experts say foreign national domestic workers could support Korean women's economic activities



By Jun Ji-hye



The government has undertaken research on measures to legalize the hiring of foreign nationals as domestic workers, as part of efforts to bring down employment costs and expand women's economic activities.



The Ministry of Employment and Labor said it recently entrusted the research to the Korea Employment Welfare Pension Institute to explore ways of opening the housekeeper market to people regardless of their nationality.



Under the current laws, Koreans and ethnic Koreans from China, in addition to foreigners with permanent residence status or those married to Koreans, can be employed as domestic workers here.



The ministry's move came as demand has been increasing rapidly for domestic workers who can offer childcare or other housework services, especially amidst the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, at the same time that the supply has been gradually thinning out, resulting in an increase in costs.



"For working couples, it is almost impossible to take care of their baby without help from their parents or a housemaid," said Lee Joo-hee, a 34-year-old office worker in Seoul who has a three-year-old son.



"In my case, I could not receive help either from my mother or my mother-in-law, thus I had to call three to four employment agencies to hire a housemaid. I am not that satisfied with the maid I hired, but I cannot fire her because I know it will be very difficult to hire another person now."



According to job portal operator Mediawill Networks, the number of job ads for domestic workers has increased sharply by 322.4 percent between February of last year and January of this year amid the pandemic, compared to the figure tallied before the pandemic era, between February 2019 and January 2020.



Statistics Korea's data shows a serious supply shortage, as the number of working-couple households nationwide was estimated at 5.05 million last year, while the number of people working as housekeepers was estimated at only about 150,000 to 400,000.



The imbalance between supply and demand has led to an increase in prices. The price index with regard to the costs of domestic workers last year rose 23.1 percent, compared to the 2015 figure, according to Statistics Korea.




Families of loved-ones who passed away of Covid-19 in Dealgan House Nursing Home are still waiting for answers a year after their deaths.

Dealgan House in Toberona was one of the worst hit nursing homes in the country with 22 residents dying during the pandemic.

There have been constant calls for the Government to establish a public inquiry but a year on from the tragic deaths relatives are still waiting for answers.

Dundalk TD Ruairi O Murchu raised the issue of a public inquiry into the deaths of 22 people at Dealgan House Nursing Home again last week with the Minister for Health - a day short of the first anniversary of him raising it in the Dail for the first time.

The Sinn Fein TD questioned health minister Stephen Donnelly and Minister of State with Responsibility for Older People, Mary Butler about when families, who are seeking answers about how and why their loved ones died, will get a response to their calls for a public inquiry.

Ministers Donnelly and Butler met with some of the bereaved Dundalk families on October 28 but despite assurances from the health minister that a decision about a public inquiry would be made within weeks, they have not been informed.

On May 7, 2020, Deputy O Murchu was the first TD to publicly raise the high number of deaths during a Covid 19 outbreak at Dealgan House Nursing Home in April and May.

He has consistently called for a mechanism to be made available to families to find out the truth of what happened.

In his latest submission to the Dail, Deputy O Murchu said: "I want to bring up once again the case of Dealgan Nursing Home and the tragic case we had this time last year of losing 22 residents.

Yourself (Minister Donnelly) and Minister Butler met with some of these families and you have accepted that a mechanism is needed to deliver answers.

The families are obviously looking for a public inquiry and I believe that is the best method for learnings and for also providing answers.

The nursing home, HIQA and the HSE all have questions to answer and also have a right to their narrative.

So if you can give me an update?"

In response, Minister Butler said: I am very aware that listening to families can bring great learnings to many situations.

While we are still dealing with daily case numbers, we are continuing to look at options which may be available to the State in relation to listening to those who have lost loved ones.

Louth TD Ged Nash also reiterated calls for a Commission of Inquiry into the deaths at Dealgan House.

As the first anniversary of the deaths of 22 residents at Dealgan House passes, Deputy Ged Nash has again called for a formal Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances around the deaths in the Dundalk nursing home last year.

He said: I repeat the calls I made last year and have continued to make since, that a formal Commission of Inquiry ought to be instigated by the Minister for Health into the deaths of older citizens at Dealgan House last year.

It is important to note that this was the only privately run nursing home institution to have effectively been taken over by the State during the pandemic.

An inquiry is something that the families who lost loved ones are calling for, and it is a call I fully endorse.

For a host of reasons it is important that we get a full understanding of what happened at Dealgan House, and why, and to make sure that important lessons can be learned and applied so as no family anywhere in Ireland will have to go through this kind of loss and turmoil again.

The families and all local TDs have been working together to obtain the answers to the questions we all have.

The frustration we have all encountered in terms of half-answered questions and a failure of decision-makers to engage with families to the extent that they should suggests to me that the only way we can get to the bottom of what happened at Dealgan House is to have a full inquiry, approved by the Dail.

This is the least the families and their lost loved ones deserve.

Dealgan House chief executive Eoin Farrelly said the facility would fully cooperate with an inquiry.

From the time the issue was first raised, Dealgan House has indicated that it would fully cooperate with any inquiry the Government chooses to establish into Covid-19 deaths in Nursing Homes", he said.

That remains our position.
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Tammy Raines, with her albino wallaby, said Little Eden's started with just a few exotic animals. The farm has grown since 2016 to include an ostrich, lemurs and more.

Editor's note: As we begin to see COVID-19 in our rear-view mirrors, travelers are cautiously returning to the roads. This series offers destination options for eastern New Mexico-area residents looking to get away for a few days.

HARROLD, Texas - Right off U.S. 287, in a family's back yard, animals big and small roam about. Little Eden Farm & Exotics offers personal wildlife experiences for people of all ages.

Little Eden's is a small farm near Vernon, Texas, owned and operated by Tammy and Mitch Raines. The couple started the farm with a simple love of animals, and had no intention of turning it into something bigger.

"I've always had a love for animals," Tammy Raines said. "We went to Springtown, Texas, to buy peacocks, and the guy had ringtail lemurs, and I kept on him until he let me buy a couple of them. So, we started out with the lemurs. Then a couple years later I got a kangaroo."

... And it grew from there.

Visitors would often leave donations and food, as well as encouraged the couple to pursue a bigger vision. In 2016, the Raines decided to make something more of their little farm. Today it's home to more than 100 animals - kangaroos, lemurs, peacocks, antelope, a camel, South American coati, tortoises, pigs, and many more.

"I like being able to share the animals with people because you cannot go to the zoo and have a one-on-one experience with the animals. We are close and personal," Tammy Raines said.

Where is it:

Little Eden Farm & Exotics is about 260 miles east of Clovis, right off U.S. 287 in Harrold, Texas.

Hours and admissions:

You have to make reservations in advance. Admission fees, which go to caring for the animals, average between $8 and $15 per person. Call 940-733-5250 to plan your visit and receive more information.

How does it work:

Little Eden's offers private tours, unguided tours and birthday parties a little different from most. The private tours include opportunities to bottle feed any babies that might be roaming around.

Little Eden's also hosts Vacation Bible Schools, church camps, and active members of retirement homes.

Meet the baby:

On April 15, Little Eden's welcomed its newest family member. Lasgaire is a Scottish Highlander calf who is being bottle fed. He spent his first night inside the Raines' home so they could keep him warm from the rain.

Fan favorites:

Many visitors enjoy hanging out with the lemurs the most, Tammy Raines said. The lemurs enjoy giving kisses and even climbing up on people's shoulders.

But Tammy Raines said the kangaroos are her favorite.

"They're just more calm and I started out with them," she said. "They say the difference between a kangaroo and a ringtail lemur is that a kangaroo is like an old lady; the ringtail lemur is a teenager that never grows up."

The hardest part:

"A lot of people say, 'Oh you're living the dream life,'" Tammy Raines said. "... Behind the scenes, you know, it can get very overwhelming at times where you have quite a few animals.

"The hardest part is (when) you lose them - and it does happen - but you have to keep going because you have so many others."

More information:

Check them out on Facebook - Little Eden Farm & Exotics.
By Nam Sang-so





Being the third son of a poor farming family, my father knew that he must find a job to get out of working in the rice paddies. So he went to Japan, while my mother's family went in the opposite direction, to Manchuria in China, also to survive. It was the 1920s. As a result, I have three Chinese cousins and several distant grandchildren currently living in Qingdao, China, where German influences still remain.



A great change had occurred in China in the 19th century. The imperialist powers of France, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Japan, and Russia had maintained spheres of influence mainly along the Chinese coast. Towards the turn of the 20th century, they began to move into China's interior in pursuit of wealth. Foreign traders and missionaries traveled the country at will having won numerous concessions and privileges.



In what became known as the Boxer Rebellion (Yihetuan Movement in Mandarin Chinese)  an armed and violent, anti-Christian, anti-imperialist insurrection in 1901 toward the end of the Qing Dynasty  the Boxers attacked foreigners throughout China, destroying churches, railways and anything connected with the imperialist powers.



Despite their rivalries, the imperialist foreign nations were determined to protect their common interests in China. Forming the Eight-Nations Alliance, they acted jointly against the Boxers, sending to Peking (now Beijing) an army comprising soldiers from the eight invading foreign nations. These foreign soldiers relieved the besieged embassies and put down the rebellion in 1901.



The American war film, "55 Days at Peking," starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven, dramatizes the siege of the foreign legations in Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion.



The victorious foreign powers then imposed heavy penalties on the Chinese, including a demand for a huge indemnity payment. The Boxer Rebellion was crushed by the Eight-Nations Alliance, and failed to drive the foreigners out of China. However, it did foster nationalistic sentiments among the Chinese people. These nationalists advocated for the true reform of China itself. A new political party, the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, grew out of this reform movement, although it retreated to the island of Taiwan in 1949 after being defeated by the communists.



The year 2021 is a Metal Ox year in the Chinese calendar, which is based on a sexagenary cycle. As a sexagenary cycle is 60 years, the year 1901 was also a Metal Ox year. In March of this Year of the Ox, which many mainland Chinese remember as one of the country's most disgraced and shameful years in their history, U.S. and Chinese officials sat face to face in Alaska and exchanged sharp rebukes during the first high-level talks between the Biden administration and China. Chinese officials accused the U.S. of inciting other capitalistic countries "to attack China," while the U.S. said China had "arrived intent on grandstanding," according to BBC News. It seems that some mainland Chinese people feel now that "We are avenging the humiliation of the 120-year-old Metal Ox." Perhaps to them, it may seem that slowly, the world is being divided into two big powers again, this time quite differently.





The writer (sangsonam@gmail.com) is a retired architect/engineer.


By the Staff of The News

A Bovina man died Tuesday in a single-vehicle crash on New Mexico 77, near the intersection of Curry Road G.

A news release from Curry County Sheriff Wesley Waller stated Garrett Viss, 65, of Bovina was ejected from his vehicle and died at the scene.

The accident happened about noon Tuesday.

According to the news release:

The investigation has determined that (Viss) was traveling west on NM 77 in a 2008 GMC pickup. In the area of Curry Road G, (a marked construction zone), the vehicle left the roadway, entered the soft shoulder and overturned.

The investigation into the cause of the crash is continuing, the release stated.
CLOVIS  Clovis native and National Guardsman Nathaniel Nate Rubio became Soldier of the Year this month after winning the New Mexico Army National Guard Best Warrior Challenge earlier this month.

Rubio will move on to represent the state in the regional competition, which will take place in Colorado Springs Monday.

The 2018 Clovis High grad joined the New Mexico National Guard in 2019, and has served in the Bravo Company ever since.

Rubio was the first of nine competitors to finish the ruck march, one of many grueling competitions that put soldiers' military training skills and knowledge to the test.

The competition began at the battalion level, Rubio said, and he was not the first to be chosen to compete.

Rubio said another soldier was due to compete, but was unable to attend.

They kind of just threw me in there, Rubio said. And I like to say I hold my own.

After breezing through the battalion level competition, he went face to face with soldiers on the state level, and seemed to do all right.

The ruck march, which required competitors to carry more than 40 pounds of equipment in their rucksacks and traverse an undisclosed distance over rugged desert terrain in under three hours, is where Rubio dominated.

Rubio said that the physical aspect of the competition was not as difficult as the written exam and essay.

The most physically demanding part of the competition for him was the water survival test, Rubio said.

That one was probably the most physically demanding, he said, just because I haven't swam in I dont know how long.

The shooting portion of the competition was what Rubio enjoyed most, he said.

The shooting portion took place at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, where the warriors competed using the M-16 rifle and the M-9 pistol.

In the end, Rubio is determined to continue advancing in the competition.

Seeing what I can do, trying to be a better me and learning what I need to improve on, and what I need to work on, is what motivates him, Rubio said. Im going to keep doing what Im doing. Try to improve on my skills, try to improve on my knowledge. Take everything I can from the military. Its always good everyday skills, good everyday things you can use throughout your daily lives.

Rubio said he hopes he does OK on Monday, but doesnt really feel much pressure.

Im going to go and do what I know how to do and do what I can. Hopefully I can take first in this next one and go to nationals, Rubio added.

The national competition traditionally happens in July, and no location has been announced. Rubio hopes if he makes it to that level, he will get to compete somewhere he has never been before.
A short-lived gas shortage on the east coast is unlikely to make much of an impact in eastern New Mexico, but travel experts still recommend conservation as a good overall mindset at the pump.

The trouble began Tuesday when the Colonial Pipeline, the countrys largest fuel pipeline, was the victim of a ransomware attack. The federal government issued an emergency declaration for 17 states and the District of Columbia.

Colonial paid nearly $5 million in ransom and was back online the following day, and the supply crunch has been attributed more to panic buying than issues with the pipeline.

Those panic buyers are now good on fuel, and AAA Texas/New Mexico community relations spokesperson Daniel Armbruster does not anticipate a local impact.

It will take several days for the supply chain to resume normal operations, but this is positive news for motorists. As supply starts flowing, the industry and government are focused on re-fueling communities that are without or are low on fuel as a priority. This includes areas in the south, especially southern Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee. Motorists in these areas can expect to see a few more days of limited fuel supply.

However, the general pattern of gas prices points to an uptick in the coming months due to Memorial Day travel, and Armbruster said suggested ways to conserve.

Combine errands, use your more fuel-efficient vehicle (if you have one) and remove unnecessary and bulky items from your car. AAA advises filling up when you have a quarter of a tank of fuel remaining, Armbruster said. For Memorial Day and summer travel, it is important to know there is ample gas supply in the United States.
By the Staff of The News

SANTA FE  The New Mexico Department of Health announced on Friday, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Preventions updated guidance, that vaccinated individuals will no longer be required to wear masks in indoor or outdoor settings.

Individuals who are not yet fully vaccinated are still required under public health orders to wear masks in public settings. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after either their second dose of either Pfizer or Moderna or their lone dose of Johnson & Johnson.

It wasn't immediately clear how, or if, state officials might try to confirm who's been vaccinated.

Getting vaccinated is the ticket to a safe and healthy COVID-free future, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a release. We are close and getting closer. But that all depends on New Mexicans continuing to protect themselves and their community by getting vaccinated  please find vaccines near you at vaccineNM.org and get your shot.

New Mexicans are encouraged to continue adhering to COVID-safe practices, the release stated. All individuals, including those who are fully vaccinated, should continue to wear well-fitted masks where required by localities, tribal entities, and individual businesses.

The state fully supports businesses and workplaces that may continue to require masks for employees and/or customers on the premises, regardless of vaccination status.

CDC guidance still requires masks for all individuals at healthcare settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters and public transportation.

As the majority of students remain unvaccinated, the CDCs guidance for school settings remains unchanged. Pending additional guidance from the CDC, masks continue to be required in schools for all students and school staff regardless of vaccination status.

Mass gathering limits and the statewide framework remain in place. As previously announced by the governor and state officials, New Mexico will graduate from the color-coded county risk system and remove most pandemic-related restrictions on commercial activities when 60% of eligible New Mexicans have been fully vaccinated. As of Thursday, 51% of eligible New Mexicans have been fully vaccinated.

All New Mexicans age 16+ are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and may schedule their vaccine appointment at vaccineNM.org or by calling 1-855-600-3453. Parents of New Mexicans age 12-15 may register their child for the approved Pfizer vaccine at vaccineNM.org.

In other COVID-related developments:

 The state confirmed 223 new COVID-19 cases and one additional death Friday, bringing the those totals to 200,650 cases and 4,113 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020.

The Friday report included eight cases in Curry County and two cases in Roosevelt County.

 Clovis Municipal Schools announced Friday Yucca Middle School would return to in-person learning on May 25 for end-of-year assessments.

The district entered a mandatory two-week remote learning period May 5 after its third rapid response in a 14-day period.

On Tuesday, however, the Public Education Department announced the school had received its fourth rapid response in the 14-day period, and was subject to a mandatory 14-day remote learning period.

 The DOH announced that businesses, nonprofits, religious congregations, community centers, and other organizations can now request on-site vaccination events through a new DOH webform at getvaxnm.com.

DOH is committed to making vaccine available to New Mexicans where they live and work, said Health Secretary Dr. Tracie Collins. By offering organizations the opportunity to request on-site vaccination events, well make getting a shot even easier.

Organizations that can bring a minimum of 25 people to a vaccination event  through a combination of employees/members, family, or members of the surrounding community  will qualify, and DOH will work with the organization on scheduling. The department reserves the right to combine multiple requests into a single event or redirect applying organizations to pre-existing events.

 The New Mexico Human Services Department reminded New Mexicans on Friday of the Federal Communications Commissions temporary Emergency Broadband Benefit program.

The $3.2 billion program provides discounts of up to $50 per month for eligible households to defray the costs of broadband internet service, and a one-time $100 discount toward purchase of a computer, laptop or tablet.

For eligibility information and applications, visit http://www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit or call 833-511-0311.
DA: Homicides in Clovis, Portales unrelated

A violent Friday night left two people dead and others injured in Clovis and Portales as authorities investigated three separate shooting incidents in less than six hours.

Police identified the Portales victim as Quintasha Harris, 38. Police did not release the name of the Clovis victim but said he was a 16-year-old boy who died as a result of a car crash during a shooting incident.

No arrests had been made in connection with either death by mid-afternoon Saturday, according to District Attorney Andrea Reeb.

Reeb said none of the three incidents were related.

The first shooting was reported at 5:33 p.m. Friday when Portales police responded to the 600 block of West 17th Lane for a female individual with a possible gunshot injury, according to a Portales PD news release. The female, later identified as Harris, was transported to Roosevelt General Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Police on Saturday characterized the incident as domestic related and were interviewing a witness who was continuing to cooperate with investigators ...

Just 20 minutes after the first shooting was reported, Eastern New Mexico University police were called to a shooting near the San Juan Village Apartments.

Law Enforcement located a juvenile victim who had departed the scene prior to their arrival. The juvenile was treated for non-life-threatening injuries as a result of the incident, university officials stated in a news release. Authorities said they had identified person(s) of interest, but did not provide additional information.

Then at 11:16 p.m. Friday in Clovis, officials received a 911 call from someone reporting they were being shot at. The caller continued speaking with Dispatch, relaying that they had been shot and were in the area of Grand Street and Martin Luther King (Jr.) Boulevard, a police news release stated.

Police soon located a black Mercedes near Upsilon Street and Hagerman Avenue that had struck a power pole. Those inside the car were transported to Plains Regional Hospital where one later died, police said.

A second vehicle believed to be associated with the Mercedes delivered a gunshot victim to the hospital and fled the scene, a police news release stated. Clovis Police Chief Doug Ford said Saturday afternoon that victim had been treated for his injuries and was released from the hospital.

Police said in the release, The scene on Martin Luther King Boulevard showed that multiple gunshots had been discharged in the area.

Ford said two or three vehicles may have been involved in the shooting and that investigators were conducting interviews Saturday. He said no one had been detained in connection with the incident.

The region has now seen four homicide victims in 16 days. On April 28, a Clovis man was arrested and charged with killing Ricky Johnson, 58, and Kennedy Hodge, 53, near Fifth and Ross streets in Clovis. Danny Price, 54, was arrested soon after the slayings and remains jailed.
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Description

The inside story of the European Fund for Strategic Investments from 2015 to 2020 told through interviews with the Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director, members of the Investment Committee and final beneficiaries across Europe.

The architects of this 500 billion-plus programme, the head of the EU bank and the president of the European Commission, describe the genesis of this financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe. Then the people who ran one of the biggest economic stimulus programmes in history detail how they did itand what the lessons are for policymakers responding to new crises, including the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments has been one of the good news stories to emerge in a decade of economic uncertainty. It has gone well beyond its highly ambitious target of 500 billion in mobilised investments. The Juncker Plan has made a strong contribution to the 14 million jobs created in the EU between 2015 and 2020. It has become a success in co-financing projects that otherwise might not have been carried through. It has also charted the path towards new ways of financing. This is not only the case in relatively conventional areas, such as infrastructure, but also in sectors like research and innovation or the contribution to climate change mitigation. This is exactly what makes EFSI so ground-breaking: responding to the needs of the market through continuous financial innovation.

The principle of the European Fund for Strategic Investments is here to stay. It has paved the way for its successor, the InvestEU programme, which is to be deployed under the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework. This publication details why the programme was such a success.
Life sentence on foster mother should serve as warning



A woman suspected of abusing her adopted daughter to death has been sentenced to life in prison. The Seoul Southern District Court found the suspect surnamed Jang guilty of murder Friday. The court recognized that she stamped on the belly of the 16-month-old victim, Jung-in, although "the suspect could have predicted that impacting another blow to the victim's already damaged abdomen could lead her to death."



The court also sentenced the woman's husband to five years in prison for aiding and abetting his wife's violence toward the toddler. The prosecution had demanded the death penalty for Jang and a prison term of seven and a half years for the foster father. Suspicions arose that she might have had an intention to kill the baby or at least known that the girl could die from the assault.



As the incident shocked and angered many Koreans, the verdict also caused a huge social stir. Outside the court, protesters called the stepparents "devils," holding pickets demanding the death penalty for both. Even before the public rage subsides, however, a similar incident occurred on May 8 when a man abused his two-year-old adopted child into a coma.



The latest incident revealed the loophole in the follow-up management of adopted children within one year of adoption. The government should enhance the rights and expertise of relevant officials to manage adoptive families more thoroughly. It also ought to strengthen adoption procedures to eliminate the risk of abuse in advance.



Victims of abuse are not limited to adopted children, however. According to statistics, 84 child abuse cases occurred in adoptive families in 2019, a fraction of the 17,324 cases in biological families. All this indicates that child abuse is a general problem facing Korean society. In almost all cases, children's own parents are their abusers. Aside from legal punishment, efforts should be made to prevent and cope with abuses more effectively. The nation should learn a lesson from Jung-in's tragedy and gather the community's capabilities to break the vicious circle of child abuse.


Middle school student Elise Robinson receives her first coronavirus vaccination on Wednesday, May 12, 2021, in Decatur, Ga. Hundreds of children, ages 12 to 15, received the Pfizer vaccine at the DeKalb Pediatric Center, just days after it was approved for use within their age group. (AP Photo/Ron Harris)
The Hoffmann Family of Companies is finalizing an agreement to purchase 50 acres of Emmaus Homes in Marthasville that includes nearly all the 
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Washington, MO (63090)

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Moon should respect different voices of people



President Moon Jae-in appointed a new prime minister and four Cabinet ministers Friday, in a major reshuffle designed to regain public trust following the ruling party's crushing defeat in the April 7 mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan. He needs to make a fresh start to end his five-year term in May 2022 as a successful president.



Yet it is still doubtful if Moon can fare well during the remainder of his presidency. For starters, he pushed ahead with the appointments despite strong objections from the opposition parties to three of the minister nominees citing ethical lapses. Regrettably, Moon has repeated his unilateral way of appointing ministers without seeking the consent of the minority parties and reflecting different voices from all walks of life. He should humbly accept criticism from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) for his administration's arrogance and self-righteousness.



The President may think that he managed to break the political deadlock over the unsuitable nominees when Oceans Minister nominee Park Jun-young resigned Thursday over his wife's alleged smuggling of European porcelain ware. But he should not forget that many lawmakers, particularly first-term ones, of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) were also against at least one of the problematic nominees, including Lim Hye-sook for science minister and Noh Hyeong-ouk for land minister.



In other words, Moon continues to stick to his arbitrary way of governing. He is still trying to go it alone without carefully listening to the diverse opinions of the opposition and the public. That's why he and his administration have been criticized for arrogance, self-righteousness and hypocrisy. He should also take the blame for policy failures regarding runaway housing prices, job losses and an economic slump.



We hope that Moon will change his governing style and policy direction, which are out of touch with the rapidly changing reality. If he cannot do that, he will risk becoming a lame-duck president. More than anything else, he needs to lower himself and be humble. He should learn from his policy blunders and try to avoid repeating the same mistakes of his predecessors.



In a meeting with new Cabinet members and the new DPK leadership, Moon said the government and the ruling party should be "competent" in order to meet the expectations of the public. "I think competence stems from unity," he added. Both the Moon administration and the DPK must work together as a "single team" to prove their ability to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic, stabilize the overheated housing market, speed up economic recovery and improve the people's livelihoods.



As new Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum stressed, the government and the DPK should focus on promoting national unity. They must form a bipartisanship with the opposition to end divisive politics and address social polarization. The success of the Moon administration will certainly depend on how it manages to end such divisions and move toward national harmony and social cohesion.


In this July 7, 2006, file photograph, fishermen cast on the rocky shore at the Beavertail Lighthouse, the third-oldest lighthouse in America, at the tip of Beavertail State Park, on Narragansett Bay, in Jamestown, R.I. The federal government's General Services Administration announced the U.S. Coast Guard has decided it no longer needs four of the nation's most storied and picturesque lighthouses, including the Beavertail Lighthouse. The government says it'll make the historic lighthouses and their outbuildings available at no cost to federal, state and local agencies; nonprofit organizations; educational and community development agencies; or groups devoted to parks, recreation, culture, or historic preservation. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File)
In this Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, file photo, one of the tigers living at the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park is pictured at the park in Wynnewood, Okla. The operator of the zoo Jeff Lowe, that was featured on "Tiger King," and his wife are willing to give up all their big cats to resolve a U.S. Justice Department civil complaint against them over animal care. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Athens, AL (35611)

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AT&T and Discovery are normally foes in the media world, but they might soon forge an alliance to stand a better chance in streaming. Bloomberg sources claim the two companies are in talks to "combine content assets" and give themselves a better chance at competing with the likes of Disney+ and Netflix. The terms aren't available and might change, but it'd be an unusual shift for AT&T after spending years building up a monolithic content library through WarnerMedia.

There's no certainty the talks will lead to a deal, according to the tipsters. Both AT&T and Discovery have declined to comment.

A content union between AT&T and Discovery would be unusual, but could make sense given the streaming media landscape. Although HBO Max is growing faster than expected, it's still eclipsed by incumbents like Netflix. Discovery content might give you a reason to tune in, at least if you're a fan of cooking and reality shows.

Any mutual sharing would help Discovery, too. Its Discovery+ service is young and, by its nature, limited to a relatively small selection of shows. Access to some WarnerMedia programming could make a Discovery+ subscription more appealing, although it's safe to say AT&T would limit what it offers to avoid undermining HBO Max.
This content is made possible by our sponsor; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Engadget's editorial staff.

Social media has revolutionized the way companies secure customers, so learning how to leverage these platforms is a necessity if you want your brand to thrive in 2021. These businesses use tools such as marketing software to give themselves a leg up, and this eight-course bundle will teach you how to use them for $15 .

The 2021 Ultimate Mobile App Marketing A-Z Bundle contains 102 lessons covering 10 hours of content. You'll start as a beginner in social media and marketing tools and reach a point of confidence that you can build your practice on. Courses like Appstore & Reddit Marketing for Your Brand and Instagram Marketing for Businesses & E-Commerce will teach you how to use some of the most popular social platforms to advertise your brand. Youll also learn how to optimize posts with proper keywords, appear higher in search engines and find new customers and followers.

Each course is taught by experts in the digital marketing field. One such instructor is Pouya Eti, an author and entrepreneur who has taught thousands of students from 181 countries. His Instagram course will teach you how to create and grow a business page that attracts followers and converts them into customers.

Marketing tools are varied and can be complicated, and this bundle is designed to give you all the intel you need without wasting time with trial and error. With courses like MailChimp Email And Text Marketing For Your Business and Brand and Mobile App Marketing using Google Ads, you will learn the skills and software that professional marketers use to generate more sales for your business and define your brand with digital marketing in mind.

Learn how to use digital tools to grow your brand with The 2021 Ultimate Mobile App Marketing A-Z Bundle, on sale now for $15 , or less than $2 per course.

Prices subject to change.
GARBER  Service for Anton R. (Tony) Vencl will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Ladusau Evans Chapel. Burial will follow at the White Cemetery, Hunter. Arrangements are under the direction of Ladusau-Evans Funeral Home.
An innovative cardiac rehabilitation intervention started earlier and more custom-tailored to the individual improved physical function, frailty, quality-of-life, and depression in hospitalized heart failure patients, compared to traditional rehabilitation programs. Supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National institutes of Health, these new study results were published May 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine and also presented at the American College of Cardiology's 70th Annual Scientific Session.

"Designing earlier and more personalized individual-specific approaches to heart failure rehab shows great promise for improving outcomes for this common but complex condition that is one of the leading causes of hospitalization for older adults," said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. "These results mark encouraging progress on a path to better overall quality of life and physical function for the millions of older Americans who develop heart failure each year."

For this new study, a research team led by Dalane W. Kitzman, M.D., professor of cardiovascular medicine and geriatrics/gerontology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, followed 349 clinical trial participants with heart failure enrolled in "A Trial of Rehabilitation Therapy in Older Acute Heart Failure Patients" (REHAB-HF). Participants had an average of five comorbidities -- diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, lung disease or kidney disease -- that also contributed to loss of physical function.

In an earlier pilot study, Kitzman and his colleagues at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, and the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, found striking deficits in strength, mobility and balance, along with the expected loss of endurance in older patients with acute heart failure, the vast majority of whom were categorized as frail or pre-frail. The team decided to focus on improving patients' physical function, which already weakened by chronic heart failure and age, was worsened by the traditional cardiac hospital experience featuring lots of bedrest and resulting in loss of functions that tended to persist after discharge.

The REHAB-HF team designed earlier and more customized exercise programs that emphasized improving balance, strength, mobility and endurance. They also began REHAB-HF during a patient's hospital stay when feasible instead of waiting until the traditional six weeks after discharge. After release from the hospital, the study participants shifted to outpatient sessions three times per week for three months.

Compared to a control group that received usual cardiac rehab care, REHAB-HF participants showed marked gains in measures of physical functioning and overall quality of life, including significant progress in Short Physical Performance Battery, a series of tests to evaluate lower extremity function and mobility, and a six-minute walk test. They also had notable improvements in self-perception of their health status and depression surveys compared to pre-trial baselines. More than 80 percent of REHAB-HF participants reported they were still doing their exercises six months after completing their participation in the study.

"These findings will inform choices of heart failure rehabilitation strategies that could lead to better physical and emotional outcomes," said Evan Hadley, M.D., director of NIA's Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology. "Tailored interventions like REHAB-HF that target heart failure's related decline in physical abilities can result in real overall benefits for patients."

###

The study did not show significant differences in related clinical events including rates of hospital readmission for any reason or for heart-failure related rehospitalizations. The research team plans to further explore that and other issues through future expansions of REHAB-HF into larger and longer-term trials with broader participant subgroups.

This was funded in part by NIH grants R01AG045551, R01AG18915, P30AG021332, P30AG028716, and U24AG059624.

Reference: Kitzman et al. Rehabilitation Intervention in Older Patients with Acute Heart Failure with Preserved versus Reduced Ejection Fraction. New England Journal of Medicine. 2021 May 16 doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2026141.

About the National Institute on Aging (NIA): NIA leads the U.S. federal government effort to conduct and support research on aging and the health and well-being of older people. Learn more about age-related cognitive change and neurodegenerative diseases via NIA's Alzheimer's and related Dementias Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center website. Visit the main NIA website for information about a range of aging topics, in English and Spanish, and stay connected.
Starting Monday, masks and social distancing will be optional for fully vaccinated people in city facilities.

The looser regulations come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines that permit vaccinated people to resume normal activities without wearing masks or physically distancing. The CDC guidance does not overrule government rules and regulations at any level  federal, state or local  or those put in place by businesses and workplaces.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after their second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Being able to return to normal activities is just one more incentive to getting vaccinated, San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh said. Do it for you. Do it for our frontline workers. Do it for San Antonio.

On ExpressNews.com: Get the latest update on coronavirus and a tracking map of U.S. cases

Since the pandemic began, over 220,600 people in Bexar County have contracted the coronavirus and more than 3,400 people have died.

Many of those cases were reported during the summer and winter surges  hospitals were tipping past capacity and new cases came in by the thousands. On Jan. 10, 3,002 new cases were reported, the largest single-day increase Bexar County has seen during the pandemic.

The first round of vaccines was rolled out in December. More than half of Bexar Countys eligible population  955,970 people have had at least one dose of a vaccine. Many of those  719,770 people  are fully vaccinated, officials said Thursday.

Since the rollout, case numbers have dropped considerably. Bexar County hasnt seen more than 500 new daily cases since Feb. 26, according to Metro Health data.

We know the COVID-19 vaccine is incredibly effective, said Assistant City Manager Colleen Bridger, the citys coronavirus czar. With the prevalence of the virus low, it makes sense to make this change now.

On ExpressNews.com: 'One more reason'  San Antonio leaders say getting vaccinated can finally unmask you

City facilities no longer will have temperature checks at their entrances. If someone is experiencing symptoms, they should not enter.

The city will not ask for proof of vaccination, said city spokeswoman Laura Mayes.

Starting June 14, all city departments will resume normal operations at full occupancy. There will be signage that states unvaccinated people will need to wear masks and those feeling sick should stay home.

How to get vaccinated

People 12 years or older can get vaccinated without an appointment at the Alamodome drive-thru clinic, which is open from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

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

San Antonians also can register for a vaccine at the Alamodome by going to COVID19.SanAntonnio.gov and clicking Vaccination.

Vaccines are also available through providers including University Health, the Texas MedClinic and WellMed.

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. Only locations with the Pfizer vaccine can inoculate 12-to 18-year-olds.

liz.hardaway@hearst.com | Twitter: @liz_hardaway
Larry W. Smith/Getty Images

A man was killed Sunday morning when he was hit by a truck while walking across Loop 1604, according to San Antonio police.

The collision happened at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Blanco Road around 5:20 a.m..




By Kim Hyun-bin







LG Chem aims to strengthen its battery materials value chain by investing in a Chinese battery copper foil company. The LG affiliate said Sunday that it plans to invest 40 billion won in Jiujiang DeFu Technology, a major battery copper foil manufacturer. Copper foil is a key material used to develop rechargeable batteries.







"By cooperating with global companies, we plan to strengthen our value chain, as well as our competitiveness and capabilities to lead the battery materials market," Nam Chul, senior vice president at LG Chem, said.







Battery copper foil is just one-fifteenth the thickness of a strand of hair, and is used to make thin copper plates that act as a passage for electricity within EV batteries. Thinner plates translate into more loads of active materials in anode materials, thereby increasing battery capacity.







The explosive growth of the battery market has led to a surge in demand for battery copper foil. According to Hana Financial Investment, demand for copper foil for rechargeable batteries is expected to reach 260,000 tons this year and 620,000 tons by 2025 with an average annual growth rate of 25 percent.







Defu is the third leading copper manufacturer in China and achieved 113 billion won in sales in the first quarter of this year, which is a four-fold increase compared to the same period of 2020. The company operates two plants in the Jiangxi and Gansu Sheng regions with annual copper foil production capacity standing at 49,000 tons, while the company aims to expand production to 78,000 tons next year.




The Specialised Prosecutors office has asked a Ljubljana court to formally open an investigation against the former German owners and management of Adria Airways for financial misdeeds that allegedly led to the Slovenian flag carriers collapse in October 2019. Those named as suspects are former Adria Airways CEO Arno Schuster, who managed the airline between 2016 and 2018, Adria Airways' last CEO Holger Kowarsch , the companys Financial Advisor between March 2016 and December 2017, Klaus Platzer, as well as Eggo Laukamp, who was the airlines Procurement Manager between 2014 and 2018. The prosecution has found evidence that the four of them illegally obtained 3.5 million euros by financially depleting Adria. Following the completion of the judicial investigation, the prosecution will decide whether to file charges against the suspects. The Specialised Prosecutors office has asked a Ljubljana court to formally open an investigation against the former German owners and management of Adria Airways for financial misdeeds that allegedly led to the Slovenian flag carriers collapse in October 2019. Those named as suspects are former Adria Airways CEO Arno Schuster, who managed the airline between 2016 and 2018, Adria Airways' last CEO Holger Kowarsch , the companys Financial Advisor between March 2016 and December 2017, Klaus Platzer, as well as Eggo Laukamp, who was the airlines Procurement Manager between 2014 and 2018. The prosecution has found evidence that the four of them illegally obtained 3.5 million euros by financially depleting Adria. Following the completion of the judicial investigation, the prosecution will decide whether to file charges against the suspects.





Adrias bankruptcy administrator, Janez Pustaticnik, said it would make sense to file a lawsuit against Adrias German-led management team, which oversaw its collapse. Prosecutors have noted that tracing the missing millions has been difficult as 4K Invest began shutting down companies linked to Adria through which the funds were funnelled. The turnaround fund had companies registered in Germany, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, and Malta. However, shortly after Adria declared bankruptcy, 4K began erasing links to its other businesses by shutting them down.





Adria Airways bankruptcy has led creditors to file 151 million euros in claims against the company with only 87.7 million euros in claims approved. Among them, the largest claim value, at 6.6 million euros, has been made by Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines. The two carriers wet-leased Adrias aircraft. Jet owner AeroCentury has four million euros in claims, while the Rolls Royce Corporation has 2.2 million. Former Adria Airways staff are demanding a total of 15.5 million euros in unpaid wages, to be split among 500 employees. Mr Kowarsch himself has 67.600 euros in claims, while the carriers former Managing Director, Sven Kukemelk, is claiming 47.700 euros. Other claimants include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, EIC Aircraft Leasing, Sasof III Aviation Ireland, 8900973 Canada, Ljubljana Airport operator Fraport Slovenija and Intesa Sanpaolo Bank. The administrator is hoping to raise the finances through the sale of Adria Airways remaining assets, however, just 85.500 euros have been raised so far.




photo from the State Police Troop B Facebook

NEW HARTFORD  A stretch of Route 44 of the Pine Meadow area in New Hartford remains closed after a car crash, state police said in a Facebook post.

Route 44 between Church Street and Wickett Street is closed after a car versus a telephone pole accident, state police reported in the post. Drivers are advised to use Church Street as a detour in the interim.
In an effort to connect women with responsive mental health care in the weeks before and after pregnancy, the state health department and a collaborative virtual psychiatry practice are partnering up to provide consultation with clinicians statewide.

For the last three months, the groups have been piloting a project called PRISM, which stands for Psychiatric Referrals, Intervention, and Support in Montana. The program is made up of a free consultation phone line or website where clinicians treating a woman in the perinatal period can call to get psychiatric teleconsultation services from Frontier Psychiatry, a virtual practice based in Billings.

Montana has a lack of mental and behavioral health providers. All but one of the states counties are designed as not having sufficient mental health professionals, said Mary LeMieux, who works in the Member Health Services Bureau of the state health department.

That lack of health care overlapping with increased needs for mental health services during and after pregnancy concerned the Department of Public Health and Human Services.

There was obviously the need for behavioral health to get into those far-reaching corners of the rural frontier counties, LeMieux said earlier this month. Citing data from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, LeMieux said nearly 20% of Montana women report depression before pregnancy, nearly double the national rate.

When presented with that information about how many women are depressed in Montana, it became apparent for the department that we needed to do something if we could, LeMieux said.

The statewide project is funded with a five-year federal grant and the cost to support the line through 2023 is $490,000.

The pilot included FamilyBorn Maternity and Womens Health at Kalispell Regional Healthcare; Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health (SLC)  Billings Midwifery & Womens Health; SCL Health Medical Group in Butte; SCL Health - Butte OB-GYN; and Holy Rosary OB-GYN in Miles City.

Dr. Eric Arzubi, chief executive officer of Frontier Psychiatry, said psychiatrists are trained to think about three areas of need psychological, social and biological. All three of those factors can face additional stress during pregnancy.

That includes things like concerns about bonding with a first child or how a sibling will fit into the family. There are also stresses from the cost of adding to a family and finding care for a baby. And womens bodies and hormones change dramatically both during and after pregnancy. Throwing in the lack of sleep that comes with a newborn makes things even more challenging.

There are stressors in all three dimensions that make it a difficult time, Arzubi told the Montana State News Bureau. If a woman is vulnerable because of genetics, family history or has struggled with depression before, that time during pregnancy puts women at particularly high risk for relapsing or having a first episode.

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.

What Ive done is get their history, and then Ive gone ahead and called this line and thats where Ive been able to talk to Arzubi, Weseman said. Were able to go through what Im seeing and get his clinical expertise and help in managing and talking about medications and talking about a plan of care and follow-up. That has really been nice to be able to walk through things with someone who specializes in this.

Being able to access services through telehealth can also address issues of the stigma around mental health care. There are also additional layers of expectations put on pregnant women and mothers, Weseman said.

Its not necessarily rosy and easy and romantic. It can be really challenging, Weseman said. I think I see people starting to be a little bit more honest about their experiences, which I think is incredibly important.

At one pilot site, a provider called with a patient that appeared to be in a manic episode. Arzubi said his practice was able to work with the clinician to identify what was happening, what treatments had worked or failed for the patient before and what approaches were safe during pregnancy.

Together, they implemented a medication plan. If the consultation hadnt been available, the other option would have been to submit a referral to a local provider and wait weeks.

With collaboration we were able to address it quickly, Arzubi said.

A mental health problem is a family problem, not just a moms, Arzubi said. Being able to address and treat women early can help head off other problems down the road.

This has a very real, long-lasting impact. We cant be treating individuals who are part of a family system as little silos, Arzubi said. If moms struggling, its more likely kids will struggle and the whole family system is struggling. Theres research to show the earlier you intervene, especially with expecting moms, they are less likely to expose children to problematic stressors.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people shut down traffic on a major thoroughfare in west Los Angeles as they marched two miles from outside the federal building to the Israeli consulate. The protesters waved signs that said free Palestine and shouted long live intifada, or uprising.

A protest that started in a neighborhood in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has a large Arabic-speaking community, continued through the streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon. Footage on social media showed people had climbed up the poles of street lights to wave flags while others set off fireworks. As the sun set, some protesters walked onto the Interstate 278 shutting down traffic in at least on direction, according to video posted online.

Bella Hadid, a well-known Palestinian-American model, participated in the Brooklyn protest.

The marches coincided with Nakba Day, which commemorate the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israels declaration of independence.

In Atlanta, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including grandparents, teenagers and mothers and fathers with youngsters in tow, assembled downtown to wave signs and chant slogans, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

One sign read, We cant breathe since 1948  a nod to the racial injustice and police brutality protests in the U.S. during the past year in the wake of George Floyds death in police custody after he couldnt breathe, the newspaper reported.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled Palestine will be free as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park.

A similar scene played out in Boston as protesters walked a short distance from Copley Square to the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

Footage on social media shows protesters unfurl a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words Free Palestine while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters streamed from the Washington Monument and to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demonstrators filled Rittenhouse Square to decry U.S. support for Israel.

At a protest in Pittsburgh, one speaker called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how Israel can spend aid from the United States.

The protests were stoked by five days of mayhem that left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza and eight dead on the Israeli side. The violence, set off by Hamas firing a rocket into Israel on Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in contested Jerusalem.

Israel stepped up its assault and slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp and destroying a building that house the offices of The Associated Press and other media.
Baker, MT (59313)

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Windy with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 49F. Winds WNW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Windy with scattered thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 49F. Winds WNW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Farm workers from the European Union have until the end of June to apply for settled status, a farming union has reminded businesses.

The governments settlement scheme ensures that any EU citizen who does not already have indefinite leave to remain can retain their rights to live and work here.

It is available to those who were living and working in the UK in a seasonal, temporary, or permanent capacity before 31 December 2020,

With applications for settled status to be in by 30 June 2021, NFU Scotland has told farming businesses that 'time is of the essence' to avoid disruption.

Keeping good workers makes good business sense for farmers, said George Jamieson, the union's education and skills policy manager.

"We know the significant value that migrant workers bring to the industry and their knowledge and skills developed over years of employment are essential.

"As an employer, its vital to be aware of the EU settlement scheme and its impending deadline.

Employers of seasonal workers from the EU who worked in the country in 2020 or before can encourage returnee workers to register for pre-settled status.

Individuals who achieve pre-settled status can stay in the UK for a further five years from the date that pre-settled status is achieved.

Pre-settled status also entitles individuals to up to two years in a row outside the UK without losing their status.

This can be a big bonus for the soft fruit sector according to David Michie, NFU Scotland's crops policy manager.

Migrant workers are a critical part of the soft fruit and vegetable sectors success," he explained.

"Good workers that know the job and return every year are a huge asset to our members businesses, and it is in their best interests to encourage these workers to apply for settled status."
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Arqit, a British company established in 2017, has announced the launch of a new quantum cybersecurity platform designed to solve current and future threats to the security of internet communications. The platform, QuantumCloud, uses transformational innovation in both quantum physics and crypto-mathematics, and has been developed over the course of four years of collaboration with the UK Government, BT and Virgin Orbit.

The launch positions the British economy at the forefront of global innovation in quantum, space and cyber technology, and Arqit alone intends to create 2,000 high-tech jobs in the UK. Since 2017, Arqit has received significant financial support from the UK Government through various departments and innovation programs. Arqit is in a position now to announce that, as a result of Wednesday's announced financing transaction, it will remain operationally headquartered in the UK.

Arqit and BT today further announced that BT has entered into a contract to become Arqit's exclusive reseller in the UK, incorporating their products into its wider portfolio of Security solutions. BT was a foundational research partner for Arqit in 2017, and the companies intend to extend their collaboration to find new ways to develop the UK's quantum communications infrastructure.

Virgin, which has itself a long history of pioneering in aerospace technology, has invested via its Virgin Orbit subsidiary in the Arqit financing transaction as well as signing contracts to launch the first two Arqit satellites, possibly from Cornwall in the UK, targeted for 2023.

Arqit's mission is to use transformational quantum encryption technology to protect the data of our governments, enterprises and citizens. Over the past four years, Arqit has invented and patented technology which substantially extends the ability to provide the benefits of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to end point devices. QuantumCloud puts a lightweight agent at any end point device, which is able to rapidly create an unlimited number of symmetric keys with partner devices.

QuantumCloud's reach is due to be expanded further through the usage of pioneering satellite technology. Currently the symmetric keys used in data encryption are created terrestrially. However, by 2023 Arqit plans to launch two quantum satellites, which will build on established QKD protocols to extend the capability to both create and transmit a backbone of secure keys to the data centres of Arqit's customers all over the world.

QuantumCloud is symmetric encryption reborn for the cloud, providing a significant improvement on legacy PKI encryption technology, and delivering future-ready protection against quantum-based attack. The US Government department NIST published a White Paper in April urging haste in the creation of new solutions to these problems - Arqit and its partners have achieved just such a solution.

Kwasi Kwarteng, BEIS SoS said: "Building back better from the pandemic means harnessing the latest developments in science and technology, so we want the UK to be the world's first quantum- ready economy given its potential to deliver new jobs, skills and knowledge across Britain.

"Our National Quantum Technologies Programme, that is set to pass 1bn of public and private investment over its lifetime, is helping create a world leading quantum ecosystem here in UK, and supporting the commercial success of innovative quantum businesses."

Howard Watson, Chief Technology Officer of BT said: "BT has been undertaking pioneering research in quantum security for many years, including working with Arqit on the research and concepts behind their technology. This launch is a great example of the innovation and capabilities that are being developed through collaboration across the UK's technology ecosystem. We are proud to be providing this technology to UK customers, which will bolster our industry-leading security capabilities."

Dan Hart, President and CEO of Virgin Orbit said: "The Virgin Group has been a long-term investor in space because of the transformational impact it will have on our world. At Virgin Orbit, we look for innovative companies to work with, and we are pleased to be Arqit's satellite launch partner and to invest in its development. Arqit's satellites will enable the company to further distribute its cutting-edge quantum encryption technology, which will drive and protect development across so many key sectors."

Arqit Co-Founder and Chairman David Williams said: "This is a global business and we are proud to have on the team some of the finest minds and capabilities from the US military and cyber, space and cloud tech markets. Also the UK's public and private start-up community must take considerable credit for providing the infrastructure and backing to build this business - which we believe will embed the UK at the heart of global cyber-security and quantum encryption commercial and government programmes for decades to come. In the course of the next few weeks and months we will be announcing a long list of international customer and partner initiatives which are testament to the regard in which the UK is held in this mission critical enterprise and we are grateful to the Government, BT, Virgin and other backers for their support in our development."

About Arqit

Arqit has invented a unique quantum encryption technology which makes the communications links of any networked device secure against current and future forms of hacking - even an attack from a quantum computer. Arqit's product, called QuantumCloud creates unbreakable software encryption keys which are easy and efficient to use remotely with no hardware or disruption to software required. The software has universal application to every edge device and cloud machine in the world.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in the United States, Arqit was founded in 2017 by UK satellite industry veteran David Williams. Arqit's venture investors included Notion Capital, Seraphim Space, Evolution Equity and the UK government's Future Fund.

About BT's Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) programme:

BT has been actively developing security solutions for quantum communications towards commercialisation since 2014, as part of its wider programme to research the impact that quantum computing will have on telecommunications. BT leads and contributes to a number of collaborative projects in the field of QKD, providing insight from its own research and engaging with industry to standardise and integrate QKD into broader future-ready security solutions. In addition to our work with Arqit on satellite QKD, BT provided the first industrial deployment of a QKD solution for the National Composite Centre in Bristol, utilising Toshiba's quantum technology.

Additional Information

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed transaction involving Arqit Limited ("Arqit"), Centricus Acquisition Corp. ("Centricus") and Arqit Quantum Inc. ("Pubco"), a newly formed Cayman holding company. This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. In connection with the proposed transaction, Pubco will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 that will include a proxy statement of Centricus in connection with Centricus' solicitation of proxies for the vote by Centricus' shareholders with respect to the proposed transaction and other matters as may be described in the registration statement. Pubco and Centricus also plan to file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction and a proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to all holders of Centricus' Class A ordinary shares. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE FORM F-4 AND THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

The proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Arqit and Centricus will be available without charge at the SEC's Internet site ( http://www.sec.gov ). Copies of the proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, when available, without charge, from Arqit's website at www.arqit.uk, or by directing a request to: Centricus Acquisition Corp., PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1- 1104, Cayman Islands.

Participants in the Solicitations

Arqit, Centricus and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Centricus' shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about Centricus' directors and executive officers and their ownership of Centricus' securities will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus when available. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus when it becomes available. Shareholders, potential investors and other interested persons should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the sources indicated above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of section 10 of the Securities Act, or an exemption therefrom.

Caution About Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Arqit's and Centricus's expectations and beliefs concerning future events and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors are difficult to predict accurately and may be beyond Arqit's and Centricus's control. Forward- looking statements in this communication or elsewhere speak only as of the date made. New uncertainties and risks arise from time to time, and it is impossible for Arqit and Centricus to predict these events or how they may affect Arqit and Centricus. Except as required by law, neither Arqit and Centricus has any duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forward-looking statements in this communication or elsewhere after the date this communication is issued. In light of these risks and uncertainties, investors should keep in mind that results, events or developments discussed in any forward-looking statement made in this communication may not occur. Uncertainties and risk factors that could affect Arqit's and Centricus's future performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to: (i) that the business combination may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price of Centricus' securities, (ii) the risk that the business combination may not be completed by Centricus' business combination deadline and the potential failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline if sought by Centricus, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the business combination, including the approval of the Business Combination Agreement by the shareholders of Centricus and the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount following any redemptions by Centricus' public shareholders, (iv) the lack of a third-party valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the business combination, (v) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, (vi) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the business combination on the Company's business relationships, operating results, and business generally,

(vii) risks that the business combination disrupt current plans and operations of the Company, (viii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company or against Centricus related to the Business Combination Agreement or the business combination, (ix) the ability to maintain the listing of Centricus' securities on a national securities exchange, (x) changes in the competitive and regulated industries in which the Company operates, variations in operating performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company's business and changes in the combined capital structure, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, (xii) the potential inability of the Company to convert its pipeline or orders in backlog into revenue, (xiii) the potential inability of the Company to successfully deliver its operational technology which is still in development, (xiv) the potential delay of the commercial launch of the Company's products, (xv) the risk of interruption or failure of the Company's information technology and communications system and (xvi) the enforceability of the Company's intellectual property.

Contacts:

Arqit Limited
Atos, a digital transformation company listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire cv cryptovision GmbH, a Gelsenkirchen, Germany-based leader in cryptographic products and solutions for securing digital identities.

The amount of the deal  expected to close by end of Q3 2021 and is subject to the approval of the local governance and regulatory bodies of both parties  was not disclosed.

This acquisition will strengthen Atos cybersecurity product lines and its business in the public sector and defense market in Europe. Atos will benefit from cryptovisions network of resellers and global technology partnerships in the e-ID markets. cryptovision will benefit from Atos relationship with European government customers and the Groups ability to deliver end-to-end integrated solutions on national and international scale.

Founded in 1999 by Markus Hoffmeister, CEO, cryptovision designs, develops and implements cryptography software, security solutions and hardware products. The company addresses various industries such as public administration, health, auto-motive, finance & insurance, energy or IT. Its customers include countries such as Nigeria, Ghana and Ecuador, institutions such as the German Armed Forces, the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the city of New York and companies such as E.ON, VW and Allianz.

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation focused on cybersecurity, cloud and high performance computing with 105,000 employees and annual revenue of over  11 billion. The group provides tailored end-to-end solutions for all industries in 71 countries.

FinSMEs

16/05/2021




Pope Francis on Sunday said the loss of innocent lives in violence between Israel and Palestinians was "terrible and unacceptable," warning that the latest conflict could get even worse.







"In these days, violent armed clashes between the Gaza Strip and Israel have taken over, and risk degenerating into a spiral of death and destruction," the pope said following his Sunday Regina Caeli prayer.







"Numerous people have been injured, and many innocents have died. Among them there are also children, and this is terrible and unacceptable," the 84-year-old pontiff said.







"I ask myself: where will hatred and revenge lead? Do we really think we will build peace by destroying the other?"







Francis' comments, addressed to a crowd in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, came after the pontiff held a special mass for Myanmar on Sunday morning.







During mass, he repeated calls for an end to bloodshed in the country roiled by the military junta's violent suppression of civilians, urging its people not to lose hope.







Francis, who often speaks about current events in his Sunday addresses from the window of the Apostolic Palace, also urged for calm in the Middle East.







"I appeal for calm and, to those who have responsibility, to stop the din of arms and to walk the paths of peace, also with the help of the international community," he said. (AFP)


CallRail, an Atlanta, GA-based marketing platform for businesses to accelerate growth with marketing analytics and communications tools, acquired PhoneWagon, a New York City-based call tracking software company.

The acquisition extends CallRails leadership position and market share in the call analytics space. In addition, with access to CallRails wider platform, PhoneWagon customers gain visibility into which marketing strategies drive revenue and generate the highest-value leads.

Led by Ryan Shank, CEO, PhoneWagon combines call tracking software with a modern business phone system that enables companies to drive more calls, understand what happens on those calls, and convert more of those callers into customers. PhoneWagon allows entire teams to communicate with customers from a shared inbox on any device.

Founded by CEO Andy Powell, CallRail provides a marketing platform that combines marketing analytics and communications into a single experience. In addition to Call Tracking, the platform also offers multi-touch attribution insights into the full customer journey via Form Tracking, automated call transcription and AI-powered call analysis via its Conversation Intelligence product and integrated communication tools through its Lead Center product.

CallRail integrates with several major marketing and sales platforms including HubSpot, Facebook, Salesforce, and Google Ads and Analytics.

The company, which now serves more than 180,000 businesses, raised $56M in funding from Sageview Capital and Leaders Fund in 2020.

FinSMEs

16/05/2021
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Alabama's state tourism agency has launched a podcast that both tells stories about the civil rights movement and encourages people to visit places linked to the era.

The three-part Alabama Civil Rights Podcast, available through the Alabama Tourism Department website and other sites where podcasts are available, mentions prominent sites including the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery; Selma's Edmund-Pettus Bridge and 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Episodes explore topics including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and nonviolence; the groundbreaking Freedom Rides of 1961; the Birmingham campaign of 1963; and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march of 1965. Listeners can find details about visiting those sites and others through the agency's website.

Our goal is for listeners to learn more about the history of the movement and how Alabama played a critical role in shaping voting rights and equality for everyone, Lee Sentell, the state tourism director, said in a statement.

Civil rights tourism has become big business in cities including Birmingham and Montgomery, where thousands each year visit places including Alabama's Capitol, the Dexter Avenue church, which was the first pastorate of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the national lynching memorial.
(CNN) -- A newly released government report on domestic violent extremism warns lone wolf attackers with easily accessible weapons present the greatest terrorism threat to the US and the number of people dying at the hands of racially motivated extremists every year is on the rise since 2017.

The joint report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security shows 2019 was "the most lethal year" for domestic violent extremist attacks since 1995 -- with 32 people killed, 24 of them by White supremacists. The report focuses on data from 2017-2019.

"In 2019, the FBI and DHS assessed RMVEs (Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists), primarily those advocating for the superiority of the white race, likely would continue to be the most lethal DVE threat to the Homeland," the report said. "Our agencies had high confidence in this assessment based on the demonstrated capability of RMVEs in 2019 to select weapons and targets to conduct attacks, and the effectiveness of online RMVE messaging calling for increased violence."

There were 57 domestic terrorism-related deaths between 2017 and 2019, the data shows, 47 of them racially motivated, mostly by White supremacists.

"Political disagreements within the United States could present opportunities for DVEs to engage in violence against individuals perceived to have opposing ideologies, prominent political or public figures, or members of the media covering these events," the agencies wrote, referring to domestic violent extremists.

DHS on Friday issued a terrorism threat bulletin update, which warned that "through 2020 and into 2021, government facilities and personnel have been common targets" of domestic violent extremists. "Historically, mass-casualty Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE) attacks linked to racially- or ethnically-motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) have targeted houses of worship and crowded commercial facilities or gatherings," according to the bulletin.

As the number of deaths related to domestic terrorism and racially motivated extremism has risen in recent years, the number of arrests has gone down, according to the report.

Nearly 850 domestic terrorism subjects were arrested by or in coordination with the FBI from fiscal year 2015 through 2019. In fiscal year 2016, approximately 229 arrests were made, compared to 107 in fiscal year 2019.

The FBI conducted approximately 1,000 domestic terrorism investigations each fiscal year from 2017 though 2019.

Following the release of the assessment, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said that "the report confirms what has been clear for some time: The greatest terrorist threat we face comes from radicalized lone offenders with easy access to weapons."

"They attack soft targets and have a variety of motivations, but a large majority of the most significant attacks have been carried out by white supremacist extremists," the California Democrat added in a statement.

The report, which is mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act of 2020, was sent to Congress nearly one year past the original deadline.

CNN first reported in February that Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat, and Ranking Member Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, sent a letter demanding the agencies produce the report by March 1, after blowing past the original June 2020 deadline.

At the time, the letter underscored a broader effort by lawmakers to reclaim oversight authority of agencies that regularly dismissed requests from Congress to provide comprehensive national security assessments under then-President Donald Trump due to explicit and implicit political pressure from the White House.

The FBI previously told CNN the agency had provided the first, brief part of the report in November, but the "operational tempo" and Covid-19-related strains delayed the response.

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said he appreciated that the Biden administration released the report, but added that "there will likely need to be more conversations and supplemental data submissions from the Biden administration for Congress to get a more complete picture of the domestic terrorism threat landscape."

"Congress needs data to help guide future legislative and oversight efforts to address the persistent scourge of domestic terrorism. The Executive Branch has this data; the biggest takeaway here is that presenting it in an aggregated manner that communicates to Congress and the American people the current threat picture continues to be a challenge," he said in a statement, pointing out that the report was due more than 10 months ago.

CNN's Mary Kay Mallonee contributed to this story.
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Hector Garnica, 13, receives a first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a mobile vaccination clinic at the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA on May 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. AFP-Yonhap





At Azteca Tortilleria in East Los Angeles, a sandwich board greets customers with a warning: "No mask, no service!"







The restaurant's owner, Samantha Hernandez, has had to throw out angry people over the last year for refusing to wear one. But in recent months, most customers complied without much grumbling.







The announcement Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggested vaccinated people no longer needed to wear masks indoors took her aback  and put her in an awkward bind.







"Am I supposed to start asking people for vaccination cards now?" she asked. "It doesn't make sense."







The CDC's guidance caught many off guard in California, from local and state health officials to business owners and front-line workers. Opinion was largely divided: Some said the move felt premature and could hurt front-line workers. Others said it was about time, with California and many other states experiencing the lowest number of daily coronavirus cases in a year.







Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told MSNBC that the CDC made the right call.







"You're very safe, and that's the reason why the CDC made that recommendation, because it became very clear that the infection rate has gone down."







Fauci said the number of people who get infected after getting vaccinated is a "very, very, very small percentage."







But the recommendation caught California officials by surprise, and many expressed doubt that the state is ready to adopt the mask guidance.







Gov. Gavin Newsom said the new CDC guidelines "have created some new anxiety for many: that it may be too soon, too much. And so we're adjudicating all that."







Signs advising about masks and social distancing are pictured by concessions at the Landmark Westwood theatre in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 14, 2021. REUTERS-Yonhap





Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County's public health director, was also not ready to implement the new approach immediately.







"We still have millions of people that are not vaccinated  that haven't even gotten one dose," Ferrer said Thursday. "And every day, the numbers may be small, but every day there are people who are getting infected."







Many health experts, while not questioning the science behind the CDC's move, wanted to see the case numbers remain low a bit longer before relaxing the mask rules.







"I'm surprised they came out with it this soon," said Dr. John Swartzberg, a clinical professor emeritus of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health's infectious diseases division. "I would've liked to have had another month under my belt of seeing the numbers continue to come down."







Swartzberg said he preferred a view floated earlier this week by Newsom, who proposed two different ideas about how to ease mask mandates in California. His second idea, mentioned on Wednesday, suggested eliminating outdoor mask mandates next month but perhaps retaining indoor mask mandates for a bit longer.







"Instead of taking giant steps, like I think the CDC took, I think we should be taking small steps toward the same goal," Swartzberg said. "We ultimately will get there. But I think we'll get there more safely if we're more cautious."







The federal announcement raised questions about whether there would be any kind of enforcement. Would supermarkets be checking vaccination cards to see who could enter unmasked? Would health privacy laws even allow them to check?







"I can't see grocery stores confirming that you're vaccinated. It just won't happen," Swartzberg said.







The United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents 1.3 million essential food and retail workers, criticized the announcement.







"While we all share the desire to return to a mask-free normal, today's CDC guidance is confusing and fails to consider how it will impact essential workers who face frequent exposure to individuals who are not vaccinated and refuse to wear masks," Marc Perrone, the union's international president, said in a statement. "Essential workers are still forced to play mask police for shoppers.  Are they now supposed to become the vaccination police?"







Grocery stores could opt to simply retain a no-mask, no-service policy.







Already many companies have announced they have not changed their mask rules, including Home Depot, Target, Macy's, Starbucks and Kroger, which operates Ralphs and Food 4 Less.







Costco and Walmart said they would drop the mask mandate in states where it is OK to do so.







Visitors wear masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic at the Universal City Walk Friday, May 14, 2021, in Universal City, Calif. AP-Yonhap





Trader Joe's also said it would allow fully vaccinated shoppers to be maskless inside its stores.







"We do not require proof of vaccination, as we trust our customers to follow CDC guidelines," company spokeswoman Kenya Friend-Daniel said in an email.






'Those Who Wish Me Dead' may be Sheridan's weakest film but it's still exhilarating
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 79F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 79F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
If you're looking for something cool to do tonight or next weekend make sure you...
With sidewalks to access the structure, ADA compliant accessibility and several new features, the Waterloo project cost about $141,000 according to Carroll.

A lot of that money, he said, came from the county's transient lodging tax.

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"It was a great way to be able to spend that money," Maynard said, adding that the experience of designing the park exceeded her expectations.

When the structure first arrived, she said, it was in about 10,000 pieces and she and William would go about once a week to check on the progress.

"The staff for county parks went above and beyond," she said. "They pieced it together at the shop and there were parts everywhere."

So many parts, Carroll said, that it took days to inventory them to ensure everything had arrived safely.

"It's beautiful," Maynard said of the park. "It's for kids 2 to 12 and you can see your kids from every angle of the park which is big for me as a mom."

Her favorite part?

The gyro: a piece of equipment with handlebars that kids can stand in and then spin 360 degrees.
All of this took place on the hallowed ground of the Mt. Union Cemetery, where more than 200 veterans of wars as far back as the Civil War are buried. Shipley, who donated the land, was a freed slave who came to Oregon about a decade before the Civil War began.

He wasnt free when he first arrived, however, taken along the Oregon Trail by his owner, who then released Shipley from service after helping to build the Shipley home. He worked his way into enough money to buy the land that presently surrounds the cemetery.

The Saturday memorial also was held to honor Shipley and his bravery and sacrifice.

We, all of us, are free men and women, but Reuben Shipley had to change a lot of minds, Niemann said. But he never gave up on his country and he died a proud American.

Shipley dedicated the cemetery on the condition that black men and women be allowed to be buried there. He named it Mt. Union in the hopes that the North would win the Civil War, which had recently begun.

Shipley and his family are buried there, along with several other freed slaves. The wreath in his honor was placed on his grave marker.
 ROSES to an abrupt and welcome shift regarding masks from the CDC and the state of Oregon on Thursday. Those who have been fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks except in certain situations, such as among large crowds, in hospitals, or on public transportation.

An easing of mask rules seems like a great incentive to convince more people to get a jab or two in the arm so we can beat this pandemic. Plus, being vaccinated means that youre protecting your family, friends and community members.

 ROSES to setbacks that turned out to be blessings for the operators of two local food carts. Terra Brown always wanted to create her own food cart, but never had the courage until being laid off last year. Her Corvallis business, Terras Tastee Treats, lives up to its moniker, and specializes in barbecue and desserts. Bill and Sandi Pollnow lost their commercial floor cleaning business after the March 2020 shutdown, and they launched a new food truck called 3 Potato More that serves loaded baked potatoes and more to customers in both Lebanon and Albany.
The building housing the offices of The Associated Press and other media in Gaza City collapses after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike Saturday, May 15, 2021. AP-Yonhap



World leaders expressed grave concern Sunday after Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed eight children and demolished a building housing international media outlets, as Palestinian militants fired back barrages of rockets.



Palestinian protestors clashed with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank as Israeli fighter jets struck several sites in the densely populated Gaza Strip.



One strike on a three-storey building in the Shati refugee camp killed 10 members of an extended family  two mothers and their four children each.



Israel's army claimed the building was used by senior Hamas officials.



Mohammed al-Hadidi said he had lost most of his family in the strike.



"What did they do to deserve this? We're civilians," said the devastated father, whose five-month-old baby was also wounded in the explosion.



"They are striking our children  children  without prior warning."



Palestinian militants responded with volleys of rockets into Israel, killing a man near Tel Aviv.



Balls of flame thrust into the sky on Saturday afternoon as Israel's air force flattened a 13-floor Gaza building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, after giving a warning to evacuate.



"It is clear that those who are waging this war do not only want to spread destruction and death in Gaza, but also to silence media that are witnessing, documenting and reporting the truth," Al Jazeera's Jerusalem bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, told AFP.



AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said he was "shocked and horrified" by the attack.



US President Joe Biden in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, expressed his "grave concern" over the flareup of violence as well as for the safety of journalists.





A view of a 11-story building housing AP office and other media in Gaza City is seen as Israeli warplanes demolished it, Saturday, May 15, 2021. AP-Yonhap



'Shocked and horrified'



Netanyahu told Biden that Israel did its utmost to safeguard civilians in its Gaza bombing campaign.



"The proof is that towers containing terror sites are cleared of uninvolved people prior to being attacked," he claimed.



In a televised statement later Saturday, he thanked Biden for "unequivocal support", after the US president had again underscored Israel's right to defend itself.



Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer had told him he had just an hour to evacuate the building.



Israel claimed that "military intelligence" agents of Hamas, the Gaza Strip's Islamist rulers, were also in the building.



Late Saturday, another building of around a dozen floors, the Al-Andalus, was heavily damaged in Gaza City, AFP correspondents said.



At midnight, Hamas launched a fresh barrage of rockets at Israeli cities, including the commercial capital Tel Aviv.





Al-Jazeera journalists stand next to the rubble of Jala Tower, which was housing international press offices, following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021. AFP-Yonhap



Biden also spoke to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, the Ramallah presidency said, the first time since Biden took office.



The White House earlier said it had told the Israelis that "the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility".









AFP Chairman Fabrice Fries said the agency "stands in solidarity with all the media whose offices were destroyed in Gaza".



"All parties involved in the conflict need to respect the media's freedom to report on events," he said.



AFP's global news director Phil Chetwynd said: "We are profoundly shocked the offices of media organisations would be targeted in this way."



'Sustainable calm'



Tor Wennesland, the UN Middle East envoy, said 40 Gazan and two Israeli children had been killed in recent days.



Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza since Monday have killed 145 people including 41 children, and wounded another 1,100, Palestinian health officials said.



Palestinian armed groups have fired at least 2,300 rockets at Israel, killing 10 people, including a child and a soldier, and wounding over 560 Israelis. Israeli air defences have intercepted many rockets.





Journalists walk on the rubble of Jala Tower, which was housing international press offices, following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza city on Saturday, May 15, 2021 in Gaza City. UPI-Yonhap



On Saturday afternoon, a rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli man on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, police and medics said.



Palestinians on Saturday marked the Nakba, the "catastrophe" that saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during Israel's creation in 1947-1948.



Two Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces Saturday in the West Bank, the day after some of the worst clashes in recent years in the territory left 11 Palestinians dead.



A Palestinian security source said the fighting was the "most intense" since the second intifada, or uprising, that began in 2000.



US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr was to hold talks Sunday with Israeli leaders before meeting Palestinian officials to seek a "sustainable calm", the State Department said.



The UN Security Council was to meet Sunday to discuss the violence.



Washington, which blocked a UNSC meeting scheduled for Friday, has been criticised for not doing enough to calm the violence.



Pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged protests across the world, including in Paris, where police used water cannon against them.





Palestinian journalists cover the destroyed Jala Tower, which was housing international press offices, following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021. AFP-Yonhap
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Gettysburg, PA (17325)

Today

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 63F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low 63F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Silkie chickens, known for their fluffiness and mostly friendly ways, wander a yoga room at a downtown Phoenix coffee shop last month.
Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Mostly clear. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 46F. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 46F. Winds NW at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.
In this file photo taken on April 29, 2021 UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attends a press conference at the end of a 5+1 Meeting on Cyprus. AFP-Yonhap



UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was "dismayed" by civilian casualties in Gaza and "deeply disturbed" by Israel's strike on a building containing international media outlets, a spokesman said in a statement released Saturday.



Guterres spoke as Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with air strikes, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing the 13-floor Gaza building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera and the Associated Press news agency, with Palestinian militants firing back barrages of rockets.



"The Secretary-General is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza, purportedly aimed at a Hamas leader," his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in the statement.



Guterres was "also deeply disturbed by the destruction by an Israeli airstrike today of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of several international media organizations as well as residential apartments," Dujarric continued.






Dion Trent Walton (Pictured), was arrested May 3 in connection with the murder of 69-year-old Hubert Moore of Glendale on March 19 near 59th Avenue and Bethany Home Road. Moore, right, died April 26, more than a month after he was shot.
The al-Jalaa building housing Associated Press and Al Jazeera media offices is hit by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, May 15, 2021. REUTERS-Yonhap



News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.



AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.



''The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,'' AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.



Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a ''war crime'' and a ''clear act'' to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.



''The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms,'' Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.



In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.



Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged ''a highly advanced technological tool'' that the militant group used in the fighting was ''within or on the building.''



But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without ''compromising'' intelligence efforts. He added, however: ''I think it's a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.''





Palestinians inspect the rubbles after an Israeli air strike hit Al-Jalaa tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, in Gaza City, May 15, 2021. EPA-Yonhap



Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and ''we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.''



''We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence,'' he said. ''This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.''



Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel ''provide a detailed and documented justification'' for the strike.









''This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza,'' the group's executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.



The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike ''part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations'' and also questioned whether the assaults seek to ''impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict.''



''We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press,'' the National Press Club said. ''Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job.''



The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.



Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap. Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it ''an honest mistake.''



The AP, based on its analysis of the army's statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.





Palestinians inspect the rubbles after an Israeli air strike hit Al-Jalaa tower, which houses apartments and several media outlets, including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, in Gaza City, May 15, 2021. EPA-Yonhap
Barton - Miriam A. (Jacobs) Carter, 98, died from declining health on Monday, June 1, 2020, in Barton, Vt. She was the widow of John C. Carter. Born in Rockland, Mass., on April 20, 1922, she was the second daughter of the late David Percy and Ethel Agnes (Belcher) Jacobs. She was a graduate
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@skagitpublishing.com for help creating one.
Former Formula 1 driver and race winner Carlos Reutemann has been discharged from intensive care following health problems earlier this month and is in stable condition, Autosport.com reports.

The Argentine former driver was rushed to hospital on May 8 after suffering multiple internal bleeds in his digestive tract. After an apparent improvement last Monday, the accident struck again the following day.

Read more McLaren reveals special livery for Monaco Grand Prix

An enteroscopy on Tuesday quickly provided better news. By Wednesday, the driver was lucid, and in relatively good shape. This situation persisted for the rest of the week, allowing Reutemann to leave intensive care on Sunday. However, he is still being monitored in the general ward in Rosario, Argentina.

Decorated driver

During his career in the premier class of motorsport, Reutemann won twelve Grands Prix. He made his debut at the Argentine Grand Prix. In 1981 he missed out on the world title by one point, which was won by Nelson Piquet.
New China-Russia air cargo route launched

Xinhua) 13:25, May 16, 2021

XI'AN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- An international air freight route linking Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Russia's Novosibirsk has been launched.

A Boeing 767-300F aircraft loaded with 18 tonnes of goods took off from Xi'an on Friday, kicking off operations on this new air cargo route.

Round trip cargo flights, operated by SF Airlines, China's leading air-cargo carrier, will ply once a week on the route. The cargo flights will mainly deal with outbound e-commerce logistics ordered by buyers via Russian e-commerce websites, and China's imports of general trade goods from Russia.

To date, the Xi'an Xianyang International Airport has opened 37 full cargo routes, including 18 international routes.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)


POSITION TITLE: Warehouse Operator, Entry Level



STRONGARM Designs provides the ideal operator interface solution to the healthcare, biopharmaceutical,

food, and other industries. We are diligently seeking to hire a candidate for the position of Warehouse

Operator in our procurement department. This department supports our entire line of products including

CleanMounts, Vertica MiniStations, and SuiteStations. Come join a team and company with endless innovative visions in a rapidly growing, leading industry!



JOB DESCRIPTION and RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Warehouse Operator will support the procurement department with daily routing of workinprocess

inventory using an ERP barcode system. Their duties will also include inventory handling, warehouse

organization, cycle counting, and receiving inspection



COMPENSATION:

$13$15/hr competitive compensation based on experience and certification

PTO, Sick, and personal days

401K, Health insurance, vision, dental

Continuous improvement company philosophy

STRONGARM swag

Yearly employee reviews

A place to grow professionally and personally

25 coke machine



REQUIREMENTS:

02 year experience in warehouse operations or in manufacturing

Strong math skills required

Ability to read prints, technical drawings

Ability to stand for 2+ hours

Ability to lift 80lbs

Inventory handling experience preferred

Warehousing experience preferred

ERP system experience preferred

Forklift experience preferred

Experience with calipers, protractors, tape measurer, etc.



RESPONSIBILITIES

Accurately clock in and out of work order travelers using the VISUAL barcode system and Augmentir

Inventory cycle counting and organization

Informing quality personnel of nonconforming materials or specifications

Assist with receiving inspection



DESIRED SKILLS:

A willingness to learn and take direction

Continuous Improvement professionally and personally

Works well with others and with little supervision

Positive attitude and driven



STRONGARM SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR COVID19:

Safety protocols at STRONGARM include disinfecting high touch areas every day, every two hours: door

handles, bathroom stalls, etc. They include mandatory masks, social distancing, and temperature checks. Hand sanitizer is available at every workstation. Employees are encouraged to stay home if they experience any related symptoms, and the company offers an extra 2 weeks paid time off for COVID19 related reasons.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BATON ROUGE NORTH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT The Baton Rouge North Economic Development District (District) is seeking a talented individual to serve as their Executive Director. The ExecutiveDirectors role is to develop the area included within the District to provide for substantial economic activity and employment opportunities. Working closely with the 13 member board, the Executive Director will design and implement sustainable, innovative solutions that drive investment, createjobs, strategically advance the economic base, and improve quality of life within the District. The ideal candidate possesses demonstrated success in the economic development arena: creating programs and incentives to recruit and attract newbusinesses; growing existing businesses and creating new jobs; and developing strong partnerships and collaborations with both the public and privatesectors. The District The District boasts a combination of geographic, political and workforce assets with proximity and accessibility to multimodal transportation options, local universities, and colleges. The second largest airport in Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport and the largest Historically Black College and University in the country - Southern University are both located in the District. A variety of federal, state, and local incentive programs are available for businesses and investors in the District. The latest achievement for the District is the recent announcement of the 2.9 million-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center which will be completed in 2022 and will create thousands of jobs for the District. Essential Functions Implement and update the Districts Strategic Plan and ensure that it includes relevant City-Parish, state, national, and international

Communicate frequently with the board Chair and coordinate with the Executive Committee of the board on prospects, data management, screening of qualified projects, economic incentive proposals, and drafting

Perform statistical or frequency analysis and prepare various statistical and narrative reports and presentations to the board andother public

Develop the Districts Annual Report and

Plan and execute targeted local, state, national and international business development recruitment

Develop and maintain professional relationships with clients, developers, consultants, City-Parish, state, national and international allies through professional contact and participation in related industry

Collect data for economic development analysis such as employment trends, commercial buildings and land vacancy, and availability ofdevelopment

Collect and update information about the community as a whole including tax rates, school system, housing costs, , to present acomprehensive picture of business opportunities.

Identify areas of opportunity and weaknesses to improve the competitiveness of the

Initiate, develop, and maintain programs to encourage businesses and industries to locate, retain, and expand their business within the

Coordinate and exchange information related to economic development with Chambers of Commerce, City-Parish, and other governmental agencies such as the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and other groups concerned with economic development such as the GreaterBaton Rouge Association of

Serve as a liaison with new businesses and assist them with required permits including building permits, utility services, fire codes, zoningissues, and certificates of

Assist new businesses to develop a relationship with various chambers of commerce and other business networking Assume administrative responsibility for the daily operation of District Office to include budget administration, project trackingand Required Knowledge/Skills/Abilities Exercise sound judgment, tact, creativity, resourcefulness and leadership in dealing with city staff, the public, local government/state/federal officials, committees and boards, as well as privately-owned

Meet deadlines, prioritize, and organize work work well under pressure and stress and make competent decisions. Workwell independently and with others as part of a team.

Possess knowledge of common business, governmental, and real estate terminology and

Demonstrate excellent writing and proofreading skills for use in the development of marketing materials, presentations, reports andcollateral

Be flexible, as responsibilities may require extensive work hours and/or working evenings/weekends, as needed, to attend meetings, prepare briefing presentations, complete analysis and research, or for other responsibilities as assigned and relevant to the

Have excellent speaking and presenting skills, as this position will present material in public meetings, community meetings, Required Education, Training, Experience, Certificates, and/or Licenses Bachelors degree in related field or minimum of five (5) years of increasingly responsible economic development experience .

Will be responsible for knowing, interpreting, staying abreast of new development and implementation of relevant federal, state, and locallaws, programs, and economic development initiatives and programs, including but not limited to workforce development incentives and

Must possess valid Louisiana Driver's License and successfully pass a Motor Vehicle Report Compensation Salary commensurate with experience. To Apply  Send current resume and references to BRNEDD@consultssa.com.

recblid j6li2pt9qtwud1768slz3bqdxzs8d4








Pennsylvania Mountains Healthcare Alliance (PMHA) is seeking candidates to fill an opening for a Charge Master and Revenue Analysis Coordinator. The position will support a group of hospitals located in Central Pennsylvania and Western Pennsylvania. This position will manage the charge description master, charge capture, charge coding functions, and the analytics associated with these processes. The position will be responsible to develop, implement, and monitor best practice process standards across participating hospitals and will report to the Director of Revenue Cycle. Specific responsibilities involve chargemaster maintenance, definitions, compliance, the establishment of new services and charges, and education. The position is remote but some in-state travel will be necessary. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of healthcare industry experience, analytical skills, proficiency with Microsoft Excel, excellent communication skills, and excellent customer service skills. A bachelor's degree is preferred but demonstrated knowledge through industry experience may serve as an acceptable substitute.

recblid y37nv6qgd4i3ta75qymd8e8wphm31x






WASHINGTON (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday he hasn't yet seen any evidence supporting Israel's claim that Hamas operated in a Gaza building housing The Associated Press and other media outlets that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike. Blinken said he has pressed Israel for justification.

Blinken spoke at a news conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, a day after The Associated Press top editor called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike over the weekend that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media, saying the public deserves to know the facts.

Israel destroyed a building housing The Associated Press and Al Jazeera and claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office.

Separately, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Israels bombing of a building housing the media organizations as a possible war crime.

Sally Buzbee, APs executive editor, said that the Israeli government has yet to provide clear evidence supporting its attack, which leveled the 12-story al-Jalaa tower.

The Israeli military, which gave AP journalists and other tenants about an hour to evacuate, claimed Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israel was compiling evidence for the U.S. but declined to commit to providing it within the next two days.

Blinken said he personally has not seen any Israeli evidence of Hamas operating in the building and has asked Israel for justification for the strike.

Shortly after the strike we did request additional details regarding the justification for it, Blinken said from Copenhagen, Denmark. He declined to discuss specific intelligence, saying he will leave it to others to characterize if any information has been shared and our assessment that information.

But he said, I have not seen any information provided.

On Sunday, Conricus, the Israeli military spokesman said, "Were in the middle of fighting. Thats in process and Im sure in due time that information will be presented.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would share any evidence of Hamas presence in the targeted building through intelligence channels. But neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any American official had seen it.

Buzbee said the AP has had offices in al-Jalaa tower for 15 years and never was informed or had any indication that Hamas might be in the building. She said the facts must be laid out.

We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation," she added.

In remarks Sunday, Netanyahu repeated Israels claim that the building housed an intelligence office of Hamas. Asked if he had relayed supporting evidence of that in a call with President Joe Biden on Saturday, Netanyahu said that we pass it through our intelligence people.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

RSF said it had strong reason to believe that the Israeli militarys intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment could violate one of the courts statutes. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

RSF asked the international court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague, to include the recent attacks in a war crimes probe opened in March into Israels practices in Palestinian territories.

Buzbee said the AP journalists were rattled after the airstrike but are doing fine and reporting the news. She expressed concern about the impact on news coverage.

This does impact the worlds right to know what is happening on both sides of the conflict in real time, she said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone Saturday with APs president and CEO, Gary Pruitt. The State Department said Blinken offered his unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world and noted the indispensability of their reporting in conflict zones."

Buzbee and Conricus spoke on CNNs Reliable Sources and Netanyahu was on CBS Face the Nation.
Week 19 in review: Zenfone 8/8 Flip are here, look at the Huawei P50, Pixel 6

Another week is done, so let's recap it. Starting with the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, which will have bigger camera islands, due to their better camera hardware. The entire iPhone 13 series are also going to be slightly thicker.

Asus unveiled the petite Zenfone 8 and the larger Zenfone 8 Flip with a rotating triple camera system. The pair is already available in Europe and Taiwan.

We saw renders of the upcoming Huawei P50 series, which show three camera sensors in one camera ring and a separate one for the rumored 1-inch main camera. Currently the closest to that coveted 1-inch size is the 1/1.12-inch Samsung sensor that adorns the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. The Huawei P50 is expected to have a 13-90mm equivalent camera setup. The renders don't clearly show a periscope, so we could be looking at a variable-zoom lens, similar to the one on the Sony Xperia 5 III and 1 III.

The Google Pixel 6 series broke cover with a couple of renders of what's allegedly the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. The pair has adopted a unique design with an orange accent color. We see two cameras on the Pixel 6 and three on the Pixel 6 Pro - no word on sensors or specs, but the renders clearly show we shouldn't expect a periscope.

Sony's upcoming noise-cancelling earbuds - the WF-1000XM4's leaked in detailed images, showing both earbuds and the case. The earbuds look more compact than their predecessors. They should arrive on June 9, possibly featuring high-res audio.

Those were the key stories of the week - the full list is below. See you in a week!



Xiaomi to introduce new noise-cancelling earphones on May 13 We are still waiting for the first audio wearable by the company with ANC.





Asus Zenfone 8 is a 5.9" flagship with an S888 chip, Zenfone 8 Flip keeps rotating cam The Zenfone 8 is smaller than the Xperia 5 III. The Flip is a Zenfone 7 with a Snapdragon 888 and a few other tweaks. Available for pre-order today.





Leaker claims these are real renders of the Huawei P50 series The render shows what the camera setups inside the rings may look like.





Sony WF-1000XM4 leak in images alongside expected release date The upcoming TWS earphones bring a more round and compact design with a slimmer charging case.





Samsung Galaxy F52 5G photos and price tag surface ahead of announcement The phone was photographed in China and it appears to be a lower cost alternative to the Galaxy A52 5G with similar specs.





Xiaomi is no longer blacklisted by the US government The US Defense Department decides to back down after a lawsuit, filed in US courts.





PlayStation 5 consoles will be hard to find in stores even in 2022, Sony warns Previously, Sony believed that the supply shortage will end in the second half of this year, but later it told analysts that shortages will last through 2022.





Leaked Sony WF-1000XM4 renders show two different colorways The XM4 generation will be noticeably more compact than the current XM3 TWS buds.


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As it bounces back from COVID-19, Georgia Gwinnett College celebrates classes of 2020, 2021 at commencement ceremonies

Photo: GGC PR Office/Rod Reilly Georgia Gwinnett College graduates pose for a group selfie after the first of two ceremonies for the colleges Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Arena on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR/OFFICE ROD REILLY Georgia Gwinnett College graduate Yesmeen Jaser smiles after walking across the stage at one of the schools two in-person commencement ceremonies for the GGC Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Staff Photo: Curt Yeomans Georgia Gwinnett College graduate Yesmeen Jaser smiles after one of the school's two in-person commencement ceremonies for the GGC Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE Georgia Gwinnett College President Jann Joseph addresses members of the colleges class of 2021 during the first of two in-person commencement ceremonies for the class on Thursday. GGC also held an in-person commencement ceremony Thursday night for the Class of 2020, which could not experience a ceremony a year ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: ROD REILLY/GGC A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate pumps her fist in the air in celebration during the colleges first of two in-person commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE A Georgia Gwinnett College grad waves a GGC rally towel. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate kisses a loved one after participating in the college's afternoon commencement ceremony at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR Office/Rod Reilly A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate hugs a professor after the colleges afternoon commencement ceremony at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate smiles as she walks across the stage at the college's afternoon commencement ceremony at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate cheers after walking across the stage during the college's first of two in-person commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Arena on Thursday. Photo: ROD REILLY/GGC A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate takes a selfie in her cap and gown during the college's first of two in-person commencement ceremonies for the Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Arena on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A new Georgia Gwinnett College graduate waves to loved ones in the audience during the college's afternoon commencement ceremony for the Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A member of Georgia Gwinnett College's Class of 2020 waves and shows off her diploma case as she walks across the stage at the college's commencement ceremony for the class at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday night. About 100 alumni from the Class of 2020 came back to participate in the ceremony, which was delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A member of Georgia Gwinnett College's Class of 2020 shows off her diploma case as she walks across the stage at the college's commencement ceremony for the class at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday night. About 100 alumni from the Class of 2020 came back to participate in the ceremony, which was delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY A member of Georgia Gwinnett College's Class of 2020 listens to a speaker at the college's commencement ceremony for the class at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday night. About 100 alumni from the Class of 2020 came back to participate in the ceremony, which was delayed by a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: GGC PR OFFICE/ROD REILLY Joy Crowe receives a degree that Georgia Gwinnett College posthumously awarded to her son, Alexander Elbaz, at its Class of 2020 commencement ceremony at the Infinite Energy Center on Thursday night. Elbaz died in February 2020 and the school had to delay holding an in-person commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020 for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY GGC 2 PM Spring Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY GGC 2 PM Spring Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY GGC 2 PM Spring Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY GGC 2 PM Spring Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY GGC 2 PM Spring Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement GGC PR OFFICE ROD REILLY Gallery of images from the 7:30 PM GGC Class of 2020 Commencement

With a global pandemic underway, the last 12 months hasnt exactly been a traditional way to wind down an undergraduate college career. But Georgia Gwinnett College graduating senior Yesmeen Jaser said that made Thursdays commencement ceremonies sweeter.

GGC held in-person commencement ceremonies for its Class of 2021 at the Infinite Energy Arena Thursday, and an in-person ceremony for the Class of 2020 Thursday night. A virtual commencement ceremony, for people still concerned about being at large events, was broadcast Wednesday night.

This ceremony, it means a little more because weve struggled through a pandemic together, and weve survived it, Jaser said.

Thursdays ceremonies were a big step toward normalcy for GGC since it was unable to hold in-person commencement ceremonies at end of the spring 2020 ceremony because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PHOTOS: Georgia Gwinnett College Class of 2021 morning commencement ceremony

There were about 750 graduates in GGCs Class of 2021, according college officials.

GGC has provided you with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful outside of the walls of this college, and youve already proven yourself more than capable of managing change, GGC President Jann Joseph told the graduates at a ceremony Thursday afternoon.

But, remember change brings the opportunity to grow so dont be afraid of it. Take every advantage if you can to commit yourself to life-long learning. Everyone of you has the ability to make a tremendous impact on our society so extend your GGC family to the world.

PHOTOS: Georgia Gwinnett College Class of 2021 afternoon commencement ceremony

When the pandemic hit Georgia in March 2020, GGC joined other educational institutions in quickly switching to online learning. Due to the pandemics ongoing impact, many classes at GGC were offered virtually this year as well.

For the roughly 100 members of the Class of 2020 who showed up to participate in the in-person ceremony, Thursday night was especially special or, as Joseph put it, a long time coming for the graduates, who only got an online ceremony a year ago.

We are here to celebrate you again, the right way, our unstoppable Class of 2020, Joseph said. Thank you for coming back for the opportunity to walk across the stage because we know this is a dream postponed.

Alumni of 2020, you spoke and we listened. You wanted, and quite possible needed, to be in this space together and take that ever important walk across this stage. Although we werent able to fulfill your dreams last year, we are here to do just that.

PHOTOS: Georgia Gwinnett College Class of 2020 commencement

Jaser, who earned a bachelors degree in biology and delivered the student address at ceremonies Thursday, said all of her classes were done almost completely virtually this year, although a few lab projects could be done in-person.

We had hybrid versions of classes, she said. We were able to go inside the labs and do a few experiments.

The pandemic was just one of many challenges Jaser overcame to get to her college degree. She is a first-generation Palestian-American (who was born in America), but her family moved to Jerusalem when she was growing up, then moved to Lawrenceville when she was in high school.

Due to an issue getting credits transferred to a Gwinnett high school that would have required her to redo her first two years of high school, she opted to instead get her GED. She then got married, and later divorced, while she was studying at GGC.

And, finally there was a global pandemic that hit late in her second-to-last year of college, and it continued through her final year.

She credited the GGC faculty and staff  who she said became like friends  with helping her and all of this years graduates get through all of the adversities they faces.

It was absolutely life-changing, Jaser said of her experience. I didnt just have my parents as my support system, or my family as my support system, I had the GGC faculty and staff by my side, and they helped me every day.

I wouldnt be here today if it werent for them.

Jaser is the first member of her family to graduate from college. She will now prepare to take her MCAT tests and apply to med schools. NYU is her dream med school, and she is also looking at other schools, such as UCLA, Emory and UGA.

I want to become a cardiothoracic surgeon, she said. I actually have a very silly slogan: I fix hearts, not break them.

A sense of overcoming a heavy obstacle was shared by other students at GGCs commencement ceremonies. One graduate at a ceremony held Thursday morning had the message, It always seems impossible until its done glued to her graduation cap.

The pandemics impact was felt on the commencement ceremonies. The in-person ceremonies were socially distanced. The college, which has traditionally held one ceremony, broke it up into two ceremonies for the Class of 2021 with graduates of some schools walking in the morning and graduates of other schools walking in the afternoon.

Several graduates also wore face masks with their graduation attire.

While there were differences because of COVID-19, Joseph closed out the ceremonies by invoking one tradition that goes back long before the pandemic.

At GGC, we end everything with a very simple anthem, and that is Go be great, and go Grizzlies, she said.
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.

Vote

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McPherson College is seeking a full-time Admissions and Financial Aid Counselor. This position is a full-time, 12-month, exempt position. This position reports to the director of admissions and is eligible for college benefits.

Individual will actively seek, develop and expand avenues for recruiting prospective students. This counselor will provide information to students and their families about admissions, enrollment and financial aid.

The ideal candidate must have an enthusiastic understanding of the McPherson College philosophy on entrepreneurship and liberal arts and the ability to successfully promote them at a wide variety of outreach events.

Bachelors degree required; 1-2 years experience in a small college setting preferred. Ideal candidate will be skilled at communicating with a diverse range of individuals, energetic in reaching out to prospective students and determined to set and achieve high recruiting goals. Frequent travel required, including some nights and weekends.

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Haiti - FLASH : A propane gas station explodes in Delmas 32





Late in the evening of Saturday, May 15, 2021 at Delmas 32, a propane gas station exploded in a huge ball of fire.



In this very urbanized neighborhoodwhere day and night there are people in the streets and many small businesses in activity, this violent explosion injured several people as well as children; vendors near the station at the time of the incident were burned some seriously and rushed to hospital. According to testimonies, the explosion killed at least 2 people (unofficial partial assessment).



In addition, several houses caught fire as a result of this incident and others were damaged by the blast of the explosion.



Firefighters were on the scene quickly to contain the blaze and prevent the fire from spreading and causing further damage.



The cause of this explosion, the extent of the damage and the number of victims are unknown for the moment...



To be continued...



S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Spain : University of Leon Excellence scholarships, call for applications





The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the University of Leon, located in the region of Castile and Leon (North West Spain) has launched for the academic year 2021 - 2022 a call for applications for a program of excellence scholarships entitled : "TalentUnileon".



This scholarship program is intended for foreign students who have obtained an average score above at least 8 points out of 10 in their studies prior to the diploma, and who wish to complete training at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels at the University of Leon.



The application deadline for the bachelor's and master's levels : June 28, 2021.



The application deadline for the doctoral level : October 31, 2021.



For more information on this scholarship program visit : www.unileon.es/becas/convocatorias-de-las-becas-talent-unileon-para-el-curso-20212022



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Location: Milwaukee - Wisconsin

Location: Cleveland - Ohio

Location: Kansas City - Missouri

Job Description

The focus of the Sales Execution organization is to provide a modern, outcome-based sales process, enabled by technology and insights, that delivers a positive experience for our customers, and drives efficiency and effectiveness of our selling teams.

The Application Specialist is responsible for supporting a key component of this effort, our customer relationship management (CRM) application - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. This role is responsible for supporting the Global CRM Application Manager to ensure Dynamics 365 Sales meets business requirements.

Global CRM Application Specialist

The focus of the Sales Execution organization is to provide a modern, outcome-based sales process, enabled by technology and insights, that delivers a positive experience for our customers, and drives efficiency and effectiveness of our selling teams.

The Application Specialist is responsible for supporting a key component of this effort, our customer relationship management (CRM) application - Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales. This role is responsible for supporting the Global CRM Application Manager to ensure Dynamics 365 Sales meets business requirements.

Responsibilities

Supports the Global CRM Application Manager's strategy, operational objectives, and work plans to enhance the Dynamics 365 Sales application as it serves the needs of a growing set of users who engage with customers.

Works with the global sales process managers in the development of enhancements and updates needed to support the modern RA way of selling.

In conjunction with IT, and using an agile software development methodology, supports planning coordination for development and deployment of new features and enhancements.

Primary liaison for the global community of CRM support specialists. Provide knowledge, gather feedback, and drive issues to resolution.

Act as an additional liaison to Microsoft, and is required to stay current on trends in CRM technology and best practices.

Analyze data to understand usage and adoption of platform enhancements.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in business or science/technology, or equivalent real-world experience.

3 years background in project management and/or CRM experience, including developing plans, cost estimates, resource scheduling, project status reporting and overall management to on-time and on budget deliverables.

Experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales or a similar CRM system is strongly preferred. Must be familiar with CRM system architecture, connections to other business systems, data utilization, and security considerations.

Interpersonal, organizational and written/verbal communication skills; ability to sell ideas and present strategies to key stakeholders.

Familiarity with the agile software development methodology.

Demonstrated capability to work on multiple types of projects at any one time.

Able to collaborate with cross-business and cross-regional teams to leverage expertise where is it available to get the job done.

#LI-JD1

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer including disability and veterans.

If you are an individual with a disability and you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please contact our services team at +1 (see application details).




Haiti - Trade : Minister Day, visited a site in Ouanaminthe





Friday, May 14, 2021, Louis Gonzague Edner Day, the Minister ai of the Interior and Territorial Communities, carried out an inspection visit of the redevelopment site of the Binational Market in Ouanaminthe accompanied of the Representatives of the European Union, the Embassy of France, the Embassy of Switzerland, for the main donors, as well as local authorities and notables of Ouanaminthe.



According to Minister Day, the reactivation of this binational Ouanaminthe-Dajabon market will help revitalize trade and economic exchanges between the inhabitants of this border region. For the Minister, it is important to accelerate the process of putting the Market back into service, in order to reduce smuggling at this level of the border, by allowing regular supplies to local households like Malpasse / Jimani, Belladere / Elias Pinas and Anse-a-Pitres / Pedernales.



In addition to assessing the progress of the market redevelopment work, Minister Day wanted to inquire about the various disputes noted at this level of the border, in order to provide immediate solutions on the Haitian side, which will be beneficial to merchants and consumers on both sides of the border.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32173-haiti-economy-bilateral-negotiation-on-the-reopening-of-the-dajabon-market.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





PNH : The gang leader "Diveskou" shot dead

Saturday morning a police operation involving several special units of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) was carried out in Cite 4 (Delmas 19) to dismantle a gang led by "Diveskou". During this operation, the Chief "Diveskou" was killed during the exchange of fire with the police forces. Several suspected Gang members were arrested.



Media : Constitutional debate every day

"New Constitution, the debate is launched every day, from Monday, May 17, 2021, on all television channels, certain radio stations, most of the channels YouTube, Facebook. Follow, participate in the debates to make your positions known," informed Mathias Pierre, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister, in charge of electoral issues and relations with political parties.



The DG of the PNH trains with SWAT

Friday morning at the head of a team of the elite unit SWAT Special Weapons and Tactics Leon Charles, the Director General ai, of the National Police of Haiti PNH) . By this gesture, the Charles clearly wants to demonstrate his vision, to recommend to all commanders to get closer to their troops in order to strengthen the esprit de corps to protect and better serve the population.



Referendum / Elections

On Saturday a second shipment of materials for the referendum and the elections arrived. The first non-sensitive batch included 2,000 smart phones for the rapid transmission of results and computer equipment for the Voting Processing Center. The second sensitive batch contained documents intended for training.



Delmas implores the Lord for Haiti

Given the difficult situation in the country, several churches will be in prayer at the Municipal Palace of Delmas on Monday 17, Tuesday 18 May 2021 between 6:00 am and noon and Wednesday 19 May from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm In addition, the administration will remain functional while inviting interested employees to take part to implore the name of the Lord on behalf of our dear Haiti.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By William Schwartz | Published on 2021/05/15

The Voluntary Agency Network (VANK) of Korea recently reported some surprising news about "Bride of the Water God 2017" which is currently available on Netflix. Apparently, in one scene that makes reference to the East Sea, the French subtitles refers to the geographical area as the Sea of Japan. The offending scene takes place in the eleventh episode. Rather perplexingly, in context, the East Sea is specifically described as an ideal location for petroleum reserves that would specifically help Korea.

The nationalist issue of the naming of the East Sea has long been a bitter one internationally, with Koreans insisting on the more neutral East Sea as the Sea of Japan implies that Japan has possession of the body of water separating the two countries. VANK expressed particular outrage over the slight, as South Korean cultural contents are used to spread knowledge of South Korean culture worldwide. But no Korean person would ever refer to the East Sea in such a manner.

This is not the first such instance of such a mistake on the part of Netflix translations. Last year's "Time to Hunt" also featured a brief reference to the East Sea which was incorrectly translated as Sea of Japan in Brazilian Portugese, Danish, German, Hungarian, Polish, and Spanish. At the time Netflix apologized for the mistake and promised to do better in the future.

Despite this promise, similar errors have also cropped up in dramas such as "Kingdom" and "The School Nurse Files" with enough frequency it is unclear whether Netflix translation teams are actually being informed of the relevant issues. Some suspect that the real problem is that Netflix is outsourcing the work in question and not bothering with internal quality control. Other such complaints have also been filed the other way around, with Korean subtitles for foreign programs also being in error.

Written by William Schwartz
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:
LIGHTNING PHOTOS: Memorial service honors fallen officers

Police officers and supporters listen to a speaker on Police Memorial Day. [PARKER NEWMAN/Hendersonville Lightning]

Law officers, their families and supporters turned out Saturday evening on Police Officers Memorial Day to pay tribute to fallen officers and hear the community's law enforcement leaders call on them to be "keepers of the light of these fallen heroes."

Signed into law in 1962 by President Kennedy, Police Officers Memorial Day honors fallen officers from across the U.S., Sheriff Lowell Griffin said.

"There's a monument in Washington, D.C.," he said. "That monument has thousands of names inscribed on it of those who have given all for their community. And this year has special meaning because we have added another name from Henderson County to that wall. Just yesterday this building was dedicated to Deputy Ryan Hendrix. This stands not only as a memorial, so that we will never forget him. This stands as a reminder for us, for those that were willing to sacrifice everything, as Ryan was for a community that he loved. We know that this is a reminder of the high standard he conducted himself by and the way we need to conduct ourselves."

Days after Deputy Hendrix died last Sept. 10, Henderson County deputies attended the funeral of a Greenville, South Carolina, deputy who lost his life and just three weeks ago they mourned two Watauga County deputies who were gunned down at a domestic call.

"Just behind me, you're going to see duty boots, 11 pair of boots," Griffin said. "This symbolizes real people who gave everything and didn't make it home from their shift in North Carolina. Their losses affected the cities and counties they served, the communities that they lived in, their friends and the law enforcement family. But as you look closer you're going to see something that really stands out. Look at their children's shoes and you'll see the devastating effect that each loss has had. Each duty boot represents a husband, a wife, a son, a brother or a sister that didn't return from their tour that day. But those children's shoes represent a child who grew up without a parent because they put the badge on and they went to work and they gave all."

Hendersonville Police Chief Blair Myhand said law officers face danger every day that they serve and protect.

"There are more than 800,000 husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who serve communities every day as sworn law enforcement officers and despite the dangers of this profession every single one of them go to work day and night, weekends and holidays, birthday parties and anniversaries to protect and serve us," he said. "Those individuals have my deepest admiration and respect and for those men and women who do this job knowing full well that today might be the day they are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for our safety and liberty. There's no speech, no ceremony or words I can say that can fade the memory when an officer is killed in the line of duty. But tonight we celebrate their lives, not their deaths. For it is us, the ones left wearing the badge, who must uphold the honor and integrity in their absence. Without a doubt that is what Ryan and so many did. Let their sacrifice be for a purpose greater than us all."

Blue Ridge Community College Police Chief Daran Dodd said: "Three-hundred and sixty families last year lost sons daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands and wives. It feels like yesterday that I was mourning the loss of someone you may know, Sgt. Jeff Hewitt of the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office. That was 17 years ago and I've found through the years it never gets any easier when we lose one of our own. We can never forget the sacrifices of these brave men and women who save lives in our community every single day. They are forever bound together by their unbreakable bond of valor and sacrifice."

"The candles that are lit here tonight may not burn long," Dodd said, "but they remind us that we must all be keepers of the light that's inside of these fallen heroes."

In closing, Griffin asked law officers, families and community to remember the families and to continue to support law enforcement.

"I would like to ask God to bless all of the families and survivors of these officers that have given all this year," he said, "but also bless those families that sit on pins and needles every day when their loved one pins that badge on and walks out the door."

The Henderson County Sheriff's Office Honor Guard fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played "Taps" and a bagpiper played "Amazing Grace" as a gigantic American flag attached to a city ladder truck waved in the evening breeze.








Job Title: Coordinator, Restorative Justice



School Year: 2021-2022



Position Overview



The Coordinator, Restorative Justice is responsible for developing and implementing proactive and responsive restorative practices in order to foster a safe, supportive, and positive school culture.

As a leader at DCPS, the Coordinator, Restorative Justice will ensure alignment to the mission and vision, while supporting the school community in reflecting on the guiding principles and core values. In addition, this person will develop systems that create strong school culture and train staff on utilizing restorative practices in order to remove barriers and provide the optimal learning experience for all students.

This position is a safety-sensitive position. As a result, throughout employment this position will be subject to the Employee Mandatory Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy.

The Coordinator, Restorative Justice will report to the Assistant Principal, Intervention.





Essential Duties and Responsibilities



The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.



The Coordinator, Restorative Justice role is outlined, more specifically, through the lens of the 5 Essentials: cultural proficiency, teaching and learning, student performance, community relationships, and professional culture.

Essential 1: Cultural Proficiency

Cultural Proficiency is the ability to successfully work with students, families, and community members who come from a culture other than our own. We expect that the Coordinator, Restorative Justice is consistently developing certain personal and interpersonal awarenesses and sensitivities, and understands important bodies of cultural knowledge, etc. in order to fully engage in the work. Establishes and executes school systems, routines, and policies in order to create a safe, equitable, and welcoming school environment.

Supports a school community that reflects and embraces student, family, staff, and community diversity.

Ensures that all students are safe, welcomed, and able to maximize learning time, by developing/implementing school- wide behavioral expectations and supporting students and staff through restorative practices. Communicates regularly and often with students, families, and community members to gain input/insight and share information.

Essential 2: Teaching and Learning

The Coordinator, Restorative Justice supports students and staff by developing strong cultural systems, while also implementing intervention and restorative practices that ensure all students find social, emotional, and academic success. This includes aligning time, resources, and support with the individual and collective needs of students. Collaborates with the leadership team to create effective systems that support school-wide culture and promote social, emotional, and academic learning for all students

Works closely with the leadership team to align restorative justice services and supports with the mission, vision, and core values.

Collects data, provides progress reports, and participates in program evaluations to determine the efficacy of school- wide cultural systems.

Provides MTSS supports, interventions, and accommodations to individual students, according to individual students support plans.

Works closely with teachers to create and implement intervention plans as needed.

Essential 3: Student Performance

At DCPS, we believe that student performance extends beyond academics. Because of that, we expect the Coordinator, Restorative Justice to support students in attaining their academic, social-emotional, and cultural goals. Using restorative justice practices, the Coordinator, Restorative Justice support students, parents, and staff in meeting annual student performance goals. Develops own capacity and that of faculty and staff by leading school-wide professional development on positive behavior supports and intervention/restorative practices necessary for optimal learning conditions.

Supports teachers in implementing the MTSS process, and restorative and intervention practices.

Builds behavior-centered relationships with students, parents, teachers, and staff in order to aid students academically, socially, and culturally.

Essential 4: Community Relationships

We expect the Coordinator, Restorative Justice to develop strong relationships, not only with students, but also their families and the community. The Coordinator, Restorative Justice is responsible for creating a welcoming environment for all stakeholders and using stakeholder feedback to guide the growth and development of successful, effective relationships. Maintains clear alignment to the vision and mission that promotes a welcoming and supportive learning environment for students, families, staff, and all other stakeholders.

Provides open communication and decision-making opportunities with families tied to practices impacting culture.

Builds relationships with Social-Emotional-Learning (SEL) teams to ensure students are receiving the appropriate supports.

Essential 5: Professional Culture

In order for the focus to remain on supporting our students, families, community, and staff, it is important that we all maintain a level of professionalism.

Represents oneself in alignment to school named professional norms.

Adheres to expectations of timeliness.

Professionally engages with staff, students, community, funders, and colleagues.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree with at least two years of related work experience.

Specific experience in related position of counseling, teaching, and/or working with restorative intervention support.

Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus. Ability to demonstrate cultural sensitivity and work with a diverse group of people, with proven ability to build meaningful relationships with students, staff, and families.

Demonstrated initiative and skills in the following areas: relationship and community building, communication, conflict resolution, creativity, problem solving, decision making, and time management.

Fundamental belief that all students can meet rigorous cultural and academic expectations.

Commitment to the DCPS mission, vision, core values, and guiding principles.

A deep belief that all students can thrive in a challenging, high-quality, nurturing, and supportive learning environment; and a deep commitment to educational equity and serving the needs of students furthest from opportunity.

Knowledge of, and a commitment to, the community school model.

Experience in the essential duties of the Coordinator, Restorative Justice outlined above.

Track record of managing towards and achieving exceptional results for students, particularly those furthest from opportunity.

Continual learner who has an appetite for new approaches, a willingness to learn from mistakes, and the patience and skill to implement change.

Demonstrated experience developing resources, tools, systems, and processes to increase school success; and excellent written and oral communication skills.

DCPS Values

STUDENTS FIRST : We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.

COURAGE : We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.

EQUITY : We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.

EXCELLENCE : We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions. TEAMWORK : We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.

JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.


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Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Mostly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening with thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.


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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
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Deadly China tornadoes ripped through central and eastern parts of the country, killing 12 people. The initial tally from Chinese authorities says the freak weather also injured about 300 other people.

Deadly China Tornadoes Destroy Cities

Over the weekend, China was hit by rare tornadoes causing death, injuries, and property damage, as reported by NBC.

One of the first locations, Shengze, was struck at 7 p.m. It caused loss of power and damage to homes and factories, said the Xinhua News Agency.

In a social media post, the Suzhou city government said four people had died, and 149 others had minor injuries. On China's east coast, Shengze is near Shanghai.

Local governments also confirmed the deaths of eight people in the interior city of Wuhan last Friday night. After the chaos and damage caused by the first tornado, one more struck Wuhan, said the SCMP.

By 8:40 p.m., the tornado had reached speeds of 53 to 86 kph (33 to 53 mph), resulting in property damage. Recorded losses included 24 homes and a massive power outage that had affected 26,600 households. The Wuhan government later announced eight people had died and 218 were injured.

According to the SCMP, 27 homes in Wuhan had fallen, while another 130 sustained some damage. These deadly China tornadoes also destroyed construction site sheds and two cranes.

Read also: Sen. Kennedy on Biden's Energy Policy: Anti- American, Destroys US Energy Independence

Several rescue agency personnel in Wuhan were seen trying to get out of the debris left by the unexpected disaster. It left many in a difficult situation after workers removed metallic debris at a factory in Shengze at midnight on Friday.

Early last Thursday, fast winds of up to 125 kph (78 mph) were recorded near Yancheng city, a few hours north of Shanghai. In a city of about 7 million people, the severe weather flattened whole towns, interfered with power lines, and overturned vehicles.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, nearly half of those wounded are in serious condition. It dispatched a team to oversee disaster relief efforts and 1,000 tents, 2,000 folding beds, and ten sets of emergency lights.

Jiangsu provincial authorities sent a rescue team of over 1,000 people as well as supplies. There were no alarm systems in place, and the dense population is eyed to have contributed to a high death toll.

How often are there tornadoes in China?

Occurrences of tornadoes are unusual in China, but they do, in fact, happen.

In June 24, 2016, a tornado battered Jiangsu, an eastern province of China, resulting in 98 deaths people 800 injuries. Hailstorms, thunderstorms followed the tornado, and lightning, according to a report from CNN. That year, a resident even claimed of being "swept away in two minutes and then reached a building," as he told state broadcaster CCTV.

In July of 2019, one such phenomenon killed six individuals in the northeastern Liaoning province. Another province was hit by similar destructive weather when Hainan, a resort island, reported eight fatalities.

Related article: Texas Suffers Worst Winter Storm, Power Outage Causes Statewide Problems to Citizens

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sixteen infants recently underwent Phase 1 of the clinical trial of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, and an 8-month-old boy from New York is the youngest among the recipients.

Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial

Nearly 140 million American adults have received at least one injection of a COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the nation a step closer to immunity. Vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna have gone on to the next phase of the virus war, testing to see whether the vaccine is safe and successful for children.

According to a recently published article in the Daily Advent, Pfizer-BioNTech began its clinical trial on infants to determine the efficacy and the proper dosage of the vaccine within the age group.

Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, professor of pediatrics, epidemiology, and population health at Stanford University, said that letting children receive the COVID-19 vaccine will help reduce the number of infections, according to an article in ABC News.

Read Also: Biden Reverses Another Trump-Era Immigration Policy

The Youngest Recipient of COVID-19 Vaccine

An 8-month-old boy from the upstate Baldwinsville, NY, is the world's youngest recipient of two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine among the 16 infants, according to a recently published article in The New York Post.

Upstate Medical University gave baby Vincenzo "Enzo" Mincolla his second shot on Wednesday as part of a clinical trial. The hospital is one of four sites in the United States where the Pfizer vaccine is being tested in children under the age of five. Currently, the U.S. is the only nation running such experiments.

The baby received his first shot three weeks ago when he turned eight months old. Dr. Joseph Domashowske, an upstate pediatric infectious disease specialist leading the trial, told a news outlet that he is the trial's youngest recipient. Five other babies are taking part in the upstate experiment.

The Parents Release a Statement

The infant's parents are doctors. They both said, "We both feel it's important to end this pandemic, and the quickest and safest way is to vaccinate our way out of it."

They also shared that their baby did not manifest any qualms after receiving the vaccine. In fact, their baby slept and ate well. When asked if the baby experienced side effects, they said their baby did not experience any fever or chills.

The doctors also shared that they told other parents who are hesitant to let their children receive the vaccine that they allowed their son to receive the first dose. This is to boost the confidence of other parents as well.

Meanwhile, Pfizer-BioNTech temporarily halted its trial after Phase 1 to determine the vaccine's efficacy to the identified age group. Additionally, the move is also aimed to determine the right amount of dosage for infants.

As of this time, Pfizer said that infants who receive the vaccine under the clinical trial are all well, and there were no reports about these infants experiencing side effects. Results of the clinical trial are significant for other vaccine developers because not all COVID-19 vaccines suit a particular age group.

Related Article: Mixing COVID-19 Vaccines Is Link to More Side Effects, New Study Shows





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Videos indicating that COVID vaccines behave like magnets have recently been going around the internet. These show people sticking magnets onto their skin where they reportedly got their COVID-19 vaccine shots. However, experts explain that these videos are fake.

COVID-19 Vaccines are not Magnetic

Social media videos show that magnets cling to people's arms once they have been vaccinated against COVID-19, reported Full Fact.

These videos contain false information, and experts say that the vaccines do not have anything else other than those ingredients disclosed to the public.

Al Edwards, an associate professor of biomedical technology at the University of Reading, told Newsweek in an explanation, that a magnet could not stick to a person's arm after injection.

In an explanation in Full Fact, he noted that because the body is made up of the same building blocks as the vaccine, "there is simply no way that injecting a tiny fragment of this material could have any impact."

"Most food is made of similar molecules, and eating food doesn't make people magnetic," said Edwards.

In a statement in Fact Check Org by Lisa Morici, an associate professor at the Tulane University School of Medicine, mRNA and vaccines only contain RNA/DNA, lipids, proteins, salts, and sugars. She added that Pfizer-BioNTech's and Moderna's vaccines contain modified mRNA, while Johnson&Johnson's uses an adenovirus modified with DNA.

Randall Victora, head of the University of Minnesota's department of electrical and computer engineering, also discussed why there might be confusion based on simple assumptions in the concept. "Although almost all materials are magnetic in the sense of paramagnetism, diamagnetism, and ferromagnetism, only a ferromagnet has the potential to make a magnet stick to your arm," he explained in Fact Check Org.

Read also: Fact Check: COVID-19 Testing Only a Ruse to Implant Gates-Funded Microchips?

U.S. fact checker Snopes reported a Reuters photo of a magnet attracting a metallic object under the skin in an article. The image depicts the flesh seeming to "tent," as one researcher put it, with the skin visibly drawing toward the magnet. There is no evidence of this COVID vaccine magnets tenting effect in any of the videos Full Fact has seen.

The clips are much more likely to display the magnet sticking to the skin due to water on the skin's surface and the fact that the interest is small and compact. These results are similar to how a coin can "stick" to your forehead, or a spoon can sit on your nose.

In many of the videos, the vaccinated person will say that they are "chipped" after receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. All through the pandemic, claims that vaccines contain a computer chip have persisted, as have baseless accusations that vaccines will be used to harvest personal data. Similar arguments have been reported by Full Fact in the past.

Goldsmiths, University of London psychology researcher Gustav Kuhn, who also explores the reason behind illusions at the Science of Magic Association founder, examined a few of the videos. In an email to Fact Check Org, he said, "It's difficult, if not impossible to know why the magnet sticks in these situations."

Related article: Coronavirus Cure Heroes: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates Helps Fund Studies to Find Anti-Virals

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Rich Lowry

In reality, it's a program that shows a pronounced class bias. And since it is heedless of the experience of other such mass programs in the United States and around the world, the Biden approach is also likely to fail to achieve its goals
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Writing articles and stories that matter is what I am here to do for the surrounding communities. I enjoy covering local government affairs and human-interest stories with great enthusiasm. Follow me on social media and reach out.
Moments between Xi and people with disabilities

Xinhua) 13:27, May 16, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with representatives attending a ceremony commending role models with disabilities and people who have made outstanding contributions in helping the disabled, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Du Chengcheng, a community worker in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, did not expect a thank you from President Xi Jinping.

Xi said this to Du during his visit to the community in April 2018 after he learned that this young woman in a wheelchair had been interpreting movies for the visually impaired since 2010.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has always borne people with disabilities in mind.

He said people with disabilities are equal members of the whole community and pushed for society-wide efforts to support them.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, shakes hands with delegates to the seventh national congress of the China Disabled Persons' Federation in Beijing, capital of China, on Sept. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Xi himself talks with people with disabilities whenever seeing them during meetings or local inspections, and his words bring them warmth and encouragement.

While the country marks the 31st National Day for Helping the Disabled on Sunday, here is a recollection of Xi's interactions with the disabled in the past years.

PAT ON THE SHOULDER

In May 2019, at a ceremony to commend role models with disabilities, a young man in military uniform stood straight and firm, but his eyes were covered with gauze. His arms were amputated.

The young man's name is Du Fuguo. He lost his eyes and arms in 2018 when trying to protect others during a border-area mine clearance operation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with representatives attending a ceremony commending role models with disabilities and people who have made outstanding contributions in helping the disabled, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

As Xi stopped in front of him, Du saluted with his residual arm and shouted a greeting. Xi gently held his elbow with one hand and patted him on the shoulder with the other in encouragement.

Images of the "special salute" and the pat on the shoulder soon became trending scenes on the Internet. Support and messages of solidarity poured in for Du. And he became an icon for self-strengthening.

In July 2019, Xi met Du again in Beijing, conferring the title "Heroic Demining Soldier" on him. Xi hung a medal around Du's neck, presented him with a certificate, and posed for a photo.

SIGN LANGUAGE

"'Thumb ups' is 'good' and bending it is 'thank you'." Xi was learning sign language with a hearing-impaired girl, Wang Yani, in her dormitory at a welfare home for orphans and disabled children.

He was delighted to see that these children have a happy life in this home during his visit to the northern Chinese city of Hohhot before the Spring Festival of 2014.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) learns the sign language for "thanks" from Wang Yani (C) and Yan Zhijing at the Children Welfare House of Hohhot City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jan. 28, 2014. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

"I'm four, a boy." "I'm five."

A group of children who were rehearsing for a Spring Festival gala gathered around the president. Xi smiled, crouched down, and cuddled one of them.

He then called for kindheartedness and love for children, especially orphans and the disabled, from across society for their healthy growth.

EXEMPLIFYING TENACITY

Yang Yufang and his wife Gao Zhihong became paraplegic after the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, in 1976.

Xi met the couple when he visited a paraplegic rehabilitation center in Tangshan in 2016 when the city marked the 40th year of its reconstruction after the earthquake.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd R front), who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), visits paraplegic patients at the city's paraplegic rehabilitation center in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, July 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Xi talked with them and was glad to learn that the couple had been able to work as much as their strength would permit, blend into society, and live independently.

They were excited to meet the president and presented Xi with the poems they wrote as a gift.

Their story exemplified the tenacity and charm of life, Xi said. He told other residents that if people with a sound physical condition can have a brilliant life, people with disabilities can do likewise.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Liang Jun)
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The Herald-Times

A proposed residential development with 190 paired townhomes near Bloomingtons southern end is running into some opposition over concerns regarding traffic and density.

Its the second residential development in the Clear Creek Elementary School area to be subjected to scrutiny about density in the last few weeks and comes just after the city endured a lengthy and sometimes contentious debate about whether and how to add density to the city.

The Monroe County commissioners on Wednesday rejected an unrelated mixed-use development proposal for that area over density and traffic concerns.

The new project, on South Rogers Street, is called Southern Meadows and is being proposed by Tom Wininger, owner of Bloomington-based Wininger Construction. The project would include 190 paired townhomes, with every two townhomes sharing one wall, though each would be on its own lot.

Kendall Knoke, a project manager with Smith Design Group, said the townhomes would provide owner-occupied single-family homes, and Wininger would be targeting employees of businesses such as Cook Group, Catalent Pharma Solutions, Indiana University and IU Health.

Cook Group President Pete Yonkman told Monroe County Plan Commission members in April that he would welcome the project because many Cook employees are looking to buy homes, but Bloomington has a very low supply.

Wininger told The Herald-Times that current zoning laws would allow him to build 95 single-family homes on the property, without any approval from the county commissioners. And he said he could easily build and sell those homes at $500,000 a piece  but he would prefer building 190 townhomes at half the price.

The plan commission has recommended that county commissioners approve the project. However, four of the plan commission members, including its president Margaret Clements, and member Julie Thomas, disagreed, in part because of concerns over density. Thomas also is one of three commissioners who will ultimately decide the projects fate.

This kind of dense building on this property, especially the plan we have before us, cannot be responsibly justified in my opinion, Clements said.

Wininger said he understands that local officials are worried about traffic, but he said failing to provide affordable homes and therefore pushing people to live in nearby counties and commute into Bloomington doesnt diminish traffic.

Young families who would like to live in the area in homes that cost less than $250,000 have very few options in Monroe County, he said.

Lets do something for the younger generation that dont have any opportunities, Wininger said.

And if the commissioners vote against his plan, he said he can still build 95 expensive single-family homes.

Geoff McKim, who serves with Clements on the county plan commission, said he understands some of the concerns raised by his fellow plan commission members, but he said they should consider the proposed project against what the zoning laws already allow the developer to build  not against the empty fields that sit there today. Sooner or later, he said, that area is going to be developed.

The question thats relevant here to me is whether  (its) a good deal for the community for the petitioner to be able to build more but potentially less expensive homes on essentially the same amount of impervious area, McKim said in a recent plan commission meeting.

Bloomington City Council member Stephen Volan agreed. Volan and eight other council members will play a significant role in whether the development area gets annexed by the city.

In light of the local housing crunch echoed nationwide, I would rather see twice as many homes built at half the price, Volan told the H-T via email.

Annexation impact

McKim also told The Herald-Times via email that the county officials may be hesitant to approve projects just outside the city limits in part because of the proposed annexation.

The annexation proposal from Mayor John Hamilton would add more than 14,000 county residents and more than 9,000 acres to the city. That would mean a population boost in the city of about 17% and a land area increase of about 40%.

McKim said, Unfortunately it seems to me that any sort of effective communication and cooperation between city and county in situations like this is the victim of annexation politics.

In fairness, the whole process for annexation is somewhat one-sided and adversarial, and doesnt exactly encourage collaboration, he said. In fact, it can almost create a perverse incentive to deny investment in the county jurisdiction, lest that area become more attractive for annexation, and ultimately starve the county of revenue to perform its statutory duties (most of which apply throughout the county, regardless of incorporated boundaries).

County officials have said that they worry the proposed annexation will reduce their revenue by hundreds of thousands of dollars and undermine their ability to provide essential countywide services, such as the courts and health department.

Thomas told the H-T via email that county officials make their decisions about proposed developments on the basis of the relevant zoning and planning ordinance.

The threat of annexation wont diminish over time, so it is important that we follow our ordinances for proposals outside the city, she said.

While coordinating efforts (with the city) on specific proposals may appear to be useful, residents need clarity and transparency, Thomas said. Transparency means that decisions are made in public rather than coordinated outside of a public meeting (we dont meet together, so I would assume this is how that kind of discussion would transpire). Clarity means that residents know which zoning ordinance applies to a specific property.

McKim, however, said deteriorating relations between the city and county are hindering better outcomes for residents in both areas.

While relations between the city and the county have always been challenged at the highest levels, as long as I have been involved in local government, right now they seem more dysfunctional than ever, he said.

The idea that somehow that anything outside the city limits is by definition rural  that we are the county and they are the city  is simply not in the best interests of the residents, either inside or outside the city limits, he said. We need to do better.
When hes in town, Elon Musk surely cant miss neighbor Rosemarie Workmans frayed Come and Take It flag whipping in the coastal breeze.

Workers tinker in the side yard of the SpaceX founders temporary home on Weems Street. Across the road, Workman stands on her porch, her gaze gliding past them  and the Teslas parked on the street  to focus on the South Bay and the bright afternoon sky.

Truck engines drown out the songs of the areas many birds. A quarter-mile down the street, a silver rocket nose cone marks the skyline, and behind the small ranch homes, massive tracking antennas aim skyward.

So goes another afternoon for the holdouts in the tiny community next to SpaceXs Starship facility near Boca Chica Beach, about 25 miles east of Brownsville.

Many things merge in this part of Texas: land and sea, the Rio Grande and the Gulf, Mexico and the United States, big business and the federal government, and now the Earth and space. The relationships are complicated, and so is SpaceXs with the Rio Grande Valley.

SpaceX has followers around the world who devour every scrap of news about the pioneering commercial space company and Musk. But not all of SpaceXs South Texas neighbors are thrilled with a rocket factory and launch pad in their backyard.

Musk, who also founded electric-vehicle maker Tesla, is trying to incorporate Boca Chica and the surrounding area. He announced SpaceXs plan on Twitter on March 2: Creating the city of Starbase, Texas and From thence to Mars, and hence the stars.

The village

The unincorporated area known as Boca Chica has roots in space exploration  at least in name. In the 1960s, as the Cold War space race played out, the areas original developers called it Kennedy Shores, after President John F. Kennedy. In 1975, residents renamed it Kopernik Shores, after astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

The villagers have lived with SpaceX since 2014, but the companys operations have exploded  both literally and figuratively  since 2019.

Weve been going through it for a long time, and weve got to live here, Workman said. You dont want to say some of the words youd like to use  theyre still neighbors, whether you like it or not.

SpaceX has already bought out many of her neighbors. And in October, the company sent the dozen or so remaining property owners an email final offer of three times their propertys appraised value  roughly $150,000.

SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, but property records show that SpaceX and its shell companies own 25 of the 37 properties on Weems Street. The company has renovated the houses, painting the bricks black and the trim white. They contrast sharply with the holdouts orange brick homes.

On this street, Boca Chicas only residential thoroughfare, 1960s Americana meets the new space race.

The people who still live there, mostly retirees, want to be left alone. Only three or so residents  not counting SpaceX employees  stay in the village year-round. The others are snowbirds from northern states who spend their winters in Boca Chica.

The residents have an uneasy relationship with SpaceX. Workman said someone on Musks security detail hassled her husband about using binoculars for birdwatching in his front yard.

A few doors down from Workmans house, dozens of birds milled around Jim and Nancy Crawfords lawn. Jim Crawford pointed out hummingbirds, indigo buntings, orioles and summer tanagers. Asked about the prospect of SpaceX turning the area into Starbase, Nancy Crawford said, It doesnt matter to me as long as they leave us alone.

Residents can stay in the village during static engine tests of the Starship, a reusable spacecraft that Musk hopes will someday carry people and cargo to the moon, Mars and beyond.

But they receive notices from SpaceX t hat a malfunction could break their windows. The company asks residents to go outside when a siren sounds as a safety precaution.

When a Starship launches, SpaceX evacuates the villagers and pays for them to stay at a hotel on South Padre Island, according to Jim Crawford.

I dont like what they do, but you dont want to start a fight with them, he said. It really doesnt matter anymore  they do what they want to do anyway.

Neighbors

About 5 miles from the Starship production facility, a wrecking ball painted yellow with a smiley face welcomes people to Masseys Gun Shop and Range, the southernmost shooting range in Texas.

The compound lies at the end of a dirt road on the banks of the Rio Grande. Its the closest people can get to SpaceX when Texas 4 is closed for launches, and the business has capitalized on its proximity. It charges $20 per vehicle to park on its road for launches.

Another place space tourists gather is Rocket Ranch, a couple of miles from Masseys.

Teslas kick up dust from the washboard road leading into the space-centric campground near the site of the Civil Wars Battle of Palmito Ranch.

After battling crowds for the launch of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy ship from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Rocket Ranch owner David Santilena thought there had to be a better way to watch blastoffs.

So Santilena, of Kingwood, bought 10 acres with a ranch house on the banks of the Rio Grande in January 2020. In less than a year, he created a campsite complete with vintage trailers for rent, a fishing dock, family-style meals, bonfires and a laid-back vibe.

Guests also can book a seat on the ranchs pontoon boat for $350 to watch the launch from a special viewing area on the Rio Grande.

Everybodys interested in Elon and SpaceX and everything, so the conversations are good, and theres some super smart people that come through here, Santilena said. Each launch is getting more and more popular, so this place is just kind of running away on its own, he said.

Brownsville

On March 30, a Starship exploded and rained stainless steel and rocket parts across the Boca Chica marshes. About an hour after the blowup, Musk tweeted that he was donating $30 million to Cameron County schools and the city of Brownsville.

Mayor Trey Mendez sees SpaceX as a boost for his community, which has had a rough year with COVID-19 and Februarys winter storm. Cameron County, with a population of about 425,000, has had nearly 40,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,600 deaths from the disease.

Mendez highlighted a real estate boom fueled in part by Musks March 30 tweet calling for people to move to the Brownsville area because SpaceX is hiring.

SpaceX has been a real positive when it comes to the economic impact theyve had on our community, Mendez said.

Some residents, however, are concerned about the economic, civic and environmental impact of SpaceXs expansion. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that debris from the late March explosion traveled 1,100 yards into federally managed land. Huge pieces of the rocket remain lodged in a marsh as the Federal Aviation Administration continues to investigate the explosion.

SpaceX colonization of Mars is starting to impact the Rio Grande Valley, said Bekah Hinojosa, a local activist. Its stripping away our access to our pristine beach, gentrifying our community and causing devastating explosions.

Boca Chica Beach

In the afternoon light of April 19, a Brownsville family wrapped up their Boca Chica beach day celebration of 16-year-old Brianna Chavezs birthday.

Jesus Chavez, Briannas father, manned the grill barbecuing beef fajitas and chicken. Cousins Andrea Gonzalez, 4, and Allison Chavez, 8, splashed in the surf.

We come here every weekend and we barbecue, thats what we do here in Brownsville, Chavez said. Now we have to accommodate (SpaceX) and check the time. We called the (county judges) office today to make sure that its open.

In addition to closures for tests and launches, SpaceX often closes Texas 4 when moving equipment or rockets. The highway is the only way to the beach, and SpaceX needs county permission to close the road.

Despite publishing expected closures, the schedules change. Even after checking, the family got hung up in a 40-minute delay on the highway as SpaceX moved a giant crane.

Boca Chica Beach is a national treasure  theres nothing like it, said Emma Gonzalez, Jesus Chavezs sister-in-law.

Before, we never had to wait. It was just a straight shot from Brownsville, she said. Im not for SpaceX, Im sorry.

As the family packed their vehicles and prepared to head home, activity continued at the launch site. A sense of inevitability  like ocean waves or the onshore breeze  permeated the air.

Welders sparks flashed and heavy equipment rolled. A small group of visitors stood together across the highway from Starship SN15. They stared at the craft, snapped some photos and imagined it roaring toward the darkness.

A few miles down the road, in Boca Chica, Rosemarie Workmans Come and Take It flag continued to fly.

brandon.lingle@express-

news.net
Jay R. Jordan / Jay Jordan, Staff

A man was found shot to death outside a southwest Houston apartment complex early Sunday.

Houston Police responded around 5 a.m. to residents who heard gunfire to find a man dead on the ground next to a vehicle. No other details were released.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined conservatives in Sugar Land Saturday to denounce hate against Asians and call for ethnic unity, a message that some participants called unusual from the Republican Party.

We are not going to tolerate hate, or indifference, or lack of equality for anybody in this state, Abbott said before a crowd of around 100 people in the Sugar Land Town Square, about 20 miles southeast of downtown Houston.

The governor said he decided to take a break from the busy legislative session in Austin to attend because he is proud of the stand the Republican Party of Fort Bend County was taking against hate, against racism, and against violence of the Asian American community.

The rally, called under the slogan Together  We Are United, was not reacting to any particular incident of hate against Asian Americans but was organized as an opportunity for the Republican Party to show a unified front against ethnic hate, organizers said.

We have seen growing violence or crime against the Asian community, and thats concerning, said the organizer JJ Clemence, an Asian American activist originally from China who lost a bid in the primaries to run for Fort Bend County tax assessor-collector last year.

Hate crimes against Asian American and Pacific Islander people grew 145% from 2019 to 2020 in 16 of the largest U.S. cities, according to an analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University.

The analysis, which used preliminary police data, says the first spike of such crimes occurred during March and April last year as COVID-19 cases were rising and Asians in the country were stereotyped as the culprit of the pandemic. Rather than diminishing as the pandemic debilitates now, hate crimes against Asian Americans reported to the police increased 164% in the first quarter of 2021, from 36 to 95 compared to the same period last year. Five of the cases were reported in Harris County.

Stop AAPI Hate, a project of the Asian American Studies Department of San Francisco State University with other organizations, have collected direct reports from people showing an increase in hate incidents from 3,795 to 6,603 from March of last year to the end of the same month the current year.

Clemence said that part of her purpose in organizing the rally was to change the perception among some communities that Republicans are not concerned about racial divisiveness and hate.

People have told me that Republicans do a terrible job of public image, she said. We are not racist at all, but we dont show that; people dont know it, thats the problem.

Other participants agreed with that perception.

The Republican Party is very active in the communities but does not do as good a job as someone else (the Democratic Party) in showcasing it and talking about it, said Baseer Pirzada, executive vice president of the Muslim Americans of Texas organization. That has always been a weakness of the republican party that we don't tell people all the good we do.

Monzer Hourani, a Lebanese American inventor and real estate developer, reminded the crowd the role immigrant have had in building the country and called for a stop of divisive narratives in public discourses.

The immigrants, we all came from somewhere else, and the beauty is, this is the best country in the world, said Hourani, who recently won the Engineering News-Records Newsmaker of the Year award for innovating a biodefense indoor air protection system that destroys the COVID-19 virus and other lethal agents (anthrax) in the environment.

Many people at the event praised the governor for making time for the rally.

We stand today united against racism of any kind and the United States of America will unite behind a principle that was so eloquently outlined by Martin Luther King Jr., Abbott said. And that is, people are defined not by the color of the skin but by the quality of their character. We believe in character, we believe in opportunity for absolutely everybody in this state and in this nation.

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter.com/oliviaptallet
After a week of potential sightings and a search that captured the attention of the nation, a tiger spotted roaming a Houston neighborhood was surrendered to authorities Saturday.

The wife of a man in jail on a murder charge contacted BARC to turn the tiger in, authorities said. The 9-month-old tiger, India, appeared to be unharmed and in good condition.

Michael Elliott, an attorney representing Victor Hugo Cuevas, said at about 6 p.m. the wife received a phone call from the person who had India. The individual was not identified. They did not immediately face any criminal charges.

The return was made anonymously, Elliott said at a news conference Saturday night at his office in Rosenberg. This has a good ending.

He added: The animal is in a good safe place now.

The surrender came a day after a judge in Fort Bend County revoked Cuevas bond in connection to an unrelated murder case. The 26-year-old remained held on $300,000 bail, jail records show.

Cuevas called everyone he knew who had contact with the 170-pound cat before being sent back to jail to try getting India to authorities, Elliott said.

The tiger spent nearly a week on the lam after Cuevas sped off with it in the back of a Jeep Cherokee. A viral video showed the cat escaping a home Cuevas rented in the Energy Corridor area.

Meanwhile, police spent the week scouring exotic animal traffickers who they suspected were passing the endangered cat around to keep it hidden.

The Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch will pick up India at 8 a.m. Sunday and transport the animal to its tiger sanctuary in Henderson County, said Houston police Commander Ron Borza.

The animal will likely reach 600 pounds when fully grown, Borza said.

It still had its claws and it could do a lot of damage if he decided to, Borza said. Luckily for us, he was very tame. Hes going to a sanctuary tomorrow where hopefully hell live the rest of his life in a very safe environment.

In videos shared by the lawyer and police, the tiger affectionately plays with humans interacting with it.

There are no pending charges or citations against the pet owner, Borza said, though an investigation remains ongoing.

Just because we got India back today doesnt mean theres not other exotic animals in the city of Houston, Borza said. Id like to round them all up and put them in a safe environment.

Late Saturday, it remained unclear where India spent the week. But it was clear where India was now.

alejandro.serrano@chron.com
If the Texas Legislature really wanted to help cities such as Austin deal with burgeoning homeless populations, it would drop the statewide ban on camping by the homeless awaiting a vote in the Senate and support the local approaches  including those in Houston  that have already proven to be effective. The blanket ban is precisely the kind of top-down problem-solving Texas Republicans used to say they opposed, but sadly too seldom do when the chance to score cheap political points is available instead.

Granted, Austin is dealing with a homeless challenge that has for years defied easy solutions. Its made worse by another kind of problem long familiar to anyone whos spent time in the City of the Violet Crown. Lets call it Austins dithering problem.

Decades ago, as it became increasingly obvious that Austin was becoming an alluring seductress  with traffic to match  the locals couldnt agree on whether to build a north-south freeway or go all in on mass transit or stick with an endemic If you dont build it, they wont come attitude. For years its leaders chose the latter.

More recently, it became increasingly obvious that rapidly growing, increasingly expensive Austin was struggling with a sizable population of people without a home to go to every night. As several thousand individuals patched together a brutal existence on city streets, beneath grimy overpasses or hidden from public view in makeshift greenbelt tent encampments, the city pondered solutions: Build or acquire more affordable housing, set up official encampments, or require police to ticket anyone panhandling or camping in public areas. Or not. When the city finally decided in 2019 to lift a camping ban that had been in place for 23 years, ramshackle tent cities, some of them occupying several city blocks, emerged from the woods for all to see.

Now the homeless problem there, like traffic, seems nearly intractable, just as it does in so many other big cities, from San Francisco to Seattle to Los Angeles to Dallas. Ideas and proposals are numerous, solutions few.

But few doesnt mean zero, and solutions are available. Just ask Houston, where a decade or so ago our own streets were increasingly clogged with folks without a safe place to spend the night. And even in Austin things have begun to look more promising as residents got fed up with the official dithering. On May 1, voters handily approved a citizen-sponsored resolution that once again restores criminal penalties for camping in public.

But even before Austin voters approved the ban, Republican legislators saw an opportunity to indulge in one of their favorite pastimes: Gig the progressive city that hosts them every two years. Inspired by Austins dithering  and Gov. Greg Abbotts threats  state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, and state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, sponsored legislation that would institute a statewide camping ban. House Bill 1925, which has passed the House and awaits a vote in the Senate, would make camping in an unapproved public place a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500.

We as a state must act to make sure that our public spaces are safe and that our homeless population is taken care of. The situation has simply gotten out of control, Buckingham said during a hearing for her bill.

Of course, its a problem  and thats why lawmakers should stay out of the way of local efforts to address it. Cities making some progress toward getting people housed are rightly concerned they might be hamstrung by lawmakers more interested in scoring political points than actually fixing problems.

We have to have collaboration with the police, with the city, with the county , said Mike Nichols, CEO and president of Houstons Coalition for the Homeless, testifying before a Senate committee. This bill will kill our collaboration, because it ties their hands.

Nichols should know, because his own city has been one of those making progress. A dozen years or so ago, Houstons homeless problem was as intractable as Austins, with thousands of people eking out an existence beneath overpasses, on the street or in dense thickets along Buffalo Bayou. In 2011, Houston was home to 8,400 people without shelter, one of the highest totals in the nation.

Newly elected Mayor Annise Parker made homelessness a priority. This week, she told the board the key is to first find housing for those who need it, and only then move them out of tents or other makeshift shelters. Camping bans move the problem, they dont solve it, she said.

In the early days of her administration, the city hired a homeless czar, settled on a focused approach to the problem called Housing First and insisted that public agencies and private efforts coordinate to avoid duplication and competition. A successful effort to get homeless veterans housed served as an important test case.

Housing First, an approach developed in the 1990s in this country and elsewhere, is key.

Its premise is that individuals are better able to deal with their problems  whether addiction, mental illness, domestic violence or other issues  once basic needs are met. Tents and makeshift structures in public places are banned in Houston, but the city removes them only when housing is available for their occupants. State interference could stall the citys efforts to reduce criminalization of the unhoused population and force them back into the woods of Buffalo Bayou.

The Turner administration has continued the same Housing First approach. The 2020 annual point-in-time homeless count for Harris County showed a 54 percent decrease since 2011, though this trend hit a bump in 2018 after Hurricane Harvey and the effect of the pandemic isnt yet known.

Austin tried similar approaches over the years  buying old hotels, for example, to convert to housing for the homeless  but the effort was always scattershot, with no clear strategy. Over the last two years  over the last 10 years  we've never had a single plan everyone could agree to, Mayor Steve Adler told the Texas Tribune recently.

Thats changing, if belatedly. Austin finally hired a homeless strategy officer in January and shes tasked with implementing a multi-phase program for getting the tents removed and finding places for the tent-dwellers to live. It wont be easy, particularly with impatient legislators and a governor breathing down her neck (not to mention voters impatient to see the tents gone).

Of course, housing people and addressing their challenges is never easy, whether in Austin or Houston or any other big city. It requires not only a focused approach but also a sustained effort. If state officials were as interested in meeting the challenge as they are in removing unsightly tents, they would look to Houston to see how its done and then figure out how to help.
Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable.
In 1966, lawyer Herb Kelleher met a client, investment banker Rollin King, for a drink in the bar at the venerable St. Anthony Hotel in downtown San Antonio. Kelleher was looking to start a business, and King, a pilot, had noticed that Texas business executives often chartered planes to fly between large cities in the state because ordinary airfares were so high. Kelleher and King were both entrepreneurs, and they discussed starting an airline to serve Texas, much as Pacific Southwest Airlines had done in California.

The legend is that King drew a triangle on a cocktail napkin, showing how the new airline would connect the states major markets. Like so much mythology about Texas, this legend is only partly true. King did not draw a triangle on a cocktail napkin that day. But he did hatch the idea with Kelleher, who went on to be the airlines CEO. The following year, they incorporated what is now Southwest Airlines, and four years after that, Southwest became the first substantial discount air carrier  connecting Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Its now the third-largest airline in the United States, carrying more passengers than even United Airlines.

Kelleher and King are emblematic of the people who have created modern Texas. They grew up elsewhere  Kelleher in New Jersey and King in Ohio  but headed to Texas as young men to make their fortune. They went not to a rural area or a small town but to a big city. They were, in todays parlance, entrepreneurial disruptors, challenging a well-established system of air travel in the service of a new idea and fighting a four-year legal battle against established airlines  Continental and Braniff  before starting service. And they understood that Texas prosperity depended not on rural areas and cowboy mythology but on an interconnected urban economy based in four large metropolitan areas. In other words, they understood that the Texas Triangle is  as urbanist Joel Kotkin put it decades later  the economic guts of the state.

Indeed, in starting Southwest Airlines, Kelleher and King practically invented the idea of the Texas Triangle. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston were both large, prosperous metropolitan areas, but their economies were separate. (In those days, business leaders in the two cities tried hard to stay out of each others way.) San Antonio was a mostly a military town. Austin was a small state capital with a university.

But in the half century since the Triangle was supposedly drawn on the cocktail napkin, these four metropolitan areas have grown rapidly and their economies have become increasingly interdependent. The Texas Triangle has become one of the fastest-growing and most economically powerful regions in the world.

In writing our new book The Texas Triangle, we are very much inspired by the spirit of Kings apocryphal cocktail napkin. We believe the Texas Triangle defines the New Texas and will play a dominant role in determining its economic future, its demographic patterns and its political priorities. Its very much in the interest of the state as a whole to encourage the continued growth and success of the Texas Triangle.

An economic powerhouse

Today, some 19 million people live in the Texas Triangle  defined solely as the 35 counties that make up the metropolitan areas of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. Thats about two-thirds of the people who live in Texas  and almost the size of metropolitan New York City.

Whats more, in the last decade, 85 percent of the population growth in Texas has occurred in the Triangle. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston have added more people than any other metropolitan area in the nation, a little more than 1 million each. Austin and San Antonio together added almost another million. The Triangle includes five of the 13 biggest cities in the nation  the densest concentration of large cities in America. And with the latest Census news  showing that Texass population increased robustly while Californias has actually dropped in the last year  the Triangle has become even more of a demographic powerhouse than before.

Economically, too, the Texas Triangle is a powerhouse. The four metropolitan economies had a combined GDP of approximately $1.3 trillion in 2018  about 6.3 percent of the U.S. economy and almost 70 percent of the Texas economy. The Triangle is bigger than the regional economies of Los Angeles, Hong Kong, London or Paris; its double the size of the Chicago regions economy.

If the Texas Triangle were a separate country, it would have the 15th-largest economy in the world, larger than the economies of Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the Netherlands.

And the Triangle is not just a gigantic economic outpost. Its a center of corporate decision-making. Forty-nine of the Fortune 500 companies are based in the Triangle, about as many as there are in all of California and almost as many as in New York State.

Furthermore, as economists Robert W. Gilmer and Samuel Redus have pointed out, the Triangles metropolitan economies are deeply intertwined, thus strengthening the power of the Triangle as an economic region.

Not without tension

We live today on an urban planet. For the first time in history, more than half of the worlds people live in cities  and virtually all of the worlds population growth will take place in cities for the foreseeable future.

At first glance, Texas may not appear to be a logical candidate to participate in this new urban world. After all, the whole mythology of Texas  reinforced constantly in popular culture through stories like Larry McMurtrys Lonesome Dove, icons like Willie Nelson, and movies like Giant, based on Edna Ferbers unflattering 1952 West Texas novel  is decidedly rural.

Moreover, the transition to the New Texas is not without tension. Although 85 percent of the states population is within Texas 25 metropolitan areas  the states political decision-making too often lags behind in recognizing this reality.

As recently as 2019, then House Speaker Dennis Bonnen was caught on tape threatening to make the 2021 Legislative Session the worst ever for cities.

Sheer demographic and economic numbers leave no doubt that the anti-urban attitudes of some state lawmakers are increasingly out of date.

Potential Pitfalls

Any review of the promising prospects of the Texas Triangle also must consider factors that could curtail that success. History is replete with examples of seemingly inevitable economic juggernauts that were derailed or diminished by man-made errors or natural setbacks. An honest assessment of the Texas Triangles trajectory requires that we consider the pitfalls on the path ahead.

An obvious hurdle would be a massive global recession that undermines the dominant sectors of the Texas Triangle metros. Despite many built-in advantages, the Triangle  like everywhere  is vulnerable to deep global economic downturns, such as the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. And despite the growing diversity of the Triangles regional economy, its still particularly vulnerable to major setbacks in the oil and gas industry, as the world also experienced in 2020.

Another risk is that public policy failures, particularly by state government, might slow the growth of the Texas Triangle metros. Toxic partisan infighting between Democrats and Republicans in Austin could entangle the states leading cities and metros with new restrictions on their ability to manage ongoing growth and could even undermine what has been a broad consensus in favor of growth-oriented policies.

As the Texas metros grow in political power and electoral clout, it should be clear that the fight is greater than the squabbles of the recent past over social issues such as transgender bathroom rules. But the risk is that the Legislature might become more reluctant even than it has been to invest in urban and suburban schools, leading to shortages of skilled workers. Faced with growing fiscal pressure, the state might fail to invest in infrastructure improvements necessary to the Triangles future growth.

Failure to prepare for future pandemics or climate change might undermine the Triangles future. Among the United States leading cities, Houston is one of the most vulnerable to hurricanes and rising sea levels. All the Texas Triangle cities face long-term challenges from hotter weather, drought, and increasingly destructive storms.

A new era requires a new approach

A lot has changed about Texas since 1960.

Even as Texas has built a modern urban economy and a conservative Republican political structure, it faces a very different set of public challenges than it did 60 years ago. Ironically, many features of the Old Texas that have fueled the states success have the potential to undermine the future success of the New Texas. Recent economic success owes much to Texas small-government tradition, including the absence of a state income tax, flexible labor markets and a relatively light-touch approach to business regulation (though federal investment has been critical in several economic sectors).

At the same time, however, Texas underfunds its schools, and education attainment is low compared to other powerful states. Texas ranks last in the percentage of residents with health insurance. Housing affordability is a growing problem even in a state traditionally known for inexpensive housing and traffic congestion is a major issue in all of the Triangles cities. Texas also struggles to ensure that its water and energy infrastructures keep up with the demands of a rapidly growing population.

Now that Texas is an urban state, it must shed its own self-image as rural. Texas enormous growth requires new thinking about policies and priorities  thinking that embraces Texas urban growth, especially in the Triangle.

Cisneros is a former mayor of San Antonio and was U.S. HUD secretary from 1993 to 1997. Hendricks is a former writer and editor at the San Antonio Express-News. Clark is a member of the economics faculty at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas and is director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative at the George W. Bush Presidential Center also in Dallas. Fulton is the president of Rice Universitys Kinder Institute for Urban Research in Houston.

This piece is an excerpt from their book The Texas Triangle published by Texas A&M Press.
Like my sons, I sat through two years of Texas history in both the fourth and seventh grades. It seems Texas legislators believe that isnt enough, so they have crafted House Bill 2497 to promote patriotic education and increase awareness of the Texas values that continue to stimulate boundless prosperity across this state. Its called the Texas 1836 Project.

If calling this the Texas 1836 Project sounds familiar, it is because it comes as a direct response to the New York Times 1619 Project. Published two years ago, the 1619 Project proposes a new timeline for American history centered on slavery in order to understand the roots of racism. It has also become the object of legislation such as HB 3979, which would limit its usage in social studies curriculum.

The Texas 1836 Project bill differs from its legislative cousin by dictating an official history of Texas by establishing a committee appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker that would advise state agencies to ensure patriotic education at state parks, monuments, museums and elsewhere. Modeled after the 1776 Commission, one of Donald Trumps final orders as president, the 1836 Project rings hollow and insincere by asking us to forget or silence what we already know.

Legislators know Texas history is complicated and multiethnic and say as much in the bill. The bill incorporates Juneteenth, the celebration of the end of slavery in Texas in 1865, as an event worthy of study. The bill was revised to include the influence of Indigenous peoples as well as Spanish and Mexican descendant Tejanos.

These inclusive gestures, though, amount to empty window-dressing. Taken as a whole, the Texas 1836 Project seeks to erase injustice and conquest in the past by mandating patriotic education. The project wants to focus on the history of prosperity and democratic freedom in this state. Like the Hollywood Western film sets to which it aspires, the Texas 1836 Project is a facade that obscures the enormous cost and impact of the American frontier myth.

History teachers must be able to have their students ask difficult questions about slavery and the dispossession of Indigenous and Tejano land. Forcing that history through a filter of prosperity and democratic freedom doesnt make sense. How does requiring a patriotic education standard square with the lynching of Black and ethnic Mexican Texans? The values and leaders of the 1836 war that separated Texas from Mexico didnt result in emancipation and Juneteenth, they actively sought to protect slavery in perpetuity.

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But sound, accurate history isnt the stated goal of the legislation. Beyond the advisory committee and a Gubernatorial 1836 Award to recognize student knowledge of Texas Independence, the only tangible requirement in the bill is a pamphlet for the Department of Public Safety. Along with Texas history, the pamphlet is to include the legacy of economic prosperity in this state; and the abundant opportunities for businesses and families in this state. It presents history as propaganda rather than critical inquiry or a full accounting of the past.

This government mandated history reminds us how easy it is to rally around a single, victorious story. The American experiment tells us that reality is much harder  that it takes work to build a framework that is inclusive of both pride and pain, or injustice and freedom for all to feel they belong. That story needs a shared process, and not a committee of nine politically appointed members in todays hyper-partisan climate.

With the focus on 1836, this bill repeats and reinforces the myth that Texas history only begins with American immigration. Indigenous and Tejano peoples only appear as pre-history or background to the main event. Tejanos return merely as immigrants in their homeland. The driving force of slavery and its political and social power conveniently fade away under the power of William Travis call for victory or death. For Black Texans, though, there would be no victory until 1865.

Ive been teaching Texas history to college students for 17 years, and they dont want a rehash of the second and seventh grade Texas curriculum. Todays young people see Texas not as isolated and idiosyncratic, but as a dynamic and evolving place. Rightly so. Texas is the crossroads of indigenous empires, Spanish frontier projects and restless American ambitions.

The anxiety with the 1619 Project among a generation of Americans accustomed to a triumphalist, uncontested timeline is understandable. At the heart of these bills concerned with history is the belief discussing the flaws of our founders undermines the possibility of progress. Historians will point out that moving forward requires seeing the wrong paths in order to find a better way. The choice, however, is not between patriotic pride and anti-racist shame. A deeper engagement with history can be had for Texas but not by retreating to stale myths and exclusionary stories.

The Texas 1836 Project is set up to teach the wrong lessons from the past and divide our communities  precisely at a time when we need to see all Texans as human beings rooted in history and makers of our shared future.

Ramos is an associate professor of history at the University of Houston and recipient of the T.R. Fehrenbach Book Award for Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, 1821-1861.

This piece was corrected May 16. Texas history is taught in fourth not second grade.
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What every parent should know about autism
Williamstown Forest Warden Rick Daniels, left, helps load donated food into a van for storage until Sunday.

Williamstown Answers Call to Support Firefighters



Northern Berkshire EMS had personnel on scene all day Saturday at the firefighters' base of operations. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The brush fire that started on East Mountain on Friday evening produced a plume smoke that was visible throughout the town.

And people all over town joined the fight to put it down.

In addition to the call-volunteer firefighters from the Williamstown Fire District and Forest Warden and their brethren from departments throughout the region, plenty of "civilians" stepped up to do what they could to.

"I'm in my 19th year, and we've had a few forest fires, brush fires, and I gotta say this is probably the largest response we've had from our community as a whole," Williamstown Fire Chief Craig Pedercini said on Saturday afternoon.

"The whole thing  the food, the drinks, everything, you name it. I know Andi Bryant did a good job putting the message out [on Facebook], and all of a sudden, people just wanted to help. So, it's awesome."

The community support began Friday when The Log by Ramunto's donated pizzas for the firefighters who worked into the night.

Bright and early Saturday morning, the crews were dining on breakfast sandwiches from the Spring Street Market and Cafe as more local businesses joined the effort.

The town's largest business, Williams College, kicked in with food but so did individuals.

"I have been absolutely out straight all day taking in donations of food, drink, sunscreens, hand wipes, dollars and Venmo donations," Bryant posted on Facebook on Saturday evening. Unbelievable response that has touched everyone to the core."

Richard Reynolds, who chairs the Prudential Committee that oversees the fire district, agreed.

"Some showed up with a car load of supplies and some dropped off one or two items," Reynolds said.

Late Saturday afternoon, with a decision pending on where Sunday's base of operations will be, leftovers were loaded into a van provided by Sand Springs Springwater for safe keeping and transport on Sunday.

All operations Saturday ran through the command center set up at the headquarters of the East Mountain Sportsman's Club, whose 102-acre property included most of the scorched areas.

Pedercini said the club's contribution went beyond playing host to all the first responders on scene.

"The people from the club here, they're very well versed in the trails, so they can give us a lot of insight," he said. "These guys go up there hiking, hunting, you name it. We have our own people who do hiking and trail riding and things like that, so we put all that talent together.

"We don't sit there and make our own decisions. We get a lot of information thrown at us and try to make a smart decision."


Firefighters prepare to enter the woods north of Massachusetts Avenue to contain a breakoff of the brush fire now burning in Clarksburg State Forest.

UPDATE: Firefighters made their way back up the mountain Monday morning to continue battling the brush fire.

Firefighters spent the morning organizing and North Adams Fire Chief Brent LeFevbre said once they get on scene, he will have a better sense of the current state of the blaze.

"We still have quite a bit of fire right, now but we are in the process of getting back up there and organizing up on the mountain itself," LeFevbre said. "We are spreading our resources out to knock the fire back. We want to get it burning back on itself."

Firefighters and other emergency service workers were parked along Mass Ave and Ashton Ave. The base of Wood St. is acting as a command center.

"The fire jumped on this side and came down so we have a fire line working down along Mass Ave," he said. "This is a central point of ingress and egress to come in and come out to flank it."

In Williamstown, firefighters are also staged on Henderson Road.

Before heading out to the two command centers, firefighters and other emergency services met in the former Price Chopper parking lot around 7 a.m. to receive instructions and to organize. By 8 a.m., over 50 emergency service workers were deployed. Firefighters from various departments were heading up Wood St. on All-Terrain Vehicles and on foot.

LeFevbre said the fire likely died down a bit overnight with the lower temperatures and higher moisture content.

Helicopter aerial support with water drops will continue throughout the day.

Also, Mass Ave. is closed to traffic from Ashton Ave to Protection Ave.

LeFevbre said no evacuations are being considered at the time.

"We would only start thinking about that if it was coming down within a quarter-mile," he said. "Then we would start getting people out but right now the fire is still at that three-quarters of a mile range."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Update: Sunday, May 16, 7:15 p.m.: Motorists are being cautioned to avoid Massachusetts Avenue near Ashton Avenue in North Adams as firefighters congregate there. They are heading into the woods off Wood Street as the fire is moving closer to structures.
Malibu, CA (90265)

Today

Clear skies. Low 54F. NNE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 54F. NNE winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Cyclone Tauktae: 23 fishermen who set out from Kerala, India, feared lost at sea

May 16,2021 | Source: The News Minute

Twenty-three fishermen who set out from the coast of the south Indian state of Kerala in two separate fishing boats are feared missing, said officials of Fisheries Department. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had warned the fishermen at sea to return to the shore as Cyclone Tauktae was intensifying. However, the officials stated that there has been no communication from the two boats.



Of the two, 15 fishermen are part of a fishing boat named Ajmir Shah, which set out from Kozhikodes Beypore coast, while eight fishermen are part of a boat named Andavar Thunai, which set out from Kochi. The fishing boat, Andavar Thunai, is owned by Nagapattinam native Manivel and the fishermen onboard are all reportedly Tamil Nadu natives.



According to Fisheries department officials, both boats had ventured into the sea earlier this month, before the cyclone alert was issued. These are gill net boats, which set out to sea to fish continuously for up to three weeks. Some of the similar boats, which had gone from Kerala, have even harboured in the Gujarat and Thengapattanam coast of Tamil Nadu after the warning was issued. So we can understand how far the boats had been, said Aneesh P, Assistant Director of Fisheries in Ernakulam district.



Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that some fishermen have landed in Lakshadweep Islands. However, there is no confirmation if these are the fishermen of the Andavar Thunai boat, said the official.



According to Fisheries Department officials in Beypore, the missing fishing boat Ajmir Shah had set out near Mangalore coast. The owner of the boat said they had set out near Mangalore coast. We have given information to the Coast Guard and they are searching, said the official.



Meanwhile, on the night of May 14, the Indian Coast Guard on Saturday recused three fishermen who had set off to sea from Keralas Kannur. Coast Guard ship Vikram rescued the fishing boat named Badhriya, which had left the Talessary Harbour on May 9.



The fishermen were provided medical emergency treatment onboard the ICG ship. The ICG headquarters in Kerala and Mahe coordinated the search and rescue operation in the state. District Commander DIG Sanatan Jena said that despite the extremely rough sea conditions, ICG ships were out at sea rescuing the fishermen trapped in rough sea and wind conditions.

 2021 The News Minute

Theme(s): Others.
Faced with lack of fish in rivers, fishermen in Bangladesh looking elsewhere for livelihood

by S Dilip Roy

May 16,2021 | Source: The Daily Star

In the Bangladesh village of Das Para, some fishermen are shunning their nets and the low murmur of the river, which had been the source of their livelihood for generations, for the electric hum of "easy bikes".



Others are looking at alternative professions to make ends meet as the number of fish on offer dwindle.



Mohan Chandra Das (34), Pulak Das (43), Ramoni Das (45) and a few other fishermen from the area are now earning their livelihood by driving the battery-runbikes.



Sadhan Chandra Das (48), Nirmal Chandra Das (30), Subhash Chandra Das (50) and a few others are preparing to say goodbye to their nets and join other professions to earn a living.



Many other fishermen are on the verge of quitting their ancestral occupation at Daspara, a village on the banks of Brahmaputra River in Chilmari upazila of Kurigram.



Nabin Chandra Das (58), a fisherman from Jorgach Daspara, told The Daily Star that there is not much fish in the rivers, so there are no fish in the nets.



They have become frustrated. Family expenses are not met properly through fishing and so, many are forced to leave their ancestral profession and join other professions to earn an income.



"Many more are preparing to leave this profession. Our misery has increased because there are no fish in the rivers. We have to spend half the day starving," he said.



"I have been earning money by driving battery-run easybike for the last two months. I used to run my family by fishing in the rivers with nets. We have a close relationship with the net but the family cannot live on the net anymore. I am doing fine now," said Apan Chandra Das (38) of Ramna Daspara area in Chilmari upazila.



Jatin Chandra Das (77) of the same area told The Daily Star that there are about 200 fishing villages on the banks of 26 rivers including Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar and Jinjiram in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts.



"There are about 3,000 families in these villages. Once, there was a lot of fish in the rivers, the canals were open so there was a huge opportunity for employment for the fishermen's families. Now the influential people cultivate fish by leasing the canals and 'beels' and there is not much fish in the rivers, so the fishing families have fallen upon hard times," he said.



"All four of my sons used to fish with nets. Now two of them are doing other jobs. The two other sons say they too are willing to give up. I have urged them not to give up; it is our heritage, " Jatin added.



Nagendra Das (48) of Kalmati Daspara area in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila said he wants to make a living from fishing but his family cannot survive in that manner because there are no fish in the rivers.



As rivers are dried up most of the time in the year, fish do not breed and therefore the expected number of fish is not available.



"I am ready to give up fishing and join another profession," he said.



Lalmonirhat District Fisheries Officer ASM Rasel told The Daily Star the number of professional fishermen is declining day by day.



"The fishermen catch fish fry with current nets. They are being made aware not to use current nets. As much as there is an incentive from the government, it is distributed among them," said Rasel.



"Fishermen cannot even lease government canals and beels because of influential people," he added.

 2021 / thedailystar.net

Theme(s): Fisheries Resources.
Indonesian fishermen rescued from sinking fishing vessel off Western Australia coast

May 16,2021 | Source: ABC

Twenty Indonesian fishermen have been rescued from a sinking fishing boat off the coast of Western Australia in an operation involving Australian authorities and a Japanese fishing vessel.



Indonesia authorities notified the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) on Thursday that the vessel was in distress 670 nautical miles west of Perth.



The Perth AMSA Challenger jet dropped life jackets to the group on Friday before Australian Defence Force (ADF) aircraft deployed life rafts to the vessel.



After a Japanese fishing vessel arrived to assist the boat on Saturday, the men were transferred to HMAS Anzac, which had medical support onboard.



AMSA executive director response Mark Morrow said all everyone involved in the rescue mission was relieved by the outcome of the operation.



"Yesterday, Japanese fishing vessel FUKUSEKI MARU 15 reached the Indonesian fishermen, whose boat was sinking, and was able to render assistance to those onboard," Mr Morrow said.



"Their quick response was instrumental to the success of this time-sensitive mission.



"HMAS Anzac was then able to arrive with medical and interpreter support for the rescued fishermen.



"The successful saving of 20 lives at sea is an incredible achievement of which all responding authorities should be proud. We appreciate the assistance of the Australian Defence Force and FV FUKUSEKI MARU 15 in this search and rescue mission."



It is understood all the crew members tested negative for COVID-19 but will be returned to Denpasar in Bali.



One of the fishermen, a 33-year-old man, was due to be flown to hospital in Perth on Sunday night to undergo surgery on a badly injured hand.



In a statement, the ADF said HMAS Anzac had been a few hours off docking in Perth following a recent mission before it was redirected.



Defence Minister Peter Dutton thanked the families of HMAS Anzac's crew who had been waiting at the wharf for its arrival.



"I also want to acknowledge the patience and goodwill of the families of Anzac's crew, who are now waiting longer to see their loved ones following a long deployment," he said.



"We will have your sailors back with you as soon as possible."

 2021 ABC

Theme(s): Communities and Organisations.
Philippines ignores China fishing ban in disputed waters

by Ralph Jennings

May 16,2021 | Source: VOA

The Philippine government took another step this month in opposing China by telling its vast fishing fleet to ignore Beijings annual fishing ban in the South China Sea, where the two countries are locked in a sovereignty dispute.



This years fishing moratorium does not apply to our fishermen, the Philippines South China Sea task force said on May 4, as reported by domestic media. Officials have encouraged fishing boats to trawl the sea, news website Philstar.com reported.



Chinas moratorium from May 1 to August 16, imposed unilaterally since 1999 in the northern part of the sea, is intended to improve marine ecology, the official Xinhua News Agency in Beijing said last month. More than 50,000 Chinese vessels would suspend operations, it said.



Mounting public pressure against China in the Philippines prompted the government to reject the moratorium publicly, a potential boon to a domestic fishing industry that employs some 2 million people, experts say.



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte forged a new friendship with China in 2016 by laying aside the sovereignty dispute, but Chinese vessels continue to appear in waters claimed by Manila. Dutertes political allies, who plan to seek office next year after he steps down due to term limits, are expected to follow public opinion on China.



Theres a lot of political heat, so the Philippine government cannot be seen to be acquiescing to Chinese pressure, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor at the National University of Singapore's public policy school.



Fishing vessel operators want the government to take a much stronger posture toward the South China Sea, said Jay Batongbacal, international maritime affairs professor at the University of the Philippines in Quezon City. They complain they seldom see their own countrys navy or coast guard, he said. Four Philippine Navy ships set off this week to support fishing vessels in the Spratly Islands.



Because of the more intense public pressure, theyre responding by sending ships to show some visibility and also encouraging the fishermen to fish, Batongbacal said.



China claims about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea thats prized for fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. Its the most militarily advanced of the six governments that dispute sovereignty over the sea. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam call all or parts of the South China Sea their own, as well. Claimants prize the waterway for its fishing stocks and fossil fuel reserves.



The moratorium zone covers waters used by Taiwan and Malaysia as well as the Philippines.



Duterte visited Beijing in 2016 to set aside the sovereignty issue. China then pledged $24 billion in aid and investment for the developing Southeast Asian country. But Duterte has angered Filipinos since that visit by saying China was too strong at sea for the Philippines to resist.



Officials in Manila said little about previous Chinese fishing bans. Philippine fishing boats know where it's safe and unsafe after so many years of bans, Araral said.



China has stoked public hostility by letting hundreds of its fishing vessels pass at least twice near Philippine-controlled islets in the disputed sea. A flotilla that peaked at 220 vessels moored at Whitsun Reef in the seas Spratly Islands in March. Philippine officials demanded that those vessels leave the unoccupied feature.



Filipinos had never regarded China as a friend before 2016, allying instead with the United States militarily since the 1950s. Officials in Manila aim now to retain their Visiting Forces Agreement with Washington this year, even though Duterte had once vowed to scrap it.



For Duterte, this is an opportunity to demonstrate that he is keen to resist China in the way he deems fit, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.



China has not publicly rebutted the Philippine government for urging fishing boats to ignore the moratorium. It will probably just ask that any boats leave the no-fishing zone rather than impounding them, lest Philippine officials get even angrier, Araral said.



A frayed Sino-Philippine relationship risks pushing Manila closer to Washington. Beijing resents U.S. presence in the South China Sea, although the U.S. has no territorial claims there.



China might tell its fishing boats to leave Whitsun Reef as well as letting Philippine fishermen fish in the moratorium zone, said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila



There can be relative stability if the fishing vessels withdraw and they dont enforce that fishing ban on us, he said.

Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods.
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The International Federation of Journalists has called on the UN Security Council, which meets today, to take urgent action to stop the deliberate and systematic targeting of journalists in Gaza.

The call comes after a third building housing media, including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera, was destroyed by Israeli bombs. The IFJ strongly condemned the attack.

More than 30 journalists have also been attacked or detained. Internet services have been blocked.

In the wake of the attacks the IFJ has written to the Israeli authorities and to the UN Secretary General and all Security Council members demanding an end to the deliberate and systematic targeting of media and journalists and a clear attempt to silence those reporting from on the ground in Gaza.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: Israel is in breach of its international obligations. UN Security Council Resolution 1738 specifically demands that States protect journalists and their support staff working in conflict environments. This outrageous targeting of media must stop.

The IFJ has repeatedly called on the Israeli government to investigate attacks and targeted killings of Palestinian media workers. The IFJ also denounced the situation to the United Nations, submitting formal complaints to the Special Rapporteurs in December 2020. The IFJ believes that the lack of transparent investigations and the rampant impunity for those who commit these crimes are a breeding ground for continued attacks against media across Palestine and Israel.
Imperial Valley News Center

U.S. Soldiers and Laredo Sector Border Patrol Rescue Two in Rio Grande River

Laredo, Texas - Working together, Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents and U.S. Army soldiers assigned in support of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), rescued two undocumented individuals in the Rio Grande River.

The rescues occurred during the early morning of May 11, when several undocumented individuals attempted to cross the Rio Grande River illegally into the United States. U.S. Army soldiers assigned to support CBP in the area observed two of the seven individuals in the group struggling to stay afloat. One of the soldiers immediately jumped into the river and utilized a rescue disk to pull the individual to the U.S. riverbank. Simultaneously, an agent assigned to the Laredo South station along with another soldier, jumped into the river to rescue the other individual.

The undocumented individuals, who were from Mexico, did not require further medical assistance after initial evaluation. All were taken into custody for further investigation.

The soldiers, who are under the operational command of U.S. Army North, U.S. Northern Command's lead for this mission, are supporting CBP in the Laredo area. This is the third time this year that soldiers in support of CBP along the Southern border have helped save lives in the river. The river has areas with swift moving waters that are dangerous to those who attempt to cross.

The Department of Defense (DOD) has a long history of supporting efforts to secure U.S. borders. U.S. Northern Command, through U.S. Army North, continues to work closely with the Department of Homeland Security and CBP to ensure the safety and security of our Nation's borders through counterdrug operations, counter transnational organized crime efforts, and other transnational threats.

Despite the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Border Patrol agents, working with our DOD partners, continue to secure our borders while providing aid to those in need. Laredo Sector Border Patrol is committed to the mission of the agency to protect the American people by safeguarding our border along with enhancing the Nations economic prosperity.

Help take a stand against criminal organizations and potentially dangerous acts by reporting suspicious activity in our neighborhoods. To report suspicious activity such as human and/or drug smuggling, download the USBP Laredo Sector App or contact the Laredo Sector Border Patrol toll free at 1-800-343-1994.
Border Patrol Agents Arrest Convicted Felon

Calexico, California - El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a convicted felon after he illegally crossed the border into the United States.

On October 26, 2020, Jorge Moreno-Hernandez, 35, a citizen of Mexico was part of a group of migrants apprehended in the desert 12 miles east of the Calexico Port of Entry. Agents placed Moreno-Hernandez under arrest and transported him and the group to El Centro Sector Rally Point for further processing.

Record checks revealed that Moreno-Hernandez is a convicted felon who served 13 years in a Los Angeles, California prison for Voluntary Manslaughter.

Additionally, Moreno-Hernandez was previously ordered removed by a designated official on August 25, 2020. Moreno-Hernandez was prosecuted and convicted for 8 USC 1326, Re-entry after Deportation. He will serve 13 months and 1 day in federal custody and 2 years of supervised release.

Border Patrol Agents arrest convicted felon.
No matter what industry you're in, it makes sense to follow the airlines. They offer a never-ending series of case studies that can help you make better decisions in your business.

Today's case study? Whether you realistically can or should require employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Last month, a study out of Arizona State University concluded that about 65 percent of U.S. companies will eventually require their employees to get vaccinated.

More than a third of those employers said they'd consider terminating employees who refuse.

But on the other side of the table, a study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that about 28 percent of employees say they'd rather quit their jobs than get vaccinated, if their employers mandated it.

To be up front, I got vaccinated as soon as I was eligible. But I recognize that not everyone sees this the way I do, and that the very idea of vaccine requirements is highly controversial.

As a business leader, you're likely thinking through what the policy might become at your company: Require vaccinations? Just encourage them? Leave it all to the judgment of your employees?

Last week, Delta CEO Ed Bastian announced his company's policy -- the first airline to go public with its plan. What I find interesting and useful about it, besides the fact that Delta made its decision early and you can compare it with its competitors, is that it's sort of a hybrid approach.

Here are the details:

First off, for new employees, the vaccine is non-negotiable. If you want to work for Delta and you're not already on board, you'll have to be vaccinated, full stop.

(Data point: In 2017, Delta had 270,000 applicants for 1,700 flight attendant positions, which works out to a 0.6 percent acceptance rate.)

"Any person joining Delta in the future, we will mandate to get vaccinated before they can sign up with the company," Bastian said in an interview on CNN.

Second, the airline won't require current employees, of which it has about 75,000, to get the vaccine.

Bastian said this is a moot point for about 60 percent of Delta employees who already have been vaccinated, a number he expects will eventually rise to about 80 percent.

"I'm not going to mandate and force people if they have some specific reason why they don't want to get vaccinated," Bastian said in the interview, "but I am going to strongly encourage them and make sure they understand the risk to not getting vaccinated."

Now, that leaves 20 percent -- roughly 17,000 employees -- who Bastian expects will not be willing to get vaccinated. What happens to them?

Well, they'll still have jobs at Delta, Bastian said, but many of them can expect their jobs to change.

An immediate example he offered would be that employees who haven't been vaccinated might not be able to fly on international routes.

That's because even if Delta or the United States doesn't require vaccinations, other countries might, and Delta has to comply with their laws when traveling within their borders.

Now, while Bastian is apparently the first airline CEO to outline his airline's policy, he's not the first to address the issue -- or to suggest the possibility or even likelihood of a more restrictive plan.

Back in January, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at a town hall for United employees that he hopes to make vaccines mandatory at his airline.

"I have confidence in the safety of the vaccine," Kirby said, "and I recognize it's controversial. I think the right thing to do is for United Airlines, and for other companies, to require the vaccines and to make them mandatory."

But, he also added: "I don't think United will get away with and can realistically be the only company that requires vaccines and makes them mandatory. We need some others. We need some others to show leadership. Particularly in the health care industry."

See what I mean about the continuous stream of business case studies from the big airlines? Maybe this debate is already prompting you to ask yourself questions, like:

Does requiring vaccines (or not) make my company a better corporate citizen? Is it "the right thing to do?"

Will customers or employees be more or less likely to stay with me if I do require vaccines?

Will some customers or employees leave me behind if I make the opposite decision?

Should I have different policies for new employees versus current ones?

Might I have to change some employees' jobs if they refuse to get vaccinated?

I can't tell you what the answers should be for your business. But I do think it's a lot easier to make these calls when you've had the chance to study the thought processes and decisions at bigger companies -- like the U.S. airlines.
Bella Hadid joined protests in New York this weekend in support of Palestine, and posted a photograph of herself crying about the conflict on Instagram.

The supermodel, whose father Mohamed Hadid is Palestinian, attended the demonstrations in Bay Ridge on Saturday (15 May) to campaign against the violence, which has left 181 in Gaza dead, including 52 children. In Israel, 10 people including two children have been killed.

In photos and footage posted on her social media, Hadid, 24, was seen marching alongside friends while waving a large Palestinian flag.

She wrote in an Instagram post: The way my heart feels.. To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place it feels whole ! We are a rare breed!!

Its free Palestine til Palestine is free!!! P.s. The Palestinian drip is real.

Not long before attending the protests, Bella shared a photo on her Stories, showing tears streaming down her face, with the caption: I feel a deep sense of pain for Palestine and for my Palestinian brothers and sisters today and everyday. watching these videos physically breaks my heart into 100 different pieces.

You cannot allow yourself to be desensitised to watching human life being taken. You just cant. Palestinian lives are the lives that will help change the world. And they are being taken from us by the second. #FreePalestine.

Gal Gadot and Rihanna are also among the stars who have also shared their views on the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict.

The cross- border fighting is the crescendo to weeks of tensions that have simmered chiefly in the contested city of Jerusalem, that was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and effectively annexed later.

Violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces have centred around the Old City home to Temple Mount or Haram Ash-Sharif, the heart of the decades long conflict.

It reached breaking point after a controversial decision by Israel to evict four Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem in place of Israeli settlers.

The UN has said this order may amount to war crimes, and protests by Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel rolled out across the country, East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Idris Elba has called for the bloodshed to stop, as the Israel-Palestine conflict continues to escalate.

Too many lives are being lost right now for it not to be on the forefront of all our awareness, the Luther star wrote on Instagram.

Its the brutality and bloodshed that has compelled me to raise concern. IT HAS TO STOP, there needs to be more intervention before more people die.

He added: We know the power of people can make change and we should speak out in the name of peace, in the names of those who have already lost lives. STOP the bloodshed in #Palestine.

The violence has left 181 in Gaza dead, including 52 children. In Israel, 10 people including two children have been killed.

Gal Gadot, Rihanna and Bella Hadid are also among the stars who have shared their views on the escalating Israel-Palestine conflict.

The cross- border fighting is the crescendo to weeks of tensions that have simmered chiefly in the contested city of Jerusalem, that was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and effectively annexed later.

Violence between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces have centred around the Old City home to Temple Mount or Haram Ash-Sharif, the heart of the decades long conflict.

It reached breaking point after a controversial decision by Israel to evict four Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem in place of Israeli settlers.

The UN has said this order may amount to war crimes, and protests by Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel rolled out across the country, East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Throughout lockdown, Paige Nicholson, 29, from West Yorkshire, has been repeatedly sent pictures of a strangers penis online. Every time she blocks the social media account responsible, a new one springs up and continues. At first, she thought it was a troll with nothing better to do, but now she thinks it is a concerted effort by an individual to humiliate or intimidate her. On one occasion she posted a warning to other women on Twitter, but instead of discouraging the behaviour, the volume of pictures increased.

Like many women, Nicholson has been a victim of cyber flashing (the sending of unsolicited sexual images) since she started using the internet. The first time it happened was in 2004, when she was just 13 years old. Since then, it has happened upwards of 70 times across Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, iMessage, and on various dating apps. The senders have always been men, using mostly anonymous accounts but Nicholson has also received so-called dick pics from people she knows, including a former colleague who sent her multiple unsolicited images of himself in the bath during the first lockdown. It was disgusting. Did he think I was going to leave my husband and kid and ride him into the sunset?

As a YouTuber and small business owner, Nicholson had to spend more time online during lockdown than ever before. An Ofcom study from June 2020 found adults were spending an average of four hours a day online, a rise of almost an hour from 2018. While the internet has enabled many people to earn money, keep their jobs, and socialise with friends and family during one of the most fraught times in modern British history, it is not always a safe space.

Nicholson thinks many do not understand how commonplace the experience of cyber flashing is for women and non-binary people  it can happen via AirDrop in public places, on public transport, in restaurants, and even lecture halls, as well as online  and describes herself as somehow desensitised because of the frequency. I dont think [lawmakers] care, she says. But as a mum of a young girl, I know Im going to have to talk to her about it when someone cyber flashes her and thats a sad prospect.

The issue of cyber flashing has been gaining traction in recent years with more coverage of high profile or particularly nefarious cases: in January the New York Mets sacked manager Jared Porter over sending unsolicited explicit images to a female reporter; a womans story went viral when she was cyber flashed after sharing her phone number to get a ventilator for Covid patients in India; reports about harassment in private schools highlighted how commonplace sending of unsolicited images is among young people; and most recently actor Noel Clarke was accused, among other things, of sending a woman a photograph of an erect penis. Clarke denied to The Guardian he had sent such an image.

Cases of image-based abuse are increasing year on year, and early data suggests numbers have been boosted by the intrinsically digital nature of life in lockdown. A report by the University of Leicester recorded a third of women had been cyber flashed. Our ongoing research explores how extended periods of lockdown have worsened online forms of gendered harms, the authors said. A UN Women report came to the same conclusion: These incidents are likely to be rising as women and girls spend more time online during the pandemic. A survey by Glitch, a safer internet charity, found 17 per cent of women or non-binary people had been sent unsolicited pornography in June or July 2020.

Cyber flashing is the dark side of social media that needs to be dealt with

Beth Fry, 22, who works in a mother and baby hostel in Cardiff, has noticed a massive increase in lockdown. People being isolated at home is driving them to pester women more for their own personal pleasure, she says. One incident that sticks in her mind was a stranger continuously contacting her on Instagram with penis images and saying he wanted to cum over [her]. Lets call it what it is: sexual harassment. It is absolutely disgusting. I feel violated and angry that men have the audacity to send [it], she says. Cyber flashing is the dark side of social media that needs to be dealt with.

Data suggests that a fifth of women who have received unsolicited images would use the words distressing or threatening to describe it, with nearly 60 per cent picking the word gross. Professor of law Clare McGlynn, at Durham University, and author of Cyberflashing: Recognising Harms, Reforming Laws, has said that different women will experience the harm differently  particularly if they have a history of sexual trauma  and the conclusion should not be drawn that it is always less damaging than in-person flashing because it is behind a screen.

Fry says: Some women come from horrific backgrounds of abuse and assault and seeing things like this unprovoked could massively trigger them.

Alanna-Rose Whitney, 30, has been cyber flashed many times, including in lockdown. They also have experience of rape and made a comparison between the two: Ultimately it is the same feeling or essence in your core. It hurts and [feels] violating every time and I feel like I want to cringe, but not just to pull back from the computer or phone in revulsion; theres this deeper pull to withdraw emotionally. Like somethings crawling under my skin.

I feel like I want to cringe, but not just to pull back from the computer or phone in revulsion; theres this deeper pull to withdraw emotionally

Rachel Jones, 24, from Greater Manchester, who works as a trainee solicitor, was cyber flashed in lockdown also makes the comparison between the harms of offline and online flashing. No one understands how damaging it is, she says. People believe that because you send it on the internet it has less of an impact, but it does not. It is no different and the fact you can receive these pictures in your home, your safe place, can make it worse. Cyber flashing has become a pandemic in itself.

Lawmakers have been circling the issue of legislating against cyber flashing for years. In October 2018, the Women and Equalities Committee recommended the government introduce a law criminalising cyber flashing as a sexual offence. This would convey a victims lack of consent, acknowledge the harms caused and provide victims of such crimes anonymity, as in non-digital sex crimes. Two years later, the Law Commission made a similar recommendation.

Individual players continue to raise the issue in parliament: MP Fay Jones said in January 2020, the scourge of cyber flashing needs to be made a criminal offence and MP Victoria Atkins replied that she was very aware of the offence... and very much wants those sorts of twenty-first century online crimes to be dealt with. Conservative MP Maria Miller is clear in describing cyber flashing as a sexual offence and tells The Independent : It is completely unacceptable that you can be sitting at home or on a train or in a supermarket and can relieve a sexually explicit image without your consent and that is not against the law. The government has to act  [it is] not an option to simply set it aside.

Despite this voicing of support, and the governments Online Harms Bill being put forward in the upcoming parliamentary session, there is still scant detail on exactly how it plans to deal with cyber flashing in England and Wales. Scotland already has a law against it.

(Getty Images)

McGlynn says that as we are required to spend more time online, cyber flashing becomes an increasingly powerful weapon. Cyber flashing impacts on peoples relationships with online media and their phones. If most of us use Facebook or Instagram as a relaxing space, it can become a site of trauma [following online harassment]. Those sorts of adverse impacts will only have intensified in lockdown because so much more is now online so trying to withdraw [to protect yourself] is going to be even worse.

This is particularly true for women whose financial prospects rely on online work. For Kenya*, 22, a sex worker, unsolicited sexual images have gone from being a rare occurrence to a daily one. The pandemic has 100 per cent made this issue worse. Mostly because millions more people are online. Before the pandemic, I rarely ever received unsolicited nudes, even as an online sex worker. Men have gotten so used to doing it, theres absolutely no way theyd stop now unless it were made a criminal offence. She describes the perpetrators as predators who know what they are doing.

Some worry about cyber flashing being a gateway to further abuse. Fry says: I keep thinking if theyre willing to sexually harass someone on Snapchat and suffer no consequences, then whats stopping them progressing to more severe forms? Professor McGlynn has previously said that it is inevitable that some of these people will then go on to commit contact sexual offences [in person], but it is not possible to say at this time what sort of proportion at this stage.

Increasing evidence has demonstrated that image-based abuse has profound implications for victims. It reaches people in what is usually a very private space, says Miller, and because of the way the law is constructed they are often not taken seriously so sometimes online instances can be even more destructive than offline abuse.

If theyre willing to do this suffer no consequences then whats stopping them progressing to more severe forms

Both experts and victims believe it is so commonplace it is normalised and instead of an onus on perpetrators to stop, it requires women to deploy strategies to resolve it. This creates a complacency among authority and the wider population about law reform, instead leaving it to individuals. Its fighting against the idea that its so normal we cant take action against it, says McGlynn. But that isnt the case for offences like shoplifting or people stealing bikes, we dont just give up on it.

As campaigners wait for change, there are some grass roots initiatives, like the Dont Be a Dick scheme to educate school-aged children, or the DickPickLocator, which gives women the potential power to locate where a picture was taken using GPS coordinates. Cannelle Roumanie, 23, a criminology masters student at Anglia Ruskin University, has also set up an Instagram page (@itsadickmove) to encourage awareness. My hope is that young people understand that it is not normal, she says.

Early data indisputably shows that cyber flashing is a growing rather than diminishing problem. Keeping people behind closed doors during the coronavirus pandemic has not shielded them from harassment but been a catalyst for increasing harm online. When deciding how to move forward, MPs will have to consider the findings of a recent report by the House of Lords: that our lives are no longer distinct offline and online zones but a hybrid. This not only means that we cant afford to dismiss digital problems as discrete or inconsequential, but also that the failure to address these concerns can have real-world impact.

A government spokesperson said: We are making our laws fit for the digital age. Our world-leading Online Safety Bill will make tech companies more responsible for peoples safety online but we have also asked the Law Commission to look at strengthening criminal offences too, including to better protect women from vile cyber flashing.
Four men have been arrested by officers investigating a video which appeared to show antisemitic abuse being shouted from a car in London on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said.

Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer denounced the incident in which threats were apparently shouted from a convoy of vehicles driving through a Jewish community in the capital.

Footage showed a group of cars adorned with Palestinian flags driving down Finchley Road on Sunday, with several individuals standing up through the sunroofs and waving flags as one man shouted: F*** their mothers. Rape their daughters. We have to send a message.

A Scotland Yard statement said: Officers investigating a video which appeared to show antisemitic abuse being shouted from a car in north London have made four arrests.

Police received reports of people shouting antisemitic abuse from a car travelling within a convoy of vehicles through the St Johns Wood area on the afternoon of Sunday, May 16.

Enquiries were carried out and officers traced a car to the A40 in Hillingdon. The police helicopter was deployed and officers stopped the car at approximately 18.30hrs.

Four men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences. They were taken into custody at a west London police station.

The cars drove through the St Johns Wood area  a community which houses four significant synagogues, including the oldest congregation within Liberal Judaism, and is described by The Jewish Chronicle as occupying a special place in British and Jewish life.

In response, the prime minister said: There is no place for antisemitism in our society. Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britain's Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today.

Labour leader Sir Keir said there must be consequences for those involved in the utterly disgusting incident, adding: Antisemitism, misogyny and hate have no place on our streets or in our society.

As Israeli-Palestinian violence continued to intensify this weekend, with medics reporting at least 42 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets to oppose the violence and show solidarity in several cities, including London, Glasgow and Manchester.

Organisers of the march in the capital on Saturday said some 100,000 people were in attendance, as huge crowds gathered outside the Israeli embassy calling on the British government to take immediate action to deescalate the situation.

Addressing the crowds, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the demonstrations gave succour, comfort and support to those suffering in the conflict, while the Palestinian-UK ambassador Husam Zumlot said: This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression. Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity.

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. 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The celebration marks the end of the Muslim month of fasting, called Ramadan. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs coffin, covered with His Royal Highnesss Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St Georges Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images

Scotland Yard said nine police officers were injured while dispersing crowds on Saturday when demonstrators threw projectiles at them during what the force called small pockets of disorder.

The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, condemned some of the language used on marches this weekend and in posts on social media as intimidating, criminal and racist.

Referring to the video of the convoy, which was later spotted near Brent Cross and Golders Green, Mr Jenrick said: This, on the streets of London, is deeply disturbing. Vile, criminal hatred like this must not be tolerated.

Whatever your view of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, there is no justification for inciting anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim hatred. The incidents of antisemitism we have seen in recent days have been shameful, he said, adding: We must not tolerate this vile, shameful hate in our country. These actions must stop.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove also pointed to footage showing men at Londons protests shouting a phrase relating to a seventh century massacre of Jewish people, now widely interpreted as a battle cry: Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.

Sharing the footage, labelled by Mr Gove as deeply concerning, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: Cant stop thinking about this. Happening on our streets. It has to be condemned at the highest level. This is not a call for peace. It is incitement against Jews.

Additional reporting by PA
Boris Johnsons Brexit minister has issued a veiled threat that the UK is ready to walk away from key elements of its Northern Ireland border agreement with the EU unless Brussels gives ground in talks.

David Frost admitted that Mr Johnsons Brexit deal has disrupted deliveries of goods to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain and put political stability in the province at risk.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he acknowledged that Downing Street failed to anticipate the additional paperwork and checks which would result from the deal, which he negotiated and Mr Johnson signed and pushed through parliament.

Despite the EU making clear throughout negotiations that maintaining the integrity of the single market was a red line for Brussels, Lord Frost accused the 27-nation bloc of taking an unnecessarily purist approach to maintaining the customs border in the Irish Sea created by Mr Johnsons deal.

The ministers intervention is an indication of failure to make progress in talks on the Protocol with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic which have been going on for more than two months.

European Commission negotiators have offered to drop checks on food products travelling from the mainland to Northern Ireland if the UK aligns itself with EU plant, animal health, environment and food safety rules.

But Lord Frost has resisted this gambit, which would tie the UKs hands in trade negotiations with countries like the US. Instead, he said today that it was for the EU to stop point-scoring and find a new approach and new solutions to resolve the situation.

Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol allows either the UK or EU to withdraw from provisions in the agreement if they threaten serious and lasting economic, societal or environmental difficulties in the province.

And Lord Frost left no doubt that the government is considering activating the article - which would allow Brussels to respond with rebalancing measures, which could include tariffs on UK exports.

If the Protocol operates so as to damage the political, social, or economic fabric of life in Northern Ireland, then that situation cannot be sustained for long, warned the Tory peer.

We are responsible for protecting the peace and prosperity of everyone in Northern Ireland and we will continue to consider all our options for doing so.

Confronted by The Independent with the disruption caused to economic life in Northern Ireland by his Brexit deal, Mr Johnson told a press conference on 8 March that he was optimistic that the issues would soon be resolved with the application of goodwill and imagination.

But Lord Frost said today that shops in Northern Ireland had told him that suppliers in the UK are unwilling to sell them their products because they find it too difficult and too time-consuming to deal with the paperwork created by the Brexit agreement.

Risks to the supply of all kinds of products remain and may well get worse as the year progresses, he said.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 June 2021 Adam Chamberlain, 45, general manager of Big Tree pub in Sheffield, has put up over 500 flags, taking 36 hours, in preparation for Euro 2020, which kicks off this weekend Tom Maddick / SWNS 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. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters

Lord Frost dismissed EU concerns over products which do not meet its standards entering the single market through Northern Ireland as a risk that does not exist.

He did not accuse Brussels of breaching the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But he said: The EU takes a very purist view of all this. It seems to want to treat goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK in the same way as the arrival of a vast Chinese container ship at Rotterdam. We did not anticipate this when we agreed the Protocol and it makes no sense.

I totally understand why this makes unionism in Northern Ireland anxious and why consent for the Protocol is now fragile. Protests have been occurring and political stability is at risk.

Our overriding aim has always been to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. If the Protocol is not protecting it, it is not working.

The EU has a responsibility here. The Protocol is a shared UK-EU agreement. The EU needs, rapidly, to find a new approach and new solutions.

He added: So my message to our friends in Europe is: stop the point-scoring and work with us. Seize the moment, help find a new approach to Northern Ireland, and then we can build a new relationship for the future.
National

Kerala nurse killed in Hamas rocket attack in Israel

Soumya Santosh

NEW DELHI, MAY 16 (AGENCIES): | Publish Date: 5/16/2021 1:15:52 PM IST

In a tragic incident, an Indian nurse from Kerala was killed in a Hamas rocket attack at Ashkelon in Israel.

According to the reports, a 31-year-old caregiver Soumya Santosh, hailing from Idukki, Kerala, was killed in a rocket attack by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza coastal strip. Soumya worked as a caregiver to an old woman in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

The Kerala nurse was on the phone with her husband when the rocket hit the apartment she was in. The wheel-chair bound lady who Soumya was taking care of was also killed during the attack. Reportedly, Soumya had lived in Israel for the last ten years in Ashkelon and is survived by a nine-year-old son and husband in Kerala.

My brother heard a huge sound during the video call. Suddenly the phone got disconnected. Then we immediately contacted fellow Malayalees working there. Thus, we came to know about the incident, said Saji, brother-in-law of the deceased. Soumya could not reach the bomb shelter in time. According to the local media network Channel 12, the nearest rocket shelter was a minute away from the spot, but they could not reach it in time. The apartment where the old lady was staying lacked a fortified room. Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan expressed condemnation against the attacks and expressed grief over Soumyas demise.

Spoke with the family of Ms Soumya to convey my deep condolences at her tragic demise during the rocket attacks from Gaza today. Assured all possible assistance. We have condemned these attacks and the violence in Jerusalem, and urged restraint by both sides, he said in a tweet.

Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka also condoled the Indian womans death.

On behalf of the state of Israel, I convey heartfelt condolences to the family of Ms Soumya Santosh, murdered by Hamas indiscriminate terror attack on innocent lives. Our hearts are crying with her 9 years old son that lost his mother in this cruel Terrorist attack, the Israeli Ambassador said in his tweet.
Ministers have not ruled out a return to localised lockdowns in response to the upsurge in the Indian variant of Covid-19 in the UK, health secretary Matt Hancock has said.

Mr Hancock told Sky Newss Sophy Ridge on Sunday that he very much hopes that the planned national removal of England-wide restrictions will go ahead on 21 June, but said it was too early to say whether it is safe to go ahead.

The health secretary said that early results from tests at Oxford University gave a high degree of confidence that vaccines work against the B1.617.2 strain of Covid-19.

But he revealed that five people in Indian variant hotspot Bolton have ended up in hospital despite having had one jab and one - who he described as frail - after having two doses of vaccine. None has died.

Mr Hancock said that if the variant is as much as 50 per cent more transmissible than previous strains - as some scientists fear - it could lead to a very, very large number of cases, even with much of the adult population vaccinated.

He urged anyone who has not taken up the offer of a vaccine to do so now, warning that the Indian variant can spread like wildfire among unvaccinated groups. And he confirmed that jabs will to be extended to the over-35s over the coming week.

Mr Hancock said the public need to be cautious, careful and vigilant as social and economic restrictions are rolled back.

But he said it was right to go ahead with the next round of relaxations on Monday, when restaurants and pubs will reopen indoors and gatherings in private homes will be allowed to resume.

The health secretary said it remained too early to say whether the final removal of lockdown curbs will go ahead on 21 June, telling Ridge that the decision will not be taken until a week in advance.

He said ministers are not ruling out a return to regional restrictions if the Indian variant creates serious localised surges in coronavirus. Vaccination and testing programmes have already been stepped up in Bolton and Blackburn in response to a surge in cases.

Mr Hancock made clear that ministers to not want to take the step of imposing local restrictions in areas like Bolton, which has remained in the highest level of controls almost the entire period since Covid-19 arrived in the UK.

But he said: We dont rule out further action Its not a step we want to take, but of course we might have to take it and we will if its necessary to protect people.

Asked whether the 21 June relaxations may have to be delayed, Mr Hancock said: I very much hope not.

Our strategy remains on track. It is just that in the race between the vaccine and the variants, the variant has got more legs. That makes it more challenging but the overall strategy remains on track.

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. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters UK news in pictures 18 April 2021 Stephen Maguire (right) of Scotland interacts with Jamie Jones of Wales during day 2 of the Betfred World Snooker Championships 2021 at The Crucible, Sheffield PA UK news in pictures 17 April 2021 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburghs coffin, covered with His Royal Highnesss Personal Standard arrives by Landrover Defender at St Georges Chapel carried by a bearer party found by the Royal Marines during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle Getty Images

A member of the governments Sage scientific advisory group said ministers must be ready to reverse Mondays relaxations if there is evidence of a rise in cases.

I think we have to monitor this very carefully, I dont think we should rule anything out, Professor John Edmunds told BBC1s Andrew Marr Show. So if things look like theyre getting worse rapidly then I do think that action needs to be taken.

Prof Edmunds added: I think we should be concerned but not panicking. Were in a much, much better place now than we were when the Kent variant first hit us back in November, December.

Mr Hancock said there is new very early data from Oxford University giving confidence that existing vaccines work against the variant.

That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease, said the health secretary.

We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome.

The university said the data is preliminary and was unable to share the research because it was not yet written up in a manuscript.

Government scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport warned the pandemic is at a perilous moment and it will be extremely important to keep an eye on the numbers over the next few weeks.

The problem is that the data takes some while to emerge, which is why theres every grounds to be very cautious about the ability to open up in June, said Prof Walport, a Sage member and former chief scientific adviser.

It is a perilous moment. We have a variant that shows good evidence of being more transmissible and possibly significantly more transmissible.

He said that complete normality will take a bit of time to return, as he urged people to exercise caution.

My advice is that just because you can do something doesnt necessarily mean you should, Sir Mark told Ridge.

As far as possible socialise outside, maintain social distancing, if youre going to hug, hug cautiously.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) could reconsider its recommendation that under-40s should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca jabs, in the light of the new more infectious variant, a member of the group has said.

Professor Adam Finn, of the University of Bristol, told Ridge: Thats on the agenda, and if necessary thats something that could be done.

When we expressed a preference for non-AstraZeneca vaccines for this age group it was done in a very provisional way on the basis of everything going absolutely right.

And if the evidence shows that the risk/benefit balance for people in their 30s is to be offered that vaccine then absolutely that recommendation will be changed.

At the moment we dont think thats necessary, but it could well become a recommendation in the future.

The recommendation to offer under-40s a different vaccine was made on the basis that the very low risk of this age-group developing serious illness or dying from Covid-19 made it preferable for them to avoid the risk - also very low - of dangerous blood clots linked to the AZ jab.

However, the decision will inevitably slow down the rollout of the vaccine as more of the younger age groups are called forward to receive their jabs.
Boris Johnsons Conservatives have taken a 13-point lead over Labour, as a new poll recorded Keir Starmers popularity slumping amid the partys hangover following its defeat in the Hartlepool by-election.

The margin is the widest recorded by Opinium since May last year, soon after Starmer took over from Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

The poll found that one-third (33 per cent) of 2019 Labour voters want Starmer to resign, compared to 49 per cent who do not.

The survey of 2,004 British adults, conducted on 13 and 14 May, found 44 per cent planning to vote Conservative  up two points since a similar poll a fortnight ago. Meanwhile Labour dropped six points to 31 per cent, meaning an overall increase of eight points in the Tory lead in just two weeks.

After almost drawing level with Johnson in Opiniums last poll at the end of April, Sir Keir fell six points to just 23 per cent when respondents were asked who would be best as prime minister, while the Tory leader put on eight points to establish a 17-point lead over Starmer, scoring 40 per cent.

The governments handling of the coronavirus received its highest approval rating since the middle of 2020.

Some 67 per cent of those questioned said Labour had done badly in the 6 May elections, when Starmers party shed 327 councillors in England and saw the Westminster seat of Hartlepool fall into Tory hands for the first time since the 1960s. Among those who said the party had done badly, almost one-third (31 per cent) said the leader was to blame.

However, a majority of the public (57 per cent) said Starmer had been a better leader than his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, against 23 per cent who thought Corbyn had performed better.

Sir Keirs satisfaction ratings took a huge knock, with his net approval  calculated by deducting those dissatisfied from those who said they were satisfied with his performance  plunging from plus eight to minus 11, driven by a 30-point drop in ratings among 2019 Labour voters, from plus 40 to plus 10.

Only 29 per cent of voters said Starmer looks like a prime minister in waiting, but the figures rose to 48 per cent among 2019 Labour voters.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 June 2021 Adam Chamberlain, 45, general manager of Big Tree pub in Sheffield, has put up over 500 flags, taking 36 hours, in preparation for Euro 2020, which kicks off this weekend Tom Maddick / SWNS 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. PA UK news in pictures 12 May 2021 A couple have wedding photos taken in Westminster, London Getty UK news in pictures 11 May 2021 The sun rises on Coquet Island, off Amble on the Northumberland coast, where as many as 35000 seabirds cram onto this tiny island to breed PA UK news in pictures 10 May 2021 Newly elected for a second term Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during his signing in ceremony at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank PA UK news in pictures 9 May 2021 People mill around St. Michael's tower on top of Glastonbury Tor as it is seen through blooming yellow rapeseed on a day of mixed weather in Glastonbury, Somerset PA UK news in pictures 8 May 2021 Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford elbow bumps newly elected MS Labour candidates Elizabeth Buffy Williams, Rhondda, left, and Sarah Murphy, Bridgend & Porthcawl Labour, right, as they meet in Porthcawl, Wales PA UK news in pictures 6 May 2021 A group of five Sisters from Carmelite Monastery in Dysart cast their vote in the Scottish Parliamentary election at Dysart Community Hall, West Port, Dysart PA UK news in pictures 5 May 2021 Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer (centre) with West Midlands Metro Mayor candidate Liam Byrne (far right) and Labour Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner (far left) during a visit to Birmingham, whilst on the election campaign trail PA UK news in pictures 4 May 2021 Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey stand within 100 oak saplings which form part of a living art installation entitled Beuys' Acorns by the UK-based artist duo, outside the Tate Modern in London PA UK news in pictures 3 May 2021 Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie feeds the Gentoo penguins during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo on the campaign trail for the forthcoming Scottish Parliamentary Election on May 6 PA UK news in pictures 2 May 2021 Chelsea players celebrate their fourth goal during the Womens Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich, at Kingsmeadow Stadium in south west London. The Blues won the game 4-1, (and the tie 5-3 on aggregate) sending them through to their first Champions League final AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 1 May 2020 Demonstrators during a march through London during a 'Kill the Bill' protest Angela Christofilou UK news in pictures 30 April 2021 Shoppers queue outside Primark in Belfast as shops reopen and hospitality is able to open outdoors in Northern Ireland where lockdown restrictions have begun to gradually ease PA UK news in pictures 29 April 2021 Specialist operators at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, near Telford, Shropshire, clean the Hawker Hunter aircraft displayed within the museum's National Cold War Exhibition, during annual high-level aircraft cleaning and maintenance PA UK news in pictures 28 April 2021 Millions of tulips in flower near Kings Lynn in Norfolk, as Belmont Nurseries, the UK's largest commercial grower of outdoor tulips, offers socially-distanced visits to its tulip fields at Hillington to raise funds for local charity The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House PA UK news in pictures 27 April 2021 Paula Laughton checks one of the newly installed Lego models in the new Lego Mythica land at Legoland Windsor Resort PA UK news in pictures 26 April 2021 A red panda rests on a tree at Manor Wildlife park, which reopened its doors as lockdown restrictions continue to ease, in Tenby, Wales Reuters UK news in pictures 25 April 2021 Sheep climb the hillside as flames from a moor fire are seen on Marsden moor, near Huddersfield AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 24 April 2021 Supporters protest against Manchester United's owners, outside English Premier League club Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 23 April 2021 People enjoy the warm weather at City Hall near Tower Bridge in central London PA UK news in pictures 22 April 2021 Uyghurs during a demonstration in Parliament Square, London, which is being held ahead of a House of Commons debate, bought by backbench MP Nus Ghani, on whether Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang province are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide PA UK news in pictures 21 April 2021 People walk at the Taihaku Cherry Orchard in Alnwick REUTERS UK news in pictures 20 April 2021 People stand in front of anti Super League banners outside Anfield as twelve of Europe's top football clubs, including Liverpool, launch a breakaway league Reuters UK news in pictures 19 April 2021 Women enjoy sunny weather in Greenwich, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in London, Britain, Reuters

Most popular choice as a replacement was Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, with almost half of those questioned (47 per cent) thinking he would be a good leader, against 19 per cent who thought he would be bad.

Opiniums head of political polling Adam Drummond said: Keir Starmers ratings have taken a tumble as Labour voters begin to fear that he isnt the one to lead the party back to power.

The Labour leader has taken a significant fall across all metrics in the last two weeks, particularly on being a strong leader, looking like a prime minister in waiting, and being able to get things done.

Any opposition would be struggling against a government riding the success of the vaccine rollout, and the last time the governments approval figures for the pandemic were this positive the Conservatives held a 17-point lead. However, at least then Labour could console themselves that their leader was new and making a positive impression.

Labours poor position today is the result of factors both out of their control and things they should be deeply concerned with.

Opinium Research carried out an online survey of 2,004 UK adults from 13-14 May
Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney has claimed that some Republican lawmakers voted against the impeachment of Donald Trump out of fear for their lives, not because they believed the president was innocent of impeachable offenses.

The Republican lawmaker told CNN on Friday that there were more members who believe in substance and policy and ideals than are willing to say so, referencing the impeachment vote which took place after the deadly US Capitol riots.

If you look at the vote to impeach, for example, there were members who told me that they were afraid for their own security  afraid, in some instances, for their lives, Ms Cheney said, claiming that she heard this fear from several members of Congress.

And that tells you something about where we are as a country, that members of Congress arent able to cast votes, or feel that they cant, because of their own security, she added.

Her statements came hours after Republican Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, who holds a less-conservative voting record than Rep Cheney, was elected to take over as House GOP conference chairwoman.

What separates the two women, though, is Ms Stefanik has pushed the Big Lie that the election was stolen from the former president.

Rep. Cheney was ousted from her leadership position in the House GOP after she repeatedly denounced Mr Trump and his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Weve seen an evolution of, you know, a general situation where conspiracy theories are rampant, where good people in a lot of instances have been misled and believe things that are not true, Ms Cheney said on CNN.

And so, I think that we all have an obligation to make sure were doing everything we can to convey the truth, to stand for the truth and to stand for the Constitution and our obligations.

Rep Cheney voted to re-elect Mr Trump in 2020 but has since expressed regret over that decision.

She was one of ten Republican House lawmakers who voted to impeach Mr Trump for his actions that led to the 6 January US Capitol riots.

Ms Cheney has vowed to do everything in her power to prevent the former president from being re-elected in 2024.

I was never going to support Joe Biden and I do regret the vote [for Mr Trump], Ms Cheney also told ABC.

It was a vote based on policy, based on substance and in terms of the kinds of policies he put forward that were good for the country. But I think its fair to say that I regret the vote.

Since the 6 January riots and Mr Trumps lies about President Biden winning the election, Ms Cheney has become more outspoken against the former president.

We have to recognize what it means for the nation to have a former president who has not conceded and who continues to suggest that our electoral system cannot function, cannot do the will of the people, she said.
A lieutenant colonel in the newly formed US Space Force has reportedly been relieved from his post and will be investigated after claiming on a podcast that Marxism is infiltrating the military.

Last week Matthew Lohmeier appeared on the conservative podcast, The Steve Gruber show, to discuss the Irresistible Revolution: Marxisms Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military, a book he had self published online, as reported by Military.com.

It claims that neo-Marxist ideologies are spreading throughout the United States military.

He told the show: Since taking command as a [Space Force] commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be. That wasnt just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.

He also stated that The New York Times 1618 Project on slavery in the US was anti-American.

He said of the Pulitzer prize-winning project: It teaches intensive teaching that I heard at my base -- that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified White supremacy as the law of the land. If you want to disagree with that, then you start (being) labeled all manner of things including racist.

Space Force did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.

A Defence Department spokesman told CNN that he had been removed from his post on Friday due to a loss of trust and an investigation has been launched into whether it broke the military ban on partisan politics.

They said: Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead. This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.

Lohmeier, based in the space missile warning squadron in Colorado and who received a Thanksgiving call from Donald Trump last year, has not commented publically but has tweeted links to articles claiming his removal is outrageous.

Space Force was created by then President Trump in 2019 as the sixth brand of the US Armed Forces and the first new military service since Air Force in 1947.

Trump called it the worlds newest war-fighting domain that would protect the US from a space invasion, but it was widely mocked at the time by media and late night hosts.

The lieutenant colonel was defended by Republican representative, Matt Gaetz, of Florida, who tweeted on Sunday that the move was evidence of wokeification of our military and that he would be seeking action on this in the Armed Services Committee.

He said: Lt. Col. Lohmeier is a Patriot telling the truth about the attempted wokeification of our military - and worse. His demotion is clearly retaliatory.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted that it was troubling.

Other conservative supporters, including alt-right activist Jack Posobiec, claimed that it was evidence that whistleblowers will be quashed. 

Within hours of Posobiecs tweet to his 1.2million followers the $17.95 book was out of stock on Amazon and flying up the bestseller lists.

On his website Lohmeier claims that he graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 2006 and worked as a pilot before transferring to the Space Force in October 2020.
Donald Trumps website crashed for almost an hour this weekend after the former president released a false statement about election fraud in Arizona.

In a blog post, Mr Trump made the wild accusation on Saturday that there had been DELETION of an entire Database and critical Election files of Maricopa County.

He also baselessly claimed that seals were broken on the boxes that hold the votes, ballots are missing, and worse.

The unfounded allegations apparently led to a surge in visitors to the site, From the Desk of Donald J Trump, and caused it to crash, the Gateway Pundit and Business Insider reported.

Visitors were informed that something has gone wrong and this URL cannot be processed at this time, according to a picture of the site which was shared on Twitter.

The election recount in Arizona follows a subpoena from Republican senators for Maricopa County ballots and files from November.

Although President Joe Biden carried the county by 10,000 votes, Arizona's Republican-controlled state senate asked a consultancy firm, Cyber Ninjas, to carry out an audit of two million ballots in a bid to find election fraud.

Mr Trump applauded the audit in his blog post and said that Arizona Republicans were up in arms at the alleged deletion and missing files from the Maricopa County recount.

He also claimed that media outlets and Democrats want to stay as far away as possible from the Presidential Election Fraud.

He attacked Fox News for what he viewed as lack of coverage on the Arizona recount.

Fox News is afraid to cover itthere is rarely a mention. Likewise, Newsmax has been virtually silent on this subject because they are intimidated by threats of lawsuits, he wrote

The story is only getting bigger and at some point it will be impossible for the weak and/or corrupt media not to cover, he continued.

The audit will not change the election results in Maricopa County, nor Arizona more widely. Joe Biden won the state by 10,457 votes and the presidential election results were certified on 30 November.

The Democrats margin was even higher in Maricopa County, which Mr Biden won by 45,109 votes against Mr Trump.

On Saturday the top elections official for Maricopa County, Stephen Richer, described the allegations of a deleted database as unhinged, in a response on Twitter.

Im literally looking at our voter registration database on my other screen. Right now, wrote Mr Richer, a Republican. We cant indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country.

Mr Trump has been forced to set up his own blog site in order to release statements. The former president was permanently banned from Twitter and indefinitely banned from Facebook for false allegations of election fraud, and his role in inciting the US Capitol riot in January.

The site was mocked after being pitched as a new communications platform. CNNs media reporter, Oliver Darcy tweeted: He finally figured out how to ... post statements ... to his website? Congrats to the former President and his team on discovering the technology to blog!
Police have arrested a man who may be connected to the death of Caroline Crouch, after the British woman was killed in front of her baby daughter during a burglary at her home in Greece.

The 30-year-old was apprehended while trying to travel to Bulgaria via Evros in northern Greece with a fake passport, the Kathimerini reported on Sunday.

The unnamed Georgian man was reportedly linked to another break-in at a house near where Ms Crouch was murdered in the Athenian suburb of Glyka Nera.

DNA analysis suggested he was involved in tying up an elderly couple during a burglary in March, various UK outlets reported a police source as saying.

The person arrested in Evros has not yet been brought to the homicide department, which is looking at the possibility that he is connected to Crouchs murder, Naftemporiki reported.

Ms Crouch, 20, was sleeping alongside her husband, Charalambos Anagnostopoulos, 32, a pilot, and their baby when three burglars broke into their home shortly before dawn on Tuesday.

She was tied up and eventually strangled in front of her baby while her husband was bound and gagged as the intruders searched their property, making off with cash and jewellery.

Mr Anagnostopoulos managed to call police after loosening his bonds.

The robbers were armed and they threatened to kill both the husband and the wife on separate occasions, said Constantine Hasiotis, chief of the homicide department, who is leading the investigation.

The thieves killed the familys dog and left it hanging on the fence of the house, police said.

Findings from the investigation showed that Ms Crouch, an avid athlete and kick boxer, initially moved to resist her attackers, Mr Hasiotis said on Wednesday. But an autopsy report from a state coroner said: There were no bruises or signs that she may have struggled with them.

World news in pictures Show all 51 1 /51 World news in pictures World news in pictures 8 June 2021 AFP via Getty Images World news in pictures 7 June 2021 Gondoliers help tourists to get on the gondolas, as the region of Veneto becomes a white zone, following a relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions with only masks and social distancing required, in Venice, Italy Reuters World news in pictures 6 June 2021 A military brass band plays during the international ceremony on the 77th anniversary of D-Day, at Omaha Beach in Vierville-sur-Mer, northwestern France AFP/Getty World news in pictures 5 June 2021 An explosives expert from Hamas lays out unexploded projectiles from the aftermath of the May 2021 conflict with Israel, at a local police precinct in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip AFP/Getty World news in pictures 4 June 2021 A couple take photos of each other on a rainbow flag-themed path during pride month at Samyan MRT station in Bangkok, Thailand Reuters World news in pictures 3 June 2021 Sebastien Ogier steers his Toyota Yaris WRC with co-driver Julien Ingrassia during the shakedown at the Rally of Sardegna and fifth round of the FIA World Rally Championship AFP/Getty World news in pictures 2 June 2021 Smoke rises from a fire onboard the MV X-Press Pearl vessel as it sinks while being towed into deep sea off the Colombo Harbour, in Sri Lanka June 2, 2021 Sri Lanka Airforce via Reuters World news in pictures 1 June 2021 A girl runs through a fountain outside a shopping mall on International Children's Day in Beijing on June 1, 2021, a day after China announced it would allow couples to have three children. 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The Greek minister responsible for public order, Michalis Chrisochoidis, described the killing as particularly heinous, saying: One rarely encounters such barbarity in Greece, in Greek society, even among criminals.

The crime has sent shockwaves across Greece and beyond, prompting the government to announce a 300,000 (260,000) reward for any information leading to the arrest of the assailants.

And just days before Greece reopened its borders to non-EU tourists on Friday, hoping to welcome millions of Britons, the countrys justice minister said the government would stiffen legislation for convicted robbers and rapists, forcing them to serve out at least 20 of the 25 years they face.

Since the bounty was announced late on Tuesday, Mr Hasiotis said thousands of calls had been received by the authorities from people claiming to hold answers to the murder.

But it wasnt the reward that triggered this, Mr Hasiotis said on Wednesday. It was the knee-jerk reaction of a sensitised society, stunned by such a heinous crime.

The bounty may prove pivotal in helping to entice a person on the inside with a nugget of information that can help move this investigation further, said Mr Hasiotis, adding: That bit of credible information has not come in yet. But that is not stopping us from pursuing all other avenues of investigation.

Local media reports that police believe the assailants to have histories immersed in illegality, with investigators having contacted prisons to draw up a list of notorious and recently released criminals who have served sentences for robbery.

Between 20 and 30 of them are considered professional criminals capable of such a crime, reports suggest.
 Close Harrowing footage shows Palestinian fathers final moments before he is killed in Israeli air strikes.mp4

More than 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes, the United Nations aid agency said on Tuesday.

About 47,000 of the people displaced people have sought shelter in 58 UN-run schools in Gaza, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters, according to Reuters.

It comes as the Israeli army unleashed a fresh wave of airstrikes on Gaza overnight.

Israels army said it was once again targeting an underground metro system it says is being used by Hamas operatives to evade surveillance.

The residences of five Hamas commanders were also struck, with the Israeli military asserting that some of the homes had been used as command and control centres, while an anti-tank squad in Gaza City was also targeted.

On Monday, President Joe Biden expressed support for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas rulers in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The US leader stopped short of demanding an immediate end to the violence, but expressed his support for a ceasefire and encouraged Israel to make every effort to ensure the protection of innocent civilians, the White House said.

Mr Biden also renewed his his firm support for Israels right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks, a readout of the call said.

At least 213 Palestinians have been killed in airstrikes so far, including 61 children, with more than 1,400 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, Israeli authorities have said.


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International

SL, World Bank sign deal to assist Covid vaccination

Colombo, May 16 (IANS): | Publish Date: 5/16/2021 1:06:33 PM IST

Sri Lanka and the World Bank have signed an $80.5 million additional financing deal to help the island nation access and distribute Covid-19 vaccines and to strengthen the countrys inoculatio system and pandemic response.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank country director for Sri Lanka, said the global lender remained responsive to the health priorities of Sri Lanka as well as emergency needs, reports Xinhua news agency.

Effective deployment of the vaccines would help Sri Lanka protect people, build human capital and facilitate inclusive economic recovery, Faris said.

The second additional financing to the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project is to purchase and deploy safe and effective jabs that meet the World Banks Vaccine Approval Criteria; to strengthen relevant health systems that are necessary for successful deployment; and to prepare for the future, the World Bank statement said.

The government of Sri Lanka is committed to protecting our population from the impacts of the pandemic, and we have placed a high priority on strengthening and expanding the Covid-19 vaccination program, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said.

This useful and timely resource will help us to ensure equitable vaccine deployment among the eligible population of Sri Lanka.

The Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project with a total of $298.07 million has contributed to Sri Lankas pandemic management and prevention efforts.

Project funds have supported the provision of essential works, goods, services, and consultancies for emergency pandemic management and prevention activities, including the procurement of medical and surgical consumables.
Bella Hadid has been actively using social media to express her view on the tiff between Israel and Palestine.

Raising her voice against Israeli attacks on the country and the violence that killed many, the 24-year-old whose father Mohamed Hadid was a Palestinian refugee who had later moved to America posted a tearful video on social media.

In the now-deleted video, she said, "I feel a deep sense of pain for Palestine and for my Palestinian brothers and sisters today and every day. Watching these videos physically breaks my heart into 100 different pieces."



"You cannot allow yourself to be desensitized to watching human life being taken. You just cant. Palestinian lives are the lives that will help change the world. And they are being taken from us by the second. #FreePalestine," she added.



The supermodel and fashion icon also participated in the pro-Palestine march in New York City. Donning a traditional outfit, a Keffiyeh, and a face mask, she lifted a large Palestinian flag to show her support.

"The way my heart feels.. To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving, kind and generous Palestinians all in one place... it feels whole! We are a rare breed!!  Its free Palestine til Palestine is free!!! P.s. The Palestinian drip is real  #FreePalestine," she wrote on Instagram.

Bella dn her sister Gigi Hadid have been supporting for Palestine and riticizing the US government for extending military aid to Israel which is killing the innocents.


In Uttar Pradesh, while hundreds of bodies are found to be floating in Ganga and buried along the banks of the river, women in Uttar Pradesh are offering prayers to "corona mai" to cure people of the infection.

Women in the villages of Varanasi and Kushinagar have now deified the Coronavirus and have started worshipping 'Corona Mai' to lessen her fury and save people from dying.

Women lined up to offer prayers to 'Corona Mai' in Kushinagar district.

Twitter

In Varanasi, women are coming together in groups on the Ghats to offer prayers and appease the Corona Mai.

Offer prayers for 21 days for pandemic to recede

Surili Devi of Kushinagar said that they would offer prayers for 21 days to appease the Corona Mai and were confident that the pandemic would recede.

When asked who prescribed them this spiritual method to check the deadly virus, she said, "A number of pandits have said that we should offer prayers to stop the coronavirus."

IANS

She said that everyone was confident that the prayers would work and Corona would go away from their villages.

Of course, there's no social distancing while offering prayers.

"When we are praying to Corona Mai, there is no need for anything else. The 'Corona Mai' will bless us and cure people," said Ishwari, another devotee.
The vaccines being administered to protect against COVID-19 are "almost certainly less effective" against preventing the transmission of the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, says a leading UK scientist who advises the country's vaccination programme.

Professor Anthony Harnden, from the University of Oxford who is the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said it was important to approach the easing of lockdown in England with "utmost caution" as it remains unclear exactly how much more transmissible the variant detected in India is.

Agencies

But he reiterated that there is no evidence so far of increased severity of illness or that the particular mutation of the coronavirus evades the vaccine.

Vaccines less effective against transmission

"The vaccines may be less effective against mild disease but we don't think they're less effective against severe disease. But in combination with being less effective against mild disease, vaccines are almost certainly less effective against transmission," Prof. Harnden told the BBC.

"We don't know how much more transmissible it is yet. All the evidence so far suggests there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine. So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review," he said, in reference to the next stage in the easing of lockdown that begins in England from Monday.

His comments follow UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street press conference on Friday evening, when he focussed on the "important unknowns" related to the B1.617.2 variant, which is believed to be largely behind India's devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reuters

"We believe this variant is more transmissible than the previous one - in other words it passes more easily from person to person - but we don't know by how much," said Johnson.

Under the UK's action plan laid out to tackle the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, all over-50s and the most vulnerable groups are to be offered their second Covid-19 vaccine dose earlier than scheduled.

Appointments for a second dose of a vaccine will be brought forward from 12 to eight weeks for these groups.
Indian American Anuj Mahendrabhai Patel pleaded guilty to participating in an international conspiracy where he helped collect more than $500,000 in cash conned out of elderly victims, some of whom were told that their Social Security numbers had been linked to crimes and that there were warrants issued by courts authorizing the victims arrests. Above: Pedestrians walk past the Social Security Administration office in downtown Los Angeles, on Oct. 1, 2013 in (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
The National Federation of Indian American Associations, the Federation of Indian Associations-Chicago, the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin and Indian American community organizations in the Chicago region came together and organized a virtual interactive meeting. (photo provided)
Philadelphia officials and community leaders Friday outlined plans for increased emergency operations and law enforcement staffing, while Gov. Tom Wolf activated more than 1,000 Pennsylvania National Guard members to the city in preparation for any potential unrest following the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the killing of George Floyd.

At the request of the city, Wolf signed a proclamation of disaster Friday evening, activating the 1,000-plus state Guard members, to support the current efforts in Philadelphia to protect our beloved neighbors and city. The proclamation is effective for 90 days unless Wolf rescinds or extends it.

The activation of the Guard came after city leaders held a news conference Friday, saying they learned from the large-scale racial justice demonstrations and unrest in Philadelphia last spring following Floyds death, and have developed a holistic plan to address any aftermath of the landmark Chauvin verdict.

Regardless of what may develop, I am confident that our department is prepared for whatever may come our way, said Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, standing in front of the Municipal Services Building  a flash point for conflict in 2020, where the statue of former mayor and police commissioner Frank Rizzo once stood, and where a mural highlighting Black Lives Matter protesters was later installed.

Last year, she said, while we made missteps along the way, we are committed to moving forward in a meaningful and productive manner.

Closing arguments in the trial are set to begin Monday, with no timetable on when the verdict may be reached.

A review commissioned by Mayor Jim Kenney found that police were simply not prepared for the demonstrations that ensued in Philadelphia following Floyds death last May, where short staffing, lack of equipment, and insufficient planning had cascading effects, with inordinate use of tear gas and other less-lethal munitions by police and at times, excessive force against protesters.

This year, the Police Department is increasing staffing and canceling days off to ensure a presence across the city, to enhance the protection of critical infrastructure, businesses, and neighborhoods, Outlaw said. Beginning Saturday, the Office of Emergency Management will also be fully staffed every day for the next several weeks, said Director Adam Thiel.

The National Guard  which occupied Philadelphia for weeks last year following unrest after Floyds death and again in October after officers shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr.  is not in the city yet, Thiel said, but it is ready to deploy if needed.

According to Wolfs office, the Guards duties may include  but are not limited to  area security, manning traffic control points, and providing security at critical infrastructure sites. Citing security concerns, the office said that specific locations, numbers of troops, and locations could not be discussed.

Outlaw said that police have not ruled out using tear gas, rubber bullets, and other less-lethal munitions, but that they would not be fired against peaceful demonstrators. Following the tear-gassing of demonstrators on I-676 and residents in a West Philadelphia neighborhood, police implemented a moratorium on the munitions in June, and in November, Kenney signed a bill barring use of such devices on any individual engaging in First Amendment Activities.

Police intend to honor the moratorium and legislation, a spokesperson said.

Outlaw said the department would do everything possible to avoid disruptions, but that some streets may be closed to traffic.

Things might look different in your neighborhoods over the coming days, she said. You will see officers on bikes, and some officers on foot. Some officers may be on horseback. You will even see some officers throughout the city, along with police clergy, offering prayer, opportunities for healing, and distributing City of Philadelphia resources. Theres even a chance that you will see a Pennsylvania National Guard soldier in your neighborhood. Please remember that they are all here to serve you.

Officials encouraged residents to sign up for emergency updates by texting ReadyPhila to 888-777.

Ahead of the Chauvin verdict, the city will also assist in virtual community healing circles for residents to share their feelings and find support from neighbors, said Managing Director Tumar Alexander. He said the city is asking community leaders to hold their own events, and providing resources to encourage healing conversations, offer support, and information on knowing your rights while protesting. Additionally, he said, business owners, volunteers, Town Watch Integrated Services, and the Office of Violence Prevention will passively patrol the communities and commercial corridors ... not as law enforcement, but just as citizens looking to engage other citizens and business owners.

Some community and faith leaders also urged residents to refrain from destroying property in protest.

We must be ready to embrace the opportunity to dig deeper to end racism, brutality, and injustice, we should embrace the right to protest to demand change, said Sharmain Matlock Turner of the Urban Affairs Coalition. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, Turner added, but Dr. King also gave us wisdom in our fight for justice saying, Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a sword that heals, which cuts without wounding and nobles those who wield it.

Speak up, protest, but do not tear up, said state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Phila.), recalling discussions with city business owners whose stores were damaged during unrest last year, some who never recovered.

In Minneapolis on Thursday, after nearly three weeks of testimony, Chauvins defense rested after he declined to take the stand.

Last week, miles from where the Chauvin trial was underway, police in a Minneapolis suburb shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, leading to several nights of unrest. In Philadelphia, protesters marched through the city for justice for Wright, and more demonstrations are expected this weekend.
Three women whose children were killed in the MOVE bombing 36 years ago said they find no solace in the citys discovery of human remains that were declared destroyed earlier in the week.

In fact, the women expressed varying levels of outrage, incredulity, and bitterness in interviews at Cobbs Creek Park in West Philadelphia on Saturday during a rally commemorating the event:

I dont believe anything the city says, but I know Im insulted, said Janine Phillips Africa, 65, who lost a son, Phil, 11.

Do you know what kind of trauma theyre putting us through? asked Janet Holloway Africa, 70, who lost a daughter, Delisha, 13.

We resent the hell out of this situation, said Consuewella Dotson Africa, who describes herself as almost 70 and who lost two daughters, Katricia, 13, and Vanetta, 11.

Its not known whether the remains belong to any of the children.

Initially, Mayor Jim Kenneys administration announced that, without notifying relatives, it had cremated and discarded remains from the May 1985 bombing in West Philadelphia that led to the deaths of 11 people. But on Friday night, city officials acknowledged the remains were never destroyed.

The revelation came after city officials learned that a subordinate apparently disobeyed Health Commissioner Thomas Farleys order in 2017 to dispose of the remains, said Leon A. Williams, an attorney for the family of the MOVE victims.

Farley, the citys top health official since 2016, resigned Thursday after acknowledging he had ordered the remains cremated and disposed of without notifying the Africas.

Kenney said in a statement late Friday that he had personally informed the family of the discovery of the remains previously believed to have been destroyed. He described the remains as partial bone fragments, or perhaps teeth.

But the three mothers bristled on Saturday, saying no one from the city had told them anything.

We get all our information from the media, Janine Africa said. Nobody called us. It seems to me the city is scrambling to get themselves out of a bad situation.

Their story has changed three or four times in the last 48 hours. All it does is make us relive what happened.

On Saturday night, a spokesperson for Kenney said that while he hadnt met with the three mothers at the rally, he had spoken with several family members on Thursday and Friday, including Pam Africa, Mike Africa Sr., and Mike Africa Jr., among others.

The mayor completely understands why the family doesnt trust the city and has acknowledged that he would feel the same way if he were in their shoes, the spokesperson said. He informed ... [Africa family members] of everything he learned about this situation within two hours of finding out personally. He is more than willing to meet with any family member that is interested in meeting with him.

A citys sin

The zigzagging tale of the remains, coming during the anniversary of an internationally infamous event thats often seen as Philadelphias greatest sin, seems to have reignited ill feelings over systemic mistreatment of Black people at the hands of police. Speaker after speaker at the Saturday rally referenced racism and violence against African Americans.

How treacherous, how monstrous all of this is, Janet Africa said. This is a crystallized example of how people have treated us, and how they have felt about MOVE for years.

Along with the confusion over the remains, the women described themselves as enraged over another scandal involving remains of a MOVE victim: The Penn Museum arranged last month to return bone fragments from one girl  believed to be 14-year-old Tree Africa  who died in the bombing. Those remains had for decades been shuttled between researchers and staff at the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.

They have sawed and drilled into that poor girls bones, Janet Africa said.

Consuewella Africa compounded the image: Imagine our babies in some stagnant lab like that. Our children had life, they were not some specimen.

Most remains were released from the Medical Examiners Office in 1986 and buried at Eden Cemetery in Collingdale, Delaware County.

All three women served long prison sentences related to an event that predated the MOVE bombing by seven years. In 1978, Philadelphia Police Officer James Ramp died in a Powelton Village shootout. Consuewella Africa served 16 years for simple assault, while the two other women served 40 years for murder.

The women professed their innocence in the killing. They were incarcerated at the time their children died in the bombing.

Not suing

Asked whether they plan to sue the city over the mistakes made about the remains, the women flatly said no.

For us to sue and then for them to have to give us money lets the city off the hook, Janine Africa said. Were not going through that.

In a surprising revelation, Janine Africa said the mothers have just one demand: Free writer and activist Mumia Abu-Jamal from Mahanoy State Correctional Institution in Frackville, Schuylkill County.

Abu-Jamal is serving a life sentence without parole after being convicted in the 1981 killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.

Long supported by MOVE members, Abu-Jamal had in turn been a champion of MOVE, which long advocated equal treatment for African Americans, as well as respect for nature and animals.

On Saturday at the rally, photos and writings of Abu-Jamal were omnipresent. Fresh fruit was offered for free to any of the approximately 50 people who showed up. Orange and black T-shirts with a reproduction of a photograph of the bomb that was dropped from a helicopter onto MOVE members were being sold for $15 apiece.

Reflecting on the lack of precision about the remains, Eddie Africa, 71, who described himself as part of the MOVE family, said hes not sure what to think about the reappearance of a box once thought burned.

But he unhesitatingly attributed the misunderstandings to a purposeful attempt by city officials to keep people off-balance.

Its like theyre trying to make us emotionally torn, because they believe it will weaken us, he said. All this does is raise emotions and create pain.

And there is no solution we can see.
The situation involving Israel, the Palestinian people, war-torn Gaza, and the West Bank seems to change by the hour, and so does the way that so many people feel about it. That was really driven home in a diary by Associated Press journalist Fares Akram, who is from Gaza and wrote this weekend about what its like to cover a never-ending conflict that has claimed the life of his father and five other family members, and which saw an Israeli bomb slam into his familys farm on Friday. He said his work was his only refuge.

The Associated Press office is the only place in Gaza City I feel somewhat safe, Akram wrote. The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so its less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down. But even that last sliver of faith proved illusory.

At the same time the AP journalist was posting his essay, the Israeli Defense Force was on the phone telling the news organization, its neighbors from the Al Jazeera network, and other residents to leave that high-rise immediately. The IDF claimed its enemy Hamas had a presence in the building (something the AP had never observed despite careful vetting) and gave the journalists less than an hour to evacuate. Soon, three missiles struck the 12-story al-Jalaa Building where the AP had been located for some 15 years, reducing it to a pile of rubble in seconds.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, the APs president and CEO Gary Pruitt said after its offices were destroyed  which, frankly, looked like the whole point of the attack. I was struck on Saturday by how the episode paralleled  albeit in much worse fashion  the decline in press freedom here in the United States, where efforts to cover oppressive policing against the George Floyd protests saw a steep spike in violence toward journalists as well as arrests. It heightened a broader sense that, for all the notable differences between the war-torn Middle East and Americas crises, there are also dangerous parallels  from overly militarized responses to deep structural flaws in our democracies.

Despite the efforts to hinder news coverage, what we know about the escalating violence in the region over the last week is still horrifying. As the AP offices were being destroyed, an Israeli bomb strike at a Palestinian refugee camp killed eight children and two mothers  part of a death toll among Palestinians in Gaza and elsewhere that has risen to 145 people, including 41 children. Rocket attacks from Hamas are blamed for seven Israeli civilian deaths, including a 5-year-old. The human tragedy was best captured by a video of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl. Im only 10, she says, tearfully. I cant even deal with this anymore.

The cycle of violence is on one hand numbingly familiar  stretching all the way back to the Nakba in 1948, meaning that most of us have witnessed this our entire lives  and yet this time it also felt different. The reckless escalations and human rights violations of Benjamin Netanyahus right-wing Israeli government seem to have crossed a line that had once prevented many Americans from speaking out against a longtime ally in the Middle East. Here in Philadelphia and a score of other U.S. cities, thousands took to the streets to wave Palestinian flags and denounce the bombing of Gaza  with many of the protesters drawing parallels to the racial and cultural oppression they marched against in 2020 after Floyds murder in Minneapolis.

 READ MORE: As my family shelters in Tel Aviv, Im unsettled that progressive Americans arent speaking up for Palestinians | Opinion

It felt like a sea change was underway, and yet it doesnt seem to have fully registered in the White House or with 78-year-old President Joe Biden, with one foot still planted in the era when criticism of Israeli conduct was a political taboo. Biden called Netanyahu on Saturday and  while urging an end to violence  offered unwavering support for Israels right of self-defense; the prime minister then thanked the American president for his support as he declared the bombing and other military actions would continue. Bidens stance seems outdated and out of touch  especially on the day that Israel blew up the office of a U.S.-based news organization. The United States has leverage in the region  including $3.8 billion a year in military aid to Israel  and Netanyahus deadly escalations are a good time to use its influence for good.

Decades of failure by all sides in addressing the Middle Eastern conflict has placed innocent people at the mercy of leaders with blood on their hands. The political influence of Hamas  one inevitable consequence of the horrendous cycle  has clearly escalated violence instead of boosting efforts for peace and addressing poverty among the Palestinian people. But on the Israeli side, the catastrophic 12-year most recent reign of Netanyahu (schooled here in the Philadelphia region, at Cheltenham High School) has heightened both structural as well as short-term flaws in his nations claim to govern as a true democracy.

With Netanyahu on the brink of finally losing power  after failing to gain a majority in four deeply divided elections with inconclusive results  the current conflict is undeniably linked to aggressive Israeli provocations, including cutting off the loudspeakers broadcasting prayers at the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, with Israeli security forces days later entering the mosque and attacking with stun grenades and rubber bullets, during the holy month of Ramadan. Its hard not to see these moves as triggering a crisis to keep Netanyahu  also on trial for corruption charges  in power, even as its inevitable consequence is the slaughter of innocent children.

The leadership crisis in Israel reminds me in many ways of our own political hardships. That nations election mess feels like Donald Trumps 2016 election with a minority of the popular vote but on steroids. Israels multiparty parliamentary system seems no better at producing a government than the U.S. Electoral College; in both nations, division seems to have strengthened the religious right while the more secular left is torn by bickering and weak leadership. The allegations of illegal wrongdoing by Netanyahu have hovered over Israel for years without a resolution, much as weve so far been unable to hold Trump to account for his corruption.

But look at the bigger picture. Both the United States and Israel brand themselves to the world as beacons of democracy, but the actual product both are selling is deeply flawed. In Israel, the disconnect between the stated commitment to democracy and the reality of an apartheid that denies a vote to five million Palestinians in occupied territories and also discriminates against Arab citizens is pronounced. Here in the United States, the Rube Goldberg-type devices that were created in the 18th century and perpetuated slavery  including the Electoral College, but also an undemocratic Senate in which a determined minority can block social progress  has allowed a political party in utter denial about indisputable truths to continue to wield veto power. Like Israel, the forces of American conservatism have increasingly looked toward state violence and voter suppression.

In both Israel and the United States, its been too easy to follow the slippery slope of division and blaming The Other rather than addressing these internal flaws, and making some hard choices about how to create a true democracy. On this side of the pond, these contradictions flared up in an insurrection on Jan. 6 that ended with five people dead, trying to keep a delusional authoritarian in power. In the Middle East, a Trump allys very similar instincts to remain in teetering control are leading to dead children and a shocking attack on press freedom. This is morally unconscionable.

It also should be a giant red flag to all Americans  that Israels problems are our problems, too. In the short run, we need to get real about the immediate crisis and demand a solution that means full human rights and self-determination for the Palestinian people. In the long run, we need to remember that throughout history, the breakdown of democracy has always led to violence. Jan. 6 was horrible, but it was also a reminder that the next Trumpian president could resort to far worse violence  either international or domestic  to keep a grip on power. Lets pray for peace in the Middle East, and then for the United States to get its own house divided in order.

 READ MORE: SIGN UP: The Will Bunch Newsletter
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner rallied Saturday with progressive members of City Council and pumped up campaign volunteers ahead of Tuesdays election.

Meanwhile, his Democratic primary opponent, longtime prosecutor Carlos Vega, appeared at an antiviolence rally where speakers decried soaring gun violence in the city.

Their appearances were part of a last push by both candidates in the final weekend of the contest.

Krasner touted his efforts to reform the prosecutors office while speaking to a crowd of about 30 volunteers at an East Germantown playground, an area of the city he won big four years ago.

Were going to be out canvassing through election day to make sure that places like this  which are rich with votes, which are rich with people who agree with us and who want this kind of change  turn out, he said. As long as they turn out, were winning.

 READ MORE: Philly elected Larry Krasner district attorney to reform the system. Heres what he did.

Krasner was joined by Shaun King, a criminal justice activist, and Anthony Wright, who was exonerated in a 2016 retrial of his 1991 conviction for rape and murder. Vega, a city prosecutor for 35 years before Krasner fired him in 2018, worked on Wrights retrial. Wright, who won a $10 million settlement from the city, on Saturday called Vega part of the old regime that lacked accountability.

We cant go back to that, Wright said. Every vote counts. Its all on us.

King was greeted at the event by a process server, handing him notice that Vega had formally sued him, his political group, and Krasners campaign. Vega has accused Krasner and King of using maliciously false and misleading rhetoric when they discuss his involvement in Wrights case. Vega also taunted Wright on Twitter on Wednesday, calling him a serial grifter.

I say this rarely, King responded Saturday. I see Carlos Vega as an evil person.

Vega, who has campaigned on continuing reforms while improving public safety, delivered remarks that were notably apolitical for an event three days before an election. Appearing at an antiviolence rally in the Mill Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia, he did not mention that he was running for district attorney or ask the crowd to vote for him. Instead, he discussed motherhood and the loss of traditional values in society.

Theres a reason why they call it Mother Nature. Because you bring life into the world, Vega said, noting that mothers often make up most of the crowd at antiviolence rallies. Ive seen some mothers who are still waiting for some justice, which is They never found the killer of my son.

Krasner is aiming to repeat his 2017 victory with a coalition of progressives and Black voters. Vega hopes to win with largely white, police-friendly voters in Northeast Philadelphia and the Delaware River wards, bolstered by some Latino voters from neighborhoods with lower turnout.

In heavily Democratic Philadelphia, Tuesdays winner is all but certain to win the November general election. Krasner is seen as the favorite to win the primary, but political watchers credit Vega with making it a competitive race.

 READ MORE: Carlos Vegas campaign to be Philly DA started in his moms bodega

Volunteers gave out food and helped people register to vote at the antiviolence rally, organized in part by the group We Embrace Fatherhood, as Vega and other speakers decried the shootings that have devastated West Philadelphia over the last year. The plague of violence in Philadelphia and the country, Vega said, cannot be fixed without a cultural shift.

We need a sense of God, a sense of respect, a sense of respect for your elders, he said. You need a sense of God so that in your darkest hours, you can say, Jesus, God, what am I going to do? And he may not answer you, but suddenly youve got that release from your heart, and you think, Tomorrows going to be another day. Maybe I can survive that.

Krasner later rallied with the progressive group Reclaim Philadelphia at a playground in South Philadelphia, another area that helped power his 2017 victory.

A trio of City Council members  Jamie Gauthier, Kendra Brooks, and Helen Gym  told the crowd that Vega and his supporters in the police union represent a return to the past.

Vega represents a time when our DAs Office took a win-at-all-costs approach that got us one of the highest mass incarceration rates in the entire country, Gauthier said.
Major global investors and insurers are finding it difficult for fossil fuel companies and their contractors in Australia to insure and finance major ventures due to efforts by major global investors and insurers to reduce their exposure to risks from the climate crisis.

According to a contractor, a worldwide bid for cover for the infamous Queensland Adani coalmine failed, with more than 40 underwriters refusing to back it.

Submissions to a legislative inquiry pushed by pro-coal backbenchers and supported by Morrison government ministers show the main impacts on the fossil fuel industry.

Australia's Lack of Strategy

A senior UK government environment official said earlier this week that Australia's lack of an effective strategy to address the climate crisis had left it isolated among major economies.

In a report to the government, the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (Acsi) cautioned that "the price of climate risk is rising" and that an unplanned or "late transition to a low-emissions environment would cost the Australian economy more."

Insurance

BMD, which is constructing a big section of the rail line for the Adani mine, said it had never been "exposed to such a significant and imminent risk" in its more than 40 years of operating in Australia after insurers declined to underwrite any of its work related to the coal project.

BMD wrote that it was aware that the "global insurance industry is withdrawing its funding for coal-related projects, and that coverage for coal-related projects going forward would be limited."

In 2020, BMD's unidentified insurance provider told the corporation that it couldn't find public liability insurance, environmental security insurance, or coverage for its directors and officers. The company's work with Adani - now known as Bravus - was explicitly exempt from the policies.

To ensure the industry's funding, BMD recommended that state or federal governments "provide the appropriate protection from public funds."

"There is no way policymakers can be taking up the tab," said John Hewson, an economist, and former Liberal politician who was chairman of insurance broker GSA before last year.

Related Article: Companies Criticize Victoria, Australia's 'Worst EV Policy'





Market Troubles

He said that coal firms' difficulties obtaining financing and insurance were "not a business weakness, nor is the market working?"

Appea's CEO Andrew McConville wrote that "intelligence asymmetry by the wider financial market, fueled by the political interests of shareholder activists" could lead to a capital shortage.

Environmental Awareness

Woodside, a major Australian gas supplier, said in a separate submission that investing more time responding to concerns from customers and insurers on environmental and social problems was "consistent with being a responsible company."

The Minerals Council of Australia, a mining industry organization, argued in its submission that there was an increased risk for insurers in backing fossil fuel ventures.

According to the Insurance Council of Australia, there is an increasing recognition that climate change and climate-related uncertainties are a financial danger that is affecting insurers' financial stability and resilience.

Insurers "provide vital economic cues about the evolving risk climate" through risk-based pricing, according to the ICA.

Climate Concern

"An increasing percentage of Australia's big lenders, faced with persistent activism, are refusing to be a party to new coal operations," wrote coalminer Yancoal, which is majority-owned by Chinese companies. Many are still considering their options for exiting their coal-producing businesses in the near future."

Financial banks, according to Yancoal, are more likely to fund fossil fuel firms than Australian financiers.

The (Acsi), which represents investors with over $1 trillion in assets under management, wrote that the global transition to low carbon emissions is still underway and is not contingent on investor and prudential regulator decisions in Australia.

"Unmitigated climate change will have devastating global consequences, including effects on human wellbeing, habitats, water supply, and habitat disruption," Acsi said. As a result, climate change poses a significant financial danger to the world economy."

Also Read: Renewables Might Replace Fossil Fuels in Providing Energy Security in Australia

For more Environmental news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Woodbridge, VA (22192)

Today

Rain. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Rain. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Apples M1-based Macs are really, really fast. The performance of M1 Macs will keep on improving as more and more apps are optimized for Apple Silicon. However, one of the downsides of using an M1 Mac is that they do not support Bootcamp, meaning you cannot install and dual-boot Windows on it. Thankfully, theres a way via which you can install Windows 10 on your M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, or the iMac.

Apples M1 chip is very different from the traditional x86 architecture-based CPUs that modern PCs, laptops, and even Intel-based Macs use. Previously, the common x86 architecture meant that it was easy to run Windows 10 on an Intel-based Mac, but thats not the case anymore. Thankfully, theres virtualization support on the new Apple Silicon chips. And we are going to do use just that to install Windows 10 on your M1 Mac using Parallels Desktop.

Admittedly, you will not be running Windows 10 natively on your M1 Mac. Instead, you will be running it virtually. This should lead to a slight performance penalty, but it is unlikely to matter to most people. Plus, the Windows 10 version you will be running on your M1 Mac will be the ARM flavor, which means you are going to face some app compatibility issues.

No Bootcamp for Windows 10 on M1 Macs

Until it introduced its custom Apple Silicon-based Macs, Apple allowed one to install Windows 10 directly via Bootcamp. This application simply created a partition on Macs hard disk and installed the required components and drivers to run Windows 10 on the Mac natively. However, with the M1-based Macs, this is no longer possible since they are based on the ARM64 architecture.

Apple does not ship Bootcamp on M1 Macs anymore. Therefore, users have to rely on other emulation apps to run Windows 10. Parallels Desktop, a popular operating system emulation software, has been updated to support M1 Macs. This means you can now run Windows 10 and macOS Big Sur side-by-side on your M1 Mac.

On a side note, if you only want to run Windows 10 apps on your laptop and dont need to use the full-fledged Windows environment, you can follow this guide on how to run Windows apps on M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.

Installing Windows 10 on M1 Mac: Things to Know

Before installing Windows 10 on your Mac, you need to keep a few things in your mind.

Make sure youve at least 22GB of internal storage on your Mac.

You will be installing Windows 10 ARM on your M1 Mac. This is a different version of Windows 10 meant for devices with a non-x64 CPU like the M1 Macs. You will face compatibility issues with legacy Windows apps due to this.

Since were going to use a third-party application to install Windows 10, go ahead and download Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac (download link). Parallels Desktop can cost up to $99.99 per year, though you can give the trial version a shot first.

Now, head over to Microsofts Insider Program website to download the ARM-based Windows 10 VHDX file. Its free to grab, though you will have to sign in to your Microsoft account and register as a Windows Insider. The file size is around 10GB so try to save it in an easy-to-find location, such as your Desktop or Downloads folder.

How to Install Windows 10 on M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac mini

Now that everythings downloaded, follow these steps to install Windows 10 on your Mac.

Step 1: Open the Parallels Desktop app on your Mac.

Step 2: You will get an Install on ARM pop-up. Simply click on Continue, and select the Windows 10 VHDX file you just downloaded.

Step 3: On the next screen, give your Windows 10 virtual machine a name and the destination folder to save it to.

Optionally, if you want to gain control over the number of cores, RAM, and other things Windows 10 can use, check the Customize settings before installation option.

Step 4: Click on Create and wait for the process to finish.

Step 5: Before starting the installation, Parallels Desktop will open the configuration window. In this window, you can allot the number of cores Windows 10 virtual machine would use, the RAM, whether files should be shared between the two operating systems  Windows 10 and macOS Big Sur  and more.

Step 6: If youre satisfied with your configuration, click on the Lock button in the bottom right corner, and then click on Continue.

Step 7: This will start the installation process of Windows 10 on your Mac. This will take several minutes, so just be patient and let it complete.

Step 8: Once the installation is complete, Sign in to your Parallels account in the window that comes up. This will make sure that all the settings are correct.

Step 9: Update your Windows 10 before using it by going into Start -> Settings -> Update & Security and click Update. This will install the required .NET framework on your virtual machine so that applications can work as intended.

Now you can go ahead and install any Windows apps that you wish to.

Theres one thing that you need to keep in mind before installing apps on Windows 10 based on ARM. Microsoft still has not added support for running x64 apps on Windows 10 for ARM. So theres a slight chance that all the applications might not work on it. Nonetheless, apps like Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, and many others have already been updated for Windows 10 ARM.

What is your main reason for installing Windows 10 on an M1 Mac? Which apps are you looking forward to using? Let us know in the comments section down below!

Note: We may earn a commission for purchases from the links above, which helps us keep the site running.
Burma Another NLD Member Killed and Poet Burned to Death

The NLD's Shan State member Sai Kan Nyunt

Another National League for Democracy (NLD) member was assassinated in Shan State by unknown attackers and the partys lawmaker in Ayeyarwady Region was detained on Saturday.

Sai Kan Nyunt, a member of the NLD who ran in the November general election for Hsipaw Township, was hacked to death at noon in Kho Yaung village, Tangyan Township, while traveling from Hsipaw.

A social worker said the NLD MP was found dead with knife cuts and bruises. His body was taken to a Tangyan hospital. The attackers have not been identified.

An NLD Magwe regional chair and his 17-year-old nephew were killed in a mob attack by sword- and machete-wielding Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) supporters in Kyaung Kone Gyi village in Pwintbyu in the region in March. Villagers alleged that a USDP candidate who lost in November to the NLD in the township and USDP members were among the attackers.

Three other NLD members, two in Yangon Region and one in Naypyitaw, have died in junta custody.

Since the coup, the regimes main target has been the NLD membership. They initiated the coup by detaining State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint on Feb. 1 along with other key members. Abductions have continued, especially at night, including elected lawmakers from the 2020 general election across the country. So far around 200 NLD members have been detained.

On Saturday night, Dr. Tin Min Htut, a lawmaker who was elected in November in Ayeyarwady Regions Pantanaw Township was detained by junta forces.

Media reports said he was seized at around 9:30pm from his house.

In an attack by an unknown man in Monywa, Sagaing Region, poet and philanthropist U Sein Win was burned alive while collecting donations for those displaced by violence in a Monywa industrial zone on Friday. Observers said the murderer, who is at large, was dressed as a worker and poured gasoline on his back and set it on fire. He died in hospital that evening from burns.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Military Launches Air Raid in Karen State

Myanmar Swimmer to Forgo Tokyo Olympics in Protest at Junta Violence

Myanmar Junta Troops Killed in Chin State Fighting
Burma Chin Civilian Resistance Continues to Fight Myanmars Junta

Mindat in Chin State

Shooting between junta troops and civilian resistance fighters in Chin States mountainous Mindat continue in the west of the town on Sunday, despite the regime occupying the town on Saturday.

At about 8am on Sunday, shooting started on the Mindat-Matupi highway to the west of the town.

Civilian resistance fighters attacked about nine vehicles transporting approximately 150 junta troops reinforcing Mindat, according to a member of Mindats Defense Forces.

There were casualties on both sides, he added. The Irrawaddy was not able to independently confirm the casualty numbers.

Fighting restarted last Wednesday night after a ceasefire agreed in late April broke down.

On Saturday morning, junta reinforcement backed by artillery and helicopters raided Mindat.

Junta troops also used 18 detained civilians as human shields while entering the town, according to residents.

Troops are now deployed across the town and are opening fire on anyone on the streets.

Around eight resistance fighters have been killed and approximately 20 were injured in shootouts in Mindat with the security forces, according to residents.

The wounded cannot receive treatment because of the deployment of troops.

The US Embassy in Yangon issued a statement on Saturday calling on the military junta to end violence against the civilians. It said the use of weapons of war against civilians demonstrated the depths to which the regime has sunk to retain power.

Junta forces in Mindat used artillery and automatic fire against resistance fighters armed with homemade hunting rifles using 19th-century techniques.

On Saturday, the civilian National Unity Government issued a statement urging the international community to take immediate action to end all violence and to protect Mindats civilians.

You may also like these stories:

Myanmar Regime Files High Treason, Other Charges Against Detained Protest Leader

Two civilians were shot by junta forces in Magwe after the attacks.

Villager Dies After Being Abducted and Tortured by Myanmar Junta Forces
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:


Tons of nuclear fuel in the wrecked basement of the plant has started their reaction again, and it's displaying no signs of stopping.

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

In Ukraine, nuclear reactions are smoldering again in a basement of the wrecked Chernobyl nuclear power plant that is unreachable, according to news reports. Researchers keeping an eye on the plant - which exploded infamously in a 1986 lethal meltdown - have identified a stable spike in the number of neutrons in an underground room known as 305/2.

The room is filled with heavy rubble, hiding a radioactive mush of graphite, zirconium, uranium, and sand that flows into the basement of the plant like lava, before solidifying into formations known as fuel-containing materials (FCMs). Rising neutron levels show that these FCMs are going through new fission reactions, as neutrons hit and split the nuclei of uranium atoms, producing energy.

Also Read: Three Decades After the Disaster, New Protective Shell for Chernobyl is Nearing Completion

The Shelter

This radioactive waste is smoldering "like the ashes in a barbecue pit for now," a nuclear materials chemist at the University of Sheffield in the U.K., Neil Hyatt revealed to Science magazine. However, it's attainable that those embers could ignite completely if left uninterrupted for too long, leading to another explosion.

This future explosion wouldn't be anywhere close to the devastating one that shattered the plant in 1986, which led to thousands of deaths and discharged a radioactive cloud over Europe, a senior researcher with the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) in Kyiv, Ukraine, Maxim Saveliev, told Science.

If the ignition of the nuclear material happens again, the blast will be greatly contained within the concrete and steel cage called the Shelter, which was built by officials around the plant's Unit Four reactor which is in ruins a year after the accident. Still, even a contained explosion would make the long-term mission of the plant's FCMs removal much harder, Saveliev said.

Neutron Levels

The Shelter is no longer new and it could crumble easily from the pressure of an explosion, thereby filling its surrounding with radioactive dust and heavy debris. (The Shelter itself is found inside a larger steel structure known as the New Safe Confinement, which was completed in 2018.)

For four years, levels of neutron have been increasing steadily in room 305/2, Saveliev said, and could keep increasing for some more years without incident. It's likely these nuclear nuggets will deteriorate on their own in that time. But if levels of neutron keep increasing, scientists will have to step in.

That can be easily said than done, obviously; plant managers is yet to puzzle out how to reach the tons of radioactive material embedded below the room's thick layers of concrete debris. The levels of radiation are very high for humans to undergo, but radiation-resistant robots might have the ability to drill pass the rubble and place control rods that are neutron-absorbing into the room, as stated by to the ISPNPP.

Related Article: Brewing Heat: Nuclear Reactions Are Flaring in the Deeps of Chernobyl

For more news, updates about chernobyl and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
Police release rules for protesters, officers | Board of Ed. clears up vax misinformation | IC professor, author talks about new book | BVC catches the latest at Regal | Enjoy your summer in the Finger Lakes Read Digital Edition
Stacker chose 15 major festivals with announced 2021 dates to curate a slideshow for music lovers who have been missing the sounds of live music. Click for more.
OnSolve Partners with Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA) to Support the Vaccination of Nearly 400,000 Residents Across the State
Zimbabwes deepening economic crisis compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic has left sex workers across the country in a quandary with some contemplating quitting the oldest profession for good.

Sex workers in Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East provinces told journalists on a National Aids Council (NAC)-organised media tour that just like any other sector, sex work was no longer rosy.

In Dema, Seke district in Mashonaland East sex workers said they now resorted to barter trading their services with maize or beans.

They said the pandemic had left many in a Catch-22 situation forcing some to relocate to their rural homes, while others have to grapple with police enforcing Covid-19 regulations.

Government reintroduced Covid-19 regulations, which included the closure of bars where most sex workers frequent to solicit for clients.

These restrictions have made life difficult for many as they are now being paid as little as US$1 while others accept payment in kind.

We charge US$5 for short time, but if push comes to shove we can accept payment in the form of food. I can have sex for a bucket of maize, especially in this time of Covid-19, said one sex worker speaking to journalists at Dema growth point on Friday.

We are even accepting to sleep with men for US$1 because its no longer that rosy out there.

The sex workers, who were attending a Key Affected Populations session meant to reduce HIV and STIs infection convened by NAC, said they were caught between a rock and hard place in as far as sex work was concerned with some contemplating to quit the oldest profession if they got support for income-generating projects.

We were forced into this trade because there are no jobs and we have nothing to feed our families.

We dont want this, but circumstances forced us to do so. If we get funding to start projects, we will take it with both hands, said one of the sex workers who preferred to be called Alice.

Alice said they were engaging in running battles with police at night. Any time after 7pm the police will be after us. We cant roam around the shopping centre because its now dangerous, she said.

District Aids coordinator for Seke Florence Nyandoro said apart from sexual and reproductive health training, they were also training sex workers on financial education.

We also make sure that these women are trained on finance education so that they come up with income-generating programmes, Nyandoro said.

However, this model Key Affected Populations is targeted at sex workers with the aim of reducing HIV and STI infections.

Nyandoro said the HIV prevalence rate in Seke district was 12,7%. Across the province in Macheke, sex workers appealed to authorities to reopen clubs and bars. We are in dire straits. Our business has come to a standstill.

We appeal to authorities to reopen clubs and bars. We used to come to this place [Chibhazi], but these days the police are after us making life difficult for us, said Priviledge Manyasha, an 18-year-old sex worker in Macheke. Standard
Federal Child Care Development Fund Program directors (from left) Tracy Beckwith, for the Miami Tribe; Carol Essex, for the Ottawa Tribe; and Diana Baker, for the Shawnee Tribe, talk at a recent news conference about a scholarship program to be offered through Pittsburg State University. The three tribes have combined to contribute $600,000 in annual scholarships for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 for students in early childhood programs at PSU. GLOBE | LAURIE SISK
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.

Gatherings to show solidarity with Palestinians took place in cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan.

About two thousand people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, chanting Free, free Palestine and From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read End Israeli Apartheid and Freedom for Gaza.

Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said Not in my name and Solidarity with Palestine as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

A few dozen police officers looked on at the peaceful protest, dubbed Defend Palestine.

Im here because I want a Palestinian life to equal an Israeli life and today it doesnt, said 35-year-old Emraan Khan, a corporate strategist from Manhattan, as he waved a Palestinian flag.

When you have a nuclear-armed state and another state of villagers with rocks it is clear who is to blame, he added.

Alison Zambrano, a 20-year-old student, travelled from neighboring Connecticut for the demo.

Palestinians have the right to live freely and children in Gaza should not be being killed, she told AFP.

Mashhour Ahmad, a 73-year-old Palestinian who has lived in New York for 50 years, said dont blame the victim for the aggression.

Im telling Mr. Biden and his cabinet to stop supporting the killing. Support the victims, stop the oppression.

The violence committed by the Israeli army recently is genocide, he added, raising a poster above his head that said Free Palestine, End the occupation.

President Joe Biden spoke separately Saturday with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, expressing his grave concern over six days of violence that has left scores dead or wounded.

 Catastrophe day 

He expressed Washingtons strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution as the best path to reach a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the White House said.

The protests were held on the anniversary of Nakba Day, or catastrophe, that saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during Israels creation in 1947-1948.

Throngs of people gathered in Copley Square in Boston, while a few hundred rallied on the Washington Monument grounds in the US capital.

Several thousand demonstrated in Montreal, calling for the liberation of Palestine.

Protesters also denounced war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza and carried placards accusing Israel of violating international law during the protest in the center of the Canadian city.

Earlier, a caravan of cars sounded their horns and drove with Palestinian flags blowing in the wind as they protested outside the Israeli consulate in the western part of Montreal.

A protester was arrested for breaking a window, a police spokesperson said, but otherwise the demonstration was peaceful.
Media offices reduced to rubble, alleged manipulation of the press to trick the enemy: Many are concerned truth could become yet another casualty of Israels military campaign in Gaza.

On Saturday afternoon, the owner of the 13-storey Jala Tower housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and the US news agency The Associated Press received a troubling call from the Israeli forces.

Jawad Mehdi said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure that the building was evacuated, and his plea for 10 extra minutes, broadcast live by Al Jazeera, was denied.

Israeli defence officials claimed the building housed not only news bureaus but offices of the Islamist Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.

Within seconds, journalists scrambled to gather as much of their equipment and belongings as they could, then fled, some running down the stairs, others using the cramped lift.

Al Jazeera then broadcast live footage of the air strike that destroyed the building, sending a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris billowing into the sky.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended the strike.

An intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization (was) housed in that building that plots and organises the terror attacks against Israeli civilians, Netanyahu told CBS News.

So it is a perfectly legitimate target. I can tell you that we took every precaution to make sure that there were no civilian injuries, in fact, no deaths.

 Duty to cover 

Israel has demolished several other towers in Gaza in deadly air strikes since Monday which it says targeted Hamas bomb-making facilities and the homes of senior militant commanders in response to rocket attacks.

But the latest attack triggered a storm of condemnation, with some accusing Israel of trying to silence media coverage of Gaza, where dozens of children are among the hundreds killed.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded from the Israeli government a detailed and documented justification for this military attack.

This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the spectre that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza, said CPJ executive director Joel Simon.

Journalists have an obligation and duty to cover unfolding events in Gaza and it would be illegal for the IDF to use military means to prevent it.

Human rights group Amnesty International wrote on Twitter that the Israeli attack must be investigated as a war crime. The strike fits a pattern of Israels collective punishment of the Palestinian population.

To enable them to continue working, Agence France-Presse has opened its Gaza office to AP and Al Jazeera colleagues.

 Manipulation? 

Israels actions have baffled and shocked journalists who had already been trying to come to terms with another bizarre incident that happened just after midnight on Thursday.

The Israeli army sent foreign media correspondents a WhatsApp message saying that its troops had entered Gaza.

AFP, like other media including The New York Times, immediately contacted army spokesman John Conricus to confirm the message.

Yes, our troops are in Gaza, he replied.

But two hours later the army clarified that its troops had not entered the Gaza Strip, blaming an internal communication problem for the confusion.

Was it manipulation? Did the Israeli army deliberately mislead the media?

The last major Israeli ground operation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, home to two million inhabitants, took place in 2014.

Since then, Hamas has built a network of underground tunnels to allow its fighters to move across Gaza unhindered and unseen by Israeli surveillance cameras and spy aircraft.

Overnight Wednesday to Thursday, Israeli drones and aircraft flew over Gaza to strike those tunnels.

The next day, local media reported that the armys reported ground offensive had been a ploy aimed at allowing Israeli jets to hit the tunnels and kill fighters who sought cover inside them.

According to reports, due to the deployment along the border and the news coming out in the foreign media of a ground incursion, Hamas and Islamic Jihad sent their first line of defence into the tunnels to start taking up positions, wrote the Jerusalem Post.

These were the anti-tank missile teams and mortar squads meant to strike at incoming Israeli ground forces, it added.

 Honest mistake? 

On Friday, the Israeli army said its overnight assault on Gaza involved fighter jets and tanks hitting a Hamas tunnel network dug under civilian areas.

In September 2019, Israels army faked wounded among its ranks in a skirmish with Lebanons Hezbollah in a bid to trick fighters of the Iran-backed group into thinking their mission was accomplished and to cease fire.

Did the army this week really want to use the media to then bombard Hamas fighters in tunnels? Or was the erroneous report of a ground operation inside Gaza, as the IDF said, an honest mistake?

The Foreign Press Association in Israel on Saturday voiced its outrage and called on the army to explain what happened.

In its reply, the IDF apologised for the error.

Despite conspiratorial reports to the contrary in both international and Israeli press, this was not some elaborate attempt to manipulate the media in order to achieve a tactical victory, the IDF said.

gl/mib/cgo/hkb/fz

THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
Palestinian and Israeli leaders both appealed for support at a UN Security Council session Sunday but little action was in sight despite soaring violence, with China accusing the United States of obstructionism.

After a delay pushed by the United States, Israels critical ally, the Security Council held its first public meeting on nearly a week of violence that has claimed 200 lives.

Opening the virtual session, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the violence utterly appalling and urged both Palestinian militants Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel and the Jewish state to stop its massive air campaign on the Gaza Strip.

Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately, Guterres said.

It has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole, he said.

Pointing to the heavy toll on civilians, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki accused Israel of war crimes and  in a terminology angrily rejected by Israel  apartheid.

Act now to end the aggression and the assault on our people, our homes, our land. Act now so freedom can prevail, not apartheid, he said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, began lobbing rockets after Israeli troops entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, sacred both to Muslims and Jews, following moves to expel Palestinians from their homes in the holy city.

Maliki  part of the Palestinian Authority that runs the West Bank, not rival Hamas  said that Israel could not expect to bear no consequences for its actions as an occupying colonial power.

Israel always says, put yourselves in our shoes. But Israel is not wearing shoes. It is wearing military boots.

Speaking afterward, Israels ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, charged the tensions were completely premeditated by Hamas as part of an internal power play after the Palestinian Authority delayed long-awaited elections.

Do you really believe that this property dispute is what caused Hamas to launch these large-scale attacks on the people of Israel? Erdan said.

He urged the Security Council to condemn Hamas, insisting on a moral difference as he said Israel makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties.

Hamas targets civilians; Israel targets terrorists, Erdan said.

Palestinians, including civilians, have borne the overwhelming brunt of the violence, with authorities in Gaza reporting that at least 55 children are among the 190 people who have died. Ten people have died in Israel.

 China regrets US stance 

Erdan hailed the support of the United States, where President Joe Biden has repeatedly defended what he says is Israels right to self-defense.

China, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said the United States had blocked its efforts for strong action  and invited Israelis and Palestinians to come negotiate in rising the Asian power.

Regrettably, simply because of the obstruction of one country, the Security Council hasnt been able to speak with one voice, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

We call upon the United States to shoulder its due responsibilities.

The Biden administration has insisted that it is working behind the scenes, including through a visit to the region by an envoy, and that a UN statement could backfire, according to diplomats.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, stopped short of insisting on an immediate ceasefire and said the Biden administration was in touch with all sides including Qatar, which has close ties with Hamas, and Egypt, which has a peace deal with Israel and borders Gaza.

The United States has made clear that we are prepared to lend our support and good offices should the parties seek a ceasefire, she said.

We believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security.

One diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, called the US stance a little strange seeing as Biden came to office vowing a return to multilateral diplomacy.

We thought that they will be eager also to show that the Council is relevant in situations like this, the diplomat said.

Biden defeated the staunch unilateralist Donald Trump who was also a zealous backer of Israel, with his Republican Party already accusing Biden of not doing enough for the Jewish state.
San Diego  A local militant group continues to call on San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan to prosecute police for abuse or resignation.

The San Diego Racial Justice League held a press conference outside the Justice Department on Saturday afternoon.

During the rally, Anthony Carolino talked about his brother Dennis Carolino, who was shot and killed by the San Diego police in 2019.

Anthony Carolina said: My brother is the number one protector in my life, and now I want to protect the people.

The District Attorneys Office later reported that the shooting was justified because Carlollino waved a shovel at the police.

Anthony claimed that the investigation was unfair. He also said that more training is needed on how to deal with mental health crises.

He said: When my brother was killed by the San Diego police, I learned a lot about San Diego and I knew how dirty the system was.

A report by the state attorney showed that from 1993 to 2017, law enforcement officers in San Diego County shot more than 450 people. Activists say Stephen has not yet punishes police abuses, and no police have been prosecuted in 25 years.

Buki Domingos of the San Diego Racial Justice League said: We still have constant problems in the county where homeless people are being beaten in La Jolla.

Domingos pointed to the case of Angel Hernandez, where an MTS officer fatally lowered Hernandez with his knees on his neck. Domingos said that Hernandezs death seemed to be almost the same way that George Floyd died.

She said: Its amazing to know that we have Freud here. So why doesnt anyone say anything about it, why can we not prosecute those officials?

FOX 5 asked Stephan for advice, but has yet to hear any response. However, in the same prosecution or resignation campaign in 2020, the District Attorneys Office issued this statement to FOX 5.

Part of the statement:

Our office is very careful to ensure that our analysis is carried out in accordance with the law, independent, objective and thorough.
DOGECOIN is rising after Elon Musk said he was working with the cryptocoin to improve its impact on the the environment, rising 29 per cent on Friday after a midweek dip.

It came after stocks plummeted by 17 percent last week, shaving $6.1billion in value from Bitcoin after the tech billionaire banned its use to buy Tesla.

Musk on Wednesday released a statement saying Tesla would no longer be accepting Bitcoin for purchasing vehicles.

But Dogecoin jumped more than 20% on Friday after the billionaire SpaceX founder said he was involved in work to improve the tokens transaction efficiency.

Working with Doge devs to improve system transaction efficiency. Potentially promising, he posted on Twitter.

Dogecoin rose from about $0.43 to $0.52 on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange immediately after the tweet.

It comes after the Tesla chief voiced his concerns on his personal Twitter account, writing:  Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases using Bitcoin. We are concern about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which ash the worst emissions of any fuel.

Within minutes Bitcoin started plummeting, as much of the recent growth of the cryptocurrency was based on speculation of its future as a legitimate currency based off Teslas decision to accept payments.

Read our cryptocurrency live blog below for the very latest updates
MDC Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti has rubbished claims by the government that lawyers in the party crafted laws used by western countries to impose sanctions on the country.

President Emmerson Mnangagwas spokesperson George Charamba on Friday appeared to be justifying the move by the ruling Zanu PF to introduce the Patriotic Bill by saying there is need to rein in locals that actively pushed for sanctions.

Charamba said Zimbabwean laws must not protect those that campaigned against the country, but Biti shot back saying Mnangagwas spokesperson did not make sense.

Charamba is one of the people who have overstayed in government and now serves no value. He should retire and go and do farming, Biti said.

Which country on earth has its laws written by another country, more so, for America? He is disrespecting the US congressmen. He thinks America is a banana republic whose laws can be written by a poor country in Southern Africa.

Critics have described the proposed Patriotic Bill as an attack on Zimbabwes democracy. Charamba said those who cheer foreign interests did not deserve protection from Zimbabwes laws.

He charged: You want the law, the army, the police, the president, the judges to protect you yet you are lobbying against that which makes you Zimbabwean?

We know ZIDERA [Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act] was crafted here. A cabal of lawyers in the opposition did that.

They drafted those pieces of those obnoxious regulations, which wreaked havoc in this country by way of social lives, political lives, economic and own integrity as a nation.

You cant have a foreign power going against the United Nations framework saying it is time Zimbabwe is punished because your own interests are under threat.

You are opposing the bill because you want to cheer foreign interests. Who are you protecting? All we are saying is love your people, love your country.

Meanwhile, former Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo told a Southern Africa Political Economy Series Trust-organised webinar on the 2023 elections that the Patriotic Bill was part of a broader strategy to influence the outcome of the polls.

Everyone must now be a good citizen and the idea of a good citizen is what you find being prescribed in the impending and soon-to-be-gazetted Patriotic Bill, Moyo said.

Mnangagwa is accused of abusing the law to close down the democratic space and push for a one-party state in Zimbabwe. Standard
A study found that US warnings about Huaweis espionage activities failed to prevent governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America from hiring Chinese technology groups to provide cloud infrastructure and e-government services.

The Financial Times saw that the report of the Washington-based think tank CSIS identified 70 such service transactions in 41 countries between 2006 and April this year between Huawei and the government or state-owned enterprises.

Cloud infrastructure usually refers to the installation of data centers, while e-government mainly involves automated management functions such as licensing, healthcare, legal records, and other government processes.

The study stated: Huaweis cloud infrastructure and e-government services are processing sensitive data related to citizens health, taxation, and legal records.

The study added: As Huawei takes a place in the competition to provide services to the government and state-owned enterprises, it is establishing a strategic position that can provide the Chinese authorities with valuable intelligence and even compulsory leverage.

Most of the countries that conduct such transactions with Huawei are located in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America, 77% of which are classified as non-free or partially free by Freedom House. A democratic monitoring organization funded by the U.S. government.

The CSIS report said: The surge in deals announced since 2018, including several announcements during 2020, is clear that warnings about Huaweis security risks cannot convince policymakers in developing countries.

Huawei said in a statement: As a cloud infrastructure and service provider, Huawei does not own or control any customer data.

All customer data is owned and fully controlled by our customers.

The company added: Network security and user privacy protection are still Huaweis top priorities.

The U.S. has repeatedly accused Huawei Spying the Chinese government, Sometimes it is to use the telecommunications back door in the equipment. Washington also placed Huawei and many of its branches in the Entity list, limiting the sale of key technologies such as semiconductors to the company.

Respected

Chinas repeated ignorance of these accusations is groundless and accuses the United States of imposing sanctions on Huawei as an abuse of state power.The Chinese champion is the worlds largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and has to cut back Smartphone production due to shortage of supply.

The CSIS report cited several examples of security vulnerabilities related to Huawei Cloud infrastructure and e-government services.A 65-page report funded by the Australian government found that Huawei had built a data center for Papua New Guinea, which included Obvious error This makes the facility vulnerable to hacker attacks.

Huawei also won the 2012 contract to install communications equipment at the headquarters of the African Union Building in Addis Ababa.Subsequently, the African Union officials Accused of China Hacking the buildings computer system and downloading confidential data every night for five years.
Edmonton-As the pandemic continues, public health inspectors are suffering more and more hostility as they carry out their work.

Workers responsible for protecting Albertans and ensuring compliance with public health orders increasingly need to worry about their own safety-on or off work.

Many people say they have become targets of threats, harassment and online bullying.

Meaghen Allen, a member of the Alberta branch of the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors (CIPHI), told CTV News Edmonton that the role of inspectors is not only to protect the health of Albertans, but also to protect their own personal safety.

Allen said: We have posted public and private information on social media and have been threatened, Allen is responsible for managing a team of 17 inspectors of Alberta Health Services (AHS) in the Edmonton area. .

This is just a few interactions between us, but its frustrating.

She added: The members of the province have encountered problems.

To protect the safety of public health inspectors, CIPHI removed the names of its members from its website.

read more: Alberta medical service vehicles sprinkle eggs, Edmonton office painted with graffiti

Allen added: A few people will see more anger.

People are tired. They suffer from COVID fatigue, so as more restrictions emerge, there is more anger. 

An example is the far-right Calgary mayor candidate Kevin J. Johnston (Kevin J. Johnston).

On Friday, the Alberta Court of the Queens Court of Alberta (AHS) issued a restraining order to Johnson on the grounds that Johnson threatened to harm his employees.

Timothy Caulfield, an expert on health law and public health policy at the University of Alberta, said frustration with enforcing health restrictions is becoming a bigger problem.

He said in an interview: You have seen this erosion of trust happened in the past year. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were celebrating public health officials, and now we are in a very different place. The place.

It does indeed look like various public health officials. They are facing increasing frustration and anger, which is very disappointing (because) these people take protecting the public as their mission and their goal.

According to Caulfield, some of the reasons for the decline in public trust are the dissemination of misinformation, the lack of communication on the value of public health measures, and the inconsistent information about restrictive demand.

Caulfield said: When politicians and public officials fuel this view, it doesnt help.

In Alberta and Ontario, if you believe the statistics, you will see public health officials feel more frustrated.

In Atlantic Canada, you will see more confidence.

For Caulfield, data on trends in Canadian public trust underscore the value of maintaining a consistent public health direction throughout the pandemic.

We need to apply these rules consistently, we need to figure out why these rules are made, and we need to discuss the evidence supporting them.

AHS said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton that it has strengthened the training of inspectors and ensured that the police accompany the inspectors when surveillance operations take place.

AHS said: Since the pandemic began, the demands on our team have increased significantly. Our inspectors are often the target of harassment, threats and accusations, and they are disrespected in performing their duties.

AHS also created a peer support group for inspectors and said it is continuing to find ways to further protect officials.

AHS added: Such harassment and behavior will never and will not be accepted. We will always support and protect our employees. 

File with Touria Izri of CTV News Edmonton
Calgary mayor candidate Kevin J. Johnston (Kevin J. Johnston) threatened to arm himself and go to the homes of health workers. He was arrested after attending an illegal rally on Saturday.

The police said the gathering was held on Saturday morning, in violation of the Queens Courts Supreme Court Order, which established public health restrictions on event organizers.

Johnston posted his own video about his intention to arrest health workers when he was elected mayor. Last Saturday he was found approaching the police, who were carrying out health orders during a protest against pandemic-related health restrictions in downtown Calgary.

The police said in an emailed press release: We are at a critical moment in the provinces response to the pandemic. Citizens must abide by public health orders to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone.

Johnston faces charges for hate crimes and assault, and he is known for organizing, leading and protesting protests against public health restrictions during the pandemic.

He had previously tried to release the private information of Alberta Health Services employees.

Concerns about the voter list

On Friday, AHS was granted a restraining order against Johnston to prevent him from obstructing or interfering with AHS and its employees, including public health officials.

According to the order, he is prohibited from contacting, recording or photographing AHS employees, visiting AHS sites for non-medical purposes, or going to the homes of AHS officials or employees.

After Johnston was registered as a candidate for mayor, there were concerns that he might soon be allowed to access a list that includes the name, address and phone number of every Calgarian who is eligible to vote.

The City of Calgary stated that it is exploring legal options regarding voter lists.

Johnston is currently facing a charge of assault in British Columbia and a hate crime charge in Ontario. None of these allegations have been proven in court.
The Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip has taken place for the seventh consecutive day. The air strikes early on Sunday killed at least four Palestinians, injured dozens of others, and razed at least two residential buildings to the ground.

The home of Yehya al-Sinwar, the chief of Hamas in Gaza, was also attacked.

In Tel Aviv, Israel, police sirens warned of the upcoming rocket attack throughout the city. People rushed to bomb shelters. The Israeli military activated its Iron Dome air defense system to intercept Hamas rockets.

The escalation happened hours after an Israeli missile hit the refugee camp. kill There are at least 10 Palestinians, including 8 children, and Collapsed a high-rise building There are offices for media organizations including Al Jazeera.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in a televised speech that he would continue the offensive against Gaza as long as necessary, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya also stated that resistance will not succumb.

In the past week, at least 148 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 41 children. About 950 people were injured. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least 13 Palestinians.

At least 10 people were killed in Israel, and 2 people died on Saturday. The Israeli army said that hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip to all parts of Israel, and reinforcements have been placed near the enclave.

The following are the latest updates:

33 minutes ago (00:38 GMT)

Israel targets Hamas chiefs residence in Gaza

The organizations television station said that Israel attacked the residence of a senior Hamas leader in an air strike.

Since 2017, Yehya al-Sinwar has been leading the political and military departments of Hamas in Gaza.

54 minutes ago (00:17 GMT)

The most intense air raid in the past seven days

Safwat al-Kahlout of Al Jazeera reported the situation from Gaza. He said that Israeli jets carried out 150 air strikes on the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Sunday morning, and at least 60 in Gaza City alone. Air strikes.

al-Kahlout reported that emergency responders believed that some families were trapped under the rubble of destroyed houses.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said that many Palestinians are arriving at the hospital with injuries.

57 minutes ago (00:15 GMT)

Israeli military fatally shoots Palestinian youth in West Bank

The Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted the Ministry of Health as saying that Israeli troops fatally shot a Palestinian young man north of Turqalum in the West Bank just after midnight on Sunday.

WAFA said that after the soldiers opened fire, at least nine people were injured and taken to the hospital.

1 hour ago (GMT 23:43)

A large number of people gathered in the United States to support Palestine

Al Jazeeras John Hendren reported in Washington, D.C., Saturday that there was unusual support for the American cause in Palestine.

There were demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Colorado, and Washington, DC. These are what we think is an unusually large crowd of thousands of people in the former Palestine, he said.

They hope that the US government will put more pressure on Israel to end this conflict. The real dissatisfaction is that the policies of the Biden administration and the policies of the Trump administration or any other US government have indeed not been significantly different in the past few years. 

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held a placard with a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC to protest the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories [Yuri Gripas/Reuters]

2 hours ago (23:41 GMT)

The violent bombing near the UN office in Gaza

Matthias Schmale, director of the Gaza Office of the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), reported on the heavy bombing near the agencys compound early on Sunday morning.

God help the people #Gaza  In the past 45 minutes, the worst bombing near us @ UNRWA The office compound! -Matthias Schmale (@matzschmale) May 15 2021

For developments since May 15 (Saturday), please go to Here.
Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and other American cities on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people traveling two miles from the federal building to the Israeli consulate blocked traffic on a major road west of Los Angeles. The protesters waved slogans saying Freedom of Palestine and yelled Long live the uprising or uprising.

The protest started in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has a large Arabic-speaking community that lasted several hours on the street on Saturday and Saturday. Video footage on social media showed people climbing up street light poles to wave flags, while others set off fireworks. According to a video posted online, as the sun sets, some protesters walked onto Interstate 278 and closed traffic at least in the direction.

The famous Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid (Bella Hadid) participated in the Brooklyn protests.

The parade coincided with Nakba Day, which commemorates the displacement of thousands of Palestinians during Israels declaration of independence in 1948.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, in Atlanta, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including grandparents, teenagers, mothers and fathers, and young people who were dragged, gathered in the city center waving signs and chanting slogans.

A slogan read: We cant breathe since 1948. This is a tribute to the racial injustice and brutal police protests that occurred in the United States in the past year after George Floyd died in police custody because he could not breathe. report.

In San Francisco, a noisy crowd yelled, encouraging Palestine will be free as they walked through the mission area to Dolores Park.

In Boston, protesters walked a short walk from Copley Square to the Israeli consulate and headed to New England, causing traffic congestion and a similar situation.

Video footage on social media showed that the protesters were hoisting the Palestinian flag with a flag bearing the words Palestine while standing on the awning of the building where the consulate was located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters flowed from the Washington Monument to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demonstrators gathered in Rittenhouse Square to condemn US support for Israel.

In a protest in Pittsburgh, a speaker called on lawmakers to restrict how Israel uses American aid.

The protests were intensified by five days of chaos. At least 145 Palestinians were killed in Gaza and eight were killed in Israel. The violence triggered by the launch of a rocket by Hamas on Israel on Monday came after weeks of rising tensions and Israels drastic measures in disputed Jerusalem.

Israel launched an air strike on Saturday, launching a violent attack on the Gaza Strip, which included bombing the residences of senior Hamas leaders, killing 10 families in refugee camps, and destroying a building with an Associated Press office. And other media.
COPS identified 47 gun suspects each week, but failed to prosecute due to lack of evidence.

In the past five years, such cases have surged from 449 to 2,460.

1 piece The accused dropped from 54% to 28% Credit: Getty

In fear of retaliation, victims often do not want to be witnesses.

Numbers from Policemen The firearm incident logs in England and Wales show that crime has almost doubled in the past five years.

But those accused fell from 54% to 28%. David Spencer of the Center for Crime Prevention calls this trend deeply concerned.

He added: Serious crimes like this require proper detective work, but there is no doubt that too many police officers would rather sit on the Internet looking for anyone who caused a crime online than go outside to catch the real criminal.

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Now is the time for the police to prove this view wrong.

Gun crime is always related to the drug trade. These crimes need to be prioritized.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities in the United States to demand an end to the deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

In Los Angeles on Saturday, demonstrators waved signs that said Free Palestine blocked traffic on the main passage, while in New York, large crowds marched through Brooklyn, chanting Free Palestine and From the river to the sea. , Palestine will be free.

Im here because I want the lives of Palestinians to be equal to the lives of Israelis, but I dont want that today. Emraan Khan, 35, a corporate strategist from Manhattan, in Brooklyn Said while waving the Palestinian flag during a protest. .

He added: When you have a state with nuclear weapons and another state with rocky villagers, obviously who should be blamed.

Alison Zambrano, a 20-year-old student from the neighboring state of Connecticut who was demonstrating, said: Palestinians have the right to live freely and should not kill children in the Gaza Strip. And 73-year-old Mashhour Ahmad (Mashhour Ahmad) Palestine People urged US President Joe Biden to stop supporting the murder.

Ahmed said: Support the victims and stop the oppression, he described the Israeli militarys violence against the Palestinians as genocide.

During a demonstration in Washington on Saturday, May 15, 2021, militants supporting the Palestinian rally were held at the National Archives [Jose Luis Magana/ AP]

Protesters are angry at the six-day violence that has killed at least 145 Palestinians in Gaza and 10 Israelis.

A few hours before the march, Israel intensified its attack on Gaza, killing a family of ten in a refugee camp, and razing the buildings of Al Jazeera and Associated Press offices.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders showed no signs of backing down, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to continue the offensive against Gaza when necessary, and Hamas leader Ismail Hani Ya (Ismail Haniya) said, Resistance will not give in.

The U.S. march also coincided with Nakba Day, what the Palestinians call a catastrophe, which commemorates the displacement of thousands of Palestinians since Israel declared independence in 1948.

In San Francisco, the noisy crowd yelled, yelling Palestine will be free, while in Boston, demonstrators walked to the Israeli consulate for New England and blocked traffic. A similar scene occurred.

Video footage on social media showed the protesters standing on the awning of the building where the consulate was located, using the colors of the Palestinian flag to cast a banner with the words Palestine on it.

In Washington, DC, thousands of protesters flowed from the Washington Monument to the National Archives, while in Philadelphia, demonstrators crowded Rittenhouse Square to condemn US support for Israel.

At the same time, a speaker at the Pittsburgh rally called on American lawmakers to restrict how Israel can use Washingtons aid.

Pro-Palestinian supporters protested against the conflict between Israel and Gaza. The two sides will be in Brooklyn, New York, USA on May 15, 2021 during the days of constant conflict. [Rashid Umar Abbasi/Reuters]

Al Jazeeras John Hendren reported in Washington, D.C., calling Saturdays rally in support of the Palestinian cause extraordinarily large.

Henderen said: The demonstrators hope that the U.S. government will exert greater pressure on Israel to end this conflict.

People do feel dissatisfied, thinking that the policies of the Biden administration are not very different from those of the Trump administration or any other U.S. government in the past few years.

During the violence and rally, Biden called Netanyahu on Saturday and reiterated that he firmly supports Israels right to defend itself from rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.

The White House added on Twitter that the U.S. leader also had a dialogue with Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas and expressed a commitment to strengthen the U.S.-Pakistan partnership.

Phyllis Bennis, a political analyst at the American Policy Research Institute, expressed concern about Bidens failure to put any pressure on Israel to stop the massacre in Gaza.

This is a very familiar situation. In this case, the United States seems to take the lead when Israel is preparing for a ceasefire. Netanyahu has made it clear that he is not yet ready for a ceasefire, she told Al Jazeera. She said that US policy is very dangerous.
MMA legend RonaldoJacare Souza and Andre Muniz broke their right arm in the UFC 262 showdown.

The former Strikeforce middleweight champion locked the horn in Dana Whites Contenders series alum Texas preliminaries.

Muniz had the best performance of his career, succumbing to Souza with a smooth first-round arm, which shattered his compatriots arm.

The Brazilians battle started with a long time of contact, and Jacare is the more experimenting one of the pair.

However, Andre Muniz found himself eating a bomb on his back shortly after being shot.

However, the 31-year-old finally got up again by pushing back and kicking.

After a while, Muniz withdrew from his battle and brought the battle back to the canvas.

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2 pcs Andre Muniz broke Ronald Souzas arm with a nasty handrail Credit: Getty

2 pcs Andre Muniz celebrates his amazing victory over Jacare Souza

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The 41-year-old Jacare managed to stand up and eventually forced him to separate, leaving him again a few seconds later.

However, Muniz managed to retract Jakares back and tried to set up a back-naked choke.

However, Sergipano started sliding down his opponents back, which allowed him to grab his arm and bar it with his nasty arm.

The pressure exerted by the former jungle combat middleweight on his limbs leads to a nauseating rest.

Defeating Muniz was Jakares fourth defeat after rebounding, and also his fifth defeat in his last six games.

Meanwhile, Muniz has now achieved an impressive seven consecutive victories.

More attention
The three-day ceasefire between the Afghan government and the Taliban was marked by violent attacks (ISIS armed groups claimed some violent attacks) ended on Sunday calling for the resumption of peace talks.

An Afghan military spokesman and a local official said fighting resumed on Sunday in the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in the south.

Attaullah Afghan, chairman of the Helmand Provincial Assembly, told AFP: The fighting has begun today and continues to this day.

He said that Taliban militants attacked security checkpoints in the suburbs of Lashkar Gah and other areas.

A spokesman for the Afghan Army in the south confirmed that the fighting had resumed.

The Taliban have launched an armed rebellion since they were dismissed in a military invasion led by the United States in 2001. He accused the Western-backed Kabul government of resuming fighting.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP: They (Afghan forces) are starting to act Dont blame us.

The armed group continued to attack Afghan forces even after signing a peace agreement with the United States in February 2020. It calls Kabul a pseudo-regime in the West.

Short talk

Taliban political spokesman Sohail Shahin said that just one day ago, the negotiating team of the government and armed groups met briefly in Qatar.

He said that on Saturday they reiterated their commitment to seek a peaceful end to the war and called for an early start of deadlocked negotiations.

Since September last year, Kabul and the Taliban have been holding talks in Doha, the capital of Qatar, as part of the United States efforts to achieve a lasting peace in this war-torn country.

The United States has been urging to speed up negotiations between Afghan stakeholders because it withdrew the last 2,500 to 3,500 soldiers, while NATO withdrew the remaining 7,000 allied forces.

Although the Taliban and the government signed a ceasefire agreement and declared a ceasefire to commemorate the Islamic Eid al-Fitr, violence in Afghanistan continues.

A bomb attack on a mosque in the north of the capital on Friday killed 12 worshippers, including prayer leaders. Another 15 people were injured.

According to the SITE intelligence team that monitors the armed group, the Taliban denies that this is the man behind ISILs alleged attack. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the ISIL claims reported by SITE.

in the darkness

ISIL also claimed that it blew up several electronic websites over the weekend. During the three-day holiday following the Muslim fasting month, Kabul was left in darkness for most of the time.

In a post on its affiliated website, ISIL claimed that other attacks had taken place in the past two weeks, destroying 13 electronic websites in several provinces. These power stations import electricity from Central Asian countries in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Government spokesman Sanger Niadze said that the attack disrupted the power supply in nine provinces including Kabul.

It is also worrying that the local armed leaders have asked the government to provide protection funds to protect gas stations in areas under their control, which may have caused some of the damage.

Last year, at least one local armed leader was arrested after asking for protection money.

The seemingly unstoppable violence in Afghanistan has caused residents and regional countries to worry that the eventual withdrawal of US and NATO soldiers may lead to further chaos.

US President Joe Biden announced last month that he would withdraw American soldiers from Afghanistan by September 11 at the latest.

On Saturday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed concern about the rapid withdrawal of US and NATO forces in a phone call with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi.

Wang said that the call to retreat hastily, and warned that this will seriously affect the peace process in Afghanistan and adversely affect regional stability. He called on the United Nations to play a greater role.
Chileans will vote on the second days poll on Sunday to elect 155 representatives to the Constituent Assembly, which will rewrite the countrys dictator-era constitution to address deep-rooted social inequality, which appears to be in 2019 It sparked deadly protests.

Since Chile returned to democracy 31 years ago, about 14 million people have been eligible to vote this weekend, and many consider this to be the most important election in Chile.

According to the countrys electoral service, more than 3 million people, or about 20.4% of voters, voted on Saturday.

President Sebastian Pinera said after voting in the capital Santiago: I hope our constitution can capture the soul of our country.

Silvia Navarrete, a 35-year-old economist, holds her young daughter at a polling station in San Diego.

She said that she has voted for a system for everyone, so that everyone can hear their own voice, and to ensure that rights and obligations are indeed fair to everyone.

Carlos Huertas, a 40-year-old university professor, said his vote was for candidates who actively participated in this social revolution-referring to the 2019 protests.

Chiles constitution dates back to 1980, when it was enacted by the dictator Augusto Pinochet from 1973 to 1990 and prevented the country from being the most unequal among the advanced economies. Fair progress in the country has been widely condemned.

This inequality was one of the main driving forces of the protests in October 2019, leading to a month later (36 deaths in total) the government agreed to a referendum on a new constitution.

The referendum was originally scheduled to be held in April 2020, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and was finally held on October 25 last year.

The result is clear: 80% of people voted in favor of drafting a new constitution with a body composed entirely of elected members.

Gender parity

This weekend, more than 1,300 candidates participated in the election and became part of history.

Analysts say that the election will be a battle between candidates from the left and right parties, and independents are not expected to receive any meaningful support.

Left-wing parties have broadly sought state control over minerals and other natural resources, most of which have been privatized since the dictatorship, and demanded increased public spending on education, health, pensions, and social welfare.

Election workers carry ballot boxes containing votes in Valparaiso [Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters]

The people on the right nodded their heads and expressed the need to increase social support while defending the capitalist free market system to a large extent. They expressed gratitude to Chile for decades of economic growth.

Half of the worlds No. 1 candidates are women (by design).

The same will be true for the 155-member drafting group, which will have nine months to propose a new Chilean law, which will be approved or rejected in a mandatory national vote next year.

The seventeen seats of the constitution drafting Convention are reserved for the use of indigenous representatives.

Voters will elect governors, mayors and local councilors this weekend. This is usually a touchstone for the presidential election, which is scheduled for November next year.

Rich but unequal

During the outbreak of COVID-19, the campaign became very complicated. Among the countrys 19 million people, there were more than 1.2 million cases and nearly 30,000 deaths. The pandemic determined the two-day format of the election.

Chile has one of the highest vaccination rates in South America. So far, 48.5% of the 15.2 million target residents have received two doses of the vaccine.

The country has the highest per capita income and ranks third among multimillionaires in Latin America. However, the working class and even the middle class are heavily in debt and often have to pay for tuition and private pensions.

An OECD report in February stated that persistent high inequality is the main challenge facing Chile, with 53% of households classified as economically disadvantaged, and the poorest 20% of households income accounts for only a fraction of total income. 5.1%.

Satisfaction with the quality of life is low.
Chinese regional food dishes catch on overseas: BBC

Xinhua) 13:30, May 16, 2021

LONDON, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The popularity in the overseas market of biang biang noodles, a regional food indigenous to China's northwestern province of Shaanxi, shows how Chinese cuisine is carving out a market for dishes representative of wider range of Chineses food culture, BBC reported.

Biang biang noodles, featuring thick, broad, hand-pulled noodles and chili, bear a name that cannot be normally typed in Chinese, as the onomatopoeic character "biang" doesn't officially exists.

This, however, has not hindered it from gaining popularity in other parts of the world, according to the BBC report in April, as the food begets a New York City restaurant chain "Xi'an Famous Foods."

The owner of the eight-restaurant empire Jason Wang told BBC that his restaurants have over the years not only attracted fellow immigrants from Northwestern China, but also more and more diverse patrons.

"The food is not just for people who know it. It's for people who want to know it and want to try it," he said.

While global eaters are more familiar with Cantonese and Shanghai-style dishes like dim sum or braised pork belly, diverse Chinese regional foods like biang biang noodles are increasingly gaining traction.

This is the result of increased tourism and an expanding Chinese diaspora before the pandemic, said the report.

Travellers enjoy certain dishes in China and wish to experience them in their home countries and Chinese students and immigrants move abroad and search for the flavors of their hometown, Wang said, explaining the popularity of Chinese regional foods, according to BBC.

This made possible a growing awareness about the multifarious regional differences in Chinese cuisine, it added.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
A 30-year-old Zimbabwean man was arrested in the Zambezi region on charges of fraud and forgery on Thursday, after he allegedly presented a fake Covid-19 certificate to border officials.

Zambezi police spokesperson inspector Kisco Sitali confirmed the incident today, saying that it happened yesterday at the Ngoma border post. The suspect was arrested and a case was registered at the Ngoma Police Station.

"We still do not know where he got the fake Covid-19 results from, as investigations are still under way," Sitali said.

This is not the first incident reported in Zambezi regarding false Covid-19 results.

In January, two Zimbabwean men were arrested for selling fake Covid-19 results to a lorry driver for N$1 000. The two men, Andrew Hleza (45) and Christopher Mabureni (28), were were given admission of guilt fines of N$15 000 each. Namibian
Although the governments ban on travel outside the UK is coming to an end, BRITS holiday plans have fallen into chaos as they have been urged to stay away from the amber list countries.

Health Minister Matt Hancock stated that people should not travel to amber countries unless necessary, and must not travel to countries such as Italy, France, Greece and Spain.

3 British people are allowed to travel to a few countries without isolation Credit: Getty

3 Matt Hancock says people should definitely not book holidays in amber country Credit: Super Agent

Sir John Bell, Honorary Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and a member of the Government Vaccine Working Group, also responded to his comments. He said that parts of Europe mostly have not been vaccinated and are therefore more susceptible to the Indian coronavirus.

He added: People just need to get used to Cornwall or Bournemouth. Its not bad.

Starting on Monday, Britons can travel abroad for the first time this year-but only 12 countries put it on the green list, which does not require quarantine.

Mr. Hancock broke his hope of a sunny spring break this morning, saying that Britons should only go to tourist hotspots such as Spain or Greece if it is absolutely necessary.

He told Time Radio: Unless absolutely necessary, and definitely not for vacation purposes, people should not go to Amber or Red List countries.

Our borders, test [and] Surveillance is the best surveillance in the world, which means we can sometimes spot problems before other countries find them.

Therefore, it is for this reason that the green list is here to provide a safe way to let us know that it is safe to go abroad.

Boris Johnson admitted last week that the number of countries on the green list is unlikely to change due to concerns about the proliferation of new varieties.

However, as the hope of vacationing in some of the top tourist destinations in Europe gradually disappeared, the leaders of the Canary Islands regional government claimed that they could immediately include them in the UKs green list.

Angel Victor Torres said that Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria will soon welcome British tourists, which greatly promotes the arrival of summer vacation.

3

Spain is currently on the Amber List, which means that holidaymakers must isolate themselves at home after returning to the UK.

However, the infection rate of politicians in the Canary Islands is very low. They have exerted tremendous pressure on Boris Johnson and demanded that they be treated differently from other parts of Spain.

Mr. Torres said that he hoped that May 30, Canary Islands Day (a public holiday in the region), would coincide with the return of British tourists.

He said: The Canary Islands government maintains long-term contact with the British authorities, and the British decision to treat regions and countries separately will happen.

This may happen right away.

The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, including Mallorca and Ibiza, have been pushing British diplomats to go to Spain, demanding that Britain treat them separately from Spain.

The Balearic Islands has one of the lowest transmission rates in Spain. As of May 10, there were an average of 44 cases per 100,000 people every 7 days.

In the comparison of the national transmission rate per 100,000 inhabitants, the Canary Islands is also one of the most developed regions-245 in Madrid or 334 in the Basque Country, compared with 83 in the Canary Islands.

After the six months of warning in Spain ended last weekend, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands have retained control of their ports and airports for national travelers.

exclusive No IFS, no blow Butlins restaurant will reopen on May 17-this is what guests can expect hold up Holidaymakers face a 6-hour queue at the airport, Portugal receives 3,000 Britons every day Cheap chips Portugal and Bulgaria are the best value-for-money summer destinations this year exclusive Lost resort In the deserted Benidorm, entertainers play here to sparse the locals On the island Now you can receive your salary and live in an amazing castle on Cornwall Warm welcome The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom stated that British citizens will be allowed to enter Portugal from May 17th.

Anyone from Madrid to Mallorca must be PCR negative.

Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark have also announced that they will allow citizens to return to the Canary Islands without having to isolate themselves on return.

At the same time, the Italian government announced today that British tourists do not need to be quarantined within five days after their arrival in order to start the tourism industry.
Toronto-Esther Hladkowicz is eager for a proper visit with her father.

Since September, she has been waving to him in front of the window of the Ottawa Long-Term Care Home. She said that since he has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, his daily work has become more and more painful.

Hladkowicz said the father with Alzheimers will point to the yard and ask her and her daughter to walk outside when they get off the car on a sunny day.

She said: We have 15 or 20 minutes to visit, basically just telling him why we cant do this. Its cruel.

Families and advocates are calling on the Ontario government to relax regulations on long-term care residents visits, because most people have been fully vaccinated against the virus, which has killed thousands of nursing homes in the early stages of the pandemic.

As of last Friday, the province reported that 96% of long-term residents had been fully vaccinated with antiviral vaccines, and 87% of staff had received a dose. Since this winters vaccine campaign prioritized the sector, the number of deaths from COVID-19 in the facility has decreased significantly.

Now, relatives argue that overly cautious policies prevent them from visiting relatives outdoors with their lonely relatives, who have been struggling in loneliness for more than a year.

Hradekovic said: It is very important now, because time is too long. You can see its negligence and isolation.

Last month, a committee investigated the spread of COVID-19 in long-term care homes in Ontario, and the committee issued a report calling for comprehensive reforms of its so-called neglected sector. It found that the mental health consequences of the pandemic restrictions on residents are similar to those faced by prisoners in solitary confinement.

A few days later, the Long-Term Care Department announced that some social interactions, such as communal meals, might resume, and caregivers who received adequate vaccinations could hug residents.

Residents who are temporarily absent from work due to social reasons are still prohibited from outings, and visits by families of unofficial caregivers are also prohibited.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that after the provinces home ban (recently extended to June 2) is lifted, further instructions will be issued to allow fully vaccinated residents to participate in social activities.

But advocates believe that the policy needs to be reconsidered now.

Vivian Stamatopoulos, an associate professor specializing in home care at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, said that the recent changes in the regulations following the severe report of the Long-term Care Committee constitute a public relations revolution.

Stamatopoulos believes that there has been little change in tourist policy since last fall, despite the high vaccination rate and safe outdoor visits. Experts agree that if proper distancing precautions are taken, the risk of COVID-19 transmission is much lower.

Stamatopoulos said: At this point, its ridiculous.

She said the delay in updating the policy has prolonged the burden of some qualified family members who are eligible to be caregivers and are allowed to enter the house. It has also prolonged the suffering of residents who have been separated from their loved ones for a year.

She said: It is cruel to not let them down, but actually spend a little time with relatives, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, she said.

Hladkowicz said she has observed that her fathers long-term care during the pandemic has declined, and her family is not sure whether he was taken outdoors. She hopes to change the policy to allow more relatives to visit, and hope that the number of basic caregivers for one resident will increase from two.

Due to the constant trickling of staff, other families have been trying to get their relatives out of the facility that is still under the outbreak agreement.

Jennifer Couperthwaites grandmother lives in a government-funded facility in the York area that has been experiencing an outbreak since March, mainly due to COVID-19 cases among employees. There are no boxes on her grandmothers floor, but Couperthwaite said she still cant go outdoors.

Couperthwaite took her young son to wave to his great-grandmother from the window on the second floor. Otherwise, she can only make virtual calls, and Coupeththwaite said it is difficult to see her grandmother go downhill.

She said: We are losing her, it is difficult to accept this. By now we could have reunited with her.

Couperthwaite wants to see policies reflect the high vaccination rate among residents. Before that, she said she had been dreaming of the day when she could sit outside and have lunch with her grandmother and chat in the afternoon.

She said: Even if you just sit six feet apart and give her a cup of tea. I just want that, nothing. I just hope it doesnt go through the plexiglass or window.

The Canadian News Agency report was first published on May 16, 2021.
The writer is a member of the think tank of the American Enterprise Institute

Globalization benefits companies in at least one important way: It allows companies to search for talent. Although this was rare half a century ago, today, a foreign-born CEO is not very noticeable. For example, Pepsi is run by the Spanish Ramon Laguarta. Indian-born Satya Nadella leads Microsoft, and easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren is Swedish. in England, 46% Foreigners are among the top 100 CEOs of FTSE 2018.

However, the era of borderless enterprises may be over. Geopolitical tensions are increasing, putting the business in trouble. Suddenly, the nationality of the company and executives became important again.

The so-called loyalty of executives is loyalty to shareholders, but as geopolitical confrontation intensifies, the issue of national loyalty will surface. The CEO of a European company that operates globally recently told me that his views on top managers from all over the world are starting to differ. When the world is turbulent, can we bring peace to the company? All confidentiality issues may seem a little different, he said.

Executives may think of themselves as citizens everywhere, but companies may be harmed because of their location. This was evident at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, where the Covid-19 pandemic forced the forum to suspend face-to-face meetings.President Xi Jinping to his virtual audience caveat Resist threats or intimidation to others, even though Beijing Imposing punitive tariffs In Australias winemakers, it seems that they have pressure The chief executive officer of telecommunications group Ericsson lobbied Huawei in Sweden.

In March, after the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on the treatment of Uighur Muslims, Beijing accused H&M and Nike. Boycott cotton Produced in Xinjiang.Chinese online maps and retail websites remove brands and Huawei time out Download of branded applications.

Company strategy may also be affected.In an interview in 2007, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt described what the government of Mohammad Reza Shah wanted shortly before the Iranian revolution. Purchase of shares in Daimler-Benz. Ayatollah is waiting in Paris. Obviously, power will change Schmidt said: I found that Daimler-Benz is a jewel of German industry and eventually fell into the hands of Iran. This is not suitable. He asked Deutsche Bank to buy shares: I said that buying shares is in patriotic interest. . . And because they are good patriots, they did it. 

A similar situation may happen again today. Compared with the patriotic German-led Deutsche Bank in the 1970s, global boards and foreign executives may be less willing to help. In addition, they may think that by the 2020s, leaders of Western companies should not only be loyal to shareholders, but also to the motherland of the company, as long as it can provide a democratic, rule of law, and safe business environment.

Foreign-born decision makers may have a strong loyalty to their country of origin, which may cause them to run counter to their companies.think about it $1.2 billion Momentus, a California-based space transportation startup, recently Branch office Consulted with Russian CEO and co-founder Mikhail Kokorich (Mikhail Kokorich) on US national security issues. According to a person familiar with the matter, Kokorich did not obtain permission to access controlled technical information or hardware. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The fact that some countries do not get along does not mean that companies should discriminate against certain nationalities. But this does mean that they should adapt to a reality in which they can be attacked as agents of the state. Business leaders may wish to revise Davoss world view of disappearing borders and nationalities.
Palestinian military doctors said that the Israeli air strike on Gaza City on Sunday razed to the ground, destroyed three buildings and killed at least 42 people.

However, despite the heavy death toll and international efforts to bring about a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the fourth war with the Hamas ruler in Gaza will continue.

Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Sunday night that the attack is continuing with full force and that it will take some time. He said that Israel wants to impose a heavy price on the militant Hamas rulers in Gaza, and he stood with his political opponent, Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and showed solidarity.

Since the fierce fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas nearly a week ago, the Israeli air strike earlier on Sunday was the deadliest attack, the worst since the devastating war in Gaza in 2014.

Within five minutes after midnight, the airstrike hit the bustling residential buildings and store streets in the city, destroying two adjacent buildings and a 50-meter road.

Rescuers searched for victims in the rubble at the Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Sunday. (Mohamed Salem/Reuters)

Once, a rescuer shouted: Can you hear me? Entering a hole in the rubble. Are you okay? A few minutes later, the first responder pulled a survivor out and took him away on an orange stretcher.

The Ministry of Health of Gaza said that 16 women and 10 children were among the victims, and more than 50 were injured. Rescue work is still in progress.

Hamas leaders residence targeted

The Israeli military said earlier that in another strike in the southern town of Khan Younis, the residence of Yahiyeh Sinwar, the leader of Gazas supreme Hamas, was destroyed. This is the third such attack on the houses of senior Hamas leaders in the past two days, who have gone underground.

As international mediators work hard to end the fighting, Israel seems to have intensified strikes in recent days, causing as much damage as possible to Hamas. However, targeting leaders of the organization may hinder these efforts. A US diplomat is trying to ease the escalation of tensions in the region, and the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday.

Israel razed some of the tallest office and residential buildings in Gaza City in air strikes, claiming that they contained Hamas military infrastructure. These include the Associated Press office and other media store buildings.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, militants in Gaza fired a large number of rockets at Israel.

In the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the neighbor of a doctor Zvi Daphna was attacked by several rockets, describing a feeling of fear and fear.

Israeli security forces inspected a site in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon after launching a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on Sunday. (Jack Gates/AFP/Getty Images)

General upheaval

The most recent violence started in East Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians erupted in protests and clashes with the police during Ramadan against Israeli police tactics and Jewish settlers threatening to deport dozens of Palestinian families. The focal point of the conflict was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli attack on the impoverished Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is home to 2 million Palestinians. Since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007, it has been blocked by Israel and Egypt.

At least 188 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, and 1,230 were injured. Eight people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

The unrest also spread to other places, intensified protests in the occupied West Bank, and triggered violent incidents, conflicts and vigilant attacks on people and property between Jews and Arab citizens in Israel.

Israeli police said that on Sunday, a driver crashed into an Israeli checkpoint in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. The Palestinian family was threatened with deportation. Six policemen were injured there. The police shot and killed Attacker.

The violence also triggered pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Canada, the United States and Europe. Police in Paris fired tear gas and water cannons at the demonstrators.

Ceasefire effort

The Israeli military said on Sunday that it attacked the home of Sinwar and his brother Mohammed, another senior member of Hamas. On Saturday, it destroyed the residence of Hhalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in the political branch of Hamas.

The upper echelon of Hamas is already hiding in Gaza. When the strike occurs, it is impossible for anyone to be at home. The top leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh (Ismail Haniyeh) divided his time between Turkey and Qatar, and both countries provided political support for the organization.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group admitted that 20 fighters have been killed since the fighting broke out on Monday. Israel stated that the actual number is much higher and has released the names and photos of the two alleged agents who were allegedly eliminated.

A boy running amidst the sound of police sirens warned that a rocket was fired at Israel on Sunday in the Gaza Strip in Charest, southern Israel. (Baz Ratner/Reuters)

An Egyptian diplomat said that Israels goals for Hamas political leaders would complicate ceasefire efforts. When discussing closed-door negotiations, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, said that Cairo, like other international participants, is working hard to bring the battle to an end.

The Egyptian diplomat said that destroying Hamass rocket capability would require a ground invasion, which would anger the entire region. The official said that Egypt, which achieved peace with Israel decades ago, threatened to suspend cooperation in various fields.

At the same time, the Biden administration of the United States has affirmed its support for Israel while working hard to mitigate the escalation of the crisis. American diplomat Hady Amr met with Israeli Defense Minister Gantz, and he thanked the United States for its support. Gantz said that Israel takes all precautions and only launches attacks on military targets to avoid harming civilians, who are the targets of indiscriminate killing.

Hamas and other militant groups fired about 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military stated that 450 of the rockets missed or were not launched, while Israels air defense system intercepted 1,150.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has said that 90% have been intercepted, and the interception rate seems to have dropped significantly. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza.

Anger at the media building air raids

On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story Al-Jalaa building where the Associated Press office is located. The building also houses Al Jazeera, the Arab News Network in Qatar, and other media, as well as multi-storey apartments.

Netanyahu claimed that Hamas military intelligence is operating in the building.

After an Israeli air strike destroyed the ruins of a building in Gaza City the previous day, people inspected the ruins of the building. The building houses the Associated Press, radio and television stations and other media, as well as apartments. (Adel Hanna/Associated Press)

Israel usually regards the presence of Hamas as the reason for targeting certain locations (including residential buildings) in air strikes. The military also accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but did not provide any evidence to support these allegations.

The Associated Press has been operating the building for 15 years, including the previous three wars between Israel and Hamas. During the current conflict, the news agencys cameras operated from its top-level offices and rooftop terraces, providing 24-hour live filming. The militants rockets flew toward Israel, and Israeli air strikes hit the city and its surrounding areas hard.

Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt (Gary Pruitt) said in a statement: We have no indication that Hamas is in or in the building. This is our exhaustion. Things that can be actively checked. We will never intentionally put our reporters at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the owner of the building and warned that a strike would take place within an hour. Associated Press staff and other personnel were evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, causing it to fall into a huge cloud of dust.

Pruitt said: Because of what is happening today, the world will know less about what is happening in Gaza. We are shocked and terrified.
Santiago, Chile- The Mapuche poet Maribel Mora Curriao, who lives in the Chilean capital, was pleased to vote on Sunday, which she called Historic election To the Mapuche people.

Curriao flew to Freire, a small town in southern Chile, to vote-closer to his roots.

We voted with pride and identity for the first time. We take this process very seriously and we are very aware that this is a rare opportunity not only for us but for the entire Chilean people, she told Al Jazeera.

Without the Mapuche community, everything that happens from now on will not happen. Dont miss the opportunity, dont miss the opportunity. 

Chileans will vote in a two-day election starting on Saturday to elect mayors, governors and councillors of all South American countries.

Voters will also elect 155 representatives to form a constitutional convention whose task is to draft a new constitution to replace the current constitution, which was written by Augusto Pinochet in the 1980s under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet .

Andres Tagle, chairman of the Electoral Services Commission, said: Everything is under control. The voting results are expected to be announced late on Sunday night.

For the first time in Chiles history, the ballot box was sealed and kept in the polling field on Saturday night. Election officials guarded the sealed ballot boxes at 2,700 polling stations (including schools and churches) across the country, and the Ministry of Defense sent more than 23,000 soldiers to protect them as an additional security measure.

Tagger said: If there is a fraud attempt, we will find out.

On Saturday, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera encouraged people to vote, stating that voting is to respect democracy and our society. He wrote on Twitter: Today, the voice of the people must be heard in this historic election.

Delegates who choose to join the Constitutional Convention will have nine months (and possibly an extension of three months) to write Chiles new constitution. It will then be presented to voters in the referendum next year, and voting will be mandatory.

Manriquez, 83, says voting is a way for her to participate in shaping the countrys future [Odette Magnet/Al Jazeera]

Monica Manriquez, 83, was the first person to vote at Luis Arrieta Canas Elementary School in Penaloren County, San Diego. The local time was 8:30 in the morning, and there were almost no people around.

Manriques told Al Jazeera: I want to do everything possible to participate in shaping our countrys future. Elections largely define the destiny of a country.

The turnout in these two days was very low, especially in working-class communities. According to data from the Electoral Services Commission, 20% of Chiles 14 million eligible voters (approximately 3 million people) voted on Saturday.

Political analysts say that part of the reason for the low turnout is the lack of information and the COVID-19 pandemic. Chile has so far reported 27,800 coronavirus-related deaths and more than 1.28 million cases.

Although government officials assured the public that voting will be conducted under safe conditions during the pandemic, the countrys health minister on Saturday urged the public to vote and go home.

According to election experts, voter participation must reach the same level as the referendum in October last year, when Chileans voted 78% in favor of rewriting the constitution. Approximately 51% of Chileans participated in this process.

Historian and feminist Luna Follegati voted on Sunday morning and emphasized the importance of expressing opinions in the drafting of a new constitution.

She told Al Jazeera: Without feminism, there would be no social change.

Today, when writing a new constitution, we must include our feminist requirements. If not, we will continue to build a weak democratic system that violates womens rights and freedoms. The feminist movement has become apparent recently. : We will not remain silent again.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates-The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation held an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the fierce fighting between Israel and the radical Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip. This is the first Middle Eastern country that is still struggling to resolve the conflict. step.

Although the League of Arab States and organizations such as the Saudi Islamic Conference still insist that the Palestinians should have their own independent state, Israel has recently reached a recognition agreement with several of its members. In response to this, as well as some countries concerns about Hamas, peoples response to the attack was somewhat negative, rather than going all out in the past decades.

At the beginning of the meeting, Riad Malki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister of the Palestinian Authority, which administers the Israeli-occupied West Bank Autonomous Region, condemned what he called Israels cowardly attack.

He said: We must tell Allah that we will resist until the last day. We are facing long-term occupation. This is the root of the problem. There are no consequences for the crimes committed by the Palestinians.

However, Marchis Palestinian Authority cannot control Hamas and the Gaza Strip, and militants seized power here in 2007.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has taken a similarly hard line.

Kavsuglu said: The Israelis alone are responsible for the recent escalation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Our warning to Israel last week was not heeded.

In the Arabian Peninsula and the Persian Gulf states, the response to the fighting was mixed. In Qatar, where Al Jazeeras satellite network is located, hundreds of people attended Saturday night to listen to a speech by Hamass supreme leader Ismail Haniye. Now, he is spreading his time between Turkey and Qatar, and both Iran and Iran have returned to Hamas.

Resistance will not yield. Haniye swore when the bodyguard stood behind him. He added that resistance is the shortest way to Jerusalem and that Palestinians will only accept a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

According to reports, Kuwaits parliamentary spokesperson and Qatars foreign minister had a conversation with Haniye on Saturday. The same goes for General Esmail Ghaani, head of the Jihadist Corps of the Iranian Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Then there are Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, the two Gulf Arab states that reached a recognition agreement with Israel during the months of the Trump administrations decline last year. These countries, as well as Saudi Arabia, have reiterated their support for the Palestinians to gain an independent state. However, the government-related media in these countries did not continuously report the current outbreak of violence like other networks in the region.

Although there are noises of different opinions. In the island nation of Bahrain, civil society groups signed a letter urging the country to expel Israels ambassador to violence. In the United Arab Emirates, where political parties and protests are illegal, Palestinians in the workforce in Abu Dhabi and Dubai quietly expressed their anger and fear of losing their residence permits. Some Emirati also expressed concern.

UAE writer and political analyst Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi wrote in a tweet: The only democracy in the region.

Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu (Cavusoglu) criticized OIC members for reaching a recognition agreement with Israel.

He said: Some people have lost their moral code and expressed their support for Israel. If there are half-hearted remarks in our family, how can we criticize those who (not) take our words seriously?

Hussein Ibish, a senior scholar at the Washington-based Institute of Arab Gulf States, said that most Gulf Arab leaders worry that Hamas rockets are a cynical cynical against Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza. , Danger, unnecessary provocation and harm. He said that unlike other conflicts involving the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site in Jerusalem, or Israeli settlers driving Arab families out of their homes, Gulf leaders have taken response measures.

Ibis wrote: People will not have much sympathy for the crude and disproportionate acts of retaliation that are generally regarded as Israels in the Gulf region, Ibis wrote, but for the leaders of the Gulf countries and many citizens In other words, it will be much easier to treat this exchange as a tragic fire. At the expense of two civilians brought by a leadership they have neither control nor responsibility.



Associated Press reporter Aya Batrawy, Malak Harb from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Bassem Mroue from Beirut contributed to this report.
**Related video above: Israeli strike in Gaza destroyed media-built buildings**

Military doctors said that the Israeli airstrike on Gaza City razed to the ground on Sunday, destroyed three buildings and killed at least 42 people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there was a fourth war between Israel and the Gaza Strip. . Israel Despite the efforts of the international community to bring about a ceasefire, the Palestinians in Gaza will still be angry.

Netanyahu said in a televised speech that the attack is continuing full force and will take some time. Political opponents, Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz (Benny Gantz) showed solidarity.

Since the fierce fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas nearly a week ago, the Israeli air strike earlier on Sunday was the deadliest attack, the worst since the devastating war in Gaza in 2014.

The airstrike struck a major residential building and storefront street in the city within five minutes after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and a road of about 50 yards (meters).

Once, a rescuer shouted: Can you hear me? Entering a hole in the rubble. Are you okay? A few minutes later, the first responder pulled a survivor out and took him away on an orange stretcher. The Ministry of Health of Gaza said that 16 women and 10 children were among the victims, and more than 50 were injured. Rescue work is still in progress.

The Israeli military said earlier that in another strike in the southern town of Khan Younis, the residence of Yahiyeh Sinwar, the leader of Gazas supreme Hamas, was destroyed. This is the third such attack on the houses of senior Hamas leaders in the past two days, who have gone underground.

Israel seems to have intensified strikes in recent days to cause as much damage as possible to Hamas, as international mediators are working to end the fighting and avoid Israeli ground invasion of the territory. However, targeting leaders of the organization may hinder these efforts. A US diplomat is trying to ease tensions in the area, and the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday.

On Sunday, May 16, 2021, in Gaza City, a Palestinian man prays in the rubble awaiting possible survivors among the rubble destroyed by a deadly Israeli airstrike. Military doctors said that Sunday was the deadliest attack since fierce fighting broke out between Israel and the countrys militant Hamas ruler nearly a week ago. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

On Sunday, May 16, 2021, a man walks past the rubble of the Yazegi residential building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. The organization is composed of 57 members, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, held an emergency virtual meeting on Sunday to discuss the situation in Gaza. Call for an end to the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

The mourners carry the remains of Palestinians who were killed in an overnight attack on Israeli homes at a funeral in Gaza City on Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

On Sunday, May 16, 2021, in Gaza City, a wounded Palestinian man mourned the body of a young child who was killed in an Israeli air strike. (AP Photo/Sanad Latifa)

Israel razed some of the tallest office and residential buildings in Gaza City in air strikes, claiming that they contained Hamas military infrastructure.Including Associated Press And other media.

Latest outbreak Violence started in East Jerusalem Last month, Palestinians broke out protests against Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and Ramadan, and clashed with police. Dozens of Palestinian families threatened by forced evictions Jewish settlers. The focal point of the conflict was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent bombing incident on the top of a hill revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired a rocket at Jerusalem late Monday, triggering Israeli opposition Poverty in GazaSince Hamas seized power from hostile Palestinian forces in 2007, Bahrain has more than 2 million Palestinians and has been blocked by Israel and Egypt.

At least 188 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, and 1,230 were injured. Eight people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

In a speech with Netanyahu on Sunday, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Aviv Kohawi said that Hamas had not anticipated Israels overwhelming response to its rockets. Hamas made a serious and serious mistake and failed to read our book correctly.

Unrest also spread to other places, exacerbating the Occupied West Bank and Triggered violent conflicts between Jews and Arabs in Israel, Carry out conflicts and security attacks on personnel and property. The violence also triggered pro-Palestinian protests in European and American cities, with French police firing tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators in Paris.

The military said on Sunday that it attacked the residence of Sinwar and the residence of his brother Muhammad, another senior member of Hamas. On Saturday, it destroyed the residence of Hhalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in the Hamas political department.

The upper echelon of Hamas is already hiding in Gaza. When the strike occurs, it is impossible for anyone to be at home. The top leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh (Ismail Haniyeh) divided his time between Turkey and Qatar, and both countries provided political support for the organization.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have confirmed that 20 combatants have been killed since the fighting broke out on Monday. Israel says the actual number is much higher and has released the names and photos of the twenty accused agents that it said were eliminated.

An Egyptian diplomat said that Israels goals against Hamas political leaders would complicate the ceasefire. When discussing closed-door negotiations, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, said that Cairo, like other international participants, is working hard to bring the battle to an end.

The Egyptian diplomat said that destroying Hamass rocket capability would require a ground invasion, which would anger the entire region. The official said that Egypt, which achieved peace with Israel decades ago, threatened to suspend cooperation in various fields.

At the same time, the Biden administration has affirmed its support for Israel while working hard to mitigate the escalation of the crisis. American diplomat Hady Amr met with Israeli Defense Minister Gantz, and he thanked the United States for its support. Gantz said that Israel takes all precautions and only launches attacks on military targets to avoid harming civilians, who are the targets of indiscriminate killing.

Hamas and other militant groups fired about 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military stated that 450 of the rockets missed or were not launched, while Israels air defense system intercepted 1,150.

Since the conflict broke out, Israel has said that 90% have been intercepted, and the interception rate seems to have dropped significantly. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza at the same time.

On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story Al-Jalaa building where the Associated Press office is located. The building also houses the TV network Ja-Jazeera (Ja-Jazeera) and other media, as well as several floors of apartments.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: The campaign will continue as long as it needs to. He claimed that Hamas military intelligence is operating inside the building.

Israel usually regards the presence of Hamas as the reason for targeting certain locations (including residential buildings) in air strikes. The military also accused militant groups of using journalists as human shields, but did not provide any evidence to support this claim.

The Associated Press has been operating the building for 15 years, including the previous three wars between Israel and Hamas. During the current conflict, the news agencys cameras operated from its top-level offices and rooftop terraces, providing 24-hour live filming. The militants rockets flew toward Israel, and Israeli air strikes hit the city and its surrounding areas hard.

Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt (Gary Pruitt) said in a statement: We have no indication that Hamas is in or in the building. This is our exhaustion. Things that can be actively checked. We will never intentionally put our reporters at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the owner of the building and warned that a strike would take place within an hour. Associated Press staff and other personnel were evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, causing it to fall into a huge cloud of dust.

Pruitt said: Because of what is happening today, the world will know less about what is happening in Gaza,. We are shocked and terrified.
Military doctors said that the Israeli airstrike on Gaza City razed to the ground on Sunday, destroyed three buildings and killed at least 33 people. This is the most since Israel broke out in fierce fighting with the countrys militant Hamas ruler nearly a week ago A fatal attack.

A rescuer can be seen yelling into a hole in the rubble. Can you hear me? he called out. Are you okay? A few minutes later, the first responders managed to pull the survivor out and take him away on an orange stretcher. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said that 12 women and 8 children were among the victims, and 50 others were injured in the attack.

The Israeli military said earlier that in another strike in the southern town of Khan Younis, the residence of Yahiyeh Sinwar, the leader of Gazas supreme Hamas, was destroyed. This is the third such attack on the houses of senior Hamas leaders in the past two days, who have gone underground.

As international mediators are trying to bring about a ceasefire, Israel seems to have intensified strikes in recent days, causing as much damage as possible to Hamas. However, targeting leaders of the organization may hinder these efforts. A US diplomat is trying to ease tensions in the area, and the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday.

The most recent incident of violence began in East Jerusalem last month, when Palestinian tactics against Israeli police during Ramadan and Jewish settlers threatened to expel dozens of Palestinian families, and there were protests and clashes with the police. The focal point of the conflict was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent bombing incident on the top of a hill revered by both Muslims and Jews. Hamas launched a rocket into Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli attack on Gaza.

The unrest also spread to other places, intensified protests in the occupied West Bank, and triggered violence between Jews and Arab citizens in Israel, causing conflicts and vigilant attacks on people and property.

At least 181 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, including 52 children and 31 women, and 1,225 were injured. Eight people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

The military said on Sunday that it attacked the residence of Sinwar and the residence of his brother Muhammad, another senior member of Hamas. On Saturday, it destroyed the residence of Hhalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in the Hamas political department.

The upper echelon of Hamas is already hiding in Gaza. When the strike occurs, it is impossible for anyone to be at home. The top leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh (Ismail Haniyeh) divided his time between Turkey and Qatar, and both countries provided political support for the organization.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have confirmed that 20 combatants have been killed since the fighting broke out on Monday. Israel stated that the actual number is much higher and has released the names and photos of the two alleged agents who were allegedly eliminated.

An Egyptian diplomat said that Israels goals against Hamas political leaders would complicate the ceasefire. When discussing closed-door negotiations, the diplomat, who asked not to be named, said that Cairo is working hard to bring the fighting to an end.

The Egyptian diplomat said that the rocket that destroys Hamas will require a ground invasion, which will anger the entire region. The official said that Egypt, which achieved peace with Israel decades ago, threatened to suspend cooperation in various fields.

Hamas and other militant groups fired about 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military stated that 450 of the rockets missed or were not launched, while Israels air defense system intercepted 1,150.

Since the conflict broke out, Israel has said that 90% have been intercepted, and the interception rate seems to have dropped significantly. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At the same time, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on the impoverished Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip is home to 2 million Palestinians. Since Hamas seized power from hostile Palestinian troops in 2007, Israel has been subject to Israeli and Egyptian forces. Blockade.

Israel claims that the tallest office and residential buildings in Gaza City have been razed to the ground, claiming that they contain Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story Al-Jalaa building where the Associated Press office is located. The building also houses the TV network Ja-Jazeera (Ja-Jazeera) and other media, as well as several floors of apartments.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: The movement will continue as long as it is needed. He claimed that the Hamas military intelligence service is operating inside the building.

Israel usually regards the presence of Hamas as the reason for targeting certain locations (including residential buildings) in air strikes. The military also accused militant groups of using journalists as human shields, but did not provide any evidence to support this claim.

The Associated Press has been operating the building for 15 years, including the previous three wars between Israel and Hamas. During these and current conflicts, the news agencys cameras on the top-level offices and rooftop terraces provided 24-hour live filming, rockets from militants flew toward Israel, and Israeli airstrikes hit the city and its surrounding areas hard. .

Associated Press President and CEO Gary Pruitt (Gary Pruitt) said in a statement: We have no indication that Hamas is in or in the building. This is our exhaustion. Things that can be actively checked. We will never intentionally put our reporters at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the owner of the building and warned that a strike would take place within an hour. Associated Press staff and other personnel were evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, causing it to fall into a huge cloud of dust.

Pruitt said: Because of what is happening today, the world will know less about what is happening in Gaza. We are shocked and terrified.

He said the Associated Press is seeking information from the Israeli government and is working with the US State Department to learn more.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken then spoke with Pruitt over the phone to provide support to independent journalists and media organizations. The White House said it has communicated directly with Israel to urge the safety of journalists.

While working hard to mitigate the escalation of the crisis, the Biden administration affirmed its support for Israel. American diplomat Hady Amr was in the area as part of the armistice agreement.



Klaus reports from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy is based in Cairo, with contributions from Isaac Scharf from Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue from Beirut.
KYLIE Jenner threw off her best friend Yris Palmer with a $72 million private jet over the weekend to give a girl a vacation.

The two set off together to celebrate Yriss birthday, drinking cocktails, champagne and cameras along the way.

7 Kylie Jenners BFF Yris Palmer (Yris Palmer) with her on her birthday girl trip Image source: Instagram

The two mothers-Kylie with daughters Ayla and Kylie with daughter Stormi Webster-set up a complete, multi-day itinerary for the trip and printed out a detailed list Table for them to view on the fly.

Before they arrive at any official moment in their itinerary, Kylie and Yris enjoy everything they need to keep in personal contact with the Kardashian star.

Yris wore a stylish white leather seat and accompanying footstool, blue casual clothes and a pair of Kylie slippers, while drinking cocktails.

In another moment shared in the air, six glasses of rose champagne were sitting, ready to make the girls cheer and drink.

7 She took her daughter Ayla from the resort Image source: Instagram

7 Kylie took the birthday girl Yris and some other friends away on a private jet, enjoying the shot in the distance Image source: Instagram

However, the party attending the plane did not end there, because there are also tropical drinks, including pineapple slices and small umbrellas, and some night shots.

Several other friends also joined this holiday. They all raised their little glasses and cheered before pouring the wine.

Kylie yelled before drinking: To Yris!

After they got off the plane, the fun continued.

7 During the flight, they also drank rose champagne and some cocktails Image source: Instagram

7 Yris shared the entire itinerary of her birthday trip Image source: Instagram

The birthday trip includes dinner on Wednesday, boat trip to the island on Thursday, motorboat and snorkeling snorkeling on Friday, pool and beach days on Friday, massage and wine and cheese tasting.

On Saturday night, Kylie split their video on the boat and sailed to a brightly lit pavilion, waiting for them.

They got off the car in the resort area, enjoyed a decadent dinner, and added some wine and cocktails to their birthday girlfriends to cheer them on.

7 After dinner on Saturday night, she was given a huge birthday cake Image source: Instagram

7 Kylies daughter Stormi and Yriss daughter Ayla enjoyed some friends time Image source: Instagram

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For dessert, Iris was treated as a huge pink and white cake.

Her daughter Ayla and Kylies daughter Stormi are also on the trip, but they let the mothers have fun, and most of them go back to hang out.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki on Sunday accused Israel of Offense for a whole week When Gaza urged international pressure at a UN Security Council meeting.

Some people may not want to use these words-war crimes and crimes against humanity-but they know they are real, al-Maliki said at a virtual conference on the crisis on Sunday.

He also reiterated Israels angry accusations, accusing Tel Aviv of implementing a apartheid policy against Palestinians.

Take immediate action to end the aggression. Act now so that freedom can prevail, not apartheid. He told the Security Council.

since Violence broke out On Monday, at least 188 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, including 55 children. More than 1,200 people were injured. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces killed at least 13 Palestinians.

Israel reported that Hamas and other Palestinian groups fired thousands of missiles from Gaza, killing 10 people, including two children, many of which were intercepted by Israels Iron Dome air defense system.

Al-Maliki is part of the Palestinian Authority, not a member of the Hamas group that controls the Gaza Strip and launches rockets at Israel. The organization expressed regret over Israels death, but urged the Security Council to review the balance of power.

Israel is an occupying power. Circumstances without any assessment of this basic fact are biased. Al-Maliki said.

Israel always says to put itself in our shoes. But Israel doesnt wear shoes. It wears military boots.

Israel slams Hamas

Gilad Erdan, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, also carried out a deliberate attack on the Hamas rocket attack, which blew up the Hamas rocket against Israel.

Erdan said: This was completely premeditated by Hamas in order to gain political power.

He said that after Palestinian Authority President Abbas postponed the long-awaited election, tensions in Hamas escalated due to political exercises within Palestine.

When 14-year-old Amer Quneibi was questioned by the Israeli authorities for throwing stones at settlers in Hebron, his family could not stand by his side. Desperate to see their son, his parents tried to reason with the strict detention center guards. The whole movie: https://t.co/wR7Q9x8hco pic.twitter.com/QAebYCN7tC -AJWitness (@AJWitness) May 16, 2021

Hamas said that the rocket fired at Israel was in response to the Israeli armys repeated elevation of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem earlier this month because of the tensions that forced the action. Deportation of Palestinian families Make way for Israeli settlers in the city.

Do you really believe that this property dispute is the cause of Hamass massive attacks on the Israeli people? Erdan said.

He thanked the United States for postponing the United Nations meeting and called on the United Nations to condemn Hamas.

Hamas targets civilians; Israel targets terrorists. Erdan said.

Israel has done everything possible to avoid civilian casualties; Hamas has done everything possible to increase civilian casualties.

Shocking

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate ceasefire. In his speech at the Security Council, he said that the hostilities between the two parties were shocking and urged them to allow mediation efforts to strengthen and succeed.

The diplomat said that the UN Security Council held two private meetings last week on the worsening violence, but so far, because the United States-Israels strong ally-believes that this will not help, it has not yet reached a public statement. consensus.

China regrets that the United States has blocked the UN Security Councils statement on Israeli-Palestinian violence because it urges the international community to make greater efforts to stop the bloodshed.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: We call on the United States to shoulder its responsibilities, take a fair stand, and work with the majority of the international community to support the Security Council to ease the situation. May.

The United States told the UN Security Council that it has made it clear to Israel, the Palestinians and other countries that it is prepared to provide support while all parties seek a ceasefire.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield said at the 15-member Security Council: The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end this conflict.

Because we believe that Israelis and Palestinians have the same right to live in safety and security.

The UN Special Envoy for the Middle East, Tor Wennesland, urged the international community to take immediate action so that the parties can get out of their predicament.

So far, the armistice efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations show no signs of progress.

Military doctors said that the Israeli air strike on Gaza City razed to the ground on Sunday, destroyed three buildings and killed at least 42 people. This was the deadliest attack in seven days of fierce fighting.

The United States has sent a special envoy to the region to ease the escalation of tensions, but critics say that President Joe Biden underestimated the severity of the crisis. Joe Biden (called Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas on Saturday).

This is an area that the United States and the United Nations have traditionally negotiated But given that this issue has been on the agenda of the United Nations for more than 70 years, and no progress has been made China is very happy to convene the United States here. The United Nations, Peninsula Kristen Saloomey of the TV station reports from the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Sadly, at this stage, the reality seems to be that the Security Council has no way forward here.
Thirty-three New Yorkers died of COVID, 18 of them in the Big Apple, bringing the states official death toll to 42,473, according to the governors office. The death toll is 52,914, according to Johns Hopkins University. Cuomos office did not immediately answer an inquiry about why there was such a big discrepancy.
Arizonas cannabis regulatory agency, the Arizona Department of Health Services (hereinafter referred to as the department), has issued draft regulations for the Social Equitable Opportunity Program (SEOP). click here View the draft regulations. Comments on the draft regulations should be closed on May 16, 2021 (Sunday).

According to SEOP, Arizona will issue an additional 26 licenses. According to the Arizona Amendment Regulations (ARS), the SEOP regulations apply to:

Establish and implement a socially fair ownership plan to promote the ownership and operation of cannabis establishments Community residents have a disproportionate influence on the enforcement of cannabis laws. ARS36-2854(A)(9).

In addition to the above regulations, there is not much information about SEOP in the regulations. So, did the draft regulations promote the stated goals approved by voters in Arizona? It seems that there are other ways to promote SEOPs expected goals.

Reduce license fees

Lets start with the good news. According to the adult usage plan, the initial license fee is US$25,000. However, the US Department of Commerce now recommends SEOPs initial license fee of $5,000. The reduction in costs undoubtedly promotes the goal of social justice.

Who might be the owner, chief officer and/or board member?

The next question is who might be the owner, chief officer and/or Member of the board SEOP licensee? Before answering this question, the draft regulations require at least one or more key officials or board members to own at least 51% of SEOP licensees. AACR9-18-303(B)(1) (draft). It seems very simple.

Not so fast. There are two additional requirements for each principal official or board member belonging to the 51% ownership group. First, these people must petition the court to exempt them from any previous marijuana convictions. AACR9-18-303(B)(2)(a) (draft). Second, the household income of these people in 2019 must be not more than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. AACR9-18-303(B)(2)(b) (draft).

Does the draft regulation require the chief officer or board member of a group with 51% ownership to be convicted of marijuana in advance? Since this part of the draft regulation is used in combination (Look AACR9-18-303(B)(2)(a) and (b) (draft)), each element must be met. Therefore, it seems that only key officials and board members who have previously applied for marijuana conviction may belong to the 51% ownership group.

Can you remove the chief officer or board member?

The next interesting question is whether the chief officer or board member who is a member of the 51% ownership group can also be removed. Usually, the entitys organizational documents (for example, articles of association, operating agreement, etc.) specify when the chief officer or board member can be removed. However, as part of the SEOP application process, the proposed licensee must provide documents to the U.S. Department of Commerce to confirm that the principal officials or board members who are also part of the 51% ownership group must be removed from office if: the persons written consent, Or (b) The court ordered the person to be removed from his post. AACR9-18-303(B)(2)(a) and (b) (draft).

Although there are other requirements in SEOP, the preceding article summarizes the substantive changes in adult use procedures.

How will this work?

To help clarify how the above works, a hypothesis may be helpful. Suppose Paul, Otto, and Tom founded a company called POT, Inc. in Arizona. In addition, it is further assumed that Paul, Otto and Tom each own 33.3% of POT, Inc. and will serve as chief officer and board member, respectively. . Both Paul and Otto have had marijuana convictions, Paul and Tom are millionaires, and Otto has been unemployed since 2017. Will POT, Inc. obtain a SEOP license? According to the draft regulations, the answer is no. Because only Otto meets the Federal Poverty Guidelines and its ownership interest (33.3%) is less than 51%, POT, Inc. will not qualify as a SEOP licensee.

If we change the assumption, then Paul has been convicted of marijuana and has not worked since 2017, then POT, Inc. will be eligible to become a licensee of SEOP. Under this revised assumption, Paul and Otto jointly own 66.6% of the shares in POT, Inc., which meets the requirements of the draft regulations because (a) they have a previous conviction for marijuana and can seek a reduced sentence, and (b) they both have income The level specified in the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

____

The Bill provides a starting point for discussions on whether to promote social justice. There is no doubt that many people will comment on the draft regulations. It is hoped that the Department of Defense will consider the various comments made and find ways to enhance social justice to the Arizonans who deserve it. Come and join you!
After six days of searching, I finally found a Bengal tiger photographed in a secluded place near Houston, Bangladesh since last Sunday.

This big cat named India was handed over to the police in a Texas city early this morning and is now being taken care of by an animal shelter.

4 The Houston police shared a photo of India in which the Indian was fed a bottle of milk while wearing a turquoise sparkling collar Credit: Houston Police Department

4 Last Sunday, India was filmed roaming west of Houston. Not long ago, the alleged murderer Victor Cuevas was seen tying her into a white Jeep Cherokee. Credit: Twitter

The Houston Police Department shared a photo of India. The photo shows an Indian wearing a turquoise sparkling collar. The suspected murderer Victor Kuvass wife Jaya Kuvas gave her a feed. Bottle of milk.

At the press conference, police chief Ron Borza said: We found him and he is healthy.

[Gia Cuevas] Want to hand the tiger to us. 

The police met Gia Cuevas in the west of the town and detained the tiger.

But Bolza pointed out that India was in a very small box when it was brought to us today.

He said: As you know, he is now in a bigger crate, and he seems to be doing well.

When its overgrown, that animal can weigh up to 600 pounds. He still has claws, and if he decides, it could cause a lot of damage.

I exercise every day and that animal is very powerful. If he wants to overcome you, he can do it immediately.

He added: There is no doubt that you should not carry it at home. This is not good for the tiger. He needs to go out and roam.

It turns out that when the police hunted him this week, India had already crossed multiple safe houses in an attempt to hide the big cat.

Nine-month-old cubs, tamed but with sharp claws, will be taken to Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary that includes other tigers.

After a man fleeing a wild cat was caught by the police, the tiger became loose in a place in Texas.

Victor Cuevas faces additional charges for first-degree murder Houston Last Sunday, the police chased in a car, then dragged the animal away and disappeared.

4 Victor Cuevas was detained on Monday night and charged with felony evading patrol officers Credit: AP

He tied the tiger to the back of a white SUV and fled the scene.

Cuevas, 26, was detained on Monday night and was convicted of escaping felony on charges of evading patrol officers.

In addition, he was also accused of shooting and killing a man in a restaurant parking lot in Fort Bend County in July 2017. ABC7 report.

Shocked neighbor They allegedly spotted the wild cat wandering in a house in Texas shortly before the hunt on Sunday night.

The first person to see the beast, Jose Ramos, immediately posted an alert on his community blog to warn his neighbors of danger.

When a man pointed his gun at the aggressive beast, the big cat hovered in the camera near Houston.

In the video posted on Twitter, the man can be heard yelling: Take the guy back.

Another person who appeared to be the owner of the tiger replied: I want him, I want him.

The panicked neighbor called the police after being panicked seeing the animal lying on the lawn in the residential area at about 8pm on Sunday night.

According to reports, the police were told that the tiger has a collar around his neck and looks fierce. Houston Chronicle.

The worried caller also said that people started to show up with guns.

4 According to reports, the police were told that the tiger was aggressive Credit: Twitter

No shots were fired in the 42-second clip played on social media.

HPD Commander Borza said: This is not the animals fault, but the breeders fault. This is unacceptable. It shouldnt happen at all. KVUE.

According to reports, the loose tiger is no stranger to the area because it was locked in the garage in May 2019.

After Osiekhuemen Omobhude died outside a sushi restaurant in November 2017, Cuevas was released on bail for murder. Houston Chronicle report.

According to reports, when Osiekhuemen entered the parking lot, two people approached Osiekhuemen.

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Witnesses said they heard gunshots, and the two of them were covered and fled the scene. Osiekhuemen died of injuries in the hospital.

After Kuvass was arrested, the police reportedly received an anonymous report and was taken into custody with a deposit of 750,000 U.S. dollars before being released.

He was charged with first-degree murder in 2020 and received a security deposit of US$125,000. He will appear in court in July.
More than 150 people were injured after the collapse of an unfinished synagogue in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli military doctors said that on the eve of a major Jewish holiday, at least two people were killed and more than 150 injured after bleach collapsed in an unfinished synagogue in the occupied West Bank.

The bleachers were crowded with ultra-Orthodox Christians and collapsed when Shavuot began to pray. A spokesperson for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that medical staff had treated more than 157 injuries and announced two deaths, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.

Rescuers were at the scene, treating the injured and sending them to the hospital.The crash occurred weeks after the death of 45 extreme Orthodox Jews Killed in a stampede On a religious holiday in northern Israel.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it has sent medical personnel and other search and rescue forces to assist at the scene. Army helicopters are airlifting injured people.

Amateur video shows that the church collapsed during prayers at Givat Zeev, an illegal West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem on Sunday night.

The ultra-Orthodox synagogue was packed with hundreds of people.

#BREAKING

?? 30 injured

Givat Zeev Carlin, the fall of the Tribune / Aran announced pic.twitter.com/ijs4tb8hjP  INTELSky (@Intel_Sky) May 16, 2021

Shavuot is a spring harvest festival and also marks the day in the Jewish calendar during which the Pentateuch was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Traditionally, this is the mark of learning Torah and eating dairy products overnight.

The Israeli authorities named the culprit.

The mayor of Givat Zeev said that the building was unfinished and dangerous, and the police ignored the previous request for action. Doron Turgeman, the chief of the Jerusalem police, said the disaster was a case of inattentiveness and it was likely to be arrested.

Deddi Simhi, the head of Israels fire and rescue services, told Israels Channel 12, This building has not yet been completed. It doesnt even have permission to move in, let alone hold events in it.

On-site TV video shows that the five-story building is incomplete, with the concrete, steel, and wood exposed, and the plastic sheeting is the window. A Hebrew slogan was posted on the wall of the building and warned: For safety reasons, it is forbidden to enter the premises.

Secretary of Defense Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter: My heart is with the victims of the Givat Zeev disaster.

On April 29, a stampede on a religious holiday in northern Israel killed 45 ultra-orthodox Jews. This was the deadliest civilian disaster in the countrys history.

Before the stampede on Moron Meron, people had warned that the holy site was not safe for Lag Baomer holidays to attract thousands of tourists each year.

According to reports, powerful ultra-orthodox politicians put pressure on the caretaker prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others to remove attendance restrictions. About 100,000 people participated in this years celebrations, most of them ultra Orthodox Jews.

Experts have long warned that the Mount Meron complex is not adequately equipped to cope with the large crowds that swarm there during the spring holidays, and that the existing infrastructure is a safety hazard.

The disaster triggered new criticisms of the broad autonomy of the countrys politically powerful ultra-orthodox minorities.

Last year, many ultra-Orthodox communities ignored the safety restrictions of the coronavirus, leading to high outbreak rates in their communities and angering the wider secular public.
The violence that shook the Middle East produced heartbreaking images and statistics.As I write this article At least 160 peopleThe Israeli army bombed the densely populated Gaza Strip, and Palestinian armed groups dropped rockets on Israeli cities. The vast majority of Palestinians, including Palestinians, including at least 41 children (mostly Palestinians) were killed. At the same time, inter-ethnic violence broke out throughout Israel.

In response, the Western government under the leadership of US President Joe Biden has quickly and clearly condemned the rocket attacks by Palestinian organizations, but has taken a more cautious approach to condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

Dissatisfaction with the death of the Palestinians expressed frustration and serious concern, interspersed with statements of firm support for Israels security and Israels defense of its legal rights. They also called for moral clarity, which means that despite the small part of the death and destruction caused by the Israeli bombing, the actions of the Palestinian group are still offensive.

Although some progressive politicians, such as the US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) pointed out the hypocrisy of the package of claims for Israels right to self-defense, even if they refused to completely reject Israels defense , Also expressed opposition.

Colonial occupiers have long advocated rights to defend themselves from resistance from local communities, including mass killings. The history of African colonization is full of corpses and mass graves of Europeans who dared to resist military superiority.

Historian Caroline Elkins (Caroline Elkins) described in her book British Gulag the tragedy carried out by the British in the Kenyan colony after the Mao Mao peasant uprising in the 1950s, including the establishment of Concentration camp. 1.5 million Kikuyu civilians The brutal system of torture camps may have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, or even thousands, of people suspected of having committed to rebellion.

In the face of UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 of 1982, imperial land grabbers have the right to intimidate, cruel, torture, and murder those who steal land under the self-defense line. The idea is in UN General Assembly No. 37/43 of 1982 It is popular before the resolution. The peoples struggle for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and all possible means from colonies, foreign rule and foreign occupation, including armed struggle. The resolution specifically reaffirmed this right in the struggle in Palestine.

Therefore, in Gaza today, the West is not seeking moral clarification, but is using moral confusion to justify the colonial powers attack on refugees. The colonial power expelled them from their land and blocked them in substance. Upper is an open area. The air prison then demanded the right to do so in peace and tranquility.

When talking about the escalation cycle, the Western media equates oppression with resistance to oppression, and expresses violence as a conflict in which both sides have equal views on security and land.It ignores the Palestinians struggle for national liberation to combat decades of illegal and immoral occupation, and implements the system of racial and ethnic discrimination proposed by Human Rights Watch in a media report Sharply refused to propose, That it meets the definition of the international crime of apartheid.

An Israeli spokesperson repeatedly emphasized in interviews that Israel, which claims to be the most ethical army in the world, has encountered difficulties in finding and killing the leaders of the Palestinian resistance forces who are essentially hidden behind civilians.

The Western media happily accepted Hamas and other group leaders as legitimate targets, and thus hinted that although its tactics may be somewhat offensive, Israel is still waging a legitimate war. Accepting this structure uncritically has made the Western media complicit in the process of legitimizing the Palestinian peoples resistance to Israels colonial rule and the deprivation of Israeli resistance.

As Ocasio-Cortez pointed out, it refutes the statement that Israel has the right to defend its rights without including the background of oppression. This is just an excuse. The legitimate will suffer even more oppression. But she should go further. If the Western media, politicians and diplomats truly seek moral clarity, then they should refuse to deprive them of adultery and racism. This is the right of colonial nations like Israel to defend their rights from oppression. A heinous claim.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
A mob carried out a brutal attack on RABBI near a synagogue near Essex, allegedly shouting anti-Semitic slander in an apparent road rage incident.

Rabbi Rafi Goodwin of the Chigwell Synagogue was taken to the hospital after being attacked this morning.

2 pcs Rabbi Rafi Goodwin was hospitalized after being attacked this morning Credit: Twitter

2 pcs According to reports, the attack took place near the Chigwell Synagogue Credit: Google

After being injured by two men near Lime Manor, the rabbi was reportedly taken to King George Hospital with head injuries. Jewish news.

The Jewish Chronicle reported that although the two attackers may have used anti-Semitic language, it is believed that the rabbi was not singled out for the attack because of the protests in the conflict with Gaza.

An email sent to relevant members of the synagogue wrote: From the description of the incident, it appears that this is not an anti-Semitic attack.

After the incident, it is said that the residents of the manor gave great support.

The security officer of the synagogue, Rabbi Moshe Freedman, tweeted: Please pray for my dear friend and colleague Rabbi Rafi Goodwin, he This morning, he was brutally attacked near the Chigwell Synagogue.

On the same day, a convoy drove through a street in north London in a scene that Boris Johnson condemned as shameful.

The video appeared this afternoon and showed anti-Semitic slander on vehicles driving along St. Johns Forest. Four men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order crimes and are still in police custody.

There is no indication that this is related to the so-called rabbi Goodwin attack.

When Israel launched today, tensions intensified Gaza air strikes against Gaza A militant in the most vicious battle in years.

caveat Battle of life A 6-year-old boy is fighting for a rare Covid-related disease in the hospital Expand Due to 4 deaths, the daily number of Covid deaths remained at a low level, but the number of cases rose slightly last week Matrix failure Google Maps users found unreal weird phantom building Our beer The bar opens indoors at midnight at TONIGHT-you can meet up to 30 friends Left exposed The majority of the Indian mutated patients in Bolton Hospital was rejected May the fun begin Everything you can or cant do in the next phase of the roadmap will unlock tomorrow

After an air strike in a Palestinian enclave, the dead and injured children were pulled out of the rubble.

The ongoing conflict has killed 174 Palestinians, including 47 children, while 10 people have been killed in Israel.

Sun Online has contacted Essex Police for comment.
Escondido (CNS)-Sheriffs detectives stole six Native American artifacts from an exhibition in the southern California Harrahs resort in the heart of the valley on Saturday.

According to the San Diego Sheriffs Sheriff, the theft occurred on Thursday morning and the Sheriffs Department immediately began an investigation. John Delocht.

Droghet said that many cultural relics come from the Rincon Indian Reserve and are considered irreplaceable. He said that since 2019, they have been displayed in a locked plexiglass box in the casino.

It is believed that a person forcibly opened the plexiglass box to steal artifacts, including obsidian dots on antlers.

The sheriffs detectives worked for two days, and evidence led them to 32-year-old Sunny Hunter.

The sheriff said that detectives served a search warrant at Hunters home in the 10,000 block of Quail Glen Way, an unregistered Escondido, at 7am on Saturday morning.

They found all the artifacts stolen from the casino, Delocht said.

He said Hunter was arrested on suspicion of burglary, grand theft and possession of stolen property.

Detectives also arrested 37-year-old Donald Morrow with a felony warrant and was arrested for possession of a gun. Droght said he was found hiding in a hunters house with a gun in his hand.

He said that both of them were booked in the Vista detention facility.

Bo Mazzetti, chairman of the Rincon tribe, said: The stolen artifacts are very important to the Rincon tribe and Luiseno culture. For us and our history, these works are considered invaluable and irreplaceable. We would like to thank San Diego County. The Sheriffs Department and Harrahs security team continued to provide us with the latest information throughout the investigation and worked tirelessly to recover these stolen items.

City News Service, Inc. Copyright 2021.
In Canada, five years after assisted death was legalized, legislators are preparing to review the system, which has enabled thousands of Canadians to choose when and where to die.

In 2016, Canada became one of the few countries that allowed certain adults to ask doctors to help them die. After the National Supreme Court ruled that the original law was too narrow, the federal government recently expanded the scope of this practice.

A joint committee composed of members of Congress and Senators began to review the law on May 17. The task of the committee is to answer some heavy questions, such as whether mature minors should receive medical assistance for the dying (MAID), and whether patients should be allowed to request medical records in advance before their pain becomes intolerable.

Attorney General David Lamettis office said in a statement: Medical assistance for death is a complicated and deep personal matter for many Canadians and their families.

The five-year parliamentary review of the previous C-14 bill will be an appropriate forum to review many issues.

These are some of the problems faced by the committee.

The history of MAID

After the Supreme Court ruled that certain parts of the Criminal Law that made assisted suicide illegal violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Trudeau government legalized MAID.

parliament Passed the law Deaths that allow adults to obtain medical assistance in the event of a serious and irreparable medical condition and reasonably foreseeable death. In other words, those who are diagnosed with an incurable disease, illness or disability that causes unbearable mental or physical pain are eligible-but only if they are dying.

Critics call the foreseeable death rule too strict.Quebec High Court Knocked down In 2019.

Watch | New law on medically assisted death passed:

The Senate passed Bill C-7, which expands access to medical assistance among the dying, including assistance that will eventually be provided to people with only mental illness. 5:27

The government responded with Bill C-7, Adopted in March 2021.

This new law gives Canadians who have suffered intolerable suffering, who have the right to seek MAID immediately when they approach the end of their natural life.

Those suffering solely from mental illness will receive MAID treatment in March 2023.

According to Canadian data, between 2016 and 2019, 13,946 people died in medical assistance Health Canada . Most of them suffer from cancer-related diseases (67%), 10.8% suffer from respiratory diseases, another 10.4% suffer from neurological diseases, and another 10.1% suffer from cardiovascular diseases.

mental illness

The expansion of MAID to people mainly suffering from depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses has left legislators facing many unresolved problems.

For example-how do doctors and practitioners who assess the suitability of a patient for MAID determine whether a mental illness can be cured?

Many mental illnesses can be treated with drugs or other therapies, or mental illness can be improved if the living conditions that lead to deterioration of mental health, such as poverty, loneliness, or lack of housing, are resolved.

The Toronto Center for Addiction and Mental Health stated in 2017: In the field of mental health, there is not enough evidence to determine whether someone has an irreparable mental illness.

Watch: Ottawa prepares to expand MAID program to mental illness

The federal government hopes to expand medical assistance for dying programs to include those with incurable mental illness two years after the expanded legislation is passed, but some people believe that the government first needs to provide better mental health support. 1:59

Dr. Sonu Gaind, chair of the MAID group physician at Humber River Hospital, said he was worried that MAID would be provided to people who could otherwise recover.

Gay End, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, said: This is sacrificing marginalized people who have never had the autonomy to live a dignified life. Now they choose death as a potential means of resolving their suffering.

The safeguards we take should be as strong as possible to minimizethe number of people seeking MAID for social poverty and other things, they can actually get relief through other communities or social support.

The Liberal government is forming a team of experts to study mental health issues and propose safeguards to protect vulnerable groups. The team is expected to provide recommendations by March 2022.

Dalhousie University law professor Jocelyn Downie (Jocelyn Downie), who has been studying MAID for decades, said the team will need to determine the role of psychiatrists in conducting MAID assessments.

Downey said that another unresolved issue is whether patients with mental illness should have to prove that they have exhausted their treatment options before allowing them to obtain MAIDs.

Request in advance

The original law requires that patients who have been approved for assisted death must reconfirm their wishes before surgery.

Those who take powerful painkillers or suffer from degenerative diseases worry about losing the intelligence required for later consent, which forces them to consider assisted death as soon as possible.

This is the case of Audrey Parker, a woman from Nova Scotia, who has advanced breast cancer that has spread to her brain. In a video released a few days after the assisted death in 2018, Parker said that because of concerns about losing transparency, she chose an earlier death date than she wanted.

Bill C-7 includes what the advocates call the Audrey Amendment. It allows MAID recipients to be exempt from subsequent consent requirements.

Helen Long, chief executive of the advocacy group Dying With Dignity, said: The prior consent means that people dont have to choose to leave early.

Listen | United Nations supervisory agency expresses concern about Canadas medical dying law

When it happens6:27United Nations supervisory agency expresses concern over Canadas medical dying law The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Gerard Quinn, testified before a Senate committee on Monday to debate the C-7 Bill, a new bill designed to expand the deceaseds access to medical assistance. 6:27

However, the current law still requires MAID recipients to be in an irreversible decline and suffer unbearable pain. Many advocates hope to allow patients to request assisted death after diagnosis but in unbearable pain.

Long said, this will enable people to describe the future painful state, once this state is reached, the doctor will be able to continue the MAID procedure.

Lang said: It is easy to think of a period when you may have a stroke, an aneurysm or even a catastrophic fall, and you will never be able to express your wishes again.

Downey said: When you are not in unbearable pain, you will make better decisions. Therefore, we want people to have a conversation and reach an agreement with their clinicians about the MAID they will provide in the future. 

Mature minor

The age of consent is one of the most controversial issues in the death right debate.

Currently, only people over 18 years old can apply for MAID.

The Canadian Pediatrics Association has promoted the exclusion of minors from MAID, while others believe that the age limit is arbitrary.

Lang said that the concept of minors who can make medical decisions is already mature in Canadian healthcare.

Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Integration of People with Disabilities, left, Minister of Justice David Lametti and Minister of Health Patty Hajdu in 2020 On Monday, February 24, the details of Ottawas new legislation on medically assisted deaths were announced. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canada Press)

This is the same as the medical rescue procedure at the time of death, for example, ensuring that a child with life-long cancer can make the same choices that a 70-year-old man might make. Assuming they have the ability, maturity and ability to do so, she says.

A kind Provincial Advisory Group It is recommended to obtain MAID based on age rather than age in 2015. The previous parliamentary committee also approved the entry of capable mature minors, but only after studying ethics, ethics, and legal issues.

Downey said that if adult minors have the legal right to refuse life treatment, they should have the right to choose assisted death.

She said: Clinicians can assess the ability of these serious consequences. And they will take exactly the same way as they refuse life-sustaining treatment.
As Palestinian death toll As Israel continues to bomb Gaza mounts, anger at US President Joe Bidens handling of the situation is increasing.

On the same day as the Israeli air strike Be killed There are 10 members in a family, and Leveling Biden, an 11-story building with Al Jazeera and Associated Press media offices and residential apartments, reiterated his clear support for Israel.

The White House said on Saturday that the U.S. President called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time since the outbreak of the crisis, and reiterated its firm support for Israel to defend its rights to resist rockets from Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza. Attack.

in spite of call In order to downgrade, Washington failed to urge an immediate ceasefire or criticize Israel.

American progressive lawmakers, Palestinian advocacy groups and others expressed disappointment with Bidens policies.but The position of the US President Among the long list of US presidents, they are not the only ones who supported Israel almost unconditionally during the conflict.

This is how Biden and former U.S. presidents have defended Israel for decades:

May 2021

Biden issued twice statement Reaffirmed his commitment to Israels right to self-defense to resist rockets fired from Gaza during Israels ongoing operations Offensive territory.

Israeli officials said that so far, thousands of rockets have been fired from Gaza to Israel, and 10 people have been killed so far. Israeli air strikes in the besieged area have killed at least 188 Palestinians and injured hundreds of others.

Senior officials in the Biden administration emphasized the resolute support for Israels right to self-defense while emphasizing that the United States is pushing for downgrade. The United States also blocked the UN Security Councils statement calling for an end to violence.

Today, the president had a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, reiterating his firm support for Israel to defend its right to defend itself from rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza, and condemning these indiscriminate killings and injuries to Israel. pic.twitter.com/baHWh1b6Q2 -White House (@WhiteHouse) May 15 2021

May 2018

Former US President Donald Trump is a staunch defender of Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu  refusing to criticize Israel for killing dozens of protesters in Gaza in May 2018 Any attempt.

Palestinians participated in Return paradeThe Israeli army assembled as they opened fire on the crowd.Deadly violence and Opening After the Trump administration moved it from Tel Aviv to Tel Aviv, the move by the US Embassy in Jerusalem caused anger among the Palestinians.

The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests entirely with Hamas. Hamas responded deliberately and cynically, as the Secretary of State said, Israel has the right to defend itself. Say then.

July to August 2014

Israel launched a 10-day air strike on the Gaza Strip in July 2014 and then launched a ground offensive against the territory. On July 18, then US President Barack Obama told reporters that he reiterated [his] In a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, strongly supports Israel in defending its rights. Obama said: No country should accept the launch of rockets at its borders or the intrusion of terrorists into its territory. 

Obama said: I also made it clear that the United States and our friends and allies are deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation and the loss of more innocent lives. According to the United Nations, there were more than 1,500 Palestinians in Israels military operations in Gaza. Civilians were killed, including more than 500 children.

November 2012

More than 100 Palestinian civilians Be killed When Israel launched its military Attack on Gaza November 2012 after it Assassinate Ahmed Jabari, the military commander of Hamas.

Obama again defend Israels actions: No country on the earth can tolerate rain from missiles to its citizens from outside its borders. Therefore, we fully support Israels right to defend itself from missile attacks on the peoples homeland.

Witnesses said that after the Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on November 20, 2012, the Palestinians inspected the wreckage of the car [File: Majdi Fathi/Reuters]

December 2008 to January 2009

Israel began its offensive in Gaza on the morning of December 27, 2008, called Operation Cast Lead. When the action was announced 22 days later, the Israeli fire killed about 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and razed most of the territory.???Amnesty International Ground Say.

But on January 2nd, then US President George W. Bush-in the last few weeks of his term in the White House-blamed Hamas for the situation. Bush said: The recent outbreak of violence was instigated by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization supported by Iran and Syria, calling for the destruction of Israel. Reported From NBC News at the time. He also said that any ceasefire will not lead to a rocket attack on Israel.

2000-2005

Israeli politician Ariel Sharon paid a burning visit to Jerusalems Al-Aqsa Mosque in September 2000, which led to large-scale Palestinian protests and a confrontation with Israeli security forces. Seven Palestinians were killed. The second uprising was also called the Aqsa Uprising.

Both Palestinian armed groups-which began deploying suicide bombings-and Israel have been charged with war crimes and indiscriminate killing of civilians during the uprising. Israel launched air strikes and invasions on Gaza and the West Bank. At least 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed in the fighting.

The newly elected President George W. Bush disagreed with Israels early actions, but maintained close contact with Sharon after the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent war on terror. It is believed that the alliance has provided Israel with a wide range of military operations berths, while disproportionately blaming the Palestinians for all the violence of the Palestinians. Bush also supported Sharons refusal to contact Palestinian President Arafat.

In a speech in 2002, Bush became the first president of the United States to openly support the State of Palestine, but he said that such support depends on Palestines thorough reform of its leadership, institutions, and security arrangements. He said: Today, the Palestinian Authority is encouraging rather than opposing terrorism. Say. This is unacceptable. The United States will not support the establishment of a Palestinian state until its leaders continue to fight terrorists and dismantle its infrastructure.

US President George W Bush (George W Bush) and his Vice President Dick Cheney (Dick Cheney) [File: Stan Honda/AFP]

1996

US President Clinton defended Israel after the Israeli army attacked the United Nations compound in Ghana in southern Lebanon. In April 1996, there were hundreds of civilians hiding there. The attack killed more than 100 civilians and injured hundreds.

Israel said the attack was wrong, but report The UN Security Councils investigation found that although the possibility cannot be completely ruled out, the impact in Ghana is such that the shelling of UN artillery is unlikely to be the result of technical and/or procedural errors.

Ten days after the massacre, in a speech by Clinton, a pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Commission (AIPAC) Say Lebanese children in Ghana are sandwiched by Hezbollahs deliberate tactics in positioning and firing, and Israels tragic compromise in legally exercising its right to self-defense-nothing wrong with this.

1987-1991

A series of protests, strikes and boycotts defined the first uprising, and Israeli security forces have been criticized for improper crackdown actions, including the use of live ammunition against Palestinians.

The uprising broke out when US President Ronald Reagan began to strengthen Israels role as a unique strategic asset, making aid to Israel easier to obtain and providing the country with special access to US military technology. The Reagan administration was generally not conducive to criticizing Israel, but in 1987 it condemned the Israeli security forces for severe security measures and excessive use of live ammunition.

His successor, George HW Bush, took a relatively firm stance against Israel and postponed loan guarantees in exchange for halting settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and participating in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.

1982

Reagan admitted that Israel did not issue any warnings when it invaded southern Lebanon in a cross-border battle in June 1982. When asked about the U.S.s failure to condemn this action or interrupt arms sales to Israel, Reagan told reporters: The situation is so complicated, the goals we want to pursue determine our current behavior.

However, he still refuses to provide Israel with the green light of invasion. He said: We are as surprised as anyone. We want a diplomatic solution and believe that there may be a solution.

1973

In October 1973, several Arab countries led by Egypt and Syria launched a military offensive in an attempt to retake the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights that Israel occupied and continued to occupy in the 1967 war.

After a failed counterattack, the United States began airlifting weapons to Israel, and US President Richard Nixon was considered by then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to accelerate the pace of this transfer. It is generally believed that these weapons are turning the tide of conflict. Nixon told Congress that this is of great significance to the Cold War and the broader Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union, which supports Arab countries.

1967

In June 1967, Israel launched an airstrike against Egypt, starting the so-called Six-Day War. The conflict also involves Jordan and Syria. Israel has occupied large tracts of land, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights.

US President Lyndon B Johnson Restate In an article in the New York Times in 1971, I can understand that when hostile forces gather at the border and cut off a major port, and when hostile political leaders threaten to destroy their country, people may decide Take action yourself.

Nevertheless, I have never regretted Israels decision to do so. However, I have always made it clear to the Russians and every other country that I do not accept overly simplistic accusations of Israeli aggression. A few weeks before the war began. The Arab operation-forcing the withdrawal of United Nations forces, closing the port of Aqaba, and gathering troops on the Israeli border-makes this accusation absurd.

1948

On May 14, 1948, the head of the Jewish organization announced the establishment of an independent state of Israel because the British colonial rule of the territory ended. U.S. President Harry S Truman immediately recognized the new sovereign state.

The government has learned that a Palestine has been declared a Jewish state, and the interim government has requested recognition of that country. read A statement signed by Truman. The United States recognizes that the interim government is the de facto authority of the new state of Israel.
Gaza City -After a night of air strikes, dozens of Palestinians were killed, the largest hospital in Gaza was injured, and medical staff were at a loss.

Shaima Ahmed Qwaider, 23, of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, described on Sunday the horror scene of the arrival of severely injured people, some of whom killed victims who had lost limbs.

She told Al Jazeera: I have never seen anything like this in my life. The bodies were collected in hospital beds and in unbearable scenes.

Many rescuers were unable to reach the hospital due to their efforts to pull the victims out of the wreckage of the destroyed building because the main road leading to al-Shifa, the largest medical center in the Gaza Strip, was also attacked.

Dr. Midhat Abbas of the Ministry of Health of Gaza said that 1,200 Palestinians were injured in the seven days of the attack, half of whom were women and children.

He accused the Israeli military of deliberately attacking medical facilities with air strikes and bombing of roads around Shifa.

Dr. Abbas said: They are mainly targeting civilians. These are the victims of this aggression.[Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu Want to save myself He came out of prison, so he decided to kill Palestinian children. 

Health officials in Gaza say that Israeli airstrikes killed 33 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including 13 children. The attack brought the death toll in Gaza to 181, including 52 children. Israel reported 10 deaths, including two children.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the assault.

Very limited capacity

Dr. Abbas said that as the hospital became crowded, staff were placing beds in the reception area, adding that due to Israels 15-year siege of the Gaza Strip and the coronavirus pandemic, medicines and equipment were in short supply.

We hope patients can go to Egypt [for medical care] Because our capabilities are very limited, Dr. Abbas told Al Jazeera.

The nurse, Amal Badawi, said that it was overcrowded and overcrowded.

The hospital is full of people and relatives. Given the overcrowding, it is difficult to work and get the necessary treatment. Badawi told Al Jazeera: The number of casualties is huge and they keep arriving. 

The Ministry of Health said that among the people killed in Sundays airstrike was Dr. Ayman Abu Ove, a doctor from Shifa University.

Palestinian rescuers pulled a survivor out of the rubble of a destroyed residential building on Sunday [Khalil Hamra/AP]

Fahad al-Haddad, Shifas emergency medicine expert, said that most of the deceased who were taken to the hospital showed no signs of external injuries, which means they were killed by rubble and the rubble was still alive.

Two sources in Egypt told Reuters on Sunday that Egypt opened the Rafah crossing a day earlier than originally planned to allow students, people in need of medical treatment and other humanitarian cases to pass.

The border was closed due to the Eid al-Fitr holiday and was originally scheduled to reopen on Monday.

A medical source said that Egypt has so far sent 16 ambulances into Gaza to pick up Israeli bombing casualties and receive treatment in Egyptian hospitals.

According to sources, a bus carrying 95 people arrived from Gaza on Sunday morning.
As the new zombie apocalypse movie The Army of the Dead is shown in select theaters across the country, Atlantic City will show its latest close-ups on the big screen and will premiere on Netflix on Friday, May 21.

Thriller section Filmed inside two closed Atlantic City casinos, Showboat Hotel and Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, as the background of some indoor scenes. Both casinos closed in 2014.

Showboat is now used as a hotel and event space for popular Jersey Shore destinations, and later turned into the fictional Bly movie casino in Las Vegas. Director Zack Snyder told reporters that the 60,000-square-foot gaming field of the former casino has more than 500 slot machines and approximately 40 gaming tables for filming. Asbury Park Press.

Snyder said: Without Atlantic Citys cooperation, we could not have completed this movie. And Showboat is an amazing partner for us, because frankly, finding a huge empty casino is not like listening. Its so easy-I dont even know if it sounds easy, but its hard.

So, actually, I think that in many ways, it makes the movie feel real. Its an incredible, huge casino field, you can observe and watch it at will,Yes, this is The look of the casino, Snyder continued.

According to the New Jersey Film and Television Commission, when filming in Atlantic City, Snyders production company employed more than 200 actors and staff, and spent more than $25 million in labor, goods, and labor in the area. service.

But working in New Jersey has a deeper meaning for Snyder, his wife and film producer Deborah Snyder. Zack Snyder graduated from Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, Bergen County, and his wife Deborah Snyder is from Mongolia. Mousse County. During the filming, Snyders lived next door to Atlantic City in Brigantine.

Deborah Snyder told Asbury Park Press: My family is still there, its like going home, its fun all summer. And everyone Everyone, such as the Film Commission and Atlantic City, is very supportive of us here, so its a great experience.

The Death Army followed a team of mercenaries who broke into a doomsday quarantine zone full of zombies in Las Vegas and stole 200 million from a sin city casino before Las Vegas was bombed by the government. US dollars.

most The Army of the Dead Filmed in 2019. Other movie locations include Las Vegas, California and New Mexico.

The Army of the Dead brings together arguably the two biggest superheroes and a pair of famous characters in the comic film series in the past ten years: starring Dave Bautista and the aforementioned Snyder.

Bautista has played Drax the Destroyer in four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. He was also known as a professional wrestler.

Snyder is also the producer of Army of the Dead and his most famous work with the DC Extended Universe film. He has also directed Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen.
For myself, my colleagues and other mental health advocates, [we understood closing the units] when were looking at a COVID positivity rate thats over 10%, [when] every day we were seeing numbers in the 1,000s of people who [needed] hospital beds, said Campbell. Some of these beds should [now] be shifted back to provide this vital [psychiatric] service. The number of licensed beds have been decreasing over time... and another concern is many will not return.
LAFAYETTE, LA (KADN)- Unemployment claims are continuing to increase and Louisiana lawmakers are willing to reward those who go back to work.

Louisiana House Republicans made a proposal to decrease the number of people that file for unemployment. The proposal includes a return-to-work bonus of $1,000 to those who commit to stop filing for unemployment for six months.

People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fayetteville, Ark., on April 6, 2020.Nick Oxford / Reuters file People who lost their jobs wait in line to file for unemployment following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, at an Arkansas Workforce Center in Fayetteville, Ark., on April 6, 2020.Nick Oxford / Reuters file

It's definitely a push in the right direction, you actually get paid to work like double pay, which is a great thing honestly, Mathis Edgerson, manager of Take 5 Oil Change on Ambassador Caffery Parkway, said.

Edgerson believes if lawmakers pass this proposal, then people will go to work.

With the pandemic and unemployment skyrocketing and getting so much just to stay at home. From safety and everything else. Why would anybody want to come out and work when you get paid so much to sit at home and do nothing, Edgerson said.

Edgerson says he tries to provide a welcoming workspace so he can keep the employees that he does have. He encourages other businesses to do the same.

You just got to show them that we're more than just coworkers, were more of a family, like if they get comfortable in that it doesn't matter the conditions are how much they get from sitting at home, Edgerson said.

Demi Broussard, the hiring manager at Flex Force a job placement agency, said that she doesnt believe that people arent going to work in fear of getting the coronavirus.

I think we're past that stage. I think at this point is the unemployment rates that are holding them back from it because employers and businesses and companies aren't able to go up to those kinds of rates, they can go a little bit but they're not able to go to the rates that unemployment is currently at, Broussard said.

She wants people that are capable of going back to know that they shouldn't rely on unemployment because the funds wont last forever.

Not being able to explain why you weren't looking for employment within that time frame is not going to help you find a job when those rates go back to normal, Broussard said.

The proposal was added to Senate bill 610 and has not yet been approved.
Newly obtained dash camera video and recorded interviews reveal what happened the night a now former deputy shot a woman in the back during an attempted arrest in August of 2019.
A 5-year-old boy hit by a car in KCK has died. Officers say he was playing at Kensington Park when he wandered away and crossed state avenue. The driver didn't stop in time. Officers say it doesn't appear they were speeding.
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People gather next to the Lachine Canal on a warm spring day in Montreal, Saturday, May 15, 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
The news flashed across the country -- mask-free at last!

People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer have to wear masks inside or outside, nor do they have to stay 6 feet away from others, according to new guidance released Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Does that mean those Americans vaccinated at least two weeks ago -- meaning full immunity has kicked in -- can throw their masks in the air and hug all in celebration?

Not quite.

You do have to mask up on public transportation or if required by laws or regulations -- that would apply to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care settings, and even some local businesses and workplaces. Kids still have to mask up to go to school.

Then there is this warning: 'If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may NOT be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated. Talk to your healthcare provider,' the CDC said in the new guidance. 'Even after vaccination, you may need to continue taking all precautions.'

On CNN's State of the Union Sunday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that immunocompromised people should consult with their physicians before deciding to stop wearing a mask, but others, including those at higher risk for severe Covid-19, may want to do so, as well.

For the most part, studies emerging now suggest immunocompromised people or those on medications that interrupt their immune system -- for example, people who have had organ transplants or are on chemotherapy -- may not have as much protection from Covid-19 vaccines. At least one study suggests dialysis patients also may not be as protected, she said.

Immunocompromised

There are a number of conditions that can weaken immunity.

Some diseases, like HIV/AIDS, can completely devastate the body's ability to fight infection. Organ transplant patients must take daily medications that suppress the immune system to keep it from rejecting the new organ. And chemotherapy works by killing cell growth to keep cancerous cells from multiplying, thus weakening the immune system.

'In addition to chemotherapy, certain types of immunotherapy, stem cell or bone marrow transplants, and other medicines can severely weaken the immune system,' said Laura Makaroff, the senior vice president for prevention and early detection at the American Cancer Society.

People who are severely immunocompromised are told they must remain fully masked and take extra precautions to be protected from all manner of pathogens, and they wish the rest of us would mask up to protect them, too.

READ MORE: Our lives are in your hands

Common conditions that weaken immunity

Many common diseases and conditions that affect millions of Americans can weaken the immune system, typically to lesser degrees. The body may respond listlessly to invaders, making it more vulnerable to infection and viruses such as Covid-19.

Diabetes, for example, can lower immunity: There are 34.2 million people living with diabetes in the US; another 88 million have prediabetes, according to the CDC.

Not all of them have frail immune systems, but some do. One of them is Alyannah Buhman, who told CNN last August that worry over Covid-19 left her 'very on edge.'

'I get sick really easily,' she said. 'I cannot fight off anything to save my life. I start puking everywhere. It's a terrifying thought.'

Obesity can be tied to feeble immunity as well -- over 40% of Americans are obese -- as can chronic kidney disease, liver and heart disease, and old age.

When it comes to cancer, both current patients and survivors should check with their doctor before removing masks and other protection, Makaroff said.

'For people who have a weakened immune system, either from cancer itself or treatment, you may be not fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated. It is important to talk with your health care provider about which precautions you still need to take,' she said.

Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women in the US, but unlike cancer, 'the medications used to treat heart disease, for the most part, are not immunosuppressive, and should not pose any particular risks,' said American Heart Association President Dr. Mitchell Elkind.

'Patients with heart disease are at increased risk of adverse outcomes from Covid-19, but they have the same benefits from vaccines as those without heart disease,' Elkind said.

'We recommend that patients with heart disease who have been vaccinated, and are not immunocompromised for some other reason, follow CDC guidelines regarding wearing masks and social distancing,' he said.

Because pregnant women are at higher risk for severe Covid-19, Walensky said that the CDC is encouraging them to get vaccinated, and the decision to go unmasked would be an individual one.

Autoimmune medications

Millions of Americans live with common autoimmune conditions such as 'psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and lupus,' said Dr. Cedric 'Jamie' Rutland, a pulmonary and critical care physician.

In autoimmune disorders, the immune system goes awry, mistakenly ordering its army of warriors to attack the person's own body.

Medications often used to treat autoimmune disorders are built to suppress that overzealous immune response -- but it's not targeted. Instead, the drugs weaken the entire immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to upper respiratory and urinary tract infections, pneumonia, skin infections and, of course, Covid-19.

A few studies have also found that by dampening immune response, people who are on medications for autoimmune diseases may not 'have as strong of a response to the Covid-19 vaccine,' said Rutland, the medical director of the Rutland Medical Group in Newport Beach, California.

A small study of 26 people with inflammatory diseases found levels of coronavirus antibodies were slightly lower in those patients compared to others, but no one was a 'complete non-responder.'

A larger study of 133 people found a 'three-fold reduction' in antibodies to Covid-19 compared to healthy controls, with some medications, such as glucocorticoids, worse than others. Still, the antibodies found in patients on medications were 'comparable to patients with rapid recovery from COVID-19 and may, therefore, provide sufficient humoral protection,' the study said. The study was a pre-print, meaning it has not been vetted by a journal for publication.

While vaccination appears to be effective, Rutland said he plays it safe with his patients: 'I take them off of those (autoimmune) medications before they get vaccinated, so they can have the appropriate immune response,' he said.

In the end, how do you decide if you fit into the category of 'weakened immune system'? How can you know if you should think twice about joining the maskless masses?

'What we would recommend is certainly for people who have immune compromising diseases or on those medications to consult their physicians,' Walensky said.

'Really, again, not everybody has to rip off their mask because our guidance changed on Thursday,' she said. 'So, yes, if you are concerned, please do consult your physician before you take off your mask.'
Typically, undocumented and international students are not eligible for federal financial aid. Federal CARES and ARP Act funds are now an exception. In addition, some states, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington make state financial aid available to undocumented students. No state presently provides need-based state aid to F-1 international students.
Entries are now open to producers all across the country for Blas na hEireann 2021, with the very best in Irish food and drink being judged in the largest blind-tasted food awards on the island.

The last 12 months have been like no other in the history of Blas na hEireann, says Chairman Artie Clifford. We could never have imagined what lay ahead when we launched last years awards. It is testament to our team, our partners in UCC, IT Tralee and TU Dublin, our sponsors, the resilience and innovation of our amazing producers and our wider Blas community that we were able to announce our 2020 winners in a virtual celebration last October. It is with this experience under our belt that we can confidently launch Blas 2021  knowing that no matter what, we will celebrate the very finest Irish food and drink in the best way possible.

These are exceptionally rigorously-judged awards, as Blas na hEireann use an innovative blind-tasting judging system developed by Blas with the Food Science Dept of UCC and the University of Copenhagen that is now recognised as an industry gold standard worldwide. Last year, these systems were successfully moved from the campus in UCC to Dingle to work within constraints of lockdown and travel restrictions.

2020 was an incredibly difficult year, says Blas na hEireann Chairman Artie Clifford.

With businesses pushed to the brink, the closure of the hospitality sector left many producers without some of their key accounts. However, with many producers pivoting their business quickly and the general public getting far more interested in the quality of the food in their basket and on their plate, there were deep ties made between communities and their local producers. Our goal is to build on this and ensure that when restaurants reopen, the ties made between the public and these products remains.

"We know that having a Blas sticker on a product makes a difference to a producers bottom line. Our 2020 winner of Best New Product, Kerry Kefir, increased sales by 50% following the awards and is now stocked in six SuperValu stores and six independent retailers. We are passionate about Irish food and drink and supporting the independent producers as they build their business and were looking forward to another successful year of Blas na hEireann doing just that.

So whether a new business has flourished over the past 12 months or an existing product is being used in a brand new way, a Blas na hEireann gold stamp of approval could see it reach new heights and, most importantly, new customers.

Entries for Blas na hEireann 2021 are now open and will close on May 28, fee for entry is 80 per entry (ex VAT).

For more see www.irishfoodawards.com
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP)  One man is dead and two women were injured in an early morning shooting in Waterloo.

Neighbors reported hearing what sounded like eight to 10 gunshots followed by yelling around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that when officers arrived, they found the man collapsed in a gravel alley. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say the womens injuries do not appear to be life threatening. One woman went to the hospital by ambulance and the other arrived by private vehicle. The identities of the victims werent immediately available.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  Police are issuing a warning after a death and a trio of drug overdoses in just 16 hours.

The Rochester Police Department says a 38-year-old male was found dead Friday morning around 8:40 am. Witnesses told officers the man has appeared high Thursday night.

Around 10:50 am, police administered Narcan and say it saved the life of a 22-year-old male who witnesses believed had taken oxycodone.

Rochester police say they also responded to a report of a methamphetamine overdose and a heroin overdose on Friday evening.

Authorities say drug dealers can be held responsible for overdose deaths and are urging everyone to be safe.
50% of Missouri's adult population has had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose
Virginia mom recruits 4 of her sons to work with her on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic
Woman turns herself in after machete attack, police say; son still at large
He has spent the months since trying to put his story on film, not the story of the flashy kingpin who once cruised along 7th Ave. in a Rolls Royce convertible, but the story of the convicted criminal who, despite a life sentence, earned a doctorate in sociology while counseling inmates on how to improve their post prison lives.
Moseley was the university's Director of Athletics and the head men's basketball coach.




Video by Lee Min-young, Kim Kang-min, Yun Da-been



Calls for accelerated action concerning the climate crisis, fueled by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, have been growing steadily. Korea's hosting of an international summit on the environment later this month is expected to serve as an opportunity to show the nation's commitment to and efforts toward containing climate change in accordance with those of the international community, according to the executive director of the event.



The 2021 P4G Seoul Summit is the first-ever multilateral environmental summit to be hosted by the Korean government. It is scheduled to take place on May 30 and 31, and is themed, "Inclusive Green Recovery towards Carbon Neutrality." The upcoming event was originally planned for June 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



P4G, which stands for "Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030," is an international initiative to accelerate the response to climate change and the implementation of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Launched in 2017, it is comprised of 12 countries: Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Vietnam and Korea.




From the moment the National Rifle Association filed for bankruptcy in January, it looked like a dodge. Financially solvent despite internal disputes and dwindling donations from some wealthy patrons, the NRA clearly did not need protection from creditors. So why file? Well, as U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Harlin D. Hale ruled Tuesday in rejecting the petition, the NRA was trying "to gain an unfair litigation advantage and  to avoid a state regulatory scheme." In other words, it wanted to hide in Texas from legal troubles in New York.



And boy does it face legal troubles. The New York state attorney general's office, which oversees nonprofits registered in New York, went to court in 2020 seeking to dissolve the NRA "because of [its] diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership, awarding contracts to the financial gain of close associates and family, and appearing to dole out lucrative no-show contracts to former employees in order to buy their silence and continued loyalty."



Nothing emerged in the bankruptcy hearings to undermine that contention. In fact, longtime top executive Wayne LaPierre, the public face of the NRA, seemed buffoonish at times, testifying that he was unaware that the nonprofit he ran gave a $360,000-a-year consulting contract to a former chief financial officer who left under a cloud.



Nor, he said, did he know that the travel agent the NRA used to book charter flights for the LaPierre family to the Bahamas, Europe and elsewhere received a retainer of up to $26,000 a month as well as a 10 percent booking fee. And it was news to him that a top aide had finagled a job for his wife with a contractor who then charged the NRA to cover her pay.



This is the same CEO who quietly secured eye-popping perks and powers, reportedly including a $17 million severance package, a proposed $6 million mansion in Texas to enhance his personal security after the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida (the deal didn't go through), and the authority to secretly file for bankruptcy without informing his board of directors. It's hard to reconcile LaPierre's putative obliviousness to misdeeds among his underlings with his shrewd control of C-suite politics.



So now the NRA heads back to New York and the fight for its continued existence. We wish New York Attorney General Letitia James luck. The accusations of malfeasance by LaPierre and his top aides are persuasive.



Beyond that, the organization itself has ill served both its members and this country as a whole. The NRA has long been in thrall to the gun industry more than gun owners, operates under internal election rules that defy basic concepts of democracy and accountability, and it takes positions  including deferring continually to LaPierre  with which many of its own members disagree.



There are serious and significant policy discussions to be had over the threat to public health posed by the presence of some 400 million guns in civilian hands. But the NRA under LaPierre has stymied reasonable discourse by taking extremist positions  for instance, insisting that the answer to gun violence is more guns  and has helped stifle independent studies of the effects of firearms on American society. All in service to a doctrinaire view of the Second Amendment that would elevate gun rights above all others, including the right of Americans to go about their daily lives without fear of getting shot.



Although we oppose pretty much everything the NRA stands for, the organization, the leadership and its members are entitled to their political positions. But the NRA's leaders are not free to bleed the nonprofit organization for personal gain, nor to flout laws governing how such organizations must operate, as New York alleges

.

The best outcome for the NRA at this juncture would be excising LaPierre and his self-dealing cronies, then reorganizing to become more transparent and responsive to its members, hew to accepted norms and laws governing nonprofits, and become a more responsible and mainstream voice for gun owners.



That may be quixotic, though. It could just be that the best future for advocates of responsible gun ownership is the dismantling of the NRA and the distribution of its assets.





This editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency.






South Korea's exports of automobiles jumped nearly 53 percent on-year in April, data showed Sunday, on the back of the global economic recovery coupled with a base effect.







The country's outbound shipments of automobiles reached 188,293 units in April, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. In terms of value, exports shot up 73.4 percent as South Korea sold more premium models.







Over the first four months of 2021, Asia's No. 4 economy shipped 734,448 units of automobiles, up 22.7 percent from the same period in 2020.







The rebound was attributed to a base effect as South Korea's car exports dropped 44.6 percent on-year in April 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.







The ministry added that exports also gathered ground on strong demand for premium models along with other electric cars.







Industry leader Hyundai Motor Co. saw its exports jump 40.3 percent on the back of the release of the G70 sedan, along with robust demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs).







Auto exports by Hyundai's smaller sister Kia Corp. more than doubled over the period to reach 89,500 units on strong performances of compact SUVs such as the Sportage.







Overseas sales by GM Korea Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Co., on the other hand, shed 28.2 percent as its production was partially disrupted by the global shortage of automotive chips.







Financially troubled carmaker SsangYong Motor Co. managed to expand its exports by 30 percent on-year in April to 1,033 units on the Tivoli, Korando and Rexton Sports.







Exports by Renault Samsung Motors Corp. increased 87.2 percent on strong sales of the XM3 SUV.







By destination, exports to North America increased 66.4 percent, and those to the European Union jumped 89.8 percent. Shipments to other European nations gained 52.4 percent.







Auto shipments to Asian countries also more than doubled in April on-year.







South Korea's combined production of automobiles came to 323,644 units last month, up 11.8 percent on-year, as carmakers made efforts to limit the impact of global shortages of automotive chips.







Domestic sales reached 161,097 units, down 3.8 percent over the period. (Yonhap)


People stand in line near ticket booths to receive COVID-19 vaccine injections at a pop-up vaccine center at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, last week. UPI-Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



Samsung Group, the sprawling South Korean business conglomerate, is being highlighted ahead of President Moon Jae-in's first-ever summit with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on May 21. Samsung's biotechnology affiliate is set to reach a "vaccine swap" in return for the conglomerate's semiconductor unit investing billions of dollars to boost memory chip production in the United States.



A few days before Moon's visit to Washington, D.C., Cheong Wa Dae said the two leaders are set to explore during the summit the best possible ways to boost bilateral cooperation in vaccines.



More specifically, Lee Ho-seung, the President's chief policy secretary, said the U.S. has a strong interest in turning South Korea into a global vaccine production hub. Lee explained that the plan makes sense, since the U.S. possesses vaccine patents and raw materials, while South Korea possesses the world's second-highest drug manufacturing capacity.



President Moon is under pressure to secure more COVID-19 vaccines. In the early stages of the pandemic, Seoul had been relatively successful in containing the spread of the coronavirus through effective quarantine measures and aggressive testing. However, the Moon administration has been slow to secure enough vaccines to inoculate the country's 52 million people to reach its goal of achieving herd immunity by November this year.






Brian Howey is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at howeypolitics.com. Find him on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
KPC News is available 24/7 online at kpcnews.com. Browse stories, view photos and videos or view the e-edition of your local newspaper any time online.
Flags of U.S. military branches fly outside the DeKalb County Veterans Service Office in Auburn.
A born leader and trailblazer, Hutchins, who says he is of mixed racial heritage, was one of just a handful on non-white applicants when he took the test to join the FDNY after returning from military service in World War II. He rose through the FDNY ranks before retiring in 1973.
A two-year-old Milwaukee boy is in critical condition after police say he shot himself.
Weather Alert

...FROST ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO 9 AM MDT FRIDAY... ...WIND ADVISORY IS CANCELLED... * WHAT...For the Frost Advisory, temperatures as low as 35 will result in frost formation. * WHERE...Shoshone, Mud Lake Desert, Upper Snake River Plain, Lower Snake River Plain, Eastern Magic Valley. * WHEN...From 3 AM to 9 AM MDT Friday. * IMPACTS...Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. &&
The Department of Environmental Protection has been partnering with the NYPD to enforce noise regulations over the past several weeks, which I hope will help. As a broader response, a bill by Sen. Gounardes pending in Albany (the SLEEP act, S784A) would specify a decibel limit and raise the max fine to $1000 (from $150). Ive said before that traffic enforcement should not be solely or principally the domain of the NYPD; Id like to see the eventual legislative solution encourage collaboration between the NYPD, DEP, DOT, and other relevant agencies.
Houston's missing tiger was turned into authorities Saturday by its owner, the wife of murder suspect Victor Hugo Cuevas.

Giorgiana Cuevas, or "Gia" called Barc, the Houston animal shelter, to say she had the big cat and was ready to give it up.

She told police that her husband Victor owned the tiger, despite his claims to the contrary.

This ends a week long search.

Cuevas is facing charges for a 2017 murder.
Two police officers were shot and injured this morning in Chicago's West Side.

The shooting occurred around 7:15 local time, the officers approached an individual in a vacant lot who began shooting at the two.

One officer was shot in the hand and the other was shot in the leg and shoulder.

The officers were transported to the hospital and were later released.

The man who allegedly shot the two officers, a 45-year-old convicted felon was also shot. He too was taken to the hospital.

An investigation into the incident is underway.
With new guidance from the CDC about wearing masks some major retailers are relaxing their rules.

Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe's said Friday that vaccinated shoppers will not need to wear masks, unless state or local officials say otherwise.

Walmart says its vaccinated employees can stop wearing masks on May 18th.

The company is even offering workers 75$ if they can prove they have been vacinated.
He texted her early in the evening to say he was at Claremont Park, about a mile from home, and sent her a picture showing a group of people he was with near a McDonalds on the edge of the park. But she grew worried when he didnt answer a text she sent at about 10 p.m.
Thats a different type of permit, Tarantino said. We were hoping people would get take out or have some type of picnic.

Tarantino said she hopes the music series will encourage people to stay later on Sunday evenings or stay overnight at a downtown hotel.

Were hoping to bring overnight guests or to stay late Sunday, she said.

Spyro Condos, president of the Business Improvement District Board, said if the music series is successful this summer, the Business Improvement District could expand on the program next year.

This is new, Condos said. Well see how it goes. We can always add to it.

Earlier in the year, the Business Improvement District discussed possibly hosting a water ski show at Riviera Beach on Sunday evenings during the summer, but the event has not been discussed since that time.

VISIT Lake Geneva is set to conduct its Concerts in the Park series on Thursday evenings from July 1 to Aug. 12 at Flat Iron Park. A line-up for the Concerts in the Park series is set to be announced later this week.

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I went over and spoke to the students in the school about what happened, telling them that hate never wins, Cassato said. We are, and must be, a community that continues to share the message of Easter, that which is of love, hope, and forgiveness.
I really want to make sure Im setting the next person up for success, because this school has so much potential, she said.

Eisch said she also will be available to the next district administrator if they have any questions or need advise.

If they have any questions or want to talk about anything, I would definitely be open to that because I want it to be a good transition, she said.

Eisch has worked in the education field for about 23 years.

Before coming to the Geneva Joint No. 4 School District, Eisch worked as the principal for Lakeview Elementary School in the Muskego-Norway School District for about four years.

She also has worked as a fourth-grade teacher and principal for the Racine Unified School District.

Eisch has a bachelors degree from Carthage College, masters degree in educational leadership from National Louis University and is working on obtaining a doctorate degree from Cardinal Stritch University.

Eisch said she has enjoyed working in the education field and interacting with students and others in the profession.
WASHINGTON  The Department of Transportation announced steps Monday to combat a recent rise in pedestrian deaths that it said was partially due to what Secretary Anthony Foxx called distracted walking.

Walking while texting or listening to music, or while on drugs, may have contributed to the increase, Foxx said.

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Distracted driving, distracted walking, if that can be a phrase.  Their behaviors as they are driving or walking can impact our ability to keep people safe, Foxx said.

After decades of fewer pedestrians being killed in traffic crashes, deaths rose from 4,109 in 2009 to 4,432 in 2011, and 69,000 were injured, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

New York, Los Angeles and Chicago have the highest percentage of pedestrians killed relative to all traffic deaths. Pedestrians comprise 51% of all motor vehicle deaths in New York, 42% in Los Angeles and 30% in Chicago.

The top 22 cities with deaths far greater than the national average have until Aug. 30 to apply for a total of $2 million in safety grants.

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Foxx said the answer was more enforcement and education, like a pedestrian safety campaign.

Everyone in America is a pedestrian, Foxx said. Every pedestrian death is one too many.

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Foxxs plan includes a pedestrian advocacy summit this fall with the national nonprofit America Walks, a coalition of groups working to improve conditions for pedestrians.

We need everyone to play a role in pedestrian safety, said NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, emphasizing that drivers and pedestrians needed to better follow driving laws.

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More than 1,500 pedestrians were treated in emergency rooms in 2011 after being injured while using a portable electronic device like a cellphone, according to a recent U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report.

The Department of Transportations data show that 3 out of 4 pedestrian deaths occur in urban areas, and more than 2 out of 3 happen at non-intersections. More than 70% happen at night, with a third of the deaths occurring between 8 p.m. and midnight.

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Alcohol was involved in half of traffic crashes resulting in pedestrian fatalities, and 37% of pedestrians had a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit, compared with 13% of drivers involved in crashes.

nation@latimes.com
A young woman who sent text messages badgering her depressed boyfriend to kill himself was ordered to spend 15 months in prison, but will remain free for the time being while her conviction in a novel Massachusetts manslaughter case is appealed.

Michelle Carter was 17 years old when 18-year-old Conrad Roy III rigged up a generator to his pickup truck and poisoned himself with carbon monoxide in July 2014. Carter had sent numerous text messages telling Roy to just do it and was on the cellphone with him during the suicide, at one point ordering him back into the truck when he got cold feet and exited to gasp for air.

Juvenile Court Judge Lawrence Moniz on Thursday ordered Carter to spend at least 15 months of a 2-year sentence incarcerated. But minutes after the sentence was handed down, he stayed the sentence, seeming to acknowledge the uniqueness of the case.

In asking for the sentence to be stayed, Carters lawyer said there had never been a manslaughter case where words alone were found to be sufficient to have caused somebodys death.

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This is fertile ground and a very important legal issue that needs to be pursued in the appellate court, said the lawyer, Joseph Cataldo.

The sensational trial in June peeled back the veil on the secret social-media life of teenagers. Although there was no jury, the trial was streamed live and drew considerable attention. A virtual lynch mob of online commentators had heaped invective on Carter, calling her a witch who should be locked away for years.

Kill yourself, one woman heckled as Carter, dressed in red trousers and a paisley-printed blouse, arrived at the courthouse in Taunton, Mass.

Carter did not speak during the sentencing Thursday, and neither did her family, although her father wrote a letter to the court. Her face appeared swollen, her eyes red, and she leaned against one hand, clutching a tissue.

Michelle was a troubled, vulnerable teenager in an extremely difficult situation and made a tragic mistake, David Carter wrote in the letter, excerpts of which were published in the Boston Herald. He said his daughter believed that Roy was so depressed that he would be better off dead.

I am 100 percent sure she was only trying to do what in her mind was right for Conrad, the letter continued.

Members of Roys family, however, demanded the maximum sentence of 20 years. The father of the deceased young man tearfully told the court that the family believed he would not have gone through with the suicide if not for Carter.

Although he did have some psychological troubles, we all felt he was heading in the right direction, Conrad Roy Jr. told the court. Michelle Carter exploited my sons weaknesses and used him as a pawn.

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Assistant Dist. Atty. Maryclare Flynn told the judge Thursday that Carter had encouraged Roys suicide for her own personal gain and quest for attention and in order to play a charade as the grieving girlfriend.

The case has drawn criticism from legal scholars who say it raises free speech issues and doesnt meet the standard of causation, since Carter wasnt physically with Roy when he killed himself. Unlike many other states, Massachusetts does not have a specific law against assisted suicide.

I think this case is vulnerable on appeal, said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Bostons Northeastern University. The fact that the judge stayed the sentence shows, I think it is fair to say, that he is dubious about whether the case will withstand appellate scrutiny.

Moniz, who found Carter guilty in June, had focused his ruling on Carters instructions to get back in the truck as it was filling with carbon monoxide. The judge said those words constituted wanton and reckless conduct under the manslaughter statute.

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Carter and Roy met in Florida in 2012 while on vacation with their families. Although they lived close by, they rarely saw one another, confining their relationship to text messages and telephone calls.

At one point, they discussed both killing themselves in the style of Romeo and Juliet. But their attention shifted to Roys unhappiness. After initially trying to dissuade him from suicide and urging psychological counseling, Carter began a campaign to get Roy to kill himself.

You always say youre gonna do it, but you never do, Carter taunted in one of her numerous text messages.

ALSO

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Hunt underway for university researcher accused of murder in Chicago stabbing

Pilots of jet that nearly smashed into aircraft on San Francisco airport taxiway said they didnt see the planes

LAPD officer accused of sexually abusing teen cadet took girl to Six Flags on day of assaults, sources say

Immigration agents showed up at labor dispute proceedings. California wants to kick them out

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UPDATES:

2:55 p.m.: This post has been updated with additional details about the sentencing.

12:18 p.m.: This post has been updated with the sentencing.

This article was originally published at 4:25 a.m.
King Bibi, a documentary tracking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus 40 years of public life through the lens of his appearances in the news media, sold out both times it played at the Jerusalem Film Festival, which closed Sunday.

It was an easy sell: Israelis are obsessed by the media and by their long-serving prime minister, who is considered both a wizard of communication and a leader defined by his hatred of the press.



For the record: This article states that a video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been viewed on Facebook and Twitter about 200,000 times. That was based on traffic at the time the article was written, on accounts under Netanyahus name. However, his office says the video was viewed more than 1.5 million times as of Aug. 8, on a range of accounts associated with the prime minister.

Production notes for the film mention that 20 years before Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, Netanyahu already understood the political benefits of a toxic relationship with the media, and direct communication with the public.

But those domestic benefits have their limits. Once widely seen as a scrappy society struggling to survive in a hostile region, Israel is now often described in Europe and the United States, especially from the left, as an unjust society and a brutal occupying force.

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Within Israel, critics on the left believe that its problems stem from bad policies that no amount of good public relations can conceal. Critics on the right assert that foreign coverage  there are nearly 500 foreign correspondents in the country  is inherently biased against Israel.

Even if Israel had 1,000 beautiful, Oxford-educated spokespeople who were prompt and professional at all times, it wouldnt make much difference, said author Matti Friedman, who formerly worked for the Associated Press in Jerusalem.

In late July, Michael Oren, Israels former ambassador to the United States, wrote that the countrys mishandling of the media is the most glaring failure of its policy toward the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by the militant group Hamas. Oren, a member of the Israeli parliament since 2015, charged that Israel has no professional communications team.

There is  no single authority that coordinates and supervises these various activities, he said.

The remarkable thing about that complaint is that, for the past two years, Oren has served as Netanyahus deputy minister in charge of public diplomacy.

Moreover, there is a National Information Directorate, a unit within the prime ministers office responsible for coordinating the public diplomacy activities of various governmental bodies in foreign and security affairs.

Yet the general feeling is that when it comes to media, no one is in charge. Yarden Vatikay, who is in charge of the directorate, does not interact with the public or the news media. (In keeping with his low profile, he declined to comment for this article.)

The bench of official Israeli spokespersons is pretty much empty, said Shalom Lipner, a veteran of 26 years in the prime ministers office, who is now a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Institution. It is a virtual wasteland.

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Netanyahus press secretary, Shir Cohen, 26, does not have a public role. David Keyes, 34, the prime ministers Los Angeles-born foreign media advisor, was known as a wunderkind of online activism before his 2016 appointment.

Keyes is both praised and blamed for planning Netanyahus strategy of interacting with the public almost exclusively through video clips posted on official social media platforms.

The Israeli government has prioritized a digital approach to communications, said Yigal Palmor, director of public affairs and communications for the Jewish Agency and formerly the spokesman for Israels foreign ministry. Such a social-media-based national communications strategy, he said, was so flawed as to be unforgivable.

Keyes defended the strategy. Prime Minister Netanyahu is using powerful technologies to bring the truth about Israel to enormous new audiences around the world, he said. His series of short online videos has been seen by many tens of millions of people and the results are incredible and inspiring.

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The strategy can appear, at the least, counterintuitive. In late July, one day after three Palestinians were killed in Gaza border clashes and as protests against Israels controversial nation-state law escalated, Netanyahu posted a video about an imaginary, oppressed Iranian schoolgirl called Fatameh.

This is a tough story. But you need to hear it pic.twitter.com/vTpoKTrd2r  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) July 29, 2018

This is a tough story, the prime minister intoned from his office, but you need to hear it.

The Fatameh video has been viewed on Facebook and on Twitter about 200,000 times, but it is difficult to gauge its effect in transmitting Israels narrative to the world.

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At a time when Western governments are increasingly leery of Facebooks algorithms, the state of Israel, according to all its official spokesmen, assesses the relative success and reach of its media strategy by relying on standard Facebook analytics.

Udi Segal, a veteran political correspondent and television host, was blunt: There are no professionals responsible for Netanyahus communications.

In the absence of an Israeli Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Israeli army spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis has been the face that Israel projects to the world  or doesnt.

On May 14, 60 Palestinians were killed in clashes on the Gaza border. At roughly the same time, in Jerusalem, the United States Embassy was being jubilantly inaugurated. The army made no comment about the fatalities, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted celebratory tweets on the embassy opening, a long-sought diplomatic achievement for Netanyahu,

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From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, senior White House advisor Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin attend the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14. (Menahem Kahana / AFP/Getty Images)

On May 15, after media outlets the world over had reported on the violence on the border, the army released a laconic statement announcing, with no additional information, that following inquiries, it appears that at least 24 terrorists with documented terror background were killed during the violent riots.

No journalists were permitted to embed on the Israeli side, where they might have witnessed some of the violence Israel alleged.

Manelis was held responsible for what some called a public relations failure. Ron Ben-Yishai, a veteran columnist at the tabloid Yediot Ahronot, called the armys 24-hour delay in issuing any statement on Gaza inexplicable.

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The issue goes deeper, Palmor said. They are speaking in Israeli, assuming the public around the world can grasp concepts familiar to Israelis. For example, why say Gaza fence? Why not call it an international border, which it is? What does an American think of when hearing the word fence?

The army, some observers here say, should not be tasked with representing Israels complex reality to the world.

Israeli leaders are sending the army to address a fundamentally civilian problem, Barak Ravid, Israeli Channel 10 News senior diplomatic correspondent, said after a news conference in which Manelis faced a barrage of questions.

In an interview with The Times, Manelis, a respected military intelligence officer who is close to the chief of staff and has no previous experience with media, said his job is to explain how the army is fulfilling the orders it receives from the government, not the governments national policy. But he believes that Israel is achieving its public diplomacy goals.

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Like Keyes, Manelis deems Israels results in digital media excellent.

In terms of public awareness and Israels messaging we have had significant successes, he said, attributing the way the events of the past months are perceived by the public in Israel, Gaza, the Arab world and part of the Western world to a wide range of outreach via traditional media and the IDFs [Israel Defense Forces] digital platforms.

We are getting our message directly to the public, he said. They get it straight from us.

Tarnopolsky is a special correspondent.
A toddler was found lying dead on a Texas street on Saturday morning with multiple wounds. Authorities suspect that this might be a murder case that took place in the Mountain Creek area of Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The law enforcement authorities from the area are still looking for the suspect and the motive for the death of the child. NBC Dallas Fort Worth noted that Dallas Police Department units, including child abuse and homicide, and the FBI's crime scene unit were called to assist in the incident.

READ NEXT: California Tree Trimmer, Who Killed 3 by Slashing Their Throats, Now Charged With Murder

Toddler Found Dead on Texas Street

The body of the boy was discovered by the authorities at around seven in the morning in front of a home in the 7500 block of Saddleridge Drive near West Wheatland Road and Mountain Creek Parkway. Authorities pronounced the victim dead on the scene, believing that the child is aged between four and five years old. Furthermore, authorities believe that the child lived in the area, yet the boy was not identified by the authorities.

"Unfortunately, a small child was lost today in our city through a violent act," said Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez. Martinez added that they were shocked, and they are "very angry about what has happened to the small child."

New York Daily News noted that the child had multiple wounds in his body when he was discovered by the authorities. The police officers suspect that "an edged weapon" was used in the heinous crime. Chief Martinez underscored that the incident was investigated as a murder case, believing that the crime occurred around five in the morning.

The Dallas Morning News noted that the officers canvassed the area for footage and sought the help of the public for information "especially neighbors who may have knowledge or any video" regarding the incident.

How Was the Toddler's Body Discovered?

At around 6:40 in the morning, a passerby who was identified as Antwainese Square was having her morning walk when she discovered the body of the boy. Square shared in NBC Dallas Fort Worth that at one point she thought that the body was a dog in the street. Square contacted 911 when she got closer and realized that it was a body of a child.

Square furthered that the boy "didn't have shoes" and shirt while he laid on the street. Blood and bite marks on the boy's face were also witnessed by the passerby.

"For a kid to have to go through that, that's just disturbing, and that's disturbing for me to carry all day," Square said.

Chief Martinez vowed that they would pursue justice and find out who is responsible to bring "some sort of closure not only to the family but to the community."

Around 2:30 in the afternoon, a hazmat team arrived to clean the circle of blood that dried up in the Texas street where the body of the dead toddler was found. The Dallas Morning News noted that the street or trail is popular for biking.

READ MORE: Authorities Arrest Ohio Mom's Date for Killing Her While 2 Kids Present at the Scene

WATCH: End It Now: Understanding and Preventing Child Abuse - from Loma Linda University Health
Five people were wounded Saturday in a shooting in the Bronx, police said. Cops were called just after 9:05 p.m. to an address on Webster Ave. near Belmont St. in Claremont for a man shot, cops said. (Jeff Bachner/for New York Daily News)
Bethlehem Catholic High School students had their prom Saturday night at the high school in Bethlehem.

Last year, proms were canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but this year, school officials were determined to find a way to celebrate.

Bethlehem Catholics prom looked different this year. Since interest in attending was low, they decided to hold the formal dance at the high school, like they used to over 30 years ago. This year it was held outdoors in the schools courtyard.

Students who bought tickets received a student-designed mask to wear to the prom, since masks are required of those who are unvaccinated to stay in line with COVID-19 protocols.

Scroll through the photos above to see students all dressed up.

If these photos have you looking for more prom, check out the photos from 2019: Bethlehem Catholic High School prom 2019.

Dont forget to check back to lehighvalleylive.com/prom for full coverage of the celebrations across our region.

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Dont forget to tag @lehighvalleylive in your Instagram photos and @lehighvalley on Twitter - well highlight the best pics!

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Are you one of the people pictured at this prom? Want to buy the photo and keep it forever? Look for a link below the photo caption to order prints in a variety of sizes or products like shirts or coffee mugs.

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Saed Hindash may be reached at shindash@lehighvalleylive.com.
The daily rate of new coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania is down 43% from two weeks ago and deaths are down 18%, encouraging trends as Memorial Day nears.

Gov. Tom Wolf plans to lift all of Pennsylvanias COVID-19 restrictions, except its mask order, starting May 31. The state has averaged 1,892 cases a day and 33 daily deaths over the last week, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data.

Nationally, reports of new cases are at their lowest levels since September, while deaths are at their lowest since July, according to tracking by The New York Times. Overall, cases nationwide are down 31% and deaths are 11% lower than two weeks ago. There have been an average of 35,496 cases a day as of Thursday.

(Cant see this map? Click here.)

As of Friday, 47.3% of Pennsylvanians 18 and older are fully vaccinated. The state plans to fully lift its masking requirement when 70% of people 18 and up are fully vaccinated.

The state on Thursday did amend its masking order to reflect the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions announcement that fully vaccinated people can largely ditch their masks. Thats a much trickier issue in practice without an easy way to know who is two weeks past their last shot and who is not.

New Jersey is keeping its mask mandate in place, even for fully vaccinated people. Its seven-day average for new confirmed positive COVID-19 tests has fallen to 869  down 34% from a week ago and 69% from a month ago. Thats the lowest number since Oct. 17.

Friday marks the first time since Oct. 27 that Pennsylvanias daily case rate dropped below 2,000. At the peak of the winter surge, the seven-day rolling average hit a high of 10,579 new infections a day. There have been a total of 1.18 million cases and 26,724 lives lost since the first case was detected in March 2020.

There are currently 1,652 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 currently and the seven-day moving average of patients is coming down to a level last seen at the end of May.

(Cant see these charts? Click here.)

Locally, the Lehigh Valley reported 45 cases a day in Northampton County and 48 per day over the last week in Lehigh County for a total of 654 new infections since Friday, May 7. There were six new deaths.

Pennsylvanias vaccination campaign got a boost on Wednesday when the Pfizer-BioNTech two-dose vaccine was given emergency use authorization for anyone 12 and up. Vaccine providers immediately began giving shots to eligible youth Wednesday night. St. Lukes University Health Networks Anderson campus was one of the first local providers to do so.

Fifty-four percent of Pennsylvanians have at least their first vaccine shot, ranking the state ninth nationally for first doses administered by percentage of population, according to the C.D.C. And 67% of people 18 and up have at least one dose, per the C.D.C.

(Cant see this map? Click here.)

Currently, 56% of Northampton County residents have at least one shot and 36% are fully vaccinated. In Lehigh County, 55% of residents have at least one shot and 38% are fully vaccinated.

The widening of the vaccine eligibility pool this past week bumped Pennsylvanias rolling average of daily vaccinations to 84,500 people over the last seven days. Itd dropped to 67,300 people a day on Tuesday. Opening up vaccinations to the United States nearly 17 million adolescent 12-to-15-year-olds gives the country a greater shot at boosting overall immunity, fully reopening schools and lowering overall case counts.

Although, medical providers do have to overcome parental vaccine hesitancy. The latest Kaiser Family Foundation survey finds 41% of parents of children ages 12-15 say they will definitely not vaccinate their child or only do so if required by school.

This comes at a time when children represent an increasing proportion of coronavirus cases nationwide and in Pennsylvania. While adults are at much higher risk of severe illness from the coronavirus than children, the virus has infected more than 1.5 million kids nationwide and hospitalized 13,000, according to C.D.C data. Thats more than the flu hospitalizes in an average year.

The state health department last week emphasized that the percentage of cases in people 0-49 is rising compared to January of this year. Currently, they account for 72% of cases in May compared to 60% in January as the state recovered from its worst surge over the holidays.

The percentage of cases in the 65 and up population has been cut by more than half. Seventy-two percent of the U.S.s residents 65 and older are fully vaccinated and 85% have at least one dose. A whopping 96% of Pennsylvanians 65 and up have at least one shot, according to the C.D.C.

The Bethlehem Area School District is strongly encouraging parents to vaccinate their children and hosting vaccine clinics in concert with the Bethlehem Health Bureau. On Saturday, the first clinic for children 12 and up and their parents was scheduled 10 a.m. to noon at Wind Creek Bethlehem Event Center. The second clinic is scheduled 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday, May 20. To register for the May 20 clinic, visit vaccinations.health.pa.gov. More than 200 teens 16 and up and their parents were vaccinated Monday at the districts first vaccine clinic.

Pennsylvanias federal vaccine allotment remained level again this week. Through May 17, the state received 320,320 vaccine doses. This breaks down to 170,820 Pfizer shots, 129,500 Moderna doses and 20,000 Johnson & Johnson shots.

Locally, Lehigh Valley Health Network and St. Lukes are scheduling appointments for anyone 12 and up with the Pfizer vaccine and offering walk-in vaccine clinics. Find out how to get a Pfizer shot here.

Cedar Crest College and St. Lukes announced Friday that COVID-19 vaccines will be offered at Mayfair Festival of the Arts on from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30, on the festival grounds at Cedar Crest College in Allentown. St. Lukes will administer 500 Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines and have schedulers present to schedule vaccine appointments for people not getting a shot at the festival. Vaccine appointments can be scheduled by calling 866-785-8537 (STLUKES), option 7. Scheduling information is also available at www.cedarcrest.edu/mayfair.

(Cant see this chart? Click here.)

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Friday, April 30th, was the bicentenary of one of the OMoore Countys most prolific and distinguished writers and historians. John Canon OHanlon, parish priest of Sandymount in Dublin, was born in Stradbally in 1821 and is probably best known in Laois for his History of the Queens County, which remains the most authoritative and informative work of its kind on the countys past, even though it was completed by others and was published posthumously.

The digitisation of the History of the Queens County by the Laois Library services to mark the bi-centenary of his birth, will be welcomed by all students, local historians and researchers who have an interest in Laois historic past.

Athough he laboured in the pastoral fields in Dublin and the USA for most of his life, OHanlon always felt most at home in his native county, Laois. It was he would go to relax and re-energise himself when the occasions permitted in his busy life and it was from here he drew his inspiration.

He was a man with a mission, in his search for knowledge and his sharing of it, in the spreading of the Christian message and in his love for the county and country of his origins and her people.

His huge literary output remains his greatest legacy. When one considers that he also led a busy life as a parish priest and was never found wanting in the performance of his duties, his stamina and capacity for work is quite mind-boggling.

Amazingly this was a man who suffered from poor health on a prolonged basis in his younger years and, after a spell in the United States, had been sent home to Ireland to die. But he lived on for more than fifty years and used every waking minute of those long years in useful service to his God, country and fellow-man.

Although the Canon hailed from relatively comfortable Catholic stock, his circumstances changed radically on the death of his father, the family bread-winner. Being the eldest, he was forced to abandon his studies as a seminarian in Carlow College, and take responsibility for his familys welfare. This was in 1842, a time of severe economic depression in Ireland. He looked to the United States for his future and that of his mother and siblings.

Missouri

His next eleven years were spent in Missouri, an experience that he was never likely to forget and he shared his memories of his time there in the pages of a book which he published many years later. It tells a wonderful story of adventure, of his becoming a priest, of the fascinating people he met and of his life as a missionary in a vast virgin frontier.

It also relates a harrowing account of the plight of many thousands of Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine, who ended up in Saint Louis, mostly by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi. All his family, except for one sister, followed the young OHanlon to America. He was the only one to return to Ireland.

OHanlon was a willing and able student at the Saint Louis seminary, and he became well acquainted with European languages, the classics and history as well as theology. It was here his literary career began. He edited a Catholic diocesan newspaper for a brief period and wrote articles for magazines. He also published two books, one a small history of Ireland and the other a useful information guide for Irish immigrants.

The Lives of the Irish Saints

After a brief period of recuperation on his return to Ireland in the happy hunting grounds of his youth in County Laois, he took up duty as a young priest in the Dublin archdiocese. His interest in hagiology and, particularly, the lives of holy men and women in the early Irish church, was awakened in the United States and, on his return to Ireland in 1853, it became his main focus. He published biographies on a number of individual saints before embarking on his magnum opus. It was his intention to publish The Lives of the Irish Saints in twelve volumes, one volume for every month of the year.

This was a gigantic challenge both in terms of time and output, but also in financial terms. He managed to have nine volumes published in his lifetime and these remain the best source of reference for researchers of the early Irish church ever since. A part of the tenth volume was published after his death but, despite declarations of intent on the part of numerous scholars, the series remains incomplete.

Though his paternal grandfather was murdered by the militia, along with hundreds of other rebels, after surrendering at Gibbet Rath on the Curragh in 1798, OHanlon did not pursue the path of militant republicanism. Violence, he believed, had brought further hardship on an already long-suffering people. He was a man of peace and followed the political path of his lifelong icon, Daniel OConnell, while also keeping in step with the anti-violence philosophies of his ecclesiastical superiors.

OConnell monument

Like OConnell, whom he believed was the greatest Irishman in history, his affection for Ireland knew no barriers. He loved the language, the heritage and the culture, which had been driven underground for many centuries before his time. Like OConnell too, he loved the ordinary people of Ireland, mostly poor and illiterate and, through his ministry, provided them with spiritual and temporal care. OHanlon was not only a man of words but also a man of action.

When a committee was formed, in 1862, with the aim of having a fitting memorial erected in honour of the Liberator, he immediately volunteered his help. The OConnell Monument was unveiled in Sackville Street, (later OConnell Street), Dublin on 15 August 1882. He had been secretary to the committee for the entire period and was the main driving force behind its commissioning.

OHanlons contribution to the literary and cultural revival towards the end of the nineteenth century should not be underestimated. He produced a constant stream of work in book form, articles in magazines and papers delivered to eminent literary societies including the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland, both of which he was an esteemed member for many decades.

Folk tales and John Keegan

Growing up in the company of story-tellers of an older generation, he developed a keen interest in folklore and recorded many of the tales he had heard in the company of country folk at the hearth-fire of a seanchaithes cabin. He also loved poetry and knew the work of the great poets while ever on the lookout for genius amongst the lesser known writers of verse. He wrote a considerable store of poetry himself and he published selections of his work.

Another major literary and historical project was his Irish-American History of the United States. He had the script with the printers and ready for publication when the printing-house involved was completely destroyed in a fire in 1898. His manuscripts were lost in the blaze but, reflecting the indefatigable nature of the man, he set down straight away to rewrite the huge tome from his notes. The book was eventually published in 1903, an amazing achievement for an octogenarian.

But the time lost on rewriting the script had a knock-on effect on other projects he had in hand, including his Lives and the History of the Queens County, as well as a book on the life and writings of the Laois rustic poet, John Keegan, all of which were left unpublished at the time of his death.

Ulysses

A remarkable man in every sense, unwittingly he acquired an ever broader distinction by figuring quite prominently in what is widely recognised as the greatest literary work of the twentieth century, James Joyces, Ulysses. As parish priest of Star of the Sea Church, Sandymount, while conducting a Benediction Service, Joyce gives him and his curate, Fr. Conroy, ample mention in his story of the fictional Leopold Blooms twenty-four hour odyssey around Dublin on 16 June, 1904, a journey that changed the course of English literature forever.

He died at his home in Sandymount on 15 May, 1905, and the centenary of his death in 2005 was marked by special events in Dublin and Laois including the publication of two books on his life and writings, Like Sun Gone Down by Padraig O Machain and Tony Delaney and my own book, John Canon OHanlon  The Man and his Legacy, which launched the OHanlon Centenary Exhibition in Stradbally, that included original manuscripts, photographs and memorabilia relating to this great Laoisman.
Kildare County Council is resisting a call for portaloos to be deployed as temporary toilets.

Cllr Naoise O Cearuil said these will be needed once outdoor dining is permitted.

We have had complaints about dog fouling, litter and now (the lack of) public toilets,'' he told a recent Kildare County Council meeting.

And he said with the advent of good weather people are getting more used to eating and drinking outside.

People are relieving themselves down backlanes and sometimes in clear sight, he said.

He suggested that one be installed at Maynooth and another portaloo could be provided at Poplar Square, Naas.

He acknowledged that these havent worked in the past but this would be a temporary measure only until September or October.

He pointed out that in Dublin public buildings are open so that the public can use toilets and he said the need for public toilets will become an issue on bank holiday weekends.

He said that public conveniences were removed from towns in a completely different time and if they were available now they would be used.

KCCs Celina Barrett said no budget exists to pay for this. Ms Barrett did not think that portaloos are a solution and there are issues with hygiene, cleanliness and emptying the facilities.

An automatic public convenience was removed by the council from Abbey Street in Naas almost three years ago.

At the time it was costing 6,000 a year to run and very few people were actually using it.
The new Vivaro-e, Opels first fully electric light commercial vehicle, has arrived in Ireland.

Crowned International Van of the Year 2021, the award-winning van from the German carmaker will play a key role in Opels rapidly growing electric range, arriving on the market in time to meet the growing need for emission-free delivery of goods and services.

Available in two trims, two lengths and with two battery sizes to choose from, boasting a WLTP range of up to 330km on a single charge, the Vivaro-e retails in Ireland from 36,895 (29,834 ex-VAT) plus delivery related charges, exclusive of applicable business grants of up to 3,800.

Fergal Marron, Head of Fleet at Leeson Motors, Opel Importer in Ireland, said:

The new Opel Vivaro-e sets the standard for ease of use, dependability and professionalism. In electric guise, it is as versatile and flexible as its diesel counterparts and simply offers no compromise; customers can still expect outstanding practicality and durability, synonymous with diesel variants.

With a payload of up to 1,226kg and maximum gross vehicle weight of 3,100kg, the Vivaro-e furthermore has a towing capacity of up to 1 tonne.

With a choice of both a 50kWh and 75kWh battery to ensure customers have a choice based on their business needs, the 75kWh battery boasts a range of up to 330 kilometres, or for less intense usage needs, the 50kWh battery has a range of up to 230km (WLTP).

A sophisticated regenerative braking system, which recovers the energy produced under braking or deceleration, further increases efficiency. The lithium ion battery is cleverly positioned under the load cabin, so as not to compromise essential load-space. The batterys positioning furthermore lowers the vehicles centre of gravity, delivering enhanced cornering and wind stability, even when fully loaded with cargo.

The Vivaro-es powerful motor generates 136hp and 260Nm of torque. Whilst an electronically controlled maximum speed of 130km/h preserves the electric range, the Vivaro-e is perfectly suited for inner-city driving, unleashing ample performance for motorway driving.

Using a 100 kW DC public charging station, the 50kWh battery charges to 80% in only 30 minutes, whilst the 75kW battery takes 45 minutes. The battery is covered by an eight year / 160,000km guarantee for up to 70% retention, certifiable by the Opel Dealer Network.

The Vivaro-e is available in two lengths, L1 and L2. At 1.9m tall, the Vivaro-e easily accesses shopping centre or basement parking lots.

Two trims are on offer. The Edition trim offers a comprehensive list of standard comfort and safety equipment to include 6-way adjustable driver seat with armrest, passenger bench seat with storage, laminated windscreen, bulkhead, 2 side sliding doors, ESP, hill assist, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, 180 opening solid rear doors, cruise control and speed limiter, a spare wheel, daytime running lamps and DAB radio.

The Sportive trim, retailing from 38,895 plus delivery, exclusive of applicable grants, adds an Appearance Pack (body coloured front bumper / mirrors / door handles / side protection moulding, front fog lamps, LED daytime running lights, chrome grille and electric folding mirrors), air conditioning, automatic windscreen wipers, automatic lights, 7 touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and rear parking sensors.

The Vivaro-e continues Opels electrification offensive, taking its place beside the new electric Corsa-e, the Grandland X PHEV range and the all-new Opel Mokka-e. The next electric Opel LCV, the compact Combo Cargo-e will arrive in late 2021, followed by the large Opel Movano-e. Opel will offer an electrified version of every passenger car and LCV model by 2024.
A teenager who pretended to be a garda and attacked a man on the street during the first lockdown last year has received a fully suspended sentence.

Edward Illes, now aged 20, was a passenger in a car which displayed flashing blue lights and took part in stopping people on the street under the guise of being a garda member.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that during one of these incidents, Illes attacked a man after he first asked the accused for identification and then called the emergency services.

The court heard that the behaviour started out as a prank and that Illes could be described as a very genuine person, but a complete eejit.

Illes, with an address at Park Drive Grove, Castleknock, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm at Luttrellstown Road, Castleknock, and to impersonating a garda at Carpenterstown Road, Castleknock, both on April 19, 2020. He has four previous convictions for road traffic offences.

Garda Ciara Darling told Fiona McGowan BL, prosecuting, that during the first lockdown in April 2020, a man was walking in his local area in Castleknock when a car displaying flashing blue lights pulled over beside him.

Gda Darling said the driver of the car asked the man where he was going and if he was out for exercise. Illes, who was the passenger in the car, then shouted at the man asking him for identification.

Illes got out of the car, approached the man and told him to take out his wallet. The man became suspicious that the accused was not a garda and asked to see garda identification.

The accused returned to the car and began looking through the glove box, while the man rang emergency services. Illes then ran towards the man with his fist raised. After the man kicked him in the stomach, Illes pushed him, causing the man to hit his head against a pole.

Illes knocked the man onto the ground and punched him five or six times while he was still on the phone to emergency services. Illes tried to take the phone from him, then ran back to the car and left the scene.

Gda Darling said that later on the same day, a Dublin Bus driver pulled over when they saw a car behind them with blue flashing lights because they thought it was gardai. The driver of the car got onto the bus and said he intended to inspect it.

This incident came to an end when the bus driver asked this man for identification, who told Illes to get it from the car, only for Illes to return and say he could not find it.

Illes also interacted with another man who was out walking his dog in the area, returning to the car after this man asked him to show identification to prove he was a garda.

In interview with gardai, Illes said he did not have a great recollection of events as he had been drinking and that the blue lights had belonged to the driver. The court heard that the driver has not attended court and warrants for his arrest are outstanding.

Gda Darling agreed with Jennifer Jackson BL, defending, that according to her client's co-accused, this behaviour started out as a prank. She agreed her client has not come to garda attention since the offence.

The garda agreed with counsel that her client could be described as a very genuine person, but a complete eejit. The court heard the accused had 1,000 in court as an expression of his remorse.

Ms Jackson said her client had worked two jobs and attended the gym daily prior to the pandemic. She said that during the lockdown he began drinking heavily because of boredom and driving around with his friends.

Counsel said her client now only drinks on special occasions. She said he has instructed her to apologise to the victims and to An Garda Siochana.

Judge Martin Nolan said he did not know what overtook them, but they had engaged in what could be termed very prankish behaviour which turned into very thuggish behaviour.

Judge Nolan said it would be tempting to imprison Illes because on the night he behaved in a very thuggish way. He said the court can accept the accused is unlikely to come back before to court for anything as serious as this.

He sentenced Illes to two years imprisonment, but suspended the sentence on strict conditions, including that he hand over the 1,000 and raise a further sum of 4,000 within one year.

Judge Nolan told Illes that he was a lucky man and that he behaved disgracefully. He told the accused that if he committed another offence, then he would be brought back to this court and this court will remember you.
A man who told a court sitting he has turned his life around is being assessed for a community service order in lieu of a custodial sentence.

Patrick Nugent, Strokestown Road, Longford faced a number of charges relating to breaking and entering and theft when he appeared before Carrick-on-Shannon District Court recently.



Mr Nugent pleaded guilty to five separate counts relating to break-ins and thefts at locations in Rooskey, Dromod, Drumsna and Mohill areas between December 2017 and March 2018.

Items stolen included copper cylinders and piping as well as electrical wiring.

Sgt Michael Gallagher noted that all the houses targeted by the defendant were either unoccupied and had been so for some time, or were in ghost estates.

He said that two houses experienced water damage as a result of Mr Nugent's actions but noted that they were both fairly derelict prior to this damage.

It was noted that Mr Nugent had a number of previous convictions.



Defending solicitor, Mr Baxter, noted that his client had volunteered a significant amount of information and had co-operated fully with gardai and their investigation.

Gardai acknowledged that, although they had strong evidence for one of the break-ins, they would not have had enough evidence to bring charges against Mr Nugent in all matters without his cooperation.

The court heard that Mr Nugent had developed a serious drug addiction and had started taking drugs at age 10.

His long term partner had also died in his arms and his children had been taken into care just five months previous to these offences.

It was noted that Mr Nugent had voluntarily entered the Coolmine Drug Treatment programme and had successfully completed this since these offences.



He now works as a volunteer employee at Pavee Point and is also studying to be a drug counsellor.

The gardai acknowledged that it was Mr Nugent, who voluntarily contacted them about his role in the burglaries and it was noted that he had not come to the attention of gardai since these incidents.

Judge Kevin Kilrane acknowledged a number of aggravating factors such as Mr Nugent's previous criminal history but he noted that since these offences in fairness he's turned himself around.

Although the offences appear serious at first glance, these houses were all either in ghost estates or semi abandoned houses, noted Judge Kilrane.



Of course this did not give (Mr Nugent) free licence to enter these houses but to the extent that they were not occupied, that no persons were put in fear and that there was no violence, these are all mitigating circumstances.

He also noted that Mr Nugent has suffered the loss of his partner and the impact this has had on his life and the lives of his children.

He said the defendant has worked hard to complete an addiction treatment programme and is now employed at Pavee Point and is also the sole carer of his five children.

These are all mitigating factors, he added.

Judge Kilrane said he was impressed by the way Mr Nugent had worked to turn his life around observing he seems to be on the straight and narrow now.

But for this he would be facing a very lengthy term in prison, said the judge.



He asked that Mr Nugent be evaluated for suitability for completion of community service.

He said, if suitable, he would impose 240 hours of community service in lieu of a four month prison sentence but he stipulated I won't say yet as to which charge this will apply to.

Before the case proceedings finished, Mr Nugent asked if he could speak, apologising again for what I done to people's houses. I was using heavy drugs at the time.

I'm trying to help others now to stop them going down the same road, he said.

Judge Kilrane acknowledged Mr Nugent's apology before adjourning the matter to June 11 for receipt of a report on the defendant's suitability for community service.
A Cloone man who admitted to never having insurance or a licence appeared before a recent sitting of Carrick-on-Shannon District Court.

80-year-old Christy Keegan, Drumharkin Glebe, Cloone pleaded guilty to no insurance, driving without a licence and careless driving at the same address.

Sgt Michael Gallagher told the court that the summonses arose following a road traffic accident on January 22, last year at Drumharkin Glebe, Cloone.



Mr Keegan's vehicle emerged from a minor road and failed to stop, hitting a vehicle driving on the main road driven by a woman and containing a number of children.

It was noted that Mr Keegan was not in possession of a driving licence or insurance.

Mr Keegan's solicitor, Noel Quinn, said that his client owned an old vehicle which he only drove on local roads.

He acknowledged that the parties in the other car did sustain some injuries.

He (Mr Keegan) has no insurance and has had none, acknowledged Mr Quinn.

When asked by Judge Kilrane if the lack of a licence was related to the need for doctor's certification due to age, Mr Quinn said Mr Keegan is a pensioner who lives in a very remote area. I don't think he has ever had a driving licence.

Mr Keegan apologised for the accident and said that he no longer drives but admitted the car remained at his house.

I hold meal in it, he said.



Judge Kevin P Kilrane instructed Mr Keegan that he was to hand over the keys of the vehicle to gardai and was told to never drive it again.

Mr Keegan said that he would organise this adding he wasn't farming, had no tractor and had no land.

Neighbours carry me into town now and again and get my shopping, he said.

Mr Quinn noted that Mr Keegan was a bachelor with no close relations.

(Mr Keegan's) perception of what's right and what's wrong is not what it should be, admitted Mr Quinn.

Gardai acknowledged that Mr Keegan had not been seen driving since the accident.



You were unlucky to meet Mrs Winifred Stokes (the driver of the other car) with a car full of children, noted Judge Kilrane before striking out all matters against Mr Keegan.

Also read: Organisers of 'illegal' traveller wedding reception say 'sorry' and hit with 3,000 compo demand
IT WAS Friday night, March 19, 2021, and I was relaxing at home watching a popular weekly chat show on Icelandic state television. Suddenly the host cuts short his banter mid-sentence, puts a hand to his earpiece and listens.

After a brief silence he looks directly at the camera and announces that the volcanic eruption we knew was imminent has just happened. Icelanders response to the news ran the gamut from excitement and trepidation to downright relief. After weeks of predictions by experts, the unbearable waiting was over. Granted there was danger, but at least now we had something other than Covid-19 to talk about.

For months Icelands Met Office had warned that a volcanic eruption was on the cards here on the southwest peninsula known as Reykjanes. We'd been experiencing regular earth tremors, some of them close to 6 on the Richter Scale. People respond differently to earthquakes: some take the sudden violent jolts in their stride; others can find them downright scary, especially when the tremors occur regularly and items and pictures start falling off shelves and walls.

My personal seismic detector is my mothers Waterford Crystal sherry glasses in a kitchen cupboard. Their clinking immediately alerts me. Several weeks of this and Im pretty accurate at guessing what a particular volume of clinking corresponds to on the Richter Scale!

Because the volcanos location is c. 40 kilometres from Reykjavik city, and close to the fishing village of Grindavik and near to Keflavik International Airport, the major concern has been the direction the lava flow might take. Infrastructure is limited in Iceland so any damage to the few main roads could compromise evacuation plans. Also, depending on wind direction, poisonous gases can pose a serious threat.

Fortunately, the eruption in Geldingadalur Valley turned out to be what Icelanders term a turistagos or tourist eruption. This is an eruption having no ash emissions; in total contrast to the famous eruption in 2010 of the volcano with the unpronounceable name, Eyjafjallajokull, whose ash clouds brought world aviation to a standstill.

Iceland is situated on the boundary line where two tectonic plates are pulling apart or diverging, the American and the Eurasian plates; consequently, we frequently have what are called fissure eruptions.

Basically, what happens is the growing tension in the earth's surface eventually causes it to rip open in a long fissure. From the fissure magma spews forth in soaring fountains like a giant fireworks display. Eventually, a central crater will form on the fissure. The wonderful thing about fissure eruptions is that you can get quite close to them and enjoy the spectacle, thus the Icelandic term tourist eruption.

Icelanders are no strangers to the devastating impact of volcanic eruptions. In 1783, ash and gases from the cataclysmic Laki eruption would kill 90 percent of livestock and 25 percent of an already struggling population. The situation was so dire that the Danish authorities considered moving the remaining 35,000 Icelanders to Denmark. But the Icelanders stubbornly prevailed and today the country has a population of 360.000. On average, Iceland experiences a volcanic eruption every five years.

It's this calm resignation to the unpredictable and oftentimes merciless natural environment they live in that has enabled this hardy nation to persevere in the face of great adversity. How fitting that the national motto is thetta reddast which literally translates as itll all work out in the end.

In late March, I hiked to the volcano. It takes about 90 minutes each way traversing some rough terrain. What surprised me was the number of people doing the same as myself, even though it was early afternoon on a weekday. Icelanders are special in that when theres an eruption, rather than flee to safety, they flock to see this latest wonder of nature like moths to a flame.

The sight that finally greets you is at once magnificent and terrifying. Dante's description of hell has nothing on this. This is the real deal! From out of the crater magma cascades high into the air. Several neon-orange rivers flow down the hillside and eventually come to a halt as the lava starts to cool and congeal. Even at the extremities the heat is intense.

Despite the immediate danger the atmosphere at the volcano is quite jolly. Whether its spring madness or sheer relief after being cooped up for so long, people's behaviour is bizarre: some are playing volleyball, others singing, one individual is dancing naked and quite a few are attempting to grill sausages.

By mid-April over 40,000 people had visited the volcano. This huge volume of visitors has posed a headache for both the police and civil defence, who lack the manpower to supervise and assist such large crowds. While Covid cases have been very few in Iceland there is a risk of it spreading when large numbers congregate even outdoors. Another worrying concern is that foreigners who have come to Iceland to see the volcano have not quarantined for the required five days. Further incidents include weather conditions rapidly changing and hikers getting lost and several people who have gone too close suffering gas poisoning. The big risk of course is the sudden opening up of a new fissure that catches people unawares. Already there are four fissures and last week there was a narrow escape when one opened up close to where a civil defence team had a monitoring station.

The experts forecast that the eruption could go on for months. Unfazed, Icelanders see this not as a problem but an opportunity. The eruption has attracted extensive international media attention and Iceland hopes to capitalize on this free advertising to kick-start its dormant tourist industry. Over the past decade tourism has been the fastest growing sector in the economy and now has an importance equal to that of fishing. Promote Iceland, Iceland's equivalent of Bord Failte, is already preparing a marketing campaign highlighting the volcano as a reason for visiting Iceland once travel restrictions are lifted.

Like Odin in Norse mythology, Icelanders live in a world where chaos and order are regularly at odds. However, the nation's ability to be innovative and how adept they are at coping with setbacks will undoubtedly see them through. Remember, thetta reddast  it'll all work out in the end.

______________________

Neil McMahon was born in Thomondgate and attended St Mary's National School and CBS Sexton Street. He played underage rugby with Shannon. While studying for the H. Dip. in Ed. he taught at the Presentation Convent, Sexton Street. After graduating from UCC he pursued post-graduate studies in Icelandic history and literature at the University of Iceland.

For close to five decades he has lived in Iceland and taught at all levels of the Icelandic educational system. Today he works as a guide both in Iceland and Greenland. His brother, Ralph McMahon, lives in Coonagh.
GARDAI are warning of a scam which involves the leaving of a recorded message.

In recent weeks, a number of people, living in Limerick, have reported to gardai that they were left a voicemail by an individual claiming to be a representative of the Department of Social Protection.

The recorded message informs the recipient that they are suspected of being involved in money laundering and drug trafficking offences and that they face the prospect of being arrested.

The voicemail then proceeds to advise the injured party that they should call a specific 083 number.

This is a scam, do not ring them back, delete the voicemail and warn your friends, said divisional crime prevention officer Sergeant Ber Leetch.

Gardai and the Department of Social Protection are again reminding members of the public that they will never ask any individuals for their personal data over the phone or via text message.
Pic story of blind student from Nanjing Normal University of Special Education

Xinhua) 13:31, May 16, 2021

Photo taken on May 12, 2021 shows Zhou Wenqing at a library of Nanjing Normal University of Special Education in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province. Zhou Wenqing, a blind student from Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, recently received a tentative offer from Renmin University of China to pursue a master's degree in Applied Psychology. Born in 1998, Zhou Wenqing left hometown at the age of eight to pursue study opportunities alone. In 2017, she was admitted to Nanjing Normal University of Special Education to study Applied Psychology. Confronting the challenges that ordinary students could not imagine, Zhou still made her four-year college life rich and colorful. She passed through CET-6 exam, won the National Scholarship, the National Inspirational Scholarship and so on. Academically, she has kept being on the top of the list. After class, Zhou Wenqing studied broadcasting and has hosted for several times. Knowledge lights up the night sky. Zhou Wenqing uses her knowledge and warm heart to enlighten more hearts. She presided over a provincial key entrepreneurial project, developing a learning APP and a series of courses for disabled people. She also volunteered to be a teaching assistant at "Voice Dream" program, helping blind students practice Mandarin. "Along the way, I am grateful to the teachers for their tireless teaching, to my family and friends for walking with me." Zhou said. (Xinhua/Ji Chunpeng)

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
There might be small pockets of incidents that make the headlines, like someone pushing someone on the subway, where you find out that they have a mental health history after some research, but when you look at overall crimes, there is no correlation, explained Tobin, head of the NYPDs Interagency Operations, which oversees the NYPDs Behavioral Health Division.
LIMERICK firefighters rescued a kitten after they searched every nook and cranny during a blaze at a derelict house.

Limerick Fire and Rescue received a call-out to a property in Johnsgate Villas in the city at 5pm on Friday afternoon. Four appliances rushed to the scene.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building and quickly put out the fire. They conducted a thorough search and found a little kitten.

A purrrfect rescue as Red Watch avoided cat-astrophe & rescued this little kitten from a Domestic Fire in the city this evening.



Firefighters wearing BA entered the building, extinguished the fire & rescued the little fella with a whisker to spare.



Weve named him Sparky! pic.twitter.com/iscJnTVnzh May 14, 2021

The kitten who has used up a couple of its nine lives was called Sparky. Kind-hearted firefighters brought the new member of Limerick Fire and Rescue Service back to Mulgrave Street when they returned at 6.12pm.

Sparky is said to be recovering well from his narrow escape. It is nice to have a happy 'tail' to tell for a change.
American companies began to rethink their requirements for face masks after federal health regulators relaxed their guidelines this week, and on Friday Walmart Inc. made the first big move to bend to the new view.

The U.S.s largest private employer said it would no longer require vaccinated workers and shoppers to wear masks in stores and warehouses outside of municipalities that require it. Walmarts new policy for its 1.6 million U.S. workers goes into effect May 18, the company said, while vaccinated customers could shop maskless immediately.

That made the countrys largest retailer by revenue an early mover in response to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions new guidance. Costco Wholesale Corp. made a similar shift. Executives in sectors ranging from autos to grocers said they were still wrestling with how to respond to the new guidelines, which they note conflicts in many cases with state, local and other protocols specific to certain industries.

Car makers General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. said they are sticking with existing policies while awaiting guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has jurisdiction over their workplaces and still requires face coverings and social distancing. The agency didnt immediately update its guidance based on the CDC announcement. OSHA representatives didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.

Some national retailers said they were reviewing the CDCs changes. Kroger Co., the nations biggest supermarket chain, said it would continue requiring masks and encouraging social distancing. The company said it is asking employees for feedback as it reviews safety practices and the latest CDC guidance.

Another grocer, Trader Joes, said it would drop its mask requirements for vaccinated customers. We encourage customers to follow the guidance of health officials," the company posted on Twitter. It wont require proof of vaccination for those who forgo masks, a spokesperson said.

The CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated people dont need to wear a mask or physically distance during outdoor or indoor activities, large or small, in most settings. The agency said it made the revisions based on the latest science indicating that being fully vaccinated cuts the risk of getting infected and spreading the virus to others, in addition to preventing severe disease and death.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association, a trade group, said the CDCs mask announcement creates ambiguity since it doesnt align with state and local orders. The group asked customers who decline to wear masks to shop online or use curbside pickup services.

Retailers will continue to prioritize the safety of their team members first, as theyve done throughout the pandemic," said Lisa LaBruno, a senior vice president at the group. We urge all retail customers and guests to follow a stores safety protocols including wearing a mask and social distancing."

Erik Nordstrom, chief executive of Nordstrom Inc., one of the largest department-store chains in the U.S., said in an interview Thursday that Nordstroms stores would continue to follow CDC guidance on masking, but that the company was in no rush to change its mask requirement for both employees and customers. The retailers priority, he said, is helping both customers and employees feel safe.

Up until the last month or two, pretty much every jurisdiction has had a mask mandate, too," Mr. Nordstrom said in the interview, which was part of The Wall Street Journals Future of Everything Festival. Weve stayed with requiring masks for our employees and customers. And well follow the CDC. So, when they indicate that thats not necessarily the thing to do, well follow suit."

At Walmart, to go maskless, workers have to say they are vaccinated during the health screenings each worker takes to start a shift, the company said. The retailer continues to review whether masks should be worn for certain jobs, said a companywide email Friday, and workers can continue to wear masks if they want to.

Walmart wont ask shoppers to offer proof that they have been vaccinated, instead relying on customers word, a spokesman said.

At Costco, vaccinated shoppers and workers will no longer need to wear masks, though it recommends employees continue to do so, said Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti Friday. Workers will need to sign a mask opt out" form verifying they are vaccinated, he said, while it wont verify whether shoppers are vaccinated.

The relaxed mandate could allow bigger crowds to gather. Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Chapek said he expects to see an immediate increase in the number of people allowed inside domestic theme parks following the CDC move. Todays guidance," he said Thursday, is very big news for us, particularly if anyone has been in Florida in the middle of summer with a mask on."

Food makers Conagra Brands Inc., General Mills Inc. and Kellogg Co. said they are continuing to require masks and social distancing at their factories even as employees get vaccinated, as food manufacturers have to follow a range of industry-specific regulations.

The Consumer Brands Association, a trade group for food and other grocery manufacturers, said it has asked the CDC for more details on how its latest mask guidance affects businesses such as factories.

Betsy Booren, senior vice president of regulatory affairs for the group, said that the revised guidance seemed directed mainly at consumers in their daily lives but that food factories, where workers are often crowded together and cant always distance, present different circumstances. Ms. Booren said that while she is encouraged by the latest CDC guidance and what it might mean for returning to normal, she hesitates to advise manufacturers to change their practices.

Restaurants face complicated decisions in part because they have employees and customers who could be unvaccinated, and operators cant easily distinguish who has been inoculated and who hasnt. Many also face state and local regulations that require mask-wearing on their premises.

While restaurants want to return to normal so they can get more business, they also want diners to feel safe enough to return, said the National Restaurant Association, which has decided not to update its masking guidance immediately.

Larry Lynch, senior vice president of science and industry for the association, said he is encouraged by the CDCs decision and the potential it has to help move the restaurant industry closer to being fully reopened."

Paul Mangiamele, chief executive of Legendary Brands LLC, a Dallas company whose franchisees include roughly 80 Bennigans pubs and Steak and Ale restaurants in the U.S., said he expects most of his franchisees to remove masking restrictions in the coming days. But the company will let individual restaurants decide how to verify vaccination status. He expects most restaurants to make masking optional for employees and to benefit from a flood of pent-up demand.

We want to react immediately to the guidance thats provided, but do that with common sense and safety," Mr. Mangiamele said.

In Philadelphia, McGillans Olde Ale House, a 150-year-old Irish pub near the citys downtown, is operating at 50% capacity and requiring masks and social distancing for all patrons and employees, except while eating and drinking. Owner Chris Mullins is waiting for the citys guidance before lifting the pubs mask requirement. Local health officials have said they hope to remove all capacity and distancing precautions by June 11.

Everyones excited, and they want the extra money and the increased business," Mr. Mullins said. But the potential for every night being New Years Eve, with five deep at the bar and people screaming in your face for a beer, is still a little jarring to some of my employees, too."

Small businesses arent certain how to respond to the CDCs new mask guidance, especially when it conflicts with OSHAs and other guidelines, said Kevin Kuhlman, head of government relations for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a trade group representing 300,000 mostly small, private companies.

Many small businesses hope state and local governments endorse the CDCs view on masks soon. Meanwhile, were OSHA to issue any new emergency guidelines that conflict with the CDCs advice, that would really confuse small businesses," Mr. Kuhlman said. Our biggest fear is getting something brand new from OSHA thats even more restrictive."

Dropping mask requirementsalong with widespread vaccine availability and falling case rateswould help bring more white-collar workers back to offices, said Kenneth Caplan, global co-head of real estate at Blackstone Group Inc. As an owner of office space, he said he has noticed more talk of businesses bringing employees back.

Its another positive step, but its part of a continuum of a lot of steps toward reopening," Mr. Caplan said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Richard Montanez has touted his role in inventing Flamin Hot Cheetos for over a decade, sharing the story of how he went from a janitor at the Frito-Lay plant in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. to the creator of one of Americas most beloved snacks.

His story has even led to the production of an upcoming Searchlight Pictures biopic titled Flamin Hot, directed by Eva Longoria and produced by DeVon Franklin. But, according to a new article in the Los Angeles Times, Montanez may be telling a tall tale.

None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin Hot test market, Frito-Lay wrote in a statement to the Times. We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market. That doesnt mean we dont celebrate Richard, but the facts do not support the urban legend.

Instead, the Times article reports that a junior employee at Frito-Lays corporate office in Texas named Lynne Greenfeld was assigned to develop the Flamin Hot brand in 1989. Greenfeld came up with the name, and helped bring the product to markets all over the U.S.

Montanez began to publicly tell his success story in the late 2000s, and Greenfeld contacted Frito-Lay in 2018 after hearing about his claims. This triggered an internal investigation into the creation of Flamin Hot Cheetos, with the conclusion alleging that Montanez is not the inventor.

We value Richards many contributions to our company, especially his insights into Hispanic consumers, but we do not credit the creation of Flamin Hot Cheetos or any Flamin Hot products to him, Frito-Lay said in a statement to the Times.

According to Montanezs story  which is documented in an upcoming memoir  he felt empowered to pitch his Flamin Hot idea to corporate after watching a motivational video from then-PepsiCo CEO, Roger Enrico, who encouraged all employees to act like owners.

But, the Times reports that Enrico did not yet work for the company when the Flamin Hot brand was developed. According to the Times, Enricos move to Frito-Lay was announced in December 1990, and he took over control at the beginning of 1991  nearly six months after Flamin Hots were already out in the test market.

However, another former Frito-Lay executive, Al Carey, insisted to the Times that Montanez is the true creator of Flamin Hot Cheetos. Carey said that Flamin Hot Cheetos were definitely not out in the market before he met with Montanez in 1992, who pitched him the idea. The product was developed by those guys in the plant, Carey added.

Frito-Lays statement to the Times contradicts Careys recollection: According to our records, McCormick, Frito-Lays longtime seasoning supplier, developed the Flamin Hot seasoning and sent initial samples to Frito-Lay on Dec. 15, 1989. This is essentially the same seasoning Frito-Lay uses today.

In response to Frito-Lays statement regarding the ingredients, Carey offered, They may have not invented the ingredient, but they invented the energy that goes behind this thing and the positioning, and then it becomes successful.

Frito-Lay records given to the Times did confirm that Montanez was instrumental in the rollout of Flamin Hot Popcorn, as well as a line of spicy products called Sabrositas.

As for the upcoming film centered on Montanez, the Times said that its producers were informed of the results of the Frito-Lay investigation in 2019, but decided to move forward. On May 4, the lead cast members of the biopic were announced, Jessie Garcia and Annie Gonzalez. In a statement to Variety regarding the casting announcement, Longoria said: My biggest priority to make sure we are telling Richard Montanezs story authentically. I am so happy to have two extremely talented and fellow Mexican Americans on board in these pivotal roles. Jesse and Annie have a deep understanding of our community and will be able to help tell this story of great importance for our culture.

Representatives for Montanez, Franklin, Searchlight Pictures and Frito-Lay did not immediately respond to Varietys request for comment. Representatives for Longoria had no comment.

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The man accused of smuggling a mixture of narcotics through the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge said his wife told him not to drive the vehicle, but he did not listen to her, according to an arrest affidavit.

Authorities identified the suspect as Alberto Jose Colmenares-Hernandez, 50. He was charged with import, attempt to impot and conspire to import cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone.

The case dates back to May 9, a 2011 Honda CR-V with Oaxaca, Mexico license plates arrived at about 2:09 p.m. at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers identified the driver as Colmenares-Hernandez. He declared to be a Mexican citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States. He stated he was on his way to Atlanta, Georgia after visiting his girlfriend and family in Oaxaca.

Colmenares-Hernandez stated he was the owner of the vehicle and added that he had bought it about a month ago. Then, a K-9 unit allegedly alerted to possible narcotics in the vehicles passenger side rocker panels. A CBP officer removed a plastic cover and saw what appeared to be a bundle wrapped in brown tape. In secondary inspection, an X-ray of the vehicle yielded 11 bundles concealed in the rocker panel areas on both sides of the vehicle.

Six bundles contained 7.71 pounds of cocaine, one bundle contained 1.05 pounds of methamphetamine and four bundles had 1.23 pounds of oxycodone pills, according to the affidavit.

In a post-arrest statement, Colmenares-Hernandez stated he had gone to Oaxaca to visit family. He then provided conflicting statements about acquiring the Honda. He then changed his story saying that a man offered him $1,500 to drive the vehicle from Oaxaca to Georgia.

Colmenares-Hernandez stated that he suspected that the vehicle contained something but never imagined it was so many drugs. He also said that his wife warned him to not drive that vehicle to the United States, states the affidavit.
Reports on Saturday that Dr. A. Marcus Nelson died were confirmed by Laredo Morning Times from sources close the former Laredo Independent School District superintendent.

No cause of death has been announced by the family. There was an outpouring of reactions Saturday from local leaders and former students who knew Nelson.

LISD Public Information Officer Veronica Castillon addressed the news in a release Saturday evening.

The entire Laredo ISD family is profoundly saddened by the news of Dr. Nelsons passing. The news of his death was unexpected and we mourn his loss. He loved Laredo and the children of this community and wanted to provide our students with every educational opportunity and advantage available. On behalf of the Laredo ISD Board of Trustees, the students and staff, we send our sincerest condolences, thoughts, and prayers to his son and family. May he rest in peace," the statement read.

People who knew Nelson locally noted what his death meant and discussed how for years helped the community not just as superintendent but in other activities as well.

I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of our good friend Dr. Marcus Nelson, former superintendent for Laredo Independent School District, City of Laredo District IV Councilmemeber Alberto Torres Jr. said. During his tenure at LISD, we worked alongside on numerous projects and programs for the benefit of what became his community  Laredo.

Torres recalls when Nelson first arrived to Laredo as he was barely a high school student. He got to know him closely through various school activities they shared.

When he first arrived to Laredo, I was a high school student and remember serving on his Advisory Council, Torres said. He served as a role model for all the students as he accomplished much at a very young age. Additionally, we always looked forward to Nelsons Notes, weekly write-ups of his involvement with the students and the community.

Alejandra Vazquez, who got to know Nelson during her time in high school as a student, also remembered him as someone great to be around who had a great passion for what he did which was the educating of students.

Something he would always tell me is to never stop believing. The sky is your limit. Education is so important, Vazquez said.

For Vazquez, Nelsons legacy will never be forgotten as he was a man that cared deeply for the education of others and their futures.

Torres also believes that even though Nelson had not been living and serving in Laredo recently that his legacy will long be remembered in the city.

He will forever be remembered as the superintendent that rapped at graduation ceremonies and convocation events, as he always aimed to doing whatever it took to ensure he connected with his students and staff to ensure he delivered his motivational messages, Torres said. He will be truly missed. Our prayers are with his family and friends.

Nelson served as LISD Superintendent from Aug. 2009 to June 2017. He was named the Texas Association of School Boards Superintendent of the Year in 2014.

After leaving his post at LISD, Nelson went to work as the superintendent of the Waco Independent School District. However, after an incident that led to his resignation, he was hired last year as a consultant for the City of Marlin as it explored opening a city-operated charter school.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Local health officials and Laredo residents had mixed reactions to new guidelines released Thursday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention saying people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks indoors when they are among other vaccinated individuals.

Although the guidelines come with exceptions such as when in public transport, it opens the door for more people than ever to relax the requirement to wear face masks in the company of others even if it is in a large venue such as a concert.

The CDCs updated guidance today is monumental in nature and demonstrates the impact vaccination has on ones life, City of Laredo Health Authority Dr. Victor Trevino said. Laredo has paid a heavy price, so I am hopeful that we can continue to control the spread of COVID-19 in our community and get back to normalcy.

Since herd immunity is still not achieved locally or nationally, Trevino advises people to use caution and to continue using protective measures.

Caution still needs to be exercised as we are still seeing a tale of two cities between vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, Trevino said.

According to Trevino, one recommendation does not fit every situation. He said guidelines should be implemented based on the level of transmission and vaccination rates of the communities.

Even though we currently have low transmission and higher vaccination rates in Laredo, I would not recommend removal of masks of individuals that are immunocompromised or have an underlying medical condition, especially if indoors for long periods of time with unvaccinated individuals, he said.

One local doctor, however, is not happy about the new CDC guidelines saying it is too soon to leverage the risk to many people by easing restrictions.

I personally feel it's a little too soon to lift an indoor mask mandate for anyone, Dr. Tyler King said. If we had vaccine passports where we could verify their vaccination status, that would be a different story. But the fact remains, we have no way of confirming vaccination status other than the easily forgeable CDC cards.

King does not plan to ease any restrictions just yet within his family despite him and his wife being fully vaccinated. Also, he fears the policy change could have political motivations.

Even though my wife, and I are fully vaccinated and protected, our daughter has not yet been vaccinated, King said. As soon as she is fully protected, Ill feel more comfortable taking my mask off indoors when I am around people who I cant confirm vaccine status with. Those of us in the health care field have been traumatized by what weve seen over the last year, and I think most of us are going to need some time to accept this new recommendation from the CDC. I also worry the CDC is being influenced by politics and the media.

People around the community had similarly mixed reactions to the news.

All I have to say is hooray, and we deserve a pat on the back as one of the main cities to have the highest vaccination rate not just in the state but in the country as well, Patricia Sandoval said. It means that more than ever we are closer to normal and that a whole family fully vaccinated can now get together without much worry about getting each other sick.

Sandoval said she is more than ready to celebrate future holidays like Independence Day and several birthdays, more than ever with her family.

I just think that this is the day that should go down in history as the day when the pandemic finally comes to an end, Abraham Rodriguez said. It is the day when normal life came back, and I hope things dont just go back to normal just like that but also things improve and we can maintain some of the safety and clean guidelines we have been using for the past year to ensure we protect each other from other viruses and diseases.

Even people that live in Nuevo Laredo who have not been vaccinated celebrated the news.

It is great to see the big neighbor to the north always accomplishing something, Jose Montoya said. Even though I am an American and can get the vaccine over there because I work in Laredo, I have been trying to wait until it comes over here in Mexico and my wife can get her vaccine as they are still only putting them to only older people. Nevertheless, with this it is very possible that I will get my sooner now.

Montoya said one of his worries is that many people will start feeling ready to go to concerts and other places without a vaccine.

I have not been vaccinated but could easily go anywhere now if allowed and not use my mask and people would think I am vaccinated, Montoya said. I think this is something problematic about the new guideline, but I hope that people do not abuse it and businesses and the City of Laredo maintain their restrictions as much as possible to ensure the greater safety of the city.

Although some people hope mask restrictions continue to be implemented by businesses, Trevino said this is up to local governments and businesses. He hopes they continue so more people become vaccinated and some form of immunity is reached.

It is incumbent upon the government and private businesses to set the example by vaccinating their employees and continue to lead by example until we reach a level of herd immunity, Trevino said.

King hopes most people continue practicing the safety guidelines to help protect those who have not been vaccinated.

I have full confidence in the efficacy of the vaccines and know I am safe from severe COVID, King said. My personal concern is for my unvaccinated daughter who will be getting the vaccine as soon as she is eligible. Additionally, we still don't know how long vaccine immunity lasts, and variants still pose a threat.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Laredo was recently recognized as the best city in the country to start a new business by WalletHub, and local business experts and new business owners celebrated the news amid the economic effects of the pandemic.

Its great to get recognized, I think it is a significant announcement by Wallethub that Laredo would be the highest ranked city for small business in the whole country, Laredo director of economic development Teclo Garcia said. Even if we were ranked No. 1 in Texas, that would be significant, but the whole country, that is absolutely exciting. When I see those reports, what I do is always look at the methodology as to how they got to this and see why we are ranked high or low. This one they based on three trackers: business environment, access to resources and business cost.

According to Garcia, a distinction like this helps change the narrative of what Laredo is about. He said this helps show how Laredo is more than just a vital port of entry but is also vital in small business creation.

Garcia said the cost to sustain a business is competitive with other areas as wages arent significantly high but are enough to provide a living. He said Texas is a good state for business costs compared to alternatives like California and New York.

President and CEO of the Laredo Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) Gene Lindgren said the recognition is long been overdue for the city.

Its wonderful to be recognized nationally for what we, as a community, have been promoting for several years, Lindgren said. Our communitys success is a result of Team Laredo, a combination of efforts from the roles played by the LEDC, the city government with their continued support and focus, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, support from Webb County, the chamber, the rotaries, Laredo Colleges innovation and agility, TAMIUs excellence and their SBDC, the first-class banking community, our very own MileOne International Business Assistance Center, and many more, all focused on the same goal.

Its what I love about Laredo, a mid-size city with a small town feel in all the best aspects: respect, support, teamwork and business relationships that go beyond work. We are family.

Local business owners who recently opened said they are thrilled by the news as they begin to explore the entrepreneurial waters of the city.

I definitely agree. Laredo does have a lot of support, Jessica Olivares said. For example, I have a lot of friends that are business owners, and there is so much business going on and so man opportunities going on.

Lindgren believes office space in the community has a variety of competitive options. He said one of the best values in town is the space at MileOne which offers budding entrepreneurs space at a low cost along with receiving business advice, support and programs that prepare the businesses for success beyond a start-up.

Olivares is glad to see more people taking the risk and opening businesses as her company will focus on helping other business sustain their success in Laredo.

I am proud, and I am happy about more businesses coming down to Laredo and more people take that risk or that jump to open up a business, Olivares said. I started my own business J. Olivares Enterprise, which is brand new, and more than anything that is exactly what I am going to focus on, being a one-stop shop for existing business owners or anybody looking to start a business.

Abraham Macias recently opened Macias Credit Services LLC to help clients improve their credit scores.

I believe Laredo is a city with a wide range of business opportunities due to the diversity in the people, Macias said.

Garcia said the ongoing pandemic has not stopped Laredoans from embracing their entrepreneurial spirit.

I talked to small business owners and large business owners about the pandemic and starting a business amid the pandemic, and I saw that there are a lot of entrepreneurs and businesses that are very innovative during the pandemic, Garcia said. A lot of businesses that had to close their doors, a lot of servicing places like restaurants or small convenient stores or small clothing stores; however, among these closures many innovative Laredoans said, Hey, maybe we can do more in delivery, more in mask manufacturing or do other services for people because they do not want to do them and dont want to go out.

Garcia said any situation, no matter how dire it might be, creates an opportunity for somebody else, especially an entrepreneur. He said while the pandemic has seen some businesses close their doors, many small and large businesses have opened in and around the area. For instance, he said a fourth large, international produce company is on its way to open its doors in Laredo.

Business and industry have already moved past the pandemic, Lindgren said. And, customers are right there with them. You go out now and the parking lots are filling up, restaurants are nearing capacity, the bridge crossings are at all-time highs and were hosting prospects that are interested in investing in large facilities with hundreds of new jobs. These new jobs will fuel small business success as workers spend money on housing, transportation, retail, dining, leisure, travel and services.

Lindgren believes Laredo is finally transitioning from being a city known only for its vast logistics and transportation sector. He believes the city should support its main base while continuing to leverage the advantages of top-notch educational institutions, a friendly business climate, workforce talent and availability and a rich bi-national culture.

This was not just a guess. This was a scientific research that they did to come up with it, and we want that message to come across Laredo and the rest of Texas that we are the states No. 1 trade city and the No. 1 city for small businesses, Garcia said. We welcome other folks to look at us, to contact anybody whether it is the chamber, LEDC or us. It is a giant step for Laredo.

WalletHub released the results for the research study that recognized Laredo as No. 1 on April 27, and the study focused on 21 key aspects of a citys economy which include job growth, business environment, business costs, five-year business survival rate, COVID-19 cases and affordability of office space. Laredo beat out large metropolitan areas such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and others in the study.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
Over a thousand graduates began the two-day gathering at Sames Auto Arena starting Friday night for the 2021 TAMIU Commencement Ceremony to celebrate the 2020 and 2021 graduating classes.

This in-person commencement was the first held since December 2019 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2020, we had to cancel our customary in-person commencement ceremony because of COVID-19, said Dr. Thomas Mitchell, TAMIUs Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. But we promised the graduates last spring that we would have a in-person ceremony for them as soon as we could safely do so. And that time has come.

The ceremony on Friday at 4 p.m. saw 286 graduates who received undergraduate degrees and 875 Spring 2021 graduates and 1,753 2020 graduates who did not have a ceremony during the 7 p.m. event. Mariana Rodriguez, 2021 Student Government Association President, speaking on behalf of the students.

Earlier this academic year, we reminded each of the importance of hope and resilience. I remember saying that the power to make change relied on each and every single one of us. And today, we prove that statement to be true, Rodriguez said. You are making a difference and serving as role models to many as you successfully accomplish of graduating.

Today, I congratulate you because the road has not been easy. Whether it was the all-nighters, meeting with professors, meeting with your student organizations or staying late for an event, you have accomplished what many have not and you will set the way for the ones that follow. Congratulations, class of 2020 and 2021, we did it!

And with the transition to an in-person ceremony, friends and family were ecstatic to see their loved one walk. Griselda Cisneros said she was there celebrating her sister Nancy Sanchez, who was the first university graduate of the family. As the pandemic raged on, she believes that the in-person ceremony allowed her to be there with her and celebrate the efforts made throughout the years.

She added that with the family gathering, she feels the ceremony provided an additional sense of support for her sister and graduates. Considering the year went by without much social interaction, Cisneros said that the virtual meetings were adequate to support one Sanchez, but Fridays event showed the true value of being next to one another.

The graduating students were also congratulated virtually by Rep. Henry Cuellar, Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp and Chairman Elaine Mendoza. With students experiencing a more difficult challenge than usual amidst the pandemic, the speakers highlighted and praised the efforts that it takes to graduate in such a difficult situation.

Mendoza reminded each student of the day they were accepted into TAMIU, the first day of class, the friends made along the way and the peaks and valleys throughout the graduates college career.

Your hard work paid off, you did it! she said. Graduates, we are counting on you to do great things  each of you who have navigated unprecedented challenges to finish what you began, will be our neighbors, leaders and visionaries. So live with purpose, godspeed and congratulations.

And with the finishing authorizations by the TAMIU and A&M Systems and in front of their friends, families and peers, graduates moved their tassels to the left and soon after walked the stage.

You saw your classroom shrink to the size of a laptop, your participation in the traditions of your final year limited and your time management severely challenged, TAMIU President Dr. Pablo Arenaz said in his concluding statement. And, you have all persevered through it all. You have met the challenges put before you head on and triumphed, resulting in this final act graduation.

To ensure safety, the event was split into four, two on Friday and two on Saturday. On Friday, both time slots recognized the College of Arts and Sciences. On Saturday, both 2020 and 2021 graduating students from the College of Nursing and Health Sciences and the A.R. Sanchez, Jr. School of Business will be celebrated at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Compounding the safety of the split, TAMIU and Sames Auto Arena asked that guests adhere to the safety guidelines they placed. Despite the CDCs decision to allow fully vaccinated individuals to forego masks, both the university and venue are asking guests and students to wear their masks and social distance themselves. Sames Auto Arena also asked guests to seat in four-seat pods of their group to avoid getting too close to other families.

cocampo@lmtonline.com
Webb County Treasurer Raul Reyes and South Texas Latino Coalition President Jeronimo Martinez teamed up Tuesday to provide a donation to Laredo South Triumph Public High School principal Odie Arambula to help students get the school items they need as they approach graduation.

The $300 donation will help purchase the graduation caps and gowns for 10 graduating seniors.

Its always important to ensure that as community leaders we try our best to provide the tools and resources necessary to our high school students to not only get ahead but stay ahead, Reyes said.

Reyes said donations like these are more important than ever due to the pandemic and the struggles it creates.

The Senior Class of 2021 from Triumph Laredo South is extremely grateful for the generosity forth taken by our Webb County Treasurer, Raul Reyes, and Mr Jeronimo Martinez, president of the South Texas Latino Coalition, Arambula said. As principal of the Laredo South Campus, its important to build relationships with our civic leaders so our future leaders can appreciate the benefits of giving back to our schools. The donation of $300 today will go to purchase caps and gowns for 10 of our graduating seniors this school year.

Reyes said he believes that the pandemic did not just affect last years graduating seniors but this years as well. It was a disruptive force despite the students continuing to excel on their way to graduating.

If this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are resilient when we come together and help one another, Reyes said. Students across our community have had to endure so much anxiety, and like the class of 2020, an unprecedented senior year and experience. I hope this donation helps take a little off their plates as they prepare to transition into their college and university studies.

It is my hope that they realize that there are people out here rooting for their success.

Reyes hopes to continue his partnership with the South Texas Latino Coalition to help the low-income students purchase their caps and gowns.

jorge.vela@lmtonline.com
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A league of Muslim nations on Sunday demanded that Israel halt attacks killing Palestinian civilians amid heavy fighting between it and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even as fissures between countries over their recognition of Israel emerged.

A statement by the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation hewed closely to previous ones issued by the Saudi-based group, including backing the decades-old call for Palestinians to have their own nation with East Jerusalem as its capital.

However, recent normalization deals between Israel and some nations in the group  as well as their own concerns about Hamas  saw diplomats at points instead criticize each other.

The massacre of Palestinian children today follows the purported normalization, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. This criminal and genocidal regime has once again proven that friendly gestures only aggravate its atrocities.

The past week has seen some of the worst violence across Israel and the Palestinian territory since the 2014 war in Gaza, with militants launching missiles and Israel pounding the blockaded coastal strip home to 2 million people with heavy fire. At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation statement called on Israel to respect Muslims' access to Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, as well as stop settlers from forcibly evicting Palestinian families from their homes.

The plight of the Palestinian people is the bleeding wound of the Islamic world today, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar said.

But the videoconference meeting saw some delegates instead turn their fire toward countries like Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, Muslim nations which reached normalization deals last year to recognize Israel. While Egypt and Jordan earlier reached peace deals, supporters of the Palestinians criticized the new countries for recognizing Israel before the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu joined Zarif in criticizing the normalization, though Israel maintains diplomatic ties with Ankara.

There are a few who have lost their moral compass and voiced support for Israel, he said. If there are half-hearted statements within our own family, how could we criticize others? Who will take our words seriously?

Zarif also accused Israel of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Make no mistake: Israel only understand the language of resistance and the people of Palestine are fully entitled to their right to defend themselves, Zarif said.

Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in 2007, didn't take part in the meeting, which came before consultations at the United Nations over the crisis.

Across the Arabian Peninsula, reactions to the fighting similarly has been mixed. In Qatar, home to the Al-Jazeera satellite network, hundreds turned out late Saturday night to listen to a speech by Hamas top leader Ismail Haniyeh. Kuwait's parliament speaker reportedly spoke with Haniyeh on Saturday, as did Qatar's foreign minister.

Meanwhile, in Bahrain and the UAE, government-linked media hasn't been covering the current flare-up of violence nonstop like other networks in the region.

There are murmurs of dissent though. In Bahrain, civil society groups signed a letter urging the kingdom to expel the Israeli ambassador. In the UAE, where political parties and protests are illegal, Palestinians have expressed their anger quietly, worried about losing their residency permit. Some Emiratis also have expressed concerns.

The regions only democracy," tweeted the Emirati writer and political analyst Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi in writing about Israel's strike on a Gaza building that housed the offices of The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.

Hussein Ibish, a senior scholar at the Washington-based Arab Gulf States Institute, said most Gulf Arab leaders fear Hamas' rocket fire as "cynical, dangerous, unnecessarily provocative and endangering Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza alike. That takes the pressure off those Gulf leaders to respond, unlike in other confrontations involving the Al-Aqsa Mosque or when Israeli settlers force Arab families out of their homes, he said.

There wont be much sympathy for what is widely viewed in the Gulf as Israels heavy-handed and disproportionate retaliation," Ibish wrote, "but it will be much easier for Gulf leaders and many citizens to regard the exchange as a tragic conflagration at the expense of ordinary people brought about by two leaderships over which they have neither control nor responsibility.

___

Associated Press writers Aya Batrawy and Malak Harb in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
About six hours earlier, officers responded to the same apartment for a domestic disturbance, according to KPHO. Police said no one was arrested and the children were asleep in their beds. Officers said there was no indication the kids were in danger.
Laredo College is committed to providing students with a memorable college experience through transformative academic, technical and vocational programs that fulfill the needs of a growing community and regional workforce. College administrators understand that fostering an environment conducive to student success requires support services and assistance programs for students, which was the driving force behind the creation of the Laredo College Trading Station.

Through a collaboration between the Office of Student Life, the Associated Student Organization, the Classified Staff Council and LC Faculty Senate, the Trading Station was established in 2017 with the goal of transforming Laredo College students lives through services that enhance their quality of life.
After a full year of difficulties, thousands of students are reaching the finish line and are set to graduate later this month. As such, LISD and UISD have announced their schedules, which will see a majority of ceremonies still taking place outdoors with safety guidelines, including mandatory mask usage and social distancing, in place.

According to LISD, 1,459 students are expected to graduate between May 27 and June 1. Each of the four high schools will be separated by day. For the ceremony, students will receive four tickets each, and staff and faculty are planning to make it as normal as possible. With the CDC allowing for social distancing to be reduced to three feet, more guests will have the chance to attend and see their child walk the stage.

The schedule is as follows:

Hector Garcia Early College High School on May 27 at 6 p.m. at TAMIU Gym

Dr. Leonides G. Cigarroa High School on May 28 at 8 p.m. at Shirley Field

J.W Nixon High School on May 31 at 8 p.m. at Shirley Field

Raymond and Tirza Martin High School on June 1 at 8 p.m. at Shirley Field

At UISD, the ceremonies will take place at the Student Activity Complex field with the only difference from 2020s graduation being that United High School will not be separated between two days. Director of High School Instruction Dolores Barrera said that between May 26 and May 29, UISD will graduate 3,301 students from all high schools. The schedule is as follows:

Alexander High School on May 26 at 8 p.m. at SAC Field

Lyndon B. Johnson High School on May 27 at 8 p.m. at SAC Field

United South High School on May 28 at 8 p.m. at SAC Field

United High School on May 29 at 8 p.m. at SAC Field

Rosina Silva, LISD Director of Guidance and Counseling, said that on top of trying to ensure that all seniors meet the graduation requirements, staff members are also actively reaching out to students to remind them about scholarships and the college application process.

Additionally, with STAAR exams still a graduation requirement, Silva urges students who are missing one of the tests to attend this weeks online STAAR exams. In accordance with the Texas Education Agency, students still need to be on campus but will be taking the test through a computer.

As of March, a little over 50 students were still missing the STAAR requirements, but with last weeks and this weeks STAAR exam period, the district is now waiting for results and expects that number to be lower, Silva said.

In addition, both LISD and UISD will be hosting summer school that may offer some struggling seniors an opportunity to make up credits and meet graduation requirements before the next school year. Dolores hopes that students use the Odysseyware credit recovery software to meet graduation requirements.

This year, we seem to have gotten a better handle of it, because last year it was new. We had never gone through it and the kids have never gone through it either, Barrera said. This technology has opened up our eyes. We are very tech-savvy now. We learned a lot overnight.

With both the class of 2020 and the class of 2021 graduating under the umbrella of the pandemic, student life has not been easy. Both Barrera and Silva hope that all students, regardless of grade, continue to work hard these last few weeks. As more students returned to campus, the hope is that the summer vacation is used to rest from this pandemic-ridden year.

However, in the case where students require more help, both LISD and UISD offer counseling services to help in a variety of ways, from helping ones mental health to planning for the future. Silva said that with students reaching out to their counselors after meeting with hardship this past year, whether it be a lost loved one or the pressure of the pandemic, it will take time to heal.
Georgia Thomas, standing, hands out face masks she made for the members of Laurel Twig during their fall meeting. Seated at front are Carol Smith of Albion, left, and Carol Shafer of Middleport. At rear are Jan McCloy and Sue Metzo, both of Medina. Hostess Ginny Roberts stands in the doorway. (Virginia Kropf/contributor)
Logan, WV (25601)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Police responded to find a man pronounced dead on the sidewalk, the news outlet said, and a woman lying in the middle of the street, shot in the head. She was pronounced dead at the hospital, The Birmingham News said. One onlooker told police that the pair usually had a dog in tow. Police were still seeking the dog on Sunday.
A bookkeeper who stole thousands of euro from the family-run business he worked at for over 20 years claimed he did so to save for his child's operation, a court has heard.

Derek Moore (48) colluded with three of his employer's customers to give them cheaper materials in exchange for cash payments, which he lodged into his own account instead of the company's, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Friday.

Moore, with an address at Huntstown Avenue, Blanchardstown, pleaded guilty to five counts of stealing just over 92,700 from his employer, Energy Saver Insulations Ltd, on dates between February and November 2018.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying the accounts at the company, which is located in Dublin 12, on February 15, 2018. He has no previous convictions.

Detective Garda Gareth Daly told John Byrne BL, prosecuting, that Moore cashed a total of 48,000 from the three customers on 14 separate occasions during the period in question. The remaining money stolen represented the loss to the company for the discounted materials, the court heard.

When questioned by gardai in March 2019, Moore said his child was waiting on a scoliosis operation and they had been let down by the HSE. He said the price of an operation in the US was 30,000 and he also needed funds for travelling and time off work.

The court heard the child was eventually treated in Ireland.

Mr Byrne told the court that Energy Saver Insulations, a small, family-run business, was hit with a devastating fire in February 2018, which led to a significant loss of documentation.

They hired an independent consultant to help reconstitute the documents, which led to financial irregularities being uncovered. Three customers were identified who had not paid the company, despite receiving goods.

It emerged Moore, who worked as a bookkeeper for the company for 22 years, met these three men separately on a number of occasions and they paid cash for the goods at a reduced rate. Moore then lodged the money in his personal bank account and doctored the company accounts to cover it up.

No charges have been brought against these three customers, although the court heard there are some civil cases pending.

Moore has repaid 33,000 of the money he stole.

When questioned by gardai, he claimed the arrangement was not his idea and that he was approached by the customers. However, it was unclear whether these customers knew each other, the court heard.

Judge Pauline Codd suggested Moore was not helping his case by claiming three separate people approached him and instigated the thefts.

Defence barrister, Cathal McGreal BL, conceded his client was the inside man in the operation. He said Moore was remorseful and had expressed his regret for what he had done.

Moore had previously been on good terms with the company directors, the court heard. He has since lost his job and is currently unemployed.

Mr McGreal said Moore used some of the money for medical expenses for his child. He said Moore did not live in a fancy house or display any signs of wealth. He was not living it up, he said.

The court heard Moore was approached by a newspaper in relation to the incident and was photographed on his doorstep. As a result, he is now afraid to show his face, Mr McGreal said. He is also likely to find it difficult to get employment, he added.

Judge Codd criticised the media for covering the matter ahead of the sentence hearing, saying the case must proceed by the rule of law, not the rule of tabloids. It's not acceptable, the judge said.

She ordered a Probation Report and adjourned the matter to July 26, next, for finalisation.
A Polish man who attempted to murder his wife by hitting her head with a lump hammer while she slept has lost an appeal against his conviction.

Lawyers for Andrzej Benko (48) of Ladyswell Road, Mulhuddart, had argued to the three-judge Court of Appeal that his conviction was unsafe. Benko was sentenced to 15 years in prison following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in April 2014 for the attempted murder of his wife, Joanna, at their home on July 5, 2010.

Following the assault Ms Benko suffered life changing injuries and now relies on full-time care.

Mr Benko's barrister Sean Guerin SC had argued that the trial judge should not have told the jury that an accused person can be presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of their actions. Counsel said that presumption only applies in murder cases as it arises out of section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1964 which defines murder in Irish law and goes on to state: "The accused person shall be presumed to have intended the natural and probable consequences of his conduct; but this presumption may be rebutted."

Delivering judgement on Friday, Ms Justice Una Ni Raifeartaigh dismissed the argument, citing numerous cases where judges had asserted the "presumption" in cases other than murder cases. She said the court is satisfied that the principle applies "across a wide range of offences involving intent".

The judge quoted a previous ruling of the Court of Criminal Appeal which stated: Unless an accused has actually expressed an intent, his intent can only be ascertained from a consideration of his actions and the surrounding circumstances, and a general principle with regard to establishing intention has regularly been stated as being that every man is taken to intend the natural and probable consequences of his own acts.

Justice Ni Raifeartaigh also dismissed an argument that the trial judge's direction to the jury about the presumption was inadequate. Mr Guerin had argued that the judge should have told the jury that the question for them to consider was: "Was death the natural and probable consequence of the accused's actions?"

Justice Ni Raifeartaigh found that the trial judge's direction was "entirely correct in as far as it went" and had correctly stated that the burden of proving that the presumption had not been rebutted lay with the prosecution. She also found, however, that the judge's explanation was "succinct" and "it might have been preferable to give a greater explanation."

The court referred, however, to a decision by the Supreme Court which stated that a judge's charge need not be "perfect". "What is required is a clear, accurate and understandable explanation of the legal principles at play so as to enable the jury to perform its function.

The judge pointed to various parts of the accused's interviews with gardai where he admitted that he intended to kill his wife.

In one extract he said he had the lump hammer because he "wanted to make my justice". When pressed on what that meant he said he wanted "justice to finish my hell" and when asked what would finish his hell he said: "If I would kill my wife." He later said: "The lump hammer was for that purpose, to kill my wife."

This was, Justice Ni Raifeartaigh said, "A clear admission of an intention to kill."

She dismissed the appeal.

Opposing the appeal last year Dominic McGinn SC for the DPP said Benkos lawyers were attempting to over-complicate what was a logical and straightforward concept that the natural and probable consequence of striking a sleeping woman on the head three times with a hammer was death.

Mr McGinn said it was a matter of common sense to reach such a conclusion. He deliberately took a heavy weapon and struck a sleeping, defenceless woman three times on the head, Mr McGinn said.

The original trial heard the couple had been having marital problems with Benko accusing his wife of taking and dealing drugs and spending all his money.
(Alliance News) - New evidence gives a "high degree of confidence" that coronavirus vaccines work against the Indian variant, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said as he urged people to get jabbed to prevent the new strain spreading "like wildfire".

Hancock said on Sunday it is "appropriate" to push on with the major easing of restrictions in England on Monday despite concerns from scientists that it could be 50% more transmissible than the Kent strain.

He did not rule out the possibility of imposing local lockdowns in areas such as Bolton to stem the spread of the variant, although he said it is "relatively widespread in small numbers" elsewhere.

Ministers are hoping surge testing and the acceleration of second vaccine doses can allow a safe opening up of the nation, with jabs due to be extended to the over-35s this week.

Hancock said there are now more than 1,300 cases of the Indian variant in total and it is becoming "the dominant strain" in areas including Bolton and Blackburn in the North West.

But offering good news over plans to ease restrictions without unleashing a fresh wave of infections and deaths, Hancock said there is "new very early data" from Oxford University giving confidence that existing vaccines work against the variant.

"That means that we can stay on course with our strategy of using the vaccine to deal with the pandemic and opening up carefully and cautiously but we do need to be really very vigilant to the spread of the disease," the Health Secretary told Sky's Sophy Ridge On Sunday.

"We have a high degree of confidence that the vaccine will overcome."

Oxford University said the data is preliminary and it is unable to share the research because it is not yet written up in a manuscript.

But John Bell, the regius professor of medicine at the university, said the result of lab experiments investigating whether the vaccine neutralises the variant "looks okay".

He told Times Radio: "It's not perfect, but it's not catastrophically bad.

"There's a slight reduction in the ability to neutralise the virus but it's not very great and certainly not as great as you see with the South African variantaIt's rather close to the Brazilian version where the vaccine serum seems to be very effective in neutralising the virus."

Hancock warned the highly transmissible variant can "spread like wildfire among the unvaccinated groups" as he urged people to come forward for jabs when eligible.

"In Bolton, where we've seen a number of people in hospital with this new Indian variant, the vast majority of them have been eligible for a jab but not taken the jab," he said.

The Health Secretary said there had been no known deaths from the Indian variant in Bolton of somebody who has received both jabs.

Five people have been in hospital with it after received their first vaccine dose, while one person who had received both doses had been admitted "but that person was frail", he told the BBC show.

As government scientific adviser Mark Walport warned the pandemic is at a "perilous moment", Hancock insisted it is right to continue with Monday's easing of restrictions.

People will be able to socialise indoors in homes, pubs and restaurants, and will be permitted physical contact between households for the first time in more than a year.

The Health Secretary said the extent of the increase of transmissibility of the variant is unknown "so that's why it's appropriate to continue down the road map but people need to be cautious and careful".

He did not rule out that the easing may have to be reversed if the Indian variant proves to be very-highly transmissible, and he said the possibility areas such as Bolton could be forced into local lockdown if testing and vaccinations are not effective enough.

"Given though Bolton has been in some form of kind of a lockdown for a year, it's not a step we want to take but of course we might have to take it and we will if it's necessary to protect people," he told Ridge.

With surge testing also underway in areas of Blackburn, Sefton and London, Hancock said the government will decide on June 14 whether all legal restrictions can be ended in the final step of the road map out of lockdown on June 21.

And he confirmed that over-35s will be invited to book their Covid-19 jabs this week.

Walport, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for emergencies, warned it will be "extremely important" to keep an eye on the numbers over the next few weeks.

"And the problem is that the data takes some while to emerge, which is why there's you know every grounds to be very cautious about the ability to open up in June," he told Ridge.

"But I mean I think it's fair to say it is a perilous moment. We have a variant that shows good evidence of being more transmissible and possibly significantly more transmissible."

He said that "complete normality" will "take a bit of time to return", as he urged people to exercise caution.

"Well my advice is that just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should," Walport said.

"As far as possible socialise outside, maintain social distancing, if you're going to hug, hug cautiously."

Chair of the Commons Home Affairs Committee Yvette Cooper suggested the foreign holiday ban should not end as scheduled on Monday.

The Labour MP told Marr Show: "The government needs to slow down its plans. I don't understand why it's lifting some of its international travel restrictions tomorrow. I think they should be being much more cautious about that."

But Hancock continued to defend the government against criticism it acted too late in imposing heightened restrictions on travel from India.

By Sam Blewett, Richard Wheeler and Catherine Wyle, PA

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
A 22-year-old womans excitement over showing off her new car to her grandfather quickly turned to shock and disappointment when it was stolen
File-This April 12, 2021, file photo shows Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer talking about the statewide COVID-19 vaccination effort during a press conference, in Ypsilanti, Mich. Whitmer is facing renewed scrutiny after reports that she used a private plane shared by high-powered, politically connected Detroit-area business families to visit her elderly father in Florida in March. (Lon Horwedel/Detroit News via AP, File)/Detroit News via AP)
Christoph Cunningham, of Detroit, said he's fully vaccinated but wore a mask Friday, May 14, 2021, on his way to lunch at a bar. He said he agrees with the new federal and state mask policies. "I have confidence in the science behind it all," said Cunningham, who works in the culinary field. "I'll eventually take my mask off more and more. I might take it off to make other people comfortable. ... If you don't feel comfortable not wearing a mask, I think you should be able to keep it on. Don't beat anyone down." (AP Photo/Ed White)
Nicholas Sugiarto, of San Diego, Calif., a student at Dartmouth College, stands for a photograph on the school's campus, Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in Hanover, N.H. A wave of anti-Asian attacks that started more than a year ago with the pandemic, along with the March 2021 shootings in Atlanta that left six Asian women dead, have provoked national conversations about the visibility of Asian Americans. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
After pleading guilty to conspiracy to encourage or induce a foreign national to enter the United States, Walker faces up to 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine at her sentencing on Aug. 9.
Exton, PA (19341)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low near 60F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
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Fifty-five people in Mallorca and five more in Madrid have been arrested by the National Police in connection with the laundering of money derived from drug trafficking. The money was being diverted to Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the US.

'Operacion Polvora' (Operation Gunpowder) was launched after police became aware of a criminal organisation led by a Cuban living in Spain. He was diverting large amounts of money. This was used to buy properties and vehicles.

Two companies in Mallorca are also implicated in the money laundering, as they were drawing up false invoices; the illicit money was supposedly for construction work.

The police estimate that the money that was laundered amounts to at least one million euros. Raids and searches have led to the seizure of some 400,000 euros cash, more than three kilos of cocaine, sixty kilos of cutting substance and luxury goods. International bank transfers were made using front man accounts and money transfers were made through locutorios.
Brian Plakke,age 59 passed away May 23rd, 2021 at Hillcrest after a long battle with cancer. Brian was born to Donald and Marlene Plakke.( Howard True stepfather.) He graduated from Mankato West and journied to Alaska with friends,where he enjoyed fishing and traveling throughout the state. 
Recent federal guidelines for Americans protected by the COVID-19 vaccine are not meant to send the message that everyone can start tossing their masks, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned on Sunday.

Walensky told ABC News This Week that the science, including a study that wrapped up last week, showed vaccinated people are shielded from the virus and its highly contagious variants  and that they can stop donning masks without fear of spreading COVID-19. But those who refuse to get vaccinated are still at risk of contracting the virus and infecting others, especially if they dont socially distance and wear masks.

Because the pandemic has hit some areas harder than others, Walensky encouraged state and local leaders to take the lead on mask guidelines, according to the latest science and community data.

If theyre vaccinated, they are safe. If theyre not vaccinated, they are not safe and they should still be wearing a mask or, better yet, get vaccinated, she said. This is not permission for widespread removal of masks. These decisions have to be made at the jurisdictional level, at the community level. Some communities have been hit harder and have lower vaccination levels than others.

The CDC on Thursday eased indoor the mask-wearing requirement for people who are fully vaccinated. The new guidance still calls for masks in crowded indoor settings, such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but eases up restrictions for offices and schools.

The guidance also no longer recommends that fully vaccinated people wear face coverings when outdoors in crowds.

ABCs Martha Raddatz noted that polling shows a quarter of all Americans do not want the vaccine. She said that essential workers will have no way of knowing whether the unmasked people they serve are vaccinated, so who is supposed to be the vaccination police?

Walensky argued the nation was lucky to be able to relax several social distancing and mask guidelines based on the ramp up in vaccinations and significant drop in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths. She urged businesses to provide paid time off for workers seeking vaccines and for Americans to self-police at a time when the country is beginning to open up.

We are asking people to take their health into their own hands, to get vaccinated, she said. If they dont, they continue to be at risk.

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On Sunday, Grace Kinstler and the rest of the American Idol top 4 contestants will be performing original songs. The fans favorites will then make it to the top 3.

The fan vote has always been a large part of the show. But like previous seasons, the first few episodes of American Idol were set by the judges.

Now its Americas turn.

Kinstler, a Berklee College of Music student, is one of two women left in the competition and is the only contestant in the shows top 7 that has Massachusetts ties.

Voting beings at the start of the East Coast broadcast, which is at 8 p.m. Voting then lasts until the shows last commercial break.

Fans can vote up to 30 total times. This includes 10 votes per voting method.

Voting is allowed through online, text messages and the American Idol app. For those voting through text, the number of the contestant can be texted to 21523. For Kinstler, that number is 10, which is changed from a few weeks ago.

American Idols Twitter account will also help keep fans updated on ways to vote.

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EAST LONGMEADOW - The 31st annual Suzuki String Serenade, featuring young musicians from the Greater Springfield Area as well as Northern Connecticut, will be held Saturday, May 22, at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 1 Porter Road.

The Suzuki Talent Education Partnership concert begins at 6:30 p.m., prelude at 6:15 with the youngest students, and benefits STEPs Scholarship and Instrument Loan Fund. It will stream over Facebook Live as in-person seating is limited.

STEP founder and violinist Lani Bortfeld called the event, which was not held last spring because of restrictions around the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, a symbol of hope for our community.

A graduate of the New England Conservatory with a masters degree from the University of Connecticut, Bortfeld teaches music based on a method developed by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki. Her independent Suzuki program dates to 2002 and draws many first-generation Americans students and their families.

The three student soloists chosen by audition for the concert include Holyoke violinist Evan Meara who will perform May Song. Also, Chicopee siblings Arjana Kunanele, who will perform a Bach Minuet on her violin, and Govinda Kunanele, Suzukis Andantino on his viola.

The STEP quartet of violinists Evelyn Erofeyev and Felix Zhou and cellist Kathy Li, all of Longmeadow, and Westfield pianist Sam Longley will perform Erskine Hawkins Tuxedo Junction, assisted by Belchertown STEP supporter Richard Loomis on bass.

Bortfeld, who directs the STEP Suzuki Strings, will perform Ernest Blochs Abodah in memory of lives lost during the pandemic.

The program includes a section that celebrates music with African origins.

Our middle-high school chamber ensemble has focused on music with African roots this year, with the help of STEP father Kevin Sharpe, well-known area gospel choir director, church musician and jazz instrumentalist, said Bortfeld who until recently was holding remote only classes for about a dozen students.

The Suzuki method uses folk songs and Western classical music as its foundation, so this unit on blues and jazz has taken them out of their comfort zone, but theyve responded well. Theyve worked hard on an arrangement of Gershwins Summertime, which has references to Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown and Count Basie, and will perform jazz-style solos in the middle of the piece.

For further information, including on ticket costs or to make a donation, contact Bortfeld at (860) 265-2879, or visit online at https://fb.me/e/2rEm1EYGP

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Police Superintendent David Brown said officers responded to a ShotSpotter signal and found a man in a vacant alley around 7:30 a.m. The suspect immediately began firing on the responding officers, hitting one in the hand and the other in the leg and shoulder, above the vest. The first officer was hospitalized in good condition and the second critical, but stable, Brown said.
After three murders in Fall River, Massachusetts that police said were related to a satanic cult in 1979, three people were convicted and sentenced to prison.

But as a docuseries for EPIX called Fall River began looking at these cases, new things came to light, said director James Buddy Day.

New people came forward. We found new evidence, Day said during a Facebook Live interview with MassLive. We didnt really even get to the conclusion that we came to until very, very late in the process.

The story, he said, started by looking at Carl Drew, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole after the murders. But as they began talking to people and researching more, the story expanded.

Three women, Doreen Levesque, Barbara Ann Raposa and Karen Marsden, were all killed in Fall River beginning in 1979. The murders were gruesome, and police said they were believed to be part of a satanic cult.

[Robin] Murphy dragged Marsden by the throat and hair into the woods ... Murphy and the defendant then began striking Marsden with rocks, court documents state. After further brutalizing Marsden, the defendant (Drew) ordered Murphy to slit Marsdens throat and Murphy complied. The defendant then tore the head from the body and kicked it.

No one was ever convicted for the murder of Levesque. Andy Maltais was convicted of Raposas murder. Alleged cult leader Drew was convicted for Marsdens murder and Robin Murphy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of an agreement to testify against Drew and receive a reduced sentence.

The series interviews Drew, Murphy, a new witness and more.

Murphy has since recanted her testimony against Drew and said shes done telling stories in the docuseries.

I believe her now, said Day, adding that all this happened when Murphy was 17. I believe shes saying as much as she knows.

The docuseries also looks at Murphys life story, which is being told for the first time, Day said.

I think it really reframes everything you may think you know about Robin Murphy, Day said.

One of the aspects that didnt make it to the final cut, however, was Drews life story. It isnt the most relevant to the case but is interesting, Day said.

Drews father got married and divorced over and over again, Day said.

He would find widows and he would marry them and use Carl to fix up their property, Day said. And then he would leave them and take their children and create this like workforce.

The father was also abusive to Drew, Day said.

When you really dig into their backstory and learn where they came from, theres a lot of abuse. Theres a lot of darkness, Day said. And it really reframes, for me, what happened later on.

In the end, though, its about the injustice that was done to multiple people, Day said. And its time to make those right, he added.

I really hope that the Fall River courts, that the district attorney, the governor, the people that really make these decision in Fall River watch the documentary, Day said. And take the steps to make things right.

The docuseries comes out on EPIX comes out in four parts. The first will be release Sunday, May 16 at 10 p.m. The second will be released the same time the following Sunday. And the final two episodes will be released May 30 in a two-part series finale from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Viewers can find EPIX online without cable through Hulu, Fubo and Amazon Prime.

Click here to watch the full interview with Fall River director James Buddy Day.

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NORTHAMPTON  Architect Tristram W. Metcalfe III is working on plans to create as many as 12 condominiums inside the former St. John Cantius Church, a project aimed at preventing the demolition of a Northampton landmark beloved by the Polish community.

But the problem is Metcalfe isnt working for the owners, Holyoke-based OConnell Development. He is working with community groups who oppose OConnells plans to demolish the church and replace it with five townhomes as part of its Hawley Manor development.

Im trying to show the potential, Metcalfe said this week. To me its a slam dunk to save that church for residential use.

The 77-year-old said hes seen too many historic buildings disappear in Northampton.

Our group is still trying to figure out different ways to stop the demolition, Metcalfe said.

Metcalfe has been an architect for more than 50 years and has a number of historic preservation projects under his belt. He did previous design work for a different group that hoped to redevelop the St. John Cantius property but lost funding and abandoned its plans.

Polish immigrants established the parish in 1904 with just $77. The building dates to 1913. The real St. John Cantius was a Polish academic who died in 1473.

The church closed in 2009 when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield consolidated its Northampton parishes. In March 2020 the diocese sold the St. John Cantius property and its 2.23 acres to OConnell for $1.6 million. At the time OConnell said it would build townhomes on the rest of the property but retain the church.

But in February OConnell applied to the city for permission to demolish the church, saying redevelopment plans were not economically feasible due to the pandemic and that the structure had deteriorated.

After a public outcry and two long meetings, the Northampton Central Business Architecture Committee denied permission for OConnell to demolish the building, leaving it up to the company to come back with a new plan. It has not yet done so. The company didnt respond to requests for comment this week.

Opponents of demolition like former city employee Terry Masterson fear the next Architecture Committee meeting could come up at any time, and they want to be ready. Those working to save the church have sent 250 postcards to Northampton stakeholders, leaders, officials and board members, Masterson said.

On Thursday night, people interested in saving the church were told they couldnt speak on the subject during the public input portion of a Northampton Planning Board Meeting because the city expects the developers to ask the Planning Board to reverse the Central Business Architecture Review Committees decision and approve the demolition.

But that request is not in hand.

The church also got a writeup in The White Eagle, a Polish-language newspaper published in Connecticut. The storys headline translates to Whats next for the church in Northampton.

Former St. John Cantius Parish and the ongoing Hawley Manor project on Hawley Street in Northampton. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

Ward 3 City Councilor James Nash said there needs to be a broader conversation about former churches in the city, including St. Marys Church on Elm Street, which has also been closed since 2009.

At 10,544 square feet, St. Marys is larger, and would be a more complex redevelopment project, than the 6,000-square-foot St. John Cantius, city officials have said. And unlike St. John Cantius, St. Marys still owned by the diocese.

Nash, whose district includes St. John Cantius, said hes trying to talk with the diocese about restrictive deed covenants that might be making it harder to find a buyer for the property.

The diocese has the St. Mary property listed for sale complete with its rectory and about 1.5 acres of land for $2.9 million. It has been on the market since at least 2016.

Last month, an anonymous donor put up $50,000 through the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts to save endangered churches in Northampton. The donor put $20,000 on deposit to be used for tax-deductible grants to community groups like the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association. The remaining $30,000 would be available for nondeductible uses, for example, direct expenses of the developer or payments to consultants involved in preserving the building.

This week the foundation said the money has not been used.
SPRINGFIELD  A man who was reported missing Saturday night was found dead in the Chicopee River near the Wallamanumps Falls.

Police found the victim in the Indian Orchard section of the city after responding to a report of a missing man at about 6:45 p.m., said Ryan Walsh, Police spokesman.

Firefighters pulled the body out of the water near the Putts Bridge that connects the Indian Orchard section of the city to Ludlow, said Fire Capt. Drew Piemonte.

Officials have not released the identity of the victim.

The scene was turned over to the Springfield Police Department detectives who are investigating the incident as an unattended death. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine how the man died, Walsh said.

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BELCHERTOWN  Police have identified the victim in Saturdays fatal motorcycle crash as a Wales man.

Niles Robbins, 46, was killed when his 2018 Harley Davidson motorcycle and an SUV collided near the intersection of Ware and Enoch Sanford roads at about 2:10 p.m., Massachusetts State Police said.

Robbins was traveling westbound on Route 9 and the SUV was heading east, just west of the Ware town line. The SUV was turning when the collision occurred, said Laurie Loisel, spokeswoman for Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.

He was taken to Mary Lane Hospital in Ware where he later died, she said.

A 52-year-old woman who was a passenger on the motorcycle was seriously injured and flown to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester. The woman, whose name was not released, remains hospitalized, police said.

Neither the operator nor the passenger of the SUV were injured in the collision. Both remained at the scene and cooperated with the investigation, Loisel said.

Route 9 was closed for several hours while police worked at the crash.

Massachusetts State Police from Troop C is investigating the crash with the assistance of the Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section and Crime Scene Services. Belchertown Police and Fire departments also assisted at the crash scene, police said.

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WILLIAMSTOWN  Firefighters from multiple departments continue to battle a brush fire that has been burning since Friday afternoon and has spread over 200 acres of woodland.

The fire was first spotted burning off Henderson Road and has spread to East Mountain, North Adams Fire officials posted on Facebook.

Multiple fire departments, including those in Turners Falls, North Adams, Lanesborough, Clarksburg, Pownal, Vermont and the Franklin County brushfire hand crew are assisting the Williamstown Fire Department, the Turners Falls Fire Department posted on Facebook.

The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services and Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency are also at the scene, North Adams fire officials said.

On Sunday the Massachusetts State Police Airwing began using a helicopter to pick up buckets of water from the Mount Williams Reservoir in North Adams and drop them at the site of the fire. They were expected to remain at the blaze throughout the day, Massachusetts State Police officials said.

Williamston and North Adams also assisted by using a drone to help direct firefighters to different areas, North Adams firefighters said.

Williamstown fire officials could not be reached for comment on Sunday. The Berkshire Eagle reported on Saturday no homes are being threatened by the fire.

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Rep. Liz Cheney, ousted last week from House Republican leadership, told FOX News Sunday that she wont temper her critique of former President Donald Trump, arguing his repeated false claims that the 2020 election was rigged represent a continuing danger to the republic.

FOX News Chris Wallace pressed the Wyoming conservative on why shed knowingly alienate GOP voters, particularly Trump followers, when Republicans have a shot of taking back control of Congress in 2022. Why take the bait, Wallace asked, since Trump is no longer in power and living in a Florida resort?

Cheney shrugged off the suggestion that Trumps commentary should be ignored  either for the sake of the GOP or for the country. She argued Republicans would be in a much better position to beat Democrats if they stop buying into false election claims.

Former President Trump continues to ... claim the election was stolen, using the same language he knows provoked violence on Jan. 6, she said, referencing the mob of Trump followers who breached the U.S. Capitol but failed to stop the certification of President Joe Bidens victory. We have to be a party based on a foundation of truth. Im not willing to be complicit or silent in the face of those lies. Former President Trump continues to be a real danger. His refusal to accept decisions by the courts, his claims as recently as yesterday that somehow this election was stolen. What hes doing is causing people to believe that they cant count on our electoral process to convey the will of the people. We have to be a nation of laws. If you continue to reject the rulings of the courts ... you really are at war with the Constitution.

Local, state and federal election officials of both major parties  from town clerks and county boards to secretaries of state and judges appointed by Trump himself  say no widespread fraud or irregularities affected the presidential race.

Trumps tens of millions of supporters, Cheney argued, have been misled. Theyve been betrayed.

The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney is one the few Republicans in Congress who blame Trump for inciting the deadly attempt to stop Congress from sealing Bidens victory at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. More than 140 police officers were injured and five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.

Nearly 150 Republicans still voted to overturn Bidens Electoral College wins in multiple states, and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy argued the increasingly public divide between Cheney and the GOP caucus required a leadership change.

Republicans voted to remove her from leadership last week. They installed Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who has a less conservative track record than Cheney but has effectively sworn allegiance to Trump, whom she recently described as importance voice in the party. We look forward to working with him, Stefanik said Friday.

Trump has continued to spread baseless claims about the election without presenting any evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities impacting the outcome. On Saturday, he again suggested that former Vice President Mike Pence could have unilaterally denied Bidens victory on Jan. 6  a power never granted to the position by the framers of the Constitution. During the breach of the Capitol, Trumps followers chanted for Pences hanging and erected makeshift gallows.

The violence at the U.S. Capitol could have been even worse, @elainejgodfrey reports. Some of the rioters wanted itplanned for itto be: https://t.co/UndemX8PSg  The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) January 9, 2021

Cheney told ABC News that she will not take part in the whitewashing of the events on Jan. 6, after being asked about Republican members of congress downplaying the attack during a hearing last week.

Trump, who recently called Cheney a bitter, horrible human being, called polling rigged and blasted the media as crooked, disgusting and very dishonest on Saturday. He falsely claimed the presidential election was by far, the greatest election fraud in the history of our country.

Trumps own Homeland Security experts called the election the most secure in U.S. history, and said they found zero evidence that polling machines were tampered with, a frequent false claim spread by Trump lawyers, Republican politicians and followers on social media. Trumps own attorney general, William Barr, said the Justice Department investigated and found no evidence of widespread fraud.

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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
Atlanta, GA (30303)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The boy, who has also not been publicly identified, was found dead around 7 a.m. Saturday near an intersection in the Mountain Creek neighborhood, but police believe he was likely killed around 5:30 a.m. Police spokesman Albert Martinez told the Dallas Morning News that an edged weapon may have been used in the violent death.
Marietta, GA (30060)

Today

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
In a Facebook post, two of the injured people were from the volunteer Scott Fire Department. The incident occurred around 4:30 p.m. on May 8 in a residential area in Krotz Springs, which is between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. The fire fighters were off-duty and attending the boil.
He was taken into police custody and has been charged with speeding 26 MPH or more over the limit, fleeing or evading police first degree motor vehicle, reckless driving, four counts of wanton endangerment first degree police officer, driving too fast for conditions, operating on a suspended or revoked license, improper passing, license plate not legible and resisting arrest.
Cops said Cuevas owns the tiger, citing their obvious friendly relationship and adding that Gia Cuevas admitted to it Saturday. But Cuevas lawyer has maintained that his client does not own the beast. Owning tigers is illegal in the city of Houston.
The state of Mississippi never apologized for the tragedy that occurred on this campus that night  never apologized, Frazier said. So, since Im here representing the state of Mississippi in my role as state senator, Id like to issue an apology to the families, the Jackson State family, for the tragedy that occurred that night because they took very valuable lives.
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RTHK: US says will offer support over any Gaza ceasefire

The United States told the United Nations Security Council on Sunday it has made clear to Israel, the Palestinians and others that it is ready to offer support "should the parties seek a ceasefire" to end the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council. "Because we believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security."

As the Security Council held its first public meeting - after two private briefings last week - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's campaign in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza was continuing at "full force".

Washington - a strong ally of Israel - has been isolated at the United Nations over its objection to a public statement by the Security Council on the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in years because it worries it could harm behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

"We call upon the US to shoulder its responsibilities, take a just position, and together with most of the international community support the Security Council in easing the situation," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired Sunday's meeting because China is president for May.

China said on Sunday it would again push the council to try and agree a statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is "actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire" and called on them "to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed."

The truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have so far offered no sign of progress. The United States sent an envoy to the region and President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.

"In all these engagements with Israeli officials, the Palestinian Authority, and all regional partners, the United States has made clear that we are prepared to lend our support and good offices should the parties seek a ceasefire," Thomas-Greenfield said.

The death toll in Gaza jumped to 188 overnight, including 55 children, amid an intensive Israeli air and artillery barrage since the fighting erupted last Monday. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, in thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

"Each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Security Council.

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israel's response to indiscriminate attacks by Hamas strictly adhered to international law and that the country was taking "unparalleled steps to prevent civilian casualties."

"Israel uses its missiles to protect its children. Hamas uses children to protect its missiles," Erdan said.

Beyond the current flare up in the conflict, the 22-member Cairo-based Arab League called on Biden's administration "to engage in a more active and influential and deeper way in the Middle East peace process," Arab League UN envoy Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the Security Council.

He said they wanted to see "an engagement that would dispel delusions created by the past US administration that Israel would get everything while Palestinians would get nothing," referring to former US President Donald Trump.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital, all territory captured by Israel in 1967. However, under a failed peace proposal by Trump, Washington would have recognised Jewish settlements in occupied territory as part of Israel. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2021-05-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
China releases Analects of Confucius versions for Belt and Road countries

Xinhua) 13:35, May 16, 2021

People perform during a memorial ceremony for Confucius in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, Sept. 28, 2020. A ceremony to mark the 2,571st anniversary of the birth of ancient Chinese sage and educator Confucius (551-479 B.C.) was held in Qufu on Monday. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)

JINAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China has released the Analects of Confucius -- a collection of ideas and sayings from the ancient Chinese philosopher -- in five languages for Belt and Road countries.

The Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, on Saturday unveiled the collection in the Arabic, Mongolian, Czech, Portuguese and Spanish languages to serve the building of the Belt and Road.

Born near the present-day town of Qufu, Confucius (551-479 BC) founded a school of thought that influenced later generations and became known as Confucianism. He is believed to be the first person to set up private schools in China and enroll students from all walks of life.

The Analects of Confucius is a collection of his famous sayings reflecting his political views, moral principles and educational ideas. "How happy we are to have friends from afar" and "Do not do to others what you don't want to be done to you" are among his classic sayings.

The collection has already been translated into English, Japanese, Russian, Korean, French and German.

Guo Chengyan, deputy director of the center, said the center will continue to be engaged in the translation and promotion project of the Analects of Confucius for the Belt and Road countries and play a positive role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations and building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, aiming to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient Silk Road trade routes.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Throughout their prison time, both McCollum and Brown claimed that they were coerced into their confession as authorities took advantage of their intellectual disability. Both of their IQ scores were somewhere in the 50s at the time. They insisted that they did not understand the signed confessions at the time of their signing.
Prices for seaborne pulverized coal injection (PCI) material continued to increase in the cfr market in the week to May 14, due to persistent supply tightness and relatively good demand, but remained largely stable in the fob market on a recovery in supply. Premium hard coking coal, fob DBCT : $121.21 per tonne, up $4.12 per tonne Premium hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang : $269.78 per tonne, up $21.52 per tonne Hard coking coal, fob DBCT : $105.71 per tonne, down $1.00 per tonne Hard coking coal, cfr Jingtang : $227.44 per tonne, up $6.66 per tonneIn the cfr coking coal market, most Chinese market participants adopted a wait-and-see stance on Friday after the huge decrease in steelmaking industry futures prices on Thursday and Friday, including for rebar, iron ore, coking coal and coke futures prices.The Chinese government met major steel mills on May 13-14 to survey overheated steel prices and ordered the market to standardize based on actual market supply and demand conditions, market sources said.The notice and meetings do impact market sentiment; now traders wont be as active as previous days in procuring seaborne coking coal at high prices, a trader source from Shanghai said.But some market participants said they believe seaborne coking coal prices will stay strong even on the back of the falling ferrous market prices because of supply tightness, necessary demand and increasing domestic coke prices.If the coking coal production in Shanxi increased, market sentiment may cool downNow high-quality domestic coking coal from Shanxi is equivalent to about $260 per tonne and the tradable resources are very low, a trader source from Beijing said.American premium low-volatility coking coal Oak Grove was traded on May 12 at $270 cfr China, with a laycan in June, along with another vessel with a laycan in July at the same price and brand, various market sources confirmed on Friday.Meanwhile, the continuously growing domestic metallurgical coke price could support domestic coking coal prices and the current steel production curbing policy in north China would lead to a preference for high-quality seaborne cargoes, market sources said.To maximize high output with limited operation rates, mills prefer high-quality raw materials to sustain production, a Tangshan-based trader said.In the fob coking coal market, market sentiment turned positive on the back of vigorous growth in the Chinese steel market. Chinese buyers are accepting ex-Australia coking coal amid good steel margins, while buyers from other markets have shown buying interest for Australia coking coal, market sources said.Steel margins and prices [in China] increased so much previously and this supported global steel prices and most raw materials, a Singapore-based trader said.Another market source from India said demand for steel is good globally amid a recovery in the steel industry, which could support the raw material procurement prices, such as iron ore and coking coal.Yet one mill source from Vietnam said coking coal prices in the fob market may inch down because the overall slip in the futures and spot market in China on Friday has cooled market sentiment.Were not in a hurry to procure today, and the offer level is high for us, the same source said.A 750,000-tonne cargo of premium low-volatility hard coking coal in the HCCA branded segment traded at $125 per tonne fob Australia on May 14 on the Globalcoal platform, various market sources said.For the PCI market in China, falling steel supply chain prices including rebar, iron ore, coking coal and coke futures have not yet negatively affected demand and transaction prices of Russian PCI.Early this week, bids for low-volatility Russian PCI were about $155 per tonne cfr China and inched down to about $140-145 per tonne cfr China by the end of the week, although this was still higher than in the previous week.Currently, the supply of imported low-vol and mid-vol is still very tight and demand is goodand the high coke prices also support prices of PCI cargoes because theyre one of alternative choices [for coke in steelmaking production], a mill source from north China said.A deal of Russia mid-vol PCI was concluded at about $140 per tonne cfr China in early this week, loading at the end of May, with VM 20%, ASH 10%, GCV 7350.Another deal of Russian low-vol PCI was concluded at $165 cfr China on May 13, market sources confirmed on Friday.Fastmarkets index for PCI, low-vol, cfr Jingtang , was $154.12 per dry metric tonne on May 14, up by $15.08 per tonne on a weekly basis.Some traders take PCI cargoes at high prices from miners because they are very bullish on the future market, but it takes time for end users to accept, a Shanghai-based trader said.The fob PCI market remained largely stable in the week to May 14 because there were no significant changes on the overall supply and demand structure, market source said.Demand [for PCI] is weak, but the market is supported by higher thermal coal prices, an India-based trader said.Fastmarkets index for PCI, low-vol, fob DBCT , was $107.22 per dmt on May 14, up by $0.76 per tonne on a weekly basis.The most-traded September coking coal futures contract closed at 1,922 yuan ($297.77) per tonne on Friday, down by 66 yuan per tonne.The most-traded September coke contract closed at 2,614.50 yuan per tonne, down by 114.50 yuan per tonne.
MIDDLETOWN  A city woman who says she was born addicted to drugs before being sent to foster care has finally discovered a large family of blood relatives she never knew existed.

After a difficult young life, Sana Cotten has found peace thanks to genealogy records and DNA testing.

Not only did she hunt down her immediate kin  two brothers  but she recently connected with uncles, aunts, cousins and a huge extended family last month in North Carolina after searching for most of her life, Cotten said.

In honor of May being Foster Care Awareness Month, Cotten, 38, has set her sights on encouraging people to consider caring for a nonbiological child through foster care, and perhaps, eventually, adoption.

When she was 4 years old, Cotten, who was born addicted to drugs, and her twin brother, Tyson Mayfield, arrived at their new foster home. Even though she was very young, Cotten recalls being scared when the car pulled up.

I knew I had been in a bad situation, but I wanted my mom. I wanted to be in a place that was familiar to me. Yet, here I was, I was officially a ward of the state of Connecticut, she said.

As of April, there were 4,047 children in placement in Connecticut. Of that number, 43 percent are in foster care, according to Casey Family Programs.

Cotten credits her faith with giving her the strength to carry out her mission.

I have come out on the other side, not bitter, but better, but that is only because the right people stepped up to fill in the gaps in my life, said Cotten, whose husband is the Rev. Joshua Cotten, of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Middletown.

Her foster parents, a pastor and first lady, were just launching a church when she joined their family, she said. While the home was safe and we were well-taken-care-of, with tons of structure, the one thing it lacked was nurturing and an abundance of love.

Her social worker filled in the gaps, Cotten said. Love is the secret ingredient that most foster families lack, and the youth in their care desperately need.

Still, without the guidance she needed, Cotten spent the next years of her life searching for love in all the wrong places, she said, and eventually became a teen mother. While pregnant, she struggled with maternity, and yet being a mother and fatherless child myself.

Two months before giving birth, her biological mother was released from prison and died due to complications from AIDS. I never had a chance to speak with her about who I was and where I came from, Cotten said.

Sana Cotten / Contributed photo

Thats when she decided to find her father, despite having no leads whatsoever. Fortunately, a friend bought her a DNA testing kit, and six weeks later, she got some mail.

When I opened the results, I had a long list of matches  a ton of cousins, but no father or even sibling matches, Cotten said. I had no clue what to do with the information I now had.

Last September, amid the pandemic, she was contacted by Kenneth Cunningham, who owns Uniting Families Genealogy. He had heard about Cottens predicament. Cunningham told her it could take a long time to find a match, if ever.

I waited this long, so what was two more years, Cotton told herself.

Three months later, I received a text with a picture that read this is your grandmother, Cotten said. The next day, she learned a male relative wanted to speak with her. I was so afraid to make that call. I wasnt sure if I could handle one more bout of rejection that year, she said.

Her hands were shaking. As the phone rang, I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest, Cotten said.

On New Years Eve, her newfound uncle, Alton Joyner, who lives in Atlanta, was contacted by a representative at Ancestry.com.

At first, I had some apprehension, but he had the facts, so I knew it added up to something legitimate. My first reaction was, Is it me? ... But then I realized it was probably my brother.

Sana Cotten / Contributed photo

Turns out, Joyner is her fathers older brother. Thats when she learned her dad died in 1993. He had left behind two sons, Cottens older brothers and several siblings.

Joyner then recalled a brief encounter he had with his sister years ago, before Cotten was born. His sister said their brother told her he had twins, but they had not survived. I tied two and two together about his whereabouts in Connecticut during that time frame.

Knowing his niece had been searching for so long, he was eager to meet her and called that same day. Why delay? Joyner said.

They talked, and it was almost like she was never gone. I connected with her immediately, Joyner said. We were delighted, he said of the family. There hasnt been one awkward moment.

The reunion, made possible because Cotten was going to be in South Carolina on a book-signing tour, has had a rejuvenating effect on the family, her uncle said. The most amazing part to me was not that she found us, but that she found us accepting of her past and her future.

Cotten works with the state Department of Children and Families through her nonprofit organization, Unashamed Inc., to bring awareness for the need of faith-based foster families: families that will instill faith, and love into the lives of some of our communities most vulnerable population, she said.

When families answer the call and are in alignment, it can literally alter the trajectory of our youth.

To learn about foster care in Connecticut, visit portal.ct.gov/dcf.
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  A woman forced to the ground by two sheriffs deputies in an arrest recorded by her son. Demonstrators tear-gassed and hit by rubber projectiles while protesting the death of George Floyd. A man stunned with a Taser as he tried to flee what advocates say was an unjust arrest.

They are the subjects of federal lawsuits filed in recent weeks by attorneys working under the auspices of Justice Lab," an initiative launched nearly a year ago by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana to raise awareness of, and litigate against, police brutality and racially discriminatory policing.

This is the first of its kind, says Alanah Odoms, executive director of the organization. But she expects it to expand to other state ACLU affiliates, especially in the South.

It's an initiative born in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died last year after a white police officer pinned him down and kneeled on his neck until he could no longer breathe. Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd's death.

Law firms around the nation, regardless of specialty, are involved.

Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, for instance, describes itself on its website as a boutique law firm handling complex business litigation.

Keith Cohan, an attorney with Reid Collins in Austin, Texas, said he believes the Floyd case and discriminatory policing practices were among reasons that his firm decided to participate in Justice Lab.

This is different than our typical practice, he said.

Odoms said nearly 50 private law firms are involved in the project. The ACLU developed a two-week training program for the private firms involved.

The latest Justice Lab lawsuit was filed May 4 in federal court in New Orleans and accuses two St. Tammany Parish deputies of using excessive force and making a false arrest in what started out as a May 5, 2020, traffic investigation. Reid Collins attorneys are among those representing Teliah Perkins in the suit. It references a video recorded by her 14-year-old son and posted on YouTube that shows police forcing her to the ground, her face to the pavement in front of her Slidell home. The suit says the incident began when officers stopped to question her about complaints of someone in the area riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

Capt. Scott Lee, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said the department doesn't comment on pending litigation but also said complaints about the arrest were full investigated and deemed to be unfounded.

Another high-profile lawsuit says police in New Orleans unlawfully used a Taser last year on Michael Celestine, a Black man, as he ran from officers and tried to climb a fence. The lawsuit acknowledges police later found a small amount of cocaine and a gun on Celestine. But it also says officers never had a reason to approach Celestine. It notes that charges eventually were dropped and says the use of force and the search were unlawful.

In a response filed last week, the police officers say Celestine attempted to evade a lawful investigatory stop." They deny wrongdoing and also claim they state law grants them qualified immunity for lawsuits over actions they take in the course of their work.

Qualified immunity for police is a concept supported by many in laws enforcement as necessary to protect police from unjust lawsuits. But it's being challenged by criminal justice advocates around the country in the aftermath of the Floyd case. And it's a target of the Justice Lab litigation.

We have a real chance, I think, to build a body of case law that at least stands to challenge qualified immunity, Odoms said.
SHELTON  A small town feel with all the benefits of a large city  combined with rock bottom tax rates  has turned Shelton into one of the states top residential destination locations over the past year.

CBRE, a Dallas-based commercial real estate services and investment firm, recently released its analysis of change-of-address notifications filed with the U.S. Postal Service which shows that in 2020, Connecticut received a greater share of new arrivals than Long Island and New York towns and villages spanning the lower Hudson River Valley.

Lower Fairfield County landed eight of the top 10 slots  with one belonging to Shelton  for net gains in newcomers in 2020 in New York and Connecticut, according to the CBRE data.

So why Shelton?

The price is right, Ben McGorty, a state representative in the 122nd District and real estate agent, said. Houses are cheaper and the taxes are lower.

Shelton attracts newcomers because it is a city with more of a town atmosphere, according to Julie Blakeman, real estate agent with Carey and Guarrera Real Estate.

In the first four months of 2020, Carey and Guarrera Real Estate had 71 sales with a sales volume of $18,450,000. Patrick Carey of the company said that this year, his firm has had 131 sales in the first four months with a sales volume of $52,500,000. These numbers include Shelton as well as other communities, Carey said.

Folks looking for a new home find the city to be attractive in that it has a little something to offer to everyone, Blakeman said.

The draw is that you can be in a corporate park one minute and on a secluded beautiful walking trail the next, Blakeman added. I have been told they like the feeling of living in the woods but being close to the highway, grocery stores.

Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Virginia Harger said what immediately comes to mind when speaking of Sheltons draw is the citys property tax rate.

By having an affordable and stable tax rate, our city is very attractive to those with proposals for new development and business opportunities, further strengthening and expanding our tax base, she said.

Harger credited the tax rate - now at 22.42 mills - to Mayor Mark Laurettis oversight of city expenses over his tenure, which spans the past three decades.

(Lauretti) expects taxpayer dollars to be spent appropriately, wisely and efficiently, Harger said.

Blakeman also praised Lauretti for keeping our taxes low and the community for giving the city the reputation of what I would describe a small city, with a big heart.

Lauretti has stated that no other municipalities offer such an annual tax rate stability.

Shelton is the best affordable city in Connecticut, Lauretti said. Weve been consistent and predictable for the last 25 years ... people and businesses have gravitated to Shelton for those reasons. Those are just facts.

We spent our money wisely, and we have had growth in every area of city government  and that has resulted in an affordable, safe, high quality of life here, Lauretti said. Businesses want to come here. Residents want to come here. That has led to the citys continued growth.

CBRE data shows that Shelton logged 3,531 move-ins in 2020, compared with 3,090 move-outs for a net positive of 441 in a city of 42,000 residents. Those numbers were far better than 2019, when 3,215 move-ins occurred, with 3,047 move-outs.

Carey, who has been in the real estate business nearly 40 years, called this a once in a lifetime market.

Everything has aligned to create this market  low (borrowing) rates, lowest that I can remember; low taxes, which here are consistently low, and COVID, which no one could ever consider -and Shelton is benefiting, no doubt  Shelton is booming, Carey said.

Carey said his firm has sold Shelton homes to those from New York City and to people from neighboring communities like Trumbull. The reason, he says, is because while Shelton sits in Fairfield County, it sits in a more reasonably priced area of Fairfield County.

The city is close to all major highways, has numerous restaurants and retail stores and brings stability with its tax rate, he said.

Shelton is just attractive to buyers, Carey said.

Carey said todays real estate market is unprecedented, with sellers receiving offers, in some cases, a single day after the home has hit the market. In many cases, he has watched a buyer offer $20,000 to $50,000 over asking price, he said.

Carey recalled a recent open house held at a home in the Hawks Ridge development. He said the couple and their two children came from the Bronx, N.Y., and after touring the residence, immediately said they would buy it.

They were willing to move here. Why? The taxes, and they wanted to get out of the Bronx, they wanted out of (New York) City, Carey said.

McGorty said Shelton offers everything residents need and the commute to the city is doable for the value.

Blakeman said people moving into Shelton find it conveniently located between two major cities, New Haven and Bridgeport.

Shelton also offers housing options in a variety of neighborhoods; a variety of grocery stores, restaurants and retailers for both shoppers and job seekers; public and private school options; and different recreational opportunities for all ages, Harger said.

Sheltons location is also an attractive feature, the P&Z commission chair said, as we're no more than 15 minutes from Bridgeport, 30 minutes from New Haven, 60 minutes from Hartford (and) 90 minutes from New York and Rhode Island.

McGorty said he has sold homes to people from North Carolina and New Hampshire as well as the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and upstate New York. He said that those coming from NYC said they left for safety reasons as crime continues to escalate in their neighborhoods.

On the downside, while the market is flooded with buyers, there is little stock. This has forced McGorty to not only make cold calls to homeowners but also knock on doors seeking the next potential seller.

Potential buyers are bidding anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 more than the asking price, McGorty said. He said in one case, he had buyers who offered $55,000 more than asking price, payment in cash, with closing in 15 days  and they still did not get the house.

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
A house fire in Middlefield displaced three people early Saturday morning, according to local fire officials.

An alert neighbor is credited with letting the residents of a Way Road home know their house caught fire shortly before 2 a.m., according to the Middlefield Volunteer Fire Company. The residents got out safely and six cats were rescued and brought to safety by the firefighters.

Firefighters were delayed in being able to safely extinguish the fire, as they had to wait for Eversource to secure the power to the home. The house was deemed not livable by fire officials.

Firefighters cleared the scene shortly after 4:30 a.m. and the American Red Cross is assisting the displaced people.

The Middlefield crews were assisted by the Durham Volunteer Fire Company, Westfield Volunteer Fire Department, Killingworth Volunteer Fire Department and Middletown Fire Department, as there were no pressurized hydrants in the area.
Almost 15 years ago, the U.S. Navy christened the first of a new class of warship designed to fight the Global War on Terror. The so-called littoral combat ships would be fast and agile, operating close to shore against missile-firing boats and small submarines.

Today, the Navy has a new mission  or rather, has returned to its old mission, facing off against more capable warships deployed by China and Russia. And the service is still trying to figure out what to do with its $16 billion LCS fleet.

It doesn't help that some of the ships have suffered embarrassing breakdowns in mid-ocean. Or that the Navy discovered recently that the transmission in one of the two classes of ships was defective and needed to be redesigned. And while Congress has eagerly funded construction of the two very different classes of ships, it cut funding from the mission modules needed by the ships to fulfill their missions.

That unfortunate combination explains the ignominious nickname assigned to the LCS by some sailors: Little Crappy Ships.

The Navy intends to spend an additional $61 billion to maintain and operate the ships, according to the Government Accountability Office. But at the same time, the service announced plans last year to retire four of the earliest ships  all based in San Diego  beginning this summer, well ahead of the end of their projected service lives.

The Independence, the second ship of the LCS class, will decommission on July 31, followed by the first LCS, the Freedom, on Sept. 30, according to the San Diego-based Naval Surface Force Pacific. Plans to decommission the third ship of the class, the Fort Worth, and the fourth, the Coronado, were nixed by Congress in this year's budget.

The Coronado only entered service in 2014. The ships, the Navy says, were designed to operate for at least 25 years.

The Navy said the money it saves in maintaining the first two ships will be put to better use elsewhere. Those ships, along with the Fort Worth and Coronado, are test platforms and are configured differently than newer littoral combat ships.

"To remain ahead of our competitors, particularly under fiscal constraints, it is important for Navy to carefully review our force structure regularly and divest of legacy capabilities that no longer bring sufficient lethality to the fight," said Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman, a Surface Force spokeswoman.

Schwegman said plans to decommission the Fort Worth and Coronado are on hold and the Navy has not yet made a decision on how to proceed.

Fighting Terrorists

When the Navy's first littoral combat ship contract was awarded in 2005, the country was in the throes of fighting al-Qaeda. U.S. troops occupied Iraq and Afghanistan and the Navy was looking for a small, maneuverable vessel to operate in the world's littoral waters, or those close to shore. The ships were designed for automation and minimal manning  early on, the Navy planned to only put 40 sailors on board each ship, a number that has since expanded to 70.

In an unusual move, the Navy also elected to field two different versions of the ship from different shipbuilders  the steel-hulled 387-foot Freedom class, designed by Lockheed Martin and built by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisc., and the 421-foot all-aluminum trimaran Independence class, designed by General Dynamics and built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.

Both versions were meant to have "modular" mission capability  the ability to go to sea with one of three interchangeable mission packages: anti-mine, anti-submarine or surface warfare.

In 2016, that modular model was abandoned, and the Navy said each ship would be dedicated to one of those three mission configurations.

"The Navy is not getting what they expected to get out of LCS at this point," said Shelby Oakley, who oversees the GAO's work on Navy shipbuilding. "There was a lot of over-promising of capability and technology and concepts that didn't come to fruition."

The ships have had issues with their power trains. To achieve their high speed  sprinting as fast as 40 knots, or 46 mph  each ship has four engines, two diesel and two gasoline, and is pushed through the water via water jets rather than the traditional screw propellers. In January, the Navy stopped accepting Freedom-class littoral combat ships after discovering a design flaw in the combining gear of the vessels. The combining gear functions as a part of the ship's transmission.

Testing is underway in Germany for a fix to the issue and the Navy is still working on a plan to install the fix on ships in the fleet, Schwegman said.

"Land-based factory testing is currently underway at the RENK facility in Germany and will continue over the next several months," she said. "This will be followed by sea-based testing."

The flaw only affected the Freedom-variant, Schwegman said, as the Independence-variant does not have a combining gear.

All of the Navy's Independence-variants are based out of San Diego. All but two of the Freedom variants operate out of Mayport, Fla.; the Freedom and the Fort Worth are based in San Diego.

A Ship with No Helmsman

Littoral combat ships don't just look different than anything else on the waterfront  the differences continue inside the skin of the ships.

On the Kansas City  commissioned in San Diego last year, the 22nd LCS to enter the fleet  the bridge more closely resembles that of the fictional starships of Star Trek than a traditional Navy ship. Two pilot's seats reminiscent of aircraft cockpit seats are positioned center and forward on the bridge. The ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Christopher Brusca, explained that the officer of the deck drives the ship by controlling both the power and direction of the ship's four water jets with a joystick-like dial, rather than the traditional setup of a helmsman steering with a wheel. The ships have no rudders.

Just like the bridge on the starship Enterprise, key members of the crew are all based on the bridge, including the engineering watch officer, tactical action officer, fire controlmen and operations specialists.

The ship also has very few crew spaces and no living quarters below its waterline, meaning the risk of flooding from collisions or battle damage is relatively low  something unique to this variant, Brusca said. The ship also lacks the steep, often slippery ladder-wells found on other vessels; sailors transit an actual staircase between the decks.

The trimaran hull gives the ship another notable advantage, Brusca said: it only sits about 14 feet deep in the water, meaning it can get closer to shore than most ships. This gives the ship an advantage not just in warfighting, but in diplomacy, he said.

"We can pull into ports that some other ships can't because those harbors are shallower," he said. "So we've been able to pull into ports in Asia and have relationships with other countries and other communities within those countries that the Navy has not been able to go to before."

Problems Persist

One of the issues with littoral combat ships is their lack of firepower. Combined with the aluminum hull of the Independence variants, concerns about ship survivability persist.

In 2019, the Navy installed the Naval Strike Missile on the San Diego-based Gabriel Giffords, and it has since added the 100-mile-range anti-ship missiles to three more Independence-variant ships. The Navy plans to add to them to the rest of the class, Schwegman said.

As a training vessel, the Kansas City does not yet have the missiles, Brusca said. The Navy is prioritizing operational ships with the upgrade, which is a significant improvement.

"An LCS that didn't have those missiles? Maybe not very threatening in the open seas," Brusca said. "Now that those missiles are on, you better pay attention to where the LCSs are and that we've got a lot of them. We can definitely reach out an touch people."

Littoral combat ships are able to launch and recover both manned and unmanned helicopters from their rear flight decks.

'High-Risk' Strategy

The decision to retire the first littoral combat ships was seen as yet another example of the Navy's poor post-Cold War shipbuilding strategy.

Another class of cutting-edge ship in San Diego harbor  the stealth destroyers Zumwalt and Michael Monsoor  have no ammunition for their main armament, a gun that was supposed to shoot rocket-assisted shells. The shells became too expensive when the class was cut from 30 ships to three  again, partly because the Zumwalt class's mission changed. Once optimized for fire support close to shore, now the class is being transitioned into a missile-firing role.

The main problem with littoral combat ships, according to GAO watchdogs, is the way the Navy went about developing and purchasing the vessels. The technology on the ships was being developed at the same time as the ships were being constructed.

"LCS is certainly one of those programs ... that was set up with a high-risk approach," Oakley said. "And the outcome was reduced quantities, reduced capability, increased cost, schedule delays  all those things that you don't want to have happen that happen all too frequently."

Oakley said she'd recently embarked on a destroyer and noticed all the littoral combat ships sitting idle at Naval Base San Diego as they were leaving.

"All you're seeing is LCS after LCS after LCS just sitting there, doing nothing," she said. "So when you think about the stresses on the current fleet and all the things you hear about ships being run much longer (and) much harder than we expected ... having the LCS fleet and many of them just sitting there not accomplishing what they should be accomplishing really compounds that issue."

Diana Maurer, who has been monitoring the LCS program since the beginning for the GAO, stopped short of calling the program a boondoggle.

"I think the simple way to answer whether this is or is not a success is just to look at the fact that the Navy is in the process of buying an entirely new class of ships  the frigate  because of shortfalls in the LCS," Maurer said. "I think the thing that is most troublesome is ... who answers for the millions, the billions that have been left unused?"

Maurer said that the Navy wasn't really able to try the ships before buying them.

"The Navy had to kind of abandon that because the initial costs started being too high," Maurer said. And the manufacturers couldn't afford to build a new class of ship without an agreement that said the Navy would buy them.

Operation costs are also high with littoral combat ships. Because the ships are minimally manned, much of the maintenance and repair work is performed by expensive government contractors who have to travel to perform their jobs, the GAO said in an April report. The Navy also lacks the technical data to maintain several systems, the report said.

Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, said the Navy is looking for ways to shift some of that maintenance to sailors in an interview with Defense News this month. However, the manning levels on the ship could limit how much is shifted and that the Navy could adjust the manning on board to meet that need, Gilday said.

In testimony before a Congressional appropriations subcommittee on April 29, Gilday, said the service is "bullish" on LCS and the future of the ships.

The Future

The Navy currently has 12 Independence-variants and 10 Freedom-variants in the fleet, including the two set for decommissioning this year. The program will produce a total of 35 ships, Schwegman said.

However, the Navy also plans to field at least 20 new frigates over the next decade, at a cost of about $20 billion, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office. These new 496-foot frigates will be built out of steel and use propeller propulsion.

They'll also come with a compliment of guided missiles in addition to the Naval Strike Missiles now being retrofitted onto Independence-variant littoral combat ships. The Navy expects construction to begin on the first frigate early next year.

The only of its "modules" that have been fielded on LCS to date is the surface-warfare package, Maurer said, which has led to a relatively low operation workload for the ships.

"The problem is, since so much of the combat capability resides in the mission packages and they're not done, you get a situation where you have ships with no mission packages," Maurer said.

Those other two mission packages are expected next year, Gilday told Defense News last month.

In the meantime, the Navy has found littoral combat ships to be effective in the Southern Command area of operations in the eastern Pacific, conducting counter-drug smuggling work with the Coast Guard. They've also deployed to the western Pacific and the Middle East.

One unfortunate benefit to the LCS program, according to the GAO experts, is that the Navy learned how not to buy new ships.

"(With) the frigate, they wanted to make up for some of the wrongs of LCS," Maurer said. "With LCS, the speed requirement drove a lot of decisions that kind of caused some of the demise of the program because they focused on speed at the expense of other things so that made certain other requirements more expensive."

It's unlikely littoral combat ships will find themselves part of the long-term Navy fleet alongside the aircraft carriers, destroyers and other surface combatants that have been around for decades, Oakley said. The new class of frigates  and, increasingly, unmanned ships and aircraft  will likely do the jobs the Navy once envisioned for LCS.

This article is written by Andrew Dyer from The San Diego Union-Tribune and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
The fire department said the rollercoaster will be unavailable for an unknown amount of time, but a spokesperson for the theme park did not immediately return a request for comment on the breakdown.
KIRISHIMA TRAINING AREA, Japan (AP)  Dozens of Japanese, American and French troops landed amid pouring rain from a CH-47 transport helicopter onto a grassy field at a training area in southern Japan, part of Saturday's joint scenario of defending a remote island from an enemy invasion.

The three nations first joint drills on Japanese soil  dubbed ARC21 and which began Tuesday  come as they seek step up military ties amid growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Japanese soldiers and their counterparts from the French army and the U.S. Marine Corps also conducted an urban warfare drill using a concrete building elsewhere at the Japanese Self-Defense Forces Kirishima Training Area in the southern Miyazaki prefecture. Around 200 troops took part in Saturday's exercises.

On Saturday, the three countries were also joined by Australia in an expanded naval exercise involving 11 warships in the East China Sea, where tensions with China are rising around the island of Taiwan.

The drills come as Japan looks to bolster its military capabilities amid a deepening territorial row with China in regional seas. Japan is increasingly concerned about Chinese activity in and around Japanese-claimed waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing also claims and calls Diaoyu.

Since the end of World War II, Japans constitution has limited the use of force to self defense. Japan in recent years has continued to expand its military role, capability and budget.

Japan's Vice Defense Minister Yasuhide Nakayama, who observed the exercise, stressed the significance of French participation in the joint exercises regularly held between Japan and the U.S., and often with Australia.

It was a valuable opportunity for the Japanese Self-Defense Force to maintain and strengthen its strategic capability necessary to defend our remote islands, Nakayama said. Together we were able to show to the rest of the world our commitment in defending Japanese land, territorial seas and airspace.

France, which has territories in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, has strategic interests in the region.

"It is obviously very important for us because we need to be side by side with people who are sharing this part of the world, Lt. Col. Henri Marcaillou from the French army told reporters after Saturday's exercise.

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jeremy Nelson said the three countries showed they can work together for a common goal or common cause.

Britain, which recently adopted a policy of deeper engagement in the region, is sending the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and its strike group, due to arrive in the region later this year. Germany is also set to deploy a frigate to the region.

Japan and the U.S. have been promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific vision of defense and economic framework based on democratic principles in the area in a group known as the Quad, which also includes Australia and India, seen as a move to counter China's escalating influence in the region.

China has criticized the U.S.-Japanese framework as an exclusionist bloc based on a Cold War-era mindset.

This article was written by RICHARD COLOMBO and MARI YAMAGUCHI from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
LEWISPORT  The streets leading into the town of Lewisport were lined with American flags Saturday as Navy Fireman 2nd Class Martin D. Young was laid to rest, after almost 80 years away from home.

Young, a sailor with the battleship USS Oklahoma, was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Except for the few surviving members of "The Greatest Generation," the story of Pearl Harbor and World War II is known mostly through history books or films now. But the town of Lewisport remembers, and people came out in number Saturday to see Young taken to his resting place in the town's cemetery.

Stacie Cecil was one of the many people lining West Fourth Street to watch the hearse, with the U.S. Navy emblem on the side, go by. The hearse was proceeded by the motorcycles of Rolling Thunder and the Patriot Guard Riders, who provided Young's escort from Gibson and Son Funeral Home to the cemetery.

Cecil said she also was in Hawesville on Thursday, to greet Young's remains as he was escorted over the bridge from Indiana by Rolling Thunder.

"I wanted to take my grandson to meet him as soon as he crossed the bridge," Cecil said. "We stood waving our flags, and made sure to thank every motorcycle that went by."

Gibson and Son's Lewisport chapel was full of people who had come to honor Young and his sacrifice. Young was lost to the town for decades, and was only identified through DNA in August 2019.

"Eighty years have gone by, and this veteran is finally coming home," Cecil said. "This is a once in a lifetime thing to see."

Dan Conner, who had helped place the 600 flags that lined the town, saluted the hearse as Young went by. Conner is a veteran of the Coast Guard, and said he wanted to do his part to recognize Young for his service.

"It doesn't matter how long it has been. We should honor those who gave their life for their country," Conner said, and added, "it was an honor just to be here and do this.

"If it wasn't for people like (Young), we would be speaking German or Japanese," Conner said.

The streets around the funeral home were crowded with motorcycles from the veterans' escort groups. Bob Jackowski, a member of Rolling Thunder, had come from Richmond to participate in Young's escort. Jackowski said riders had come from a long way to take part, and to let people know about service members listed as missing, or who suffered as prisoners of war.

"It's closure for the families of MIAs" when their remains can return home, Jackowski said. "(After) all those years of waiting to know what happened to him, things like this bring a lot of closure."

At the cemetery, men in their Navy dress uniforms carried Young's flag-draped coffin to its burial place, and a detail fired a 21-gun salute into the blue spring sky. Young's relatives watched from seats under a small tent, while dozens of mourners, including townsfolk, a line of Kentucky State troopers, sheriff's deputies and members of area veterans' groups, stood in a rough circle around the grave.

Lynnsey Dedmon came from Mount Juliet, Tennessee for the service.

Young "would have been my grandmother's uncle," Dedmon said, and added coming to the funeral was a way to also honor both of her grandparents.

"My grandfather also served in the Navy," Dedmon said, and said the service "would have meant a whole lot for both of them."

The funeral, with so many family members gathered, was "surreal," but was important, Dedmon said.

"This is my heritage. This is where I come from," Dedmon said. "Even though I never met him, he's still a part of who I am."

This article is written by James Mayse from Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
Prior to this afternoons game, the Astros placed Jose Urquidy on the 10-day injured list, manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle). The righty exited his start Wednesday evening with shoulder discomfort and it had already been revealed hed miss his upcoming start, so its not especially surprising he wound up on the IL. Baker said earlier this week an MRI hadnt revealed anything significant, so its possible itll be a short-term absence.

Urquidy has again been highly productive in the early going. Over eight starts, the righty has pitched to a 3.22 ERA thats a bit better than his strong 3.36 career mark. Urquidy has never racked up huge strikeout or ground ball totals, but he rarely walks hitters and has generally done a solid job of avoiding dangerous contact.

Its not yet clear wholl take Urquidys place in the rotation while hes on the shelf, although a pair of Astros starters are progressing in recoveries from their own injuries. Framber Valdez was scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment during his recovery from a finger fracture with Triple-A Sugar Land today, and Jake Odorizzi isnt far behind in that regard. Odorizzi is lined up to start tomorrow for Sugar Land (via Mark Berman of FOX 26) as he builds back from a pronator muscle strain in his forearm. (The Skeeters game this evening was subsequently rained out and will be made up with a doubleheader tomorrow).

To replace Urquidy on the active roster, Houston activated reliever Enoli Paredes from the IL. Paredes missed a little more than a month with a side issue. The 25-year-old has tossed 22 MLB innings over the past two seasons, working to a 2.86 ERA/5.37 SIERA.
The Brewers have selected the contract of left-hander Hoby Milner, the team announced. Milner will take the place of Eric Lauer on the active roster, as Lauer was optioned to Triple-A.

The move could essentially just be a way for Milwaukee to get a fresh arm in the bullpen, as Lauer threw 55 pitches over three innings in yesterdays 6-3 loss to the Braves. Lauers future also wont be in the bullpen, as MLB.coms Adam McCalvy notes that the team plans to stretch Lauer out as a starter since the Brew Crew will be adopting a six-man rotation for the upcoming stretch of the schedule.

Lauer has already made two starts for Milwaukee this season, to go along with two relief appearances. The southpaw has a very solid 2.81 ERA/3.23 SIERA over 16 innings this season, as well as an above-average 24.6% strikeout rate and an outstanding 3.1% walk rate. On the down side, Lauer has allowed five home runs over those 16 innings.

Milner signed a minors contract with the Brewers last winter and now looks to get some action in his fifth MLB season. The lefty has a 4.53 ERA over 55 2/3 career innings with the Phillies, Rays, and Angels, with most of that experience coming in the form of 31 1/3 frames for Philadelphia in his 2017 rookie season. Milner has struggled since that first year, despite doing a good job of limiting hard contact.
ANN ARBOR, MI  Ann Arbor mom Kristen Bodley said she feels like her 10-year-old son, Jackson  who is bright and normally top of his class in reading, writing and math  hasnt learned a single thing all year.

After spending over a year of fully remote learning at Ann Arbor Public Schools, the fourth-graders test scores have plummeted, his writing skills have deteriorated, and every day is a fight to keep him engaged in his online classes, Kristen Bodley said.

The 180-degree change in her sons academic performance has left Kristen Bodley with what she feels is the only option: Summer school. Even though she wants to give her son a break to relax over the summer, she also feels like he needs to continue learning over the summer so he doesnt fall further behind.

This virtual school year, to be honest, I just feel like he hasnt learned anything, Bodley said. And my kid is smart. I think that a lot of people did have learning loss, and I think the kids could use (summer school).

Jackson Bodley is one of countless K-12 students across the state who have suffered from substantial learning losses this school year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some are calling it the lost school year in Michigan, after many students faced immense academic challenges like disruptions to face-to-face learning and inadequate internet access for remote learning.

In an effort to tackle COVID-19 learning loss, school leaders across the state are revamping their summer school programming to try and keep students engaged over the summer and catch them up before the fall.

Many schools are reimagining and expanding their summer programs by inviting significantly more students to participate, increasing the duration of summer school, and overhauling summer curriculum to focus on project-based learning for more student engagement.

(Summer school) is different this year, said Dawn Linden, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning at Ann Arbor Public Schools. The goal is not to give students more of the same, but to give those students something different to help boost and support their learning into fall of 2021.

This year, summer instruction wont just be focused on academic catch-up, but also on social and emotional learning  something that many kids have missed out on this year because of remote learning.

The design of our programs is to have the social emotional elements embedded, Linden said. Kids have just come off a tough year, and part of that social emotional learning is having fun together.

Ann Arbor is working to make summer school fun  rather than feeling boring or punitive  by teaching content through projects, games and challenges this summer to keep kids engaged, Linden said.

Educators are also adjusting summer programming to focus on foundational learning, making sure students truly have a deep understanding of key concepts from curriculum rather than focusing on the traditional classroom experience, she said.

Elementary and middle school families shouldnt expect that (summer school will be) taking a course over again, thats not the focus for summer, Linden said. Its about foundational standards, and it is really about engagement and fun as well.

But many parents are concerned about putting their kids through online-only summer school after a full year learning from a computer. Bodley, whose kids were at Ann Arbor this year, doesnt want to sign up for the districts summer school programming because its mostly online, with only a select number of students invited for in-person instruction.

Weve been hearing through the district about their robust  and I put that in quotes  summer program, but its mostly virtual, she said. Im not putting my kids through any more virtual.

Because her son wasnt invited for in-person learning, Bodley said she doesnt want to sign up for Ann Arbors summer school program. Instead, she is looking for other summer school alternatives, and applied for her son to be enrolled at neighboring Dexter Community Schools next year so that he can participate in its in-person summer school program.

The great thing about Dexter is they let you pick and choose, so if I want my kid to go a few weeks out of the summer, I can do that, and its free, she said. So we are considering that, and we actually did register him for that as a backup plan.

Dexter is exploring summer enrichment options for students who are new to the district this fall, said Dexter spokesperson Hope Vestergaard. While the district cant invite new students to the summer school program due to funding limits, Dexter is suggesting that families consider the Camp Dexter program offered through Dexter Community Education.

Some parents think summer school isnt the answer to getting students caught up, and instead want to give children a break after a hectic school year.

Lisa Lint-Vander Zouwen said even though her fourth-grade daughter has been invited to participate in summer programming at Grand Rapids Public Schools, they havent signed up for it. Instead, she wants to give her kids time to relax after a stressful year.

Weve been staying home all year, so its not only been a challenging year for school but also in their own lives, with not seeing their friends or family, she said. So its been a stressful school year for us, and I think that play and downtime and creative time is just as important at school.

Despite reservations from some parents, school districts are making a concerted effort to bring more students in for summer school by opening up capacity limits this year.

Ann Arbor has invited its entire student body to participate in summer school, compared to previous years when the district capped it at around 1,000 participants. Linden said school officials are expecting more than 5,000 students to participate in in-person and virtual summer school options.

Roughly 4,000 students have already signed up for summer school at Grand Rapids Public Schools, which is four times greater than the districts typical summer of 1,000 students.

Weve seen a tremendous response when we put out the summer invite in March, said Mel Atkins, Grand Rapids executive director of community and student affairs. Parents have really said that they want this option for their kids.

The districts five-week program, which runs June 21 to July 22, is four days a week, Monday through Thursday. GRPS is offering in-person and virtual summer school options, and about two-thirds of families opted for in-person instruction, Atkins said.

Atkins acknowledged that sometimes summer school gets a bad rap of being a punishment for failing classes. But he said GRPS has revamped the program to make sure students know it will be a hands-on, interactive approach to help catch them up after a school year that has been difficult for everyone.

Its not a punishment, its going to be very hands on, he said. They have different project-based learning components at each grade level, like theres a Welcome to Your Neighborhood program, community heroes at another grade level, you get to make a comic book.

Kalamazoo Public Schools is expanding its summer programming by pulling students out of the traditional classroom environment and bringing them out to engage with community partners, said assistant superintendent Cindy Green.

For example, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra will work with kindergarteners to teach music, Green said.

We are working collaboratively with the community agencies to help provide engaging activities within the curriculum that will demonstrate learning in alternative ways than just paper and pencil or on a computer or laptop, she said.

In fact, the goal is to get away from using Chromebooks and computers to the greatest extent.

Kalamazoos Summer Readiness program will be in-person, a stark contrast from the ongoing school year which has been fully remote. The district is hoping to use summer programming to get students acclimated to the classroom and engaged in social-emotional learning.

There are a lot of students who, virtual learning was not their best option, they like to be around others, she said. This face-to-face opportunity will give students that chance to get back into the swing of what school will look like (in the fall).

Flint Community Schools is focusing on literacy this summer, after many students fell behind in reading and writing during the fully virtual school year, said assistant superintendent Kevelin Jones.

Were finding that our scholars are not able to read and write like they should, he said. We believe if a child cant read, then they wont be able to do all of the other things, they cant participate in science if they cant read, so we are focusing our attention on literacy.

The district was one of five across Michigan this year that were awarded $3 million each over a five-year period to begin work to advance literacy skills, including pre-literacy skills, reading, and writing.

RELATED: High-poverty Michigan school districts awarded $3M to help improve reading, writing skills

Educators see summer school as an important part of getting students caught up after more than a year of significant academic challenges and subsequent learning loss.

There definitely is a real risk of having a lost generation of students if we dont do things that are necessary and evidence-based to really support students, especially those underserved students, in finishing the learning that has been so disrupted over the last year, said Mary Grech, chief of staff of the nonpartisan group Education Trust-Midwest.

But summer school isnt the only answer, she said.

It really is going to take a potent mix of extended learning opportunities like summer school, as well as intensive tutoring and other evidence based strategies, Grech said. We have a lot of challenges ahead.

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ANN ARBOR, MI -- Martin Vloet, owner of the Stadium Club venue that hosted a charity tailgate from 2016-18, will demolish the building on Monday - and hes created a limited-time mural that will come down with it.

The 30-foot east-facing wall of the building now features five Cryptopunks - 8-bit-style characters created in 2017 as one of the first publicly-distributed Non-Fungible Tokens.

Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are collectible assets that allow the trading and sale of encrypted certificates that give the holder ownership of a piece of digital art. The tokens are secured in digital blockchains similar to cryptocurrency, which is often used in their purchase and sale. But rather than being interchangeable currency, each token is unique.

The recent NFT phenomenon has propelled the value of the CryptoPunks, originally issued for free to users of the cryptocurrency Etherium, into the millions. On March 11, two of the most valuable Cryptopunks were sold at a Christies auction for about 4,200 Etherium tokens each, equivalent to about $7.5 million a piece.

Another piece of NFT artwork at the same auction sold for $69.3 million - the largest sale to date.

Vloet is hoping to capitalize on the phenomenon to convert his decade-long investment in the Stadium Club building into enough spare cash to purchase a new venue that might host the charity tailgate. Hes been in touch with charity organizer Bonnie Dockham, executive director of The Cancer Support Community, on finding another spot in the meantime.

Vloet considered selling the building in 2016, then made plans to develop it as an apartment high-rise with ground floor retail. Those plans were shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and now hes planning to convert the property to an open, outdoor event space.

Vloet plans to film the May 17 demolition of the structure, which has been mostly empty since the charity event ended before the 2019 season. He will include the video, along with a time-lapse of the mural being painted, in the NFT.

Vloet chose the NFT concept, he said, to take advantage of the impermanent nature of the space. He chose the zombie characters to keep the variety of paint colors to a minimum and was able to secure discounted colors from PPG Paints in Pittsfield Township. He matched each shade of paint as closely as possible to the RGB color code associated with the colors used in the original files.

From there, he organized a grid of chalk on the wall and sketched the outline of each character on a grid. With no prior mural experience, the 24-pixel-by-24-pixel Cryptopunks were fairly easy to replicate.

The NFT concept allows anyone to make a digital copy of the art involved - but only the owner retains the encrypted certificate.

Anybody can own a copy of Moby Dick, but if you happen to get your hands on a copy of Herman Melvilles notebook, thats a different deal, Vloet said.

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IONIA COUNTY, MI - A Woodland man died in a rollover crash early Sunday morning in Portland Township, according to a news release from the Ionia County Sheriffs Office.

At just after midnight Sunday, deputies responded to a single-vehicle crash on E David Highway in Portland Township. Police believe a 31-year-old Woodland man was traveling east at high speeds before leaving the road and overturning his vehicle multiple times. Deputies found the man dead in his vehicle.

He was not wearing a seatbelt and alcohol and narcotics are an apparent factor in the crash, according to the release. The crash is still under investigation.

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KALAMAZOO, MI  A new initiative with support from about a dozen organizations aims for greater transparency in the local criminal justice system as people are arrested, charged or released, prosecuted and sentenced.

The idea came out of brainstorming about how to allow everyone to see details of local cases throughout the process, Kalamazoo Defender Executive Director Josh Hilgart said. The proposal calls for the race of the person arrested to be included and neighborhood of the arrest, while personal information would be removed to protect peoples identities.

The motivating factor behind this is transparency; providing the citizens with information about how their tax dollars are spent and how their elected officials behave using those tax dollars, Hilgart said in an interview with MLive on May 13.

Some of the conversations happened at Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust meetings, he said, and were initiated by Gwendolyn Moffitt of the Michigan Civil Rights Department.

Kalamazoo Defender, the organization created and tasked with providing a legal defense for the majority of people charged with crimes in Kalamazoo County, is among nearly a dozen other organizations in support of the effort. Other supporting organizations include:

OutFront Kalamazoo

Cares of Southwest Michigan

Kalamazoo Community Foundation

Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT)

Residential Opportunities Inc. (ROI)

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC)

The Center for Transformation

Metropolitan Kalamazoo NAACP

YWCA Kalamazoo

Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy & Action in the Community (ISAAC)

Kalamazoo Defender

The Kalamazoo Community Foundation gave a $17,000 grant toward the campaign, Hilgart said. A summary of the effort is on Kalamazoo Defenders website.

Are black and brown people arrested for some crimes at higher rates than white people? If so, how is that reflected in the charges issued by the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney? the campaign summary states.

We simply dont know. But we should.

Retired KDPS captain Stacey Ledbetter, who was with the department from 1991 to 2017, is a member of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation group, and is a supporter of the transparency effort.

In terms of having any trends or any things that manifest, any type of disparities -- we just want to know, Ledbetter said.

The information should allow people to see what is true or real, she said, so they can know if they can celebrate, or if there is a need to do better. The effort is based on the idea of examining systems, Ledbetter said.

Particularly, the criminal justice system has been around for decades and decades, she said. If we know better, we can do better.

Ledbetter said she is optimistic about the collaboration, and she does not think police will be resistant.

I put it back to being a positive, she said. It is not a hit, its just information thats shared, understood, processed ... where do we go from here?

Some of the data that would be included is publicly available now, through public records requests. But its not in a format that citizens can easily access and that makes it difficult to review and compare cases.

Its a cumbersome process for individuals, and that should not be the way government works, Kalamazoo Defender attorney Donna Innes said. There should be openly accessible information about where things are happening, where the moneys being spent, and where are the neighborhoods that police have a presence in, with actual data.

The database could also include other data points, such as immigration status of those arrested, organizers said.

Innes said there seems to be a racial component to policing, though some of the information is anecdotal. That is why examining the data is important, she said.

Innes pointed to a 2013 study that showed police pulled over drivers in Kalamazoo with racial bias.

I think people are very curious about it and the common thought is that the Northside which is, racially not white, is over-policed, she told MLive in a May 13 interview.

Kalamazoo Defender provides "Know Your Rights" cards to advise citizens how they can interact with police.

It is seen in other urban areas as well, Innes said.

Wherever police are is where theyre going to find crime, she said. If they go up on Bronson Boulevard and arrest people for walking in the street or sidewalk, like they do in other neighborhoods, and shake them down, Im certain they will find the same amount of drugs or guns that they would find anywhere else.

She talked about how the difference in enforcement tactics could mean more people of a certain race or another class are being arrested, prosecuted and convicted at a higher rate  even if they commit crimes at a lower rate.

Its a self fulfilling prophecy when you go into one area and heavily police for minor types of things, and dont protect them in the serious matters, Innes said.

KDPS Chief Vernon Coakley, who was promoted to the position in 2020, said during a January 2021 interview that reform has been on his mind and he is working to build on what the chiefs before him have done to improve the department. In January, he said arresting is a last resort.

Interim Chief Public Defender Donna Innes at the offices of the Kalamazoo Defender in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan on Friday, June 28, 2019.Emil Lippe | MLive.com

The data available to the public now indicates there is more to review, Hilgart said.

Kalamazoo Defenders clients are 40% to 50% Black, he said, though Black residents make up about 13% of the countys population.

The arrest rate is higher and the incarceration rate is higher, Hilgart said.

Kalamazoo Defender handles many of the criminal cases in the county, meaning they work with defendants arrested by different township police departments, Western Michigan University police, as well as the cities of Kalamazoo and Portage and the sheriffs office. His office handles those cases as public defenders, while cases with defendants who hire private attorneys are handled outside of his office.

The transparency initiative aims to get all of the necessary data from the prosecutors office, thereby avoiding having to seek approval from all the different municipalities with police agencies, Hilgart said.

The effort is a first step, to determine what is happening in Kalamazoo County, Innes said. That way, citizens can look at the case data, compare and evaluate however they see fit.

Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners Chair Tracy Hall said, at first glance, the idea is something I definitely support and would think the majority of the board would too.

Hall said her concern is that the county board does not have the authority to tell the courts or prosecutor to do it.

Prosecutor Jeff Getting was present during the discussion about the idea to create the database, Hilgart said. Getting could not be reached for comment Friday, May 14.

Hilgart said the effort will ask the county board of commissioner to approve funding for the additional work it would take for the county to create a database to allow for easier public access to the information.

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Black Lives Matter will stand in unity with Kalamazoo Asian American community at No More Hate rally
KALAMAZOO, MI  When were born, we have a natural inclination to love, said Amy Hunter. But hate, the ugliest word in any language, hate has to be learned and it stems from fear.

Those fears, she said to a crowd of around 200 people Sunday afternoon at Bronson Park, include fear of the other, fear of the unknown, fear of having something taken away from you and fear of your life changing.

Related: Black Lives Matter will stand in unity with Kalamazoo Asian American community at No More Hate rally

Hunter, the executive director of LGBTQ+ community organization OutFront Kalamazoo, was among 13 speakers featured at the May 16 Black Lives Matter Supports the AAPI Community No More Hate Rally that was organized by Marshall Kilgore, director of advocacy with the organization, as well as Lily Cheng-Schulting, the 2020 Democratic nominee for District 72 state representative.

Kilgore and Cheng-Schulting brought together community leaders and members to cast a light on the recent rise in hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, up 150% since the coronavirus pandemic began, according to a study done by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University.

This nation has a lot of work to do, Kilgore said while addressing the crowd. It wont all get done in one day. We all know this to be true, but we must begin somewhere and today, this rally, is somewhere.

Coming together and uniting against hatred is how we start. We live in a world where we had a so-called leader who called the COVID-19 pandemic the Wuhan Flu. ... We wonder why we are seeing a 150% increase toward the AAPI community.

Kilgore laid out action items for those in attendance, encouraging each person present to challenge themselves to be a better ally in terms of racial bias and equity, to hold elected officials accountable for their policies and words, and to advocate for awareness in their personal space by speaking up for people who are Black and Asian every day, no matter what space you are in.

Cheng-Schulting, a first generation Asian-American from Taiwan, said before solutions can be addressed, the problem needs to be analyzed. Racism against Asian Americans, violent or otherwise is nothing new, she said, emphasizing that the number of hate crimes against the AAPI community is unquestionably an underreported statistic.

I can understand the culture of not reporting, she said. I grew up in a very traditional family and we were taught that you do not highlight problems and you do not rock the boar. So thats why Im here.

After a year and a half of seeing these hate crimes increasing we are standing up and saying never again. Enough is enough.

Its not just those who are being discriminated against, or having crimes committed against them because of their differences, who need to come forward and speak up, its everyones responsibility, exclaimed Tashawna Gill.

We are known for telling people to stay out of our business, but we need to be in everybodys business, said Gill, founder of both the African American Crisis Coalition and United Precinct Delegates. What happens to someone else can happen to us and if we stand back and watch, it will happen to us.

So, do not stand on the sidelines and say this does not concern Black people or this does not concern white people, this doesnt concern whatever type of people. This issue concerns everybody and everybody needs to be in everybodys business.

A key to understanding that, Kalamazoo City Commissioner Eric Cunningham said, is understanding that issues of hatred and discrimination are bigger than any one individual. Cunningham also encouraged people to keep coming together to listen and have deep and meaningful dialogue.

We dont want our next generation to have to deal with these same situations, these same scenarios, the uncomfortableness of the conversation, Cunningham said.

Also speaking at the event were Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller, Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson and City Commissioner Chris Praedel, State Sen. Sean McCann and State Reps. Julie Rogers and Christine Morse, Kentwood mayoral candidate Emily Bridson, Cole Hamilton of Students for a Democratic Society at Western Michigan University and HOPE Thru Navigation CEO Gwendolyn Hooker.

Musician Shin Hoo Yong closed out the rally with his take on Andra Days Rise Up.

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Restaurant owners have been pleading for workers amid a widespread labor shortage, but laborers are firing back, saying a return to work under the status quo just wont do.

A cultural shift in the industry could help with recruiting, but it needs to start with more respect for the profession from the top down, and that includes better wages and benefits, said Matt Millar, chef and co-owner of The Southerner in Saugatuck.

There are jobs that need to be done and not all of them are glamorous, but they are all worthy of a living wage, he said. I think we have to resign ourselves to the idea that weve failed low-wage workers for a long time. We need to start making some changes.

The Southerner underwent changes this month that were a long time coming, Millar said. He announced in a Facebook post all full-time employees would be eligible for health insurance with dental options. The restaurant is also offering paid family leave with four weeks for maternity and two weeks paternity leave.

The biggest change is for nontipped employees, who will now be paid a minimum wage of $15 an hour. All tipped employees will still be at the state subminimum wage of $3.67, and if they dont meet $15 an hour with tips, the restaurant will fill in the gap. Millar estimates his tipped workers make an average of $40 an hour.

For a long time, cooking and working in the service industry has been looked at as a stepping stone, he said. Its the job that you have on your way to the next job and we have justified lower wages because of that.

The wage increase will come partly at the expense of the restaurant and partly at the expense of the customer with increased menu prices. The reception to the Facebook announcement of raising wages and prices was overall well received, Millar said. But, no good deed goes unpunished, he said there was push back saying restaurant jobs arent skilled labor.

To me theres just this astonishing lack of empathy on behalf of so many people who have this way of thinking, he said. Ill tell you what, if you think cleaning a bathroom isnt worth $15 an hour then go a week without it happening and tell me you still have that opinion.

Millar said hes in favor of the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25, incrementally rising to $15. It would level the playing field among competitors, increasing menu prices and starting the conversation with customers, he said.

Related: Long hours, health risks and ghost applicants lead to desperate staffing situations at Michigan restaurants

Restaurants across Michigan are juggling staff shortages and rising food prices, making balancing the books even more difficult. Saddleback BBQ in Lansing has taken to social media to give customers a lesson in supply chain management.

Staff of Lucy's Creston Kitchen work on their individual tasks during the lunch rush on Thursday, April 22, 2021. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and other factors impacting the restaurant industry, Lucy's faces a staff shortage. (Hope Davison | MLive.com)Hope Davison

Co-owner Travis Stoliker presented a PowerPoint on why chicken wings were off the menu due to rising costs. He returned weeks later explaining that the restaurant does not use the states tipped minimum wage. Instead, all employees are paid the general state minimum wage of $9.65, plus an equal share of all tips earned from the pay period.

The Facebook post includes a chart illustrating pay periods from September 2020, when the restaurants lowest hourly pay, including tip share, was $17.01, to May 2021, when the minimum was $15.11.

Both restaurant owners are hoping that more transparency about how the business model works will offer customers a better understanding of increased prices.

I dont think that people recognize that delicate balance, Stoliker said. When we go to a fast food restaurant and theres a $1 menu, we have to understand that its very difficult to pay employees more when we expect a sandwich for $1.

Roses Fine Food and Wine, a small but popular restaurant on Detroits east side, has been using the pooled tip model for the past seven years. The restaurant has never paid the subminimum wage for tipped workers and is currently hiring at $15 per hour, owner Molly Mitchell said.

She advised restaurants adopting higher wages to mind their margins, but assured them that ultimately, they are making a long-term investment.

Although the restaurant is currently operating at half its capacity, Mitchell said five of her current six staffers came back to work after the pandemic shutdown. Among them are employees who have been with the restaurant for four to seven years.

Its a team sport. You cannot do it yourself, Mitchell said. If you dont have people who care about what theyre doing, your restaurant is going to be dirty, your food is going to be bad and service is going to be shit.

Worker advocacy groups like Restaurant Opportunities Centers United also argue that higher wages and better benefits will help employers retain their workers.

Before the pandemic, Washington and Michigan had similar restaurant worker populations. Washington is among seven states that do not have a tipped minimum wage and require employers to pay one hourly wage, regardless of tips. Washingtons current minimum wage is $13.69.

At the height of the pandemic, in April 2020, both Washington and Michigan had bans against indoor restaurant dining in place, allowing only take-out service. Washington saw a drop in restaurant employment of 34.8% from January 2020, compared to a drop of 54% in Michigan, according to the ROC, citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Michigan chapter of the Restaurant Opportunities Center joined a group of workers and organizations in a lawsuit filed against Attorney General Dana Nessel last week. The plaintiffs claims state lawmakers illegally amended minimum wage legislation brought forth via a successful petition drive in 2018.

The plaintiffs claim Nessel failed to reverse an unconstitutional opinion issued by her predecessor that allowed the amendments to take hold before the laws were passed, delaying a $12 minimum wage to 2030 and softening proposed sick leave requirements.

Related: Restaurant workers sue for $12 minimum wage proposal, claiming delay to 2030 was unconstitutional

The pandemic put a spotlight on front-line workers, often restaurant workers, who often didnt have a safety net to allow time off work if they felt sick or needed to take care of a family member.

As a chef of 15 years in Detroit, Nik R. Cole said the culture in the kitchen is to keep pushing for the paycheck because every day as an hourly worker matters.

Teams are small, so if you take a day off, youre kind of the weakest link, and who wants that? she said.

Supplemented unemployment checks are often named as the culprit for the labor shortage, but Cole sees that as an excuse. She said those pointing to unemployment dont understand the passion behind the food.

I see myself as an artist, she said. I dont want to be burnt out, but I would love to better my craft that I love. But also, I need some more money.

Pre-pandemic, Cole was a culinary instructor for the ROCs job training program. She has multiple titles, including columnist, head chef, entrepreneur and founder of a storytelling event series. Keeping up the hustle is the best way to avoid being a starving artist, she said.

In Michigan, 19.5% of restaurant workers are in poverty, and nearly half, 45.4%, of all restaurant workers are at or under twice the poverty line, according to ROC data pulled from U.S. Census surveys. Servers and back-of-house workers experience similar poverty rates.

In 2021, the poverty line in the U.S. for a family of four is $26,500 a year. Researchers estimate families need incomes twice as high as the federal poverty level just to get by.

Michigans restaurant industry is majority female, with women compromising 76.4% of tipped workers despite only being 47.9% of the total workforce. Mothers make up 31.8% of restaurant workers in Michigan and of the mothers, 54.5% are single mothers, according to ROC data.

When Coles kids were younger, she was bartending or working the dinner shift, she said. She had to rely on family for child care and often missed out on after-school activities and family dinners, she said.

Eating out is a privilege, she said. People take advantage of it every single day without question. You dont think about the worker.

Moving forward, Cole said workers should feel empowered to use their voice to advocate for change at the legislative level. Cole was quick to add that restaurant owners have to be part of the conversation as well.

Mitchell at Roses Fine Food and Wine agreed, saying the tide has been changing for a while. Looking at the big picture, Mitchell said change will be more visible when corporations like McDonalds and Burger King increase wages and benefits.

Recently, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it will switch to a $15 hourly wage.

Its going to impact food costs across the board, which impacts culture, she said. It makes people understand that youre asking somebody to do a really hard job for you  dishes, clean up, cooking, baking  and youre paying like nothing for it.

More on MLive:

Unemployed will soon have to prove theyre searching for work  or lose benefits

Cancel extra $300, federal unemployment programs, Michigan business group urges

Wings are off the menu at Michigan BBQ joints after prices increase nationally 95% in one year
Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be, Lohmeier said on The Steve Gruber Show podcast. That wasnt just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.
Renowned Ghanaian highlife musician Dada Kwaku Duah popularly known as Dada KD has cleared the misconception surrounding the snatching of legendary highlife musician, Daddy Lumba's wife Akosua Serwaa.

He made the revelation during the United showbiz Programme hosted by Nana Ama Mcbrown on UTV.

Dada KD said Akosua Serwaa is his sister and that there's no way they could be in a romantic relationship. "I did not date Akosua Serwaa", he said.

Dada KD also revealed his unflinching admiration for Daddy Lumba for his artistry style of singing. "I cannot wear Daddy Lumba's dress or shoe but I like his personality and I think it's not wrong", he noted.

Dada KD then gave Ghanaians a taste of highlife music after his interview with Nana Ama Mcbrown.
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The Managing Director (MD) for Enterprise Life Insurance, Mrs. Jacqueline Benyi has encouraged the Ghanaian public to roll onto their Life Insurance packages to safeguard their future and that of their families.

The renowned Insurance providers over the years have developed into one of the best and most trusted in the country.

While there have been question marks here and there with some challenges faced by clients, the company says they remain committed to removing every bottleneck to better serve customers.

Engaging journalists on Friday, May 14, 2021, at the Advantage Webinar series organised to get media partners to understand and appreciate issues related to the work done at Enterprise Life Insurance, MD Jacqueline Benyi admitted that the journey has been tough while stressing that on the back of all that, they have improved significantly and will continue to strive to do even better.

Answering a question on why people should still get insured when stories of the clients inability to redeem claims continue to pop up, the Enterprise Life Insurance MD noted that her outfit can be trusted because of the systems put in place in recent years to ensure swift payment of claims.

According to her, in the midst of Covid-19 and all of its uncertainties, now more than ever people need to roll onto insurance covers to protect the future of their families in the event of any unfortunate incident.

we are not perfect but trust me the imperfection of us should not stop you from showing your family the love that they do deserve.

Im the midst of COVID you are still working because you want to put food on the table. You want that son of yours to go to school. That is the value Life Insurance brings, Mrs. Jacqueline Benyi said.

She continued, It is the greatest love letter you can ever write to your family because today you are providing. Tomorrow what if you are not there? Should the whole familys lifestyle come to an end?.

What if you even suffered an unfortunate event? How do you progress from there? Everybody needs life insurance.

The Enterprise Insurance MD further assured the public that as they grow, they remain committed to putting in place mechanisms, systems, infrastructure, and the framework that will allow them to address all customer challenges.

This year and the years to come, Enterprise Life Insurance will be big on claims payment to clients and will continue to get better to make sure beneficiaries receive what they deserve.

In addition to investigating and punishing faulting employees, Mrs. Jacqueline Benyi has confirmed that there will be a continuous investment in Life planners to ensure the best customer service is offered.

Also, there will be an investment in technology to seamlessly serve customers from the comfort of their homes as part of the continuous need-based solution for customers.

One of the things we are driving at [this year and beyond] is the customer agenda. I can tell you that it has become a big thing in Enterprise Life [Insurance]. Clearly, the focus on the customer now cannot be underestimated so if you look at our strategy moving forward, it is to more about the customer, Mrs. Benyi said in her concluding remarks.

About Enterprise Group:

Enterprise Group was incorporated on 24th November 2008 and is the holding company of the Group. The original entity was Enterprise Insurance Company, established in 1924 and is the oldest insurance company in Ghana. It was listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in 1991 as the first insurance company to be publicly listed in Ghana.

Following a restructuring of the Group in 2010, Enterprise Group was incorporated to become the holding company and was listed on GSE in place of Enterprise Insurance which was subsequently delisted.

They provide insurance cover for Life, Properties, Travel, Motor, Transitions, as well as Pension.
The real impact of India's Covid-19 surge on rural areas has begun to emerge thanks to vernacular media journalists reporting from the devastated countryside, where 70 percent of the population of 1.4 billion people live.

Using journalism's oldest tools, journalists have been unravelling firsthand the scale of the havoc in many of India's 650,000 villages where a highly infectious strain of the coronavirus has spread.

These are reporters without fear, media analyst Shivaji Sarkar, with Mangalayatan University, told RFI. Freelance journalists in small towns are the backbone of vernacular newsrooms and it is they who are at the front-lines now. Kudos to them."

Coronavirus has killed 266,000 people and infected 24 million by a latest official tally in the world's second worst-affected country.

Grisly spot

Dainik Bhaskar, India's largest-selling Hindi language newspaper, knocked on the doors of villagers in agrarian states to try to reveal the full story.

Almost every home has people with flu or a cough and their only hope are doctors, it reported from Rajasthan's Nagaur district.

The daily said 31 of 49 people in three Nagaur hamlets died without being tested for Covid.

Nav Bharat Times, published a similar report from Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state.

Most homes in four districts have people with Covid-like symptoms but they have neither been tested nor treated, the mass-circulation Hindi daily added.

Jansatta, another vernacular broadsheet, had a similar story from Uttar Pradesh, where Covid has killed 16,369 people, according to an official count.

In Gujarat, Prime Minster Narendra Modi's home-state, reporters from Sandesh keeping tabs on deaths in hospitals and those cremated around local cities said the figures did not tally.

Covid deaths were largely under-reported, the leading Gujarati-language paper said, giving dates, numbers and details in a tell-all news dispatch.

In Bihar state, intrepid journalists published what they asserted were verified photographs of hospital staff dumping infected bodies into a river.

In contrast, English-language national newspapers faced criticism for not doing enough to call out India's rural misery.

Analysts such as Sarkar said media groups eager to grab state advertisements appeared reluctant to report the extent of the catastrophe.

The federal government daily spends more than 222,000 euros on publicity while India's 29 states too have deep pockets for self-promotion.

'Armchair journalism'

Major parts of the Indian media have abdicated their oversight duty at every stage of the Covid-19 saga over the last year, said Policy Times, an online publication.

Anupama Jha, a former executive director of Transparency International's Indian arm said English-language papers seemed content reporting only the urban crisis.

Journalists in the metros lack the sensitivity and I also feel they do not want to get on the wrong side of the government, she told RFI, warning that armchair journalism was useless at a time of the pandemic.

India has drawn criticism for its inability to counter the deadly surge or vaccinate a sizable chunk of its population in time.

Global donors rushed aid following news reports of oxygen and medical shortages killing people in city hospitals but not much of the handouts have reached the impoverished countryside.
The United Cadre Front (UCF), Tema Region at the weekend says its recent public forum was not organized to launch an attack against the 2024 flag-bearership bid of former President John Dramani Mahama.

According to them, its public fora were organized with the aim of involving grassroots and senior comrades in a healthy dialogue towards mobilizing for the good of the NDC.

Mr Oliver Agbenyo-Ahiafor, Chairman of the UCF-Tema Region in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Tema said the recent public forum was just one of the several initiatives they occasionally took to invite senior cadres to share their experience and knowledge with them.

Mr Agbenyo-Ahiafor stressed that the forum was not intended to be a springboard for launching an attack on former President John Mahama and neither was it meant to prepare a fertile ground for any individual to launch a contest against him.

According to him, it came as a surprise to them when negative spin was put on their noble initiative indicating that key personalities were consulted to be part of the public forum, but not all of them were able to make themselves available.

How then could anyone accuse the organizers of hatching a subversive plot against former President John Mahama? he questioned, pointing out that it was also unfair to the speakers to suggest that their participation in the forum was a conspiracy against Mr Mahama.

He added that during the forum, it came out clear that the electoral fortunes of the party had consistently continued to decline since 1996, attributing it to a number of reasons with the main one being the disconnect with the grassroots and working people of the nation.

That there is the need for a broad based, inclusive and far reaching reorganisation of the party in terms of re-statement of its ideology, identity, its structures, internal democratic processes and financing of the party Agbenyo-Ahiafor called on all cadres to remain steadfast and united 'even in the face of provocations and deliberate misinformation by our detractors in a bid to divide our ranks' saying as May 15 marked the beginning of activities that led to the June 4, 1979 revolution members must reflect on current happenings in the country.

He called on all well-meaning Ghanaians, the NDC party members and supporters, all progressive forces and the public to reflect deeply on the events that led to the revolution and to be guided by its lessons.

According to the UCF Tema Region, Ghana's democracy and progress as a nation was under threat as happenings in the education sector, security, abuse of journalists and media practitioners, intolerance of divergent views, lack of transparency in governance and collapsing of businesses, among others was worrying.

GNA
The Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council has debunked claims that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) have been directed to vacate office and hand over affairs to their Co-ordinating Directors.

A statement from the Co-ordinating Council said the claims must be disregarded.

It explained that all MMDCEs are expected to remain at post as directed by President Akufo-Addo in January 2021.

The attention of the Regional Co-ordinating Council has been drawn to a message circulating on social media that All MMDCEs are to hand over to their respective Co-ordinating Directors by close by Thursday 20th May 2021.

I have the directive of the Hon. Regional Minister to inform all MMDCEs in Greater Accra to disregard this message and continue to remain at post as per the presidential directive reference SCR/DA 39/314/01 on 11th January 2021, the statement further said.

President Nana Akufo-Addos January directive signed by the Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Opare urged the MMDCEs to remain at post but warned them against taking any policy-related decisions.

You are to take note of the provision of section 14 (5) of the Presidential (Transition) Act (2012) which states that you shall not take a decision involving a policy issue, the notice said.

The notice from the Chief of Staff also made reference to prior directives on financial commitments and recruitments.

citinewsroom
Ghanaian journalist Mustapha Nii Okai Inusah known by the pen name Attractive Mustapha covered a protest at BBC Radio Northampton in the United Kingdom against the ongoing violence in Gaza Strip.

Scores of UK citizens believed to be Palestinians gathered at Northampton to demonstrate their displeasure towards the seemingly unending enmity between Israel and Palestine which is leading to the death of innocent people in the two regions.

Earlier today, it was alleged that Israeli troops fired weapons into the thirteen-floor storey building housing the Aljazeera News network and US News in the Gaza Strip which has caused massive destruction in the region.

Bckground and More details

Thousands of people marched through central London on Saturday to express solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

Organisers said immediate action is needed from the UK government to help end the brutal violence.

At least 139 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 39 children, after a spiral of violence that began with the attempted eviction of Arabs from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. In Israel at least seven people have been killed, including one child.

Saturday is the Palestinian Nakba day, the anniversary of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arabs from their homes more than 70 years ago.

A boy waves a Palestinian flag next to red London buses

Palestinian flags near Hyde Park as people attend the protest. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Crowds marched through Hyde Park before arriving outside the gates of the Israeli embassy in Kensington.

A temporary stage was set up on Kensington High Street and organisers urged people to keep moving down the road as numbers continued to swell and dozens of police officers lined nearby streets.

The Metropolitan police said they had a plan in place to ensure everybody is kept safe and to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour party leader, told crowds gathered outside the gates of the Israeli embassy that international action provides comfort and support to those suffering in the conflict.

Think what its like being a mother or father and seeing a building bombed in front of you, knowing your family is in there, and you can do nothing, he said.

Its our global voices that will give succour, comfort and support in those settlements alongside Gaza and all over the West Bank, East Jerusalem who are suffering at this time.

End the occupation now. End all the settlements now and withdraw then. End the siege of Gaza now.

The former shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, told crowds that they were part of a worldwide movement for justice.

Palestinian people are having their land seized  and they are now being killed in their homes. All of this is illegal.

Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity. Thank you for standing with us.

The demonstration was organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Muslim Association of Britain.

A spokesperson said: It is vital that the UK government takes immediate action. It must stop allowing Israels brutal violence against and oppression of the Palestinian people to go unpunished.

Thousands march in Free Palestine rallies in Sydney and Melbourne

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The bombardment of Gaza, which is killing civilians including children, is a war crime. It is occurring in the context of the illegal forced displacement of families in Jerusalem and attacks on Palestinian citizens of Israel by far-right groups including illegal settlers from the West Bank.

The UK government is complicit in these acts as long as it continues to offer Israel military, diplomatic and financial support. Such support must end with a minimum start being an end to the two-way arms trade and trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told crowds on Saturday: This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression.

Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity. Thank you for standing with us.

Organisers said crowds stretched back to Bayswater Road from Kensington High Street and numbered 100,000. Demonstrations were also taking place in Birmingham, Coventry, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and other UK towns and cities.
The Central Regional Minister, Marigold Assan says the presence of the military in the Region has yielded good results, as it has deterred illegal miners from engaging in illegal mining popularly known as galamsey.

She indicated that people are quick to blame the government for the burning of the seized excavators but have turned a blind eye to those destroying river bodies with their illegal activities.

The Minister was speaking to the media during a day's tour of some illegal mining sites in the Upper Dankyira East and West Municipalities of the Central Region.

Illegal mining activities have destroyed major water boides in the country. The likes of River Pra and Offin located in Twifo Praso and Dunkwa-On-Offin respectively among others in the Central Region have adversely been affected by the practice.

The Central Regional Minister said we are quick to blame the government when excavators are being burnt, but we are not fighting those who are destroying the water bodies. How many institutions or radio stations are fighting those people who are destroying the water bodies?

She was optimistic the mining equipment would find their way back to the river bodies if they were not destroyed.

We don't want a situation whereby the excavators would find their way back into the river so the best way to go is to destroy them.

Madam Marigold Assan said her outfit intends to face perpetrators boot for boot to avoid the destruction of water bodies and farmlands, hence, the establishment of a taskforce to help fight the menace.

The acting President of the Dankyira Traditional Area, Odeefuo Oduro Akenten also acknowledged the dangers associated with illegal mining activities and thus challenged authorities to tackle the menace from the source, which he claims is Ashanti Region.

We are also worried about the galamsey activities. In fact, galamsey has destroyed the River Offin which used to give us fish. We have announced that no one should eat fish from the Offin River. The source of the River is from the Ashanti Region where illegal mining is also going on so tackle the fight from there.

The illegal miners are not only here, they are also in Ashanti. We the chiefs are also doing our best, and we will help the government in the fight, Odeefuo Oduro Akenten assured.

citinewsroom
IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, has blasted the National Security Ministry for the arrest and subsequent assault of Citi FM/TVs Broadcast Journalist, Mr. Caleb Kudah.

According to him, the reason behind the action by the operatives of the National Security make no sense.

I think the lawyers are dealing with the illegal and unlawful acquisition and the entry of personal effects in this matter but what surprises me is National Securitys reason for the arrest of Caleb Kudah because it is as farcical as it comes. I thought the National Security should be concerned that the parked vehicles obviously were a nuisance to the state and the fact that monies have been expended to purchase these vehicles as they lie down wasting away.

Franklin Cudjoe also charged the security establishment to reorient itself of issues of national interest.

According to him, issues of public waste and unemployment should be of great concern to the National Security.

I suspect that the definition of National Security also includes [preventing] public wasteand I also think that National Security should be more concerned about the growing inequality and the issues of unemployment and the things that have led to the #FixTheCountry campaign. I also suspect that the National Security should be more worried that if our resources can be expended in such a profligate and quite a wasteful manner like this and if they were fixed, there wouldnt be a journalist going round for such news for the public. I dont know if we are doing that introspection except that a group of zombies decided that National Security means that if you took a cursory photo of a wasteful expenditure purchased with our collective taxes then that constitutes an infraction on their consciences.

Mr. Cudjoe made these comments when he spoke on Citi FM/Citi TV's weekend current affairs programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

Background

Ghanaians have been discussing the detention and assault of Broadcast Journalist, Caleb Kudah by National Security operatives last Tuesday, May 11, 2021.

Mr. Kudah was arrested for filming abandoned vehicles procured by MASLOC that had been parked at the premises of the Ministry of National Security for several years now.

A team of heavily-armed SWAT police officers subsequently were dispatched to arrest Citi News' Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo at the premises of Citi FM/Citi TV.

This is because Caleb had forwarded some of the footage he captured to Zoe via WhatsApp.

Caleb Kudah in an interview with Bernard Avle on The Point Of View on Citi TV indicated that he was slapped several times by the security officers.

The Ministry of National Security on Thursday said it has begun investigations into the issue.

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Of course, this messed up country needs massive fixing and it is the responsibility of the government and our leaders to do the fixing, irrespective of the minor responsibilities of us the citizens.

The government must accept that it has failed or has lagged behind in fixing this country, hence the plethora of problems we are all plagued with and the suffering we all have to endure, except a few people in the political class who are enjoying and asking those suffering not to complain.

Almost everything happening right now in this country is going in the wrong direction and it's obvious the government has lost control. And as good citizens of this country, we need to draw their attention to their failure over the years, even if we voted for them or supported them to win power---

it is the growth of the country which should be our ultimate concern, not partisan politics at this point where prices of goods and services have reached an astronomical level, without any raise in the salaries of workers.

It's absurd for any group of people to counter the Fix The Country campaign with Fix Yourself or Fix Your Attitude. How does my attitude affect the prices of goods in the market? So, are our roads bad because I havent fixed myself?

The low-quality education is caused by me not fixing myself? The lights go off intermittently because I havent fixed myself? The ongoing killings and kidnappings are happening because I havent fixed myself? Come on, let's do away with pettiness and wake up and smell the coffee.

We cannot afford to politicise everything in this country because we benefit or do not benefit from it. The country is bigger than any one of us and we all need to respect it and respect ourselves as well.

Prior to this government coming to power, they promised us heaven on earth, if now things are very bad and we ask you to fix it, why ask us to fix ourselves? Why dont you ask us to fix ourselves during elections, so that we know you're not ready for the job, hence vote for a candidate who is ready to fix the country?

All we ask of you the government is, good drinking water for every citizen. Quality education, quality healthcare, good roads, massive infrastructural development, jobs with good salaries, and peace and stability with a bonanza economy in the country.

It's just so unfortunate that many people, especially some celebrities and powerful men who had a voice and spoke truth to power in the previous government have all now lost their voices, either because they're benefiting from this government or they are afraid to speak up.

Whether they're benefiting or afraid to speak up, we've every right to call them hypocrites who take sides in very critical national issues where they need to be neutral and show patriotism.

If things continue like this, there shall be more brain drain and this country will be left with the chaff and they'll further mar everything, hence the total collapse of the country.

Every patriotic citizen should join the #FixTheCountryCampaign and let's put our leaders on their toes to do the right thing. The leaders must fix themselves first and then fix the country, then all the ordinary citizens will fix themselves by being responsible citizens who'll be willing to die for their country.

The President should allow the citizens to express themselves and not gag them from speaking their minds.

He led several demonstrations and protests in opposition which eventually paved the way for him to become President, so why is he not allowing people to vent or voice their frustrations out as a way of telling him that he has failed or hasn't lived up to their expectations?

Let's all be political and not make Fix The Country a partisan campaign. Ghana can prosper if leaders get it right. The European or American system is working because their leaders have fixed themselves and their system, hence it's extremely difficult for just anyone to break the law and get away with it. Not even the most powerful persons can easily break the laws in America because there're systems in place.

All we need to do as a people is to stop praising our leaders for their mediocre performance in government and let's always hold them accountable to their works because theyre our servants.

Waterz Yidana

Playwright/Poet

#WaterzYidana #Writer #Author #Activist
Political Activist Emmanuel Abankwah Kesse known to many as Olumanba has reiterated his calls on the need to scrap MPs ex-gratia.

According to him, Ghana needs dedicated people to be parliamentarians for which reason Ghanaians should vote against MPs who are not willing to sacrifice their ex-gratia for development.

He stated that those who are willing to serve won't engage in vote-buying but rather use legitimate means to get the seat.

Those who engage in vote-buying are 'businessmen' in disguise.

He revealed that because of the benefits MPs get from only 4year service, the nation is likely to get MPs who will go to Parliament not because of their love for the constituents but because of the benefits ahead.

He said, if that happens, there will be less or no development in our constituencies because the MP knows that even if he/she doesn't perform and is voted out, he will still get the ex-gratia aside from the sumptuous salaries and allowances.
The mayor of Givat Zeev said the building was unfinished and dangerous, and that the police had ignored previous calls to take action. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said the disaster was a case of negligence and that there would likely be arrests.
Patrick Tippoo - Executive Director at AVMI

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Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative (AVMI) primarily aims at promoting the establishment of sustainable human vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa. Since its establishment, AVMI together with multiple and different partners, have been advocating for the establishment of vaccine development and manufacturing in Africa.

With the outbreak of coronavirus, AVMI has embarked on public education on the risk of the pandemic and further been persuading African leaders about the need to seriously prioritize the manufacturing of vaccines instead of depending on external supply.

In this snapshot interview, Patrick Tippoo, Executive Director at the Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative, explains that vaccine manufacturing is a complex, time-consuming exercise requiring considerable commitment, and financial as well as technical resources. He further underscores the fact that the capital investment required is considerable and equally essential is a long-term future view for the health system and population in Africa.

Here are the interview excerpts:

What are your views about the global politics surrounding coronavirus vaccines? Where does Africa stand in this case?

Its unfortunate that Covid-19 vaccines have become politicized leading to a situation where some regions and countries are lagging so far behind others with respect to vaccination coverage. As weve seen Africa in particular has been affected very negatively in this regard.

In your view, should vaccines and related coronavirus medicines be politicized, in the first place, in this era of global pandemic?

In pandemic situations like we are experiencing now it is regrettable that vaccines have become so politicized. Ideally one would expect that every effort would be made to ensure that vaccines are made available equitably to ensure that there is no delay in getting the pandemic under control across the globe.

Within the context of current trade wars, for example between United States and China, and/or between China and India, what do you think be done to remove distribution barriers for vaccines in regions such as Africa?

Understandably, I dont think that trade wars between certain countries are a major reason for Africa not having accessed vaccines in proportion to other geographies. As I understand, the reason why Africa does not have access to the volume of vaccines is primarily due to the fact that African countries could not purchase vaccines in advance and are dependent on facilities like COVAX. COVAX in turn has had challenges in securing enough vaccines for distribution into countries which signed up.

It implies that Africa will have difficulty in accessing the coronavirus vaccines? What do you suggest African leaders critically look redirecting funds to their health systems and health research (R&D)?

African leaders need to rally together to ensure that no effort is spared in facilitating and supporting the building of large scale vaccine manufacturing capacity on the continent. The recent African Vaccine Manufacturing Summit in April is an encouraging start. Focus needs to be on developing real vaccine R&D capacity which leads to products. This requires substantial investment and a long-term commitment.

Furthermore, governments need to commit to buy locally made vaccines and work individually and collectively in creating guaranteed access to African vaccine markets. What makes this 10 times more difficult is that around 40 of the 54 African countries receive the vaccines from UNICEF financed by GAVI.

Business is business and making profit is the basis for business. Do pharmaceutical firms have to be profit-oriented in the global health crisis?

A balance should be struck. Making a profit is vitally important for business sustainability. However, in a global health crisis such as Covid-19 companies should not be exploiting the situation to generate maximum profits. Indeed, some companies producing Covid-19 vaccines have demonstrated that this is possible, charging a few dollars per vaccine dose.

What could be the possible roles of African Union (AU) and other sub-regional organizations?

Demand certainty and access to markets are vital. African governments, sub-regional organizations and the AU should work together to create regional or pooled markets and guarantee purchase of locally produced vaccines. This is possibly the most important enabler of building and sustaining local vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Accelerate efforts to create streamlined regulatory processes for speedier accreditation of vaccine manufacturing facilities and licensing products to ensure that vaccines can be available in the fastest time possible. Delays in getting market authorization for products by National Regulatory Authorities have a direct negative impact on cash flows and creates real barriers to building sustainable capacities.

Another essential contribution would be the mobilization of resources and/or creation of enabling environments for resources to be unlocked and discharged as vaccine production is capital intensive and requires access to innovative funding streams over 10-20 years.

Incentivization of technology transfer partnerships to achieve capacity building in the fastest possible time.

Invest in skills development programs specifically geared to creating a workforce skilled in vaccine development and manufacturing know-how.

In summary, no effort should be spared in working to ensure that in a pandemic situation vaccines there is no delay in getting vaccines to where they are most needed in the fastest possible time.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has rebuked the Akufo-Addo government over recent incidents of assault and attacks by national security operatives in the country.

Citing the assault on Citi FMs Caleb Kudah as well attempts to forcibly remove the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator from office, the party says the developments indicated a dangerous erosion of the [countrys] democracy.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms this degradation of our democracy by the Akufo-Addo government. We condemn the continuous abuse of our rights protected by the Constitution by the marauding and wayward administration of President Akufo-Addo.

In a statement issued by its General Secretary of the NDC, John Asiedu Nketiah on Sunday, the party said the recent events stem from how similar events were handled in the past.

The genesis of these trends is not hard to identify. [It began from] The needless invasion by state-sponsored vigilantes of the voting process during the Ayawaso Bye-election in January 2019, the virtual militarization of the registration of voters process last year, and the unprecedented violence that accompanied the election proper last December, culminating in the untimely death of eight innocent Ghanaian citizens, it said, adding that the government has been emboldened to allow such incidents occur due to the silence of Ghanaians on the past events.

In the brutish assault of Mr. Caleb Kudah of Citi FM and the harassment of his colleague, Ms. Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo, the Akufo-Addo government has now demonstrated clearly that it does not believe in the rule of law nor common human decency, as the continued presence of Deputy Superintendent of Police Samuel Kojo Azugu in the National Security apparatus and the brutish conduct of Lt. Colonel Agyemang fly totally in the face of the solemn recommendations of the Emile Short Commission of Inquiry. And as if these events are not enough, elements of the much dreaded NPP vigilante group, the Delta Force actually raided the office of the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and handcuffed him, claiming that his tenure of office had come to an end, the party stated.

Operatives of National Security last Tuesday arrested and assaulted Citi FM's Caleb Kudah after they found him filming abandoned state-funded vehicles parked at the premises of the Ministry of National Security.

The operatives subsequently besieged Citi FM to arrest another journalist, Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo who received the materials captured by Caleb.

No charge has been proffered against the two.

The NDC says it will continue to challenge such development while urging President Akufo-Addo to respect the rights and welfare of citizens.

We shall not sit unconcerned as the President lurches from one scandal to the other. Ghana and Ghanaians deserve far better, it concluded.

Read the full statement below:

STATEMENT ON THE ATTACK BY NATIONAL SECURITY PERSONNEL AGAINST JOURNALISTS.

The National Democratic Congress has noted with concern recent attacks on journalists from the Citi FM and the Ashanti Regional Coordinator by National Security personnel and vigilante elements in Kumasi.

Coming in the heels of the invasion of Parliament by the military during the election of the Speaker, these developments portend a dangerous erosion of the democracy that all our citizens have come to cherish since the inception of the 4th Republic in January, 1993.

The genesis of these trends is not hard to identify. The needless invasion by state-sponsored vigilantes of the voting process during the Ayawaso Bye-election in January 2019, the virtual militarization of the registration of voters process last year, and the unprecedented violence that accompanied the election proper last December, culminating in the untimely death of eight innocent Ghanaian citizens.

Many were our citizens who erroneously decided to remain quiet because they assumed that we in the NDC were making unnecessary political noises. For those of our citizens who formed that opinion, their silence only served to encourage the Akufo-Addo government that Ghanaians are weak and do not care enough about our democracy.

The sycophantic elements in society who descended heavily on Sir Sam Jonah for speaking up on the sorry state of Ghanas democracy must be revising their notes by now.

In the brutish assault of Mr. Caleb Kudah of Citi FM and the harassment of his colleague, Ms. Zoe Abu-Baidoo, the Akufo-Addo government has now demonstrated clearly that it does not believe in the rule of law nor common human decency, as the continued presence of Deputy Superintendent of Police Samuel Kojo Azugu in the National Security apparatus and the brutish conduct of Lt. Colonel Agyemang fly totally in the face of the solemn recommendations of the Emil Short Commission of Inquiry.

And as if these events are not enough, elements of the much dreaded NPP vigilante group, the Delta Force actually raided the office of the Ashanti Regional Security Coordinator and handcuffed him, claiming that his tenure of office had come to an end.

It is this unprecedented attack on the people of Ghana and the apparent helplessness or connivance of the President and Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo that threatens the foundation of our democracy and the well being of our fellow country men and women.

Accordingly we condemn in the strongest possible terms this degradation of our democracy by the Akufo-Addo government. We condemn the continuous abuse of our rights protected by the Constitution by the marauding and wayward administration of President Akufo-Addo.

We have a right to live in safety and security as we go about our daily lives. We have a right to live and breath under this regime even in the face of the challenging economic situation brought about by the unbelievable incompetence of the Akufo-Addo government.

We shall not sit idly by as President Akufo-Addo takes our citizens for granted, even as he has demonstrated utter cluelessness in attending to the welfare of Ghanaians.

We urge the President to sit up and do the work for which he was allegedly elected to do. He must do that work with full respect for our rights and welfare. We shall not sit unconcerned as the President lurches from one scandal to the other. Ghana and Ghanaians deserve far better.

LONG LIVE THE NDC

LONG LIVE GHANA

ISSUED IN ACCRA ON I6TH MAY, 2021



(HON. JOHNSON ASIEDU-NKETIAH)

GENERAL SECRETARY

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Mrs Ophelia Zungbey, local president of the Life Members Council (L.M.C) of the Mountain of Grace African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E) Church Zion, Oyibi has encouraged Christians especially women to remember God in times of trouble.

She said despite the challenges in the country as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the grace of God was sufficient for all.

Women face lots of difficulties and the recent pandemic is one as women have lost their jobs and loved ones and although we have come through partially, they are still counting their losses," she said.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, she said in times of trouble, Christians needed to call to memory that faithful was He who had called us and memories of God's faithfulness would bring perfect restoration.

She said, "Though difficulties may come, they are part of life, for one thing we know is the Lord will see us through because He is Jehovah Jireh, the Provider."

Mrs Zungbey stressed the need for Christians to pray and stop complaining, but rather trust in the promises of God noting that "the love of God is unconditional, but for God to bless you is based on conditions.

It is not about long prayers, but the sincerity of the prayer because the quality and quantity of your success depends on prayer so the onus lies on us to pray in times of difficulties, she added.

GNA
A 40 year-old farmer has been granted bail in the sum of GH10,000 with two sureties, by the District Magistrate court at Enchi.

Richmond Dakpolo, charged with fraudulent breach of trust, pleaded not guilty and would re-appear before the court presided over by Mr Eric Baah Boateng, on Monday May 17, 2021

Detective Inspector Joseph Kwadwo Agyare, prosecuting, told the court that, the complainant, Frederick Baafi Sampson, is the District Manager of AGROECOM Ghana Limited at Enchi and lived at Kokoado both in the Aowin Municipality.

He said in 2019-2020 the complainant gave an amount of GH92,400.00 to Amegbee, a purchasing clerk at his firm to supply him with 140 bags of dried cocoa beans, but he was able to produce 97 bags leaving 43 bags.

Inspector Agyare said Dakpolo who guaranteed for Amegbee also collected GH15,180.00 from him to purchase and supply the complainant with 23 bags of dried cocoa beans.

Prosecution said after the accused received the money, he supplied only two bags remaining 21 bags of dried cocoa beans, which was equivalent to GH13,860.00 to be supplied.

He said the accused had since failed to account for the 21 bags of dried bags of cocoa beans and all efforts to retrieve either the remaining bags of cocoa beans or the money proved futile.

On March 12, 2021, the accused who resides at Limankrom was spotted in town, so the complainant arrested and handed him over to the Police for investigations, Inspector Agyare informed the court.

Dakpolo in his caution statement admitted the offence and said he used the money to pay for his father's medical bills and his children school fees.

He was therefore charged with the offence and arraigned before court.

GNA
A team of Kokomba warriors and hunters at Dambai Old Town in the Oti region have shot and killed two male antelopes they believed killed a woman gathering mangoes on the farm.

The warriors believed the animal was lurking in the vicinity of the accident and was likely to attack another person hence the search to kill exercise sanctioned by Nana Ubor Gmafudal II, Chief of Kokomba at Dambai.

Madam Bejome Jacha, 48, was head-butted by the wild antelopes on Wednesday leading to injuries and subsequent death at the Hohoe Municipal hospital the next day.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on behalf of the team, Mr Jacha Jagri, the husband of the deceased said the team set off late Friday night after the necessary rituals accorded such events and returned at 0700 hours on Saturday with two male antelopes.

He said true to their suspicion, the first animal was shot within the precincts of the accident with the second one being killed within a spate of one hour difference.

He said the carcass would undergo specific rituals to appease the soul of the deceased, who was buried last Friday.

GNA
Today, Sunday, May 16, 2021 marks exactly six years since one of Ghanas largest apolitical protests in recent history was staged.

The peaceful #DumsorMustStop vigil was spearheaded by Ghanaian actress, Yvonne Nelson and a host of other public figures to protest against frequent power outages in the country.

At the time, the outages had become so frequent across the country to the extent that many businesses were severely affected leading to job losses.

The government on different occasions published a power outage schedule from 6:00am to 6:00pm and 6:00pm to 6:00am for various areas as part of managing the crisis.

As at 2015 when the protest of thousands of Ghanaians was held, the incessant power outages had been ongoing for over two years.

Protesters from all walks of life, most of whom were clad in black, gathered at Legon near the University of Ghana to commence the march that was expected to impress upon the John Mahama-led government to urgently act.

Artistes Efya, DKB, Sydney, D-Black, Van Vicker, David Oscar, Wanlov da Kubolor and a host of others joined in the march.

Hundreds of armed police personnel and some armoured cars were deployed to ensure order as the charged up protesters marched from Legon to Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout for a mini rally.

The countrys power situation has since seen some changes that can be said to be an improvement. However, recent events such as widespread power outages in some parts of southern Ghana has left many, especially businesses that rely heavily on electricity frustrated.

Currently, a 10-day power outage schedule is in force for some parts of Accra.

According to the countrys power managers, the outages are necessary to allow for some maintenance works to be done.

The Ministry of Energy headed by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South, is in charge of the sector.

The Ministry incorporates the work of the then Power Ministry which was set up specifically to tackle the countrys power crisis during the John Mahama era.

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Three suspects are in the grips of the Kyebi Police for allegedly stealing 20 livestock- 13 live goats, 5 dead goats, and 2 sheep at Akyem-Akropong in the Atiwa West District of the Eastern Region.

The suspects-Bismarck Togbor, 43; Kwame Danso, 32, and Eric Owusu, 20, were grabbed at Obretema near Suhum on the Accra-Kumasi highway after they were given a hot chase by a Police Patrol team from Kyebi.

DGN Online gathered that the Police Patrol team led by Chief Inspector Jacob Narh Charway with Sgt. Justice Aidoo, and Sgt. Oko Agyekum onboard a vehicle No. GP 5120.

They had information that the suspects on board a Toyota Corolla saloon car with registration number GS 3332- 20 went to steal the goats, sheep, and the fowls at Akyem Akropong and were heading towards Kyebi.

The patrol team then mounted a snap check on Adadientem  Kyebi road.

The suspects on seeing the police ran through the blockade.

They were given a hot chase, halted their vehicle by firing the offside front tyre, and arrested them at Obretema on the highway.

After their vehicle was searched, 20 livestock- 13 live goats, 5 dead goats, and 2 sheep were found in the car.

The Toyota corolla saloon car has since been towed and impounded at the Kyebi police station as the suspects have also been detained at the cells assiting in investigations.

Daily Guide
Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has rejected claims that the recent power outages popularly referred to as dumsor are a result of financial difficulties.

The Minister insists that such claims are borne out of wishful thinking by critics of the Akufo-Addo administration.

Dr. Opoku Prempeh said this at the Ministers press briefing on the theme, Delivering Reliable and Affordable Power at the Information Ministry on Sunday, May 16, 2021.

Since the beginning of the year, some parts of Ghana have experienced power supply challenges including long periods of outages, low current, and intermittent outages.

While businesses have complained about the impact on them, others say they have lost electrical appliances to the outage.

For some persons, they believe government is not being truthful about the real cause of the problem.

One of such persons is the Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, Mr. John Jinapor .

The former Deputy Minister of Energy and Petroleum claims the problem is financial, and that the government wasnt being candid with Ghanaians.

Somebody is not telling us the truth, and in this difficult moment, when people are struggling, there ought to be clarity and certainty. If indeed power is not adequate in terms of the transmission line, tell the people of Ghana and assure us of what you are doing, he said.

This claim the Energy Minister has rejected outrightly.

These problems are not financial because the problems are being solved, and we pleaded with Ghanaians to bear with us. We work to make the power supply more dependable in the country. I also urge you to ignore those making wishful thinking on the situation.

The problems are being solved, and by the end of the year, we should have much stable power for all of us. Kindly bear with us as we fix these problems in our collective interest.

Dumsor timetable coming to an end

The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) released an eight-day schedule in April 2021 for some interruptions in power supply to some parts of the national capital for maintenance works to be carried out.

The power distributor explained that the timetable has become necessary due to the ongoing works on the Pokuase Bulk Supply Point, hence the need to shut down the transmission line, which will affect the Mallam Bulk Supply Point that supplies power to many households.

The eight-day exercise, which begun on May 10, 2021, is expected to end on Monday, May 17, 2021.

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The Alliance for Truth, Justice and Accountability has been studying with some disquiet news that the government of Ghana is again contemplating the construction of between 100,000 to 250,000 new 'affordable housing units ' every year to provide 'affordable residential accommodation' for public and civil servants.

The news of the new construction was made known by Mrs. Freda Prempeh, Minister of State in charge of Works and Housing in April this year when a delegation from the State Housing Company (SHC) inspected acres of land secured by the SHC to start the 'affordable housing project' in the Ahafo Region.

The information has since been repeated by the Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Assenso Boakye.

The Alliance for Truth, Justice and Accountability is firmly opposed to the news for a number of good reasons.

First and foremost, housing in this country has traditionally been provided by the private sector, at no cost to government. Even though government has made a number of interventions in the sector since colonial days, the effort comes nowhere near the stupendous industry demonstrated by individuals and companies who largely provide housing for the populace with their own resources. We believe that any interventions in the housing sector should therefore be aimed at improving the abilities of the private sector in that direction.

Our second reason for opposing the idea of the new government construction is that, without doubt, the adventure would be fueled by yet another public debt. We are at odds to understand the rational for accumulating further public debt for an industry that people engage in without loading government with further debt. The so-called 'housing gap' in the country has always been filled by the private sector.

The third reason for our objection is that the public debt that Ghana keeps on accumulating is to be paid for by the private sector, through taxes. This, in effect, means that the private companies in the housing sector would have to pay for the 1. activities of the public sector. In effect, the private housing sector is going to have to pay government so that government can go into competition with it.

The fourth reason is the concept of competition itself. The duty of government is to create an enabling environment for the private sector, including the private construction industry. Over the past decades, going back into the era of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and right up to the present under President Akufo-Addo, there has been a systematic lack of governmental interest in helping the private sector in the housing sector to grow. Government has not been heard, across the period, on what policies and programs it intends to implement to help the private sector in the housing industry to grow and acquire the strength to provide adequate housing. Rather, government across the period is constantly heard competing with the private sector space, and crowding out the private sector. Government is in competition with the private sector, and it is the private sector that has to pay for the fun of government in this unprovoked competition.

Fifth, the so-called 'affordable housing projects' can never be said to be affordable. Many of the units are priced in the tens of thousands of dollars, well beyond the means of the ordinary teacher or nurse. Unlike units provided by the private sector, these 'affordable units', from day one, have been priced, due to inherent corruption, out of the pockets of the people who have to patronize them.

Sixth, the direct result of the previous point is that virtually all the housing sites so far built have been abandoned. It makes very little economic sense to borrow and tax to build housing units like Saglemi, only to abandon it, the worse of it, call on the private sector to pay for the fund.

Seventh, there is total lack of transparency in contracts for affordable housing projects. The drawings, quantities, pricing and securing the finance among other factors remain under a veil of lack of transparency, and as a result, a nation that cannot build schools and hospitals has to keep on spending hundreds of millions of dollars putting up these white elephants, which are often constructed in far-off locations that makes living in them, transportation and other logistical nightmare, leading consequently to their being abandoned.

Again, the contracts for these projects are largely for the benefit of foreign companies. This means that while the private sector pays for the adventure, it does not benefit from the economic and financial activity. As a consequence, hundreds if not billions of dollars, are being funneled out of the country to enrich foreign companies and individuals to the detriment of local companies.

SAGLEMI

At Saglemi, for instance, 1502 flats, the first phase of the 5,000 housing units at Saglemi in the Ningo- Prampram District, has been left to rot away. Ghanaians paid $200 million dollars for the fund, and are being called upon to bring up an additional $35 million dollars, which, without doubt, would also disappear.

The former Minister of Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea revealed that former NDC government officials involved in the botched Saglemi Housing deal embezzled more than $114 million of the $179.9 million paid to the contractor. Former Minister and MP Collins Dauda presided over this infamy. The Akufo Addo administration has not prosecuted a single person for this crime against the people of Ghana. It is rather pumping in more money, and only God knows what is going to happen.

ASOKORE MAMPONG

Another of the misadventure is the affordable houses at Asokore Mampong, in the Ashanti region.

The affordable housing project in Asokore Mampong is one of the Government's affordable housing projects under the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). The project consists of 91 apartment blocks that contain 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom apartments which are estimated to house over 1000 people.

There have been issues raised about the prices of the affordable housing apartments which stand at GHS 99,000  GHS 142,500 for a 1 bedroom apartment, GHS 182,500 for a 2 bedroom apartment and GHS 335,000 for a 3 bedroom apartment. This was disclosed by the Deputy Minister for Works and Housing during an interview .

This project is targeted at civil servants. Sale of apartments was scheduled to commence in March, 2020 but no information has been communicated to that effect as at May, 2021. because nobody is prepared to pay that type of money to live in crowded tenement buildings when one can, for the same money, put up a four bedroom house with its own compound.

AMASAMAN

The Amasaman affordable housing project was funded by the United Nations Office for Project Service (UNOPS). UNOPS is expected to build over 850,000 homes across Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.

The Amasaman affordable housing project is expected to produce 6,500 homes at the value of over $5.3 billion. This puts the price of each home around $800, 000.00 (eight hundred thousand dollars) or about GHc3.9 million (three million, nine hundred thousand cedis). Whether any Ghanaian would use that type of money to live in crowded conditions in what essentially is a high-rise tenement remains to be seen. It was launched by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia in 2019.

NEED TO BE VERY WORRIED

The astronomical waste and financial scandal exampled by the three projects above should give all Ghanaians great course for concern, and the idea that government is contemplating building an additional 100,000 housing units under the conditions of such multi-billion dollar waste should be a matter of concern for all.

CONCLUSION

Under the circumstances, we call on government to do the following.

Cause an immediate halt to the 100,000 housing project in the Bono Region. Investigate the cause of the white elephants at Saglemi and Asokore Mampong. The financial feasibility of the Amasaman Project. Immediate financial audit of all on-going affordable housing projects; To tell Ghanaians the complete facts on the $5.3 billion UNOPS project, where the money is coming from, and what are the conditions attached and whether it has received parliamentary approval; Cause an immediate value-for-money audit of the UNOPS project, since the money allegedly being spent should be able to build tens of thousands more houses; Complete abandoned affordable housing projects. Immediate engagement with the relevant real estate associations in Ghana on how government can assist them to produce economically, viable, affordable houses in Ghana. Such engagement should not move beyond the area of policy assistance and certainly NOT include a cedi of taxpayer's money.

We shall be back soon on Part Two of this statement Signed ..............

Bismark Kofi Boateng Convener

For Twi Interviews, Please Call Bismark On 0541516901

for English Interviews Please Call Nii Abbey On 0242224003 Or Mercy On 0555386024
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The Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is demanding for a policy that will ban government appointees, Members of Parliament among others from travelling outside Ghana to seek medical attention.

This, he believes, will compel the government to focus more on fixing the challenges in the country's health system.

Narrating the incident where a 12-year-old boy passed away in his constituency due to lack of beds in a particular hospital, he lamented the country's broken health system which he says needs an urgent fix.

With the continuous no bed syndrome, why are there so many abandoned hospital projects all over the country? And why are others like the UGMC being under-utilized? If that 12-year-old boy was my child or that of Sam George, was that the kind of care he would have been accorded when it was clear he needed to be referred? he asked during an induction ceremony organized by the Accra Ubuntu Lions Club on Saturday.

Why cant we have a health system that works for all regardless of status, size of pocket, who you know, or who knows you? This cannot be normal and we cannot accept this. The challenges in our broken healthcare system must not be allowed to fester. Some of the challenges are so basic that we have absolutely no excuse.

As part of his recommendations to the government in fixing the broken health system, he asked for a policy that would ban government officials from seeking medical attention from foreign countries.

There is the need to implement a policy of No medical treatment abroad for members of the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary with immediate effect. This appears to me to be the best way to address the numerous challenges in the health sector. This will force us to get things right and do right to avoid the needless death of the 12-year-old boy which continues to traumatize me, he bemoaned. The incident

The tragic incident, which happened on Friday, May 14, involved the death of a 12-year-old boy in the North Tongu constituency who could not be saved despite efforts from the constituency MP, Mr. Ablakwa and the MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George.

Sam George narrated the story in a Facebook post:

I am angry. I am sad. I am pissed.

Yesterday evening around 8 pm, I got a call and messages from an Assemblyman in my Constituency whilst I was at church that his 12-year-old son had been rushed to the Battor Catholic hospital in the morning. The situation had been deteriorating, and a decision was made early afternoon to transfer the child to Accra.

Calls were made to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, but they refused to accept the child that there was no bed. Calls were made to 37 Military Hospital, and they agreed to take the child. This was about 3pm. Then the next hurdle began. The National Ambulance Service was called to transport the child. Getting the Service was another issue entirely. After getting the service, they insisted that they cannot move the child until they got their own independent confirmation from 37 Military Hospital. For well over 5 hours, they could not get anyone from 37 to confirm.

It was at this point the Assemblyman in desperation called me. I quickly reached out to my Colleague and Brother Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who is the MP for the area to see if he could intervene with the Battor Clinic. He immediately called Dr. Atuguba who is the Head of the facility and put me in touch with him. It became clear quickly that Battor had done all they could and it was in the hands of 37 Military Hospital.

Hon. Ablakwa again called a Constituent of his who is a doctor at 37 to see if he could help us. At this point we had finally gotten an ambulance on standby to convey the child. By the time we got a Doctor at 37 to get involved and give the all-clear to the ambulance service, the little boy blacked out and could not be resuscitated. He died at 10:05 pm.

Why it would have to take 2 MPs to find a bed for a dying child who needed critical medical care has deprived me of sleep. Why we have ambulances that cannot move because there is no system in place to let them know where to go angers me. Why we have a world-class facility like the University of Ghana Medical Centre with so many empty beds rotting away beats my understanding.

Yet another needless death. Should you know a big man somewhere for you to get the basic necessities? This death has really pained me. It has left me bitter at the system. It has left me angry at the #FixYourself folks. How could the Assemblyman or his 12-year-old fix this issue?

The Republic is indeed very sick and needs to be fixed. How much longer can we go on like this. May the soul of this little child whose only crime is to be born Ghanaian rest in the bosom of the LORD.

#FixTheCountry #FixGhanaNow

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On Saturday, an Associated Press photojournalist estimated there were at least 300 shallow riverside graves on a sandbar near near Prayagraj. Each grave was covered by an orange, yellow or reddish cloth and appeared laid out in the same direction. Several policemen were at the scene, but allowed a family who arrived in a small truck to bury a 75-year-old woman at the site.
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Our country is stuck in a political cul-de-sac.

A few days ago, I shared a post from the NDC's Joyce Bawa Mogtari about the death of a child due to our broken Healthcare system. It oozed indignation and anger, directed at the current government-- for the state of our Healthcare. Of course, she was being opportunistic, partisan and hypocritical. But I shared it and got a comment from a friend in government who simply wrote, "Dr K, really?".

I shared it because despite the hypocrisy, her post reflected an underlying truth about our Healthcare. An arsonist who raises the alarm about a fire should not be ignored-- just as a prostitute who raises the alarm about rape in a whorehouse should not be ignored. Hypocrisy, unfortunately, is a bipartisan sin. Those who complained loudly about our broken country a few years ago but see nothing wrong now because they are in power are as hypocritical as Ms. Mogtari. The problem with these endless "what-about-isms" is that it prevents us from solving problems. While Rome was not built in a day, it was built day by day. If we insist on fixing ourselves before we fix our country, we can never begin fixing our country and we would not need government.

So how do we start fixing Ghana?

Let us begin with Healthcare.

Our NHIS is weakening by the day, our hospitals lack beds, our ambulance system doesn't work when needed, our qualified nurses and doctors don't get assigned on time and those who are tasked with fixing our Healthcare demonstrate their lack of confidence in it by getting care abroad.

In short, "cash-and-carry" is returning.

We should complete uncompleted hospitals, appoint competent health administrators , revamp NHIS and bar public officials from getting care abroad at public expense. And if this country didn't need fixing, the 2 MP's who failed to get the child care would take their concerns to the floor of Parliament!

On public housing, we should allocate the completed Seglimi Housing units, all 1,500 units of them while dedicating funding to finish the whole-- even if there are concerns about corruption.

And we should do the same with the Kpone, Borteman, Asokore-Mampong and Cape Coast public housing initiatives. Our failure to complete these units, even while teachers, nurses, soldiers and many others lack housing is not only a violation of the Directive Principles of State Policy but a national disgrace.

We need to act now.

We should convene a national conference on education that would develop a blueprint to end the use of our scarce resources to produce unemployable graduates. It doesn't make sense.

While all these problems matter, nothing illustrates the impotence of our governments more than galamsey.

Both the NPP and the NDC have shamelessly exploited it for votes and for money.

I was excited when President Akufo-Addo courageously pledged to put his Presidency on the line to fight it. He failed. He has pledged to re-launch the fight. Indeed, many Ghanaians believe that the success of this President is inextricably tied to this issue. A few weeks after the President launched his first initiative, a journalist who wants to remain anonymous told me confidently, "The President will abandon the fight because there are too many powerful people in his FAMILY and his PARTY who are involved!". While I have not verified what the journalist said, the attempt by government officials leading the Galamsey fight to gag the Asantehene a few days ago, bolters what the journalist told me. Captain Smart was right. Charity begins at home and if the President cannot fight galamsey in his hometown, he cannot fight it elsewhere!

But this fight is not just the President's fight. It is our fight. We cannot watch as galamsey poisons our water and food and destroys the inheritance to our children. Charity begins at home, not just for this President but for former President Mahama and his party, the NDC. He cannot worry about Somalia while millions who voted for him are calling for Ghana to be fixed. President Mahama, Ofosu Ampofo and Asiedu Nketia must firmly commit their party on the side of the public interest in the fight against galamsey. Anything less will make them mindless partisans and traitors to Ghana. And the Asantehene must refuse to be gagged. He has done much for Ghana, in bringing peace to Dagbon and during Presidential transitions. This service will make him a hero, not just for our age but for the ages.

The fundamental truth is that the 1992 constitution needs significant reforms.

We need direct election of DCE/MMCE's with decentralization of spending decisions, caps on the number of Supreme Court justices and Parliamentarians, decoupling of the Legislature from executive so there can be meaningful executive oversight, better safeguards against corruption and more transparency. It is irrational that Ghana has more Supreme Court justices than America which ten times our population!

Finally, Parliament must rouse itself from its inertia, rise above our Partisanship and be the instrumental catalyst for fixing Ghana.

Together, let us fix ourselves and Ghana.

We are Ghana.

Aluta Continua!

We shall overcome!

Long live Ghana.

Arthur Kobina Kennedy

(16th May, 2021)
Police in Sunyani during the weekend held in custody Benjamin Adjei, a-23-year-old fashion designer for attempting to sacrifice his nephew for money rituals at Abesim in the Sunyani Municipality.

The suspect allegedly lured the victim Listowel Adjei, 13, into a taxi cab, but luck eluded him when he was arrested at the Abesim-Tano police barrier on Sunyani-Kumasi highway on their way to the shrine upon a tip-off.

Police District Sergeant Benjamin Lartey told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the suspect admitted the crime during interrogations and would be arraigned on Monday May 17.

He explained that an informant (name withheld) came to the Abesim police station and reported that he received a phone call from the suspect who solicited his assistance to see a ritualist to help him to sacrifice his nephew for money rituals couple of weeks ago.

On Saturday May 15, the informant informed the police the suspect had succeeded and lured his nephew into a taxi cab ready to convey him to the place for the rituals.

So the police laid ambush at Abesim-Tanoso barrier and arrested the suspect, D/Sgt Lartey indicated, adding a hand bag containing one big cutlass, a knife, red calico, a big pot, quantities of cola nuts, cowries and a sum of GH300.00 was retrieved from him.

---GNA
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President Akufo-Addo, has said the Imposition of Restrictions Act 2020 (Act 1012), will remain in force until further notice.

According to him, until the country vaccinates the requisite number of Ghanaians needed to curb the spread, the Act will remain in force.

President Akufo-Addo therefore said the security agencies have been charged to enforce the Act to the latter.

Until we vaccinate the requisite numbers of Ghanaians and achieve herd immunity, which will help return our lives to normalcy, the Imposition of Restrictions Act 2020 (Act 1012), will remain in force and the security agencies will not relent in their efforts to enforce it.

President Akufo-Addo said this when he addressed the nation on Sunday, May 16, 2021, on the management of the outbreak in the country.

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo , also announced that the country will commence the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.

According to him, the exercise will take place in some 43 districts.

He added that the Ghana Health Service will provide more information on the vaccination in the coming week.

I am happy to announce that beginning Wednesday, May 19 to Wednesday 26 May, the deployment of the second dose of vaccines will take place across the designated vaccination centres in the 43 districts approximately 12 weeks after the first jab as the science prescribes. More details of the deployment will be communicated by the Ghana Health Service in the coming week.

citinewsroom
President Akufo-Addo, has disclosed that the Ghana Health Service (GHS), and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), will in the coming weeks announce the modalities for the re-opening of cinemas.

He said the protocols are critical to ensuring the safety of patrons and all involved in the industry.

President Akufo-Addo stated that the operators of cinemas would have to comply fully with the agreed modalities and protocols before the industry will be reopened.

In a move towards the reopening of cinemas and theatres, the government has engaged cinema owners and operators on a set of protocols and guidelines that need to be put in place and implemented by all operators before the eventual re-opening. In the coming weeks, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Tourism Authority will be announcing these protocols and mandatory modalities, and work with the operators on a set of directives that will ensure the health and safety of all patrons and staff in all the facilities involved.

President Akufo-Addo said this when he addressed the nation on Sunday, May 16, 2021, on the management of the outbreak in the country.

Nana Akufo-Addo had assured filmmakers that their call on the government to consider reopening cinemas in the wake of the COVID-19-induced restrictions, was under consideration.

During the media launch of the Presidential Film Pitch Series at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra on Wednesday, April 28, 2021, President Akufo-Addo said that the filmmakers will hear from the COVID-19 taskforce soon.

I want to proclaim on a matter of great concern, that the opening of cinemas is under constant review by the COVID-19 taskforce. And hopefully, you'll hear from the taskforce soon, he said.

---citinewsroom
Nicki Minaj thinks taking a break from the music industry has been good for her mental health.

The 38-year-old rap star hasn't released an album since 'Queen' in 2018 and Nicki admits she's now in a much better frame of mind after giving birth to her son in September.

During a Twitter Q&A, Nicki was asked if she's benefited from the hiatus and she replied: "Great question. Yes. It was soooo needed for me. I appreciate u guys so much for waiting. But yea, very much needed that zen for important bonding time w|my son, getting back fluid w|writing & smthn else I dont want to discuss yet. If u know u know. [praying emoji] (sic)"

Nicki recently confessed that losing her father has been the most devastating loss shes faced in her life.

Robert Maraj died in February after being struck by a car in a hit-and-run incident, and earlier this month, Nicki broke her silence on the tragedy.

The 'Super Bass' hitmaker still isnt ready to talk about the incident in detail, but she offered fans an update on her mental health in a post on her website.

The rap star - who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but subsequently moved to New York City - wrote: "Tho I cant really bring myself to discuss the passing of my father as yet; I can say it has been the most devastating loss of my life. I find myself wanting to call him all the time. More so now that hes gone. Life is funny that way. May his soul rest in paradise. He was very loved & will be very missed. (sic)"
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed  the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.

The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday.

Local media reports said the main coastal road west of the city, security compounds and open spaces were hit in the latest raids. The power distribution company said airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large parts of southern Gaza City.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel's attacks were continuing at full-force and would take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war."

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.

Haya Abdelal, 21, who lives in a building next to one that was destroyed, said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to leave before launching such an attack.

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure."

As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the civilian houses' foundations above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties, it said.

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospital's coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

Israel's airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest buildings, which Israel alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press Gaza office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the AP's executive editor, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office on Saturday.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building and said Sunday any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels. Neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any had been seen.

Its a perfectly legitimate target, Netanyahu told CBSs Face the Nation."

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said: We pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out. We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court on Sunday to investigate Israels bombing of the AP building and others housing media organizations as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based group said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

The AP had operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militant rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians clashed with police in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focus of the clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a hilltop compound revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas began firing rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed in some of the 3,100 rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed in the fighting. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

The assault has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes, U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where eight foreign ministers spoke about the conflict.

Efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the U.N. body to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities, have been blocked by the United States, which, according to diplomats, is concerned it could interfere with diplomatic efforts to stop the violence.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki urged the Security Council to take action to end Israeli attacks. Israels U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, urged the council to condemn Hamas' indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks.

The turmoil has also fueled protests in the occupied West Bank and stoked violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families have been threatened with eviction , injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.



Nessman reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Joseph Krauss and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Edie Lederer at the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
NEW YORK (AP)  News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gazas Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a war crime and a clear act to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.

The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms, Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged a highly advanced technological tool that the militant group used in the fighting was within or on the building."

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without compromising intelligence efforts. He added, however: I think its a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.

Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.

"We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence," he said. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel provide a detailed and documented justification for the strike.

This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza, the groups executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations" and also questioned whether the assaults seek to impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict.

We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press, the National Press Club said. "Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job.

The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap. Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it an honest mistake.

The AP, based on its analysis of the armys statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks, Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. Its really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that youve had.

APs top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agencys camera offered 24-hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt somewhat safe.

The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so its less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down, Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone." the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.



Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
The Latest on the continuing violence between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers amid the latest escalation in the Middle East:



BEIJING  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called on the U.N. Security Council to seek an early de-escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers. He also blamed the U.S. for the councils lack of action so far.

Regrettably, the council has so far failed to reach an agreement, with the United States standing on the opposite side of international justice, the state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang as saying in a phone conversation Saturday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

He expressed support for a two-state solution, and said China, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, expects all parties to speak with a unified voice when the council discusses the conflict later Sunday.

Wang said the Security Council should reconfirm a two-state solution and urge Palestinians and Israelis to resume talks on that basis as soon as possible.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes have struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City early Sunday.

According to photos circulated by residents and journalists, the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. It said rescuers are still digging through the rubble and had so far pulled up five more wounded.

Two hours into the heavy bombardment, there has been no comment from the Israeli military.



UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. spokesman says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply disturbed by the Israeli airstrike that destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City housing offices of several international media organizations and residential apartments, and is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties.

The secretary-general reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, an Israeli airstrike pulverized a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media after warning that it was being targeted.

Guterres singled out the death of 10 members of the same family including children as a result of an Israeli airstrike Friday in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Saturday.



LOS ANGELES  Hundreds of protesters shut down traffic as they took to the streets of Los Angeles, calling for an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

The protesters waved flags and signs that said free Palestine and shouted long live intifada, or uprising. They marched from outside the federal building to the Israeli Consulate in the western part of the city on Saturday.

Police shut down traffic on Wilshire Boulevard, a major thoroughfare, and urged motorists to avoid the area. Police from multiple agencies were monitoring the ongoing demonstration.

Also on Saturday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Bostons Copley Square and walked a short distance through the streets to the location of the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

Footage on social media shows protesters then unfurled a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words Free Palestine while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

Other smaller protests in support of Palestinians took place in Hartford and Pittsburgh, where footage shows one speaker at the protest called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how Israel can spend aid from the United States.



JERUSALEM  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the ongoing campaign against Palestinian militants, now in its sixth day, will continue as long as needed.

The prime minister spoke on Saturday from Israels defense ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv and issued a warning to leaders of Gaza's militant Hamas group after a series of airstrikes targeted high-level officials and commanders.

Netanyahu says: You cannot hide  not above ground, and not underground. Nobody is immune.

The Israeli leader added that there was no more just or moral campaign than Israels against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and thanked President Joe Biden and other world leaders for their support.

Netanyahu's remarks came at the end of a day that saw Israeli airstrikes target and destroy a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. Everyone was safely evacuated from the building before the strike hit.



JERUSALEM  Israels Electric Company says that high voltage lines supplying the Gaza Strip with electricity were damaged by rocket fire by Palestinian militants.

The company released a statement on Saturday saying five of the 10 lines have been damaged, in the latest escalation of fighting and that the company cannot fix them because there is no access to the area.

Damage to the power lines came amid days of intense fighting between Palestinian militants and Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Gaza's only other source of electricity  besides the power provided by Israel  is its single power plant, which has been working only partially due to fuel shortages. However, both sources are insufficient to cover Gazans' needs.

Outages of at least eight hours have long been a daily occurrence in the strip and with the power plant not working at regular capacity, rolling blackouts have increased to 12-15 hours per day recently.

With the latest hits on the power line, more outages are expected.



BEIRUT  A top Hamas leader says militant groups in the Gaza Strip will not retreat in the face of attacks by Israeli troops, warning that their fighters still havent used all their force at their disposal.

Ismail Haniyeh spoke during a rally attended by hundreds in the gas-rich nation of Qatar on Saturday night. He said that resistance is the shortest road to Jerusalem and that Palestinians will not accept anything less than a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

He added that the Zionist enemy struck Gaza, flattened towers and carried out massacres, thinking that this will make militant groups retreat. He said that as the Israeli attacks escalate, the resistance will increase (its force) to a higher level.

Haniyeh also said that despite the fact that Gaza has been under siege for nearly 15 years, militant groups will not retreat.



WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden has expressed strong support for Israels strikes in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas missile attacks on its territory, but raised concerns about civilian casualties and the protection of journalists on a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The White House says Biden on Saturday also shared his grave concern about intercommunal violence within Israel and escalating tensions in the West Bank. Biden and Netanyahu also discussed Jerusalem, with Biden saying it should be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Biden also held his first call since taking office with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the violence, in which he called for Hamas, the PAs rival, to stop firing rockets into Israel.

The White House says Biden expressed his support for steps to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy the dignity, security, freedom, and economic opportunity that they deserve and highlighted the resumption of U.S. aid to the Palestinians under his administration.



RAMALLAH, West Bank  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has spoken on the phone with President Joe Biden and urged the U.S. to intervene in the conflict and put an end to Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa says Abbas on Saturday updated Biden on the escalations across the Palestinian territories and said he was working to halt the Israeli aggression against our people and to reach a cease-fire.

The report says Abbas also told Biden that security and stability will be achieved when the Israeli occupation ends, adding that Palestinians are ready and willing to work toward peace with international mediators.

Biden stressed the need to achieve calm and reduce violence in the Mideast, noting intensive American diplomatic efforts to that end. That's according to the Wafa statement.



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Qatars foreign minister has met with a top Hamas official.

Thats according to a statement by Qatars Foreign Ministry on Saturday. It said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in the capital, Doha.

The Foreign Ministry said Sheikh Mohammed stressed the need for the international community to act urgently to stop the repeated brutal Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza.

There was no mention of the Israeli strike that toppled a Gaza tower that was home to offices of both The Associated Press, Dohas Al-Jazeera satellite news network and others.

Meanwhile, Arab League chief said Saturday that Arab states ambassadors to the United Nations are trying to rally international support for Palestinians amid Israeli attacks on Gaza .

Ahmed Aboul Gheit called upon the U.N. Security Council to fulfill its responsibilities" in holding Israel accountable in a session scheduled on Sunday to discuss the violence.



CAIRO  An Egyptian intelligence official says efforts to reach a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza militant groups are ongoing and have gained a push with the arrival of a U.S. envoy to Tel Aviv.

The official said Saturday that Egypt and other mediators hope that the U.S. will pressure Israel to end the fighting.

The official said it's up the U.S. to order Israel to stop such disastrous" actions  and added that the situation has started to get out of control in the occupied Palestinian territories. referring to protests in West Bank, Jerusalem and other areas.

He says the mediators do not expect a cease-fire before the U.N. Security Council meeting Sunday.

The official says Egypt is now seeking an hours-long lull to evacuate severely wounded people from Gaza. He says Egypt is pushing for such a humanitarian pause overnight as ambulances are waiting on the Egyptian side of the border.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr, the deputy assistant secretary for Israeli and Palestinian affairs. is now in the region to try resolve the escalation.

 Samy Magdy in Cairo;



BEIRUT  Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians have protested along the Lebanon-Israel border, with some climbing a border wall and triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person.

The protest on Saturday evening in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh saw hundreds marching and waving Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow flags of the militant Hezbollah group.

Some protesters climbed a high border wall where they placed Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.

Lebanons state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops fired warning shots near Adaisseh, wounding one person who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Lebanese and Palestinians from around Lebanon have been heading to the border to protest against Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past days. On Friday, Israeli troops opened fire at protesters who crossed a border fence, killing a 21-year-old Hezbollah member.

Earlier Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border.



VIENNA, Austria  An international network of journalists and media executives vehemently condemn the Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press and broadcaster Al-Jazeera.

Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said after Saturday's airstrike that the targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict."

She added that it represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms.

Three heavy missiles struck and destroyed the 12-story building about an hour after the Israeli military telephoned the owner to warn a strike was imminent. AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated the building, which also contained residential apartments.

AP Vice President and Editor at Large John Daniszewski, who chairs IPIs North American Committee and is special envoy for journalist safety, said there is no doubt that Israeli forces were aware that the media offices would be destroyed.

The Israeli military said the militant group Hamas was operating inside the building, but it provided no evidence to back up the claim.



TEHRAN, Iran  An Iranian state TV channel says the head of the expeditionary force of Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has had a phone call with the head of the militant Hamas group.

Al-Alam, the Arabic-language service of the Iranian state television, reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh spoke by telephone with Quds Force commander Gen. Esmail Ghaani.

Ghaani reportedly praised Hamas as offering a unique and successful answer to Israel.

Hamas officials have praised Iran for providing it weapons and aid in its fighting against Israel, Tehrans regional rival.

The report comes amid a dramatic escalation in the confrontation between Israel and Hamas this week. An Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets, including Al-Jazeera and also Kuwait's state television.



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  The foreign ministers of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are calling for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Thats according to a statement on Saturday carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

It says that Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan had spoken to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

It said the two both agreed that an immediate cease-fire was needed. Egypt has been trying to negotiate a stop to the fighting.

The Saudi statement also said the two diplomats called on the international community to confront the aggressive Israeli practices against the brotherly Palestinian people.



JERUSALEM  President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken about the situation with Gaza.

According to a statement from Netanyahu's office, the Israeli leader updated Biden on the developments and actions that Israel has taken and intends to take. It says Netanyahu also thanked Biden for the unreserved support of the United States for our right to defend ourselves."

It says Netanyahu emphasized in the conversation that Israel is doing everything to avoid harming the uninvolved. The statement added the proof of this is that in the towers where there are terrorist targets attacked by the IDF, they are evacuated from the uninvolved."

The Biden-Netanyahu call came just hours after an Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets.



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  An American organization promoting literature and freedom of speech has called Israel's airstrike that destroyed a building in Gaza that was home to the offices of The Associated Press and other media deeply disturbing.

PEN America said in a statement after Saturday's strike that the only reason the world knows about the ongoing fighting between Gazas Hamas rulers and Israel is due to the tireless, indefatigable work of journalists, risking their lives to inform the world.

The organization demanded a detailed accounting of why Israel launched the strike.

PEN America added that the resulting destruction will hobble the ability of professional journalists to do their work documenting a fraught, complex conflict at a critical time.



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Al-Jazeera has called the Israeli bombing that destroyed its office in Gaza a clear act to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict between it and Hamas.

Al-Jazeera issued the statement Saturday night after an Israeli strike that destroyed the building that was also home to the Gaza offices of The Associated Press.

The Doha-based broadcaster said in a statement: Al-Jazeera calls on all media and human right institutions to join forces in denouncing these ruthless bombing and to hold the government of Israel accountable for deliberately targeting journalists and media institutions.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the Israeli strike a war crime.

The aim of this heinous crime is to silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza, Souag said.

Al-Jazeera is a major broadcaster in the Mideast, funded by the Qatari government. It operates in both Israel and the Palestinian territories



ISTANBUL  The communications director to Turkeys president tweeted that Israels targeting of The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera offices in the Gaza Strip were a blow on the freedom of press.

The airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets.

Fahrettin Altun said after the attack: I curse these lowly attacks by Israel hitting press centers to cover up its massacres. He also claimed that Israel is continuing its massacres and war crimes.

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted that Turkey stands with the Palestinians, who are still facing ethnic, religious and cultural cleansing.

AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated the building after the Israeli military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust.



WASHINGTON  The White House says Israel has a paramount responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists covering the spiraling conflict.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted on Saturday that the U.S. has communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.

President Joe Biden has urged a de-escalation, but has publicly backed Israels right to self-defense from Hamas rockets fired from Gaza.

The White House statement followed an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. APs president and CEO Gary Pruitt said the agency was shocked and horrified at the strike.

AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated the building after the military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust.



MADRID  Thousands have marched in Spains capital to protest the attacks by Israels military on the Gaza Strip.

Many waved Palestinian flags as they marched toward Madrids central Puerta del Sol square on Saturday.

Protesters chanted This is not war, this is genocide in Spanish. Some held up homemade signs that read USA Terrorist State and Muslim Lives Matter.

The rallies in Madrid and elsewhere in the world are taking place against the backdrop of a most serious escalation in the Mideast.

On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children.



BAGHDAD  Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in cities across Iraq to stand in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and Jerusalem.

The demonstrators on Saturday waved Palestinian flags and banners across five provinces in rallies called for by influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr called on followers to take to the streets and support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which is under attack by the Israeli military.

Protesters gathered in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, and the southern provinces of Babylon, Dhi Qar, Diwanieh and Basra in a show of support. In Baghdads central Tahrir Square, demonstrators carried a Palestinian flag several feet long. Many also held up photos of al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr is a firebrand cleric who wields significant power in the country. In the May 2018 elections his party won the most number of seats.



BEIRUT  Hundreds of people have participated in the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter who was shot dead along the Lebanon-Israel border during a rally denouncing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

The funeral of Mohammed Tahhan was held in his hometown of Adloun in southern Lebanon on Saturday afternoon. The 21-year-old man died of wounds sustained on Friday, shortly after he was struck during the protest at the border.

On Saturday, scores of Palestinian and Lebanese youth gathered in the border area again to rally against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Lebanese troops detained several people who tried to reach the border wall.

Earlier in the day, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border.

A small group had breached the fence on Friday and crossed the border into Israel, triggering the shooting. The Israeli military said troops fired warning shots toward the group after they sabotaged the fence and crossed over briefly.



BERLIN  The United Nations human rights chief is urging all in what has developed into a battle between Israel and Gazas militant Hamas rulers to lower tensions, and faulted actions by both sides.

Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement issued in Geneva on Saturday that rather than seeking to calm tensions, inflammatory rhetoric from leaders on all sides appears to be seeking to excite tensions rather than to calm them.

Bachelet's statement was issued on Saturday, shortly before an Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets.

In the statement, Bachelet warned that the firing of large numbers of indiscriminate rockets by Palestinian armed groups into Israel, including densely populated areas, in clear violation of international humanitarian law, amounts to war crimes.

There also are concerns that some attacks by the Israeli military in Gaza have targeted civilian objects that, under international humanitarian law, do not meet the requirements to be considered as military objectives.

It added that the failure to adhere to the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution in the conduct of military operations amounts to a serious violation of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.



BERLIN  Irans foreign minister has called off a planned visit to his Austrian counterpart in Vienna. The decision came after Austrias chancellery and foreign ministry flew the Israeli flag as a signal of solidarity in Israels conflict with the militant Hamas group.

Austrian daily Die Presse reported Saturday that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was due to meet Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg on Saturday morning. But he called off the trip over the Austrian leaders decision to fly the Israeli flag on Friday.

The Austria Press Agency said Schallenbergs spokeswoman, Claudia Tuertscher, confirmed the report. She said: We regret this.

Vienna has been hosting negotiations in recent weeks aimed at bringing the United States back into the 2015 nuclear deal aimed at allaying concerns about Irans nuclear ambitions. France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China are still parties to that agreement.

Irans deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, tweeted on Friday that Austria so far been a great host for negotiations but it was shocking & painful to see flag of the occupying regime, that brutally killed tens of innocent civilians, inc many children in just few days, over govt offices in Vienna.



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Saudi Arabia has called for foreign ministers of the worlds largest body of Muslim nations to hold a meeting Sunday. The gathering is to discuss Israeli acts of violence against Palestinians and the Israeli polices use of force against protesters at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

The kingdom will host the virtual summit, gathering ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the Israeli aggression in the Palestinian territory, particularly acts of violence in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the body said Saturday.

The Saudi-headquartered OIC includes countries Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and a range of Muslim majority nations.

The sanctity of Al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islams holiest sites, is a sensitive and emotive issue for Muslims around the world. The OIC was formed 51 years ago in response to a Jewish extremist arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem.

The hilltop on which the mosque stands is also sacred to Jews, who revere it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the biblical temples. Some Jews and evangelical Christians support building a new Jewish temple on the site, an idea that Muslims find alarming because they fear it would lead to the mosque being partitioned or demolished.



RAMALLAH, West Bank  Palestinians have begun gathering across the occupied West Bank to mark the anniversary of the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.

Nakba Day, Arabic for catastrophe, comes amid widespread Jewish-Arab violence in Israel and heavy fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza. The main event Saturday was held in West Bank city of Ramallah, where the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered.

On Friday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank held some of the largest protests in years and clashed with Israeli forces, who shot and killed 11 people, including a Palestinian who tried to stab a soldier at a military position.

Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war. Today, they and their descendants number around 5.7 million and mostly reside in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
BROWNING, Mont. - It's almost been a month since three-year-old Arden Pepion went missing on the Blackfeet Reservation, and as her family continues looking for her, they hosted a candlelight vigil tonight in Arden's name.

Service took place with help from volunteers from Government Square in Browning.

While it mainly focused on spreading awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) cases, like Arden and countless others there was also a touch of spirituality aimed at families who long for their missing loved ones.

The people we spoke with at Friday nights vigil say they feel frustrated with Arden Pepion becoming Brownings now youngest victim of the MMIP epidemic.

During the vigil, volunteers planted signs carrying the names and faces of roughly 50 lost loved ones who were never found or never got justice for their deaths.

Its scary you know to think about that kind of stuff because my girls are still growing up, theyre still young Arden didnt even get to live, she was just starting her life, barely even going to school, said Arbana and Aaron Pepion, Ardens parents.

With a few unsolved cases dating back to the 1960s, a local member of the Blackfeet tribe tells Montana Right Now there is a community need for tracking missing person reports.

That should be in place here, especially for the Blackfeet Reservation, thats involved with the MMIW, thats involved with the MMIP that can get the numbers in there, said Belinda Bullshoe a Browning Local & Blackfeet Tribal Member. So when somebody comes and talks about the statistics for the reservation, they can go to them. Theyll have the accurate count.

Through songs and prayer members of the Browning community came together to show support and compassion for the Pepion family some already knowing the pain of losing people to MMIP.

Bullshoe went on to say the increasing number of cases has brought about fear and anxiety to people in the community.

We cant even go to the store. What if we go missing? People wanna leave (and) come back before dark because they dont want to go missing, Bullshoe said. This is our tribe. We need to have a community where we dont need to put worry in another family.

Through songs and prayer members of the browning community came together to show support and compassion for the Pepion family some already knowing the pain of losing people to MMIP.

Because of the grief, stress and anxiety that comes with it, one speaker took the stage encouraging everyone to mind their mental health.

Where is the commitment (to MMIP victims) from the systems of care? said TJ Lafromboise, a Speaker on Mental Health Support. We need to ask these things in order to get these answers, but we also need to look within. Because mental health does not start with all these external things. They start with yourself first.

As part of the vigil, volunteers also planted signs carrying names and pictures of MMIP victims a reminder to the public that their loved ones arent forgotten.

Both of Ardens parents, Arbana and Aaron plan on working with small groups of crews and volunteers as they continue searching for their missing daughter.

After celebrating the life of three-year-old Arden Pepion Friday night, volunteer search efforts for her go on.

The Pepions use a church as a starting point for volunteer searchers allowing them to prepare before heading out the door.

They tell Montana Right Now they started looking around with family members and volunteers after feeling frustrated at local agencies for scaling back their search.

We appreciate everything that they did, Arbana and Aaron Pepion, Ardens Parents said. Its just, I think they shouldve been more organized.

Theyve worked with a couple of small crews so far and today marks the first day of searching for one Wyoming drone company after speaking with the family and local law enforcement.

Theres a few different scenarios of what couldve happened, Bill Dohse the COO of Viper Drones said. Which obviously gives us different search directions (we could take).

As they look across 20 miles using drones and equipment, Dough-Sees biggest concern is the nearby river.

If by chance the young lady fell into the river, a typical body would travel 12 miles on an eight-hour period she could have traveled far beyond that 20 miles by now.

They can look underwater with the gear they have but Dough-See says theyre taking it one day at a time analyzing whatever they find and going from there.

As the Pepions continue their efforts theyre looking for help in luring out wild animals and opening new spaces for finding little Arden.

Arden you need to come home. Youre not in trouble... We all miss you.

You can donate a GoFundMe online here, with all proceeds going to food and supplies for everyone involved.

The Pepion family will continue the search for Arden as other groups push for action in better tackling the MMIP epidemic.
Lansdale, PA (19446)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Getting to the peak is not for everyone. Its an arduous climb, taking two to three hours, but for Morenatti its been an experience that his five senses have never known. Morenatti hopes the photos he took capture some of this wonder of nature.
ELYRIA, Ohio, May 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Lorain County Community College's graduating class of 2021, LCCC installed an innovative tribute that celebrates each student's resilient journey to become a college graduate. Twenty-one full sized doors line a grassy median stretching nearly 450 feet  longer than a football field. Every propped-open door bears a different word, symbolizing the unique journey each LCCC student took to reach graduation day. By walking through the door, students not only found the right opportunity on LCCC's campus, but the support and confidence to lead them into the next chapter of their lives.
This is just the most beautiful community. I see it being built forward and that makes me very happy.

Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur

Pull Quote
Avon Lake City Council provided updates on changes to the planning and zoning in a process that has been more than two years in the making.
Robb Koscho, executive director of the Lorain County Kayak & Paddle Sports Group, seated at right, offers paddling guidance to Rylie Spillman of Amherst while her mother, Michelle Spillman, looks on. The family rented a kayak and used their own for a trip on the Black River on June 21. Although it appeared kayak rentals would be canceled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lorain County Kayak & Paddle Sports Group is offering weekend rentals from the Lorain Port Authority's Black River Wharf boat ramp.
The facial recognition site PimEyes is one of the most capable face-searching tools on the planet. In less than a second, it can scan through more than 900 million images from across the Internet and find matches with startling accuracy.

But its most distinguishing trait is who can use it: Anyone. While most facial recognition tools are reserved for police or government use, PimEyes is open to the masses, whether they're hunting down U.S. Capitol riot suspects or stalking women around the Web.

The search tool stands at the frontier of a new era of facial recognition surveillance: Powerfully sophisticated and available to anyone, with added abilities for those who pay. And without public oversight or government rules controlling facial recognition use, researchers expect that sites like PimEyes will multiply, capitalizing on the Internet's vast bounty of photos and videos - and making it possible for strangers to keep tabs on people's personal lives.

"What is stopping them? Literally nothing," said Stephanie Hare, a technology researcher in London.

"The people who put those pictures on the Internet - with their children, their parents, the people who might be vulnerable in their life - were not doing it so they could feed a database that companies could monetize," she said. There's no clear way to fight back, she added: "I can leave my phone at home. What I can't leave is my face."

Facial recognition has become an increasingly widespread investigative tool for government authorities and law enforcement; airports, stores and schools also use it to verify visitors' identities and boost security. But PimEyes has made it easier than ever for the general public to tap its artificial intelligence power: When a user submits a photo of someone's face, the site will return a catalogue of images linked to other places where that person appears around the Web, including old videos, news stories, photo albums and personal blogs.

The search results don't include exact names, but they offer a detail and precision that has left some people stunned. Pete, a 40-year-old man in Germany who asked that only his first name be used, said he ran a 17-year-old photo of himself drinking a beer on a train and was blown away when it returned a link to a recent video of him on YouTube.

"How did it even work? I'm older, it's a different facial expression, even a different position of my head," he said, comparing the two photos. "It's very creepy and way too powerful. This should not be in the public, available for everyone."

PimEyes says in its online "manifesto" that it believes searching for one's face online should be a basic human right open to anyone, not just corporations and governments, and that the company's work is, counterintuitively, a boon for privacy. PimEyes sells subscription packages to people who want to find where their photos have been posted online or get alerted when they're posted somewhere else.

Though they've built a search engine devoted to unraveling online mysteries, the developers won't say practically anything about themselves. A representative for the company - who declined to share their name, said they'd talk only over email and asked to be referred to only as "the director" - declined to answer questions about how PimEyes works, who is involved with the company or even where the company is based.

"Staying completely anonymous is very important to us," the director said.

The company has defended itself against criticism - and data-privacy laws like the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, which restricts facial recognition use - by saying it is to be used only by people uploading their own images. But PimEyes enforces that rule with a single checkbox that anyone can easily click to circumvent. The company has no other rules in place to prevent anyone from scouring the Web for someone else.

"The most valuable resource is information . . . [and] we allow people to find, monitor, and protect pieces of information about themselves," the director said. "We don't encourage people to search for other people - it is their own decision to break the rules."

The tool has become wildly popular among strangers looking to "essentially stalk" women around the Web, said Aaron DeVera, a security researcher in New York. On 4chan and other anonymous forums, PimEyes subscribers with deeper search capabilities than unpaid users - subscriptions start at around $30 a month - routinely create threads offering to search out any photo and relay back the results.

Almost all of the photos are of young girls and women pulled from their social media accounts, their dating-app profiles or "creepshots" stealthily photographed without their consent. The people searching often hope to find other photos or learn more personal details "so they can creep on them further," DeVera added: "Something like this that is so off-the-shelf really does lower the barrier to entry for nefarious activity."

In one PimEyes thread on 4chan from October, an anonymous user posted a digital collage, titled "Complete Exposure" and a woman's name, filled with sensitive details of their personal life. It was unclear whether all the photos had been surfaced by PimEyes, or even whether they were all of the same woman. But the collage was scarily comprehensive, including photos of her standing in the middle-school classroom where she teaches, her driver's license, school badge, wedding announcement, the outside of her home and her home address. (The woman, through her husband, declined to comment.)

The director said PimEyes should not be blamed for how it's used by people on a forum like 4chan: "You will probably find some content there that shows how to use Google, a car, or just a plate or any other tool to hurt someone."

Most facial recognition tools, such as Clearview AI, look for matches to an image among photos in a giant database. But PimEyes works more like Google, using bots known as "spiders" to crawl the Web, scanning for photos of faces and then recording those images as numerical code. If the search tool is later shown a photo that resembles one of those images, it will return a direct link to where the image can be found.

PimEyes said last year in a since-deleted webpage that it had analyzed 900 million unique faces - nearly three times the U.S. population - from 150 million websites and processed 1 terabyte of images everyday.

PimEyes said it does not search images on social media, but photos from those sites are regularly among the results, and in a test last year by the German digital-rights blog Netzpolitik, journalists said they found results from Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and TikTok. The company did not offer an explanation, the journalists wrote, adding, "The more we confront PimEyes with questions, the more the company contradicts itself."

PimEyes' bots do, however, catalogue the images on pornographic websites, and people who have used the site said they've often stumbled across those look-alike results when searching for someone else. The company director said the site scans porn images so its customers can find nonconsensual "revenge" porn postings or attempt "to erase the mistakes of youth." One customer who creates sexual content, the director added, uses the tool to find websites that steal their work.

Launched in 2017 by a Polish start-up, PimEyes advertises itself as "an advanced self-monitoring, self-protection and self-image management tool." A Polish blog in 2019 said the site was started by two graduates of the Wrocaw University of Science and Technology, Lukasz Kowalczyk and Denis Tatina, who built it as a hobby project and later monetized it upon seeing the user interest - the greatest of which, they said, came from the United States.

In 2020, the PimEyes brand was transferred to Face Recognition Solutions Ltd., a company with no real online presence and a corporate address registered to a single room in the Seychelles, the island nation in the Indian Ocean that has become a popular offshore haven for companies wanting to obscure their ownership and corporate details.

The same room is also listed as a registered address for start-ups in advertising, finance and cryptocurrency, corporate records show. The PimEyes director said the company chose the Seychelles "because of the good incorporation environment."

The director also offered little about how PimEyes's facial recognition algorithms work, saying only that they are "built in-house." Hundreds of such algorithms have been developed around the world, each with varying features and error rates that can affect how well they work: In a 2019 federal test, the least-accurate algorithms were up to 100 times more likely to misidentify people of color.

Users have been surprised when PimEyes found not just their own photos, but photos they hadn't even realized they'd been captured in. A French journalist ran a webcam photo of himself through the site and found a photo he had no memory of, in which it looked like he'd fallen asleep during a news conference. Another man said the site had found a photo of him from 25 years ago.

Some have also been alarmed by the ease of use: One man tweeted that he had taken screenshots of people's faces while on Zoom calls, then ran them through PimEyes, saying "the results were startling." If he'd wanted, he added, he could have paid to get notifications any time a new photo of them was put online.

The service, though, could suffer from the same issues that plague many facial recognition tools, including wide swings in accuracy depending on the skin color of who's being searched. Some Twitter users have complained that the search engine returned only porn actors who looked nothing like them.

The company declined to answer questions about its development team, finances, customer base, photo index and expansion plans. In March, the company offered to connect The Washington Post with some of its clients, saying "we have many customers who are satisfied with our service," but after several weeks reversed course and said none would agree to talk.

"We help our customers solving sensitive cases, so they might not be willing to share their stories," the director said.

Any PimEyes user can see some limited search results. But only paying "Premium" subscribers can perform unlimited searches, unlock the full image details and get email alerts whenever the site detects a face they've uploaded somewhere else on the Web. For $29.99 a month, a user can search 25 times a day, while $299.99 a month can unlock unlimited searches. An online pricing calculator suggests some users may want to conduct up to 100 million searches a month - a gargantuan number for a business that says users should search only for their own images.

PimEyes has advertised itself as a law-enforcement investigative tool, saying last year in a since-deleted post that it "is actively involved in the fight against online crime." But the company director said that none of its customers are law enforcement agencies. That crime-fighting claim, the director said, is nevertheless "true in some way" because the tool can be used to find illegally used images.

PimEyes allows anyone to request a photo's removal using an online form, one image at a time. But to completely block those photos from showing up in PimEyes's search results, a user needs to pay $79.99 a month for the "PROtect" package - in essence, paying the same company that uncovered the images to also take them down.

PimEyes's widespread use in the pursuit of Capitol rioters, by an online crowdsourced collective of "sedition hunters," has also worried researchers like Hare, the technology researcher, who believed it could be easily misused to target the wrong people or turn untrained sleuths into digital vigilantes.

"Are citizens cops? No. But tools like these can turn anyone into a cop," she said. "If you give people something that can be used as a surveillance tool, people are going to use it as one, and they're not going to feel the need to have an ethical conversation about it."

A tool for amateur detective work, Hare added, can also easily be transformed into a weapon of state surveillance. Before PimEyes, there was FindFace, a similar face-search engine developed by the Moscow tech start-up NtechLab. Russian authorities now use the software to track opposition activists, journalists, protesters and others captured by Moscow's more than 189,000 cameras.

PimEyes said that instances of abuse tied to the search tool were not the company's fault, adding that any "service can be used against the purpose it was created for." Of the "sedition hunters," the director said, "People who misused our search engine did that for a good cause, but it doesn't mean they won't face the consequences of their actions."

But even some fans of the service think it goes too far. Conor Nolan, a photo researcher in London, spent hours on PimEyes attempting to identify members of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, believing the information could prove invaluable to the FBI. On one of his first searches, PimEyes pointed to one suspect's decade-old mug shot - an investigative breakthrough in a single click.

Nolan said it's scarily accurate and "a technology I'm not comfortable with at all," adding that he thinks governments should regulate such tools before they are made available to the general public. But in the meantime, he said, he intends to keep using it, just because it works so well.

"Ethics aside, it was well worth it," Nolan said. "I'd use it again if I had the need."

In the U.S., PimEyes and other facial recognition companies have few laws to worry about. While members of Congress from both parties have talked about freezing government use of the technology, and federal watchdogs at the Government Accountability Office last year urged them to strengthen face-scan laws, the business is still entirely unregulated at the national level.

Half a dozen states and roughly two dozen cities have banned or restricted the technology for public use; another dozen state legislatures are slated to discuss similar bills this year. But such legislation almost always addresses use by police or public authorities, not companies or private individuals.

That regulatory void has led even the technology's biggest developers to call for stronger laws: Amazon last summer halted its sale of facial recognition technology to police for one year to give lawmakers "enough time to implement appropriate rules," while Microsoft said it would not sell the technology to police until a federal law is enacted that is "grounded in human rights."

Some AI researchers expect PimEyes won't be the last site to attempt unbounded facial search. The rise of "open source" AI has allowed outside developers to easily fold facial recognition software into their own applications: With enough computing power, anyone can use them to play around with the seemingly infinite photo and video data of the Web.

One AI data scientist using the online name "Patr10tic," who spoke in a phone interview on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss the development of similar tools, said PimEyes's functionality can be closely mimicked using freely available tools such as FaceNet, an open-source facial recognition system developed by Google researchers in 2015 and now widely emulated around the Web.

After the Capitol siege, he used an open-source "face extractor" tool to pull out facial images from more than 40,000 videos uploaded to the heavily pro-Trump social network Parler. He then built a cluster map of those faces, as well as a detailed location map pinpointing where the videos had first been made.

Developers, he said, have a "real duty" to build tools with guardrails against their own misuse. But he's not surprised that such AI uses are expanding rapidly - and he believes that, in many cases, it's already too late to rein in a type of technology that's widely proliferated around the world.

"You're not going to be able to stop people from 'spidering' the Web on their own and using open-source code to build pipelines like this. It's just impossible to enforce," he said. "That's where the world is going. Like the physicists of the 1940s, we can already effectively create a Manhattan Project. All these tools can be used, so to speak, for peace or for war."

- - -

The Washington Post's Julie Tate contributed to this report.
BANGKOK (AP)  The U.S. and British embassies in Myanmar expressed concern about reports of fierce government attacks on a town in western Chin state, where the ruling junta declared martial law because of armed resistance to military rule.

The fighting began around 6 a.m. Saturday when government troops reinforced by helicopters began shelling the western part of the town of Mindat, destroying several homes, said a spokesman of the Chinland Defence Force. It is a locally formed militia group opposed to the February coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Helicopters also took part in the attack, according to the spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Mindat town is now under siege and is bracing for an all-out assault by the junta troops from air and by land, said a statement by the Chin Human Rights Organization.

The shadow National Unity Government, set up by lawmakers who were blocked by the army from taking their seats in Parliament, warned that within the next 48 hours, Mindat can potentially become a battleground and thousands of people are facing the danger of being displaced. Many have already left the town of about 50,000 people, said a resident contacted by phone who was also fleeing.

The Mindat Township Peoples Administration, another opposition grouping, claimed that 15 young men had been seized by government troops and used as human shields. It said at least five defenders of the town had been killed in clashes and at least 10 others wounded.

None of these details could be independently verified, but a Myanmar state television broadcast Saturday night reported that fighting was going on, and acknowledged the towns defenders have been putting up stiff resistance against the army.

The militarys use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a further demonstration of the depths the regime will sink to to hold onto power, the British Embassy said on Twitter. We call on the military to cease violence against civilians.

The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of increasing violence in Mindat, including reports of the military shooting civilians, and urged that evidence of atrocities be sent to U.N. investigators.

Detailed tallies compiled by several different watchdog groups say government security forces have killed upwards of 750 protesters and bystanders as they have tried to suppress opposition to the militarys seizure of power. In April, security forces were accused of killing more than 80 people in one day to destroy street barricades that militants had set up as strongholds in the city of Bago.

In many or most cases, police and soldiers were trying to break up peaceful protests, though as they increased the use of lethal force, some protesters fought back in self-defense. In recent weeks there has been an upsurge in small bombings in many cities, mostly causing little damage and few casualties.

The junta says the death toll is less than 300, and the use of force was justified to quash what it calls riots.

Mindats resisters are only lightly armed, mostly with a traditional type of single-shot hunting rifle, but the territory around the town is mountainous and wooded, favoring defenders over attackers.

The report on state television MRTV listed past attacks on government forces and installations, most recently on Thursday, when it claimed a force of about 100 blocked security forces from entering the town, destroying one vehicle and leaving an unspecified number of security forces dead and missing.

In a later attack, it said, an even bigger force was said to have launched an attack from the city on security forces patrolling nearby, destroying six vehicles and causing an unspecified number of government casualties.

The opposition government earlier this month announced a plan to unify groups such as the Chinland Defense Force into a national Peoples Defense Force, which would serve as a precursor to a Federal Union Army of democratic forces including ethnic minorities.

Khin Ma Ma Myo, deputy defense minister of the shadow government, said one of the duties of the Peoples Defense Force is to protect the resistance movement from military attacks and violence instigated by the junta.
Egypt and the U.S. were involved in cease-fire efforts, but it wasnt clear if they were making progress, in light of Netanyahu statement that the campaign is continuing. The U.N. Security Council met Sunday, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an end to the senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction.
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The communities that have been hurt the most are often helped the least, Jeffries said. Maya Wiley is the one to make sure that that ends this year in this city.
Myanmar junta attacks western town that resisted coup View Photo

BANGKOK (AP)  The U.S. and British embassies in Myanmar expressed concern about reports of fierce government attacks on a town in western Chin state, where the ruling junta declared martial law because of armed resistance to military rule.

The fighting began around 6 a.m. Saturday when government troops reinforced by helicopters began shelling the western part of the town of Mindat, destroying several homes, said a spokesman of the Chinland Defence Force. It is a locally formed militia group opposed to the February coup that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Helicopters also took part in the attack, according to the spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Mindat town is now under siege and is bracing for an all-out assault by the junta troops from air and by land, said a statement by the Chin Human Rights Organization.

The shadow National Unity Government, set up by lawmakers who were blocked by the army from taking their seats in Parliament, warned that within the next 48 hours, Mindat can potentially become a battleground and thousands of people are facing the danger of being displaced. Many have already left the town of about 50,000 people, said a resident contacted by phone who was also fleeing.

The Mindat Township Peoples Administration, another opposition grouping, claimed that 15 young men had been seized by government troops and used as human shields. It said at least five defenders of the town had been killed in clashes and at least 10 others wounded.

None of these details could be independently verified, but a Myanmar state television broadcast Saturday night reported that fighting was going on, and acknowledged the towns defenders have been putting up stiff resistance against the army.

The militarys use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a further demonstration of the depths the regime will sink to to hold onto power, the British Embassy said on Twitter. We call on the military to cease violence against civilians.

The U.S. Embassy said it was aware of increasing violence in Mindat, including reports of the military shooting civilians, and urged that evidence of atrocities be sent to U.N. investigators.

Detailed tallies compiled by several different watchdog groups say government security forces have killed upwards of 750 protesters and bystanders as they have tried to suppress opposition to the militarys seizure of power. In April, security forces were accused of killing more than 80 people in one day to destroy street barricades that militants had set up as strongholds in the city of Bago.

In many or most cases, police and soldiers were trying to break up peaceful protests, though as they increased the use of lethal force, some protesters fought back in self-defense. In recent weeks there has been an upsurge in small bombings in many cities, mostly causing little damage and few casualties.

The junta says the death toll is less than 300, and the use of force was justified to quash what it calls riots.

Mindats resisters are only lightly armed, mostly with a traditional type of single-shot hunting rifle, but the territory around the town is mountainous and wooded, favoring defenders over attackers.

The report on state television MRTV listed past attacks on government forces and installations, most recently on Thursday, when it claimed a force of about 100 blocked security forces from entering the town, destroying one vehicle and leaving an unspecified number of security forces dead and missing.

In a later attack, it said, an even bigger force was said to have launched an attack from the city on security forces patrolling nearby, destroying six vehicles and causing an unspecified number of government casualties.

The opposition government earlier this month announced a plan to unify groups such as the Chinland Defense Force into a national Peoples Defense Force, which would serve as a precursor to a Federal Union Army of democratic forces including ethnic minorities.

Khin Ma Ma Myo, deputy defense minister of the shadow government, said one of the duties of the Peoples Defense Force is to protect the resistance movement from military attacks and violence instigated by the junta.

By GRANT PECK

Associated Press
Israeli warplanes stage more heavy strikes across Gaza City View Photo

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gazas Hamas rulers would rage on.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed  the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.

The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday.

Local media reports said the main coastal road west of the city, security compounds and open spaces were hit in the latest raids. The power distribution company said airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large parts of southern Gaza City.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israels attacks were continuing at full-force and would take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war.

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.

Haya Abdelal, 21, who lives in a building next to one that was destroyed, said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to leave before launching such an attack.

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure.

As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the civilian houses foundations above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties, it said.

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospitals coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

Israels airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest buildings, which Israel alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press Gaza office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the APs executive editor, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office on Saturday.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building and said Sunday any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels. Neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any had been seen.

Its a perfectly legitimate target, Netanyahu told CBSs Face the Nation.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said: We pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out. We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court on Sunday to investigate Israels bombing of the AP building and others housing media organizations as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based group said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

The AP had operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militant rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians clashed with police in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focus of the clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a hilltop compound revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas began firing rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed in some of the 3,100 rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed in the fighting. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

The assault has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes, U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where eight foreign ministers spoke about the conflict.

Efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the U.N. body to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities, have been blocked by the United States, which, according to diplomats, is concerned it could interfere with diplomatic efforts to stop the violence.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki urged the Security Council to take action to end Israeli attacks. Israels U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, urged the council to condemn Hamas indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks.

The turmoil has also fueled protests in the occupied West Bank and stoked violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families have been threatened with eviction , injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

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Nessman reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Joseph Krauss and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Edie Lederer at the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.

By FARES AKRAM and RAVI NESSMAN

Associated Press
Republican Arizona election official says Trump unhinged View Photo

PHOENIX (AP)  The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database unhinged and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations.

We cant indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country, Richer tweeted.

Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.

The former presidents statement came as Republican Senate President Karen Fann has demanded the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors come to the Senate to answer questions raised by the private auditors she has hired. The Senate took possession of 2.1 million ballots and election equipment last month for what was supposed to be a three-week hand recount of the presidential race won by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Instead, the auditors have moved as a snails pace and had to shut down Thursday after counting about 500,000 ballots. They plan to resume counting in a week, after high school graduation ceremonies planned for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, which they rented for the recount.

Trumps statement said, in part, that the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms.

Richer and the board say that statement is just plain wrong. In recent days, both he and the board have begun aggressively pushing back at what they see as continuing falsehoods from Republicans who question Trumps loss.

Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations, Richer tweeted Thursday. I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didnt run. Enough.

The board, led by Republican Chairman Jack Sellers, have been aggressively using Twitter in recent days to push back, firing off a series of messages slamming the private company doing the audit. The board plans to hold a public hearing Monday to further to refute lies and lay out facts about these issues.

I know you all have grown weary of lies and half-truths six months after 2020 General Elections, Sellers said Friday in announcing Mondays meeting.

Fann sent Sellers a letter on Wednesday requesting that county officials publicly answer questions at the Senate on Tuesday, but she stopped short of her threat to issue subpoenas.

Fann repeated the Senates demand for access to administrative passwords for vote-counting machines and internet routers. County officials say they have turned over all the passwords they have and have refused to give up the routers, saying it would compromise sensitive data, including classified law enforcement information held by the sheriffs office.

Fann proposed allowing its contractor to view data from the routers at county facilities under supervision of the sheriffs office. The Senate has no interest in viewing or taking possession of any information that is unrelated to the administration of the 2020 general election, she wrote.

The county says the passwords the Senate is seeking are maintained by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which makes the vote-counting machines and leases them to the county. The company said in a statement Thursday that it cooperates with auditors certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and did so for two prior audits of 2020 results in Maricopa County, but wont work with Cyber Ninjas.

Fann has hired Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm, to oversee an unprecedented, partisan review of the 2020 election in Arizonas largest county. They are conducting a hand recount of all 2.1 million ballots and looking into baseless conspiracy theories suggesting there were problems with the election, which have grown popular with supporters of Trump.

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Associated Press reporter Jonathan J. Cooper contributed.

By BOB CHRISTIE

Associated Press
The Latest: Israeli jets stage heavy airstrikes in Gaza City View Photo

GAZA CITY  Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday.

The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. That attack was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel ad the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces says only that IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.

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TOP NEWS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flatten three buildings and kill at least 42 people on Sunday

 An AP reporter documents the terrifying final minutes of leaving the Gaza office before it is blown up by the Israelis

 An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip despite urgent demands by the news agency to halt. APs top editor called for an independent investigation into the airstrike.

 Protesters in major US cities urge Israelis to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip

 French police use tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian march that was banned in Paris

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RABAT, Morocco  Moroccans have taken to the streets in the capital and other cities to protest Israeli air raids on Gaza during clashes with the Hamas extremist group that rules the Palestinian territory.

Sizeable demonstrations were held Sunday across the North African kingdom, including in Casablanca, the countrys largest city, where thousands waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israels military actions. Protesters also gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat.

In December, Morocco announced it had resumed relations with Israel as part of a U.S. brokered deal. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Moroccos claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

On Friday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI ordered forty tons of aid to be be shipped to the West Bank and Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of recent clashes.

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UNITED NATIONS  The three U.N. Security Council nations trying to get the U.N.s most powerful body to take action on the escalating violence between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers say they are still trying to get the U.S. to support a statement including a call to end the fighting.

China, Norway and Tunisia tried unsuccessfully at closed meetings Monday and Wednesday to get agreement on a council statement. Diplomats say the U.S. argued such a statement could interfere with diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

There also was no agreement at Sundays first open meeting on the violence.

The ambassadors of China, Norway and Tunisia issued a joint statement on the Gaza conflict demanding an immediate end of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction.

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PARIS  A media watchdog group is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israels bombing of buildings housing The Associated Press and other media organizations in Gaza as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

The group says the Israeli militarys intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment could violate one of the courts statues. It says the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

Israels military says Hamas was operating inside the building where AP had offices and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike Saturday.

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UNITED NATIONS  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is urging the United States to join the 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council and support a statement urging a halt to violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.

He also wants the U.S. to support calling for a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wang chaired a high-level emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday and said the dangerous and urgent situation calls for an immediate cease-fire.

He urges Israel to exercise restraint, stop evictions and settlement expansion, put an end to the violence, threats and provocations against Muslims and respect the status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem. He says Palestinians must avoid steps that would escalate the situation, avoid civilian casualties and work for an immediate de-escalation.

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UNITED NATIONS  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israels U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gazas Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to end violence and expressing support for mediation by Egypt and the United States.

Rutte said in a statement Sunday that the Netherlands stands ready to help using its good relations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the U.S.

He says that a further escalation and yet more Palestinian and Israeli civilian casualties must be avoided.

Rutte says Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks but says the country must act proportionally within the borders of international law.

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UNITED NATIONS  Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki is accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and carrying out a policy of apartheid in Jerusalem.

Al-Malki told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that there are no words that can describe the horrors that our people are enduring, listing families and children and infants killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time, he said. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem. Its expelling families, one home, neighborhood at a time. Israel is executing our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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ISRAEL  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed his claim that a Gaza building leveled by an Israeli airstrike housed a Hamas office as well as American and Middle East news organizations, but gave no evidence.

Netanyahu spoke to CBSs Face the Nation about ongoing violence between Israeli forces and the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and about Saturdays airstrike that leveled the building housing Gaza offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news organizations. Its a perfectly legitimate target, he said.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call later Saturday with President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, We pass it through our intelligence people.

Netanyahu gave no time frame for when Israel would be ready to halt its side of the fighting after nearly a week of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages. We hope that it doesnt continue very long, but we were attacked by Hamas, he said.

Asked about reports that Hamas had agreed to an Egypt-brokered cease-fire but Israel had not, he said, Thats not what I know.

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UNITED NATIONS  A U.N. Mideast envoy says the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Tor Wennesland told the Security Council on Sunday that over 40 U.N. schools in Gaza have been turned into shelters. He says the schools have limited water and no access to food or health care, and serve for protection purposes only.

After nearly a week of fighting, Wennesland called for calm and said further escalation would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis.

He called Hamas rocket fire from civilian neighborhoods in Gaza into Israeli population centers a violation of international law. He also urged Israel to show maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in its operations in Gaza.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said. It is the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The violence, which came as international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory, marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes Sunday hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 yards (meters) down the road.

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UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief is appealing to Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza to immediately stop the utterly appalling escalation in fighting and senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction at the start of a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the virtual meeting on Sunday that the United Nations is actively engaging all sides towards an immediate cease-fire.

He warned that the most serious escalation in violence in Gaza in years only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace.

The open meeting is scheduled to be addressed by the Palestinian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, China, Tunisia, Norway, Ireland, Algeria and the deputy foreign minister of Russia along with ambassadors from other nations on the 15-member council, an Israeli representative and the head of the Arab League.

Guterres said he is appalled by the increasingly large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes, and deplores Israeli casualties from rockets launched from Gaza. He called the destruction of media offices in Gaza extremely concerning, stressing that journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes on a main thoroughfare in Gaza City has climbed to 33, including 12 women and eight children.

It was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers erupted nearly a week ago. The airstrikes hit Wahda Street, a major thoroughfare.

The ministry says another 50 people were wounded in the strikes early Sunday, mostly women and children.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

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ISTANBUL  Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency has offered to share its Gaza offices with The Associated Press and Al Jazeera after Israel bombed the building that housed the media offices.

Anadolu said its Director-General Serdar Karagoz made the offer in letters to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt and Al-Jazeeras chairman.

Karagoz said the Turkish wire service was appalled by the Israeli militarys targeting of media offices.

Since this recent conflict has escalated over the past week, there is an apparent pattern of targeting journalists who are carrying out their professional duties so as to block coverage of the situation on the ground, Karagoz said.

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BRUSSELS  The European Unions foreign policy chief says the 27-nation blocs foreign ministers will talk Tuesday about what the EU can do to help end the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Josep Borrell tweeted Sunday that he convened the special videoconference in view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties.

He added that we will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to end the current violence.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gazas militant Hamas rulers fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli assault on Gaza.

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VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has denounced the unacceptable spiral of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the deaths in particular of children was a sign that they dont want to build the future but want to destroy it.

Francis prayed for peace, calm and international help to open a path of dialogue during his Sunday blessing, delivered from his studio window overlooking St. Peters Square.

The pope said: I ask myself: this hatred and vendetta, what will it bring? Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?

In unusually pointed comments, Francis added: In the name of God, who created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity and are called to live as brothers, I appeal for calm and an end to the violence.

Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza City for days as heavy fighting has broken out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among the 26 people killed in Sundays airstrikes, with another 50 people wounded in the attack.

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JERUSALEM  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 23 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the attack. Rescuers were racing to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader in a separate strike. It was the third such attack in the last two days.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed the strike on Sinwars house in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis to army radio.

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JERUSALEM  The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, the third such attack in as many days, after nearly a week of heavy Israeli airstrikes on the territory. The Palestinian militant group ruling Gaza has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes have struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City early Sunday.

According to photos circulated by residents and journalists, the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. It said rescuers are still digging through the rubble and had so far pulled up five more wounded.

Two hours into the heavy bombardment, there has been no comment from the Israeli military.

By The Associated Press
Refugees arriving in US unlikely to exceed cap set by Trump

Refugees arriving in US unlikely to exceed cap set by Trump View Photo

SAN DIEGO (AP)  President Joe Biden, under political pressure, agreed to admit four times as many refugees this budget year as his predecessor did, but resettlement agencies concede the number actually allowed into the U.S. will be closer to the record-low cap of 15,000 set by former President Donald Trump.

Refugee advocates say they are grateful for the increase because its symbolically important to show the world the United States is back as a humanitarian leader at a time when the number of refugees worldwide is the highest since World War II. But theyre frustrated, too, because more refugees could have been admitted if Biden hadnt dragged his feet.

About 10,000 to 15,000 is what were expecting, said Jenny Yang of World Relief, adding that Bidens inaction for months after taking office in January was definitely problematic.

That delay meant not being able to process refugee applications for four months. We werent able to rebuild for four months, so it really was unfortunate, Yang said.

Biden first proposed raising the cap to 62,500 in February in a plan submitted to Congress, but then refused to sign off on it for two months before coming back April 16 and suggesting he was sticking with Trumps target.

Democratic allies and refugee advocates lambasted him, saying he was reneging on his campaign promise in the face of bipartisan criticism over his handling of an increase in unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

To be clear: The asylum process at the southern border and the refugee process are completely separate immigration systems. Conflating the two constitutes caving to the politics of fear, said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Weeks later, on May 3, Biden raised the cap.

So far this year only about 2,500 refugees have arrived, with less than five months left before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

More than 35,000 refugees have been vetted and approved to come to the United States, but thousands were disqualified under the narrow eligibility criteria Trump established in October when he set the low cap.

By the time Biden expanded the eligibility, many health screenings and documents were no longer valid, according to resettlement agencies. And if someone had a baby during that time, then the entire family could be stalled.

Even under the best circumstances, it can take two months for each case to be updated.

Before the Trump administrations drastic cuts, the United States had admitted more refugees each year than all other countries combined under a program now 41 years old.

With a family history that includes two step-parents who fled Europe during and after WWII, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed to restore that leadership by significantly boosting the cap in the early days of the administration. The State Department recommended to the White House the ceiling be set at 62,500, officials said.

But a senior official familiar with Blinkens thinking said it quickly became clear that the State Department offices responsible for refugee resettlement had been so gutted that they wouldnt be able to process and absorb that number of refugees.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, described the situation as aspiration meeting reality and said Blinken reluctantly concluded that 62,500 wouldnt be possible in the short term.

It turned out there was even more damage done than we knew, Blinken told reporters this month.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement also has been taxed by the jump in unaccompanied migrant children coming to the U.S. border, according to the administration. Some $85 million was diverted from refugee resettlement money to help care for the children, government documents published by The New York Times show.

Biden did not want to promise something he wasnt sure was possible, Blinken said.

So we needed to take some time to make sure that the resources were in place, the people were in place, the programs were in place to actually receive refugees coming in, he said.

The Trump administration had cut U.S. staff overseas who interview refugees by 117 officers. As a result, the number of interviews that were conducted fell by one-third in 2019 compared with those done in 2016 under the Obama administration. That number fell off almost entirely in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to travel restrictions in and out of refugee processing sites worldwide, the U.S. suspended refugee arrivals from March 19 to July 29 of last year except for emergency cases. Only 11,800 refugees were admitted in the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest number in the history of the program.

The administration is working on rehiring that staff and addressing the backlog, including by making it possible to conduct interviews by video teleconferencing instead of doing them in person, deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

But it can take months to train new officers.

The government is also trying to tackle the layers of vetting put in place by the Trump administration, which brought the process nearly to a standstill and required, for instance, that refugees submit 10 years of addresses, something nearly impossible to do for people who have been on the move.

Biden has pledged money to expand the operations of resettlement agencies, which are paid by the federal government per refugee served. With the refugee numbers way down, the agencies were forced to close about 100 offices nationwide during the Trump administration.

Some agencies so far have only been able to cobble together a few dozen qualified people after losing their experienced staff.

They also need time to reestablish their partnerships with landlords, employers and others who have helped refugees get established in communities, a challenge with increasing housing prices and other added constraints related to the pandemic.

The sad truth Biden warned when he finally set the target at 62,500 is that goal wont be achieved.

Instead, the administration and advocates are working to fix the program by 2022 when Biden has promised to raise the ceiling to 125,000.

_____

Lee reported from Washington.

By JULIE WATSON and MATTHEW LEE

Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  Sharks use the Earth's magnetic field as a sort of natural GPS to navigate journeys that take them great distances across the world's oceans, scientists have found.

Researchers said their marine laboratory experiments with a small species of shark confirm long-held speculation that sharks use magnetic fields as aids to navigation  behavior observed in other marine animals such as sea turtles.

Their study, published this month in the journal Current Biology, also sheds light on why sharks are able to traverse seas and find their way back to feed, breed and give birth, said marine policy specialist Bryan Keller, one of the study authors.

We know that sharks can respond to magnetic fields," Keller said. We didnt know that they detected it to use as an aid in navigation ... You have sharks that can travel 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles) and end up in the same spot.

The question of how sharks perform long-distance migrations has intrigued researchers for years. The sharks undertake their journeys in the open ocean where they encounter few physical features such as corals that could serve as landmarks.

Looking for answers, scientists based at Florida State University decided to study bonnethead sharks  a kind of hammerhead that lives on both American coasts and returns to the same estuaries every year.

Researchers exposed 20 bonnetheads to magnetic conditions that simulated locations hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from where they were caught off Florida. The scientists found that the sharks began to swim north when the magnetic cues made them think they were south of where they should be.

That finding is compelling, said Robert Hueter, senior scientist emeritus at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, who was not involved in the study.

Hueter said further study is needed to find how the sharks use the magnetic fields to determine their location and whether larger, long-distance migrating sharks use a similar system to find their way.

The question has always been: Even if sharks are sensitive to magnetic orientation, do they use this sense to navigate in the oceans, and how? These authors have made some progress at chipping away at this question, he said.

Keller said the study could help inform management of shark species, which are in decline. A study this year found that worldwide abundance of oceanic sharks and rays dropped more than 70% between 1970 and 2018.

Researchers say the bonnethead's reliance on Earth's magnetic field probably is shared by other species of sharks, such as great whites, that make cross-ocean journeys. Keller said it's very unlikely bonnetheads evolved with a magnetic sensitivity and other traveling sharks did not.

___

Follow Patrick Whittle on Twitter: @pxwhittle
This Thursday, Google Cloud announced that it reached an agreement with the company SpaceX to offer satellite internet services through Starlink . The tech giant, owned by Alphabet Inc. , will provide its cloud infrastructure for Elon Musk's connectivity project.

This agreement involves SpaceX installing Starlink ground terminals in Google's cloud data centers, which will connect to Starlink satellites .

Thus, Musk customers will be able to access the internet from Google's infrastructure, while 'Big Tech' will be able to provide a faster and more secure connection in hard-to-reach areas, such as large rural areas.

It may interest you: The German scientist who predicted that a person named 'Elon' would take humanity to Mars

This service will be available to business customers of both companies from the second half of 2021 , Google said in a statement . The first Starlink terminal in a Google data center will be located in Ohio, United States. The rest of the data centers will be announced in the coming months.

"Applications and services that run in the cloud can be transformative for organizations, whether they operate in a networked or remote environment," said Urs Holzle , vice president of infrastructure for Google Cloud . The executive also assures that SpaceX will help provide " fluid, secure and fast access to critical applications and services that customers need to keep their equipment running ."

Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/RarbrcfUml - SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 9, 2021

Don't forget that in 2015, Google invested $ 900 million in Space X, Elon Musk's aerospace company. This in order to have access to its technology in the future.

Google, SpaceX and Starlink go against Amazon

This alliance also strengthens the position of both companies in the competition against the cloud services of Amazon , the company of Jeff Bezos . It provides hosting on its AWS cloud and also plans to launch some 3,000 satellites into orbit with the Kuiper project , to provide satellite internet .

For now, SpaceX has put 1,625 satellites in orbit , of which 1,550 are in operation and provide beta-phase satellite internet to customers in various parts of the world. In fact, you can already request the Starlink service in Mexico . Meanwhile, Amazon is just about to launch its own.

Last October, Microsoft also struck a similar agreement with SpaceX to connect its Azure cloud to Starlink and use its satellites to offer mobile data centers globally.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
On Dec. 13, she tweeted that hed harassed [her] for years, grilling her on her work and her looks when he was her boss. In February, she elaborated on the allegations in agonizing detail, accusing him of inappropriate touching, making her uncomfortable at work and once kissing her on the lips without her consent.
Click here to read the full article.

American Idol has set no fewer than a dozen music stars for the series grand finale May 23  three of whom may be fairly predictable, given that Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry are the shows judges.

Not quite as foreseeable in the final shows performing pecking order: Sheryl Crow, Chaka Khan, Luke Combs, Mickey Guyton, Lindsey Buckingham, Fall Out Boy, Alessia Cara, Leona Lewis and Macklemore.

The show will air on ABC live across time zones May 23 at 8 p.m. ET/5 PT.

Most of the 12 have been household names for some years, but Guyton is just becoming one, for many, after years of being a critical favorite on the country scene. She had her most high-profile TV gig recently when she co-hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards with Keith Urban. Weeks prior to that, she had a prime performance slot on the Grammys.
Kate McKinnon spoofed the week in American news on "Saturday Night Live," kicking the show off by playing Anthony Fauci explaining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new mask guidelines. She returned as Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., during the "Weekend Update" segment.

As Fauci, the country's leading infectious-disease expert, McKinnon addressed the recent CDC announcement that people who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus no longer need to wear masks in most places: "We got some very good news this week," McKinnon-as-Fauci stated, "and I'm not just talking about J-Lo and Ben Affleck."

"To clear things up, I found a few doctors at the CDC who minored in theater to demonstrate correct mask behavior," she continued, introducing various scenarios, including: Beck Bennett strolling into Aidy Bryant's pretend bar; Bowen Yang and Ego Nwodim's flirty businessman and flight attendant characters interpreting "the friendly skies" on another level; and Chloe Fineman telling her date, played by Andrew Dismukes, that his beard "looks like you grew mold under your mask."

"When we come together as a society, we can solve anything," Bryant said. Bennett responded by bringing up Israel, and McKinnon-as-Fauci cut in: "That seems like a good place to end."

The episode meandered to sillier territory with host Keegan-Michael Key, who said he used to sneak downstairs to watch "SNL" as a child growing up in Detroit. He sang his monologue, at one point joking about being mistaken for Jordan Peele, the other half of the sketch series "Key & Peele." His characters included a super-senior co-anchoring a high school prom's red carpet coverage; a parody of Michael Jordan appearing in the "Last Dance" miniseries; and a security guard who beats up cantankerous puppets Statler and Waldorf when they won't keep quiet during "The Muppet Show."

"Everybody here paid good money to hear this little dragon and his friends do their thing," Key said to Statler of Kermit the Frog. "So please, let them do their thing without talking."

"Weekend Update" co-host Colin Jost returned to the new CDC mask guidelines later in the episode, quipping that President Joe Biden's "take off your mask and smile" directive sounded like "the first example in every workplace harassment seminar." Jost also said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to lower his mask and proclaim that he is "'free at last' ... is so wildly tone-deaf, it's like if Matt Gaetz took off his mask and said, 'I feel like a kid again.'"

Jost brought out McKinnon-as-Cheney for an interview, addressing the congresswoman being voted out of House GOP leadership Wednesday because she continued to challenge former president Donald Trump's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

"I fell down to hell like Lil Nas X, fracked with the devil, and bounced back up onto MSNBC," she said. "Colin, the Republican Party is changing. I don't know what happened. I don't know what I did wrong. Look at me, I'm everything a conservative woman is supposed to be - blonde, mean."

"And?" Jost asked.

"I was done," McKinnon-as-Cheney replied. She went on to name other conservatives who would be joining her in her efforts to prevent Trump from winning the presidency again: "It's gonna be me, George Conway, Nancy Reagan's ghost, Meghan McCain ... is not in, but I'm working on her ... Colin, this is the grand implosion of Trumpism. You don't even know the size of the tsunami that's coming."

After a few more unconvincing arguments, McKinnon-as-Cheney described what she perceived to be her conservative credentials - "I opposed gay marriage" even though her own sister is gay - adding that she once loved Trump "like a straight sister."

"Republicans, I'm trying to save you," she said. "You're like horses who won't leave a burning barn."
U.N. Security Council diplomats and Muslim foreign ministers convened emergency meetings Sunday to demand a stop to civilian bloodshed as Israeli warplanes carried out the deadliest single attacks in nearly a week of Hamas rocket barrages and Israeli airstrikes.

President Joe Biden gave no signs of stepping up public pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate cease-fire despite calls from some Democrats for the Biden administration to get more involved.

His ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told an emergency high-level meeting of the Security Council that the United States was working tirelessly through diplomatic channels" to stop the fighting.

But as battles between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers surged to their worst levels since 2014 and the international outcry grew, the Biden administration  determined to wrench U.S. foreign policy focus away from the Middle East and Afghanistan  has declined so far to criticize Israel's part in the fighting or send a top-level envoy to the region. Appeals by other countries showed no sign of progress.

Thomas-Greenfield warned that the return to armed conflict would only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict even further out of reach. However, the United States, Israel's closest ally, has so far blocked days of efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the Security Council to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities.

In Israel, Hady Amr, a deputy assistant dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to de-escalate the crisis, met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who thanked the U.S. for its support.

Blinken himself headed out on an unrelated tour of Nordic countries, with no announced plans to stop in the Middle East in response to the crisis. He made calls from the plane to Egypt and other nations working to broker a cease-fire, telling Egypt that all parties should de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence.

Rep. Adam Schiff, Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, urged Biden on Sunday to step up pressure on both sides to end current fighting and revive talks to resolve Israel's conflicts and flashpoints with the Palestinians.

I think the administration needs to push harder on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to stop the violence, bring about a cease-fire, end these hostilities, and get back to a process of trying to resolve this long-standing conflict, Schiff, a California Democrat, told CBS's Face the Nation.

And Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, the senior Republican on the foreign relations subcommittee for the region, joined Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the subcommittee chairman, in asking both sides to cease fire. As a result of Hamas' rocket attacks and Israel's response, both sides must recognize that too many lives have been lost and must not escalate the conflict further, the two said.

Biden focused on civilian deaths from Hamas rockets in a call with Netanyahu on Saturday, and a White House readout of the call made no mention of the U.S. urging Israel to join in a cease-fire that regional countries were pushing. Thomas-Greenfield said U.S. diplomats were engaging with Israel, Egypt and Qatar, along with the U.N.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said, bringing the toll since Hamas and Israel opened their air and artillery battles to at least 188 killed in Gaza and eight in Israel. Some 55 children in Gaza and a 5-year-old boy in Israel were among the dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a televised address Sunday that Israel wants to levy a heavy price on Hamas. That will take time, Netanyahu said, signaling the war would rage on for now.

Representatives of Muslim nations met to demand Israel halt attacks that are killing Palestinian civilians in the crowded Gaza strip. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan called on the international community to take urgent action to immediately stop military operations.

The meeting of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation also saw Turkey and some others criticize a U.S.-backed push under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other Islamic nations signed bilateral deals with Israel to normalize their relations, stepping over the wreckage of collapsed international efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians long-term.

The massacre of Palestinian children today follows the purported normalization, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. t

At the virtual meeting of the Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the U.N. was actively engaging all parties for an immediate cease-fire.

Returning to the scenes of Palestinian militant rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes in the fourth such war between Israel and Hamas, only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace, Guterres said.

Eight foreign ministers spoke at the Security Council session, reflecting the seriousness of the conflict, with almost all urging an end to the fighting.

Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, had thrown U.S. support solidly behind Israel, embracing Netanyahu as an ally in Trump's focus on confronting Iran. Trump gave little time to efforts by past U.S. administrations to push peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, instead encouraging and rewarding Arab nations that signed two-country normalization deals with Israel.

Biden, instead, calls Middle East and Central Asia conflicts a distraction from U.S. foreign policy priorities, including competition with China.

He's sought to calm some conflicts and extricate the U.S. from others, including ending U.S. military support for a Saudi-led war in Yemen, planning to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and trying to return to a nuclear deal with Iran that Israel opposes.

___

Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City and Lederer from New York. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
By Mojtaba Sadegh, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Boise State University, Amir AghaKouchak, Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, and John Abatzoglou, Associate Professor of Engineering, University of California, Merced. Originally published at The Conversation

Just about every indicator of drought is flashing red across the western U.S. after a dry winter and warm early spring. The snowpack is at less than half of normal in much of the region. Reservoirs are being drawn down, river levels are dropping and soils are drying out.

Its only May, and states are already considering water use restrictions to make the supply last longer. Californias governor declared a drought emergency in 41 of 58 counties. In Utah, irrigation water providers are increasing fines for overuse. Some Idaho ranchers are talking about selling off livestock because rivers and reservoirs they rely on are dangerously low and irrigation demand for farms is only just beginning.

Scientists are also closely watching the impact that the rapid warming and drying is having on trees, worried that water stress could lead to widespread tree deaths. Dead and drying vegetation means more fuel for what is already expected to be another dangerous fire season.

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters on May 13, 2021, that federal fire officials had warned them to prepare for an extremely active fire year. We used to call it fire season, but wildland fires now extend throughout the entire year, burning hotter and growing more catastrophic in drier conditions due to climate change, Vilsack said.

As climate scientists, we track these changes. Right now, about 84% of the western U.S. is under some level of drought, and there is no sign of relief.

The Many Faces of Drought

Several types of drought are converging in the West this year, and all are at or near record levels.

When too little rain and snow falls, its known as meteorological drought. In April, precipitation across large parts of the West was less than 10% of normal, and the lack of rain continued into May.

Rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater can get into whats known as hydrological drought when their water levels fall. Many states are now warning about low streamflow after a winter with less-than-normal snowfall and warm spring temperatures in early 2021 speeding up melting. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Lake Mead, a giant Colorado River reservoir that provides water for millions of people, is on pace to fall to levels in June that could trigger the first federal water shortage declaration, with water use restrictions across the region.

Dwindling soil moisture leads to another problem, known as agricultural drought. The average soil moisture levels in the western U.S. in April were at or near their lowest levels in over 120 years of observations.

These factors can all drive ecosystems beyond their thresholds  into a condition called ecological drought  and the results can be dangerous and costly. Fish hatcheries in Northern California have started trucking their salmon to the Pacific Ocean, rather than releasing them into rivers, because the river water is expected to be at historic low levels and too warm for young salmon to tolerate.

Snow Drought

One of the Wests biggest water problems this year is the low snowpack.

The western U.S. is critically dependent on winter snow slowly melting in the mountains and providing a steady supply of water during the dry summer months. But the amount of water in snowpack is on the decline here and across much of the world as global temperatures rise.

Several states are already seeing how that can play out. Federal scientists in Utah warned in early May that more water from the snowpack is sinking into the dry ground where it fell this year, rather than running off to supply streams and rivers. With the states snowpack at 52% of normal, streamflows are expected to be well below normal through the summer, with some places at less than 20%.

Anthropogenic Drought

Its important to understand that drought today isnt only about nature.

More people are moving into the U.S. West, increasing demand for water and irrigated farmland. And global warming  driven by human activities like the burning of fossil fuels  is now fueling more widespread and intense droughts in the region. These two factors act as additional straws pulling water from an already scarce resource.

As demand for water has increased, the West is pumping out more groundwater for irrigation and other needs. Centuries-old groundwater reserves in aquifers can provide resilience against droughts if they are used sustainably. But groundwater reserves recharge slowly, and the West is seeing a decline in those resources, mostly because water use for agriculture outpaces their recharge. Water levels in some wells have dropped at a rate of 6.5 feet (2 meters) per year.

The result is that these regions are less able to manage droughts when nature does bring hot, dry conditions.

Rising global temperatures also play several roles in drought. They influence whether precipitation falls as snow or rain, how quickly snow melts and, importantly, how quickly the land, trees and vegetation dry out.

Extreme heat and droughts can intensify one another. Solar radiation causes water to evaporate, drying the soil and air. With less moisture, the soil and air then heat up, which dries the soil even more. The result is extremely dry trees and grasses that can quickly burn when fires break out, and also thirstier soils that demand more irrigation.

Alarmingly, the trigger for the drying and warming cycle has been changing. In the 1930s, lack of precipitation used to trigger this cycle, but excess heat has initiated the process in recent decades. As global warming increases temperatures, soil moisture evaporates earlier and at larger rates, drying out soils and triggering the warming and drying cycle.

Fire Warnings Ahead

Hot, dry conditions in the West last year fueled a record-breaking wildfire season that burned over 15,900 square miles (41,270 square kilometers), including the largest fires on record in Colorado and California.

As drought persists, the chance of large, disastrous fires increases. The seasonal outlook of warmer and drier-than-normal conditions for summer and fire season outlooks by federal agencies suggest another tough, long fire year is ahead.
AUTONOMOUS TAXI GOES ROGUE, ESCAPES FROM RESCUE CREW The Byte Oops!

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The clothing revolution aeon

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As Xi offers vaccines to Tokyo Olympics, China hopes to avoid a boycott of Beijings 2022 Winter Games SCMP

#COVID-19

Class Warfare

If you and @CSWilsonFTC want to stop being called pro-monopoly then you should stop creating more monopolies. This whining isnt fooling anyone. https://t.co/TOoRFyreOy  Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) May 15, 2021

New York, New Jersey, California face long odds in scrapping SALT The Hill

Biden Administration

Capitol Seizure

New Cold War

Updated to include Joseph Mifsuds substantial connections to Russian government officials, the hack of the French election in 2017, and that story the Washinton Post took seriously about Putin poisoning Hillary Clinton: https://t.co/X8g2C5SHxH  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) May 15, 2021

India

Myanmar

Syraqistan

Dear Israel: Please bomb around the journalists. Signed, the U.S. government https://t.co/GqOb6miXGP  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) May 15, 2021

That Biden refuses to condemn the intentional targeting by Israel of press offices in Gaza is outrageous. But after the IDF replies it was a tall building & Hamas uses tall buildings to @APs President stating theyve seen no Hamas activity there in 15 years, it is monstrous. https://t.co/cPpUEOrSEo  Edward Snowden (@Snowden) May 16, 2021



Antidote du Jour, Timotheus: These are the latest brood from the cygnet swans you have featured twice in prior years.

Story Lake, Indiana

And a bonus video:

If birds had arms caption this  pic.twitter.com/xE3aP8fRU2  The superior designer (@supriordesigner) May 15, 2021

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
(Natural News) A purported Antifa supporter called for the systematic killing of white people. The shocking incident was captured in a video shared on Twitter by independent journalist Andy Ngo.

(Article republished from OANN.com)

I can't wait until black people lynch white people A person part of the #antifa black bloc at the protest against Billy Graham association event near Seattle shouted racist statements yesterday. They also chanted death to America & burned US flags. pic.twitter.com/Rlob8ynIlI  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 12, 2021

The incident occurred during a protest near Seattle this week against the Billy Graham Association. The footage shows an unidentified protester confronting a group of passers-by, explicitly saying she hopes white people are murdered. She then doubled down on those remarks when confronted.

Near Seattle, a group of #antifa were prevented by police from carrying out acts of violence to protest a Billy Graham Association event. The antifa chant, Death to America. Video by @KatieDaviscourt: pic.twitter.com/8uOBFtSgBp  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 12, 2021

Ngo pointed out that the group also chanted death to America and burned U.S. flags during the protest.

Read more at: OANN.com
(Natural News) It has long been known behind the facade of the upstanding media that Bill Gates was not exactly the quiet nerd. The information surrounding his arrest has been scrubbed, so all that remains is the fact that he was arrested for a traffic violation with no other details. It is not likely he was arrested for just speeding. Gates has been hiding out in California for perhaps the last three months. That makes him a resident, and he should be hit with California state income taxes since they need so much money these days.

(Article republished from ArmstrongEconomics.com)

Gates dream of extending his monopoly from the private sector (i.e., Microsoft) and transforming into dictator or puppet master of the world is starting to surface. He wishes to carry out his fathers dream of reducing the population of the unworthy to save the planet from his imaginary climate crisis. Our model still warns that his and Klaus Schwabs dream of reducing the population will come because of their stupidity trying to force China and Russia to submit to their grand plan of the Great Reset. Their time remaining in this facade of control is short. It does not appear to last beyond 2022, but they have bribed politicians who will wrongly think that green is the way, and this will only lead to World War III post-2024.

Gates womanizing is starting to surface, as is the Nazi background of Schwab. Honestly, if this is what leads humanity, we can certainly see why it is doomed to be a new world that is anything but GREEN. It is one thing to be a womanizer like Bill Clinton, who is not trying to be the next Adolf opposed to Gates, who thinks he is so smart only his vision of how the world should work is valid  very Marxist. I was invited in 1996 to the White House Dinner. I sat with all the conservative journalists, including George Will. Clinton delivered a fantastic speech. They were growling and said, come on, you have to give it to him; he knows how to deliver a speech. So did FDR as well as Adolf Hitler. It takes charisma to deliver a great speech, and that has also been a talent among womanizers.

The press has been protecting Gates for a very long time. They have been taking grants from his foundation, including the British BBC. I have always offered advice to governments FREE because once you accept a dime, they will own you. Ironically, I have been called because they also know what advice I will deliver is untainted. Gates has bought the press just as he owns the WHO and is pulling the strings inside the United Nations along with Klaus Schwab.

Here is an illustration from Puck Weekly Magazine, The Evil Spirits of the Modern Day Press, published Nov. 21, 1888. See, history repeats because the passions of man never change. You guessed it  that was the US presidential election held on Tuesday, November 6, 1888. It saw the incumbent Grover Cleveland (Democrat), challenged by the Republican Benjamin Harrison who won. Then too, the general election was pretty close with Cleveland winning the popular vote just like Hillary, but by almost 1%, while Harrison managed to win the electoral vote 233 to 168.

Here you have Harpers Weekly making fun of the fake news back then calling those in mainstream media in 1888 evil. There are also no mirrors in the Washington Press Core. The press assumes they are important and are also above the common people they try to manipulate with their stories. It has always been about manipulating the public. Ryan Holiday wrote for Forbes, taking on the role of a whistle-blower from the media. He wrote:

I know this because I am a media manipulator. My job was to use the media to make people do or think things they otherwise would not. People like me are there, behind the curtain, pulling the puppet strings. But that is about to get harder: Im spilling my secrets to you and turned my talents from exploiting media vulnerabilities to exposing themfor your benefit.

Read more at: ArmstrongEconomics.com
He was disgusted by it and he was disgusted by the response, the insider said, referring to allegations from former Stringer campaign volunteer Jean Kim, who claimed the candidate groped her and pressured her for sex years ago.
(Natural News) Ten years ago, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, created a music video mocking the vaccine zombies who are eager to roll up their sleeves any time the government tells them they need an injection for something. In that video, he mentioned a vaccine lottery that, oddly enough, is now becoming a reality in the state of Ohio.

According to Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, Ohio residents who have not yet been vaccinated will have a chance to win $1 million if they agree to have their DNA permanently modified with messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.

Five Ohio residents will receive $1 million each for getting injected as part of the states new Chinese Virus injection lottery. One lucky resident per week will receive the prize, which is being taken from federal Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) relief funding.

In the Health Rangers music video  watch below  you will hear how he talked about a vaccine lottery, which is now coming to fruition.

From the lyrics at the 2:30 mark:

Come and play, come and play in my vaccine lottery.

Youre gonna pay. Cuz the vaccine makes moreprofit than vitamin D.

Listen up, cuz the big pharma vaccine aint even safe.

They stick it in your arm, doing permanent harm, and treat you like a medical slave.

Why has the government never just handed out money to help people in the past without any strings attached?

According to DeWine, the lottery is needed to persuade more hesitant people to get the needles plunged into their arms at warp speed so we can all get back to the new normal.

Another part of DeWines bribery program is to offer full-ride college scholarships to Ohio youth who agree to get injected. Somehow this money was never available in the past simply to help students, and yet it has magically manifested now that the government wants everyone to get injected.

If the government really cared about people as it is pretending to do now, it would have been handing out college scholarships in the past simply for being a citizen  no strings attached. The fact that the government is so desperate to get you injected that it is willing to fork over free educations and $1 million cash prizes is certainly cause for concern as to the motivation behind it.

Not everyone is happy about the move, including State Rep. Emilia Sykes, a Democrat, who questioned this blatant misuse of federal relief funds.

Using millions of dollars in relief funds in a drawing is a grave misuse of money that could be going to respond to this ongoing crisis, she is quoted as saying.

DeWine himself admitted that the plan is crazy, but apparently necessary to the medical deep state as part of its mass depopulation agenda.

The real waste is when the vaccine is now readily available but nobody wants it, DeWine stated, adding that people should get injected to prevent another life lost to Covid-19.

Neither the White House nor the Treasury Department had any comment about DeWines plan when asked.

All Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) orders in Ohio are set to expire on June 2, except for those that apply to nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Private businesses, however, may still demand that their customers and employees wear a mask and social distance.

Wait until the winner of the $1 million Ohio Lotto suddenly passes mysteriously the day after accepting the check, wrote one commenter at Citizen Free Press about the likely outcome of this stunt.

Im an Ohioan and we all remember when DeSwine faked a positive PCR test (not hard to do) so at the last minute he did not have to meet with President Trump, wrote another. DeWine is the biggest corruptocrat in state government in the United States and has ruined the state of Ohio.

More of the latest news about the governments never-ending Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine gimmicks can be found at Twisted.news.

Sources for this article include:

Brighteon.com

CitizenFreePress.com

NaturalNews.com

SFGate.com
(Natural News) The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPS) is threatening to target and harass all doctors in Canada who dare to post opposition to Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdowns, masks and vaccines on their social media accounts.

Any Canadian doctor who shares proven science about how masks are killing children, for instance, or how Chinese Virus injections are destroying lives will now be policed by the medical fascists who insist that lockdowns, masks and injections are all healthy and good for people.

In an April 30 statement, CPSO warned about isolated incidents of physicians using social media to spread blatant misinformation and undermine public health measures meant to protect all of us. From here on out, such incidents will no longer be tolerated.

Physicians hold a unique position of trust with the public and have a professional responsibility to not communicate anti-vaccine, anti-masking, anti-distancing and anti-lockdown statements and / or promoting unsupported, unproven treatments for COVID-19, the statement reads.

Physicians must not make comments or provide advice that encourages the public to act contrary to public health orders and recommendations.

CPSO says it is deeply concerned about the the increase of misinformation circulating on social media and other platforms regarding physicians who are publicly contradicting public health orders and recommendations. It wants to see these physicians punished for engaging in free speech.

Doctors who refuse to obey CPSO could face an investigation or other disciplinary action, when warranted to keep them in line. All Canadian doctors will have to abide by a policy of promoting forced isolation, permanent masking and as many injections as the government says are necessary to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Canadian doctors reject CPSO demands, say they will not comply with medical fascism

A group of physicians from across Canada has responded to the CPSO statement by declaring it to be unethical and anti-science, with deeply disturbing implications for the future of medicine in Canada.

We physicians believe that with the CPSO statement of 30 April 2021, a watershed moment in the assault on free speech and scientific inquiry has been reached, their response statement reads. We will never comply and will always put our patients first.

Dr. Patrick Phillips, a physician from Ontario who signed the response declaration, says he remains opposed to lockdowns and other government-imposed Chinese Virus measures. Instead, he is urging his patients to take vitamin D, for instance, which has been scientifically shown to help protect against infection.

CPSOs threat is a violation of informed consent, patient privacy and other rights that have been steamrolled ever since the Wuhan Flu was declared to be a pandemic last spring. Dr. Phillips and others recognize this and say they have no intention of ever complying.

Ontarios medical regulator, tasked with protecting the rights and safety of patients, has actually banned informed consent for patients, Phillips wrote. They have taken away your right to be informed about  the harms of lockdowns  vaccine adverse events  Covid treatments. I will not comply.

Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill is also fighting back against the CPSO directive, tweeting CPSO has added Ministry of Truth to its list of duties.

Only govt approved truth is allowed, all other positions are forbidden, Dr. Gill added.

Over the past several months, Dr. Gill has been very vocal on Twitter about her support of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), the anti-malaria drug that was shown early on to be effective against the Chinese Virus, despite the governments continued rejection of its use.

Medical fascists, wrote one LifeSiteNews commenter about CPSO. Oppose them and you are targeted. Doctors were some of the most avid Nazis. Not much has changed.

More of the latest news about Chinese Virus injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

LifeSiteNews.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A woman in Nashville is the second person to describe how she became paralyzed within hours of taking a Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.

(Article by Celeste McGovern republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

This has been a nightmare, Brandy McFadden told WSMV-TVs News 4 Program in Nashville as she fought tears. I got my shot, just trying to do due diligence. I never expected this to happen, at all.

The day Brandy McFadden got her second dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on April 16, she just started not feeling great, she told the local news station.

By the following afternoon, McFadden said she couldnt walk and had excruciating neck pain. It just started progressively getting worse and I just started screaming in pain at the top of my lungs.

McFaddens husband took her to the emergency room at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Six days later, the local news stations interviewed her at the hospital where she had undergone a CT scan, MRI, EMG, and blood work, all of which were unrevealing about what was happening to her. As far as to answers as to why this happened, they dont know, McFadden told News4.

She had regained movement in her arms, and could wiggle her toes one week following her shot.

A similar case in Pittsburgh

McFadden was in touch with a woman in Pittsburgh who had a similar experience. Rachel Cecere, 33, told WPXI-TV news that she woke up paralyzed from the neck down 12 hours after her first dose of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine. It was the scariest thing in the world to go to sleep completely fine, to wake up 1:30 in the morning and not be able to move at all, the woman told Channel 11.

Cecere was moved from her local hospital to the Cleveland Clinic where tests ruled out Guillain Barre Syndrome, a neurological disease linked to the pandemic 1976 swine flu vaccine, which caused about 450 people to be paralyzed.

There is just nothing they can find wrong with me. No underlying conditions, I have nothing in my history and they are basically telling me, Youre healthy and we cant figure out why this is going on, the woman told her local news channel.

Nearly three weeks after Cecere was hospitalized she told WPXI that she is doing occupational and physical therapy at Jefferson Hospital but still had no feeling in either leg and can only move the left one. She was given a prosthetic brace and knee support to keep her leg straight. The single mother had regained strength in her upper body, she told the news station, but still felt weakness in her left hand and was unable to lift her daughter.

Its discouraging not having the feeling or sensation in my legs. Its just difficult for me to grasp and understand, Cecere said.

I was told multiple times that the diagnosis was an acute distress to the nervous system brought on by the COVID-19 vaccine Pfizer, Cecere told Channel 11, but her discharge papers did not mention her COVID-19 vaccine.

It doesnt sound like they are willing to attribute it to the vaccine or any specific medical diagnosis, local infectious disease doctor Dave Weber told the news channel.

Reports of paralysis

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has received 1,619 reports of events following COVID-19 vaccination that include paralysis or paralyzing conditions such as Guillain Barre Syndrome, transverse myelitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, and Bells Palsy, a condition that causes face muscles to paralyze, marked frequently by a drooping mouth and inability to close one eye. Of those reports, 794 relate to Pfizers COVID vaccine, including 131 reports of paralysis among patients aged 30-39 years old as of April 30. The CDC stresses that VAERS reports do not establish a causal link between a vaccine and an adverse event.

Just as public health agencies say that vaccines cannot be counted on to provide full protection within two weeks of shots because the immune system has not fully responded, immune system adverse events can take time to build as the body produces antibodies.

Among the dozens of reports among those aged 18 to 29 was a physician report of a 21-year-old in Michigan who received a first dose of Modernas vaccine in March and subsequently began experiencing ascending paralysis nine days later.

The young mans condition rapidly escalated requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation according to the VAERS report. He was treated for Guillain-Barre Syndrome, the report stated, and had flaccid paralysis and lost his ability to protect his airway. The report stated that he would likely need a tracheostomy  a surgical opening in the neck to allow air to enter the lungs via a tube.

Another physician report to VAERS described a 26-year-old who received her first dose of Pfizers vaccine in March and three days later began feeling numbness in her toes that spread to her legs. Five days later she noticed numbness in her fingers and her mouth and weakness in her arms. A few days after that, she noticed that her face was dropping on the right side and she went to the emergency departments where a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) test indicated Guillain-Barre Syndrome and she was started on IV immune globulin treatment.

McFadden had already been infected with the coronavirus, something Pennsylvania immunologist Hooman Noorchashm has warned about as a potential for catastrophic immune events following vaccination. He has advised people to defer vaccination if they have previously been infected or tested positive for the coronavirus.

Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com
(Natural News) Theres something particularly off-putting about a media outlet using its resources to aggressively demonize fellow journalists and defend lethal violence carried out by anarchists and common criminals.

(Article by Andrew Thornebrooke republished from WesternJournal.com)

Yet that is exactly what The Intercept did today.

In a 24-minute video entitled Meet the Riot Squad: Right-Wing Reporters Whose Viral Videos Are Used to Smear BLM, The Intercept attempted to target and delegitimize eight conservative journalists for their continued documentation of left-wing violence throughout the nation.

In the opening of a preview of the video released on Twitter, the Intercept singled out journalist Julio Rosas, who filmed black-bloc rioters smashing out the windows of the Democratic Party offices in Portland, Oregon, on Inauguration Day.

The Intercept stated that Rosas specializes in shooting viral video of mayhem at left-wing protests, and attempted to undermine the credibility of his reporting for no other reason than that his content appeared in conservative news outlets.

To this, one might reasonably respond: Why is there so much violence at left-wing protests that one can make a literal career out of filming it?

Meet the Riot Squad: Right-Wing Reporters Whose Viral Videos Are Used to Smear BLM Watch the full video: https://t.co/qt7OrLReZT By @RobertMackey, @TravisMannon pic.twitter.com/4mWJmS2Obz  The Intercept (@theintercept) May 13, 2021

Undeterred, The Intercept moved on and doubled down on its claims that both conservative journalists and police were a threat to America.

Its important to keep in mind that the conservative media has been working almost nonstop to undercut the movement for black lives by spreading the lie that the nations main problem is the protesters, not the police, senior Intercept writer Robert Mackey narrated.

Its a shame, really, that a senior reporter did not bother addressing any of the evidence against his own position.

For instance, he might have attempted to deal with the fact that the George Floyd riots resulted in upwards of $2 billion in damage and 25 deaths.
(Natural News) Almost immediately after it was announced that the Colonial Pipeline had been shut down due to a hack, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took the opportunity to order the shut down another pipeline that runs through her state, claiming it poses environmental risks.

One of the nations most vicious dictators, Whitmer proclaimed that the oil and gas pipeline, which is run by Canadian energy company Enbridge, had to shut down on May 12 because, should the pipeline burst, leak, or become damaged, Michiganders might be put at risk.

As of this writing, Enbridge has refused to comply with Whitmers unlawful decree, and it is backed by numerous top Canadian officials. The last thing North America needs right now is a worsened energy crisis that leaves them without fuel.

For the past 67 years, Enbridge has been moving oil and gas from Western Canada through Michigan and the Great Lakes area to refineries in the province of Ontario. According to Whitmer, the pipeline is suddenly too dangerous to continue operating, just as much of the Southeast is suffering from gasoline shortages.

Back in November, it turns out, Whitmer announced plans to revoke the easement granted to Enbridge to run Line 5 of the pipeline through the Straits of Mackinac. It just so happens that May 12 was conveniently chosen as the deadline for this shutdown.

These oil pipelines in the Straits of Mackinac are a ticking time bomb, and their continued presence violates the public trust and poses a grave threat to Michigans environment and economy, Whitmers office announced.

The federal government, not Whitmer, is in charge of energy pipelines

According to Enbridge, it has never experienced any leakage in the underwater section of Line 5. In fact, the company has been working to create a new tunnel beneath the lake bed to further ensure the safety of the pipeline.

In the past two years, Line 5 has been struck by boat anchors and cables. Back in 2010, a collision incident spilled 3.2 million liters of oil into the Kalamazoo River, this being the supposed impetus behind Whitmers demand.

At the same time, Enbridge could simply alter the route of the pipeline to ensure safety. Whitmer wants it to remain completely shut down for good, however.

Should anything thats being transported in these 67-year-old pipelines get into the Great Lakes, it would have devastating effects and irreparable consequences, stated Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Glen Hare, who represents 39 First Nations across Ontario.

Back in February, a U.S. federal court ordered Enbridge and the State of Michigan to enter mediation. Whitmer responded by demanding that the case be heard by a state court, which is more likely to give her a favorable ruling.

As it turns out, Whitmer has no authority to shut down any pipelines because their operation is governed by the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty between the United States and Canada, which was ratified by Congress at that time.

Regardless of what the state of Michigan may or may not want to do, the treaty is binding on the United States as a whole, says Lawrence Herman, an international trade lawyer. Its a matter between the two governments: Canada and the United States. My point is, a deal is a deal.

Herman added that the treaty requires either side to give at least 10 years notice of intent to withdraw. Whitmer has not done that, nor is she a federal government official with the authority to make such a decision regardless.

Enbridge President Al Monaco also warned that shutting down the pipeline would have a very bad outcome for Canadas two most populous provinces, as well for Michigan as the pipeline provides propane to the state.

More related news about Whitmer can be found at Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

TheOrganicPrepper.com
PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP)  Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washed up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they're the remains of COVID-19 victims.

In jeeps and boats, police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites, police said.

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on a wide, flat riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state. While officials say the riverside burials have taken place for decades, the sheer numbers in the shadow of the pandemic are focusing more attention on the practice.

Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19, he said.

He said some villagers did not cremate their dead as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance, and instead disposed of them in rivers or by digging graves on riverbanks.

Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organization that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and a shortage of wood. The cost of cremation has tripled up to 15,000 rupees ($210).

On Saturday, an Associated Press photojournalist estimated there were at least 300 shallow riverside graves on a sand bar near near Prayagraj. Each grave was covered by an orange, yellow or reddish cloth and appeared laid out in the same direction. Several policemen were at the scene, but allowed a family who arrived in a small truck to bury a 75-year-old woman at the site.

K.P. Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground on the Prayagraj riverbank for those who died of COVID-19, and police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront. Authorities in Sehgal state have found a small number of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but didnt give a figure.

However, on Sunday, a 30-year-old Buddhist came to the same riverbank in Prayagraj with other family members and buried his mother, who he said had died of a heart attack.

She was not infected with COVID-19, Vijay Kumar told the AP, adding that his religion allows both cremation and burial, but I chose burial.

Health authorities last week retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on a Ganges River bank in neighboring Bihar state.

Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.

A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of death.

Indias two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the virus surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls. Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of India's crumbling health care.

After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilizing, said Dr. V.K. Paul, a government health expert.

The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday.

It also reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.
SALEM, Ore. (AP)  The first court test of whether local governments can ban police from enforcing certain gun laws is playing out in a rural Oregon county, one of a wave of U.S. counties declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary.

The measure that voters in the logging area of Columbia County narrowly approved last year forbids local officials from enforcing most federal and state gun laws and could impose thousands of dollars in fines on those who try.

Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions have been adopted by some 1,200 local governments in states around the U.S., including Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois and Florida, according to Shawn Fields, an assistant professor of law at Campbell University who tracks them. Many are symbolic, but some, like in Columbia County, carry legal force.

The movement took off around 2018, as states considered stricter gun laws in the wake of mass shootings, including a high school shooting near Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and made survivors into high-profile gun control activists.

After President Joe Biden took office, conservative lawmakers in several states proposed banning police from enforcing federal gun measures, and at least one proposal in Arizona has been signed into law.

The movement hasnt yet faced a major legal challenge. The Oregon case was filed by Columbia County under an unusual provision in state law that allows a judge to examine a measure before it goes into effect. No timeline has been set for a court hearing.

This will allow the court to tell us whether the county can actually decline to enforce certain state laws, and it will tell us how to abide by the will of the voters to the extent that we can, said Sarah Hanson, who serves as counsel in the conservative-leaning county in deep-blue Oregon.

Supporters of the ordinance include the Oregon Firearms Federation, which said in a November statement that extremists and big city radicals" were trying to curtail gun rights.

The group referenced Portland protests opposing police brutality that occasionally turned violent last summer and called the ordinance a common sense step that would ensure your right and ability to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones.

The ordinance would ban the enforcement of laws like background check requirements and restrictions on carrying a gun, though it would have exceptions for others, including keeping firearms from convicted felons.

The Oregon Firearms Federation didnt respond to a request for comment on the court case.

Sheriff Brian Pixley has expressed support, saying in a March statement that one of his responsibilities is to uphold people's Second Amendment rights and that he's eager to move forward with the will of the voters.

The measure is divisive locally, though, and four residents filed court documents opposing it. One, Brandee Dudzic, referenced the strict gun safety drills she learned in military medic training, saying she values the right to own a gun but believes it should come with safety measures like background checks and secure storage.

A gun shop owner in Columbia County said he supports background checks and believes that state law trumps the county law." But he voted in favor of the Second Amendment measure on principle.

We need to make sure that people are safe. We need to make sure that people are responsible," he said. But as more rules are in place, we just need to make sure that were not overregulated.

He spoke on the condition he not be identified because some of his customers take a hard line against gun restrictions and he didn't want to lose their business.

Everytown Law, an affiliate of the group Everytown for Gun Safety, is pushing for the measure to be overturned. Managing Director Eric Tirschwell said it would be the nations first court test amid the current wave of Second Amendment sanctuary laws.

Everytown argues that the ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution, which says federal law supersedes state law, as well as the state Constitution and an Oregon law that gives the state power to regulate firearms.

The decision won't have a direct effect outside Oregon but could send a message.

This case is important and should send the message that where state or local jurisdictions attempt to unconstitutionally or unlawfully nullify gun safety laws, we are prepared to and will go to court, Tirschwell said.

Other laws trying to blunt the effect of federal gun restrictions havent fared well in court, including a 2009 Montana measure that made guns and ammunition manufactured in the state exempt from federal law and a similar 2013 measure in Kansas.

Many of the latest wave of measures, though, take a different tack by focusing on the actions of local police, including punishments like fines.

In terms of federal law, gun rights advocates may have a successful legal argument under the so-called anti-commandeering doctrine, which says the U.S. government cant make state and local officials enforce federal law, said Darrell Miller, a professor of law at Duke Law School and co-faculty director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law. He agreed that the Oregon case is the first of its kind.

Local enforcement of state law, meanwhile, is another matter. Most states don't have similar provisions in their own legal codes, and Oregon's attorney general said in court documents that the Columbia County ordinance is incompatible with criminal law and the duties of county officials.

To the extent the local government is trying to say, Were also not going to enforce state law either .... thats a much more difficult and complicated position, Miller said. The authority of the state over localities is much, much stronger.

___

Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.
For a truly bizarre two-minute viewing experience, you might click on the latest artifact of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's fixation on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In a since-deleted video, which CNN preserved and resurfaced Friday, the Georgia Republican crouches outside the office of the New York Democrat and delivers a monologue into her mail slot.

The video, which was apparently recorded in 2019, shows Greene accusing Ocasio-Cortez of wearing a "diaper" and saying she should come out of the office like a "big girl," but the weirdest part - and trust me, this is saying something - is when Greene announces to the mail slot, "I'm a woman! I'm a female business owner! I'm proud to be an American woman!"

What is the meaning of these sentences?

It could be the creepiest possible way of making connection (I, like you, am a female politician), or it could be a racist dog whistle implying that Ocasio-Cortez was not an American woman, or Greene could have temporarily fallen under the control of a space laser.

But here's something I hear in there, too: I am a woman. So I can get away with this.

The last time Ocasio-Cortez was publicly harassed by a fellow member of Congress - last summer, Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., called her "disgusting" and "out of her freaking mind" on the steps of the U.S. Capitol - it prompted discussions about sexism and bullying on the Hill: how men have talked to women, and how women have been conditioned to accept it.

Greene's antagonism of Ocasio-Cortez is playing differently. Since that 2019 video, she has become a member of Congress herself, cruising to victory in President Donald Trump's chemtrail-addled slipstream, but her M.O. now is still very much the same as it was then. On Wednesday afternoon, after failing to get Ocasio-Cortez's attention by calling her name as they exited the House chamber, Greene started shouting at her colleague, asking why Ocasio-Cortez supported "terrorists" and "antifa" and demanding that AOC publicly debate her.

The tirade was unhinged and unprofessional - and her supporters loved it. Greene has raised a gargantuan $3 million for her reelection campaign in the first quarter of 2021, exciting conservatives with her antic performances of right-wing grievance politics. The fact that she is a proud American woman seems key to how her supporters make sense of how upsetting this has been to those of us who think conspiracy-mongers who lecture through mail slots shouldn't be rewarded with political clout. "It seems to me," one supporter concluded on Twitter, "that some people on these social media platforms the left leaning liberals can't stand a strong conservative woman like Taylor Greene."

In Greene, Trump conservatives have something precious: a "nasty woman" of their very own, who can behave execrably to other women without being tagged as sexist. Someone without the male baggage of Trump ("grab 'em by the p---y") or Mitch McConnell ("nevertheless, she persisted") or James Inhofe (warning an EPA nominee that if she didn't "behave" he would "talk to her daddy") or Matt Gaetz (under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking) or Brett Kavanaugh (obvious reasons).

Yoho's outburst at AOC ended with the congressman weakly explaining that he can't be sexist because he has a wife and mother. Greene is a wife and mother.

She's a woman! She's proud to be an American woman!

She's also willing to say what many conservative men are beginning to learn they definitely should not, which makes her the embodiment of weaponized conservative femininity: She hates liberal women and makes it OK for you to hate them, too. She preaches retrograde beliefs and uses her status as a woman to abracadabra these beliefs into something parroting feminism. She allows the Ted Yohos of the world to outsource their fury at the likes of Ocasio-Cortez - to nod at Greene deferentially, as if to say: I'm with her.

Greene isn't the only master of this dark art: This spring, Rep. Marie Newman, D-Ill., gave an impassioned speech on the House floor about her transgender daughter, asking her colleagues to support the Equality Act. Then GOP Cool Girl Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., stepped to the mic to declare, falsely, that the bill would force "young girls . . . to share locker rooms with confused men."

Republican men: I'm with her.

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney's freshly minted replacement in Republican leadership, is by no means a Greene - her voting record is actually more moderate than Cheney's - but has reliably thrown the flames the Republican Party wants thrown and now understands they are better thrown by women. "I am proudly the opposite of AOC," she said in 2019.

Republican men: definitely with her, much more so than they had been with Liz Cheney. Here's how Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., described the experience of watching Cheney repeatedly and publicly reject Trump's wackadoo stolen-election claims, according to New York Times Magazine: "You look up into the stands and see your girlfriend on the opposition's side - that's one hell of a tough thing to swallow."

You can see how this party might benefit by having a woman doing most of the talking.

But when you're asserting your proud American femininity by yelling at another proud American woman about how much you think she sucks, that should be a warning sign of what your own pride is worth. A woman kneeling outside of another woman's office, calling her a baby and demanding she come out and fight is not a strong woman - she's a desperate woman. She is not demonstrating that her party isn't sexist. She's only showing that everything that comes out of her mouth is junk mail.

- - -

Monica Hesse is a columnist writing about gender and its impact on society.
Church leaders support Norwich synagogue hit by hate-attack

Church ministers have joined other community leaders in expressing support for the Norwich Messianic Jewish Synagogue, which suffered an anti-semitic hate attack last week. Keith Morris reports.

The Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Alan Hopes, said: I would like to express the sadness of the Catholic community in Norwich that one of the synagogues in the city has been targeted with anti-semitic graffiti. Please be assured that we stand in solidarity with you against such attacks and of our prayers for all the Jewish community at this time.



Richard James, Rector of Holy Trinity, next-door neighbours of the synagogue, has signed a message of support from local faith leaders and councillors which says: We deplore the recent hate attack on the Messianic synagogue. Christians worship a Jewish Saviour, and are opposed to hatred towards any faith, whether arising from religious or political motives. Our prayers are with the congregation affected, and for peace and justice in the Middle East at this time.



Rabbi Binyamin Sheldrake, from the Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue on Essex Street in Norwich, discovered the graffiti on the door which referred to Free Palestine and included a swastika logo which is particularly offensive to Jews.



A shocked Rabbi Binyamin said: This is the sad face of anti-semitism in the UK right now. As we came to the synagogue this morning this was the welcome we received. My heart is sad that anyone should feel so motivated by hate to attack us in this way.



It is hate that causes all the problems in the world right now, including what is happening in the Middle East. Hate must stop. We pray for the people who did this and we refuse to respond with hate to them, he said. We would appreciate everyones prayers right now while we deal with this as a community.



Norwich City Council said on Twitter: "This is sad and shocking to see and we will not tolerate this kind of hatred in our city. We stand in complete solidarity with our Jewish community in Norwich and with people from all backgrounds and religions. We have removed the graffiti this morning."



Norfolk Police are appealing for anyone with information or who may have witnessed the incident, to come forward. Please contact PC James McAvoy at Earlham Police Station on 101 quoting crime reference 36/32537/21. Alternatively contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.



Read our previous story on this topic.



Pictured above, the graffiti on the Norwich synagogue door. Picture by Adat Yeshua Messianic Synagogue.

Keith Morris, 16/05/2021
Westerners need to adapt to Chinas influence

(Global Times) 14:49, May 16, 2021

Kerry Brown Photo: Courtesy of Kerry Brown

Editor's Note:

The West and China "need to have a forum for learning, that is a two-way process." Kerry Brown, director of the Lau Institute at King's College London, believes that there are many lessons from China that the world can draw on. Why does Brown hold such an observation? What are some ways Western countries can view their relations with a peacefully rising China? Why do dialogues between Western countries and China always seem difficult? Brown shared his opinions on these issues with Global Times (GT) reporter Sun Wei.

GT: How many years have you been studying China? How many researchers does the Lau China Institute at King's College, London currently have? Could you talk about your recent research topics or your upcoming book?

Brown: I first visited China in 1991, 30 years ago. I started studying Mandarin [Putonghua] in Melbourne, Australia in 1992, and then undertook a postgraduate degree in it in 1993. The Lau Institute has currently six full-time academic staff. These are people the institute directly funds. Most other similar institutes have affiliates. So we are pretty unique. We also have 30 doctoral students, and usually about 40 masters students each year. Currently, I am working on an annotated selection of the key works of major European thinkers on China since the time of Marco Polo to the 1970s - people like Voltaire, Montesquieu, Leibniz, Marx, Hegel, Weber, Russell, Kristeva and Barthes. This will be published later this year.

GT: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said he wants more business deals with China, and warned that a cold war with China would be a "mistake." PM's father Stanley urged him to "stand up" to Tory hawks, saying post-Brexit UK must work "even closer" with China. What's the public view in general? Do they oppose or worry about the so-called new cold war?

Brown: British public opinion to China historically has never been either that warm or that hostile. Until COVID-19 most people probably didn't think much about China and any role it might play in their lives. Of course, with the pandemic, and the arguments over virus spread, management, and so on, China has become of more interest to politicians, commentators, and a wide range of different people. It is good there is wider interest in China, but not so good that it is often people with the most extreme views and the loudest impression of being certain despite having little to go on in terms of real experience have found a platform. I sometimes feel nostalgic for the time when China was a less hot topic in the UK!

GT: China had had golden relationship with the UK, Germany, France and so on, but there has been a lot of turbulence in recent years. Why there are so many back and forth moves? What is the reason that the dialogue between Western countries and China always seems difficult?

Brown: This is why I decided to gather the ideas of key thinkers from European history like Leibniz and Voltaire, Hegel and Marx on China. In many ways they are symptomatic of the kinds of structural issues we still see today. Broadly, the Leibniz school is seeking a sort of objectivity - to try to set aside our own convictions and proclivities and see China "scientifically." For Voltaire, there was an attitude verging on worship of a China he knew only remotely and idealized. This was more about his own disillusionment with the politics of 18th-century Europe. For Montesquieu, China was negative - despotic and backward. In many ways, that same division still exists in Europe today. Social media with its deadly ability to decontextualize things and remove nuance hasn't helped. I really wonder how things would be if we had all the same issues between China and Europe as we do now, but no social media in Chinese or English (or other European languages). Surely things would have been better in some respects, at least in terms of the quality of our respective discourse towards each other.

GT: In a recent dialogue with the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, you said, the US and Europe "were going to China to teach to show how you do things. I think that we need to kind of have some recognition that there are many things where China can come to the rest of the world and teach and show how you can do." Why did you have such an observation, and what kinds of governance experience can the US and Europe use for reference?

Brown: Clearly there are things that China has achieved in terms of developing improved livelihood for a large number of its citizens, and building infrastructure, that it can [teach], and has been teaching to other countries. My point was that the European habit of always wanting to be the explainer and teacher (and I acknowledge, I am as prone to this as anyone else!) needs to change now. Yes, there are many areas where Europe is still strong in terms of knowledge production. But there are an increasing number of areas where China can teach Europe things - environmental science is one. We need to be open to this.

GT: European countries have recently been caught up with the third wave of the coronavirus. How would you compare China's anti-epidemic measures with those of Europe and the US?

Brown: The measures China introduced were effective, of course. But European governments assessed that the social and political costs of implementing measures like these in Europe were too high. That meant they had to use different means, with far messier outcomes. Europeans are not happy with the huge suite of powers that their governments have assumed to deal with the pandemic, and would want these removed as soon as the pandemic recedes. We have all learned that different assessments of how to deal with a pandemic and what public tolerance for these are have occurred across the world. There is no easy conclusion to draw though; some democracies have done very well in combating the pandemic too. This really has been a searing learning process. We all need to be a bit more humble at the moment - and that includes everyone.

GT: This year marks the beginning of China's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) that was launched at the country's most recent two sessions. In the next five years, what kind of challenges might China face? This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. How do you evaluate the changes in China in the past 100 years?

Brown: Of course, they have been simply immense. It is often forgotten, but in 1920 in terms of life expectancy, health, public living standards, China was a wholly different place than that which exists today. It has been on an immense journey. People in Europe are prone to feel that the world in 2021 is getting worse. But in fact, on almost every measure, things are improving in terms of reduction of poverty, disease, well-being, and this is largely due to the achievements in China, India and across Africa.

For the challenges facing China, the main one will be how to find its proper international space when of course its values and attitude towards the prevailing international system are different. This is due to its own history and culture, and the speed of its rise, which have been as disorientating for it as they have for the outside world, and pose many challenges about what sort of space China wants, what the world wants from China, and how best to try to create a balanced, viable and sustainable system that can accommodate these different pressures and approaches.

For China's domestic development, the main thing is to maintain sustainably the current speed of improvements in people's material lives in ways which continue to reach people's expectations without creating frustration and dissatisfaction if there are pauses, or challenges, to this attempt. China needs to deal with vast environmental issues, and it is good that it is working with the wider world in trying to answer some of these.

Kerry Brown Photo: Courtesy of Kerry Brown

GT: Have you ever been to the less-developed areas in China? If so, what impression did China's poverty reduction work leave on you?

Brown: One of the standard attack points some people make when one comments on China if based abroad is that of course, this is from the comfortable vantage point of only occasionally visiting, and usually staying in nice, air conditioned hotels in nice places! It is a truly facile point. Since the mid-1990s, I stayed in plenty of different places. I traveled extensively to very rural areas in Inner Mongolia, basically from 1994 onward. I traveled around Xinjiang for six weeks in 1995 - and indeed even as a diplomat often ended up in quite rural places. The thing is that the countryside as a place of lack of development and backwardness slowly receded over this time. One often ended up in places which said they were rural, but looked like small towns or cities. In the late 2000s I did a project on village democracy and went to a village near Beijing in Hebei Province. Even then, it was clear that the countryside was transforming. China is a very different place now. It is likelier that if I do stay in air conditioned hotels, they will be in the countryside - and I will have to turn the air conditioning off because of the noise it makes at night!

GT: China is a middle-income country with uneven development. However, there are heated discussions about China going on its way to overtake the US to become the world's biggest economy. What does this mean?

Brown: Its main meaning is psychological. It will mean that one day in the next decade, we will go to sleep in a world where America is economically No.1 in gross terms, and wake up the next day in one where China has supplanted it. Even if in many, many other areas, America will still be dominant, at least for this measurement, China will have status. That will have enormous symbolic meaning.

GT: You said you don't believe in the "Thucydides's trap." Why? After experiencing the US-China frictions during the Trump era and the series of positions expressed by the Biden administration toward China, what's your view about the future of US-China relations? Are you optimistic or not?

Brown: I am not a Marxist. I don't believe in historic inevitability. But I am a realist. And the fact is that China will play a growing role in the world, and no one will change that. It presents many challenges and many problems, I know. It is not at all what people were probably expecting, even two decades ago. But we have to deal with it. China cannot be pushed back behind some virtual great wall. It cannot be told to just stay in its subsidiary place. Even the Chinese government can't tell its people to do that. The worst thing we could do is to try to manage this moment of great change by sticking our heads in the sand and pretending it isn't happening.

GT: In the post-pandemic era, what changes do you think may happen to the international order? How should China deal with the new waves of "China threat" hype among Western politicians?

Brown: People talk about decoupling. I don't think decoupling economically, or geopolitically, works. But I do have a modest proposal. I think in terms of social media, and other platforms, there should be a kind of decoupling. In fights on social media, no one ever comes off looking good, and I am a bit surprised that there are so many official Chinese using Twitter in particular. I think the Chinese government and its spokespeople should just boycott Twitter. There is no way an issue as complex and nuanced as that around China-US relations can ever have justice done to them on a platform like this. Sometimes, it is best just to be silent. That's why I use the mute button so much. China and the US should sometimes do the same.

For the post-pandemic international order, there needs to be more knowledge sharing about how to deal with public health issues, and more investment in these. China has a role to play here. It would be a great pity if politics, on all sides, were to stop that very necessary cooperation.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
She said Israel was acting with the support of the U.S. after the U.S. effectively blocked the UN Security Council from debating a call for a ceasefire. The council later agreed to debate the issue on Sunday.
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By Express News Service

BENGALURU : In a tragic incident, an elderly woman was mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs at Dwaraka Nagar in RR Nagar on Friday night. The dogs were apparently chasing another passerby for over half-a-km, before they across the woman and pounced on her instead, police said.

The police have filed a case against BBMP for not taking adequate steps during the lockdown to keep the stray canine population in check.Meanwhile, the identity of the deceased is yet to be ascertained.

A police officer said the woman, aged about 70 years, was walking alone at around 11.30 pm, when she was attacked by the dogs. She was not carrying anything in her hands. Police also suspect that she had no one to look after her.

Police found CCTV footage showing the dogs chasing another person in the same locality around 10 pm, but residents managed to rescue him. The dogs, while running away, fell upon the elderly woman walking alone and mauled her to death.

She was found with severe injuries and had died on the spot. The residents initially suspected it as murder, and alerted police, who understood it be an attack by stray dogs.
Omjasvin MD By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: For the first time in India, Tamil Nadu has recruited final year MBBS students for COVID duty. Chennai Corporation has announced the recruitment of 300 students as trainee medical officers. "A total of 135 students have come forward till Friday, and will take charge soon," said Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi.

The roles of these students will primarily be tele-counseling and data entry, but they may also be tasked with hospital duty and training. They will be employed for a period of three months, for a monthly salary of Rs 40,000.

In an orientation programme held at Ripon Buildings on Friday, Bedi told the students that they will work in two shifts8 am to 3 pm and 3 pm to 10 pm. "I urge you all to be mentally prepared for the COVID-19 duty. You are all doctors now," he told them, pointing out that it was the first time a civic body had reached out to students for COVID-19 work.

About 150 students, along with their parents, attended the counselling sessions.

Deputy Commissioner (Health) Dr Alby John, during the training session, said that the students will have to make calls to the patients in home quarantine and enquire about their SPO2 levels, medicine status and co-morbidities, among other medical matters.

He said that the student-doctors will be posted in the tele-counseling centers at each of the 15 zones and it would be their task to ensure that patients get beds in time. "You have to ensure the patient gets a bed. If O2 levels are less than 90, you should arrange ambulances and refer them to COVID-19 hospitals," he told the students.

The students will also ensure that garbage collection and food distribution to positive patients happen regularly. "Sometimes, the field staff may not do their roles of collecting garbage and giving food. So, if a patient raises a complaint to you, pull the staff up and inform the authorities. Ensure the services reach the patient," the Corporation Commissioner told the students.

The students were also taught about the basic symptoms of COVID-19 and were sensitised to methods to approach patients of Covid-19. They were asked not to ignore even small symptoms like mild fever. "As a doctor, a mild fever might be a small symptom for you but for a patient it is a huge one. So, do not ignore any symptoms they say and talk to them sensitively," Dr. Alby John told the attending students.

The students were also instructed to prescribe ORS Sachet mixed with one litre of water, for patients who face dehydration. They were also advised to inform the patients about the Chennai Corporation's GCC VIDMED app 24 x 7 for consultations and the emergency contact numbers of 044-25384520 and 044-46122300.
Shiba Prasad Sahu By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Outside the edifice of the Chennai Central sits Rajesh, a worker from Bihar. For the past six days, he has been desperately trying to get a ticket to Darbhanga, but in vain. He, however, keeps trying, shelling out his hard-earned money to get some space in a home-bound train.

Rajesh, however, is not alone in this ordeal. Hundreds of migrant labourers are crowding the Chennai Central as they wait for tickets in the two trains leaving Chennai COVID-19 special train departing at 3.40 pm and Dhanbad Express departing at 11.05 pm.

WATCH:

Most often, however, their tickets do not get confirmed. "I did not get my ticket for the Howrah-bound train confirmed on Saturday as well. I am planning to book another ticket by paying Rs 1,000," said Rajesh, who came to Chennai four months ago.

Rajesh and other labourers from Bihar staying outside the railway station are often chased away by railway police personnel, who, on their part, have to enforce protocols.

Most of these labourers take the help of agents to book tickets as they do not know how to do it themselves, and agents do collect a fee. So, when a ticket does not get confirmed and the labourers are forced to cancel it, they lose a considerable sum of money.
Nirupama Viswanathan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: With the city battling a second and more intense Covid crisis, the psychosocial needs for coronavirus patients and their family members are often overlooked. Dr Beena Thomas, consultant social scientist with the ICMR's National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), says that timely psychosocial counselling for patients and families waiting outside hospitals or for family members

separated from COVID-19 patients should be integrated into the Covid management process.

The city corporation's round-the-clock control rooms reach out to those Covid patients under home quarantine, however, others like family members of those affected are mostly left out.



Excerpts of an interview with her:



Q: What could be the first step for Corporation and health authorities in offering psychosocial counselling?



A: Sometimes, the waiting period (to get a bed) is around 12 hours. We have to look into what kind of psychosocial support they are being offered in that time period- are they being told how long they might have to wait before they get a bed or alternatives if they don't. The city corporation is already roping in final year MBBS students for tele-counselling centres. Similarly, qualified and trained counsellors and students should also ideally be connected to the patients or their family right from the time they are awaiting results.

ALSO READ: Cops rush to Chennai hospital's rescue, deliver 20 oxygen cylinders in three hours



Q: What kind of issues do you come across patients dealing with, recently?



A: The panic sets in right from when they await their Covid 19 test results. Some people, when they are whisked away in the ambulance, don't know where they will be taken to. Their relatives and family members are also in a state of uncertainty especially because they've seen the scenes outside hospitals being flashed by the media.



Q: Where would this lead us to if no interventions are done during this point in time?



A: Even after the entire process is over, such experiences may scar people for life. They say time will heal; it will not. It cannot heal a wound that is not there to see. Timely intervention is essential to

help them avoid the trauma.



ICMR's 'Guidance Document for Psychosocial Counselling for COVID-19 Positive Patients and their Family Members' states, "Though Overcoming distress adaptively supports and accentuates the recovery of the patients with COVID-19,sometimes,distress becomes so overwhelming for few that it has a deleterious impact on the patients' mental health, impeding recovery in many cases."
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Police personnel and people gathered to buy Remdesivir engaged in arguments outside Chennais Nehru stadium late on Sunday night as over 300 assembled in anticipation of counters opening at the stadium in the morning.

They were unaware of the government's latest order, earlier in the day, to supply the drug directly to private hospitals.

The public, who gathered outside the stadium, were asked to disperse by the police through public address system as officers explained the new arrangement to them.

"Some 300 people gathered to stand in the queue unaware of the new system. They were informed over the public address system," said V Balakrishnan, Joint commissioner of Police, East.

People gathered at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai to get #Remdesevir as the police explained to the crowd that the government has decided to supply directly to private hospitals.

Express Video | @shibasahu2012 @gsvasu_TNIE @xpresstn pic.twitter.com/hCYeLsLBf4  The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) May 16, 2021

The State government on Sunday announced that the antiviral drug will directly be given to hospitals from Tuesday onwards. This comes after warnings from health experts on overcrowding at the places designated for purchasing Remdesivir drug in Chennai and other places.

A new portal would be launched soon through which the private hospitals will be allowed to purchase Remdesivir directly from the sales centres, said the government in a statement.

At around 10 pm, people started to gather around Nehru stadium with vehicles parked on the Vepery road. The crowd stood without social distancing and extended for about 600 meters, occupying the road. Based on the information by the Periamet police inspector on the ground, the police high command had ordered the cops to disperse the crowd.

"We diverted several armed reserve personnel from different places in case there is a stampede. The officers were instructed to explain to the crowd about the newly announced system and to make them understand that the distribution has been stopped in the Nehru stadium," said a senior police officer.

The crowd had gathered to collect the vials, used in treating moderately ill COVID-19 patients, for their sick kith and kin. Police said that people had come to stay the night so as to get vials as soon as the counter opens on Monday.

Many having already received tokens to buy the drug at the counter, demanded that the government provide them with the vials as they had been waiting since yesterday.

No #Remdesivir will be there for sale at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai from Monday as the Tamil Nadu government has decided to supply directly to the private hospitals.

Express Video | @shibasahu2012

@gsvasu_TNIE @xpresstn #Covid19 pic.twitter.com/8h7aJMTrx3  The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) May 16, 2021

Senior police officers reached the spot to diffuse the situation but were faced with anxious questions as to how people, who were supposed to get the vials on Monday, could leave. Some people were waiting to buy the medicine for multiple family members who were sick.

"It seems they did not know about the government announcement. So with the public address system, the senior police officers explained to the public and asked them to disperse," said another police officer.

The officer added that it was hard to console a few people since they had travelled from far off places to buy the drug. The officers also attended to queries of the people. "I told them even frontline workers and police are not privileged to get vials as we wish. Even our family members are waiting in the queue everyday after we go for duty," added an inspector of police.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Three men were arrested by Adyar police for selling Remdesivir medicines smuggled from Bangladesh. While the authenticity of the vials are to be tested, the trio were remanded in judicial custody.

The accused were identified as Aadityan (24), from KK Nagar, Raj Kumar (27) from Parrys and Syed Amjith (38) from Thousand Lights. Police said that Aadityan and Raj Kumar own pharmacies while Syed Amjith works in a pharmacy.

The special team of police was monitoring sales of Remdesivir medicines on black market and came across an advertisement online which was shared through Whatsapp status and messages. Based on the message, police posing as customers nabbed the trio near Indira Nagar water tank, said the police officer.

The trio were selling a vial of the medicine for Rs 25,000 and two vials were seized from them. The police also seized Rs 89,000 cash which they had got from selling vials. On interrogation, the trio confessed that the vials had reached them from Bangladesh through an agent. The cover of the vial has a different name and the price tag says 3,500 Bangladeshi Taka, said Sub-Inspector of Police Selva Kumar who led the special team.

While the trio have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody, the vials have been sent to the lab to test if they are fake. A hunt for the agent has been launched. It can be remembered that a major racket was busted by the city police few days ago after arresting six people across the State and seizing over 200 vials.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Delhi has only one day of Covaxin stock left for those aged above 45, healthcare and frontline workers, while Covishield doses for this category can last up to five days, AAP MLA Atishi said on Sunday.

She said 1.18 lakh beneficiaries received the jabs on May 15.

Around 10.50 lakh people have got both the doses since the inoculation drive began on January 16.

Delhi has so far received 44.94 lakh vaccine doses for this age group, of which 41.68 lakh have been administered, Atishi said.

"After Sunday evening, the city will have only one day of Covaxin stock and five days of Covishield doses left. We appeal to the central government to make more vaccines available for this category immediately," she said.

The capital has received 8.17 lakh doses for the 18-44 age group so far, of which 5.25 lakh have been used till Sunday morning.

"Since there are no Covaxin doses left for this category, all such vaccination centres have been shut. We have six days of Covishield stock left," she said.

"We appeal to the Centre to provide more doses of Covaxin and Covishield. If Covaxin cannot be arranged, more doses of Covishield should be given to keep the inoculation drive going at this pace," she said. A total of 44.90 lakh doses have been administered in Delhi so far, according to the latest "vaccination bulletin" released by the government.

The Delhi government had received over 1.73 lakh doses of Covishield on Saturday.

A government panel has recommended increasing the gap between two doses of Covishield COVID-19 vaccine to 12-16 weeks.

Those whose vaccination is due this month will not be administered the vaccine and will only be given the dose according to the new guidelines, a government official said.

Healthcare workers, frontline staff and those aged above 45 are being vaccinated at 470 centres, whereas beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group are being inoculated at 353 centres.

The national capital recorded 6,456 fresh COVID-19 cases and 262 fatalities on Sunday while the positivity rate dropped to 10.40 per cent, the lowest in over a month, according to a Delhi government health bulletin.

With this, the total number of cases in the city has risen to 13,93,867 and the death toll to 21,506, it said.

This is the third consecutive day when Delhi has recorded less than 10,000 cases.

However, the smaller number of new cases was due to relatively fewer tests, 62,059, conducted on Saturday.

Delhi had reported 6,430 cases on Saturday, the lowest since April 7, with medical experts attributing the lockdown as the main factor behind the dip.

Delhi had reported 8,506 cases on Friday, 10,489 on Thursday, 13,287 on Wednesday, 12,481 on Tuesday, 12,651 on Monday and 13,336 on last Sunday.

At 10.40 per cent, Sunday's positivity rate is the lowest since April 11 when it stood at 9.4 per cent, according to government data.

The positivity rate was 11.32 per cent on Saturday, 12.4 per cent on Friday, 14.24 per cent on Thursday, 17 per cent on Wednesday, 17.8 per cent on Tuesday, 19.10 per cent on Monday and 21.67 per cent on last Sunday.

The national capital had recorded its highest positivity rate of 36.2 per cent on April 22.

Delhi had recorded 337 deaths on Saturday, 289 on Friday, 308 on Thursday, 300 on Wednesday, 347 on Tuesday, 319 on Monday, 273 on last Sunday.

The highest number of 448 deaths was reported on May 3.

As many as 62,059 tests, including 45,094 RTPCR/CBNAAT/True Nat tests, were conducted on Saturday, the bulletin stated.

A total of 9,706 people recovered from COVID-19 in a day.

There are 62,783 active cases in Delhi and 39,211 of them are in home isolation, it said.

Over 13.09 lakh people have either recovered, migrated out or have been discharged, it added.

Of the 24,144 hospital beds for coronavirus patients in the city, 7,895 are vacant, the bulletin said.

The COVID-19 situation has been improving in Delhi with the number of cases and positivity rate going down steadily over the past few days.

However, earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended the ongoing lockdown in the city till May 24, saying the gains made so far in combating the coronavirus cannot be lost due to relaxations now.
We have to recognize what it means for the nation to have a former president who has not conceded and who continues to suggest that our electoral system cannot function, she continued. I wont be part of that. And I think its very important for Republicans who wont be part of that to stand up and speak out.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Ram Avtar Tyagi stood in a queue for an hour at a vaccination centre in north Delhi, only to be turned away and asked to return almost two months later.

"I was told that second dose cannot be given now as new guidelines have come into effect," the 55-year-old, who visited the Burari centre on Saturday, said.

While some like Tyagi were turned away from the vaccination centre, others were left confused after the Centre's directive came into effect to extend the gap between the two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks.

The Centre had on Thursday approved the extension following a recommendation from a government panel, saying it was a "science-based decision".

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, however, suggested no change for the dosage interval for Covaxin, the Health Ministry said.

Tyagi did not receive any message informing him about the new date.

"Authorities should send message to those who are scheduled to get their second jab this month so that people don't have to face unnecessary problem," he added.

The Health Ministry has conveyed it to the chief secretaries of all states and Union territories to instruct officials "to undertake necessary steps to widely disseminate the message of revised dosing interval amongst programme managers, vaccinators and recipients of COVISHIELD vaccine and ensure adherence of revised dosing interval".

Gurgaon-based media professional Nikitha Phyllis, who is a patient of an autoimmune condition, expressed shock when she found out about the revised date.

"My doctor had put off my medication till I have taken both the Covishield vaccines. But with the increased gap, I simply cannot do without my medication for so long," Phyllis told PTI.

Earlier, the date for her second jab was on June 23, now she has to wait till August.

Delhi-based lawyer Mishika Singh was also in for a surprise when she logged in to the CoWIN portal to find slots for vaccination.

"My Covishield vaccination booking date has been revised (automatically) on the site itself. From 5th June to 27th July," Singh said.

Some also took to Twitter to vent their anger over the revised timeline.

Kumud Ranjan Choubey wondered if there were new guidelines, then why had the CoWIN portal allowed people to book slots.

The ministry had said "requisite changes are being carried out in the Co-WIN platform and would be separately communicated to the States/UTs".

The platform started showing rescheduled dates from Saturday night.

Another Twitter user, Sahil Arora, said: "I got 1 dose of covishield on 8 May. My masters start in US in July-21 (sic). Now that the gap is 12-16 weeks, I will not be able to get a second dose."

Tagging the official handle of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Arora asked: "Can you please suggest the workaround for students in the same situation as me?" A government official said those people whose vaccination was due this month would not be administered the vaccine and only be be given the dose according to the new guidelines.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police arrested businessman Navneet Kalra Sunday night for alleged black marketing and hoarding of oxygen concentrators amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

The businessman had been on the run for over a week since the seizure of more than 500 oxygen concentrators from three restaurants owned by him in the national capital.

The concentrators are a crucial medical equipment used for COVID-19 patients and are on high demand amid the second wave of the pandemic.

On Friday, the Delhi High Court had declined to grant Kalra interim protection from arrest in the case.

Kalra had moved the high court for anticipatory bail on May 13 late evening after a sessions court denied him the relief.

During a recent raid, 524 oxygen concentrators were recovered from three restaurants owned by Kalra -- Khan Chacha, Nega Ju and Town Hall.

The case was subsequently transferred to the Delhi Police Crime Branch.

The police claimed that the concentrators were imported from China and were being sold at an exorbitant price of Rs 50,000 to 70,000 a piece as against its cost of Rs 16,000 to Rs 22,000.
By Express News Service

To be worried if you have COVID symptoms and have tested positive is entirely understandable. But please do not panic. And, for your own sake, do not self-diagnose and/or self-medicate. Consult your physician on the way forward.

If the symptoms are mild, there is no need to rush to hospitals seeking admission and it is pointless worrying about arranging oxygen and drugs like Remdesivir.

For, most people infected with novel coronavirus get cured on their own with minimal medical intervention. Only a small percentage of patients need medical oxygen support and round-the-clock attention in a hospital. Ditto with Remdesivir. Its not for everyone.

The New Indian Express spoke to doctors across India and they say they have come across panicky patients and their attendants insisting on ICU or oxygen beds, irrespective of the condition of the patient.

Their angst may have been triggered by scary reports of deaths due to oxygen shortage and scarcity of certain life-saving drugs. But this further burdens the country's already creaky health infrastructure.

Lets bear in mind that 85 per cent of COVID patients do not require hospitalisation. However, the scare around the ongoing second wave of the disease is such that many people start scouting for hospital beds as soon as they test positive.

Doctors in Karnataka say there have been instances of families of COVID-19 patients with mild to moderate symptoms pulling strings to get ICU beds. What they actually end up doing is to block admission of serious patients who really need critical care to survive.

"It has become another job for the already overburdened doctors to educate attendants about the patient's condition," said Dr C Arunkumar, medical superintendent, KIMS hospital, Hubballi, Karnataka.

'Getting admitted to ICU comes with added risks'

According to Dr Tinku Joseph, chief of interventional pulmonology at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, home isolation and care would suffice in case of COVID with mild fever. "What people do not realise is that going to ICU and ventilator comes with its own set of risks in the form of infections like ventilator-associated pneumonia, which can affect chances of survival after intubation," added Dr Prashanth, Asst Professor at Mysore Medical College and Research Institute.

So, when actually should a COVID-19 patient seek hospitalisation and when one be provided with an oxygen or ICU bed? "A patient should be hospitalised only if SpO2 is below 93 per cent (88-92 per cent in patients with chronic lung disease) and respiratory rate is more than 24 per minute" said Dr Binod Kumar Patro, dean (research) at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.

"ICU admission would be needed if the respiratory rate is over 30 per minute and SpO2 is less than 90%. If the condition deteriorates, the patient can be put on a ventilator," he added. Oxygen saturation, known as the SpO2 level, refers to the level of oxygenated haemoglobin in the blood, which is transported from the lungs to various organs and helps sustain vital functioning.

Dr Justin A Gopaldas, consultant, critical care medicine, Manipal Hospitals in Karnataka, said a patient who needs hospitalisation and is likely to need oxygen in the future, will be admitted to the general ward.

"Their need for oxygen is determined by a number of factors. If they have cough, cold or fever, but have oxygen levels of 99 per cent in the beginning, which later decreases to 94-96%, it indicates a downward trajectory," he explained.

According to Dr KP Aravindan, member, Kerala expert panel on COVID-19, IC U beds should be reserved for the neediest who require constant monitoring. "Most of the severe patients can be treated with the help of an oxygen bed. However, there is a rush to get admitted to an ICU bed. It is the doctors who should take the decision, based on the necessity of the patient and it should not be left to the discretion of patients," he said.

Hospitals typically decide on admission by giving preference to patients with co-morbid conditions and low oxygen saturation levels.

In Bhubaneswar, for example, the city's rapid response teams, led by doctors, first check the condition of patients and then allot beds as per need. "We decide on critical care if the condition of any patient deteriorates during treatment," said Dr Rajesh Lenka, nodal officer, AIIMS-Bhubaneswar.

Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences at Tirupati has a triage centre for screening patients. "Based on their condition, patients are given non-oxygen beds or oxygen beds with ICU. Those whose condition is below the prescribed saturation levels will be allocated an Oxygen bed. Those with mild symptoms are sent for home isolation. If patients with mild symptoms are hospitalised, they are allocated normal beds," said Dr B Vengamma, director, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati.

The State COVID Hospital in Vijayawada, too, admits patients after their condition is examined at the triage centre. "Doctors collect blood samples and conduct various tests to check whether the patient has co-morbidities. If the patient is suffering from comorbidities and oxygen saturation levels are below 95 per cent, he or she will be given an ICU bed with oxygen support," said Dr N Gopichand, Nodal Officer, State COVID Hospital, Vijayawada.

"If the SPo2 levels are above 95 per cent, they will be given bed in the ICU without oxygen support based on their condition. Those with mild symptoms are advised to stay under home isolation for 14 days with medication," he added.

A doctor at the Government Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital in Tamil Nadu said if the saturation level of a patient on oxygen support stays above 92 per cent, there is nothing to worry. However, concerned bystanders -- misinformed by fake WhatsApp forwards and misleading news reports -- increase the oxygen flow till the saturation reaches 98-99 per cent because they think anything below that is unsafe.

"Doctors keep reducing the flow of the oxygen as the patients saturation improves to bring the person out of oxygen support. However, the attendants may think we reduced the flow because there is a shortage of oxygen. Therefore, after we leave, they immediately adjust the knob and increase the flow," the doctor added.

However, if COVID patients with normal oxygen saturation have serious medical problems like acute coronary artery disease, stroke or kidney disease requiring dialysis, then they need to be admitted in designated COVID hospitals, noted Dr Anjan Trikha of AIIMS Delhi.

"Likewise, patients with safe oxygen saturation but having persistent cough and fever for more than five days may need close medical observation," said Dr Kiran Madhala, HOD (Critical Care), Nizamabad Medical College.

"If cough persists beyond five days and does not resolve, it is recommended to get in touch with a doctor and under their guidance one can start on either tablet or inhalable steroids to reduce inflammation in lungs," he said.

If the saturation goes below 85 per cent, the patient will need ventilator support, he added. However, most people dont understand the medical requirements of COVIDid patients for speedy recovery and try to push their own will on doctors and hospital staff.

Some are obsessed with Remdesivir, say Dr P Vasanthamani, dean, Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai. "If we don't give Remdesivir, the attendants insist it be given irrespective of the patients condition. They also manipulate the oxygen flow without understanding the medical needs of the patient," she said, adding that such interferences could delay the patients recovery.

(With inputs from Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, New Delhi and Vijayawada)
By PTI

LONDON: Responding to what he termed as "speculation" about his life, Hollywood star Henry Cavill has asked social media users to stop "harming people he cares about most", including his girlfriend and television executive Natalie Viscuso.

The 38-year-old actor shared a selfie of him with Viscuso, 31, on his Instagram page on Saturday alongside a lengthy caption directed at fans and followers, emphasising that their negative assumptions about his personal and professional partnerships "aren't true".

"Dear fans and followers, I wanted to make a wee community announcement," he began.

"I couldn't help but notice that there has been some social animosity of late. It's becoming increasingly prevalent on my feed. There has been lots of, let's call it speculation for now, about my private life and professional partnerships," Cavill said.

The fact that he needed to say something, the "Justice League" star continued, was a "bad thing".

"We are living in an age of social enlightenment. More and more, people are realizing that their views may have been blinkered and that they need to expand them to encompass others."

However, he did not go into specifics about the speculation he was addressing.

"So, to you out there who are expressing your disdain and showing your displeasure through a surprising variety of ways, it's time to stop. I know it can be fun to speculate, to gossip, and to dive into our own personal echo chambers on the internet, but your 'passion' is misplaced, and it causes harm to the people I care about most," he said.

Cavill urged people to embrace the age of social enlightenment together and move forward with positivity "I am very happy in love, and in life. I'd be enormously grateful if you were happy with me. If you can't bring yourself to be happy with me, then at the very least try to do yourself proud and be the best version of yourself," the actor ended the post, which had disabled comments.

The actor went public with his relationship with Viscuso last month, days after they were spotted on a romantic walk together here.
By ANI

WASHINGTON: Hollywood veteran star Robert De Niro, who recently injured his leg on the set of Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon' in Oklahoma, gave fans an update regarding his injury, saying that the "pain was excruciating."

But according to People magazine, the two-time Academy Award winner believes the show must go on, even amid the "excruciating" pain.

Giving an update on his recovery, De Niro said "I tore my quad somehow. It's just a simple stepping over something and I just went down. The pain was excruciating and now I have to get it fixed. But it happens, especially when you get older, you have to be prepared for unexpected things. But it's manageable."

The actor also noted that he didn't think the injury would affect his performance as cattleman William Hale. "What I'm doing with Scorsese in 'Killers of the Flower Moon', I'm pretty much a sedentary character in a way. I don't move around a lot, thank God. So, we'll manage. I just have to get the procedure done and keep it straight in a certain position and let it heal," De Niro added.

On Thursday, De Niro flew home to New York City, where he sought medical attention. A representative for the actor previously told People magazine that production was not delayed as he was already scheduled to depart that day, taking two weeks off from filming.

Based on the David Grann book of the same name, 'Killers of the Flower Moon' is set in 1920s Oklahoma, depicting the serial murders of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, which came to be known as the Reign of Terror.

As per People Magazine, De Niro stars alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays his nephew Ernest Burkhart. The Apple film is scheduled to premiere later this year.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on Sunday said that the first tranche of 50 oxygen concentrators he had ordered from Poland for the COVID-19 centre at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj will be landing in New Delhi tomorrow.

The 78-year-old actor, who has been regularly sharing the updates on his continued philanthropic efforts as the country fights its deadlier, second wave of the novel coronavirus, has ordered a batch of additional 50 oxygen concentrators of five litre capacity for medical facilities in Mumbai.

"The first consignment of the 50 Oxygen Concentrators ordered and bought by me from Poland should be on a plane as I write, and shall be landing in Delhi by 6 am tomorrow morning..." Bachchan wrote on his blog.

The screen icon has a personal connection with Poland: last year the City Council of Wroclaw named a square after his late father and celebrated poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

The actor, who also shared that he had received the second and final dose of the coronavirus vaccine, said the consignment will be cleared by the Gurudwara Committee.

"These shall be cleared by the Gurudwara Committee where I have donated where I have donated in the building of the 400 bed facility and which was inaugurated the other day ..300 functional immediately and the balance 100 in due time ..and the O2 concentrators shall also be donated to this facility for their discretionary use," he added.

Last week, the veteran actor donated Rs 2 crore to Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur COVID Care Centre at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib to combat the ongoing health crisis in the national capital.

"These are the 10 litre concentrators, but research from my office informs me that the 5 litre ones are also acceptable and in greater demand ..so I have bought another 50 oxygen concentrators today of the 5 litre capacity, and hopefully they should be despatched to us in a few days ..these shall be distributed to the needy facilities in Mumbai," Bachchan shared in the new post.

The 25-bedded care centre that he had donated for to be put up in a school in the suburban Juhu was ready, he said.

"The facilities are all in place ..and just today the relevant OC's have been obtained from the BMC and the Fire Brigade ..just one more permission is due to come tomorrow and with that the facility shall be ready to operate by Tuesday or Wednesday ...this is for the really needy and those that cannot afford the expenses required for their treatment." The actor shared that he was able to deliver the first lot of 10 ventilators to the desired locations -- six to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), three hospitals and one clinic in the city.

"There is always a sense of satisfaction on seeing your efforts at giving to the needy and to those in distress," Bachchan said.

"I give wherever I can ..my means are extremely limited ...it may not seem so, but they are ..somehow by the grace of the Almighty they come to me ..I have not made any effort to collect them through campaigns or donations to a cause that I may have instituted."

He said he was not seeking praise for his philanthropical efforts, but has been forthcoming about giving description of the work done during this time "to assure all of the delivery and the visuals of where the funds have been used and to what avail ..that they are not just blank promises".

Bachchan also wrote about Cyclone Tauktae, which is likely to pass close to the city.

"Cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian Sea intensifies along the Western Coasts of India ..from the South moving up ..the effects of its arrival have begun here in Mumbai with rain as I write .."
CP Venugopal Reddy By

Express News Service

ANANTAPUR: When he joined the Kammaguttapalle government school in Nambulapulakunta mandal of Anantapur district, student strength in the school was just 12. Taking it as a challenge, V Jayapratap in just four months, ensured that their strength reaches 62. Whats more, he began teaching the English language, which has become the USP of this school.

Having students from my school leave and join private schools would be an insult to me. I was not discouraged when the student strength was falling, but strived to reverse the situation. I have even admitted my own son to the government school, he said.

Jayapratap said he started teaching at the school in December 2017. When he analysed the reasons why more kids were leaving, he understood that it was their parents desire to have them learn English for a better future. I thought if the same language is taught in the government school, they will not go. So I started teaching them English as well, he said.

I began conversing with them in English, which created self-confidence among the students.

Slowly, Jayapratap started making them speak in sentences, and then gave them small speeches to prepare. Later, he started teaching them English writing skills. In due course, the parents took note of the changes in their wards, which piqued interest of others gradually.

Jayapratap decided to use a farewell ceremony for passouts to showcase the success of his efforts. At the programme, one student from each class was made to give a speech in English in presence of regional joint director (Education) Pratap Reddy. The event became the talk of the town, and changed the mindset of the locals. Gradually, the student strength of Kammaguttapalle government school started increasing. The official took videos of the speeches, and sent them to the school education commissioner, who showered praises on the school.

As the student strength increased, Jayapratap introduced study hours. All the students were made to attend the school at 6.00 am.

In due course, students from classes 1 to 5 started conversing in English. Though there may be some mistakes, but only after doing so without fear will they feel comfortable speaking in English. Mistakes can be rectified then, he said.

In our school there are a lot of trees and the ambience is quite pleasant. In the last three years, there has been no half-day. Six months into the academic year, students from Yerragudi, Muddapugaripalle, Pennabadivandlapalle, Katlakuntavaripalle, BC Colony, Dudukuntpalle and even Rasapalle in Kadapa district have also joined the school, Jayapratap said.

Shankar Reddy of Rasapalli, which is six km from Kammaguttapalle, admitted his children to the government school. Earlier, they used to study at a noted school in Vijayawada. Jayapratap said his father V Subbarayudu, a retired headmaster, is his inspiration and role model. I walk the path laid down by him and am satisfied with being a teacher in a village school. I too come from a village background and want children of rural areas to excel, he said.

Locals take notice of teacher's novel ways

Jayapratap decided to use a farewell ceremony for passouts to showcase the success of his efforts. At the programme, one student from each class was made to give a speech in English in presence of regional joint director (Education) Pratap Reddy. The event became the talk of the town, and changed the mindset of the locals. Gradually, the student strength of Kammaguttapalle govt school started increasing. The teacher has also introduced study hours for the students.
Ramkrishna Badseshi By

Express News Service

KALABURAGI: In a world where the poor cannot afford to fall sick - a situation made worse by the pandemic - a doctor in the North Karnataka city of Kalaburagi charges his patients only Rs 20, earning much respect.

Until recently, he charged only Rs 10, and locally, hes still known as the 'Hatthu rupayee doctor' - literally, the doctors who charges Rs 10.

Seventy-five-year-old Dr Malhar Rao Malle runs a modest clinic in the Jagat locality of Kalaburagi. He completed his MBBS in 1974 and worked for several years under Dr Vithal Rao Palnitkar to gain experience.

Around this time, he decided to change professions, and pursued a degree in law, so that he could emulate his father. Completed his law degree in 1984, he was about start practising as a criminal lawyer, when his fathers advice brought about a change of heart.

"My father, Kishan Rao Malle showed me a verse in the Bhagwad Gita which talked about a doctor's work being a yeoman's service to humankind. He told me a doctor should not become an advocate only to earn money. His advice made me a human being and I decided to serve the needy by charging affordable fees," Dr Malle says.

For a decade up to 1995, Dr Malle didnt charge patients any consultation fee. "I only collected Rs 3 for penicillin injections. I earned around Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 a month from that," says the doctor. Back then, syringes made of glass were sterilised before and after each use, and he only had to pay to procure the medicine, an antibiotic used to treat a wide range of infections.

In 1995, during Indias rapid liberalisation, Dr Malle began to charge patients Rs 10, when other doctors charged around Rs 60. The cost of living has shot up in the 25 years since, but the good doctors fees have not kept pace.

Today, one kg of jola (jowar) - a staple food in the region - costs Rs 45, and wages under the employment guarantee law are Rs 350 a day. Other doctors have moved on to Rs 100 as consultation charge, but Dr Malle continued with his magic number 10, until October last. Even then, he only went so far as to double the meagre amount.

Four years ago, when his daughter Shubha completed her MBBS degree, she told him to raise his consultation fee. "I told her I had educated her with Rs 10 as fee. I earned more than Rs 1,000 a day, and that was enough," he says.

Honorary service with medical organisations St John Ambulance and Red Cross Society also brought in some money. Even today, Dr Malle is a secretary to St John Ambulance, although he gave up that position at Red Cross.

Through these two organisations, Dr Malle organised 142 blood donation camps and ran 62 health camps in slums and rural areas over the past two decades. He has himself donated blood 54 times. Until a few months ago, he worked a full day. But now, he only treats patients between 10am and 1.30pm. Age has caught up with him, but he still supervises vaccination at an Urban Primary Health Centre.

HONOURS

Dr Malle has received a clutch of awards for his service to society:
Sistla Dakshina Murthy By

Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Vijayawadas Margam Foundation has come to the rescue of Covid patients in home isolation, and provides them nutritious food at their doorstep for no charge. All that one needs to do is contact the foundation on their helpline handled by a team of volunteers a day in advance.

A Lakshmi Annapurna, its founder, said she had first-hand experience of the problems that a person in home isolation faces when she was infected in October.

I was under home isolation for almost two weeks, and could not even cook for myself in the period. After I recovered, I started working on the problem, and decided to serve food to others in isolation. However, I was able to capitalise on my goal in the Covid second wave.

Through her foundation, Annapurna has been providing 250 meals a day to patients and their family members in Moghalrajpuram, Satyanarayanapuram, One Town, Vidhyadharapuram, Brundhavan Colony, Krishna Lanka, Benz Circle, BRTS Road and Gunadala.

I started the initiative with my investment of Rs 2 lakh, and the remaining funds were donated by philanthropists. Volunteers gather details of the infectees under home isolation and their families. RT-PCR results, Aadhar card and their residential address details should be provided one day in advance and the order must be placed before 11 pm, Annapurna said.

A centralised kitchen was set up in One Town to prepare the meals by maintaining the hygiene protocols. The menu for lunch consists of rice, dal, dry fruits, ladoo, a vegetable curry, chutney, sambar/rasam and curd. Two volunteers are assigned to each locality to ensure that food is delivered to the patients on time. Each meal costs the foundation Rs 75, and Annapurna spends Rs 20,000 per day.

We want to add a few more items to the menu to make the food taste better. But due to funds crunch, we are facing difficulty to reach out to more patients. A few who order meals from us make contributions for our services.

She said a section of police personnel aware of the foundations activities is not stopping the delivery personnel.

We request the police personnel to provide us vehicle passes and permissions so that more number of patients even in remote localities can be reached out to, Margam founder said. Plans are also afoot to launch counseling for patients who order meals from us, and keep them motivated.
Ravi Shankar By

Long Bets is a philanthropic website built with funds from Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. Anyone can post a prediction and a challenge the winner donates the money to charity. Lord Rees, the prominent British astronomer, placed a bet in 2017 that bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event within a six-month period starting no later than December 31, 2020. His friend and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker took up the wager and lost. All bets are off as the pandemic cuts widening fatal swathe in India because of no trials and many errors.

In a podcast, Niall Ferguson, the author of The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, scoffed at projections by investment banks and governments of a V-shaped recovery sometime in 2021: If you believe that, Ill sell you a bridge... because theres no way this is going to be a V-shaped recovery. The pandemic in India shows a bridge that will not be crossed anytime soon, thanks to government confusion, ignorance, lack of expertise, unscrupulous data fudging, slow vaccination drives and misplaced Vaccine Maitri.

Experts warn of an imminent third Covid-19 wave even before the nation has a chance to recover. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has declared that the national capital is in the grip of a fourth wave. Experts in the US are debating the existence of a fourth wave. The Washington Post saw a rise in cases that equalled the crest of 2020. Every day, India is breaking the previous days records. We kept warning that the pandemic was not over but no one was listening, Rakesh Mishra, senior principal scientist and director of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology told National Geographic last month.

What is a wave during a pandemic?

It is the curve of any outbreak that reflects the rise and fall of the number of cases over a defined period. For example, the common cold crests in winter and drops in warm weather. A wave ends only when the virus has been contained and cases have fallen exponentially. A sustained rise in infections indicates a second wave, which is what has happened in India and is spreading to other countries. Research in the US and elsewhere shows that the common cold virus is usually active between December and March. Annual epidemics like influenza are accelerated by social factors like schools opening.

Two Oxford University scholars who studied respiratory disease epidemics in the past 150 years found that the peaks of the waves differ. For example, the 1889-92 influenza epidemic had three waves with different degrees of virulence. Like with the second Covid wave in India, the second stage of the 19th century outbreak was worse for young adults. This was the case during the influenza pandemic in 1918 and 2009, the former being compared to the current contagion. Epidemics have the maximum impact on a countrys future; reports suggest that the third wave puts children at the risk of a higher rate of infection.

A patient waits for his admission outside Delhi's Lok Nayak Hospital

Right now, we know that post the current wave the most vulnerable group would be the children. The adults are all being vaccinated on priority. We do not have the authorisation to vaccinate those under 18 years. This could pose a problem later, says Upasana Kamineni, founder of URLife, a wellness platform, and Vice Chairman CSR, Apollo Hospital.

Experts like Ferguson are predicting many more waves, though their magnitude is not certain.

Dr Sanjay Rai, Principal Investigator of Vaccine Safety and Efficacy Trial at AIIMS, Delhi, is also a professor at its Centre for Community Medicine and part of the development team of Covaxin. Rai told The Leaflet, a news website which has on its advisory board economist Kaushik Basu and Kalpana Kannabiran, Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad, that it is difficult to predict the number of Covid-19 waves in India with the available scientific evidence. Like Ferguson, Rai is of the opinion that the human race will have to live with the virus for a long time to come.

"The Spanish Flu hit the world in three waves; it affected 2/3rd of the worlds population before it disappeared. But does this mean coronavirus will disappear after the third wave? No, there is no guarantee. We may see a few more and distinct waves in the coming years. After that, the virus will run out of evolutionary options and settle down as a more benign, endemic pathogen," explains Gauri Chaudhari, healthcare industry expert and author of The Perfect Pill.

Why do these waves occur?

The well-known reason for multiple waves is the mutation in the genetic code of the coronavirus. A slow vaccination pace gives it more time to mutate and find ways to evade or trick antibodies. This "accelerates the appearance of new variants as the continued spread of the virus allows it to get 'trained' to detect and bypass antibodies, since the immune system merely looks out for the original strain," Brazilian virologist Renato Santana told the media. Fitch Ratings has warned that this delay would cause more epidemic waves in the future; the only silver lining is its prediction that the economic damage of Wave Two will not be as severe as in the first.

Vaccinations in India dipped even as two-thirds of all districts reported a 20 percent climb in infection. "Scientists and public health experts believe that herd immunity is impossible because the virus is changing too quickly. New variants are spreading fast. We have to do mass vaccination as early as possible," says Dr Varsha Phadke, Dean, KJ Somaiya Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai.

The Brazil variant is today considered its most dangerous form, which researchers confirm is a combination of 18 different mutations that includes Brazilian, British and South African variants. Deadlier and more infectious than the original coronavirus, this new scourge is a genetic combo of around two-dozen previously known mutations. "It is as if these variants were evolving," Santana reportedly said.

Three triple mutant viruses were found circulating in India last month. Of these, two were found in Maharashtra, Delhi, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. Genome scientist Vinod Scaria in New Delhi had tweeted that one of the new mutants has specific genetic and immune escape variants and first appeared in West Bengal in October. But the government, flush with success over the first wave, did not act.

What makes variants lethal?

Variants can override vaccines and unleash severe diseases, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are fast movers. The D614G mutant can spread more rapidly than the original coronavirus by infecting human respiratory epithelial cells. Death is common after infection. Moreover, the mutant can resist monoclonal antibodies effectively. "For various mutant strains, a booster shot of the vaccines will be required to protect against variants, yet the protocols are not yet in place," says Phadke.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), an independent global health research centre at the University of Washington, daily deaths in India will peak at 5,600 in mid-May. It has projected 665,000 Covid deaths by August 1, 2021. "Without drastic measures to decrease social mixing and increase effective face mask use, the situation currently looks quite grim in India," the briefing said. The institute estimates that universal mask coverage could prevent 70,000 deaths and that if the vaccination target for every Indian above 18 is met on schedule, another 85,600 lives would be saved by August 1. The Indian government is confident that the current wave will peak soon and the crisis is due to different states experiencing different peaks.

A medical professional wearing PPE coveralls inside a quarantine centre

The Modi government had contained the first wave with a draconian lockdown. Then what happened?

Cases came down. Morality rates receded. Economic activity was resumed in a phased manner. If it was not for complacency and self-congratulation, India would have indeed been a viswaguru.

Dr Antony Fauci, one of the worlds foremost infectious diseases experts, has advised repeating the lockdown. The government is weighing its options.

Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister K Vijay Raghavan had warned earlier in the month that even after infection rates subside, a third wave is coming. "We cant predict the timing, but it seems inevitable. We must prepare ourselves and be ready for it, he told the press. But he is not clear on its timescale. "We should prepare for new waves," he cautioned.

Because of low testing capacity and an opaque data policy, medical experts put India's actual tally at five to 10 times the official number. Over 10 million cases have been added in over four months, though it took more than 10 months to reach 10 million in the first wave. At a Supreme Court hearing in the first week of May on oxygen distribution, Justice DY Chandrachud ordered, "We may enter stage three and if we prepare today we may be able to handle it. Whatever stocks procured needs to be sent to hospitals. Its not about allocating it to the state but also the logistics to see that it is distributed to hospitals."

The situation is so dire that atmanirbhar and anti-China rhetoric is in the bin; Indian companies have placed orders for more than 60,000 oxygen concentrators with Chinese medical equipment manufacturers to meet the shortage of medical oxygen in India. The Centre, however, refuses to accept any outside advice, especially from experts who are critical of its Corona effort. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) asked the Union health ministry to "wake up from slumber" and expressed shock that its suggestions are "put in to the dustbin" and that the government is making decisions without understanding ground realities.

Is India ready to meet a third wave?

Sadly not. According to an IIT-Kanpur study, Wave Three is projected to rear its head in October. Government incompetence, especially the tortoise pace of bureaucratic decision-making, has much to answer for the Covid-19 mess. Even as the vaccination drive falters, the Sputnik vaccine from Russia was stuck in the Central Drugs Laboratory where it was being tested for efficacy and other factors - 10 days after its arrival. Only about 9.2 percent of the Indian population have received the first dose at least. Daily vaccination targets are just about past the four-to-five million mark.

On April 5, India logged the highest number of jabs as 43,00,966 recipients got vaccinated. But on May 9, the rate plummeted by 84 percent. If the Wave Three has to be countered, 60 crore Indians in the 18+ population category must get 120 crore shots in five months, starting now. But shortage is plaguing many states. Glitches in booking slots on the CoWin platform have prevented aspirants aged above 45 from getting their jabs. Fortunately, states are evolving their own containment policy. Delhi, Odisha, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have decided to float global tenders to procure vaccines.

a relative with a critical patient in Delhi

Though there is every need to be prepared for possible mutations in the future, genome sequencing of Covid-19 is hardly on track and almost petered out after Wave 2. People are casual about social distancing and wearing masks, be it at super-spreader events like the Hardwar Kumbh Mela or Friday prayers in Hyderabad. The only way forward is to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour religiously and keep on vaccinating as fast as possible. Some more vaccines are expected in India in the next month or so which would address the vaccine shortage adequately, says Dr Namita Jaggi, Chairperson-Lab Services and Infection Control, and Chief-Education & Research, Artemis Hospitals, Gurugram. Since viruses mutate rapidly, vaccines have to be modified accordingly.

There are lessons to be learned in slow political will and red tape marring the dismal way Indias second wave is being handled, thereby causing unimaginable agony to the population. To meet the third wave, the government will have to hugely ramp up the availability of oxygen. Despite receiving emergency medical aid from the US, UK and Europe and Oxygen Express deliveries, the country has reached nowhere near oxygen sufficiency levels. There is no centralised coordination of oxygen supply and distribution. Red tape hampers timely deliveries; marooned equipment at Customs depots was released only after the media broke the story. Foreign aid languished in airports because SOPs for distribution were delayed. Ventilators bought with PM Cares funds were found faulty in states such as Delhi, Rajasthan and Punjab. Media reports claim that hundreds of ventilators purchased using the same fund lie unused in states, including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar.

India does not possess the capacity to store liquid oxygen at very low temperatures. Kept in cryogenic tankers, it is transported to distributors, who convert it into gas for filling cylinders. The number of cryogenic tankers in India is alarmingly low. Wave 2.0 is devastating rural India; the infection rate in Uttarakhand went up by 1,800 percent after the Kumbh. Madhya Pradeshs BJP government found that 99 percent of returning devotes tested positive. Health infrastructure in small towns and villages is moribund.

According to a research paper Covid-19: Challenges and its consequences for rural health care in India in ScienceDirect, "There is currently a shortfall in health facilities: 18 percent at the Sub-Centre level, 22 percent at the PHC (Primary Health Centres) level and 30 percent at the CHC (Community Health Centres) level (as of March 2018). Although the number of facilities has increased over the years, the workforce availability is substantially below the recommended levels as suggested by the WHO. Rural India has 3.2 government hospital beds per 10,000 people. Many states have a significantly lower number of rural beds than the national average."

In this bewildering scenario, unless India's rural healthcare and oxygen capacity and storage are ramped up massively, Wave Three will be more devastating to life, livelihoods and the economy. "The doctor-population ratio in India is 1:1,456 against the WHO recommendation of 1:1,000. There's a sheer shortage of healthcare support even after recruiting medical students from other streams, so the pressure is enormous. In fact, the frontline healthcare workers are the most at risk of infection. So, we have to do all we can to also protect them," demands Alok Sharma, CEO, Bengaluru-based Shycocan Corporation, manufacturer of a one-of-its-kind "virus attenuation" device called Shycocan.

The paucity of credible experts jeopardises discussion and the formulation of an effective future Covid-19 strategy, which takes into account the rural reality. "The reasons for the surge are many. How quickly the authorities, who are at the helm of affairs, learn lessons, accept the shortfalls and start taking steps to mitigate the effect of the next surge will make all the difference. We encountered challenges in managing the first wave due to systemic faults in our society, healthcare services, and governance," says Dr (Prof) Gautam Sen, Chairman & Founder, Healthspring, a leading primary healthcare solutions provider in India. The IMA has been calling for a planned, pre-announced lockdown to curb the virus spread. They say the lockdown will give medical infrastructure and medical staff crucial time to prepare for the coming wave.

What is keeping victory back?

The government is playing coy on data. Policy formulation is impossible without it. Official numbers regarding infection and mortality are undercounted, due to low testing and image paranoia since seven states will go to the polls next year. In an open letter to Prime Minister Modi, 400 scientists sought wider access to the granular testing data collated by ICMR since the pandemic struck. "The ICMR database is inaccessible to anyone outside of the government and perhaps also to many within the government," the appeal stated. The Union health ministry has an aversion to sharing Covid data. Information is not dynamic and is restricted to once a day.

Regular press updates were discontinued. And the information available concerns only state-wise cases that are active and discharged, and about deaths on a given day. There is no data on the age-group or risk profile of Covid patients in ICU or on ventilators. The number of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic patients is a secret. No findings on Covid deaths by age in different regions exist. The full serological data remains in ICMR's sole custody. Such censorship hampers the assessment of the viral spread and estimation of Covid-19's fatality rate which should be a priority for preparing for Wave Three.

Covid 19 patients inside a Covid ward of GTB Hospital in Delhi, parveen negi

Desperation marks the actions of a government that is on the back foot. Emergency clearance has been given to a DRDO-produced anti-Covid-19 drug. Dr Surya Kant, Professor and Head Department of Respiratory Medicine, King George Medical University, Lucknow, says, We have revisited some of the old molecules and have found ivermectin, originally introduced as an antihelminthic, to be an effective, safe and affordable therapeutic option in Indian settings for prevention and treatment of Covid-19."

However, explains a World Bank official based in Delhi, There is no medicine extant to cure a virus, you have to sit until it runs its course. Like with HIV, antiretroviral drugs can only contain the virus from replicating. SARS-Cov-2 is no different."

What is stirring the pot?

Fake news, politics and irresponsibility, of course.

In any great crisis, superstition has a field day. During the Black Plague, people in England tied live cats and dogs under their clothes to ward off the disease. That was centuries ago, but India has not deviated from the path. The gentle cow finds itself in the middle of a raging controversy. The Covidiot is a product of the times.

Medical professionals are distressed about cow dung cures - in Gujarat, people are visiting cow shelters to gather dung and urine to smear on their bodies and later wash them away with buttermilk. Last week, media reported a Covid-19 hospital in Gujarat where patients would be exclusively treated with cow piss, ghee and other bovine products. A UP MLA not only prescribed cow piss as a Covid cure but also demonstrated how to drink it. US officials confiscated the bags of an Indian passenger which contained cow dung cakes.

A Union minister tried to solve the pandemic crisis by shouting the slogan Go Corona, Go! The Union Health Ministry paid money to examine the efficacy of the Gayatri Mantra to curb the coronavirus. Research shows that superstitions have a healing role to play during a crisis, like a pandemic.

"Superstitions are normal and in some cases may help relieve stress in times of crisis, for instance during a global pandemic," Emily Balcetis, a social psychologist and associate professor of psychology at New York University, told AARP, a USbased interest group focusing on issues of people over the age of 50. "You cant stamp out Covid, but holding a rabbits foot in your purse might feel like it brings some control, she says. A magical trinket that keeps me safeits an illusory sense of control, is her opinion.

Her theory has found support in Jane Risen, a professor of behavioural science at the University of Chicago. "In these times when life feels more out of control, research suggests that those are the moments that people turn to magical thinking and superstitions more," she says.

BBC researchers did 1,447 fact checks on five Indian websites, where 58 percent of posts were mostly related to false cures, lockdown rumours and conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus. Some other posts said meat prevented infection, while chicken and eggs caused it. WHO labelled as false a video that attributed a prediction of '50,000 Covid-19 deaths by April 15' to the health body. More recently a fact check by a news website proved that the pictures and videos about corpses being flung in the river in Bihar were not all of Covid cases, because the cause of death could not be verified.

Sheer confusion over medicines has thrown health response into disarray. In spite of no medical evidence about remsedivir's efficacy, the clamour for it led to black marketing and imports. Dr Vijaya Raghavan and a few colleagues wrote to the government warning that 'irrational and nonscientific' plasma therapy has no validity to save lives. The fear of forced quarantine has forced many villagers to seek help from quacks. Many fake doctors have been caught operating from tin sheds, orchards

and even a truck.

ALSO WATCH: India's COVID situation hugely concerning, says WHO | Expert Talk

It seems that the spiraling death rate is perceived by many state administrators as a performance report. Pandemic politics has worsened the endemic confrontation between the Centre and Opposition states. On April 29, Delhi High Court asked the Centre why it was giving various states more oxygen than they had demanded.

Vaccine politics has got worse. Last month, the Centre released 350 lakh Covishield doses for distribution of which Maharashtra, one of the worst-hit states, got only 17.43 lakh doses while the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh (44.98 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (33.76 lakh), Karnataka (29.06 lakh) and Haryana (24 lakh) received more.

Vaccine wastage by states is another issue. Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Punjab have the highest wastage of the coronavirus jab. Kerala, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh reported zero wastage.

"Unity is strength. The fight against the pandemic will have to be collaboratively fought by all the people of the democracy. Effective participation from all the people will ensure that the pandemic can be curtailed and will not overburden the healthcare system which is relentlessly working to ensure the safe well being of all the affected people," says Dr Nanditha, Consultant General Medicine, Apollo TeleHealth, Hyderabad.

The government needs to adopt a transparent and non-partisan approach in treating Covid-19 to contain Wave Three and beyond. Honest data collation and exchange, accelerating vaccination, equitable distribution of aid, setting up more Covid facilities with beds, oxygen supplies and staff and expanding and empowering rural infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the challenge. Or else the pyres will keep burning late into the night of another year, or perhaps more.

Mumbai Shows the Way

Last week, the Supreme Court recommended the Mumbai Model to the Centre to manage oxygen supplies. The lessons learned during the first wave were applied by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to prepare for the second. There are 31,695 Covid-19 beds, including 12,754 oxygen beds and 2,929 ICU ones, in the city.

The BMC conducted a survey of oxygen demand to identify vulnerable areas and entered into agreements with nearby private plants to procure liquid oxygen daily. Protocols were evolved to prevent oxygen waste. Experts trained medical professionals to achieve minimum consumption by monitoring saturation and leakage. Hence, 275 metric tonnes of oxygen were enough to satisfy the requirement of Mumbais 90,000-odd active patients.

During the first wave, the BMC stopped refilling cylinders and opted for jumbo liquid medical oxygen tanks that can store 13,000 kilo litres, a 10-fold increase in capacity. Two of these cylinders each were installed in large hospitals to provide three to four days of oxygen supply. BMC has in reserve old cylinders which can supply patients for one to two days in case demand rises.

Cities like Bengaluru are taking cues from Mumbai. The Karnataka government has asked the Bengaluru city corporation to set up Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (Ward DETER) committees to ensure emergency medical care to critical Covid patients. A list of available hospital beds and oxygen resources will be updated in real time.

With inputs from Medha Dutta Yadav and Ayesha Singh
White Rock, British Columbia: We in civilized society should be careful about feeling smugly self-righteous as we look down our figurative noses to condemn the evil acts of one racial/ethnic/religious/cultural group or another. I once heard a philosophy professor say (in a television documentary) that all of us should avoid believing that we, as human beings, are not inherently predisposed to committing an atrocious act. Contrary to what is claimed or felt by many of us, he said, deep down theres a tyrant in each of us that, under the right circumstances, can be unleashed. While some identifiable groups have been severely victimized throughout history a disproportionately large number of times, the victims of one place and time can/do become the victimizers of another. Im not one who holds much faith in the Bible, but I still give credence to the claim within that base human nature is indeed desperately wicked. Frank Sterle Jr.
Manju Latha Kalanidhi By

Vikram Gulecha, Karan Behar and Riddhish Soni of Oceo, aka, Project Jalashaya, come from diverse backgrounds. Count Google and ISRO among them. This talented group has created a technology to benefit water utilities, irrigation departments and hydropower corporations. International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH) students Rishikesh Bose, Nilesh Bawankar, Ayush Kumar Lall and Ansh Khandelwal put their heads together to come up with a Smart Water Meter idea. The concept would benefit the government, municipal corporation and large communities.

Team Kritsnamcomprising IIT Kanpur and Kharagpur students Sri Harsha K, Prudhvi Sagar, Neeraj Rai, and Vinay Chataraajuhelps the local water sewerage boards, rural water supply and sanitation networks, industries and groundwater department. Whatever the water problem, these youngsters have you covered.

Smart City Living Lab, an open-innovation ecosystem at the IIITH, in collaboration with Smart City mission and Government of Telangana, announced the Water Challenge this March to find viable solutions to solve water quality and supply issues. Three teams will be presenting their final ideas this month.

The winner will be able to implement a pilot run in one of the cities of Telangana. Anuradha Vattem, curator of the project, says, We received 16 responses of which four were shortlisted. After a series of discussions with the shortlisted teams, it was decided that the three teams will be doing the proof of concept at the IIITH lab. Most of these solutions are tailored to the needs of the Indian demographic and can be deployed globally too.

Although it took Project Jalashaya three years to move from ideation to implementation, the resultto be able to monitor pipeline leakages and demand justicepaid off. Harnessing evolving technology to the maximum, the team uses new geospatial resources and tools such as GIS, remote sensing, social networking, and even mobile phones etc, to provide Decision Support Scenarios, which would be vital to monitor the water leak detection. This enables equitable distribution of water due to accurate water leak forecasts and precise assessment of pipeline damage due to corrosion, construction, human negligence etc, they promise.

The IIITH students use AI algorithms to get real-time data. This gives them insights into the water distribution network, especially about leakages as well as water consumption behaviour of the community in different times and seasons. Governments and communities can take these insights to improve the water distribution, reduce wastage and save more, says the team. Since the budget was not sufficient to deploy digital water meters, they switched to analog meters, a cheaper alternative. Fortunately, it worked. Currently the raw material cost for each node is Rs 7,000. But we are working on a cheaper version, they say enthusiastically. The challenge? The nodes deployed in insecure locations could get stolen and need special iron cages for protection, they rue.

In two years, Team Kritsnams project idea has turned into a product that saves 30 percent of water consumption. In one of the hackathons by the Ministry of Water Resources, we proved that if we can measure the level and flow of water in all places, we can do the complete water budgeting for the country. This made us think towards developing a flow meter which is ideal for monitoring from remote locations, says the team. The cost of the project, including implementation, is Rs 40,000. The only dampener is that poor network connectivity could affect it as it uses cellular signals for data transmission from meter to cloud. But if the projects see successful implementation, it will be goodbye to some pressing water issues.
By PTI

PUNE: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Satav died on Sunday, days after recovering from the coronavirus infection, hospital sources said.

Satav (46) was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Pune after testing coronavirus positive last month and was on ventilator support.

After recovering from COVID-19, he was diagnosed with Cytomegalovirus infection and his condition became critical.

"He had recovered from COVID-19. He was taking some immunosuppressant drugs as he was suffering from spondylitis and as his immunity was low, he contracted COVID-19. He later developed a bacterial infection due to which he had fibrosis in the lungs. Despite best efforts by doctors, he succumbed to the infection," said Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope.

Satav on April 22 said he had tested COVID-19 positive and was hospitalised the next day.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condoled his demise and said it is a big loss to him.

"I''m very sad at the loss of my friend Rajeev Satav. He was a leader with huge potential who embodied the ideals of Congress. It''s a big loss for us all. My condolences and love to his family," tweeted Rahul Gandhi, bemoaning the loss of his trusted colleague.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi described Satav as a rising star of the party who was known for his unfailing dedication and sincerity.

In her condolence message, Gandhi said she is deeply pained by the tragic loss of the party leader, "who was a trusted colleague and a friend to all of us".

She said it is also a personal loss for her.

"Rajeev Satav was only 46 years old. He rose from the grassroots to holding many responsibilities in a short time due to his unfailing dedication, sincerity and hard work," she said. He served as the Indian Youth Congress president, AICC secretary and the party''s Gujarat in-charge, she added.

"As Lok Sabha member, he championed people's issues and fought for the ideals of the constitution. He was a rising star of the Congress party," she said.

The Congress chief also spoke to Satav''s mother and wife and expressed her heartfelt condolences.

Satav, who hailed from Maharashtra''s Hingoli district, also leaves behind two children aged 11 and 16.

"Anguished by the passing away of my friend from Parliament, Shri Rajeev Satav Ji. He was an upcoming leader with much potential. Condolences to his family, friends and supporters. Om Shanti," tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I am deeply shocked by the untimely demise of Rajya Sabha member, Shri Rajiv Satav due to Covid-related complications. He was a dynamic parliamentarian & deeply committed to serving the people. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family members & his followers. Om Shanthi!" Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu tweeted.

The Congress said Satav''s unwavering dedication towards the nation and the party carried out with pure simplicity will be greatly missed. "Our condolences to his family, friends and followers," the party tweeted.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said he has been rendered speechless due to the loss. "Today I lost a fellow who took the first step of public life with me in the Youth Congress and walked along till today...We will always remember Rajeev Satav''s simplicity, ever-smiling, connected to the grassroots, loyalty and friendship. Goodbye, my friend. Keep shining, wherever you are," he tweeted.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, "In Rajiv Satav we have lost one of our brightest colleagues. Clean of heart, sincere, deeply committed to the ideals of the Congress and devoted to the people of India."

Maharashtra Congress leaders said Satav''s death is an irreparable loss. The NCP and Shiv Sena also expressed shock over his demise.

NCP president Sharad Pawar said Satav''s death was shocking. Pawar described him as a studious and aggressive leader.

"Saddened to lose our young Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Satav. His passing away is a huge loss to the party. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. May his soul rest in peace," tweeted Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javadekar and Smriti Irani and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also expressed grief over Satav''s demise.

"The demise of Rajeev Satavji, Congress in-charge for Gujarat, who was always active in public life, is very sad. May the Lord bestow salvation to his divine soul and strength to his family members and loved ones to bear this suffering," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tweeted.

Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Paresh Dhanani said Satav''s simplicity, smile, his connection to the grassroots and loyalty to the party will always be remembered.

"Goodbye my friend, bye my boss!" Dhanani tweeted.

Gujarat Congress unit president Amit Chavda and former chief minister and ex-Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela also paid tribute to Satav.

Cytomegalovirus is a common virus spread through body fluids like blood, urine, saliva, breast milk, tears, semen and vaginal fluids, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Casual contact doesn''t transmit Cytomegalovirus, it adds.

People who have weakened immune systems, such as those who have had an organ, bone marrow or stem cell transplant, or those who are infected with HIV are more likely to experience signs and symptoms of Cytomegalovirus, it says.
By PTI

BHIWANI: Over 30 people have died in Union minister V K Singh's ancestral village Bapora in the past two weeks, its sarpanch said Sunday as the unusually high number of deaths raised concerns that COVID-19 could be the cause.

Village head Naresh Kumar said many of these people had showed symptoms of the disease, but only three tested positive.

"They had symptoms like fever and cough but did not get themselves tested. So the real cause behind their deaths remains unknown," he said.

He said many of them were elderly.

District authorities have stationed an ambulance in the village in Bhiwani district and have screened all residents for the disease, an official said.

According to the sarpanch, the village with a population of about 20,000 normally sees "one or two deaths" in a week.

But there were many more during the past fortnight.

One day, there were seven or eight deaths in the village, he said, and all cremation spots were occupied.

"This was frightening for the villagers," he said.

He said many villagers had been reluctant to undergo the coronavirus test.

Health department officials have now stepped up testing and screening in Bapora to check the spread of the infection, he said.

"Random tests of over 150 people were conducted during the past couple of days and only one was found positive," he said.

He said the state government has also been holding vaccination camps and a recent one saw a good response from the villagers.

Bapora is not the only village to have reported an unusually high number of deaths due to suspected cases of COVID-19.

Last month, 21 people died in Rohtak's Titoli village, but officials said only four of these deaths were confirmed to be due to coronavirus.

There had also been reports of nearly 40 deaths in Mundhal Khurd and Mundhal Kalan villages in Bhiwani in recent weeks.

Naresh Kumar said Bapora is known as the village of faujis (soldiers) and happens to be the native village of Union minister and retired Army chief V K Singh.

Bhiwani Deputy Commissioner Jaibir Singh Arya said all Bapora residents have been screened for the disease.

"We have set up an isolation centre in the village and also stationed an ambulance for emergency use. Vaccination centres have also been set up here," the official, who visited the area on Sunday, told PTI.

"The entire village has been sanitised," he added.

Reacting to reports of the virus spreading in the villages, the opposition has demanded that COVID-19 testing in rural areas should be stepped up.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has asked the government to set up a task force to deal with the pandemic in rural areas.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Vaccination with Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine - COVAXIN, has produced neutralising titres (concentration) against all key emerging variants tested, including the B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first identified in India and the United Kingdom, the vaccine manufacturer informed on Sunday.

As per an infographic, a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was observed against the B.1.617 variant compared to the vaccine variant (D614G).

ALSO READ| Six-week gap must for second Covaxin shot: Karnataka COVID Task Force

However, it added that despite this reduction, neutralizing titre levels with B.1.617 remain above levels expected to be protective. "No difference in neutralization between B.1.1.7 (first found in the UK) and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed," Bharat Biotech added.

These findings are from a study conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology - India Council of Medical Research. COVAXIN is one of the three COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available in the country.

As per the Union Health Ministry, a total of 18,22,20,164 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country so far.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called on the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry to discuss the COVID situation with them. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh are among the ten states that cumulatively account for 74.69 per cent of India's total active cases, said the Union Health Ministry.

Rajasthan has 2,08,698 active cases of COVID-19, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 1,77,643 and Chhattisgarh at 1,10,401 cases.

As per the ministry, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are among the ten states that reported 74.7 per cent of the new cases in the last 24 hours. While Rajasthan reported 13,575 new cases in the last 24 hours, Uttar Pradesh recorded 12,513 new cases.

These two states are also among the ten states that account for 75.55 per cent of the new COVID deaths in the last 24 hours, said the ministry. Uttar Pradesh reported 281 deaths while Rajasthan recorded 149 casualties in the last 24 hours, informed the ministry.

Meanwhile, India reported 3,11,170 new COVID-19 cases and 3,62,437 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry informed on Sunday. The cumulative caseload stands at 2,46,84,077, including 2,07,95,335 recoveries and 36,18,458 active cases. The death toll, meanwhile, stands at 2,70,284.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said an alert has been sounded in coastal districts of the state in the wake of cyclone Tauktae, and the state administration has braced up to ensure uninterrupted electricity and oxygen supply in COVID-19 hospitals.

Thackeray gave the assurance to Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a virtual meeting in the morning on the preparedness for tackling the cyclonic storm.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), cyclone Tauktae has intensified into a "very severe cyclonic storm" and is approaching the Gujarat coast.

The IMD has forecast high speed winds along and off south Maharashtra-Goa and adjoining Karnataka coasts over the next couple of days.

During the meeting, Thackeray said jumbo COVID-19 centres and other facilities can protect patients from rain. But, in view of the cyclonic storm, some patientsfrom Mumbai and other areas have been shifted to safer places.

He said all steps have been taken to ensureoxygen production plants on the coastline and transport of oxygen to rest of the state remain unaffected.

Thackeray also informed that residents along the coastline have been moved to safer places and disaster management units have been activated.

Collectors of Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Palghar districts and Mumbai municipal commissioner have been instructed to ensure that the oxygen production plants of 900 metric tonne capacity along the sea coast are safe, he said.

Officials of the electricity and public works departments are also on alert, the CM said.

He said arrangements have been made to ensure 12 to 16-hour oxygen backup in districts to be affected by the cyclonic storm.

"A total of 160 metric tonne of oxygen is expected to reach Maharashtra from Jamnagar in Gujarat by Monday. If there are problems in the Jamnagar plant due to the cyclone, arrangements have been made to get the additional stock from other places," he said.

Thackeray said fishermen were also returning to the coast from the sea.

He also informed the Union minister that the state has adequate stock of medicines.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: The very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae is likely to intensify during the next 24 hours and reach the Gujarat coast on Monday evening, the IMD said.

It would cross the state's coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district by early Tuesday morning, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its latest bulletin on Sunday.

Tidal waves are likely to inundate several coastal districts during the landfall, it said.

"The very severe cyclonic storm Tauktae over east central Arabian Sea moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 11 kmph during the past six hours," the bulletin said.

Around 5.30 am on Sunday, the cyclone lay centred about 130 km west-southwest of Panjim-Goa, 450 km south of Mumbai, 700 km south-southeast of Veraval (Gujarat) and 840 km southeast of Karachi (Pakistan), it said.

"It is very likely to intensify during the next 24 hours. It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and reach the Gujarat coast in the evening hours of May 17 and cross the state coast between Porbandar and Mahuva in Bhavnagar district around May 18 early morning," the IMD said.

With the cyclone intensifying, the wind speed along and off Gujarat coasts in Porbandar, Junagadh, Gir Somnath and Amreli districts will reach 150-160 kmph gusting to 175 kmph by Tuesday morning.

It will reach a speed of 120-150 kmph gusting to 165 kmph over Devbhoomi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar districts during the same period, the IMD said.

"Gale winds with speed reaching 70-80 kmph gusting to 90 kmph are likely to prevail along and off Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, southern parts of Ahmedabad, and Anand districts, as well as Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman (Union Territories) from May 17 midnight till Tuesday morning," it said.

The sea conditions will become "very rough to high" along and off the south Gujarat coast from Monday morning, and "very high to phenomenal" from Monday midnight.

A tidal wave of about 3 metres, 1-2.5 metres above the astronomical tide, is likely to inundate several coastal areas of the state during the time of the landfall, it said.

By Sunday afternoon, the coastal areas of Saurashtra region will start getting light to moderate rainfall, with heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places over Saurashtra and Kutch and Diu on Monday, and extremely heavy rainfalls at isolated places on Tuesday.

Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea, the state government said, adding that 107 out of the 149 fishing boats which were out into the waters returned to the coast by Sunday morning.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held a high-level meeting on Saturday and said the state government was fully prepared, while the administrations of districts likely to be affected by the cyclonic storm have been alerted.

The government was working with "zero casualty" approach, Rupani said.

Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been deployed along the south Gujarat and Saurashtra coast.

Rupani said hospitals in coastal areas have been instructed to ensure that treatment of critical COVID-19 patients is not disrupted in case of power outage or other adverse events.

All patients who are on oxygen or ventilator should be shifted to COVID-19 hospitals in nearby districts if needed, he said.

Ambulances with advanced life support systems and ICU ambulances should be sent from other parts of Gujarat to Jamnagar, Rajkot, Kutch and Junagadh, he said.
By PTI

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has eased the condition of releasing declared foreigners on completion of two years in detention from prisons due to the exceptional circumstances of the second wave of Covid pandemic.

In an order issued on April 15 last year, the high court had permitted release of a detainee after completing two years on a personal bond of Rs 5,000 and two sureties, following a Supreme Court ruling.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak modified the order saying that instead of two sureties, a foreigner detenue can now be freed on one surety because of the pandemic situation.

The court passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Samsul Hoque, who was declared a foreigner by the Foreigners' Tribunal.

"Let copies of this order be communicated to all the Superintendent of Police (Border) of all the districts, including the Superintendent and authorities of all the jails and such detentions where foreigners are being detained," the bench said in the order.

The judgment passed on May 10 had directed that Hoque be released on completion of two years on May 13.

In an order on April 13, 2020, the Supreme Court had diluted the terms for the release of the inmates lodged in six detention camps in Assam to two years from three years earlier and the surety amount to Rs 5,000 from the previous Rs 1 lakh.

On March 23 last year, the apex court had directed all states and Union Territories to constitute high-level committees to consider releasing on parole or interim bail prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to 7-year jail term to decongest prisons in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
By PTI

NASHIK: Police have registered a case against a local BJP leader in Nashik for allegedly damaging property of a civic hospital here by ramming his car into its glass entrance and trying to attack its staff, police said on Sunday.

The incident occurred at Bytco Hospital on Nashik Road late on Saturday night, they said.

Police have registered an offence against Rajendra Tajne, who is the husband of BJP corporator Seema Tajne.

According to police, Rajendra Tajne's father had recently died at this hospital while undergoing treatment for coronavirus.

Nashik civic body's health official lodged a complaint against him in this regard.

Today, husband of a BJP Corporator in Nashik rammed his car right through a hospital out of rage!



On one side where the whole country is appreciating and thanking the medical staff, such acts are deplorable and the guilty should be given maximum punishment!

Shameful! pic.twitter.com/uOpUkGSe0X  Varun Sardesai (@SardesaiVarun) May 15, 2021

"As per the complaint, Tajne rammed his car into the glass entrance of the hospital and damaged its property. He hurled a paver block towards its staff member and also abused and threatened a relative of a patient there. However, nobody was injured in the incident," a police official said.

During the incident, Tajne kept shouting that patients should get oxygen, ventilators and beds at the hospital, and black-marketing of Remdesivir injections should stop, he added.

However, Tajne left the spot later and he is still at large, the official said.

Police have registered a case under various IPC sections, including 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 336 (rash or negligent act), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and other Acts.

Nashik Road police are investigating the case.

Currently, the BJP is in power in Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC).

NMC commissioner Kailas Jadhav has issued orders for strict action in the matter.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Several prominent temples across West Bengal imposed a ban on entry of devotees from Sunday after the state government imposed a complete lockdown amid the surging number of COVID-19 cases.

Authorities of Dakshineswar Kali Temple in the city and Tarapith Kali Temple in Birbhum district have closed the places of worship for the devotees from Sunday because of the complete lockdown, imposed in the state from May 16-30.

"We have clamped a blanket ban on entry of devotees, which will be in force till May 30 as of now," Kushal Choudhuri said on behalf of Dakshineswar temple authorities.

The daily puja and other rituals will continue, as usual, he said.

The Tarapith temple management, in a notice, said, due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, the temple premises will be out of bounds for devotees from May 16-30.

"We will review the situation periodically," the management said.

However, the rituals will continue sans devotees.

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Mayapur, has shut down the Sri Chandradaya Mandir till May 30 for visitors and local devotees, ISKCON, Mayapur, spokesperson Subrata Das told PTI.

"Only a few resident devotees will be allowed, after thorough screening, for carrying out essential services like deity worship, offering 'bhog' and 'aarti'.

They will have to wear masks appropriately and maintain social distancing.

"Devotees all over the world are requested to follow the various programmes of the temple via online platforms," Das said.

However, many small temples like the Kali temples in Shyambazar area of the city and Beltala area in Agarpara, and roadside shrines remained open.

All the 65 churches under the 'Archdiocese of Calcutta' order have stopped the entry of visitors due to the pandemic and lockdown, a spokesperson told PTI.

The general secretary of Gurdwara Behala and a prominent Sikh community leader in the city, Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, said, "We haven't forbidden the entry of visitors inside the Gurdwara premises.

But we are monitoring their entry and ensuring that they adhere to all COVID-19 safety norms.

" "We are regulating the entry of worshippers, during namaz, who have to follow COVID-19 protocols while entering the premises.

We have not banned the entry of the devotees," the Imam of Nakhoda Masjid Shafique Qasmi said.

People are assembling in small groups during namaz, as stipulated by the West Bengal government, and they are wearing masks, he said.
The next mayor will emerge from the current mad scramble with a sobering, serious agenda: safeguard the lives of 8 million New Yorkers; battle the criminals who threaten to tear the city apart; get the municipal agencies under control and up to peak efficiency; and  to the extent that time and opportunity permit  move New York at least a few steps in the direction of progressive reform.
By PTI

ALIGARH: Genome sequencing of Covid-19 samples has not found any new coronavirus strain behind the infection around the AMU campus, university authorities said Sunday as another member of their fraternity died.

Professor Abu Qamar, 75, the former dean of the Faculty of Medicine in the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital died here on Sunday of Covid-19 after battling it for nearly three weeks, JNMC Principal Shahid Ali Siddiqui said.

Prof Qamar died two days after AMUs former proctor, Prof Nasim Beg, 76, died in a New Delhi hospital where he was shifted to and admitted after his condition worsened here, his family members said.

At least 38 AMU teachers, including 17 serving ones, have died of Covid or Covid-like symptoms in the last one month, triggering doubts if any new deadly strain of the virus has been in circulation on the AMU campus. These doubts also prompted the varsitys JNMC authorities to send Covid-19 samples from the AMU campus and its neighbouring Civil Lines area for genome sequencing to the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi.

No new strain of coronavirus has been detected in samples sent for genome sequencing to the CSIR in New Delhi, said a senior JNMC official, in a relief to the hospitals beleaguered staff who have been on the edge following a large number of deaths of the serving and retired AMU employees.

Prof Haris Manzoor Khan, the head of the JNMCs Department of Microbiology and the principal investigator of the AMUs Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, said out of the 20 samples sent to CSIR for genome sequencing, 18 (90 percent) had B.1.617.2 lineage referred to as the double mutation variant, first identified in Maharashtra on October 5, 2020.

It is a subtype of B.1.617 variant which is the main virus circulating in the second wave of COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh, he added. The WHO has described it as a Variant of Concern because of its higher transmissibility and reduced neutralization from pre-existing antibodies, he said. B.1.617 has a higher growth rate than other circulating variants suggesting a potentially increased rate of transmission.
By PTI

KOLKATA: Since the announcement of elections, nearly three months ago till Saturday, West Bengal's riverine, largely rural hinterland has seen a 48-fold jump in active COVID-19 cases, with medical experts attributing it to the unprotected poll rallies.

Most medical professionals blame the mass gatherings at election rallies for the huge surge in the disease.

On February 26, when the Election Commission announced the poll dates, West Bengal's number of active Covid cases was just 3,343, while it stood at 1.32 lakh on Saturday, a near 40-fold increase.

However, the spread in districts, other than Kolkata, is far more.

From a mere 2,183 active cases on February 26, the number of active cases on May 15 has risen to 1.06 lakh, a worrying 48-fold increase.

"There is no doubt that the reason behind this surge of Covid in rural Bengal is the prolonged election process. The reason is nothing but political and only political," Dr Amitava Nandi, a senior expert in tropical diseases and formerly of the School of Tropical Medicine (STM), told PTI.

Elections were held from March 27 till April 29, in an unprecedented eight phases, prolonging the campaign period.

Many of the districts which saw pitched political battles with leaders extensively touring them such as Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim and Purba Medinipur, Nadia, Darjeeling and Murshidabad reported near 100-fold rise in cases during the period.

Dr Sanjib Bandyopadhyay, community medicine specialist and vaccination supervisor of the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General (ID&BG) Hospital blamed the unscientific" holding of elections in eight phases and movement of people including paramilitary forces across state and district boundaries for the surge.

"If you cannot allow people who had gone to other states to work as migrant labourers to return home here without RT-PCR tests, how have you allowed large numbers of central forces and other people to travel remote areas without any such tests? This has definitely helped in the surge of cases," he said.

According to Dr Nandi, the new Bengal strain (B.1.618), the second mutant strain discovered in India, started spreading across the state because of movement of people during the elections.

"The administration was never prepared for this despite our warnings. Both the central and the state government were complacent as if they had won the battle against corona. They reduced the number of beds in the hospitals, never thought of increasing testing facilities. Then they allowed people to move, migrate without proper tests and flout the safety protocols," said Dr Hiralal Konar of the Joint Platform of Doctors.

On Saturday, Howrah reported 1,276 new cases, South 24 Parganas (1,257), Hooghly (1,193), Nadia (1,038), Purba Medinipur (753), Paschim Bardhaman (977) and Darjeeling (662), according to the state health department's statistics.

The total number of cases, including recoveries, in West Bengals districts other than Kolkata, also went up from 4.45 lakh on February 26 to nearly 8.64 lakh as of Saturday, May 15.

The figures may be the tip of the iceberg, given the fact that people in rural areas have limited access to testing facilities.

North 24 Parganas, wedged between Kolkata and the international border with Bangladesh, has just three government RT-PCR testing centres, whereas it has 26,047 active cases as on Saturday, marginally fewer than the tally for the capital of West Bengal.

"Definitely there has been under-reporting. Primarily, people are not taking the tests and also there are not adequate tests taking place. And the current RT-PCR tests are sometimes unable to detect the contagion because the virus has genetically mutated," Dr Nandi said.

West Bengal at the moment has 115 testing laboratories in different parts of the state with a daily average of around 33,000 tests held daily, as per the state health bulletin.
Sumi Sukanya Dutta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Senior virologist Shahid Jameel on Sunday resigned as the chair of the scientific advisory group of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a forum set up by the union government in December last year.

The consortium had been set up for laboratory and epidemiological surveillance of circulating strains of the Covid in India.

It is not clear why Jameel, who is currently director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, stepped down as the chief advisor to the forum but sources pointed out that he had been critical of Covid policies by the government.

Most recently, he had written a piece in the New York Times, in which he had said that scientists in India are facing a "stubborn response to evidence-based policy making."

Jameel, formerly the CEO of the Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance, is known for his research on Hepatitis E virus, confirmed to The New Indian Express, his decision to step down from the role but refused to comment further.

No response was received from Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on a request to comment on the development.

INSACOG was set up by the Centre less than five months ago, mainly to detect genomic variants of the SARS CoV 2, after concerns that the B117 variant, first detected in the UK and found to be more transmissible, may have arrived in the country.

INTERVIEW | 'Only way to prevent viruses from mutating is to limit transmission': Virologist Dr Shahid Jameel

Under the consortium, 10 national laboratories equipped to study virus variants, had been brought together under the aegis of the National Centre for Disease Control.

This forum, however, has been marred with severe fund crunch since the beginning as a result of which the work, it was tasked to do, has progressed at a much lesser speed than projected.

The government had initially said that Rs 115 crore will be allocated for the project for a period of 6 months but no allocation was done and the department of biotechnology under the Union Science Ministry was asked to fund the initiative from its own resources.

Official sources said that the first tranche of money could be released only by March end and the revised estimate for the project was Rs 80 crore.

Scientists associated with many labs in the consortium said that they have been mostly carrying out the genomic surveillance work from their own, limited allocations.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: Police have detained two sons of separatist leader Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai, who died earlier this month at a hospital while in custody, officials said on Sunday.

The duo was detained from their residence in Barzulla area of the city late Saturday evening in connection with a case registered by police in Kupwara district on May 6 after pro-freedom slogans were raised at the separatist leader's funeral, the officials said.

Sehrai -- the then Tehreek-e-Hurriyat (TeH) chairman -- died at a hospital in Jammu region on May 5.

The ailing separatist leader was shifted there from Udhampur jail where he was under PSA detention.

Sehrai's other son  Junaid  was a militant.

He was killed in an encounter with security forces here in May last year.
By PTI

PATNA: A key aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday locked horns with senior Congress leader P Chidambaran after the latter expressed outrage, on twitter over a media report depicting shabby condition of a leading government hospital in the state.

State minister Sanjay Kumar Jha came out with a flurry of angry tweets in response to a twitter post by Chidambaram who had referred to a television news report highlighting shocking and scandalous condition of the Darbhanga Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

The former Union finance minister in his tweet had wondered whether the Chief Minister had visited Darbhanga, where the health facility in question was situated, in the 15 plus years he has been CM.

In his retaliatory tweets, Jha alleged that Chidambaram's disconnect with ground (sic) was evident in the latters averment and asserted CM@Nitish Kumar is a self-made mass leader. unlike your leader who has inherited a kursi (position of power) and whom you idolize so brazenly.

Jha, who holds key portfolios like water resources and information, however refrained from mentioning Rahul Gandhi by name while making the aforementioned oblique comment.

The minister, who himself belongs to Darbhanga, averred that Kumar has indeed been visiting the north Bihar town and wondered whether Chidambaram was aware that it was now on global aviation map with an airport that became functional last year and was expected to have an AIIMS in future.

The TV channel grab shows the hospital in a dilapidated state and Covid patients kept in a damp room.

Refuting allegations that the condition of Darbhanga Medical College Hospital was appalling, Jha asserted the hospital had a state of the art building where COVID 19 patients were receiving the best possible treatment, which was being regularly monitored by the Chief Minister himself.

I wish you had done a bit of homework before trying to exhibit your ugly politics, snapped the Bihar minister at Chidambaram.

In yet another tweet, Jha claimed that the ramshackle old DMCH building shown in the news channel report flagged by Chidambaram was symptomatic of many years of misdeeds and misrule of the Congress.

In a veiled attack on RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, a staunch ally of the Congress, Jha also spoke of your (Chidambarams) cohorts, who ruined Bihar and brought in the proverbial dark age, leaving behind a wretched legacy for Nitish Kumar who came to power in 2005.
By PTI

CHANDIGARH: Amid the spread of coronavirus infection in rural Punjab, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan on Sunday urged villagers to get themselves tested and vaccinated against the virus urgently.

Expressing concern over the recent spike in daily cases and deaths due to Covid in the state's hinterland, she said the official machinery along with the teams of various departments have been working diligently to create awareness among the rural population.

It has, however, been found that most of the villagers report only after their condition deteriorates, she added.

The chief secretary said if a patient with the Covid's early symptoms like cough, cold and mild fever reports to the nearest hospital in time, the infection can be cured without any major complications.

Chairing a meeting to review the Covid situation here, the state's top bureaucrat said with the concerted efforts of the government, another consignment of vaccines was expected to reach Punjab soon.

This will further help in accelerating the pace of the vaccination drive in the state, Mahajan said in an official statement.

She said Punjab would get 1.14 lakh additional doses of Covaxin by May 31.

While urging all eligible people of the state to get themselves inoculated against the fatal disease, Mahajan made a fervent plea to the people living in villages to get themselves vaccinated to stop the recent surge in Covid cases in rural Punjab.

Even as the state was getting less supply of vaccines than its demand, the chief secretary asked district officials to vaccinate the vulnerable persons timely.

She also asked district authorities to check the reported overcrowding at the vaccination sites.

She also asked officials to identify unregistered construction workers and explore the possibility of vaccinating them.

She informed industry leaders that if they want to vaccinate their employees, they can contact the authorised officers of the concerned districts.

She informed that industries will be given Covaxin at the cost of Rs 430 per dose and the officials must encourage the industries to order government-approved vaccines at their own level.

She said private hospitals should also be encouraged to provide vaccination at reasonable rates.

She also asked all government employees and officials to get themselves vaccinated.

The state registered 202 more coronavirus deaths, taking the toll to 11,895 on Sunday, according to a medical bulletin.

The infection tally rose to 4.98 lakh with 7,038 new cases, while 9,059 more patients recovered.

The active cases declined from 77,789 the previous day to 75,478, the bulletin stated.

The test positivity rate is 9.76 per cent and the number of recoveries rose to 4.1 lakh, it said.

Twenty-two deaths were reported from Bathinda, 20 from Ludhiana, 19 each from Muktsar and Fazilka, and 15 from Patiala, among others.

Ludhiana reported 942 cases, but it was lower than Saturday's infections of 1,132.

Bathinda registered 705 more cases, followed by 673 in Jalandhar and 542 in Mohali.

There are 443 critical patients who are on ventilator support, while 9,796 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh registered 664 fresh cases, taking the count to 55,367, while 857 more patients recovered, according to a medical bulletin.

Ten more people succumbed to COVID-19, taking the toll to 635.

The active cases dropped from 7,847 on Saturday to 7,644, it said.

With 857 patients recuperating, the number of recoveries reached 47,088, as per bulletin.

Meanwhile, the presence of the double mutant variant of the coronavirus has been found in 22 per cent samples that were recently sent by the PGIMER here for sequencing.

Reports of sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from 23 swab samples that were sent were received from the National Centre for Disease Control, New Delhi, last Thursday.

"Presence of the double mutant B.1.617 variant having the signature mutations L452R and E484Q has been confirmed in 22 percent (5/23) of the samples after sequencing," PGIMER Director Jagat Ram said on Sunday.

A PGIMER release quoting Ram stated that the B.1.617 variant, first identified in India last year, had been found in more than 40 countries and recently classified as a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization.

"It has been found by researchers that the mutations in the double-mutant strain render it to be more transmissible and vaccine-induced antibodies are somewhat less potent in neutralising this variant," he said.

"The surge of cases during the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has somewhat been attributed to the B.1.617 variant strain," he said.

"Of the other samples, the UK variant -- B.1.1.7 -- which is also a variant of concern and associated with higher transmissibility was found in 39 per cent (9/23) samples."
Biswajit Dhar and K S Chalapati Rao By

Amid the dismal economic numbers triggered by the slowdown of the economy followed by the Covid pandemic, one set has stood out as the bright spot: the data on inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into India. During the first nine months of the financial year 2020-21, total FDI inflows were more than $67.5 billion, over $12 billion or 22% higher than the corresponding period in 2019-20. This implies that the inflows during the previous financial year would exceed the record level of inflows registered in 2019-20, which was $74.9 billion. Equity inflows have contributed to the spurt in FDI inflows, increasing to nearly $51.5 billion during April-December 2020-21, from $37.8 billion during the corresponding period in the 2019-20 fiscal. Thus, equity inflows had increased by over 36%.

Coming as they did during one of the most crippling downturns ever to have been experienced by the global economy, these numbers look extremely encouraging. In our view, two logical questions need to be asked to understand the significance of these inflows. First, to what extent can these FDI inflows contribute to the revival of the Indian economy by creating productive capacities? Secondly, would these inflows support the flagship programme of the government, the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, announced in the wake of the pandemic for the turnaround of the manufacturing sector? The government has recently unveiled detailed company-wise data on FDI inflows for the third quarter of 2020-21, which provide the answers to these questions.

Financial year 2020-21 was especially important as it saw Reliance Industries stock sales to foreign investors. While Covid drowned some of the headlines of its strategic partnerships with some major foreign companies, available data helps us put Reliances deals in the context of the overall FDI inflows into India.

Between April and December 2020-21, the Reliance Group sold equity shares in seven companies to foreign investors, which were worth nearly $28 billion. Thus, of the total equity capital invested by foreign companies in India during this period, over 54% was accounted for by stock sales by the Reliance Group. More than $20 billion of promoters shares in Jio Platforms, currently having the largest wireless subscriber base in India, were sold to 14 foreign investors, including Facebook, Google, KKR & Co. Inc, and Qualcomm. These investments by the foreign companies involved a mere transfer of shares without creating productive assets in the country, or, in other words, contributing to the revival of the economy.

In April 2020, Reliance group decided to sell 9.9% of its stake, worth over $5.8 billion, in the Jio Platform to Facebook, one of its competitors in the digital business. The deal offered two significant benefits to the foreign partner: one, to achieve substantial expansion of its social media reach by piggy-backing on Jio Platforms and two, giving Facebook more than a sniff in Indias rapidly expanding ecommerce business through Jio Mart. Following the Facebook deal, Reliance announced its partnership with Google for building an Android operating system in July 2020. Four months later, and after the Competition Commission of India had given its green signal, Reliance sold $4.5 billion of its stock in Jio Platforms or a 7.7% stake in the company.

Why is Facebooks shareholding pegged at 9.9%? This could be because the International Monetary Fund (and also the Reserve Bank of India) states that if a foreign investor holds 10% or more of voting shares in a company, he exercises a significant degree of influence on its management. Therefore, Jio Platforms remains Indian controlled, even though two major foreign companies now own nearly 18% of its shares.

Looking beyond the Reliance deals, we need to ask whether the patterns of FDI inflows during April to December 2020-21 are in sync with the development priorities set by the Government of India. In this regard, the major focus should be on the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, anchored on the revival of the manufacturing sector. According to the government, FDI is one of the critical elements for implementing this programme.

Data on FDI inflows shows that contrary to the governments expectations of larger magnitude of inflows into the manufacturing sector, this sector received just 13% of the total. The services sector attracted nearly 80% of the total inflows, with information technology enabled services (ITeS) being the largest component, accounting for over 47% of them. This is hardly surprising given that the RBI has classified the activities of Jio Platforms as other information technology and computer service activities. Other than services, wholesale and retail trade were the two prominent sectors.

It is quite clear that FDI inflows during April-December 2020-21 were not in consonance with the development priorities of the government. The question that must then be asked is the following: Are these record levels of FDI inflows a cause for celebration?

Biswajit Dhar

Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, JNU

(bisjit@gmail.com)

K S Chalapati Rao

Former Professor, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development
During the current pandemic, one region that was uncharacteristically quiet for some time was the Middle East. It has come back to life just when it was being assessed that the US is working overtime to shift the centre of gravity of its international security concerns to the Indo Pacific. One is tempted to immediately dive into the recent riots in Jerusalem and the sudden reawakening in Gaza, but what should concern most observers is the evolving situation between Iran and Israel, which probably bears greater strategic significance in the Middle East with unpredictable consequences. The Gaza tension in many ways is also connected to the Iran-Israel standoff. Reputed strategic affairs magazines are predicting a war-like situation between the two nations early in the near future.

Under the Trump administration, Israel had everything going for it. The emergence of the US-Israel-Saudi triangle had secured Israeli interests even more than in the Cold War period when it had unequivocal US support. Although US strategic interests were assessed to be diluting when it came to the core concern of energy (the shale gas revolution being responsible), America was in no mood to concede space to Russia in Iraq and Syria and did not wish to see a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) terror group. Most of all, Donald Trump did not wish to allow Iran any leeway in enhancing its strategic capability; this essentially meant placing limits on Irans potential nuclear weapon capability and ability to launch proxies at will to destabilise any part of the Middle East and secure its interests. The assassination of the Iranian IRGC Commander General Qasem Soleimani by the US in December 2019 displayed the ends that it could go to secure its interests and that of its allies. In May 2018, Trump had withdrawn the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015 that had been signed by the Big Powers with Tehran, under which the first signals of the mainstreaming of Iran had begun and a semblance of control over its nuclear weapon ambitions had been established.

The end of the Trump era and the coming of the Biden administration promised a reversal and a return to the JCPOA, which Iran is now hard bargaining at Vienna in talks with the US. For Israel, the potential of Irans nuclear weaponisation has always posed an existential threat to the Jewish state. The Iran-Israel enmity has had a chequered and complex past with breakdown in relations since the Revolution in 1979; although Israel assisted Iran with weaponry during the Iran-Iraq war of the Eighties. After 1990, Iran adopted a more hardline stance as it pushed for assuming a greater leadership role in the Islamic world with enhanced support to the Palestinian cause. This gave it a higher moral authority in the light of dwindling Arab support that paid only lip service to the Palestinians. In the eighties, Iran built a system of proxies on Israels Lebanon border through the Shia Hezbollah. Financing, training and arming led to Hezbollah eventually becoming one of the chief adversaries of Israel, along with Hamas in the Gaza area that too emerged as an Iranian proxy. In 2003, a clandestine Iranian nuclear weapons programme was discovered. The combination of potential nuclear weapon capability and ability to proliferate proxies at will would have given Iran an out-of-proportion power in the Middle East. As a potential nuclear weapon state itself, Israel shunned nuclear weapons and thus threw the moral mantle of responsibility on the Big Powers. Iran became an international pariah with a range of sanctions imposed on it until the JCPOA was finally signed. It however became redundant with the US withdrawing from the agreement in 2018. The spectre of achievement of an earlier date for development of nuclear fuel capability by Iran started to look real, with all its consequences.

Israel has never been convinced by the international communitys negotiations with Iran. It therefore retains its strategic independence to deal with the threat as it perceives correct. Clandestine means to neutralise Irans progress have been launched from time to time. Spies deployed months in advance to plant explosives inside an Iranian nuclear plant, a lethal cyber-attack to corrupt computers that control centrifuges spinning uranium, and automatic fire on a leading nuclear scientist by remotely activating a machine gun in Tehran have all been tried out. Delay yes, but stopping the nuclear programme has not been achieved and this worries Israel. Possession of nuclear weapons capability by Iran in future will create asymmetry although the effect of this scenario will be minimal because of virtual US security guarantee for Israel. Yet living with nuclear weapons in the possession of a sworn adversary in the neighbourhood that threatens its destruction is not the least bit comfortable for Israel. Can Israel therefore do anything within its own capability to confront Iran and execute a regime change? Without common borders between the two countries, it is essentially airpower, missilery and proxies that will make up the arsenal, the latter only in the possession of Iran. Israel cannot expect Arab support in any such venture except clandestinely. Israeli security officials often mention the presence of a very large arsenal of Iranian missiles in Lebanon and Syria, almost four times more than the capability of Israels iron dome anti-missile system to handle. It also faces the challenge of proxies on ground and Hezbollah in the north undertaking conventional operations as against sub-conventional ones. Israels famous proactivity, as displayed in the Six Day War in 1967 when it knocked out the Egyptian Air Force on the ground in one swoop, may not easily be repeated against Iran unless there is enough provocation for the US to be involved directly. The latter situation does not fit into the matrix of the international order today.

Iran should assess no major advantage from upping the ante at this stage when its move out of sanctions is under negotiation by a more reasonable US leadership. However, rising tensions in the Middle East directly related to Israels security would place a pause on US-Iran negotiations too. Is this the intent of some of the events whose timing at this moment appears inexplicable? The pull of the Middle East has reappeared, it seems, to keep the US centred here once again.

Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd)

Former Commander, Srinagar-based 15 Corps. Now Chancellor, Central University of Kashmir (atahasnain@gmail.com)
Shankkar Aiyar By

On the 72nd Republic Day, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the Indian economy would grow at 11.5 percent - the only large economy to record double-digit growth. In a hundred days since, India has been witness to haemorrhaging of lives, livelihoods and confidence. The hopes of a V-shaped recovery are now stranded between a raging virus and a botched-up vaccination rollout.

The economy is under the long shadow of long COVID - as in the medical condition, deleterious effects haunt the economy. In May, a parade of rating agencies as also economists have downgraded Indias growth - the best-case scenario as of now is 9 plus percent GDP growth and the worst-case scenario is 8.2 percent. To appreciate the setback, one must look at the timeline of the slide in economic prospects - where the economy was, where it is and when it could get back to where it was.

Budget 2020 placed Indias gross domestic product at around Rs 203 lakh crore or USD 2.8 trillion. The economy was expected to grow by around 10 percent nominally and touch roughly Rs 220 lakh crore. Instead, it contracted 8 percent post the pandemic pushing the economy down to Rs 195 lakh crore or around USD 2.6 trillion, which is where it was approximately in 2018. This year, the economy, as per the budget, is expected to touch Rs 222 lakh crore or USD 3 trillion. Where it will end the year is yet a question - it may just make it to the pre-pandemic level of end-2019 by early 2022 but what is clear is that the economy has lost almost two years.

Budget 2021, this column had commented, rested on critical pillars. The rollout of vaccination, the capacity of states to implement the multi-year, multi-trillion, infrastructure plans, privatisation of public sector assets to fund expenditure and the clean-up of the financial sector. The hypothesis being these moves would trigger the virtuous cycle of demand, income, consumption, investment, jobs and growth.

Consider the state of vaccination. Indias current population is estimated at 140 crore or 1.4 billion. The government had targeted to immunise 300 million of the 60-plus (and frontline workers) by the end of July. Since then, it expanded the ambit to include those above 45 years of age. As of now, just over 180 million doses have been delivered - and the current rate yo-yos between 1 and 3 million shots a day.

On the privatisation front, while there is much motion, there is little movement. Privatisation is critical for funding growth, to retire debt and ensure a sustainable borrowing programme - the government will this year borrow Rs 137 crore every hour every day. A persistent argument within government is that this may not be the right time to disinvest/privatise, to wait for the right valuation. For sure, the pandemic makes it hard but the focus must be to get it done. What matters is the opportunity cost of maintaining the PSUs and the net present value of what is realised.

It is also important to review history. Ideally Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited should have followed the privatisation of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited. Air India should have been privatised in 2001 - there were five serious takers then. In 2021, there are hardly any takers for MTNL or Air India. And while the Babudom hem and haw, a point to note is that the rise of the theology of ESG (Environment Social Governance) norms will affect interest and valuation.

The infrastructure for growth strategy requires utilisation and implementation of funds and plans by state governments. This is haunted by the surge of the virus across geographies. Economic growth depends on engagement - social and commercial. As of now, over 90 per cent of the population is under some shade of lockdown or the other. Yes, the curve will flatten at some point ahead but the unlock will perforce be gradual given the magnitude of distress witnessed.

It is useful to remember that Indias economy suffered from comorbidities - it migrated from slowdown to lockdown to contraction. There is the supply shock and then there is the spectre of demand shock. Consumption could be affected as all around distress has severely impacted consumer confidence - the competing pressures on income now include contingency plans for exorbitant ambulance charges, the elusive Remdesivir, hospitalisation costs et al. In 2020, rural India was largely unaffected and propped up the economy. In 2021, rural India is ravaged by the virus.

The bard, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote "There is no grief like the grief that does not speak." A large part of the economy is informal and is severely affected. The face-to-face segment is yet to open up. Small and medium enterprises are hit once again - depending on sectoral location, some are on large corp hospitalisation, some are under oxygen and many are on ventilator. The economy cannot yet express its grief for it is enveloped by uncertainty.

Indias economy needs a Plan B - this must start with a review of Budget 2021 and include an aggressive investment plan for healthcare, which could be unveiled as it emerges out of the current wave for the optimum multiplier effect.

(The writer is author of 'The Gated Republic', 'Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India's 12 Digit Revolution', and 'Accidental India' and can be contacted at shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com)
Prabhu Chawla By

Dear Prime Minister,

As the pyres blaze day and night like the hopes of India burning and the people die gasping for breath in hospital corridors and parking lots, the time has come for us to recall Napoleon Bonaparte's words, "A leader is a dealer in hope". When India chose you twice, over 1.30 billion of countrymen were convinced that you, the first genuine non-Congress politician, are their best hope for a New India. Two thirds of the states also voted BJP after you became the PM, as voters placed their faith in your promises and performance. You had vowed to open up the economy, scrap obsolete laws, eliminate corruption, tame the bureaucracy, minimise minority appeasement and ensure a uniform tax regime. Your motto was 'let work speak, not the leader'.

Seven years later, Brand Modi is in on oxygen. Your admirers and well-wishers are crestfallen by your silence to questions about your government's ability to tackle the pandemic. You have weathered many personal and natural storms. A couple of months after taking over as Gujarats chief minister, your innovative and hands-on approach quickly brought the state back on track after a devastating earthquake.

During COVID-19's first wave, you were hailed for containing the virus faster than other countries. You were applauded for encouraging indigenous manufacturers to invent and produce the vaccine within a minimum timeframe. Then you had said recently, "A terrible pandemic that has come after 100 years is testing the world at every step. There is an invisible enemy in front of us. We have lost many of those who were close to us. The suffering the people of this country have endured in the recent past, the pain that many people have gone through, I am also experiencing the same."

Why didnt these agonising sentiments strike your team earlier? The agony of India has washed away your vocabulary of commiseration as the sights of unclaimed bodies floating in rivers, Indians dying outside hospitals, toddlers losing their parents, patients begging for oxygen and shortage of life-saving drugs and hospital beds numbed the collective soul. They have always trusted the slogan 'Modi hai to Mumkin hai'. As the healthcare system collapses, the slogan coined by your enemies Jab tak Modi hai, to Mushkil hai is, unfortunately, gaining traction. Tragically, the sound of negativity now sounds soothing and happily welcomed than the sponsored cacophony of positivity made by the patronised and hired sycophants.

Those who have faith in you and your leadership feel that the government has lost the battle of perception due to betrayal by your trusted lieutenants. The success of a leader depends on the success of team members. The public believes that sycophancy is the sole mission of your entire team, including party office bearers, ministers, chief ministers, civil servants and self-proclaimed social influencers.

It is natural to counter fake narratives against an elected Prime Minister with a credible counter-narrative. But those who claim to be your supporters only indulge in acerbic, confrontationist and abusive tirades against government attackers. They manufacture childish, obscure websites and SM handles to promote and defend your performance and you, who has been called India's real guardian. At this time, we need your performance and your lost mojo and not publicity. The second COVID wave has set many dismal global records in terms of number of cases and fatalities. The system has failed to anticipate the catastrophe on our doorstep.

If India can be the worlds pharmacy, why was the Centre not Indias physician who provided sufficient vaccines for its people instead of embarking on an ill-conceived Vaccine Maitri? Why didnt your soft-soaping advisors place enough orders? It was left to a usually passive judiciary to excessively intervene and restore some sanity in health administration. When questioned about the governments failure, their retort was cynical ---- India is the first country to administer over 170 million doses in the shortest possible time. Is that a legitimate answer? The government ordered only 110 million doses initially. In contrast, the US sought 1.2 billion, the EU 1.3 billion, the UK around 500 million and Brazil over 230 million.

We are not even clear about the timeframe and frequency of jabs even after the pandemic has claimed over 2.50 lakh lives. What traumatises most Indians is dependence on others to save us. You made us proud by declaring that India would become a five trillion dollar economy soon. You asked us to work for Atmanirbhar Bharat. Look at the chaos on the ground. Our pride has bitten the dust by seeking foreign aid and accepting medical assistance in small amounts. Our government agencies and middle-level leaders resort to claims that "a flight from Kazakhstan arrives at Delhi with 5500000 Surgical mask and 150000 N95 mask" and "DEMA 129 arrives at Delhi airport from Qatar with 200 oxygen concentrators, 8 ventilators, Remdesivir injections". Their total value may not exceed a couple of thousand dollars.

Indians now feel diminished when they see news reports about Pakistan offering help. India is the world's fifth largest economy. We are self-sufficient in food grain, technology, pharmaceuticals and many other segments. While figures are fudged and desperate people seeking oxygen for their relatives are intimidated by the police, ministries and official departments have unleashed excessive publicity campaigns on the Oxygen Express, PSUs setting up plants and hospitals and placing orders for imports. If they could react after the damage has been done, why not earlier? Because they were busy competing in bootlicking and flummery. Your Gujarat model of development and governance was a huge success in a culturally cohesive tiny state. But pandemic needs a paradigm shift in administration. You may tweak the architecture of governance which can heal the nation through genuine cooperative federalism.

Soon after your arrival on the national scene, Indians got a place of pride everywhere. They were most sought after because they belonged to a nation which was ruled by a popular and powerful leader with a mission and vision. But tragedy is like strong acid - it dissolves everything. The pandemic has eroded the nations credibility. Indians, who were till recently adored, are now abhorred or pitied. It is during these times that the mettle of the leadership is tested. India needs concern and conciliation, not confrontation. Keep the brownie points for later.

A leader must take the responsibility for failures if he is to be considered a statesman. Your heart has always been in the right place. But it seems toadies, fair-weather civil servants, ladder climbers, opportunists and semi-educated scientists have infiltrated the system. They are saboteurs from within. Their target is to destroy Brand Modi. They hide their incompetence by making noises on social media and TV debates, while genuine professionals are debarred from reaching you and telling you the truth.

No doubt, a formidable cabal is working against you, but those who still see a ray of hope in you expect genuine introspection. Jack Welch told his audience once: "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." You gave chances to those who failed you. Now is the time to purge them from the system. Indian voters are brutal. They didn't spare a saintly leader like Vajpayee who tolerated the arrogant members of his political ecosystem. Their hubris brought agony to both the party and him. Ailing India is still looking to Modi for hope, not hopelessness. Silence of sadness is no longer golden. It may erupt like a volcano.
Branch was the first Mississippi representative to win Miss USA and the first Black woman to take the Miss Mississippi USA crown in 2019. If Branch wins Miss Universe on Sunday, she would be the first Mississippi native to ever hold the title and the first Miss USA to win the competition since 2012.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Saturday constituted a three-member medical board headed by superintendent of the Government General Hospital, Guntur, to examine wounds allegedly inflicted on YSRC rebel MP K Raghu Rama Krishnam Raju by police to check the veracity of the allegation.

However, it rejected the MPs request for the presence of his family members and the family doctor during the medical examination. Similarly, his request for allowing his personal security guards to be with him and ruled that the State police shall offer necessary protection if he was admitted as an in-patient in the hospital.

The hearing will be resumed at 12.00 pm Sunday. A division bench of the high court, comprising Justice Praveen Kumar and Justice Lalitha delivered the verdict on a letter sent to the Chief Justice by Rajus counsel B Adinarayana Rao claiming that the MP was beaten up while he was in the custody of the CID Friday night.

The bench was constituted by the Chief Justice to look into the allegation and the request of the MPs advocate to issue habeas corpus. At the time of the constitution of the bench and the hearing, the MP was not yet remanded in judicial custody. The remand report submitted by the police in the CID court was returned on technical grounds.

The MPs advocate sought declaration of his detention beyond 5.00 pm as illegal arguing that his remand was not accepted by the magistrate. However, later in the evening, the amended remand report was accepted and the MP was sent to judicial custody by the CID court.

The division bench proceedings went on around the same time in the evening. In its ruling, the bench directed the medical board to examine the MP forthwith and the police to produce him before the board.

The examination of the accused shall be videographed and the footage handed over to the principal district judge, Guntur district in a sealed cover, it said, adding that if the MPs statement was recorded by a magistrate, the same shall also be handed over to the principal district judge in a sealed cover.

The judge has been directed to forward both the covers to the vacation officer of the high court.

The bench further left the decision on whether to treat the MP as an in-patient to the medical board headed by the Guntur government hospital superintendent and comprising head of the department of general medicine of the hospital and another government doctor to be nominated by the superintendent.

Senior advocate Adinarayana Rao, in his letter to the Chief Justice, submitted that Raju was severely beaten up by the CID police so much that he was unable to walk.

Stating that he requires immediate medical assistance, he urged the Chief Justice to constitute a medical board. He also requested for personal appearance of the MP in court and pleaded that his letter be treated as a habeas corpus petition since he had no time to file a proper petition.

How could an MP be thrashed, what is happening in State, asks High Court

During the hearing, the bench rejected his request for personal appearance of the MP, pointing out that court need not examine his wounds.

The bench sought to know how could an MP be thrashed and wondered what was happening in the State. Additional Advocate General P Sudhakar Reddy, appearing for the CID, strongly condemned the allegation and termed it a tactic to up the pressure in the backdrop of the rejection of the MPs bail application earlier in the day.

He accused the MP of misleading the court and pointed out that the MP was alright till afternoon when he had lunch brought from home by his family members. He clarified that the MP was presented before a magistrate only after medical examination.

To a query by bench whether there was any objection to the medical board, Reddy replied in the negative. The bench warned that there will be serious consequences if it was found that the wounds were fresh.

Adinarayana Rao, interjecting, urged the court to let the CRPF guard the MP during his time in the hospital as he has Y category security. However, Reddy informed the court that the MPs security personnel had threatened the CID police when they had gone to his residence to arrest him.

On the remand report, Reddy informed the court that it was returned earlier since the Lok Sabha Speakers permission was not enclosed. The issue of the MPs arrest was intimiated to the Speaker, he added.

HC rejects bail plea, directs MP to approach lower court first

The high court rejected the YSRC MPs bail petition and directed him to approach a lower court. Disposing of his house motion petition, Justice K Suresh Reddy ruled the plea was not maintainable under the guidelines for hearing cases during summer vacation.

However, he clarified if the lower court rejected the bail application, the petitioner could file an appeal in the high court. Appearing for Raju, advocate B Adinarayana Rao argued there was no law which says a petitioner has to approach a lower court first. Additional Advocate General Sudhakar Reddy argued the plea was unsustainable under CrPC Sections 437 and 438.
Mahesh M Goudar By

Express News Service

BAGALKOT/VIJAYAPURA: The deadly Black Fungus (Mucormycosis) infection has been detected in at least four persons who recovered from Covid-19 in Bagalkot and Vijayapura districts, sparking fear among those who recently got discharged.

While three have been reported in Bagalkot, one case has been found in Vijayapura. One of the three who was infected went to Hyderabad to receive better medical care. Another one went to Bengaluru and the one in Bilagi is being treated at the Primary Health Centre.

Dr Ananth Desai, District Health Officer (DHO) of Bagalkot said that, All the three people have been infected with black fungus after recovering from Covid-19. Among three infected only one person is being treated here and remaining two have opted to take treatment at their own cost in private hospitals. Meanwhile, we dont have the stock of a drug, Amphotericin, that is required to treat black fungus. This has been brought to the notice of the state government.

Deputy Commissioner Captain Dr K Rajendra chaired an emergency virtual meeting with all the doctors of 39 Covid hospitals of the district. He observed that the black fungus is being infected because of the substandard quality of water in Humidifiers while supplying oxygen to patients and therefore the hospitals must use distilled water. He also directed the doctors to strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by the government in containing black fungus infection.

In Vijayapura, the first case of black fungus is reported in BLDE hospital on Sunday. The doctors at the hospital confirmed that the patient is stable and responding to the treatment. However, the attendants of the infected patient are grappling to find the drug (Amphotericin).

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Sunday said it has been decided to start treatment for "black fungus" at Bowring Hospital here on a pilot basis, and later extend the treatment to medical colleges and district hospitals.

Noting that the treatment for black fungus infection is a bit costly, the Minister said he would discuss with the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa regarding free treatment as he has also said a committee of experts would be set up to prepare a roadmap for treatment of those infected and how to curb the infection.

"Mucormycosis or black fungus is commonly seen among those who have less immunity or because of use of steroids. Those who have diabetes and are infected by COVID 10-15 days after they take steroids, the infection begins through the nose and spreads to the eyes and its parts like optic nerves and optic chiasm," Sudhakar said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said there is danger of losing vision because of this and if timely treatment is not taken there are chances of death.

"After the infection was noticed in Maharashtra, we held discussions with eye specialists and experts (ophthalmologists) and from Monday at Bowring hospital, we are starting treatment for it," he said adding: "We are starting on a pilot basis, and will later continue in all medical colleges and some district hospitals."

Noting that Amphotericin B, the drug for black fungus infection is a bit costly, the Minister said a patient would require seven weeks of continued treatment to be cured and treatment may cost Rs 2-3 lakh per person.

"I will discuss with the Chief Minister and will suggest free treatment. Ultimately, he will decide," the Minister said adding those with black fungus issues should immediately consult doctors.

The Centre is rationing the Amphotericin B drug and would be distributed to the State also, Sudhakar said adding that it was decided at the COVID task force meeting on Saturday to request the Centre to provide 20,000 vials of the drug.

He said he was in constant touch with Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadanada Gowda and his Ministry in this regard and would also talk to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"There is no need for people to worry, but those with diabetes or other secondary infections, those who are immuno-compromised, with TB, HIV, cancer, with kidney or any other organ transplant, I advise all of them to exercise caution and not to use steroids without the doctor's consent," he said.

Also, he advised doctors to exercise caution while administering steroids to such patients.

In response to a question, the Minister said it was difficult for now to say exactly as to how many are affected by black fungus or died of it, as people with such issues may have gone to private eye doctors.

He said he was constituting by Monday a committee consisting of eye specialists (ophthalmologist), endocrinologists, diabetologists on how to bring black fungus infections under control and how to treat patients with such infections.

Also, the Minister cautioned the people about dengue caused due to mosquito bite, especially during day time.

About 15,000-20,000 people get infected with dengue every year in the State, he said while asking people to take preventive measures like cleanliness particularly with the onset of monsoon in days.

(With PTI Inputs)
Iffath Fathima By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Private hospitals will take some more time before resuming vaccination at their facilities as the government has told them to source vaccines on their own, but there is no stock available anywhere.

The Private Hospital and Nursing Association (PHANA) had written to Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar a week ago, asking the government to supply them vaccines. PHANA president Dr HM Prasanna said, "But we have not got any response. We have also approached Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India, but they have not replied either."

"We have also written to Reddy's Lab for Sputnik vaccine, but they too have kept mum. The government should have informed us at least two months ago that private hospitals should buy vaccines on their own, but they told us just five days before the fourth phase was to start. Now, we are left with no vaccines," he added.

PHANA had appealed to the government to supply at least enough vaccines to complete the second dosage for those above 45 years old and above. Only Manipal and Apollo Hospitals have the stocks, but they are already booked.

Dr R Ravindra, past president, PHANA, said, "The State Government has let us down. There is an acute shortage of vaccines. I had written to Serum Institute, but they said they cannot supply us till July. Bharat Biotech said they will provide 10,000 doses from next week, which will be sufficient for 10 days."
Anuja Susan Varghese By

Express News Service

ERNAKULAM: Amid the gloom of an unrelenting pandemic, several kind hearts across Kerala are braving personal risks to be at the forefront of the COVID battle. Sheer humanitarian concern spurs them towards selfless service day after day.

Be it bidding COVID victims a dignified farewell, distribution of essentials or blood donation, the Sahrudaya Samaritans are just a call away for assistance. This, at a time when families of those who passed away at their homes are reluctant to touch or handle the bodies of their loved ones.

Antony MT, a social worker residing at Kadamakkudy in Kochi, recounts instances of handling dead bodies, kitted up in PPEs, for over five or six hours. The fear of infecting his four children and elderly parents grips him every waking moment.

Waking up one morning, 80-year-old Kunjumon had sat up in his bed and collapsed to the floor. He had tested positive last month along with his family, including two sons and a daughter and their children. When he passed away at his residence in Cheranalloor, his family members were scared to touch the body or lay it straight. The volunteers from Sahrudaya were called in.

"The sight when we reached the house was shocking - the body was lying on the ground, with legs bent. We struggled to straighten it. We made all preparation for cremation, from dressing to wrapping the body in PPE, before taking the body to the crematorium. It is a heartbreaking sight to watch loved ones unable to touch or stand close to the deceased," Antony said.

Lakshmi S, mother of a 27-year-old who died of COVID in Kochi, was devastated when her son's body was brought home in an ambulance. He was under treatment at a private hospital for a week. When his face was shown to the family, Lakshmi, though COVID positive, could not even touch or kiss her son, wrapped in plastic, for one last time.

"During the first wave too, we were actively engaged in cremating and burying the dead. Now, the fear in the hearts of people has also increased. But it is the confidence and support given by people and fellow volunteers that keeps us going," said Antony.

There are around 1,500 volunteers in the team of Sahrudaya Samaritans under the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro Malabar Church, assisting in the battle against COVID.

They volunteer in various regions across the state, including Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam and Ernakulam. "We also deliver food kits and essential items, including medicines. In rural areas, there are 20-30 volunteers in a unit to handle any situation," said P Lalachan, social worker and programme coordinator.

According to Fr Joseph Koluthuvallil, the director, Sahrudaya tries to cater to all needs of those suffering because of the pandemic. "Recently, we supplied oxygen cylinders to a family, in Kalamassery, who were struggling to get cylinders when they shifted to their home from the hospital," said Fr Koluthuvallil.
P Ramdas By

Express News Service

KOCHI: Considering the 'pathetic' COVID situation in the state, the High Court has granted bail to several prison inmates, including those convicted for serious crimes like rape of minors, but legal experts say the court should rethink before doing so as such a move could put society and lives of citizens at risk.

Justice B Kemal Pasha, former judge of Kerala High Court, said that the court should not grant bail to convicts, who were sentenced for committing heinous crimes, including POCSO cases.

"It is equal to granting bail to an accused in a case coming under Section 302 (murder) of IPC wherein death or life imprisonment is the punishment prescribed. By merely considering the pandemic situation, the courts have not liberally granted bail to such accused," he said.

The court on May 14 granted bail to a 59-year-old convict, who was sentenced under Section 377 (unnatural offences) of IPC and Section 5 (f) (1) (m) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

In another appeal, the court granted bail to a 49-year-old convict, who was sentenced for the offences under Sections 373 and 376 (1) of IPC. The prosecution opposed the plea and submitted that if the petitioners were released on bail, it will lead to serious consequences. The petitioners sentence was suspended and released on bail for 3 months considering the pandemic situation.

While granting bail to a convict, the court observed that "Every day, about 30,000 people are tested positive for COVID. The state declared a lockdown to curb the virus spread. The government also passed an order to grant parole to eligible inmates of the prisons in the state."

Justice PV Kunhikrishnan observed it was true that the allegation against the petitioner was very serious. The trial court found him guilty. The court pointed out the Supreme Court had issued various directions for minimising the strength of inmates in prisons.

The court released the petitioner on bail imposing stringent conditions. He should furnish his residential address and contact number to the station house officer within three days from the date of his release from the jail.

In another case, while releasing a convict in the POCSO case on bail, the same bench observed that "life is more important than anything." The convict had committed sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl, who belongs to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe community.

In the case of parole, the high-powered committee headed by a judge of the Kerala High Court only recommended releasing the convicts and remand accused who are involved in offences that are punishable with imprisonment up to 10 years or less. The convicts or accused in the offences under the POCSO Act are excluded from this.
Sisir Panigrahy By

Express News Service

BERHAMPUR: A 35-year-old HIV positive woman, who was infected with Covid-19, delivered a baby girl at City Hospital in Berhampur on Saturday. The newborn is Covid negative and condition of both the mother and child is stable, said hospital authorities.

The woman, a resident of Pattapur village in Ganjam district and mother of one, complained of labour pain a week back. She was brought to City Hospital by her family members and admitted to the gynaecology ward where her Covid test was conducted and she was found positive.

"After being found Covid positive, she became extremely anxious. We kept her in isolation and staff nurses were constantly monitoring her vital parameters besides, counselling her to reduce her anxiety", said a doctor of the City Hospital.

She delivered a healthy baby girl weighing 2.6 kg through C-section on Saturday. Hospital authorities said Covid test on the newborn was conducted and she was found negative. An HIV test of the baby girl will be conducted after six weeks. While the baby is now under isolation, her mother was shifted to Covid ward of the City Hospital. She has been under treatment for HIV since 2014.

Hospital authorities celebrated the safe delivery of the baby girl by cutting a cake.
Prasanjeet Sarkar By

Express News Service

ROURKELA: Going beyond their call of duty, Sundargarh Police has decided to extend a helping hand to the elderly citizens living alone in the district. Senior citizens of the district can now call the police to seek help with medicines, food and other essentials as and when required.

Earlier this week, police created a database of elderly persons at Sundargarh, Rajgangpur and Birmitrapur towns. Police visited the houses of senior citizens to provide them identity cards and information on the police helpline which they can call during an emergency.

Saroj Kumar Patel, a retired government college faculty member, stays alone with wife Rekharani at Maheshdihi at Sundargarh town. His son Ishwar works in New York, while daughter Puja is married at Melbourne in Australia. In wake of the rising cases, Patel said that he feels unsafe to step out of his house to procure medicines and essentials.

On Wednesday, three police personnel delivered the couple their identity cards and asked them about their well-being. On Friday, he received a call from police assuring to extend all sorts of help in case of need.

I am overwhelmed by the act of police and feel relieved with the assurance of getting help in any crisis. It is a much-needed assistance for people like me, he said.

Sundargarh SP Sagarika Nath said that police will help both infected elderly persons in home isolation and non-Covid senior citizens residing alone.

In the first phase, a database of around 500 senior citizens of three urban pockets has been prepared. They are being given printed identity cards. The cards contain details of the beneficiaries including their blood group, emergency contact numbers of their closed ones and contact numbers of police aid.

She said contact numbers of the beneficiaries have been kept in the police call centre and the personnel would call up every senior citizen to enquire about their well-being. Besides, the personnel will also visit every senior citizen during patrolling at least once a week.

She said few local organisations have been roped in to provide cooked food to elderly persons in home isolation and those in need have been assured doorstep delivery of medicines and grocery so as to keep them safe at homes. The SP said senior citizens willing to put forth grievances need not visit the police station physically and they can have WhatsApp video conferencing calls with her on a fixed date.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Following warnings from health experts on overcrowding at the places designated for purchasing Remdesivir drug in Chennai and other places, the State government on Sunday announced that the antiviral drug will directly be given to hospitals from Tuesday onwards.



A new portal would be launched soon through which the private hospitals will be allowed to purchase Remdesivir directly from the sales centres, said the government in a statement.



Referring to the World Health Organisation and medical experts, the government stated that antiviral Remdesivir drug should only be administered for patients who are undergoing treatment with oxygen support. The drug has limited benefit for other patients.



The private hospitals will have to furnish all the information related to patients in the soon to be launched portal, accordingly should place requests for Remdesivir online.



After the drug was allotted, an authorised person from the hospital can purchase the Remdesivir from the government sales centres. The new procedures will come into effect from May 18, said an official statement.



For patients undergoing treatment at government hospitals, Remdesivir durg will continue to be provided by the State owned Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC).

So far Remdesivir for patients in private facilities was sold through government sale centres in Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Tirunelveli.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister M K Stalin at the Secretariat on Sunday. Medical and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramaniam, Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and other top officials took part in the meeting.



The government said authorities would monitor if the antiviral drug was used by private hospitals only for eligible patients and also it was sold to patients at the same price at which it was bought from its centres.

The government had also warned of punitive action for recommending Remdesivir without any necessity.
By PTI

CHENNAI: Vedanta Ltd owned Sterlite Copper plant has roped in experts from ISRO to help rectify the technical glitch developed in the cold box of its oxygen plant, leading to a suspension in production of the life- saving gas.

The company formally commenced production of medical oxygen on Thursday and the very next day, the facility in Tuticorin, about 600kms from here, suffered a jolt in operations after developing a 'technical snag'.

In a statement shared on the micro-blogging site on Sunday, Sterlite Copper said, "efforts to resume production at our oxygen plant are progressing".

"Today, an expert team from the Indian Space Research Organisation arrived at the premises to support our ongoing efforts and collaborate with our technical team.

" The expert team has suggested some measures to fix the snag and resume production of oxygen.

"This has helped fastrack the repair process for which we are thankful to the local administration, which was instrumental in facilitating this cooperative effort to recommence our oxygen production," Vedanta said.

The facility, on May 13, began producing medical oxygen to meet the demand for the life-saving gas following a surge in COVID cases in the state.

The first set of oxygen tankers have been dispatched to the beneficiaries.

The Sterlite copper smelter plant was accorded approval by the then AIADMK government on April 26 at an all-party meeting to produce medical oxygen at its facility for a period of four months at the facility in Tuticorin.

The unit was sealed by the state government in May 2018, days after 13 agitators who were part of a protest against the company over environmental concerns, were killed in police firing during a violent anti-Sterlite stir in the southern district.
Moon and Westcotts beef reached new heights last week when Westcott refused to eat chicken feet and placed them on the floor. Moon said the move was racist, as the dish is popular in China. Westcott said she just didnt like them.
By Express News Service

MADURAI: The sleuths of National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted a search operation on Sunday at four locations and seized properties from the houses of a suspected supporters of extremist organisation. A case had been registered against Mohammed Iqbal alias Senthil Kumar for sharing Facebook posts under headlines of Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu favouring ISIS, which allegedly provoked youth against democracy.

The NIA took over the case from the city police in April 2021. In connection with the case, the officials carried out a search operation at his house and his associates houses in Kazimar Street, K Pudur, Bethaniyapuram and Mahaboopalayam in Madurai.

The properties, including laptop, hard disks, mobile phones, memory cards, SIM cards, pen drive and incriminating documents, had been seized from the four places. The search continued from 6 am to 1.30 pm. The search operation was also conducted at his associate houses to check if they also supported the extremists.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A day after the High Court directed the State government to allow ambulances from other States and provide treatment to all Covid-19 patients, Prime Minister Narendra Modi intervened and directed Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to increase the supplies of oxygen and Remdesivir injections to Telangana, enabling the State to cope up with the situation.

Accordingly, the State will get 10,500 Remdesivir injections daily from Monday onwards. Railway Minister Goyal informed this to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao over the phone on Saturday night. At present, the State only gets 5,500 Remdesivir injections per day.

Goyal informed the Chief Minister that the Central government had decided to increase the supply of injections. He also informed Rao that the State would get an additional 200 tonnes of medical oxygen too.

Oxygen would be supplied to the State from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, Angul in Odisha and Durgapur in West Bengal, Piyush Goyal said. The Union Minister wanted Rao to coordinate with authorities concerned on the transportation of oxygen to the State.

Goyal also responded positively to the States request for more Covid-19 vaccine doses. Goyal wanted Rao to give preference to administration of second dose, to which the Chief Minister replied that Telangana was doing the same thing.

Goyal told Chandrasekhar Rao that the Prime Minister had instructed him (Goyal) to supply the required medical oxygen, Remdesivir injections and vaccines to the State.

Modi took this decision against the backdrop of the Telangana High Courts direction that the Telangana government should provide treatment to all the Covid-19 patients, which increased the burden on the State.

Patients from four States are admitted in various hospitals in the State. Of the total Covid patients in the State, over 40 per cent are from other States.
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Upon arrival at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, international passengers will have to undergo a Covid-19 test, even if he or she has a negative test report from their country of origin, say airport officials. The authorities at the airport maintain that despite a majority of passengers carrying a negative Covid-19 test report. Passengers who were hopeful for a clear exit from the airport upon arrival were caught offguard, when asked to undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test.

Meanwhile, several passengers cried foul that they had to shell out a hefty amount upon arrival despite being tested in the past two to three days. Several passengers pointed out that the Union Government guidelines clearly state that a negative report from the country of origin, carried out in the last 72 hours was valid.

I arrived at Hyderabad Airport along with my family. We had been tested in the last two days in Oman and were hopeful of exit with ease. But, despite having a negative report, my entire family had to undergo tests and we had to shell out Rs 7,500 for RT-PCR tests. I had already spent around Rs 24,000 equivalent in Oman for tests. We also faced trouble upon arrival as even I didnt have Indian currency to pay for the tests, lamented Abul Ala Faisal, an expat working in Omans Health Ministry. Some others who arrived in recent days from other Gulf nations were of the same opinion.

I had undergone a test before boarding from Qatar. But, on arrival, I had to undertake it once again, which I dont think was necessary, said a Warangal native, on condition of anonymity. Airport authorities have clarified that given the intensity of the second wave, this was made mandatory.

The tests were made mandatory as an extra precautionary measure to control Covid. There are no exceptions in countries of origin and everyone arriving should undergo a test, even if they produce a report of the test taken within 72 hours from boarding. One of the reasons is that flights may carry the virus, said an official source. While the Airport Health officials failed to respond to calls on queries regarding any fresh local guidelines.
Manish Anand By

NEW DELHI: The union cabinet has met at least five times since the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic began in late March or early April, but not a single decision was related to the ongoing surge, at least that is what can be concluded from the information the government has made available. All that the cabinet has done since April 1 is take insignificant decisions on metro projects, MoUs with other nations and productivity linked schemes.

For instance on April 20, when the second wave was about to peak and Covid patients were scurrying for non-existent vacant hospital beds, oxygen and critically-needed drugs, all that the cabinet did was clear the second phase of Bengalurus metro project and okayed MoUs with New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh and Brazil. In the last meeting on May 12, the cabinet, among other things, decided to transfer ITBP land to the Uttarakhand government for its Dehradun- Mussoorie ropeway project.

The absence of any role of the union cabinet in the massive health crisis facing the country is in sharp contrast to almost all critical decisions being driven by the Prime Ministers Office to control the pandemic. After the PM canceled public rallies for the later phases of the West Bengal elections, he reached out to a number of chief ministers either on phone or virtually to take stock of the pandemic. He also held a video conference with 10 of them on April 23.

Besides, the PM has been holding scores of virtual meetings with stakeholders to deal with specific issues concerning oxygen, medicines, vaccines, Covid hospitals, which are attended by the officials and experts. The non-involvement of the union cabinet in the Centres response to the pandemic has raised eyebrows and suggestions that the cabinet system of governance that India has adopted is being weakened. Every minister is allocated a portfolio and he or she is responsible for the assigned task. If the Prime Minister thinks that other ministers need to be involved in certain matters then a Cabinet meeting can be called, said Yogendra Narain, a retired IAS officer and a former secretary general of the Rajya Sabha.

Narain said it was up to the Prime Minister, who if he feels, may ask a minister to help the health minister in dealing with a specific task such as transport of oxygen. A former top ranking bureaucrat said the Cabinet Secretary should have taken the PM into confidence and alerted him of an impending second wave, which could have been on the basis of warnings by international agencies or on the ground assessment in the states.

Its to be seen whether the Cabinet Secretary alerted the PM on time of an impending challenge with a request to call the meeting of the cabinet. If he didnt, he failed in his duty. Rashid Alvi, a former member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, lamented that the government in this dispensation means only the PM. Cabinet meeting can be called only if the PM wishes, but the reasons behind second wave is Assembly elections and UP gram panchayat polls, besides Kumbh Mela in Hardwar, said Alvi.

CABINET MEETINGS

April 7

Production-linked incentive scheme for white goods, solar PV modules, MoU between Indian & Japan for academic research

April 20

Amendment to Finance Bill 2020, 2nd phase of Benagluru Metro project, MoUs with Bangladesh, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil on various matters

April 28

MoU with UK & Ireland over custom clearances

April 20

Additional foodgrain for 2 months for 80 crore people under National Food Security Act, MoU with UK & Ireland on migration and mobility partnership, MoU with UK on global innovation partnership

April 28

Production-linked incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cell battery storage, transfer of ITBP land to Uttarakhand govt for ropeway project, MoU with Qatar
By Associated Press

BERLIN: The head of Germany's independent vaccine advisory panel says it's likely that everyone will have to get vaccinated again next year against COVID-19.

Thomas Mertens told the Funke newspaper group in comments published Sunday that there isn't yet enough data to say when exactly booster shots will be needed, and officials will have to wait a few months to see whether protection against the coronavirus weakens in some groups.

But he stressed that "the virus won't leave us again" and so the vaccinations currently under way won't be the last.

He added: "In principle, we have to prepare for everyone possibly having to refresh their vaccine protection next year."

Nearly 30.4 million people in Germany, or 36.5 per cent of the population, had received at least one vaccine shot by Friday.

More than 9 million, or 10.9 per cent of the population, had been fully vaccinate.
By PTI

UNITED NATIONS: Amid escalating tensions between Gaza and Israel, India on Sunday urged "both sides" to show extreme restraint and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, underlining that "immediate de-escalation" is the need of the hour.

The UN Security Council held an open meeting on the situation in the Middle East on Sunday, during which UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres termed the tensions as the "most serious escalation" in Gaza and Israel in years.

Describing the current hostilities as "utterly appalling", the UN chief asserted that "fighting must stop. It must stop immediately. Rockets and mortars on one side and aerial and artillery bombardments on the other must stop. I appeal to all parties to heed this call."

India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti said the continuing violence, which began in East Jerusalem a week back, is now threatening to spiral out of control.

"The events of the last several days have resulted in a sharp deterioration of the security situation."

Tirumurti reiterated India's strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-State solution, while also stressing India's strong condemnation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction.

"Immediate de-escalation is the need of the hour, so as to arrest any further slide towards the brink. We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status-quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood," he said.

India voiced support for the diplomatic efforts of the Quartet and other members of the international community, the countries in the region in particular, to "calm" the situation and put an end to the ongoing violence and seek to achieve durable peace.

"These incidents have once again underscored the need for immediate resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestinian authorities. The absence of direct and meaningful negotiations between the parties is widening the trust deficit between the parties," Tirumurti said, voicing concern that "this will only increase the chances for similar escalation in future."

India believes that every effort should be made to create conducive conditions for resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine, he said.

During the two previously held Security Council closed meetings last week on the escalating tensions, India had expressed its deep concern over violence in Jerusalem, especially on Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount during the holy month of Ramzan, and about the possible eviction process in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, an area which is part of an arrangement facilitated by the UN.

"We had also expressed our apprehension at the spread of violence to other parts of West Bank and Gaza," he said.

Tirumurti said India condemns the indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel.

He added that the retaliatory strikes into Gaza have caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths, including of women and children.

"India has also lost one of her nationals living in Israel in this rocket fire  a caregiver in Ashkelon. We deeply mourn her demise along with all other civilians who have lost their lives in the current cycle of violence," he said.

Soumya Santosh, 30, was killed in a rocket attack by Palestinian militants from Gaza, according to officials.

Santosh, who hailed from Kerala's Idukki district, worked as a caregiver attending to an old woman at a house in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

Tirumurti told the Council meeting, held under the Presidency of China this month, that Jerusalem has a special place in hearts of millions of Indians, who visit the city every year.

It also houses the Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya  The Indian Hospice, which is a historic place associated with a great Indian Sufi saint Baba Farid and located inside the Old City.

"India has restored this Indian Hospice. The historic status-quo at the holy places of Jerusalem, including the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, must be respected," he said.

Guterres said the fighting risks dragging Israelis and Palestinians into a spiral of violence with devastating consequences for both communities and for the entire region.

"It has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole, potentially creating a new locus of dangerous instability."

Palestine's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riad Al Malki said at the meeting that "Jerusalem is not for sale", asserting that "Our roots are deep, our history long, our heritage etched in every street and alley in this city."

"The alternative that Israel choose is apartheid. Yes, apartheid. And one day soon, even this Council will not be able to deny this reality. Act now to end the aggression and assault on our people, our homes, our land. Act now so freedom can prevail, not apartheid.

"Israel may believe it is winning, but it is no where closer to defeating the Palestinian people. Our people will never surrender or forego their rights. Palestinian freedom is the only path to peace," he said.

Israel's Ambassador to UN Gilad Erdan said any attempt to compare Israel and Hamas is "factually, legally and morally wrong".

"Hamas targets civilians. Israel targets terrorists. Israel makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas makes every effort to increase civilian casualties. Israel sees every civilian death as a tragedy. Hamas sees every Israeli civilian death as a victory in its campaign of Jihad based on its anti-semitic charter, and every Palestinian civilian death as a victory in its campaign to gain international sympathy."

Erdan said the Council can send a clear message to Hamas that the international community will no longer accept its strategy of turning Palestinian children into human shields and using schools, hospitals, and high rises to hide its terror machines.

"You can choose to support a more peaceful future by demanding the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip Israel has already made its choice. We will take all steps necessary to defend our people. Now, the choice is yours. The world is watching."
By PTI

LONDON: The UK government on Sunday said a local lockdown in Bolton, a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, has not been ruled out to help protect people from the spread of the coronavirus variant first identified in India.

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the "vast majority" of people in the town, some 280 km from London, who are in hospital with the new variant had not taken up the offer of a vaccine.

He said the government was prepared to implement restrictions if necessary.

Bolton town has seen a sharp spike in infections since mid-April, Public Health England said.

In the town, the B.1.617.2 variant now makes up the majority of new coronavirus cases.

Hancock said the plan was to "pile in testing and vaccinations to try to get on top of this".

He said five people who had received a single jab were in hospital in Bolton with the variant first identified in India.

One patient had received both doses of the vaccine- but they are "very frail".

Asked if anyone has died with the B1.617.2 variant after receiving two jabs, Hancock said: "Not that we're aware of".

"We've put in a huge amount of testing. We've reinforced that with army personnel as well, and we're expanding the vaccination programme - especially for those second jabs which are the best protection against ending up in hospital," Hancock told the Sky News.

On the prospect of further action, he said: "At the moment we're taking the approach that worked in south London - which is this massive surge testing - but of course we don't rule out further action.

"Given though Bolton has been in some form of a lockdown for a year, it's not a step we want to take but of course we might have to take it and we will if it's necessary to protect people."

Leader of Bolton Council David Greenhalgh urged people to get the vaccine.

"We've been knocking on doors," he was quoted as saying by the BBC.

"You can take a horse to water but you can't always make it drink but we are doing everything we can through all our partnerships, through our faith leaders and everyone, to get the message out there: get a vaccine, it protects us all.

"If you've got the offer, the offer is going to be there please take up that vaccine," the Conservative councillor added.

Attention has been focused on just a handful of neighbourhoods to the south of the town centre - Rumworth, Deane and Great Lever.

About half of new cases detected in Bolton over the past week have come from those three areas alone.

There is currently no evidence it causes more severe disease or can evade Covid vaccines in any way - the single biggest concern of scientists.
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NORWALK  The Federal Emergency Management Association mobile COVID-19 vaccination unit visited South Norwalk on Friday and plans to return Saturday, providing a minimum of 250 vaccinations each day, including first-dose Pfizer vaccines to children aged 12 to 17.

The clinic, held in the parking lot of 50 Washington St. in SoNo, offered Pfizer and single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines, city spokesperson Josh Morgan said. While the J&J vaccine was only available for residents 18 and older, adults chose between receiving the Pfizer or the J&J vaccine.
LITCHFIELD COUNTY  The Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut sent the following release in response to last weeks violence, generated after Hamas fired seven rockets at Jerusalem and dozens more at southern Israel. The fighting that took place between Israel and Hamas was the most intense since 2014.

The Jewish Federation of Western Connecticut, which supports the Litchfield and surrounding towns, stands with Israel in its efforts to safeguard its citizens from thousands of rockets launched from Gaza targeting Israeli civilian populations centers.

We mourn the loss of civilians on all sides of the conflict and hope that there will a quick resolution to the conflict, one that will safeguard Israel in the future. We also understand that Israel has no option but to defend its citizens and to limit the ability of Hamas to carry out these attacks.

Too often, press accounts on the conflict focus only on casualty numbers and gloss over the central point that one side of the conflict is led by Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization whose principal reason for existence is to destroy Israel.

Israel, on the other hand, is required to do what is necessary to ensure that Hamas will not succeed. Our Federation understands this central point and it is our job to help others understand it as well.

Thankfully, Iron Dome, which was implemented with vital support from the United States, is limiting Israeli casualties to this point. However, that does not change the grievous nature of the actions of Hamas.

We also understand that limiting the casualties does not solve the problem or mean that Israel and its civilian population are not suffering horribly in the face of the rocket attacks.

We know that hundreds of thousands of people are forced to run to shelters, and stay in lock down, at a moments notice. We know that many people, especially children, suffer PTSD as a result of these attacks. We know that Hamas also sends incendiary devices to Israel to burn forests and farms in Israel.

These are just some of the ramifications of the hatred represented by Hamas, whose use of terror only serves to thwart the aspirations of the people it purports to represent and undermine prospects for a lasting peace. Still, we know that Israel will continue to survive and thrive.

So, to all Israelis, we say: We feel your pain, and we admire your resolve.

Gary Jones Executive Director - Jewish Federation of Western CT Pauline Zimmerman President - Jewish Federation of Western CT
The men had driven all the way from Baltimore with a cargo of tear gas for the Guggenheim Brothers laboratory on 202nd St. and 10th Ave. But as a lone security guard opened the gate and waved them into the lot, the men had a strange feeling something was amiss. Even in the dark, they recognized the guard as one of the lab assistants and wondered aloud why he was working the graveyard shift.
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Patricia Hruby Powell is the author of the award-winning Lift As You Climb; Josephine; Loving vs Virginia; and Struttin With Some Barbecue, all signed and for sale at Jane Addams bookstore. She teaches community classes at Parkland.
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Markham Mayor Roger Agpawa poses with Gov. J.B. Pritzker during his April 9 visit to the south Chicago suburb to announce the passage of bills sponsored by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.
Sundiata Cha-Jua is a professor of African American studies and history at the University of Illinois and a member of the North End Breakfast Club. His email is schajua@gmail.com.
Seth Whitehead is executive director of the Illinois Petroleum Resources Board, a nonprofit organization that provides public awareness and education about the Illinois oil and natural-gas industry and works to clean up and restore abandoned oilfield sites.
School segregation, integration and equity pose some of societys hardest, most complex challenges. In my experience as a school-board member and advocate, human beings want to attend schools that reflect their communities; they want to avoid busing; they want equality  or advantage  in resources; they (often) want diversity in faculty and fellow students; and they want to be in the majority of a school population. People want all of this at the same time in the same school.
The public is invited to join the Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library and the Lake Health Integrative Medicine team for a virtual three-part se
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Longview, TX (75601)

Today

Mainly clear. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
(Newser)  The kingdom of Beninwhose earthen walls were said to be on par with those of the Great Wall of Chinastood from the 11th century until 1897. That was the year the British invaded, burned it down, and made off with the Benin Bronzes: masks, figures, and plaques made of metal, ivory, and wood. They were taken by the thousands and now held by 161 museums around the globe. That count is slowly being chipped away at, reports the New York Times, most notably by the German government's May decision to return a "substantial" number of its bronzes to Nigeria, where Benin was located and which has been requesting the bronzes be returned since 1960. Germany has pledged to complete and share an inventory of all Benin Bronzes in its museums by June 15; transfers would begin in 2022.

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Germany's move is seen as the turning of a tide amidst a clamor to have the stolen art returned. But as the Washington Post reports, "many institutions remain hesitant to relinquish the work." As might be expected, the British Museum has the largest collection at about 900 pieces, and the power to return them lies with Parliament, which the Times reports would have to enact a change in the law in order to facilitate that. While some say Germany's move will put pressure on Britain, the statement the AP shares from the British Museum doesn't yet indicate any movement: "We believe the strength of the British Museum collection resides in its breadth and depth, allowing millions of visitors an understanding of the cultures of the world and how they interconnect over timewhether through trade, migration, conquest or peaceful exchange." (Read more Benin stories.)
While there are many legitimate reasons for unemployed people not applying for those jobs, I think that one of the biggest reasons is that there are plenty of workers laid off over the past year who decided to take that advice from the right-wingers and look for better jobs rather than return to the low-wage drudgery that they knew for far too long.
(Newser)  The BBC journalist who famously sat with Princess Diana for the bombshell interview detailing her marriage to Prince Charles has quit just as an investigation into his methods for securing that 1995 interview wraps. Per CNN, the BBC said 58-year-old Martin Bashir has been struggling with health problems for months and will step down from his role as religion editor. People reports Bashir, who has long been accused of using forged documents to convince the late royal to sit for the interview, underwent heart surgery last year and continues to suffer from lingering issues. He reportedly informed BBC he'd be leaving last month.

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The investigation into Bashir was announced in November after Dianas brother, Charles Spencer, renewed allegations that Bashir made false and defamatory claims about senior royals in order to gain his trust and access to his sister. The claims included that Dianas phone was bugged and that her bodyguard was plotting against her. He claimed that Bashir showed him false bank statements purporting to show that royal aides were being paid to keep Diana under surveillance, and that he introduced Bashir to his sister as a result. The BBC has said Bashir admitted commissioning mocked-up documents. But the corporation has said that the documents played no part in Diana's decision to take part in the interview. Per the Evening Standard , the report is complete and is now in the hands of the BBC.

(Read more Martin Bashir stories.)
(Newser)  Five Beluga whales have arrived at their new home in a Connecticut aquarium after a years-long legal battle to import them and two others from Canada. The first three animals were flown from Ontario to Connecticut on Friday, per the AP. They arrived in Mystic on three tractor-trailers, where they were lifted on their stretchers by cranes into their new habitat. Per WTNH, the other two whales arrived by early Saturday, concluding a 22-hour transport and five years of wrangling to move the animals from Marineland in Ontario. Government officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada last month approved the export of the whales, seven months after US officials approved the move.

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Connecticut-based Friends of Animals and other activists sought to block the transport in a lawsuit last fall claiming the transfer is about making money and not on conservation research. A federal judge in March declined to issue an injunction. The whales, which range in age from 7 to 12, were born in captivity and officials said they cannot safely be released into the ocean. Mystic officials said the five whales left an overcrowded habitat with about 50 other Belugas in Canada to join three other Belugas at the center of important research designed to benefit the species in the wild. The animals will be trained to voluntarily give blood, saliva, blowhole air and other samples in exchange for rewards.

(Read more beluga whale stories.)
(Newser)  A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering a Houston neighborhood has been found after a nearly week-long search and appears to be unharmed, police announced Saturday, per the AP. In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Cmdr. Ron Borza can be seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal and saying it has been a long week searching for it. Authorities had been searching for the tiger, a 9-month-old male named India, since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner. At a news conference, Borza said that Cuevas' wife, Giorgiana, turned over the tiger to police on Saturday.

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Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits under a city ordinance unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals. But Cuevas attorney, Michael W. Elliott, insisted his client doesnt own the tiger, saying, I am not sure it makes any difference who technically owns India as he does not have a birth certificate or title." Cuevas was arrested Monday by Houston police and charged with evading arrest for allegedly fleeing his home with the tiger after officers had responded to a call about a dangerous animal. At the time of his arrest by Houston police, Cuevas was already out on bond for a murder charge in a 2017 fatal shooting in neighboring Fort Bend County. Cuevas has maintained the shooting was self-defense, Elliott said. After a hearing Friday, a judge revoked Cuevas current $125,000 bond on the murder charge and issued a new bond for $300,000. He remains jailed. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser) 

For a guy who stays out of politics, Matthew McConaughey is spending a lot of time talking about running for governor of Texas. The A-list star and Oscar-winner has never come out as a Democrat or Republican, and he hasnt given much of a hint what his platform would be. So far, thats a plus. A Dallas Morning News poll showed 45% of Texans would vote for him if he threw his hat (a backwards ballcap? A cowboy hat?) in the ring, per the Hollywood Reporter . But will that goodwill make it all the way to the governors mansion? Everybody loves you until you take a position, a senior Texas Republican operative told Politico.

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And what position would he take? Hes only voted twice since 2012, and neither vote was in the contentious 2016 presidential election, per the Texas Tribune. Hes been photographed with rising Democrat star Beto ORourke but has also appeared in PSAs put out by Republican officials. Hes been an outspoken advocate for reforming gun laws, but otherwise has criticized liberals and the far right, Fox News reports. Politico reports hes been making calls, at least one with a moderate Republican and energy CEO. But when it comes to speaking out in public, hes only been promoting his memoir, Greenlight. (Read more Matthew McConaughey stories.)
(Newser)  Eager to ditch your mask? Not so fast, the nations largest nurses union says. National Nurses United has vocally disagreed with the CDCs new guidance on masks. The CDC said Thursday that fully vaccinated people can go about their business without masks or social distancing, with a few exceptions. With many businesses dropping mask requirements for vaccinated customers, that effectively puts everyone on the honor system. But Bonnie Castillo, executive director of the union, says the move is not based on science, the New York Times reports. Its too soon, the union says, when there are 35,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the US every day, and new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus are spreading, per the Hill.

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The good news is the CDC based the new guidelines on studies that show the vaccines are effective against all variants in the US, Slate reports. But, the nurses union says, the bad news is that relaxing mask guidelines will endanger workers and disproportionately affect people of color. The CDC is also dropping monitoring of breakthrough infectionsCOVID cases in vaccinated peoplewhich the nurses also condemn, saying this will make it harder to understand what happens when a vaccinated person is exposed to the coronavirus. We are outraged that the CDC has relaxed protections in the middle of a deadly pandemic, Castillo told the Times. (The CDC chief says politics played no role in the new guidance.)
(Newser)  Focusing on the deaths of children, Pope Francis on Sunday urged an end to the Israeli-Palestinian fighting. "Many innocent people have died, amongst them there are also children," the pope said Sunday. "This is terrible. Unacceptable. Their death is a sign that (people) don't want to build a future, but destroy it." The comments came during his weekly address to the gathering in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Reuters reports. On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed 10 Palestinians, including eight children, in Gaza City. Wondering "where hatred and revenge will lead," the pope said, "I appeal for calm, and for those responsible to end the clamor of weapons and to take the path of peace." The cycle of hatred and violence between Jewish and Arab people in Israel, he said, per the Catholic News Agency, will be difficult to break unless a dialogue is opened immediately.

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Joined by students and nuns from Myanmar, Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for peace in their country on Sunday in St. Peter's Basilica, per the AP. The country's military took over Myanmar, which the pope visited in 2017, in a coup early this year. Government forces have killed more than 750 protesters and others in trying to put down opposition since. "Do not lose hope," the pope said Sunday, urging Myanmar's small Christian community to work for peace. He prayed for God to "set us free from evils power" and urged unity, per the Catholic News Agency. "This is a deadly disease: the disease of division," he said. (Read more Pope Francis stories.)
(Newser)  Sunday became the deadliest day in the week of Israeli-Palestinian fighting so far, with Israel striking residences in Gaza City and Hamas firing more than 100 rockets across the border. The Israeli airstrikes targeted several homes on a main road leading to Shifa Hospital, the Washington Post reports. Gaza's Health Ministry said at least 42 people were killed, 10 of them children, and people were still searching the rubble. The Israeli military said it destroyed the homes of Hamas leader Yehiya Sinwar, his brother, and several commanders. Hamas had continuously launched rockets at cities and towns in southern Israel, as well as Tel Aviv, on Saturday. An Israeli general said more rockets were fired at Tel Aviv on Saturday night than it had endured in all of the 2014 war. The official death toll in Gaza has reached 188, including at least 55 children, per CNN.

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The UN Security Council held an open emergency meeting Sunday, per the AP, at which Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki named the families and children killed in Israeli airstrikes. "How many Palestinians killed is enough for a condemnation?" he asked. "What is the threshold of outrage?"

The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded a "detailed and documented justification" for Israel's destruction of a Gaza Strip building housing news media organizations, per the Post. The airstrike might have violated international law, the group said. The attack "raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza," the statement said.

A Doctors Without Borders clinic in Gaza City reported that it was hit in the weekend strikes. The clinic treats trauma and burn patients.

The death of a disabled man when a rocket hit a building in a Tel Aviv suburb Saturday raised the number of people killed in Israel to 10.

A US State Department official met with Israel's defense minister to discuss a cease-fire. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, however, that the attacks will continue for at least several more days.

(Read more Israel and Palestinians stories.)
(Newser)  The mayor of Mississippi's capital city and a state senator both apologized Saturday for shootings 51 years ago by city and state police officers that killed two people and injured 12 others on the campus of a historically Black college. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and state Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson spoke during a graduation ceremony for the Class of 1970 of what was then Jackson State College, now Jackson State University, per the AP. Lumumba apologized on behalf of the city to the families of the two men whose lives were cut short by the violent police response to the protest against racial injustice. Killed were 21-year-old Jackson State student Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and 17-year-old James Earl Green, a high school student who was on campus while walking home from work.



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Jackson States 1970 commencement was canceled because of the bloodshed, and graduates that year received their diplomas in the mail, if at all. On Saturday, 74 of the 400-plus 1970 grads donned caps and gowns and stood in the sunshine to receive the recognition denied to them a lifetime ago. As James Baldwin once wrote: When we cannot tell the truth about our past, we become trapped in it, Lumumba said. I believe, as a city, we must publicly atone for the sins of our past and proclaim a new identity of dignity, equity and justice. The May 15, 1970, shootings at Jackson State had largely been overshadowed by violence from days earlier, when Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four Kent State University students amid a Vietnam War protest.

(Read more Jackson State stories.)
Couples sharing housework and childcare could boost the New Zealand economy by $1.5 billion dollars, according to a new survey.

The survey of 2400 people by Westpac New Zealand and Deloitte looked at how couples share housework.

It found 73 percent of respondents feel if both partners work, they should share the housework equally.

But it found only 10 percent of couples who both work full time and 7 percent of couples who work the same number of hours share the housework 50-50.

It also found a significant difference between the number of unpaid hours men and women do.
For the Fijian-Indian community in Auckland, traditions are important. They're gathering as they would in Fiji to celebrate the Hindu festival of Navaratri.

But 142 years have passed since their ancestors were taken to Fiji to work on sugar plantations and some traditions have changed.

"The music has evolved over time, religious practices, weddings have evolved over time. While we've maintained Indian roots, there has been a Pacific flavour that has gone into it," says Krish Naidu, president of the Fiji Girmit Foundation New Zealand.

Over the last century there have been four coups in Fiji spurred by tensions between ethnic Fijians and Indian Fijians.

Many Fijian-Indians left the main island as a result of the conflicts. And the latest census data shows there are an estimated 15,000 Indo-Fijians in New Zealand.

But the Ministry for Pacific Peoples doesn't acknowledge them as Pasifika.

"Our Rotuman brothers and sisters, our indigenous brothers and sisters, while they are part of the Pacific classification, Fijian-Indians are lumped under Asia," Naidu says.

Naidu says there are real-life implications in not being recognised as Pasifika.

"As Fijian-Indians we are missing out on that research, on data collection."

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples has a COVID-19 fund for communities in need of support and language funds that Indo-Fijians aren't eligible for.

Government funding is also available for the health and education needs of Pasifika people.

"They should be entitled to the entitlements and the Pacific framework in New Zealand Aotearoa," says Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon.

The Race Relations Commissioner says it's important the government correctly classifies the community.

"I think Fijian-Indian people actually know who they are, they say they're Pacific people. They are only not recognised in New Zealand as Pacific people," Foon says.

The Ministry for Pacific Peoples says it acknowledges the concerns of the Fijian-Indian communities.

In a statement it wrote: "The Ministry is looking into this matter, working with the Office of Ethnic Communities. It is not in a position to provide further comment."

The Minister, Aupito William Sio, declined an interview. His office informed Newshub he is still awaiting advice from the Ministry.

But for the Fijian-Indian community the solution is clear.

"It is a Ministry of Pacific People and therefore should include people who have biological Indian traits," Naidu says.

And who have lived in the Pacific Islands for up to seven generations.
In his engaging memoir A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, author Donald Miller tells a story about a concerned dad whose teenage daughter is going off the rails. Shes hanging out with the wrong crowd, experimenting with drugs, dating a loser. The dad comes to Miller for advice, and Miller suggests the girl is stuck in a bad story. In the absence of challenge and risk, she is choosing a story that offers some level of meaning, some way to assert agency over her own identity. Miller challenges the dad to offer her a more meaningful story.
"Check out the source region of the air mass coming for the South Island on Tuesday," it says, along with a penguin emoji.

"Winter-like temperatures are expected in the South Island, particularly in the deep south and about the interior.

"The North Island will have brisk conditions thanks to the wind chill factor."
"This law, if we take it at its inherent value, says, 'if a crime is being committed, and then we've found illegal firearms and they've been in the position of someone who's on that gang register, we'd be able to take their assets.'

"I think that's important because it tells a young person who might be getting recruited by a gang, 'hey, there is actually a high likelihood that flash motorcycle, that house that's yours, that's all been taken by criminal money - the Government can take that away from you.'

"There is no benefit to being in a gang."

But Green Party MP Jan Logie, appearing on Magic Talk with van Velden, said the police gang register was based on "quite loose intelligence".

"What we're saying is the definition for 'gang associate' needs to be really tight and, also, that we need to be confident that we are targeting and preventing people from acquiring gun licenses where there is a relevant, serious conviction - and not based on a broad-reaching, not very specific categorisation."

As well as the FPO, the amendment to the Criminal Proceeds ACT will be made - as suggested in ACT's Member's Bill. Both Bills will be presented to Parliament before the end of 2021.

Williams said earlier this week gun crime was an increasing concern for New Zealand communities.

"It is a privilege, not a right, to own or use a gun in this country and we need to take that ability out of the hands of people who pose a threat to our communities."
In a masterclass of political resilience, Judith Collins is digging in, even claiming success, despite taking a disastrous knock where it hurts - in the polls.

Unlike Don Brash's Orewa speech of the early 2000s, Collins' recent beating of the race relations drum has done nothing to significantly improve National's numbers in our latest Newshub-Reid Research Poll.

Parliament has been a tinderbox of late, the tension and desperation palpable particularly over race relations.

Collins' claims that Labour is introducing separatism by stealth aren't working for her or National in the polls.
Collins was talking about the "big issues" currently facing New Zealand and was discussing National's wishes to "re-emphasise" its core party values, which she says are loyalty to New Zealand, national and personal security, equal citizenship and equal opportunity, individual freedom and choice, personal responsibility, competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement, limited government, strong families and caring communities, and sustainable development of the environment. She expressed a "need" to approach National's plan for a "better New Zealand" through the lens of these values.

"National has begun a conversation about including the Treaty of Waitangi in our party principles, and I welcome this discussion. I have spoken a number of times over the past few weeks about the role of the Treaty in New Zealand's democracy today."

She says the Treaty covers values that are also reflected in the National Party.

"Those three simple concepts - nationhood, property rights, and equal rights - are a powerful foundation for a country, and a powerful foundation to consider our National Party values.

"The preamble to the Treaty provides the context in which it was signed and should be read. The preamble states that its intention was to promote peace and avoid lawlessness. Again, directly in line with National Party values of national security and strong communities."

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern accused Collins of "politicising" debate over Treaty partnership during a fiery stand-off in Parliament.

Collins took issue with Children's Minister Kelvin Davis agreeing with the Waitangi Tribunal's decision that Oranga Tamariki had breached the Treaty of Waitangi by taking away full authority over their children.

"What we are discussing... is whether or not in working more closely with iwi organisations and whanau who know these families well and the children well, whether or not we can do a better job at prevention," Ardern said.

Davis highlighted comments made at the Iwi Chairs Forum in Porirua on Friday that when kawanatanga and tino rangatiratanga work together in partnership "you'll see great things happening".

Judith Collins' full speech

Good afternoon, delegates. It's an absolute privilege to be speaking to you all here today as your leader.

I'd like to acknowledge National Party President Peter Goodfellow, my fellow board members, my South Island colleagues, outgoing regional chair Roger Bridge, and all of you, the members of the National Party. It's great to see you all here today.

This is the third in our series of regional conferences up and down the country this year, and the turnouts have been fantastic. It's been heartening to see you all so engaged after a challenging year in 2020. It didn't end with the election result we wanted but we've had a really positive period of reflection since then through our internal review. The findings of this review are a key element of our regional conferences this year.

But the focus is also on moving forward. We need to talk about the big issues facing New Zealand right now and look to the future. We need to talk about what makes National the party of choice to address these issues.

Many of you are saying that National needs to re-emphasise our core party values - what we stand for. I agree. We shouldn't let an extraordinary twelve months question who we are and what we stand for.

In putting forward solutions to the challenges New Zealand is facing, we cannot lose sight of what sets National apart from other political parties. We need to build the case for why National's values will lead to a better way of life for all New Zealanders in the areas that matter to them.

Those values are: loyalty to our country, its democratic principles, and our sovereign as Head of State; national and personal security; equal citizenship and equal opportunity; individual freedom and choice; personal responsibility; competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement; limited government; strong families and caring communities; and sustainable development of our environment.

These are strong values. They represent me, and they represent you. We need to approach our plan for a better New Zealand through the lens of these values.

National has begun a conversation about including the Treaty of Waitangi in our party principles, and I welcome this discussion. I have spoken a number of times over the past few weeks about the role of the Treaty in New Zealand's democracy today.

The Treaty covers three basic but fundamental values that can already be seen reflected in National Party values. Article 1 establishes the Queen as our sovereign, or kawanatanga. This speaks directly to our first National Party value of loyalty to our country and sovereign. Article 2 confirms the property rights of all people. It establishes that all iwi, families, and individuals have tino rangatiratanga over their own land and property. Property rights are a key democratic principle and a core part of National's values. Article 3 gives all the people of New Zealand equal rights, oritetanga.

Those three simple concepts - nationhood, property rights, and equal rights - are a powerful foundation for a country, and a powerful foundation to consider our National Party values.

The preamble to the Treaty provides the context in which it was signed and should be read. The preamble states that its intention was to promote peace and avoid lawlessness. Again, directly in line with National Party values of national security and strong communities.

It should be acknowledged that the Treaty was breached, many times, when the Crown invaded and confiscated Maori lands. But New Zealand has always recognised one Government that represents all of the people of New Zealand.

However, the Labour Party, especially since the 2020 election, has begun to govern with a new, radical interpretation of the Treaty. Labour's view is that in the Maori version, Te Tiriti, the tino rangatiratanga granted to the chiefs results in iwi sovereignty.

Labour's Deputy Leader, Kelvin Davis, has talked about two spheres of government: kawanatanga - the Government, and rangatiratanga - iwi sovereignty.

Jacinda Ardern has said that consultation with Maori hasn't worked and that her Government is now working in partnership.

Andrew Little has said the Crown has obligations under the Treaty to allow for decision-making rights. He expects his new Maori Health Authority to be constructed in a way that gives effect to rangatiratanga.

Kelvin Davis also has a view that if the Government removes an at-risk child from a Maori family, that is a breach of tino rangatiratanga.

I cannot emphasise enough what a radical departure this is from the history of Government in New Zealand. Everywhere we look, Labour is applying a perspective that the Treaty requires co-governance in policy, law, and in their communication with New Zealanders.

This has the potential to be the biggest change to our democracy since our country was founded 181 years ago.

Let's go through some examples. The Government has - without consultation, under urgency, and against official advice - passed a law allowing councils to create Maori wards for the 2022 local government elections. This can now be done without councils consulting the people in their districts, even if those districts previously voted against Maori wards.

David Parker's recent Cabinet papers on resource management reform note a direct role for Maori in resource management decision making. The Prime Minister and David Parker met with five iwi organisations and the Labour Maori Caucus in December, after the election, and at this meeting a commitment was made for the Government to work with iwi on freshwater and resource management reform.

Then we have the Maori Health Authority. A separate entity that will sit alongside the Ministry of Health. It will have to co-sign policies and strategies. As Andrew Little has made clear in writing, the Maori Health Authority will have veto power over the country's entire $20 billion health budget.

The Waitangi Tribunal has, in just the past few weeks, recommended that we have a separate child welfare service for Maori in order to comply with Article 2 of the Treaty. Kelvin Davis has voiced his support for this.

The Department of Conservation is conducting a review of how it can give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. DOC is having hui with iwi on some draft recommendations. Those recommendations would see the ownership model of the DOC estate reformed, and the functions and powers for the DOC estate delegated, devolved, and transferred to tangata whenua.

This isn't just our National Parks, it's the entire DOC estate. For example, that is 85 percent of the West Coast; 44 percent of the South Island.

The document also recommends we recast the legal status of waters, resources, and indigenous species. Nanaia Mahuta, in her role as Minister for Local Government, is also undertaking a review of the three waters. This is our drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater.

Currently, the infrastructure for these is owned and operated by local councils - owned by everyone. But last Monday, the Department of Internal Affairs presented the Government's Three Waters proposal to the South Island's 23 mayors and South Island iwi.

Some of the mayors were so appalled at what was presented, they have reached out to me.

I understand others have expressed their dissatisfaction directly to the Minister.

The proposal, presented by the Government, would see all water infrastructure in the South Island consolidated into one organisation. This means councils that have invested in pipes, wastewater, and drinking water facilities would see their assets gone. Some council debt will also be transferred to the new organisation.

We understand that four mega-agencies, similar to Auckland's Watercare, would be set up across New Zealand - one for the Upper North Island, one for the Central North Island, one for Lower North Island, and one for the Mainland.

But that is just the half of it. A document outlining this proposal, which I have acquired, proposes that the new Mainland water agency will be 50 percent owned by Ngai Tahu.

Let me say that again. A document given to the South Island's mayors last week by the Government's Department of Internal Affairs proposes that all the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure across the South Island should be merged into a single organisation, and that this organisation should be co-owned by iwi.

Now, many people will say that Ngai Tahu are a top-class organisation. They have proven this over many years. But this is beside the point. Water assets are publicly owned. Ngai Tahu is not a publicly-owned organisation, and Labour's proposal is not based on Ngai Tahu being the best organisation to manage the asset.

Labour's proposal is yet another example of a radical interpretation of the Treaty that is leading New Zealand's government towards a fifty-fifty ownership with iwi. A deal done behind closed doors with no say from local residents.

I say these changes can't be rushed through. The Prime Minister needs to pause all of this work and explain to New Zealanders why she views the Treaty this way. She needs to explain how wide this reform will go. Which areas are next? Where will it lead?

When it comes to these issues, people will have different views. I am under no illusion that this is a highly complex and contentious debate. But I say, we must be able to discuss constitutional issues openly and reasonably. If we agree that the Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand then we must also, surely, agree that all people in New Zealand have a right to be heard on this - a right to an opinion.

The Prime Minister must have the courage to debate this with all New Zealanders.

Her Government must be there for all people. Whatever happened to the Team of Five Million?

Under questioning in Parliament, Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson has now said there will be public consultation on this issue soon. He will consult with iwi on the issue of the constitution and then talk to the rest of us about partnership. The Prime Minister has also said consultation will occur soon. This is a welcome development.

I will hold the Government to account on this because a national conversation needs to happen. It is what I have been calling for. But it must be an open conversation with all of New Zealand, and the Government needs to pause its radical reforms while we have this debate.

As we move through our party's constitutional consultation, I want to outline where the National Party stands on Maori issues. First, Maori are the first people of New Zealand. Maori people, culture, and reo are at the heart of our unique national identity. By supporting the enhancement of Maori culture and language, we are enhancing New Zealand's culture and language.

The National Party agrees that the Treaty is our founding document. To this end, I am encouraged by our discussion about including a Treaty clause in our constitution.

I believe the Treaty has an important role to play in our democracy today, and that it was breached by the Crown. These breaches, including the land wars, had a terrible impact on Maori communities and has left a lasting legacy. It is right that we continue to address these wrongs and it is right that we reach settlements with the iwi and hapu that have been impacted by Treaty breaches.

National is proud of our track record of settling Treaty claims, and our members can be proud of the support you gave us to do that. Treaty settlements have put iwi in a position to be leaders in business. To provide employment and services to their people, and to bolster the Maori economy.

The Government needs to empower iwi in this role and address inequities through tailored programmes for communities in need. In the South Island, of course, Ngai Tahu and Wakatu Incorporation both provide economic leadership, employment, and income across their Takiwa.

A National Government under my leadership will work with Maori to address inequities.

National has proven it can do this through initiatives like Kohanga Reo; Kura Kaupapa Maori; Whare Wananga and Whanau Ora, just to name a few.

In Te Waipounamu South Island, a specialised Whanau Ora Commissioning agency works with iwi to create innovation and whanau-based enterprise programmes. These initiatives demonstrate the commitment from National and National-led governments to upholding the Crown's unique and enduring relationship with Maori.

The Treaty brought the people of New Zealand together and granted complete sovereignty to the Crown. It granted all people individual rights over their possessions. It granted equal rights to all people of New Zealand. But the role of the Treaty in our democracy today is a complex issue. It is an issue we need to discuss further as a Party, and as a country.

National's view is that one Parliament must represent all the people of New Zealand.

Every vote must be equal. Government services need to be provided for all.

Kelvin Davis has said the Government is devolving Oranga Tamariki decision-making, power, and resources to Maori. He also agrees with the Waitangi Tribunal - that if the Crown takes a Maori child into its care, this is a breach of the Treaty, even if that child is in danger.

I do not agree. The Government needs to protect all children. New Zealand loses a child to murder every five weeks. This is a national shame. There is no way the State can remove itself from its duty to care for any child at risk. Every child, irrespective of ethnicity, deserves a safe life.

Labour's justice working group has recommended separate justice systems. The Government needs to give justice to all victims. There is no way the Government can remove itself from its duty to seek justice for all.

National believes the foreshore and seabed belongs to everyone and is owned by no one. Water belongs to everyone and is owned by no one. The Conservation estate belongs to everyone. This is what National believes.

The operation of Government is serious. Government services must protect and provide for all. New Zealand's 2040 vision must be of a confident country moving forward, together, founded on the Treaty of Waitangi. Honouring the Treaty and the rights given to all people of New Zealand. A shared history; complex as it is. A positive and ambitious vision of the future.

I will conclude by outlining National's vision of the future.

We want our cities to be world-class, with superior infrastructure, clean beaches, and quality housing.

We want to see land controls freed up and the Resource Management Act scrapped so we can get houses built fast.

We want people to be able to afford a home and raise their children in safe communities.

We want to see sensible social investment that will help people find meaningful work and lift their families out of poverty.

We want to see investment in the first thousand days of our children's lives to give them the best start possible.

We want to see investment in science and growth in our tech sector to attract the world's best and brightest to come here.

We want to see businesses and farmers empowered to use science and technology to reduce emissions.

National knows that enabling commerce will enable Kiwis to work together and grow their own future. We want a New Zealand that is ambitious for itself and New Zealanders who have the tools they need to succeed. We want a Parliament that will work for all New Zealanders to guarantee their hard work gets fair reward.

When the country is moving forward, New Zealanders have enough money in their pockets to afford more than just the essentials. When the country is moving forward, houses are getting built and people can afford to buy them. This is what will see our inequities addressed. This is what will see health outcomes improve for all.

But more than that, it will mean our children will grow up with aspiration and opportunity.

National wants more for New Zealand. We know that if New Zealanders are working together, We believe in New Zealanders and we firmly believe that we are better together.

Thank you.
The businesses are looking forward to snow too. Quintessentially Queenstown burger bar Fergburger is hoping for lots of hungry Aussie tourist tummies.

"It's been more of a friends, family and business bubble, but what that has done for the community is it's given confidence for the winter," Fergburger general manager Steve Bradley says. "We're seeing lots of forward accommodation bookings, which is positive."

Quarantine-free travel with the Cook Islands begins this week, which may hurt New Zealand tourist towns as Kiwis might choose the islands over our own beautiful backyard.

But Bradley is happy to share the love.

"There's somewhere warm to go, but it's so important to the Cook Island community. We know what it's like, we're dependent on tourism, so we wish them the best," he said.

"While the Kiwis have been fantastic and they've come to see Queenstown, it's their time to go elsewhere, but there's a hell of a lot of Aussies ready to come and see us."

Queenstown is hoping New Zealanders will still want to experience the magic of the place more than once.

"To those thinking about the Cooks - go enjoy it and we'll just see you after that," Bradley adds.

"Thank you for coming to visit us, please come again," Boult says.

The poll was conducted between May 7-13 with a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
At least 18 elephants were found dead in India after a possible massive lightning strike.

Locals in northeastern Assam state found the dead Asiatic elephants, which included five calves, on Thursday on the foothills of the Kundali forest reserve, the Associated Press reports.
Vietnam

Vietnam's daily locally transmitted coronavirus cases rose by 187 on Sunday, a record for the second time this week as many communities and districts nationwide impose lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

Most of the cases had been under quarantine before being tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said in a statement. Vietnam has recorded a total of 4175 cases, with 36 deaths, due largely to its strong containment record.

Indonesia

Indonesia has suspended distribution of a batch of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to run tests for sterility and toxicity following the death of a 22-year-old man a day after immunisation, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The "CTMAV547" batch consists of 448,480 vaccine doses that arrived in the Southeast Asian nation last month - part of a delivery of more than 3.85 million doses from the COVAX Facility, backed by the World Health Organization.

Philippines

Firefighters put out a blaze early on Sunday at one of the Philippines' largest hospitals that had prompted the evacuation of dozens of patients from the facility, which also treats coronavirus sufferers.

With more than 1.1 million infections and deaths in excess of 19,000, the Philippines ranks second in Southeast Asia in terms of COVID-19 cases.

Taiwan

Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a spike in domestic infections.

Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, on Saturday, imposing two weeks of restrictions that will shut many venues and limit gatherings. It reported 206 new domestic infections on Sunday.

Australia

Australia is sticking to plans to start re-opening to the rest of the world only from the middle of next year, officials said on Sunday, resisting mounting pressure to end the closure of international borders.

Europe

UK

Britain reported 1926 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday and four deaths within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test. The data showed 36.57 million people had been given their first vaccine dose.

France

France reported 4255 people in intensive care units with COVID-19 on Sunday, down by 16 from the day before and the 13th day in a row the number of patients needing ICU treatment has dropped.

Italy

Italy reported 93 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 136 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 5753 from 6659.

The last time there were less than 100 deaths reported on a single day in Italy was Oct 23, 2020, when 91 people died.

Italy has registered 124,156 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.

Spain

Spanish police said they cleared 9000 revellers from Barcelona's city centre streets and the nearby beach on Sunday to prevent dangerous overcrowding on the first full weekend after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

Many in the crowd had taken part in mass drinking sessions known as "botellones", police said.

Middle East and Africa

South Africa

South Africa will launch phase two of its vaccine rollout on Monday with the aim of inoculating five million citizens aged over 60 by the end of June, its health minister said.

"This is provided that the supply of vaccines flows as anticipated. By the end of June we expect to have received 4.5 million doses of Pfizer and 2 million doses from Johnson & Johnson," the minister, Zweli Mkhize, said during a webinar on Sunday.

Mkhize said that more than 325,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive at midnight on Sunday, bringing the total of Pfizer doses up to 975,780.

So far South Africa has ordered enough COVID-19 vaccines for 46 million of its 60 million population.

Egypt

Egypt is optimistic about welcoming more visitors this year with numbers increasing steadily since January to around half a million tourists a month, Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany told Reuters.

Tourism revenue, an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, plunged by 70 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism usually accounts for up to 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Reuters
Israel bombed the home of Hamas's chief in Gaza early on Sunday and the Islamist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with no sign of abating.



At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the coastal enclave, health officials said, and many were injured as the sounds of heavy bombardment roared through the night.

Israelis dashed for bomb shelters as sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Tel Aviv and the southern city of Beersheba. About 10 people were injured while running for shelters, medics said.

At least 149 have been killed in Gaza since the violence began on Monday, including 41 children, health officials said. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

Envoys from the US, UN and Egypt were working to restore calm but have yet to show any signs of progress. The UN Security Council was due to meet later on Sunday to discuss the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.

Both Israel and Hamas have insisted they would continue their cross-border fire, a day after Israel destroyed a 12-storey building in Gaza City that had housed the US Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations.

The Israel military said the al-Jala building was a legitimate military target, containing Hamas military offices, and that it had given warnings to civilians to get out of the building before the attack.

The AP condemned the attack and asked Israel to put forward evidence.

"We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building," the news organisation said in a statement.

In what Hamas called a reprisal for Israel's destruction of the al-Jala building, Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv and towns in southern Israel early on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Saturday that Israel was "still in the midst of this operation, it is still not over and this operation will continue as long as necessary".

"Unlike Hamas, which deliberately intends to harm civilians while hiding behind civilians, we are doing everything, but everything, to avoid or limit as much as possible harming civilians and to directly strike terrorists instead," he said in a televised address.

In a burst of airstrikes early on Sunday, Israel targeted the home of Yehya Al-Sinwar, who since 2017 has headed the political and military wings of Hamas in Gaza, the group's TV station said.

Another airstrike killed a Gaza neurologist and wounded his wife and daughter, Palestinian medics and relatives said.
Israel pounded Gaza on Saturday, destroying a tower block that housed news media organisations, while Palestinian rocket salvoes hit Tel Aviv with no sign of an end to almost a week of fighting.



Palestinians say at least 140 people, including 39 children, have been killed in Gaza since the conflict erupted on Monday. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

Israels military brought down a 12-storey block in Gaza City that housed the US Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations, as well as other offices and apartments.

Israel gave advance warning of the strike so it could be evacuated. The Israeli military said later the building was a legitimate military target because it contained military assets of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza.

The strike was condemned by the AP and Al Jazeera. The US told Israel "that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility", White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden in a phone call Israel is doing everything to avoid harming non-combatants in its fighting with Hamas and other groups in Gaza.

Netanyahu said proof of this was that during recent Israeli strikes on multi-storey towers "in which terrorist targets were attacked by the IDF (military), the non-combatants were evacuated", a summary of the phone call released by Netanyahu's office said.

Biden also spoke directly with Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, Abbas' office said, the first time the two leaders have spoken since Biden took office in January.

Diplomacy has so far failed to quell the worst escalation in fighting between Israel and Palestinians since 2014.

In Tel Aviv, residents fled for cover amid wailing sirens as Hamas militants fired barrages of rockets. One hit a residential block in the Ramat Gan suburb, killing a 50-year old man, medics said.
The owner of the Gaza City tower destroyed by an Israeli airstrike was captured on live television desperately pleading with the military to allow an extra 10 minutes for journalists to rescue their equipment before the scheduled missile barrage.

The airstrike on Saturday (local time) targeted the al-Jalaa tower in Gaza City, a 12-storey building housing the offices of media outlets including The Associated Press (AP) and broadcaster Al-Jazeera, as well as other apartments.

Journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the tower after the Israeli military issued a warning of an imminent strike, giving occupants just one hour to empty the building before its fighter jets were launched.

The Israeli military argued the al-Jalaa tower was a legitimate target as the building "contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization". It also confirmed it had provided advance warning to civilians in the building, allowing them time to escape.
Gales, hail batter thousands in China's Jiangxi

Xinhua) 15:05, May 16, 2021

NANCHANG, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Some 19,000 residents have been affected since extreme weather hit east China's Jiangxi Province, authorities said Sunday.

From Friday, gales and hail were seen in 11 counties, cities or districts, including Yongxiu County in the city of Jiujiang and Changjiang District in the city of Jingdezhen.

As of 9 p.m. Saturday, houses of more than 340 households had been damaged, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The direct economic losses reached 13.97 million yuan (about 2.17 million U.S. dollars), while further calculations of the damage are underway.

The headquarters organized the timely evacuation of residents to minimize the potential casualties, and to date, no casualties have been reported.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Schroder then launched into an anti-mask rant, saying: Oh if they allow us? If they grant us that, our kings? The people in power? Youre going to listen to these people? Theyve destroyed our economy. Theyre destroying our culture. Theyre destroying our state. And youre just going to listen to their rules? Im getting my refund. Im getting my refund from Costco. I suggest everybody in California get their refund from Costco. Give up your membership to Costco until they remove this.
Joseph John Jr. washes freshly caught salmon with his son, Jeremiah John, while waiting for the tide to come in, in Newtok Andrew Burton/Getty Images
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Vegetable production through hydroponics in the Kingdom has touched 3,600 tonnes, which translates to a self-sufficiency rate of 10% to 20% and generated 134 jobs, said Works Minister.

Tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, melons, and other vegetables are produced locally with over 356 greenhouses on an area of 260,000 square meters, said Essam Khalaf, the Works, Municipalities Affairs, and Urban Planning Minister.

Bahrain, the minister said, aims at raising domestic production through initiatives such as this for agriculture, fish farming and livestock. Powering them up are private sector partnerships, a key element in boosting initiatives for food security, the minister added. The projects are implemented using modern technologies to overcome the scarcities of land and water.

One of the key projects in these directions is hydroponics, which involves growing plants without soil and using mineral nutrient solutions. All of the greenhouses are established based on these techniques, added the minister.

These initiatives aim at building a generation proficient in modern agricultural production methods, improve the social and living standards, self-sufficiency, national food-security, raise production capacity and strengthen private sector partnership, the minister stressed.

Fish farming, the minister said, is another area in which modern technologies are proving fruitful in enhancing production. Hammour, Safi or Spinefoots, Shaam and Sakana are some of the fish varieties under production, the minister said.

20,000 tonnes per year

On the agricultural front, the minister said the local production had reached over 20,000 tonnes per year, of which 418 tonnes are vegetables.

Around 2.1% of the production is through five existing projects employing hydroponics, the minister said, adding that the effort is to increase their number to 16. Producing 10,000 more tonnes of vegetables will raise the local production by 50%, he pointed out.

Fish farming

The minister said several sites are set aside for agricultural projects in various governorates of the Kingdom for Agriculture Affairs and Marine Resources as part of the Food Security Project.

The ministry is also studying five sites for fish farming projects, whose area comes to around 100 hectares. The ministry, Khalaf said, is also continuing efforts to preserve the genetic assets of the Kingdom.

Through this initiative, the ministry collects and preserve plants, implement research programmes and does scientific documentation of resources according to systems approved by the international institutions.

One of the projects under this initiative is the establishments of a laboratory unit in the National Center for Agricultural Laboratories, the minister said.

Agricultural Incubation Center

The ministry had also established an Agricultural Incubation Center project in Hoora Aali to support Bahraini farmers, in cooperation with the National Initiative for the Development of the Agricultural Sector, he added.

The project aims at supporting entrepreneurs in the field of plant production and food processing. So far, the institute had trained 17 entrepreneurs and 155 people on agricultural systems, the minister said.

Tax incentives

In this regard, the minister also stressed the importance of boosting investment in the agricultural sector to enhance food security.

Bahrain, the minister said, offers several incentives and facilities to entrepreneurs to attract investments, such as by exempting companies from taxes and reducing custom duties for import and export.

Bahrain also has supportive economic policies for investments and a legal system guaranteeing investors easy access to commercial licenses, the minister added.

20 million chicks per year

The minister also shed light on the projects for boosting poultry production with the private sector, such as by the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Delmon Company.

The project aims at increasing the poultry production of Bahrain from 9 million chicks to 20 million chicks per year, which would improve the self-sufficiency ratio from 23-26% to 50- 55%.

The Delmon company project sits on 500,000 square meters of area and includes breeding pens and related services.

Egg production

The ministry also highlighted a project to raise eggs production with the Public Poultry Company. The project will help the Kingdom improve its self-sufficiency rate from 20- 23% to 30-35%.

It sits on an area of 900,000 square meters and has all facilities, including waste treatment. The project, the minister said, is in advanced stages of completion.

Veterinary quarantine expansion

Khalaf said the ministry is also currently working on a veterinary quarantine expansion project. The project, he said, is the first line of defence to address diseases that affect human health and causes economic losses.

The project is instrumental in regulating the movement of animals and animal products through the Kingdom. This is to limit the transmission of disease that are bacterial, viral and parasitic in nature.

Accordingly, the project will have its quarantine capacity raised from 5,000 heads of sheep and 600 heads of cow to 15,000 heads of sheep and 1,500 heads of cows.

156,000 heads of cattle

In 2019, Bahrain imported more than 120,000 heads of cattle, an increase of 10,000 head over 2018. The import reached 156,000 heads of cattle in 2020.

The minister stressed that the project to combat animal diseases and improve breeds is one of the main projects of the Livestock agency.

They are implemented with the help of World Food Organisation, as animal diseases negative affect the food security. The minister further said the project also aims at eradicating some of the endemic diseases.

The minister also explained that the project aims at the genetical improvement of local strains and preservation and registration of them in the name of the Kingdom, such as Bahraini tomato, after describing these strain genetically
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Violations of COVID-19 regulations had led to the closure of three more mosques in the Capital Governorate, authorities said. The closures come soon after closing a mosque in the southern governorate for similar violations.

The Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments blamed the closures on the laxity of those in charge of ensuring preventive measures at the mosques.

The mosques, the ministry said, will remain closed for two weeks to carry out contact tracing and sterilisation process. The ministry called on all in charge of mosques to adhere fully to the health requirements and mandatory COVID-19 protocols.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Starting today, Bahrain is lifting a two-month ban on hunting crabs, said the Agriculture and Marine Resources Agency at the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning.

The ban, which began on 15 March 2021, had a complete halt on hunting, trading or selling lobsters.

The Marine Resources agency said the ban was to stop disturbing crabs during their breeding period to preserve marine wealth and biodiversity in the territorial waters of the Kingdom.
Police said a preliminary investigation showed that none of the three was wearing a seat belt, and that speed appeared to be a factor. The driver, 18-year-old Austin John Foley of Virginia Beach, was charged Tuesday with reckless driving and other traffic offenses, according to a news release. Neighbors said that he and the two passengers lived in the neighborhood.
Agencies | Gaza

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Rockets and artillery fires continued to take lives and pound the Gaza strip yesterday, defying all ceasefire efforts and leaving no sign of an end to the worst escalation since 2014.

Missiles also brought down a 12-storey Gaza tower block that housed news media organisations. US and Arab diplomats are seeking to halt almost a week of conflict but efforts have yet to gain traction.

Palestinian medics said the Israeli bombardment killed more than 15 Palestinians in Gaza overnight and yesterday. Casualties also include a woman and four of her children who died when rockets hit their house in a refugee camp.

Attacks also killed five others. Since the conflict erupted on Monday, at least 145 people, including 41 children, have been killed in Gaza.

Israel has reported ten dead, including two children. The tower block destroyed in the attack yesterday housed the US Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations, and other offices and apartments.

However, all of them evacuated the building based on an attack warning, and no one was injured. The United States told Israel that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

US President Joe Biden later spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to urge calm.

Both sides said the US President reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution to the conflict, and the White House said Biden was committed to strengthening the US-Palestinian partnership, which reached a nadir under the Trump administration.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received an important phone call on Saturday from US President Joe Biden, Abbass spokesman said, the first call between the two leaders since Biden took office in January.

Bidens envoy Hady Amr, deputy assistant secretary for Israel and Palestinian affairs, arrived in Israel on Friday, before a meeting on Sunday of the UN Security Council. The US Embassy said that the envoy aimed to reinforce the need to work toward a sustainable calm. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain called on Friday for a ceasefire and talks, offering condolences to all victims.
Sewer rates wont increase for the fourth year in a row after they rose significantly following a mandate in 2009 by the Environmental Protection Agency to fix the citys sewer system.

The citys system on the western part of town carried both sewer and stormwater, which overwhelmed the water protection treatment facility and caused sewage to flow into the Missouri River.

To come into compliance with the mandate, the initial estimates for the full project were more than $347 million. As a way to fund it and meet regulations, the city raised sewer rates.

The city has gone through a lot with some federal government mandates that we had to spend a lot of money on the sewer system and making sure that we could get within the specs for that, said City Councilman Marty Novak. A lot of that wasnt controlled by the city. Its what we were mandated to do by the federal government, which put the burden of that on the citizens of St. Joseph.

In 2008, before the mandate, residents were billed an average of $17.88 per month for sewer rates. Since then, rates have increased annually by at least 11% every year until 2018. There have been no increases since, with the average cost now $65.54 per month.

This isnt just happening in St. Joseph. Nearly 800 other cities across the country have been mandated by the EPA for the same regulations. Typically, its older cities on rivers or lakes. For example, Kansas City has a similar project that costs close to $3 billion.

Missouri also has gone through discharge regulations, which Andy Clements, the director of public works, said is the main driver for the rise in sewer rates.

What drives rates in St. Joe isnt the combined sewer overflow program by itself, Clements said. Thats kind of an urban legend here, thats really not factual. It has driven rates up. The big driver really has been the combination of that with advancing discharge regulations across the country and here in Missouri.

This required the city to make $75 million in changes to its process to limit nutrients, like ammonia. This drove rates up more than the changes to the sewer system.

All this has placed a strain on St. Joseph residents. Rates have increased by almost $50 in 11 years. Elaine and Ron Baker, South Side residents, keep detailed track of their expenses. They said in 2013 they paid about $28. Now its about $60 a month.

Many residents sewer rates are twice, sometimes even triple, their water bill. Clements said this is typical because it requires more effort to clean water with sewage than it does well water.

There has been some confusion surrounding the billing process. The city bills residents a base fee of $37.69, whether they use water or not. The rest of the bill is based on usage  $5.57 per centum cubic feet. The rate increases over the years include a rise in both the base and usage fees.

Some of our citizens who are having to really scrape to get by and they ... have enough money to either eat or pay their sewer bill, they cant do both. I want to help them, said Mayor Bill McMurray.

While there wont likely be any decreases in sewer rates, the city doesnt plan on increasing them either. For the fourth year in a row, city officials have said they wont raise rates. To make this happen, about $400,000 was put into the sewer fund.

Also, the initial $347 million project for the sewer system has decreased in scope. The city negotiated to only complete phase one of the project in the next 15 to 20 years. The total cost is now about $150 million.

Clements also said there arent any new environmental regulations on the horizon. Not to mention, the city is expected to receive more than $39 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, which can be used for sewer infrastructure. All of these factors have the city believing it can keep sewer rates stagnant.

Weve been pretty innovative here in the last several years, Clements said. Were starting to see the benefit of that  three years in a row without rate increases. This is going to be another year without rate increases.

While rates arent increasing and are on par with other cities, like Kansas City, $60 a month is still a high price to pay for some residents in a town with a poverty rate of about 18%.
WASHINGTON - Its not uncommon these days to pull up to a stop sign in Washington Depot and have two or even three cars ahead of you.

Neighboring Roxbury has seen similar and undeniable signs that the New Yorkers have indeed arrived to sample this quiet country life in the wooded hills of Litchfield County.

Absolutely, says Barbara Henry, Roxburys top-elected leader for the last 24 years. I think we are going to see even more of this in the next year.

While the future is no easier to forecast than a year ago, statistics from 2020 crunched by a national real estate research firm back up Henrys prediction - namely that Roxbury and three Washington communities rank in Connecticuts 10 hottest ZIP codes for newcomer growth, when figures are adjusted for population.

The latest analysis of U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data by the Dallas-based commercial real estate firm CBRE shows that Roxbury and the Washington communities of New Preston, Marble Dale and Washington Depot had net migration rates between 56 and 60 percent - compared to the vast majority of Connecticut ZIP codes that showed a much lower rate of growth in newcomers, and in many cases a net loss.

The reason will not surprise those whove followed the headlines about the wave of New Yorkers fleeing the pandemic-related pressures of urban density for a new home in Connecticut.

For some Manhattanites and other urban dwellers, the coronavirus crisis has transformed cities into what one CBRE economist calls a poisonous cocktail of high density and high cost.

Real estate agents and other observers in a position to know the minds of Washington and Roxburys newest residents say newcomers are buying homes here more than elsewhere in Connecticut because its quiet, rural and private.

The exception to this explanation is downtown Stamford, where the ZIP code 06901 was a top hot spot last year for net newcomer growth, with a net migration rate of 65.

People are choosing this rural area specifically because it is not a suburb like Westchester County (N.Y.) or Greenwich, said Jeff Phillips, a real estate agent with Madonna & Phillips Real Estate Group at William Pitt Sothebys International Realty, who has an office in Washington. They appreciate the charm of a tiny little grocery store and a farmers market and our one state trooper.

Roxburys First Selectman Henry agrees.

This is a bucolic atmosphere where there is room in between homes, and there is a lot of respect for peoples privacy, she said of the towns resident artists. People who are famous and have a lot of notoriety know they can walk the roads and people wont come up to them and ask for their autograph.

The impact New Yorkers are having on these two small New England towns is most profound at Region 12 Schools - a district comprised of Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington, which saw enrollment jump by 105 students in August. The entire district typically has fewer than 700 students at the start of the school year.

Absorbing New Yorkers

We were a bit nervous about what class size would be because of the pandemic, but the New Yorkers came in and we were able to absorb them, said schools Superintendent Megan Bennett during an interview this week. They brought in a new and wonderful energy to our schools.

It remains to be seen how many New Yorkers choose to keep living in Litchfield as vaccinations increase, infection rates wane, and companies call employees back to the office. The same question is being asked across Connecticut, where 30,000 households from the Big Apple relocated in 2020.

CBRE data showed that Roxbury, a town of 2,180, had 91 more households move into town in 2020 than households that moved out, compared to a net loss of 31 households in 2019.

In Washington Depot, New Preston and Marble Dale, with a combined population of 1,900, 57 more households moved into those communities than households that moved out in 2020, compared to a net loss in those same communities of 58 households in 2019.

The result is a housing shortage that Phillips calls very frustrating for buyers and discouraging for us as realtors.

The good news is this is a good place to live where people dont want to put their houses on the market - even if I say, I have a buyer for you at this price, Phillips said. There is absolutely is a shortage of homes, because there is not a lot of land, and (new home) contractors are two years out.

Homes are going from $750,000 to $6 million on Lake Waramaug.

Meanwhile leaders are wondering how long it will last.

We are planning for next year with some degree of uncertainty by not knowing, Region 12s Bennett said. Our hope is that they stay.

Region 12 has already been at work to assure new families that they are welcome. School board members reached out to newcomers last fall to answer questions and offer help making families feel at home.

This is a place where people look out for one another and make connections early on, and we are seeing that, Bennett said. We watch parents waiting for their kids to cross the street to school, and then the parents go off in a group to form new connections. If they feel connected, they wont want to leave.

Henry agrees.

A small town is like a big family - it really is, Henry said. As long as there is not an election going on, we all get along, because it really is a special place.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
REDDING  When Dan Sharp heard then-senator John F. Kennedys first speech about the Peace Corps, he knew he had to be a part of it.

I sort of felt like a lightning strike hit me, said Sharp, an 89-year-old, who lives in Meadow Ridge, a senior living community in Redding.

Sharp helped build the Peace Corp, an agency celebrating its 60th anniversary this year that sends American volunteers around the world to build relationships with other countries.

It was just such an exciting idea to me, to remedy what I saw as the defects in our way of dealing with the lesser developed countries, he said.

Hes now a member of six committees within Meadow Ridge but said this work doesnt quite have the same exhilaration of being an international pioneer of U.S. relations with other countries.

When he heard Kennedys campaign speech in 1960, Sharp worked as a deputy attorney general in California during the days and led discussion groups at the World Affairs Council of Northern California about U.S. foreign policy during his off-hours.

The next day, Sharp said he walked into the attorney generals office and asked for a leave of absence so he could help start the Peace Corps pending Kennedys election.

And sure enough, when Kennedy was elected, Sharp packed up his apartment and jumped on a flight to Washington in July 1961, darting right over to the existing Peace Corps office.

I knocked on the door and said Id like to help start the Peace Corps, Sharp said.

Sharp remebered how he was ushered in by Director Sargent Shriver, who headed up the corps. He had to be ready to travel within five minutes notice because of his trilingual skills and their demand, which he said often happened.

Over time, Sharp was deemed a member of the U.S. delegation for the United Nations, playing a role in negotiating some of the corps first treaties including one with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

He spent seven years working with the Peace Corps from 1961 to 1968, during which he also led American volunteers in Peru and Bolivia and helped shape the organizations legislation and training programs.

My motivation was what I learned about how bad our relations were with what was then called third-world countries, he said. The Peace Corps seemed to be a wonderful way of improving our understanding of and relationships with those countries.

It was an absolutely exhilarating time with some of the best people in the world, he added. The Peace Corps attracted the best and the brightest.

Maryellen Enright, a Peace Corps worker in Peru who has since died, wrote letters chronicling her experiences including her interactions with Sharp while she was there. Her husband, Bob Brannon, recently discovered the letters, years after her death in 1999, and shared them with Sharp.

In one letter dated from her time in Cuzco in 1964, Enright described the politics and trouble Sharp faced with Washington for a promotion.

Hes getting along beautifully with the volunteers, which is the most important thing, but he has made so many changes and works everyone so hard that he has a real battle on his hands, she said, noting that the director expected Sharp to be his errand boy, and he refused.

She was taken aback by the politicking Sharp had to do to become a director in Bolivia.

Dan is too qualified to have to do this kind of thing, and I figure if the PC [Peace Corps] doesn't want him on his own terms, it is their loss, she wrote in a final note of it before telling her parents about her upcoming adventures and guitar lessons.

Despite the politics and adventure of it all, Sharp stopped working with the Peace Corps because of a legislation he lent a hand in penning. When Sharp was up for a presidential appointment in the agency, he said the leaders suddenly realized his tenure with the Peace Corps would be coming to an end soon.

A legislative clause  drafted a couple of years after the organizations establishment to prevent the corps from becoming a bureaucracy  limited staff to serve no more than five years, Sharp explained. And with seven years under his belt, that meant he wouldnt be able to further his work there.

It was a sad moment for Sharp, but he went on to continue developing international programs at several corporations including the International Telephone & Telegraph and Xerox. Sharp additionally became a high-ranking leader at several institutions, such as chief executive officer of the Eisenhower Foundation and The American Assembly at Colombia University.

Mark Leneker, a program coordinator at The American Assembly, said Sharp was able to bring in top-tier individuals and spearheaded international programs revolving around issues of religion and racial equity, with a prowess for creating partnerships.

You dont find that in everybody, Leneker said.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)  Many people who were strolling downtown in South Dakota's most populous city over the weekend say the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance regarding masks is good news.

The CDC earlier in the week put out new recommendations that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer have to wear masks in most situations. And many people in Sioux Falls were not wearing face coverings.
About 10 minutes after the disaster hit, China's emergency response office issued a statement on the situation from Beijing, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) activated its preparedness plan.

Just 21 minutes after the quake, four helicopters were dispatched to survey the damage, and 6,100 officers and soldiers from neighboring areas and over 3,000 members of the Sichuan Armed Police Force deployed to the scene.

In less than 10 hours, 20,000 troops and armed police were at the disaster sites assisting with relief work, with an additional 34,000 security officers on their way.

The speed at which a government reacts to disasters speaks to its capacity to solve problems and its resilience.

COVID-19 has provided another stern test.

In the early stages of the outbreak, Wuhan in Hubei Province was in dire need of medics and equipment. The government rushed more than 330 medical teams comprising over 40,000 healthcare workers to the city.

Nineteen provinces were corralled to provide direct assistance to other surrounding provincial communities.

At first, the lockdown of Wuhan elicited confusion and even panic.

But the government provided timely updates and addressed the challenges that came with lockdown through grassroots community actions mobilized by local authorities.

In doing so, the spread of the virus was curbed and social stability maintained.

"I have never seen, in my life, this kind of mobilization," said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom. "China's speed, China's scale and China's efficiency is the advantage of China's system."

Not only did the government work on measures to tame COVID-19, but it also charted a 15-year socio-economic development blueprint.

China has proved itself adept at turning crises into opportunities.

"Roots of China's Growth" is a 10-episode series marking the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which has presided over the country's meteoric rise as a global power. The series focuses on 10 fundamental elements of the strategy that has led to China's transformation from an impoverished nation over the past 100 years. This article is the first in the series.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-05-12/Why-China-s-leadership-model-enables-quick-solutions-10ceG1ztKrm/index.html

SOURCE CGTN

For further information: Media Contact: Jiang Simin, +86-188-2655-3286, [email protected], www.cgtn.com

Related Links

www.cgtn.com


China's neighbors like India, Japan and South Asian countries are reporting huge surge meanwhile Mainland China has no more 12 cases as far as the Chinese National Health Commission is concerned. Lack of free press and transparency in the Communist regime has make it immensely difficult to find out the truth behind XI's fallacies and narratives.

India has been battling the second wave Covid Tsunami and similarly its immediate neighbors have seen a rise in increasing covid cases. Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan are recording sharply rising infections during the month of April. Seychelles, Singapore , Thailand, Maldives, Cambodia also recorded spike in cases. The Union Health Ministry of India reported as many as 3,43,144 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hrs in the country. The grim realities of acute shortages have left the country in shock. Healthcare and medical infrastructure has collapsed nationwide and doctors and medical team are living on the edge in trying to provide treatment to the covid patients.

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised alarm about the B.1.617 of the Covid-19 variant which was first identified in India and designated it as one of global concern that requires more tracking and analysis. However a major concern is that WHO has been blindly trusting whatever China is telling them for the past few months. One country that seems to be showing its hunky dory narrative has reached a new unbelievable threshold, with China claiming during month of April-May 2021, they only reported number of positive cases lesser than 25.

This put many things into perspective and why Chinas neighbors like India, Japan and South Asian countries are reporting such huge surge meanwhile Mainland China has no more than 12 cases as far as the Chinese National Health Commission is concerned. As these South Asian countries including India are going through an unforgiving and devastating second wave, China is perfectly claiming Covid positive cases in single digits. The deadly virus which originated from mainland Chinas Wuhan during Oct-Nov 2019 saw the rest of world getting paralyzed last year and still continues to battle the menance.

However Chinas compulsive lies strategy and misinformation which has been unprecedented around the world isnt stopping any time soon. Dr Satoru Nagao  Visiting Fellow, Hudson Institute exclusively spoke to NewsX and said Japan is in a state of emergency due to surge in covid cases. Many foreign policy and health experts believe that the Chinese official figures that they have mentioned could be several times higher than what China has reported so far.
BRIDGEPORT  The high-priced bidding wars for homes, increased rents and positive results of 2020s property revaluation are all evidence of a booming local real estate market.

So why does recent data compiled by Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate and investment firm, show more people left Connecticuts largest city last year?

According to CBREs analysis of change-of-address filings with the U.S. Postal service, Bridgeport, in comparison with many other Fairfield County municipalities, had more residents leave from the half-dozen main zip codes  12,922  than the 10,846 who moved in.

Thats actually kind of shocking, said Cisco Borres, a Realtor with RE/MAX handling northern Fairfield and southern New Haven counties. Borres also used to be the citys deputy Republican Registrar of Voters.

The sales market is still hot, he said. (Sales) on the market are still being measured in days rather than weeks, as opposed to two years ago.

Tracking population through postal service data is a job of straining and refining information. Households file a single change-of-address form for all family members sharing the same last name, with anyone in the household having a different surname filing an individual form.

But the total change in population is there to see.

Local real estate experts interviewed for this story offered a couple reasons for the exodus, with some arguing residents simply do not want to remain in town any longer and can finally sell at a profit, and others that renters are the ones being forced out.

Like much of Connecticut, Bridgeports housing market has benefited from people in New York City and elsewhere motivated by the coronavirus pandemic to relocate from more crowded areas.

Ninety percent of my clients are from New York, said Realtor and City Councilman Marcus Brown. So they get an inner city feel but also a residential feel out of Bridgeport.

And that interest has driven up prices and resulted in fast sales.

Realtor Lisa Parziale  a former council member and president  said just recently a well-maintained but less-than-1,200 square foot home near hers sold for $329,000 in one day.

This is in Bridgeport. For a house that isnt even 1,200 square feet. And it only has one bathroom, Parziale said. The houses are going very quickly (with) constant bidding wars.

Which helped drive a city-wide increase in real estate values during the 2020 state-mandated property revaluation, allowing elected officials to lower the tax rate in the just-concluded budget season.

But if there is so much interest in Bridgeport, what accounts for the net exodus in the CBRE/postal service numbers? Parziales theory is Bridgeport may have become desirable to outsiders, but some of those living here have grown disenchanted.

If they can, they want to get out, Parziale said. Ive lived here my entire life. Im probably gonna die here. (But) we have a lot of problems.

Those issues  a struggling education system, crime, a high cost of living, government corruption, an underdeveloped downtown  have been lingering and well-documented.

Brown said he is aware some residents have wanted to head to the suburbs for the schools but, until recently, havent been able to do it. He recalled that while campaigning in recent years, A lot of people said they wanted to move out (but) they were underwater. Their houses werent worth what they bought them for.

So I think with the values of these homes going up, people can make a profit or break even and get out of Dodge, so to speak, Brown said.

But Charles Scott Sr., president of Tri-State Realty on North Avenue, said he believes many who left last year were renters displaced by increases in rent or by buyers purchasing multi-family homes for themselves and their extended families.

Thats why the (CBRE) numbers look off, Scott said. The renters are moving towards the Valley, the Waterbury area.

The present owner who owns the house may have purchased it five or 10 years ago for maybe $200,000, Scott explained. Now theyre selling it for $350,000, $400,000.

Which means the new landlord will charge existing tenants more in order to be able to afford the mortgage.

Another recent trend in Bridgeports rental market, Scott said, is people are buying, coming in in droves, and purchasing as owners. ... The person that buys the multi-family (house), they want to be able to move in their sister, brother, cousin.

Borres, too, has witnessed fewer investors scooping up and renting-out multi-family Bridgeport homes, he said.

The New Yorkers are buying to occupy. The investment buyers (are) having a hard time competing, he said. The return on investment at the inflated price point is very tough to meet what investors are accustomed to. They want to see a ratio of profit-to-expenses. ... Its just not as high right now.

None of which means Bridgeports overall rental market is in trouble. Plenty of developers have opened or are building apartments, like 1188 Lofts downtown, Windward Commons in the South End and Canfield Park in Black Rock where the Showcase movie theater used to be.

William Finger is co-managing partner of Eastpointe in Fairfield which is behind the market-rate Canfield Park. He said Eastpointe hopes to begin occupying the first 69 units by next February and the balance in mid-to-late summer 2022.

For the type of product were building, where were building, we are extremely bullish, Finger said. I also think, quite frankly, the downtown core (of Bridgeport) is a strong market and probably could absorb a lot more units if they were built.

The issue may be that apartments are becoming less affordable and the lower-income residents are the ones departing.

Jillian Baldwin, director of Park City Communities, Bridgeports public housing authority, said the community her agency serves is grappling with the spike in rental prices. She said it has been particularly evident with the housing authoritys subsidy program which helps clients offset rents at privately-owned buildings.

Theyre (private landlords) asking for $200, $300 more than our vouchers pay out, so it disqualifies our families from being able to rent those, Baldwin said. What its looking like is well have to issue fewer vouchers and give higher-value vouchers to families.

And, Baldwin said, applications for the low-income buildings Park City manages are through the roof.

Just in the last 30 days, weve seen 300 people sign up for public housing here, Baldwin said. All year long we carried a balance of 350 to 400 families over the course of the last 12 months or so.

Asked if Bridgeport was experiencing a wave of gentrification, with wealthier people moving in and displacing residents of less means, Scott said it depends on who you are talking to and noted some consider that term controversial.

People dont call it gentrification, Scott said. They call it economic development.

Brown sees a net positive in all the activity  an influx of younger residents.

Its attractive to young people  thats what they tell me, he said. We are welcoming them.
ATHENS, Mich. (AP)  Every year, alligators are found in Michigan.

Most of them are small alligators still living in aquariums in peoples homes. But sometimes calls come in for larger alligators spotted in ponds or creeks. In 2019, a man was collecting minnows in Tuscola County when a 5 to 6 foot alligator lunged at him from a ditch. The man drew his pistol and killed the animal.

In 2020, the staff at Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens started offering a course for animal control officers on how to safely catch alligators like the one in Tuscola County. The year prior, the sanctuary took in nine alligators out of eight different Michigan counties that were loose. The staff noticed that many animal control officers had no training on how to handle the southern reptiles.

This is definitely a need in our community to keep our law enforcement safe and to keep these animals safe, Angelina Kelly, the manger of animal enrichment at Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary, told The Grand Rapids Press.

Almost 200 alligators call Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary home. The smallest are only a foot or two long but the largest, named Medusa, is 11 feet long and is expected to keep growing. The sanctuary takes in around 20 to 30 new alligators each year. Many of those are pets from people who are unable or unwilling to care for growing gators, but some are captured by animal control officers from around the Midwest and brought to the sanctuary.

The course is a hands-on experience. After a classroom portion and tour of the facility the class participants practiced handling the small alligators and then moved up to 2 to 3 foot alligators. They end the day practicing how to capture and release 4 to 5 foot alligators in teams of three.

Sal Palombo runs Michigan Animal Control, a private company that specializes in dealing with raccoons, skunks and other wildlife, and took the course last fall. Hes thankful for the opportunity to get hands on experience with the powerful animals under the watchful eye of experts.

Youre dealing with pure power wrapped in a skin, Palombo said, It is not like dealing with a small mammal. These are pure muscle.
The police department did not say how fast the vehicle was going but said officers slowed their pursuit as the driver continued to increase speed. Police say they started to lose sight of the vehicle, which they did not publicly describe.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  A man accused of several crimes in Mississippi's capital city remained hospitalized Sunday, two days after police shot him.

Jackson Police Department spokesman Sam Brown said Sunday that he did not have updated information about the condition of Jaden Hill. He said investigators believe Hill committed three armed robberies, killed one person, shot into an occupied vehicle, stole another vehicle and committed aggravated assault against police officers  all within the space of about an hour on Friday.

Brown told The Associated Press he did not know whether police were waiting until after Hill is released from the hospital to file charges against him. Brown also said he did not know whether Hill is represented by an attorney.

Members of a church told WLBT-TV that they believe God protected them from Hill. Apostle Clayton Cowart was leading a tent revival when Hill allegedly pulled into the parking lot, got out of a stolen car and pointed a gun at one of the elders, Ronnie Upshaw. Cowart said Hill demanded money but fled after Upshaw said he had nothing to offer but the word of God.

You look at all of the individuals who were shot who he made contact with, and this one elder was spared," Cowart said. "Thats nothing but the grace of God.

Upshaw is a pastor and elder from Gainesville, Florida. He was working security outside the tent.

The hand of God is protecting me, Upshaw said Saturday.

Between 50 and 75 people had gathered Friday night in Jackson for the revival outside of the Apostolic Temple Church of God The Bibleway. The revival was in response to an increased in violent crime.

Last year was the most violent year on record for Jackson for homicides. More than 50 homicides have been reported in the city in 2021, including two Friday.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  Authorities are investigating the deaths of a man and woman whose bodies were found in a Pennsylvania home.

Swatara Township police said officers were called to the home just before midnight Friday on a report of a domestic incident." Officers who forced their way into the home found a man and woman with gunshot wounds, and neither survived," police said.
MILFORD, Conn. (AP)  The search for a Connecticut toddler who went missing in December 2019 and whose father is accused of killing her mother is still continuing, according to a state prosecutor.

At pretrial hearing for the father, Jose Morales, on Friday, a prosecutor revealed that local law enforcement continue to track down anonymous tips, tips provided through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and leads from other agencies in hopes of finding Vanessa Morales, Hearst Connecticut News reported.
Contributed / Getty

HARTFORD  The city police department is investigating the shooting of a man and a woman Saturday afternoon in the Frog Hollow neighborhood, leaving one in critical condition.

Police have not released the identity of either victim.
LAS VEGAS (AP) 

Heather Wetsel and her family remember vividly the frustrations of distance learning:

The failed log-ins, the live lessons that ate into the day, the submitted assignments that remained obstinately marked as unsubmitted  all part of the 2020-21 school year for Clark County School District students like Wetsels fifth-grade daughter, Isabella.

As the pandemic year dragged on, however, Isabella not only adapted but thrived. She earned higher grades and test scores and landed on the principals honor roll.

That was more than enough to convince Wetsel that even if school buildings reopened full time for the next school year, they would stick to virtual learning.

Teachers are doing everything they can to work within the means they are given, and we appreciate every piece of help weve gotten, Wetsel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. But for us, going back was not an option.

While distance learning began as an emergency response to school building closures at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, signs now indicate it may become a fixture on Nevadas learning landscape.

The Las Vegas-based Clark County School District will offer both distance and in-person learning options at each school site next year, plus expand offerings at its all-virtual Nevada Learning Academy to lower grades.

Statewide, a bill inspired by the Blue Ribbon Commission for a Globally Prepared Nevada would compel all districts to make a plan for virtual education and ensure students have access to technology  although some questions remain about funding, especially as emergency dollars dry up.

Senate Bill 215, now being considered in the state Assembly, would also do away with the traditional number of days that distance learning students must spend in a grade, allowing them instead to move through school as they master skills.

The aim of it all? To make distance learning a good option, rather than a last resort.

Wetsel said it took work to make virtual learning work for her family. They talked to the teacher when live lessons proved challenging and got recorded versions to watch instead, effectively flipping the school day upside down.

If she didnt feel like doing math after dinner, then we did science, Wetsel said of her daughter. That (flexibility) made all the difference.

Wetsel said her husband supervised most lessons, stopping the video when he felt that Isabella had a question. By explaining the concepts once in the schools way and then again in their own way, they were better able to find a method that would resonate with their daughter.

Beyond just improving on virtual learning, Wetsel said she noticed benefits over in-person years, when her daughter would be pulled out of classes for special education services, then be tested on what the class learned while she was away.

Her successes with distance learning led Wetsel to sign up for the wait list for the 2021-22 school year at the district-sponsored Odyssey Charter School, which allowed students to learn from home with flexible on-campus time long before the pandemic.

If they arent accepted, Wetsel said, theyll stick to the distance learning option offered by their zoned school, and carry on with family activities and trips to the park with friends for socialization.

We like the structure of school, but we want to give her that one-on-one attention, Wetsel said.

For distance learning to live up to its potential, Wetsel said, schools and families need to meet somewhere in the middle:

Schools should dedicate teachers to online-only classrooms rather than split their attention, while at home, parents who commit to distance learning should be prepared to be hands-on.

They dont have that one-on-one resource; they cant just go to the teachers desk, she said.

Its helpful to think of distance learning during school building closures as a transition model that now needs to be refined as the district moves forward, said Brenda Pearson, Clark County Education Association director of strategic initiatives.

Among the bright spots, teachers were creative and collaborative and focused on their students, Pearson said. But the abrupt changeovers between instructional models brought a feeling of ineffectiveness on the part of many educators, and sorely needed preparation time wasnt always available.

Its like steering a large ship: It can be hard to change direction, Pearson said.

She said shed like to see a long-term investment to make distance education more accessible to all students and staff.

For students, that means providing more than just a basic Chromebook and internet connection to participate, like resources for projects and problem-based learning that let them take breaks from their devices, she said.

Teachers, meanwhile, need relevant professional training that allows them to develop and demonstrate online teaching skills, Pearson said. Online lessons cant just be a facsimile of the in-person lecture, and a classroom staple like turning and working with neighbors doesnt translate well in an online setting.

Thats part of the reason why (some students) were disengaged  because they didnt feel like they belonged in that setting, or could interact with their peers, Pearson said. If you have somebody sitting in front of you, the way you engage them is different than the way you engage them online.

The district is due nearly $800 million more in federal emergency funding, on top of $400 million it has been allocated in previous waves for technology needs, personal protective equipment and more.

Pearson said the funding can provide a foundation, but that paying for virtual learning with one-time funding will likely create quality issues down the line.

Given time and resources, Pearson said, all options are on the table when it comes to designing distance learning courses, like having one teacher record lessons that could be used across many schools.

We need to make sure this is quality implementation, not another program we hope will get better with time. We can be hugely successful, if we give ourselves the time and resources to do it, Pearson said.

The default instructional option for students next year is in-person learning, with those who would prefer distance learning required to opt in by May 21.

The Clark County School District has put out a list of considerations for parents who are interested in distance learning, asking, for example, whether their children are independent learners and effective communicators, and whether there is an adult available at home to support their learning, help them remain on task and answer questions.

Distance students will also be required to keep their cameras on for the duration of daily real-time sessions  a departure from current policies allowing cameras to stay off.

The distance learning option provided by individual schools is best for students whod like to stay in sync with the school schedule or participate in school clubs and activities, according to Mike Barton, the districts chief college, career, equity and school choice officer.

Allocating staff exclusively to online classes is largely a site-based decision, dependent on the number of families who choose distance learning, he said.

If families want to stay anchored at the school, there will be teachers that principals will use to staff those classes, Barton said.

But Barton said the Nevada Learning Academy also intends to work closely with schools as distance learning requests come in, offering a more flexible option for families that might need to work on lessons on their own time rather than on the schools schedule.

The all-virtual program is also expanding to kindergarten through second grades next year, after adding third through fifth grades this year via federal emergency funds.

Barton said the district hopes some of the 4,000 students who left the district for home schooling will return for added academic support from teachers well-versed in virtual instruction.

Barton added that the district supports the legislative effort to offer more flexibility in instructional models and allow students to move forward when theyve mastered concepts, rather than on a set schedule.

I think it is here to stay, Barton said of distance learning. But at the same time, its not for everybody.

The statewide commission that wrote the recommendations enshrined in Senate Bill 215 envisioned plenty of flexibility for districts, schools and students to decide how best to do flexible instructional models, said Karla Phillips-Krivickas, senior policy director of KnowledgeWorks, which facilitated the groups work.

What might work well for a high school in downtown Las Vegas may not work well in a rural school, she noted. And where one student may take full course load online, another may need to take just one class virtually.

The one-size-fits-all model doesnt work for all kids. I think we knew that, she said. But COVID created this sense of urgency.

How do school districts ensure the quality of the new instructional models? Phillips-Krivickas said its no different from the mandate to ensure quality in-person instruction.

But when learning is untethered from a set pace of instruction and based on mastery of material, new options are possible, she said.

A group of teachers may come together, for example, to decide what standards a student has to know before moving on. That way they are still the architects of the learning experience, in whatever format it takes, she said.

Its not our vision that were going to put kids in front of a computer and walk away, Phillips-Krivickas said. I think thats the fear people have.
With the rising need for mental health services brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to see clients via videoconferencing or even in a phone call is increasingly important, therapists say.

While a bill that passed unanimously in both houses last week and was signed by Gov. Ned Lamont enables telehealth until June 30, 2023, providers want it to be permanent, and they say in two years they will be back to the General Assembly to do just that.

The tsunami of mental health needs has not even hit us yet, and it will wash us away, and telehealth is one of the few vehicles we have to cope with the need, said Stephen Wanczyk-Karp, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers Connecticut chapter.

Access to care

Telehealth has been a technological lifeline during the pandemic, enabling people to continue their therapy without a gap, experts say. But even as the COVID-19 threat ebbs and people are able to meet in person again, it will be important to provide access to clients who cant get out of their house or have difficulty with transportation.

Contributed photo

Emily Aber, a licensed social worker with a home office in North Haven, said there were some adjustments, particularly with older people, just the technical aspects of it, she said. The biggest risk is when the connection doesnt work and theres some disruption in the service.

When there are distractions in the clients home, Its not as easy to just tune it out. It becomes part of the work, really, Aber said. It becomes obvious how much parents have to manage, she said.

Contributed photo

While the legislation lasts until 2023, We wanted it to be permanent, Wanczyk-Karp said. Were not going backwards. We know were not going to go backwards.  It dramatically has increased access to care. Ive heard almost no one say this is a bad thing for behavioral health.

He said mental health needs increased and remained high for years after 9/11, the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, none of which had such pervasive effects as the coronavirus pandemic.

Wanczyk-Karp said a University of Oxford study revealed that 19 percent of people who were diagnosed with COVID were diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within three months, and that patients with such disorders were more likely to get COVID.

But even in the rest of the population, the pandemic has increased depression and opioid use. Overdoses have gone up and  its among people who had actually stopped using, some for several years or more, and had gone back because of the pandemic, he said. In addition, the isolation and the pressures on families have made it a tough year.

Telehealth has become particularly important for clients who live in group facilities, for those with disabilities or who are homebound and for those who have two or three jobs, Wanczyk-Karp said. And the provision that allows clients and therapists to conduct sessions by telephone alone also is important, he said.

The audio has really become very valuable for people where internet connections arent there; sometimes you have individuals [who] may have their family members or their children around and dont want them to see whats going on in the session, he said.

Legislation

In March 2020, the General Assembly passed the first bill allowing telehealth on par with in-person visits, including a provision that insurance coverage must be the same for both. It would have expired March 15, but Lamont has extended it twice, most recently until May 20. The new bill will relieve the anxiety for those who rely on telehealth, Wanczyk-Karp said.

One of the big problems weve had is the governor waits until the night before an executive order expires to issue a new executive order, he said. Its very disruptive to continuity of care.

Since telehealth became a necessity in March 2020, were seeing 20 to 30 percent increase in accessibility, Wanczyk-Karp said. The other thing our members are telling us is the no-show rate has dropped.

Lamont issued a statement May 10, saying, Throughout the last year, patients across Connecticut have found that connecting with their medical providers through videoconference or telephone has been incredibly beneficial and practical for a wide variety of reasons, so it absolutely makes sense to allow for these services to continue. Making it easier for people to connect with their doctors or medical advisors is a goal that we should strive to attain.

State Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, co-chairman of the Insurance and Real Estate Committee, which proposed the telehealth bill, said, I think were going to get to permanent at some point. The concern has been a couple-fold. One is insurance companies are always looking for cost savings.  This could be a massive change in health care delivery, so what is this going to look like.

Also, Lesser said, Its difficult to make public policy in the midst of a pandemic so the two-year life of the bill will give enough time for things to settle down and see what the new normal is.

Were providing enough certainty to providers that were serious about this, he said. Were not going to pull the rug out tomorrow.

Options

Peter Kane, a social worker with a New Haven office, has been seeing his clients via telehealth from his home in Hamden. I think I certainly was somebody before this who said I would never do this  so then there was this adaptation that had to be done and it is a learning curve, he said.

While he believes telehealth has been valuable to both patients and therapists, King said, there are some physical questions to it I still havent solved. One is eye fatigue from looking at a screen for long hours. I use eyedrops a lot more than I used to, he said.

The other issue is more complex. Im not sure I 100 percent understand what the other person is perceiving, which is an odd thing, King said. I think that it is harder to know if youre getting quite the undivided attention in a therapy session. If a persons in the room with you, youre concentrated on each other.

Across the video screen, phones ring or there might be another screen going on or family in the room. While he wont conduct a telehealth session using his smartphone he has clients who see him by phone in their cars for privacy.

It is more convenient for clients, Kane said. They dont have to take a long lunch hour to drive to and from his office for a 50-minute session.

There are also the access questions of just pure distance, he said. I had somebody move to North Carolina. I was able to apply for a temporary license based on the pandemic in North Carolina, so I was able to see them.

Telehealth also increases the options for clients in less-populated areas who want a particular type of therapist, for example, a man or a person of color. Theres no reason why somebody from Sharon, Conn., couldnt see me under these circumstances. Im guessing that Sharon has a much lower access to therapists than New Haven.

While Kane said, I think theres no question that its good to have the option. Lots of people have gotten a lot of help, he prefers face-to-face meetings. When I get back to the office, and Im not sure when that will be, I will be overall encouraging people to come back.

Cornell Scott Hill Health Center

Corinne Seville, a director of adult behavioral health at Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, said telehealth has actually been very, very helpful with a large proportion of our population, which includes people from a broad range of backgrounds and situations.

One of the biggest barriers to treatment has been access, she said, especially for clients who are not as ambulatory, as well as clients whose insurances dont cover medical transportation. Medicaid does cover a van, but a lot of other insurances dont, so its very challenging for them. Sometimes theyve had to take a lot of different buses.

That can mean arriving late to an appointment or missing it altogether, Seville said. Weve seen our no-show rate decrease significantly, and clients have been maintaining the gains they had made and even make further gains.

When the pandemic hit, we transitioned to telehealth pretty seamlessly. The agency was very proactive, Seville said. There wasnt a day that we missed. There were some bumps. We had to make sure everyone had the technology that they needed. We did a lot of step-by-step instructions and we mailed out a lot of information.

Aber, the North Haven social worker, said when clients feel comfortable in their homes you can really get quite deep into things.

And seeing them in their environment is helpful, too. Its really a privilege. A lot of people are happy to give me a house tour and show me photographs or artwork that theyve done, she said. Its been really nice.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
Tom DiCamillo, Skip DiCamillo and his sons Danny and Matt show off the progress to the new unified exterior of DiCamillo Bakery on Linwood Avenue.
Niagara Falls, NY (14301)

Today

Mostly clear. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
In his final years In the House, Croshaw was a senior member of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, as well as the Privileges and Elections committee, which sets the rules for voting and campaign finance, and the General Laws Committee, which deals with a wide range of commercial law and state regulations. In the 1990s, when Democrats held onto large majorities, he also was a senior member of the Commerce and Labor Committee, responsible for writing laws governing utilities, banks and insurers.
Don Haseley (left) gets ready to board Tim Lockhart's boat "One More" to try his hand at catching a 26-pound king salmon. At the time of this photo on Saturday morning, another fisherman had caught a 25.8 pound salmon and was slated to win the $15,000 prize for the spring Lake Ontario counties derby. (Photo by Benjamin Joe)
Hon. Shaeed Akinade-Fijabi, former member of House of Representatives, has warned the All Progressives Congress, APC, against denying its ...

Hon. Shaeed Akinade-Fijabi, former member of House of Representatives, has warned the All Progressives Congress, APC, against denying its National Leader, Bola Tinubu presidential ticket in 2023.

Akinade-Fijabi warned that a third party will emerge if APC fails to field Tinubu as its presidential candidate.

The former lawmaker warned that the third party in favour of Tinubu would counter both the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

He spoke on a live radio program in Ibadan, yesterday on the possibilities of the former Lagos State governor emerging as Nigerias next president.

Fijabi, who represented Ibadan Northwest/Southwest under APC, at the 7th and 8th Assembly said: Our people are unpredictable, there might be emergence of third party to counter the two existing ones (PDP and APC) if Asiwaju Tinubu is denied presidential ticket by APC in 2023.

He assured that the APC would come back stronger, ahead of 2023 in Oyo State.

The former lawmaker explained that reconciliation was currently ongoing within the party to unify all the aggrieved members.
Former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, on Sunday, urged the Federal Government to equip the military with modern weapons to ...

Former Head of State, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, IBB, on Sunday, urged the Federal Government to equip the military with modern weapons to tackle insecurity.

Babangida said the Federal Government should also train the military in the use of modern weapons.

He stated this in an interview with BBC Hausa Services.

According to Babangida: Provide them with all they require and let them know this is their country, theyve no other better than this.

They also need to be trained on how to use the modern weapons, not to get weapons and just hand them over to them. They should be trained.

The former leader also disclosed that he usually advised the Federal Government on ways to end insecurity.

He said: We give advice, as we can, but we dont make noise about it. We dont announce that this is what we say.

We should unite, we should support those in power, we are all working towards achieving the same goal. Between the leaders and citizens, we need peace and a harmonious relationship.

Babangida further urged Nigerians to unite with the government in the fight against insecurity.

This problem of insecurity, every government has its experience but if we unite. I remember how we fought the civil war for 3 years, the people supported the government, the government did its best, bought what was necessary, those who fought were made to understand that this country is the best for them, he said.
Kanayo O Kanayo, the ace Nollywood actor, says its only he and his sisters that are alive in his immediate family He took to Instag...

Kanayo O Kanayo, the ace Nollywood actor, says its only he and his sisters that are alive in his immediate family

He took to Instagram on Saturday to share a never-before-seen black and white photo of his family members.

My lineage. My father, Mr Donatus Onyekwere, My mother , Ezinne Isabella Onyekwere, my elder brother, John Onyekwere, and my younger sister , Chinasaokwu, Cordelia was not born as at this time, 1965/66, he captioned it.

To God be all the glory, its just me and my sisters that are still in this land of the living. I am a full Orphanage, having lost both parents and only brother.





In 1992, Kanayo had his acting debut in Living in Bondage, a two-part film today regarded as one of the earliest successes in Nigerias film production history. The Imo state-born actor would go on to star in over 100 movies.

Kanayo had earlier made the news after he hit back at critics who taunted him for playing ritual roles in films.

Whats the link between Kanayo O Kanayo and the role he played as Nicholas? There are certain questions people ask you all the time such that it looks as if these people dont think, he had said.

Let gossipers be. They should go educate themselves. Even among Jesus disciples, Luke was a doctor. They all had what they were doing before they were called.

You take up a role and interpret the script so well, only for viewers to ask if you truly do money rituals. Whats ones business with that? What people should understand is I have a profession.

The Nollywood actor became a lawyer after being called to the Nigerian bar in September 2020.
A Pleasantville man was shot and killed Friday night in Atlantic City, authorities said.

Jacque Sheppard Jr., 34, was found unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds around 11 p.m., Atlantic County Prosecutors Office wrote in a press release.

Police were responding to 911 calls about a shooting near Baltic and Maryland Avenues. When they arrived, Sheppard was transported to the AtlantiCare Regional Center City Campus. He was pronounced dead shortly after.

The Atlantic County Prosecutors Office and the Atlantic City Police Violent Crimes Unit are leading the ongoing investigation.

The Atlantic County Prosecutors Office asks anyone with additional information about this incident to contact them at 609-909-7800 or submit a tip at https://www.acpo.org/tips.html.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Josh Axelrod may be reached at jaxelrod@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
Tonya Delgado, 17, sat in the exhibition space at Artworks, Trentons downtown visual arts center, surrounded by framed photographs hanging on walls, some of them her own work.

Ive always been into all types of art, photography, fashion, writing poetry, all of that, she said. But Ive never really gotten the chance to display or to show anything.

Delgado is one of six students and eight mentors whose work is shown in COVID-Topia, which runs until the end of the month.

Collectively, Fabrica De Fotos, is described as a photography club of students and mentors embodying different cultures and generations, building unity through photography. Students meet once a week through zoom with a mentor to discuss different photography methods.

It has given me a chance to broaden my horizons and broaden my idea of what art can do, adds Delgado, a Trenton Catholic Academy student who has been accepted to the Pratt Institute. For me COVID really put an emphasis on self-discovery.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. Student Jardin Gregorio has had a love of music and now and wants to combine that with his new-found passion for photography.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Fabrica De Fotos founder Tamara Torres, an accomplished artist, remembers sitting inside one cold day during the pandemic, photographing sunlight streaming onto a plant in her front window. Struck with the urge to talk with someone about photography she reached out to her friend Tulia Jimenez-Vergara, who works with FUTURO, an inclusive and diverse youth mentoring program for first and second generation immigrant students.

Cognizant of the pressures of lockdown living, Torres asked Jimenez-Vergara if she knew any kids who might want to learn more about photography.

In that moment, Fabrica De Fotos was born. Weekly zoom meetings were set up where mentors join the students for part of the hour to offer insights and tips on different methods and approaches to capturing moments and memories.

As the students grew their body of work, and when the plant of the club started to bear fruit, thoughts of an exhibition sprouted. Torres found ArtWorks a willing partner. And having the use of their main exhibition space for COVID-Topia is, something I will never forget and that the students will never forget, either, she said.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. Founder Tamara Torres, right, looks at the exhibit in ArtWorks with mentors, Edgar Osorio, left and C.a. Shofed.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. "Untitled" by founder Tamara Torres, on display at ArtWorks in Trenton. Torres says this photo began the idea for Fabrica De Fotos.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Jimenez-Vergara not only brought students to Fabrica De Fotos, but she herself participated as a photography student. Growing up, she recalls her father taking a lot of architectural pictures in black and white but she was never allowed to touch the camera.

She admits being nervous at first to participate as a student in this project, but it helped her connect not only with photography and other artists, but with the subjects of her pictures, too.

Through the pictures I was able to talk about the reality of my family, for example to bring some aspect of Alzheimers, she said. One of the pictures I had was my mother and step-father talking and singing to my niece (virtually) and so its a way of keeping the language, keeping the traditions, in these difficult times.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. Student Tulia Jimenez-Vergara, who also works with FUTURO, an inclusive and diverse youth mentoring program for first and second generation immigrant studentsMichael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. "Building Memories" by student Student Tulia Jimenez-Vergara, on display at ArtWorks in Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. Mentor Edgar Osorio.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. "La Puerta en Guatape" by mentor Edgar Osorio, on display at ArtWorks in Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

And Fabrica De Fotos has not been just a one-way learning experience.

Mentor Edgar Osorio said he learned a lot about photography from his grandfather, who left farming in El Salvador to study photography in Panama. He later went back home and worked as a photographer.

One of the biggest things that hes always mentioned to me is that life is nothing but art. Its a way of living, its a way of art, Osorio said. But, he added, I think I learned a lot more of my art through explaining it to the kids.

Fellow mentor C.a. Shofed was impressed with the work of the students.

I remember my first couple of shots I took, he said. They arent as good as what these kids have done here. I think they did an amazing job taking the lessons they learned...and experimenting. I will say that I see a little bit of all of us in all of the shots.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Immigrant students and mentors in Fabrica De Fotos build unity through photography during COVID-19 pandemic. Mentor C.a. Shofed, Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

The show at ArtWorks opened on April 17 and is open to the public through May 29 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday through Saturday. Masks are mandatory.

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Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com
Some people are born with style, others have to pay for it.

If you are in the latter group and were looking for something to wear that was 100% guaranteed to be fashionable, yet cost very little money, and was also a more ethical and sustainable clothes shopping option, the TheThriftProjectTCNJ store checks all the boxes.

Kennedy Ferruggia and Josh Simpson, two Bonner Scholars at The College of New Jersey, created the thrift project in 2013 as a student initiative in a partnership with the Rescue Mission of Trenton.

Monday, May 10, 2021 - College of New Jersey Bonner Scholar Kennedy Ferruggia carries a denim jacket. She and fellow Bonner Scholar Josh Simpson have created a virtual Thrift Store for students on Instagram, with all proceeds going to The Rescue Mission of Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Monday, May 10, 2021 - College of New Jersey Bonner Scholar Kennedy Ferruggia steams the wrinkles out of a denim jacket. She and fellow Bonner Scholar Josh Simpson have created a virtual Thrift Store for students on Instagram, with all proceeds going to The Rescue Mission of Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Pre-COVID, curated clothing from the Rescue Mission was originally offered for sale to fellow students in person. In prior semesters we had pop-up shops (2 per semester) that we host on campus, said site leader Ferruggia.

But during the pandemic, the only option was to go all-virtual.

Every Wednesday and Friday we have our virtual pop-up shop and we post our clothes on our Instagram story, she added. We have a lot of unique items and cool pieces, so if you like thrifting its a really nice place to find some online clothes.

For the project, Josh Simpson brought a steamer from home to take out the wrinkles before individual items would be photographed in Forcina Hall against a stylized backdrop of slightly erased words on a chalkboard.

As of right now its been working pretty well, he said. Students are responding pretty actively.

The purchase comes in a gift bag which includes a includes a homemade tile hot plate and with a personalized note thanking the buyer for their support.

Monday, May 10, 2021 - College of New Jersey Bonner Scholar Josh Simpson takes a photo of a jacket to be featured on an Instagram virtual Thrift Store that he and Bonner Scholar Kennedy Ferruggia have created for students with all proceeds going to The Rescue Mission of Trenton. Helping at left is Katie Kahn, Program Manager Bonner Scholars Institute.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Monday, May 10, 2021 - College of New Jersey Bonner Scholar Josh Simpson takes a photo of a denim jacket to be featured on an Instagram virtual Thrift Store that he and Bonner Scholar Kennedy Ferruggia have created for students with all proceeds going to The Rescue Mission of Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Faculty advisor Katie Kahn is Program Manager for the Bonner Scholars Institute at TCNJ and calls herself a proud Bonner Alum, Class of 2015.

Students get to be more ethical and sustainable in their clothing shopping options but also to donate directly back to the Rescue Mission, she said. In past years weve raised between 2 and $3,000 per semester for the Rescue Mission.

Khan expressed pride that Kennedy and Josh would take such an initiative to the campus community about the process and the social issues that were addressing. Im really excited to see it get off the ground this semester, and so many students engage with it online.

Our heartfelt thanks goes out to Kennedy and Josh for their dedication, their compassion, and their commitment, as well as their unique ability to connect The Mission with college students, and to spread the word about how we are here to help anyone who knocks on our door, Barrett Young, Chief Executive Officer of The Mission, said in a prepared statement.

As the current semester winds down the virtual thrift store will also take a hiatus. Josh will return home for the summer to Washington D.C., but Kennedy, who lives locally, says she will continue to volunteer at the Rescue Mission.

And as COVID-19 loosens its grip on the population, Ferruggia says with the opening of in person classes and activities for the fall semester we should be able to host pop-up shops then. When that happens, the virtual store will still continue, but once per week.

Monday, May 10, 2021 - Kennedy Ferruggia, right, and Josh Simpson, two Bonner Scholars at The College of New Jersey have created a virtual Thrift Store for students on Instagram, with all proceeds going to The Rescue Mission of Trenton.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com
Joey Lucchesi looked like he found his niche in his previous outing prior to Saturday. The Mets lefty entered a game on May 8 in the top of the third inning, and he allowed just one unearned run over 3.1 innings en route to a victory.

The Mets followed that same approach in another bullpen game on Saturday, using opener Drew Smith to pitch the first two innings to get to Lucchesi. However, the lefty couldnt get out of the fourth inning in an eventual 12-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Lucchesi allowed four of the five runs the Rays scored in the decisive fourth inning, where control became an issue. While the plan to use Lucchesi to get the Mets through the middle innings didnt pan out, manager Luis Rojas anticipates using him in that role again soon, partially out of necessity.

Right now I gotta say yes, having (Jacob deGrom) on the IL. And its valuable to have him, whether hes going to be lefty long man out of the pen right now and change the looks, Rojas said. I know things disconnected for him in the four batters (to start the fourth inning). But the outing before this one, he took us into the sixth inning, throwing the ball really well, and I mean this was a different story (Saturday).

After Marcus Stroman pitches in the series finale against the Rays on Sunday, Taijuan Walker will start when the Mets begin a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves on Monday.

With the way the Mets rotation is currently lined up, Rojas and company will need to find another starter for Tuesday, with deGrom not eligible to come off the injured list until at least Thursday and David Peterson currently set to start again on Wednesday.

Rojas said Jordan Yamamoto could be a call-up option to make a start, but its possible the Mets run back another bullpen game to help bridge the gap until deGroms return. DeGrom is not a guarantee to come off the IL as soon as hes eligible, since he hasnt thrown a bullpen session yet.

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But if Rojas needs to use a combination of Lucchesi and relievers in Tuesdays game, hes OK doing it.

Im comfortable with the guys. Going into (Saturday), you feel like you know what youre going to get out of the guys, Rojas said. I thought there were some wrong pitches at times, and whether it was the pitch selection or whether it was the pitch location.

One of the bright spots for the Mets in Saturdays bullpen plan was Smith, who served as the teams opener. Smith allowed one unearned run in the first inning, and he struck out three over two innings before handing things over the Lucchesi.

Smith pitched seven MLB innings last season after returning from Tommy John surgery, but he said when he reported for spring training this season, he finally felt closer to his old self. Smith dealt with a shoulder issue that kept him out in April, but now that hes back in the fold, hed happy to jump into the opener role again.

I had no issues with it. In the past when it became a thing I was kind of on the fence about it, how I felt, just a reliever starting a game, Smith said. But doing it and experiencing it, it was no different. I liked it so, Im definitely open to doing it again as if they need me to do it. Whatever the team needs.

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A Monmouth County police officer has been arrested for running a meth lab out of his Long Branch home, authorities said Sunday.

Police were called to the Long Branch home of Christopher Walls, 50, for a report of a domestic disturbance around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night, and while on scene, a resident tipped officers off to Walls drug laboratory, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office alleged Sunday.

The New Jersey State Polices Hazmat Unit discovered instruments and all the ingredients needed to make methamphetamine in the basement and in a shed on the property, along with meth residue on chemistry glassware, authorities said. Walls also had books about making methamphetamine, explosives and poison, the office said.

Walls, a 19-year Long Branch police officer, has been suspended without pay. Wall had a $128,000 annual salary, according to state records.

Thanks to the swift action of our office, the Long Branch Police Department, and the New Jersey State Police, a very serious risk to public safety has been averted. The collaborative efforts of our agencies dismantled a very dangerous situation. It is particularly distressing that this hazard was caused by a sworn law enforcement officer, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said in a statement.

Police also found an open, unsecured gun safe with two long guns, four handguns, eight high-capacity magazines and ammunition inside, authorities said. The safe was accessible to a child living there, police said.

The officers in our agency risk their lives daily to protect and serve our residents. It is disappointing beyond measure that one of our officers could have risked the safety of his family and neighbors by engaging in such dangerous conduct. This officers actions do not reflect the moral compass of our officers or this agency, acting Police Chief Frank Rizzuto said in the statement.

Walls is charged with maintaining or operating a narcotics production facility, manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine, possession of a firearm during the course of a drug offense, risking widespread injury, endangering the welfare of a child.

The officer was being held Sunday at the Monmouth County jail.

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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.
By Yannick Wood

George Floyd  a father, son, and Black man  was strangled to death by a police officer one year ago today. When his murderer was convicted, America let out a breath because legal justice was served. Real justice, of course, would mean that Mr. Floyd and others killed by police brutality were still alive.

Mr. Floyds murder was the result of a criminal justice system that has been calibrated to mete out unequal justice. A system that encourages excessive police stops, rewards escalation and prioritizes arrests, especially for Black people and other people of color. A system that is largely free from accountability.

While we must not underestimate the power of the conviction, we must also not overestimate it. The verdict must be a springboard, not a panacea.

Necessary conversations have begun about reimagining what it would look like to truly keep communities safe by reducing the footprint of law enforcement. Those must continue.

Simultaneously, we must immediately build robust accountability measures on the national and state level, including in New Jersey, where our legislature has not passed any meaningful police accountability legislation since Mr. Floyd was killed.

Currently, there are several bills pending in the New Jersey Legislature that seek to recalibrate our policing system to help prevent another murder like Mr. Floyds from occurring. However, they have not yet been passed.

Why not? Why hasnt the chokehold ban bill (A4284) been passed? If we all agree that the knee on George Floyds neck was so despicable, why cant we agree that this should be completely banned in New Jersey? Chokeholds are inhumane and deadly. Lets enter the 21st century and ban this torturous practice.

Why hasnt New Jersey joined New York City, Colorado and New Mexico and ended qualified immunity? Protecting law enforcement officers from civil liability for violating the civil rights of community members is unjustified. Police are meant to protect and serve the public; when they violate their rights, they should be held accountable.

Why hasnt every police department in this state followed Newarks example by creating a policy that reaffirms and protects an individuals First Amendment right to record police on the street? Would Mr. Floyds murderer have been convicted without the bravery of Darnella Frazier, who recorded the violence? We also need to pass S3366, which would allow lawsuits against police who prevent people from recording them.

Why hasnt the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) bill (A4272) been passed to create independent bodies of community members who investigate civilian complaints against police officers? A CCRB with subpoena power and the ability to immediately investigate could establish a record of misconduct that can force departments to discipline, retrain, suspend or fire officers. New Jersey must also pass the Police Transparency Bill (A5301/S2656), which makes police disciplinary records, including complaints, allegations and charges, publicly accessible.

We now know that the officer that choked Mr. Floyd to death was accused of choking others. Access to these records will bring prior misconduct to light and will create more accountability. Its time for New Jersey to join other states and allow for these police records to be made publicly available.

Each of these bills is essential to finally begin to build a culture of accountability in policing.

Finally, as we look forward to building a world with reduced law enforcement, New Jersey, as its first step, needs to pass the Restorative and Transformative Justice for Youth and Communities Pilot Program Bill (A4663/S2924). For a fraction of the staggering cost of $445,504 that the state pays for each youth it incarcerates, this bill will set up programs to provide critically needed services to reduce violence, to divert youth from the system and to serve youth reentering their communities following incarceration.

There is no good reason that these important bills have stalled in the New Jersey Legislature. New Jersey must lead. To lead, we must learn from the tragedy of Mr. Floyds death by seizing this moment of racial reckoning and passing this critically needed legislation.

Yannick Wood is the director of the Criminal Justice Program at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. The positions expressed in this piece represent those of the Institute in its independent capacity, and not as a member of the Independent Monitoring Team overseeing the implementation of the Consent Decree agreement between Newark PD and the Department of Justice.

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If the rocket cant launch tonight, the mission will need to be rescheduled for later in the year or canceled because the moon will be too high above the horizon at sunset, which means it will be too bright to see vapor tracers in the sky.
Concerning We cannot wait for the GOP to clean up its act, a recent op-ed from the Washington Post, penned by former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, and four other Republican moderates:

To Whitman and others of her Republican-in-Name-Only (RINO) ilk: Please, please, form a new party and desert the GOP.

Their aristocratic mien and misplaced sense of strategy are root causes for the Republican Partys repeated ability to wrest defeat out of the jaws of victory. When they dont get their way, they retreat to the back bench to undermine the partys leadership and gripe about its composition and direction.

Whitman ran New Jersey into the ground as governor, especially our underfunded and out-of-control public employee pension system. Perhaps she could form a dream ticket for 2024 along with U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Call it the Chameleon Slate.

Id prefer that conservatives get a jump on these people, and form a true fiscally-responsible political party, but their plan is a perfect example of addition by subtraction. Should they leave the Republican Party: Good riddance!

Frank P. Puzycki, Long Valley

CDC keeps masking its mask messaging

On May 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new COVID-19 guidance with a colorful online graphic under the slightly obscure rubric, Choosing Safer Activities.

In the right column, a clever graphic uses green faces to show what fully vaccinated people can now do. Its almost anything, anywhere, without masks, including indoors, such as going to a movie theater, hair salon or bar.

In the left column, there are a few green faces for unvaccinated persons, but mostly they are yellow and red, indicating what they should do cautiously, avoiding some activities entirely or engaging in others only wearing masks.

The rationale, I presume, is to encourage people to get vaccinated, to overcome objections and fears on the way to a better life. Thats good.

However there is an equally strong message, one that being fully vaccinated means you can now go maskless, even in facilities where masks are typically required  creating an unenforceable dichotomy. The icons also suggest that if you are fully vaccinated, you can neither give nor receive COVID-19 infection.

Intended to encourage the unvaccinated, this can confuse the vaccinated. The CDCs text recognizes that masks may be required in some places regardless of its guidance, but the graphic conveys a different message  adding to the CDCs history of mixed signals on this topic.

Michael Gochfeld, M.D., Somerset

Leaf well enough alone

Regarding the recent article Leaf blowers banned in N.J .towns after work-from home neighbors complain about noise:

Great article, but, ask those who are annoyed why they are not similarly annoyed by the same contractors who use gasoline-powered two- and four-cycle-engine lawn mowers as a part of the landscaping process?

Are they willing to give up getting their grass cut at their homes because of the noise? I think not. Snooty hypocrites. Montclair? Summit? (two towns that have instituted seasonal leaf-blower bans). Please!

Maybe the summertime ban should be that their lawns cant be mowed because of the excessive noise. See how that plays out.

Mowers are less noise? Please spare me. Ask the Maplewood Council member who defended the leaf-blower-only ban in the article, and please follow up. I am a 40-year subscriber and love my Star-Ledger.

Dave Krempecki, South River

More pipelines, more hacker problems

A recent column by Paul Mulshine (The Colonial crisis: Maybe those gas pipelines arent so bad after all) implied that all manner of gasoline shortages could be averted if only the TransCanada pipelines  Dakota Access and Keystone XL  had been permitted to build to completion.

First, and foremost, the shortages prompted by the the Colonial Pipeline shutdown is NOT a gasoline supply problem, but a cyberattack problem. Chances are the attackers could easily have disrupted the Keystone XL pipeline, as well.

The Trump administrations lack of foresight, or perhaps its total lack of interest in the cybersecurity of the countrys agencies and corporations did not help the situation.

These kind of hacking attacks are not going to end anytime soon. The Colonial incident should stand as a warning that cybersecurity must become a priority, ASAP. It wont matter how many pipelines we have, Mr. Mulshine.

Christine Calhoun, Cranford

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If you want to worry, youre free to do so. The virus is still out there.

If you want to quibble, you can do that, too. The CDCs new guidance allows vaccinated people to crowd into restaurants without masks, but Gov. Phil Murphy says hes not ready quite yet for that. So much for following the science.

But on this day, my choice is to rejoice. My bet is Murphy will yield soon. And when he does, I will feel like a dog when someone leaves the gate open.

This cursed virus has been threatening all of us with death for what seems like forever. It has killed more than 23,000 of our loved ones in New Jersey alone, robbing them of oxygen bit by bit. It has left kindergarteners depressed and anxious before their time. Its left good businesses in ruin, through no fault of their own. Its robbed us of a million joys, from hugging a grandchild to going out on a first date.

So, I choose to rejoice at this huge leap towards normalcy, at least for those who have gotten the jab. That includes 55 percent of New Jersey adults, according to a New York Times database, well ahead of the national pace. Add in the 11 percent who have been infected and presumably have immunity, and you can see this crisis is settling down fast.

For some of us, anyway. The CDCs announcement on Thursday lifting the bulk of restrictions on those who are vaccinated has split the Covid crisis in two, with the vaccinated on one side, about to enter a new world, and the unvaccinated on the other, stuck in the old one.

It came just in time, because like many others, I had started to resent the restrictions in the last few weeks, as vaccines flooded into the state. I was cheerful about compliance from the start -- wearing the mask, avoiding planes and trains, skipping most visits to my crippled YMCA, sitting behind a plexiglass shield at my favorite pub. All of it was a small sacrifice for the common good.

But gradually, it occurred to me that this was necessary mainly to protect the people who refuse to get the vaccine. Some have personal reasons, but vaccine hesitancy is increasingly irrational after 120 million Americans have gotten the jab. Most of the unvaccinated can safely be described as knuckleheads.

I get angry, too, says Perry Halkitis, a dean at the Rutgers University School of Public Health. Im exhausted running on a treadmill with a mask on. The rest of us are being punished even though were doing the right thing because theres a handful of people who refuse to do the right thing.

He spoke hours before the CDC relieved that conflict by liberating those with vaccines. We can crowd into bars and restaurants without masks, walk downtown without a mask, even host a big wedding, the CDC says.

Murphy, who always promised to follow the science, isnt doing so this time. But unless he wants to commit political suicide, hell get on board soon.

In effect, the CDC has shifted its core strategy by placing more onus on those without a vaccine to protect themselves, while letting the rest of us get back to normal lives.

You have to reward the people who are doing the right thing, Halkitis says.

The heated politics around this are not likely to settle down until Murphy accepts the CDC guidance. Leading Republicans including Jack Ciattarelli, the likely Republican nominee for governor, and Sen. Declan OScanlon, R-Monmouth, have been relentlessly critical of the governor for months, blaming him for job losses and pressing him to loosen restrictions.

OScanlon pointed to a comment made by Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli last week that wildly exaggerated the danger to those who are vaccinated. Im vaccinated, she said. I wear a mask everywhere because I know vaccinations are not 100 percent. So, if its 95 percent and theres a 5 percent chance that I can get a variant, Im going to wear a mask.

A spokesperson walked back that comment the next day, noting the true chance of infection was .02 percent, but to OScanlon the slip was revealing. It appears our policies have been set with that understanding, he says.

The governors decision to go rogue and disregard the CDC guidance breathes new life into those attacks. A recent Monmouth University poll gave Murphy a 66 percent approval rating for his handling of this crisis, but how long will that last if New Jerseyans see the rest of the country return to normal and Murphy holding us back?

The policy challenge now is to get more vaccines into more arms, with a special push among racial minorities and the poor, who have lower rates. And its time to get creative. New Jersey brew pubs are offering free beers for those who get the jab this month, bless them. Rutgers and other universities are requiring students to get vaccinated, and Halkitis says grade schools should follow suit as younger people become eligible. Ohio has set up a lottery for those getting vaccines, with $1 million prizes for winners, an idea that Murphy should consider.

But for now, lets treasure this moment. Our state is safer every day. And our lives are about to get easier.

More: Tom Moran columns

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
After this, believe that the business of manufactured outrage will be the most profitable industry of 2021.

The incident involves Stacy Pennington, deputy administrator of Salem County  who is also its human resources officer  and a meme about Cinco de Mayo she sent to all county employees.

The meme, apparently sent May 5 through the county email system, wished people a Happy Cinco de Mayo, with a generic photograph of a jar of mayonnaise in a sink  an obvious play on words.

This led to a grievance filed against Pennington by an executive of the largest labor union representing Salem County employees, stating that about a half dozen employees were dismayed over the message.

No stereotypical Mexican hat here. No derogatory terms about immigrants. No reference to the Frito Bandito, a cartoon robber who was justifiably banished as a TV spokesman for corn chips in 1971.

It takes a lot less than that now to warrant accusations of cultural insensitivity. But, a mayo jar and silly wordplay involving sink and cinco? Cmon, now.

Dont let Pennington off the hook entirely. More about that later. Concede, though, that Cinco de Mayo in Mexico is a minor celebration to commemorate the outmanned Mexican armys 1862 victory against the French in the Battle of Pueblo. Its not Mexican Independence Day, for which its sometimes confused.

Our NJ Advance Media article about the kerfuffle never indicated exactly WHY the meme was so offensive. It DID contain a demand from Joe Hiles, the union executive, for Pennington to post an apology for five days over the county email system and complete appropriate diversity and sensitivity training.

Was it really the meme that upset the Communication Workers of America so much? Hmmm. Could this really be about an unrelated CWA beef with the county commissioners?

Conversely, one must wonder if the forces that cash in whenever political correctness is deemed to go too far ginned up the publicity. The manufactured-outrage beast must be fed often, or Hannity, Carlson, etc., will lose ad revenue.

The meme Pennington sent out was rather innocuous. What she did wrong was engage with her online responders, escalating the situation. Someone serving as the countys equal opportunity officer, as well as human resource chief, should know better.

Attempting to defend the meme, she made things worse. In one reply, released by Hiles, she stated, In the USA, like St. Patricks Day, Cinco de Mayo is an excuse to drink and eat unauthentic food.

Thats actually true, concerning how most of America celebrates the day. The occasion is pushed by beer brewers, fast-food purveyors, and with every business tie-in imaginable. This, from an NJ Advance Media list of Cinco de Mayo freebies. At 7-Eleven, rewards club members can get a small Slurpee for $1 and four mini tacos for free. Other listed Cinco de Mayo deals, courtesy of an outside shopping website: Lululemons We Made too Much sale; Overstocks Super Patio Sale.

Authentic, huh?

Maybe a good thing about America is that you dont have to be from a specific country, ethnic group or race to join a broad celebration of its heritage.

Pennington, however, is not smart to make this case to someone whod already taken offense to the meme. This back-and-forth does not belong on a taxpayer-paid, government email system.

The deputy clerk did send out an apology email on May 6, after meeting with Salem County Administrator Jeffrey Ridgeway  although the CWAs Hiles considers the apology to be half-hearted. All county employees are to receive more diversity and sensitivity training, which is good.

Its up to Ridgeway and the county commissioners to decide if Pennington should undergo any more formal discipline. If her transgressions go no further than a meme and some ill-advised online engagement, that should be the end of it.

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Is it too late? It seems like every several days there is the roar of a chainsaw when a tree on a neighboring property is turned to dust or firewood.

This sound should bring our attention to the voices heralding our pending global demise of warming and oceans rising. This removal of trees that are active sentinels against an overabundance of atmospheric carbon dioxide is a possible contribution toward global warming.

As a property owner living where a monster oak and a dozen other oak trees dwell, I see my annual leaf collection being removed by Washington Townships vacuum truck.

Maybe it is time to encourage the planting of replacements for these trees with New Jersey white pines, an evergreen tree native to the area. I know I will be long gone before the replacement trees reach their beneficial time period, but maybe we can trend global cooling as well as alleviate leaf collection costs.

Where are the environmental activists who watch our leaves turn color and then fall to be collected? Plant white pines, not signs.

Gerald Keer, Turnersville

Happy days here, except for conservatives

Every few weeks like clockwork, Ill read a letter by Barbara Essington, such as the recent Democrats engage in Orwellian doublespeak, " that trashes Democrats and anyone else who doesnt share her political preferences.

These letters read like a list of manufactured grievances she heard about from conservative media. Like many submissions by conservative writers, I see little evidence of anything but a litany of talking points regurgitated as letters to the editor.

If Essington and the rest were to tune out formulaic right-wing media, which thrives on fomenting conflict and resentment, theyd realize things are looking pretty good.

Since President Joe Biden took office, weve made enormous progress on the coronavirus pandemic. Some 154 million Americans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is lifting restrictions. Businesses are reopening, people are returning to work, and a sense of normalcy and optimism is settling in. The real-estate market is on fire, and homes are selling above their asking prices.

Many economists predict an economic boom as the year progresses, with a corresponding plunge in the jobless rate. In short, were looking at an unprecedented economic recovery. Most normal Americans are in a downright celebratory mood.

The only ones who seem unhappy and negative are conservatives. Perhaps they are bitter because Donald Trump, their hero-king, lost his reelection bid. Maybe theyre just unhappy by nature.

Regardless, they should cheer up and enjoy the stability and prosperity a sensible president has made possible. Happy days are here again!

Joseph D. Bastrimovich, National Park

Blue wall defends bad cops across the miles

So, the blue wall extends from Minnesota all the way to New Jersey.

Steve Cupani, a retired Atlantic City police sergeant, wrote a letter (Juror prevented fair trial for Derek Chauvin) about Brandon Mitchell, a juror in the trial of ex-Minneapolis police officer Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd.

Cupani accuses Mitchell of being biased, mostly because he wore a Black Lives Matter shirt in 2020, long before he was selected as a juror in this springs trial.

Cupani, like a lot of cops, dont recognize that Chauvin was a bad one. Hey, Ill bet that Cupani has worn a Policemens Benevolent Association shirt once or twice. Does that make him biased?

Twelve Minnesotans looked at the evidence and declared Chauvin guilty of murder. Its pitiful that Cupani cant seem to see the truth.

Michael Schnackenberg, Newton

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Monday is Tax Day. You know what that means.

It means New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will hand more than a billion dollars of our money to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

And he wont be getting even a thank you in return.

Its our money because it represents the tax on the income of New Jersey residents who spent last year working in New Jersey.

They were working for New York-based employers, but that makes no difference. I have that on the best authority, the amicus brief that Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal filed in a case in which New Hampshire is fighting Massachusetts over the issue.

In that case, which may come before the Supreme Court, Massachusetts argues that it is entitled to tax New Hampshire residents for work done for Massachusetts companies  even if that work is done in New Hampshire.

That became a big issue for both New Hampshire and New Jersey when the COVID crisis hit and tens of thousands of employees were told to work from home.

In his brief, Grewal argues that collecting an income tax across state lines is unconstitutional because states incur costs by providing their residents services while they work from home, while a taxing State reaps income tax revenue derived from that work.

New York disagrees. The New Yorkers say that New Jerseyans must pay that states income tax even if working in New Jersey. The sole exception is if they are working in a bona fide office, the definition of which includes a laundry list of requirements.

But why do the New Yorkers get to determine who in New Jersey must pay their state income tax?

Because the Murphy administration told them they can.

In a notice that is still up on the New Jersey Department of the Treasury website, employers are told that New Jersey rules state that income is sourced based on where the service or employment is performed based on a days method of allocation.

So far, so good. But the employers are then told that during the temporary period of COVID-19 pandemic, wage income will continue to be sourced as determined by the employer in accordance with the employers jurisdiction.

Why did New Jersey tell New York to withhold taxes that should go to New Jersey?

Thats the $64,000 question, said state Sen. Steve Oroho. In fact, its the billion-dollar question.

I put that question to the governors people in an email. I didnt get an answer from them, but Oroho offered our governor some advice:

Murphy should go to Cuomo and say, Youre trying to get my residents to pay for services they didnt receive.

The Sussex County Republican, who is a financial planner in real life, argues that even before the pandemic a lot of New Jerseyans were working from home for at least part of the week.

The state should tell them, Contact your employer and tell them youll pay New Jersey taxes. Youll pay a lower rate and save money  Oroho said. I dont think its that complicated.

Neither does Senate minority leader Tom Kean Jr. Kean, who has been hammering on this issue for years, said its time to tell New Yorkers to stop reaching across the river to tax New Jersey residents.

Theyre paying property taxes and sales taxes, said the Union County Republican. If the governor was doing his job, theyd be paying income taxes.

Kean noted that our state income tax is dedicated to property-tax relief and a billion bucks would go a long way toward reducing local taxes. We should have had this fight a year ago, Kean said.

This governor doesnt seem to understand that this issue should be about the affordability for the New Jersey taxpayer and not about the New York treasury, Kean said. We should have made that clear from the very first instance.

Weve lost already an entire year of revenue from the prior tax year, Oroho noted. And were almost halfway through the current tax year with the Murphy administration still telling New York employers to keep deducting New York taxes from New Jerseyans paychecks.

We lost a billion last year and well probably lose another billion a year going forward, he said.

With the governor silent on the issue, Oroho co-sponsored a bipartisan bill to set up a study of how much revenue were losing and how to get it back.

That sailed through under Senate President Steve Sweeney. Hes a South Jersey Democrat whose district borders the Schuylkill, not the Hudson.

New Jersey already has a tax compact with Pennsylvania that lets each state tax its own residents income regardless of which state its earned in.

Someone should tell New York we demand a similar agreement.

Unfortunately that someone is telling them to keep taking our tax dollars.

ALSO - OROHO TELLS MURPHY TO END HIS ONE-MAN RULE:

Last week Oroho and other Republicans issued a call for the governor to bring democracy back to New Jersey and stop ruling by executive order. An excerpt:

After the Governor announced yet another extension of the public health emergency and his intention to end it this summer if the Legislature gives him what he wants, Senator Steve Oroho criticized Murphy for waiting too long.

This could have been done a long time ago. There was no reason to drag this out like this, said Oroho (R-24). Its time to bring this one-man rule to an end. The Legislature should have been involved early on, but we were excluded, and the residents of New Jersey paid a heavy price for it.

Read the whole thing.
A controversial legal theory thats shut down lawsuits against cops for abusive behavior, all across America, is now under fire in New Jersey.

The principle is called qualified immunity, and its not a law  just a doctrine adopted over time by the courts. It protects government workers from being sued for things they do in their official roles at work, which can even include rogue cops who kill or maim people.

Its not enough that an officer broke a rule, or acted in bad faith. To hold him liable for damages, the courts also require a precise match between his case and some prior case of misconduct. To see why this is ridiculous, and we need to peel back this protection for police, consider one case of a homeless man in Tennessee.

After the cops cornered Alexander Baxter, a robbery suspect, in a basement, he says he sat on the floor, stuck his hands up in the air and surrendered to them  yet they sicced their police dog on him anyway, which bit him under the arm.

He sued the officers for excessive force, but a court ruled last year that they were immune to his lawsuit, because in the only previous case that was somewhat similar, the suspect had been lying down  not sitting  when he was bitten by a police K-9. Without a precise match, the officers were protected by qualified immunity.

Yes, its that absurd. The idea is that cops use an encyclopedic knowledge of prior case law to figure out right from wrong. To suggest they are knowledgeable about prior case law is a farce, says Stanley King, a civil rights attorney in New Jersey with nearly 25 years of experience.

Imagine if you couldnt sue your surgeon because no doctor had ever mistakenly left a sponge in the exact same place. Other high-stakes professions that require split-second decisions dont have this sort of blanket immunity, notes Karen Thompson, a lawyer with the ACLU; like a doctor doing open heart surgery, or an obstetrician handling a risky birth. Cops should be no different. So how did we get here?

Qualified immunity has a curious history, she says. In reaction to Ku Klux Klan violence in the years following the Civil War, Congress passed a law allowing someone whose rights were violated to sue for damages. Then in 1967, at the height of the civil rights movement, the Supreme Court created this rule of qualified immunity, that government officials cant be held liable if the law wasnt clearly established.

When people were finally successfully demanding their rights, suddenly the courts create new ways to impede that, Thompson says.

Today, the states largest police union argues that judges in New Jersey would never dismiss a case of egregious abuse because of qualified immunity, and that ending this protection would only mean a decent cop could get sued for all hes worth. Your home is on the line, your future, your assets, PBA President Patrick Colligan says. We make mistakes, Ive made mistakes.

Yes, good cops need protection, and under the law, they have it. An officer who makes an innocent mistake in good faith is protected from paying damages in civil court, with or without this proposed change. No jury would convict a cop like that.

Qualified immunity cuts these cases short, leading to their dismissal before a jury can even hear the evidence. For a bad cop, thats a free pass that can only encourage brutal behavior.

Immunity stops the inquiry, as King says.

And if the union really believes that judges wont dismiss a case of serious abuse because of qualified immunity, then why does it still advance this defense in those cases? They should say, youre right, this should go before a judge or jury to decide whats the best outcome, King adds.

Eliminating qualified immunity is complicated and must be approached with care to ensure that cops who act in good faith are protected. A two-paragraph bill introduced this week by Sen. Nia Gill, which mimics a federal bill named for George Floyd, is just a starting point. Among the questions we have: Should individual cops be liable, as opposed to departments or towns? Should officers have to get malpractice insurance?

But this isnt such a radical idea. Colorado recently did away with qualified immunity. So did New Mexico, and New York City. Time for New Jersey to follow their lead, and find a way to end the immunity defense for abusive cops.

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The U.S. House plans to advance long-ignored measures to reduce the rising number fatal truck crashes across the nation, the chair of the committee writing the legislation told NJ Advance Media.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said legislation setting federal transportation policy for the next five years will include such long-sought provisions as requiring trucks to be equipped with automated braking and lane warning systems.

Theres going to be a huge safety component, said DeFazio, D-Ore.

Those provisions will be part of the infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden has asked Congress to pass. DeFazio said he hoped to have the legislation on the House floor before the July 4 recess.

The National Transportation Safety Board in April listed automatic braking systems and devices limiting truck speeds among its 10 most wanted safety improvements for the next two years. And a coalition of 40 safety groups, insurance companies, consumer organizations, labor unions and others have sought to include safety measures in the infrastructure legislation.

Safety advocates have sought such improvements for years, and the U.S. House included some of them in the $1.5 trillion federal transportation bill it passed in the last Congress, but nothing has made it into law or into new regulations.

NJ Advance Media reported in January that deaths in crashes involving large trucks  those weighing more than 10,000 pounds  rose to 5,005 in 2019, a 36% increase from 2010, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics. During the same period, the number of people killed in truck crashes in New Jersey grew 50%, from 52 in 2010 to 78 in 2019.

At the same, recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board designed to reduce truck crashes have been ignored by federal safety regulators and members of Congress in the wake of industry opposition.

DeFazio, who said the legislation also will help move the country to electric vehicles rather than gas-powered cars and trucks, said he drove an electric truck cab earlier this month in his home state, and noticed all the safety equipment on it.

It has lane departure warnings, it has automatic braking, DeFazio said in an interview. Thats the future of trucking, to equip them to avoid these kinds of accidents that were having.

Today, Im getting a firsthand look at our clean energy future: electric trucks! This is just one example of how @VolvoTrucks and businesses are adapting to the climate crisis. Congress needs to do the same to ensure were building infrastructure for the 21st century and beyond. pic.twitter.com/iKQE81UbBZ  Rep Peter DeFazio (@RepPeterDeFazio) May 5, 2021

The American Trucking Associations vice president for safety policy, Dan Horvath, said the trade association supported making such devices standard equipment on new vehicles but wanted regular reviews of safety equipment.

Technology is ever changing, he said.

.A member of the transportation committee, Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7th Dist., said last month that the truck safety provisions likely would include those that passed the House in the last Congress.

The earlier bill gave the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration six months to study the risks associated with untreated sleep apnea and 12 months to begin drafting a rule to address the issue for drivers of commercial vehicles.

The measure also gave the federal transportation safety agencies one year to set standards for automatic braking systems and require them to be turned on when a truck was being driven, and told the agencies to set new standards for rear underguards and study whether side underguards should be required on trucks to prevent vehicles from being wedged underneath.

Congress needs to renew the existing federal highway and transit programs by Sept. 30. Those provisions will be part of whatever infrastructure bill emerges from Capitol Hill.

Biden, who proposed spending $2 trillion on infrastructure, met with Senate Republicans at the White House on Thursday to discuss whether such legislation could attract support from both parties. The administration set a goal of Memorial Day to determine whether a bipartisan agreement could be reached.

Standing in the way of a deal: GOP lawmakers want far less spending than Biden, want to fund only on traditional infrastructure such as roads and bridges, and refuse to pay for the proposal by rolling back part of the corporate tax cuts in their 2017 tax law.

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New Jerseys controversial state takeover of Atlantic City may last longer than expected.

The states control over much of the citys government is currently slated to end this year, five years after former Gov. Chris Christie and top state lawmakers stepped in to help save the financially strapped seaside gambling resort from bankruptcy.

But lawmakers are considering a bill that would extend the takeover by four years while also restoring civil service protections for city employees.

State Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, told NJ Advance Media the local governments finances have improved under the takeover, but the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic was a setback to the city thats considered the economic engine of South Jersey.

We still think they need our help, said Sweeney, a South Jersey lawmaker who was one of the biggest advocates of the takeover. Weve made huge strides, but our works not done.

Christie and Sweeney pushed for the takeover after five casinos closed in Atlantic City, causing the citys tax base to plummet and blowing a massive hole in its budget. The city was also in deep debt.

Under the takeover, the state has the power to assume key functions usually controlled by local leaders  including renegotiating union contracts, hiring and firing employees, selling city assets, reversing decisions of the city council.

Local leaders protested the move, saying the state was stripping away the rights of the citys 39,000 residents, many of whom are minorities.

Wall Street credit ratings agencies have upgraded the citys fiscal outlook in recent years, and city officials say the municipal budget will be below $200 million this year for the first time in many years.

After the pandemic hit, however, casinos were forced to close for months after Gov. Phil Murphy put restrictions in place to fight COVID-19. Unemployment in the city rose dramatically as profits at casinos fell by more than 80% in 2020.

The new bill (A5590) would extend the takeover until 2025.

I think its a reasonable timeframe, Sweeney said. You can always shorten it if things are great.

One big change: The bill would have the citys public workers regain civil service status, which allows them to file grievances.

State Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo, D-Atlantic  main sponsor of the measure  said numerous labor disputes are currently being settled in court instead of through arbitration. That, he said, is costly for the city, and the bill would help change that.

Ive always said that when we started with this bill, the goal is to go back to self-governance for the city of Atlantic City, Mazzeo told Politico New Jersey. I think the changes that were making in this bill in working with the (state) and governors office, this bill will also provide or put back civil service and provide the unions to be able to arbitrate in the city of Atlantic City and get a seat at the table.

The Assembly State and Local Government Committee approved the measure 6-0 on Wednesday, with little debate. It must now be passed by the full Assembly and state Senate before Murphy can decide whether to sign or veto it.

Murphy campaigned in 2017 saying hed end the takeover but kept it in place after taking office, stressing that it would be a partnership with local leaders to improve the citys finances.

The Democrat repeated that message Wednesday when asked about extending the takeover.

This has been a true partnership, and I think everybody has benefited from that, especially and most importantly Atlantic City, Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. ... I personally think in the spirit of partnership, we cant walk away from each other, and theres a lot of unfinished business, including exciting new economic opportunity.

Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who has overseen the takeover for Murphys administration, told lawmakers last month that with four or five more years of state help, I think Atlantic City will be on good footing.

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, who vehemently opposed the takeover in 2016, said the states role in the city has proven to be a great partnership. But he stopped short of endorsing the new bill, saying he plans to meet Tuesday with Mazzeo, the main sponsor.

There are some things we have to iron out, Small told NJ Advance Media.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Then she walked away from it. Just like that, after a single two-year term. I tried to find every reason not to run two years ago, but the Lord told me to run so I ran and I won. Now, the Lord is asking me to leave the place, so how can stay in, she said in 2003.
The wall of shame. Lawmakers across the U.S. are moving to stop police from releasing booking photos unless the arrestee failed to appear for court, was a fugitive or was convicted. Dreamstime/TNS
"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
The Audubon Nature Institute has again flip-flopped on Blue at the Zoo, a six-day law enforcement celebration that it had planned for mid-May then canceled.

Initially, the operator of Audubon Zoo and the Aquarium of the Americans partnered with the nonprofit New Orleans Police & Justice Foundation to pay tribute to the New Orleans Police Department by offering 20% discounts to visitors wearing blue. But after public criticism, the institute scrapped the event, saying the concept had become unintentionally divisive.

On Friday, the Institute reversed course a second time. In an email to members, Ron Forman, the institutes president and CEO, said Audubons participation in and cancelation of Blue at the Zoo has caused pain in our community and was unsupportive of the hardworking people of our police department who their lives on the line to protect and serve this community. That was never our intention.

To resolve the matter, Audubon is again joining hands with the Police & Justice Foundation. Though final details have not been announced, the two partners plan to organize a new event at the zoo to promote engagement between children and police  and link the mission of both organizations.

The timing for the initial Blue at the Zoo was especially sensitive because it came less than a month after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering the handcuffed George Floyd, a killing that came to symbolize police oppression of Black people. Video images of Chauvin kneeling on Floyds neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds prompted widespread protests and calls to reform U.S. law enforcement.

+3 Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin found guilty of murder of George Floyd MINNEAPOLIS - Former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of murder and manslaughter for pinning George Floyd to the paveme

As protesters took to the streets to decry police brutality, New Orleans leaders repeatedly stressed that the Police Department, through its 2012 federal consent decree and internal reforms, had already adopted many of the use-of-force and transparency mandates that protesters in other cities were demanding.

Local critics said there was still work to do, as evidenced by officers who used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters who had marched after Floyds death onto the approach to the Crescent City Connection.

On Friday the Nature Institute said it regretted canceling Blue at the Zoo. In our effort to step back and reimagine the event, we failed to see the unintended message we were sending. We deeply regret and apologize for this.
A woman forced to the ground by two sheriff's deputies in an arrest recorded by her son. Demonstrators tear-gassed and hit by rubber projectiles while protesting the death of George Floyd. A man stunned with a Taser as he tried to flee what advocates say was an unjust arrest.

They are the subjects of federal lawsuits filed in recent weeks by attorneys working under the auspices of "Justice Lab," an initiative launched nearly a year ago by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana to raise awareness of, and litigate against, police brutality and racially discriminatory policing.

"This is the first of its kind," says Alanah Odoms, executive director of the organization. But she expects it to expand to other state ACLU affiliates, especially in the South.

It's an initiative born in the aftermath of the murder of Floyd, a Black man who died last year after a white police officer pinned him down and kneeled on his neck until he could no longer breathe. Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted of murder and manslaughter charges in Floyd's death.

Law firms around the nation, regardless of specialty, are involved.

Reid Collins & Tsai LLP, for instance, describes itself on its website as a boutique law firm handling complex business litigation.

Keith Gohan, an attorney with Reid Collins in Austin, Texas, said he believes the Floyd case and discriminatory policing practices were among reasons that his firm decided to participate in Justice Lab.

"This is different than our typical practice," he said.

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Odoms said nearly 50 private law firms are involved in the project. The ACLU developed a two-week training program for the private firms involved.

The latest Justice Lab lawsuit was filed May 4 in federal court in New Orleans and accuses two St. Tammany Parish deputies of using excessive force and making a false arrest in what started out as a May 5, 2020, traffic investigation. Reid Collins attorneys are among those representing Teliah Perkins in the suit. It references a video recorded by her 14-year-old son and posted on YouTube that shows police forcing her to the ground, her face to the pavement in front of her Slidell home. The suit says the incident began when officers stopped to question her about complaints of someone in the area riding a motorcycle without a helmet.

Capt. Scott Lee, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said the department doesn't comment on pending litigation but also said complaints about the arrest "were full investigated and deemed to be unfounded."

Another high-profile lawsuit says police in New Orleans unlawfully used a Taser last year on Michael Celestine, a Black man, as he ran from officers and tried to climb a fence. The lawsuit acknowledges police later found a small amount of cocaine and a gun on Celestine. But it also says officers never had a reason to approach Celestine. It notes that charges eventually were dropped and says the use of force and the search were unlawful.

In a response filed last week, the police officers say Celestine "attempted to evade a lawful investigatory stop." They deny wrongdoing and also claim they state law grants them "qualified immunity" for lawsuits over actions they take in the course of their work.

Qualified immunity for police is a concept supported by many in laws enforcement as necessary to protect police from unjust lawsuits. But it's being challenged by criminal justice advocates around the country in the aftermath of the Floyd case. And it's a target of the Justice Lab litigation.

"We have a real chance, I think, to build a body of case law that at least stands to challenge qualified immunity," Odoms said.
The grandchildren of Jessica Brandt, auto dealership magnate Ray Brandts widow, will receive an allowance while they battle her in court over control of an estate valued at more than $300 million, a Jefferson Parish judge ruled this week.

The decision by District Judge Lee Faulkner Jr., leaves for a later date the question of how much Jessica Brandt must pay in allowance to Alexis and Zachary Hartline, her grandchildren and the deceased businessman's heirs.

The pair have been vying with Jessica Brandt for control of an auto empire that employs about 800 people in dealerships and collision centers across Louisiana and Mississippi.

Ray Brandt, who never had children of his own, adopted Alexis and Zachary Hartline as adults weeks before his death in late 2019 from pancreatic cancer. He also drew up a new will that appeared to strip Jessica Brandt of control over a trust hed set up to hold his entire estate when he died.

Instead, he named Marc Milano, the principal at Archbishop Rummel High School, as trustee.

Faulkner threw out that will this year, however, and another one from 2015, based on a technical flaw in how they were notarized.

That decision would have left Jessica Brandt in firm control of her deceased husbands estate as trustee, based on an earlier will from 2010. But in April, an appeals court panel rejected Faulkners ruling, leaving undecided which of Brandt's wills ultimately will prevail, and who will oversee the trust.

Ultimately, the massive estate is to be split between Zachary and Alexis Hartline, regardless of the will, but only after Jessica Brandt dies. She is to receive the income from the estate for life.

The Hartlines argued that they should receive an allowance from the estate in the meantime. Jessica Brandt recently acknowledged cutting her payments to them, saying she was trying to press for a resolution.

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In court, her attorneys argued that the Hartlines were not entitled to any income until her death, because shes the sole income beneficiary.

Jessica Brandt claimed that since her husband died, she's spent more than $350,000 to support the Old Metairie compound where Alexis and Zachary Hartline and their parents have continued to live.

She also claimed to have spent more than $320,000 on her two grandchildren in salaries, insurance and credit card bills.

Jessica Brandt's lawyers called the move to stop paying those expenses the toughest decision of her life.

The Hartlines' attorney, Randy Smith, argued at a hearing this month over the allowance request that nobody can deny the fact  everything is eventually due to my clients. Tons of money is eventually due to my clients.

Faulkner agreed without explanation to grant the allowance in a ruling dated May 11. A hearing will be held to decide the amount. Faulkner didn't set a date.

A spokesman for Jessica Brandt said he could not immediately comment on the ruling.

Milano also sought an allowance from the estate as would-be trustee, arguing that he needed it to fight Jessica Brandt in court and fulfill Ray Brandts wishes.

Faulkner, though, deemed Milano's request premature, given that his standing in Ray Brandt's succession remains in hot dispute.
A man was shot and killed late Saturday night in the 3400 block of Louisa Street, the New Orleans Police Department said.

The NOPD initially reported fatal shootings at two different addresses but clarified just before noon Sunday that there had been only one.

Police found the man unresponsive in a car at about 11:40 p.m. Saturday. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

No further information about the killing was made available.

Woman fatally shot in back in New Orleans, police say A 57-year-old woman died early Saturday at a New Orleans hospital after being shot in the back, the Police Department said.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Homicide Detective Brittany Kimbrough, who can be reached at 504-658-5300 or call anonymously to Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.

In other crime news, a man was walking near Calliope and Constance streets at 11:17 a.m. Saturday when he was approached by two men, one armed with a knife, police said. The men took the man's book sack and fled. One of them, Terry Smith, 33, was later arrested.

At 4:31 p.m., a juvenile was walking home in the 2500 block of General Meyer Avenue and had a cellphone stolen by two other juveniles, who ran away.
The special election to replace newly sworn U.S. House Rep. Troy Carter in the Louisiana state Senate is in flux.

Five candidates qualified for the District 7 seat, which encompasses Algiers and portions of the West Bank in Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes.

But one of them, state Rep. Rodney Lyons Sr., withdrew from the race on Thursday. On Friday, a legal challenge was filed over the eligibility of a second candidate, Democrat Joanna Cappiello-Leopold of Belle Chasse, a member of the Plaquemines Parish Board of Election Supervisors.

A court hearing over whether she is a resident of the district is scheduled for Tuesday in Jefferson Parish.

State Reps. Gary Carter Jr., D-New Orleans, who is Troy Carters nephew, and Mack Cormier, D-Belle Chasse, as well as Patricia McCarty, a Belle Chasse Republican, rounded out the field that filed to qualify for the seat from May 5 to May 7.

Lyons said on Sunday that he withdrew for some personal reasons but declined to elaborate over a hasty exit from a truncated campaign, which has a primary scheduled for June 12 and a runoff election on July 10.

'From the Cut Off to Congress': Louisiana Rep. Troy Carter officially sworn-in to U.S. House Troy Carter is the lowest ranking member of the U.S. House  hes No. 433 out of 435 with two vacancies  but he was feeling on top of the wor

Lyons said in a statement Sunday that his entrance into the race presented an opportunity to have more of the majority minority, densely populated areas represented in the Louisiana Senate.

He again kept things vague, saying only, I assure you, the time is coming again soon.

The challenge to the candidacy of Cappiello-Leopold, filed by Gretna resident Rex Mareno, alleges that she claimed a Belle Chasse address in her qualifying papers, though she was a registered voter and actually voted as recently as October in Port Sulphur, outside of the Senate district.

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The state Constitution requires candidates for state legislative seats be domiciled in the legislative district for the preceding year.

Such challenges are common. A person can have only one domicile, though judges often parse distinctions between the meaning of a domicile and other evidence of residency.

+4 Troy Carter wins Louisiana's 2nd Congressional District seat in special election runoff Troy Carter fulfilled a long-held ambition Saturday as voters in the 2nd Congressional District elected him to the U.S. House of Representativ

Homestead exemptions are one example, although state law also requires residents to register to vote in the precinct where they hold a homestead exemption.

Cappiello-Leopold did not immediately return a message Sunday seeking comment on the challenge, which was filed on Friday.

Cappiello-Leopold is married to Chris Leopold, the former two-term state representative who lost his District 105 House seat to Cormier in a 2019 runoff, turning the seat for the Democrats.

Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Cappiello-Leopold to the parish elections board in 2017.

Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court is slated to hear the candidacy challenge.

The shifting landscape in the race for Troy Carters seat came days after he was sworn into Congress, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi administering the oath on Tuesday.

Carter beat out fellow state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson in a bitter election to succeed former Rep. Cedric Richmond, now a senior advisor to President Joe Biden.
Guess who said this: The slave period (was) not only about profit and suffering, but how culturally African people transformed themselves.

You thought it was that yahoo Republican legislator from Chalmette who's been in the news recently, didn't you?

Wrong. Those words escaped the lips of a Black British academic, and not just any Black British academic. Tony Sewell is chairman of the government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.

Ray Garofalo recently advanced an argument remarkably similar to Sewell's. In the course of a hearing before the House Education Committee, which he chairs, Garofalo referred to the good, the bad and the ugly of slavery.

Louisiana's Black Caucus was already mad at Garofalo before he embraced the antebellum South of Confederate myth by suggesting there could be a positive aspect to slavery. It came in the middle of a long debate over a bill authored by Garofalo forbidding schools and colleges to promote divisive concepts, such as the idea that either the United States or Louisiana is fundamentally, institutionally or systematically racist or sexist.

Such a clumsy attempt to impose tendentious views on the entire teaching profession and stick the state's snout in what is traditionally a local preserve was bound to offend Garofalo's colleagues, regardless of race or gender. Garofalo eventually recognized his cause was lost and withdrew his bill.

It was, of course, his Black fellow legislators in particular who took umbrage at what appeared to be an attempt to downplay the prejudices of American society. They will have been convinced by personal experience that Garofalo was talking through his hat.

Garofalo later refused to disavow what he had said and claimed, as politicians generally do when caught talking nonsense, that he was quoted out of context.

The Black Caucus pressed Speaker Clay Schexnayder to remove Garofalo as head of the Education Committee, which might, indeed, count as a favor to students and teachers alike. Schexnayder resisted even after the caucus started making good on its vow to oppose all tax bills so long as Garofalo remained in place. Since such bills require a super-majority to pass, the caucus effectively held veto power, so that a dose of fiscal paralysis seemed to be the price of Garofalo's survival.

Back to Sewell, whose commission has just published a report compiled in response to Black Lives Matter. The report concluded that Britain is not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities, and Sewell told the BBC he found no proof of institutional racism there.

If that is pretty much what Garofalo thinks of America, the response to his bill mirrored Sewell's experience. Just about every institution dedicated to fighting racism  and there are plenty  denounced Sewell fervently, in part, perhaps, in order to protect their turf.

Sewell's background is a world away from here. He was born in 1959 in London, where his parents settled after immigrating from Jamaica. The subject of his Ph.D. dissertation was The relationship between African/Caribbean boys' subculture and schooling.

In support of Sewell's rosy views, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities found that children from minority groups, except for black West Indians, equaled or outperformed white children educationally.

Still, nothing that Sewell says can release Garofalo from obloquy. It was real dumb to introduce that bill when everyone knew it would cause a stink.

Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com.
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Big Tobacco is big business, and they make their living killing people. Theres a war being waged over menthol cigarettes, and Black people have a choice to make.

Its not always comfortable, and there are problems when we compare events and numbers, but such comparisons help us with context and perspective. Its helpful to understand how many people are dying as tobacco companies profit.

As our population ages, younger people are less connected to the 9/11 attacks, the Vietnam war and the Pearl Harbor bombing because they didnt live through it. Some of them learn about what happened in history books, or perhaps with a relatives personal story. However, they appreciate the impact when they hear, and when were reminded, how many people died.

More than 2,400 people were killed in Pearl Harbor. Vietnam saw more than 58,000 soldier casualties or missing. A 1900 hurricane left about 8,000 dead after crashing into Galveston, Texas. Nearly 3,000 were killed on 9/11. COVID has been killing more than 3,000 of us on most days, and more than 580,000 have died since the coronavirus pandemic started. One writer described these types of comparisons as dark but necessary arithmetic as we struggle to make sense of the losses.

These are the numbers that make the news. Political wars. Terrorism. Natural disasters. There are lots of death numbers that dont regularly make the news because they are commonplace, the types of deaths that seem to bother only the family and friends of the victims. One such set of numbers is tobacco deaths.

Tobacco is a business focused on getting people introduced to an addictive habit and glamorizing it as if its beautiful and sexy to puff and smoke. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking is directly responsible for killing more people than the coronavirus in 2020. Thing is, COVID-19 has killed during a pandemic. Cigarettes continue to kill annually.

Just recently, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was moving toward banning menthol flavoring in cigarettes and banning all flavors in cigars with the goal of ending tobacco-related disease and death. This may not seem to be about race, but it is.

Menthol is the cigarette flavor of choice among African Americans. About 30% of White smokers choose menthol cigarettes, but the number of menthol smokers is 85% among Black smokers. Big Tobacco has been waging war against our people, especially Black people, and they have won. According to the CDC, 44% of White smokers start smoking menthol cigarettes and that number is significantly higher among Black smokers: 93%.

Thats not a coincidence. It is planned. It is part of a carefully developed and implemented marketing system. This business model has a long history.

Tobacco companies introduced menthol in the 1920s as a way to make smoking smooth and comfortable. Menthol softens what can be a rough sensation, and it makes smoking more enjoyable, kind of like chewing flavored and sweetened gum. Tobacco companies have specifically targeted Black communities, capturing attention with fancy marketing and promotion in neighborhood stores, posting billboards in our neighborhoods and pushing Kools, Salems and Newports as our brands. Big Tobacco has hosted and sponsored Black conferences, conventions and meetings.

Studies show that cigarette smoking is bad for us, yet too many people continue to smoke and others start smoking leading to shorter life spans. These individual choices dont have to be supported by our government. The United States has resisted taking strong action, watching other nations move on it. Canada banned menthol a few years ago. So did Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria, Moldova, Turkey and the European Union. Why not us?

Menthol cigarette smoking is a major health crisis for African Americans, yet were divided about this. The NAACP sees this as a social justice issue, strongly encouraging President Biden and the FDA to make a menthol ban permanent because of the predatory harm it causes Black communities. The American Civil Liberties Union considers this a criminal justice issue, saying we should be concerned because individual menthol smokers will be forced to buy under-the-counter cigarettes, putting ourselves at risk as people like Eric Garner sell loosies, making a few dollars selling single cigarettes.

Black people and our allies must choose a side. I choose the NAACP. The ACLU has long accepted tobacco money, so what do we expect them to say?

Lets choose our health over tasty appetizers and funding.
Rep. Tom Cole speaks June 4, 2020, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. A dirty word for many Republicans is making the rounds on Capitol Hill  earmarks. For nearly a decade, both chambers of Congress have abided by a ban on earmarks, or spending requested by a lawmaker to fund a specific project or institution back home.
In order to understand Reform Judaism at its best, we can study the life of one person, Rabbi Leo Baeck.

Baeck served as a rabbi for the Jewish community of Germany before and during the Holocaust. As a prominent rabbi, he declined offers from Jews outside of Germany to help him escape the Nazis.

Instead, he chose to remain with his congregation, and as late as 1939, he brought a group of children to England -- and then returned to Germany. In 1943, he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he provided pastoral care to Jews in captivity and famously offered lectures on Plato and Kant to hundreds of prisoners. While he was living in the concentration camp, he wrote parts of his book, The People Israel: The Meaning of Jewish Existence.

Reading this book, one feels the urgency with which Baeck wanted to get his ideas down on paper. Of the 140,000 Jews sent to Theresienstadt, fewer than 9,000 survived.

As he faced the real possibility of his death, Baeck wrote late at night in the concentration camp. What was the message he hoped to share with the world?

Baeck argues that Jews have a fundamentally ethical mission in the world. Baeck writes that humanitys relationship with God is mysterious but that this relationship with God commands us to be ethical.

In the gendered language of his time, Baeck wrote, Everything given to man in his existence becomes a commandment; all that he has received means Thou shalt!

Baeck was a leader in the Jewish Reform movement of his time, and after he survived the Holocaust, he taught at Hebrew Union College, the American Reform seminary. The idea put forth by Baeck and others that this ethical commandedness lies at the heart of Judaism has been a cornerstone of Reform Judaism since it began in the nineteenth century. This idea has sometimes been called ethical monotheism.

American Jews today are a very diverse group. Jewish Americans are not only ethnically and politically a mixed multitude, but the ways in which Jews practice their religion can vary dramatically. In inter-Jewish debates, the Reform movement is sometimes criticized for emphasizing ethical monotheism too much.

However, when Reform Judaism is at its best, our commitment to ethics lies at the center of what we do, and our Jewish practice extends beyond ethical monotheism. As Baecks life shows, Judaism also includes creating a sense of community, supporting one another, and immersing ourselves in the rich world of Jewish religious practice. In fact, Baeck writes that it is with the help of the song and poetry of Judaism that the Jewish people can actualize these ethical imperatives in the world.

Reform Jews can be proud of our commitment to fighting for a more just world. As Baeck wrote, even in the face of the horror, moral bankruptcy, and stupidity of his Nazi captors, the Jewish people have a mission in the world.

Everywhere and always they know themselves to be addressed and touched, Beck wrote. Everywhere an answer is demanded from them; everywhere the commandment [to be ethical] reveals itself.
Harrisburg, Pa.  Democratic lawmakers on Friday introduced a bill that would require schools to teach LGBTQ+ history.

The legislation would amend the Public School Code to integrate LGBTQ+ history instruction as part of the social studies and language arts course of study required by the Board of Education.

The bill states that the instruction should be age-appropriate and communicate the principles of social equality.

Under the measure, schools would be given curriculum guidelines and in-service training programs beginning with the 2022-2023 school year.

"History has forgotten the lives and achievements of thousands of LGBTQ+ people because it was not safe for them to live openly and honestly," Rep. Brian Sims said in the bill's memo. "It is crucial that students learn about the true history and culture of LGBTQ+ people, the progress that has been achieved and the struggles that remain."

H.B. 1415 is co-sponsored by Reps. Mary Jo Daley, Michael Schlossberg, Carol Hill-Evans, Joseph Hohenstein, MaryLouise Isaacson, Benjamin Sanchez, Danilo Burgos, Maureen Madden, Elizabeth Fiedler, Mark Rozzi, Summer Lee, Peter Schweyer, Malcolm Kenyatta, Sara Innamorato, Jennifer O'Mara and Tim Briggs.
LOCK HAVEN, Pa.  Lock Haven University has announced an extension of its test-optional admission policy for students applying to the university through fall 2022.

First-year applicants to the university will not be required to submit either a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or the American College Testing (ACT) score to complete an application for admission. The policy was originally implemented for fall 2020 to accommodate students who were impacted by test date cancellations because of COVID-19.

LHUs office of admissions will continue to thoroughly review each applicant and, in some cases, require additional information such as a phone interview. All LHU majors qualify for the SAT/ACT waiver except accelerated health science programs (3+2 pre-physician assistant and 3+3 pre-physical therapy). New applicants are encouraged to submit test scores if they are available.

There is no fee to apply to LHU and the enrollment deposit remains at the lowered amount of $100. Distance parameters for students who are required to live on campus have been changed to more than 35 miles from the university and students are required to live on campus during their second year.

Recently, the board of governors for Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education voted to freeze basic in-state tuition for a third consecutive year, even while confronting financial challenges brought on in part by the coronavirus pandemic.

Basic in-state tuition for undergraduate students will remain at $7,716 for the 2021-22 academic year. Also remaining the same will be the systems technology fee for students, which stands at $478 for the academic year.

LHU will award financial aid for first-time freshmen and first-time transfer students that combines merit-based aid, need-based aid and federal and state aid.

Eligible students will receive the scholarship at the time they are admitted, based on their high school grade point average. Scholarships for in-state students range from $500-$2,500 and out-of-state scholarships will range from $2,000-$4,000. This scholarship strategy helps students understand a reduction in their price earlier in the process, according to Stephen Lee, vice president for enrollment management and student affairs.

As students complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), they also will receive need-based aid if they are eligible. Need-based aid will be awarded based on a students Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and financial need that was not met with merit-based, state or federal aid.

In addition, the LHU Student Retention Fund and the Emergency Student Fund provide resources that are being used to reduce financial stress that students and their families are experiencing because of the pandemic. To give to the Emergency Student Fund, visit www.givegab.com/campaigns/lhu-emergency-student-fund.

LHU also is finalizing a plan to administer a third round of High Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF) to financially support its students. The funding provided through HEERF will help to defray costs students have experienced as a result of the pandemic. While the strategy is currently being discussed, it will incorporate financial need to ensure that a maximum benefit is achieved for students and their families.

During such challenging times for our nation and our university, we recognize the financial stress that families and students are facing, Lee said. Through a variety of financial aid avenues, we are looking for all possible options to support our students financial needs and ensure that they continue successfully on their path to graduation.

The LHU campus is open for daily visitors. The admissions office is following masking and social distancing policies to keep visitors safe. Visits to campus can be scheduled by visiting www.lockhaven.edu/visit/.

For more information on Lock Haven University, visit www.lockhaven.edu, email admissions@lockhaven.edu, or call 570-484-2011.

Lock Haven University (LHU) is a small, public university located on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River in the scenic mountains of Pennsylvania. LHUs experience-based approach to learning prepares students for a lifetime of success. The university features outstanding academic programs taught by experienced faculty. Since 1870, The Haven has provided an unbeatable combination of quality, affordability and value to the region, the commonwealth and beyond.

LHU is a member of Pennsylvanias State System of Higher Education, the largest provider of higher education in the commonwealth.
Washington, DC - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a public warning that some consumer electronic devices such as certain cell phones and smart watches include high field strength magnets, which may interfere with medical implants.

The magnetic interference can activate a device's "magnet mode," stopping normal operations until the source of the magnetic field is moved away.

Many implanted medical devices have a "magnet mode" that allows patients to safely undergo procedures such as MRI scans.

Physicians intentionally activate magnet mode by placing a high field strength magnet near the device. Removal of the magnet allows the device to resume its normal operations.

The FDA suggests that patients keep electronic devices such as cell phones and smart watches at least six inches away from implanted devices, especially pacemakers and cardiac defibrillators.

When a magnet interferes with electronic devices implanted in the heart, the patient may experience dizziness, loss of consciousness, or even death.

The FDA believes that the risk to patients is relatively low, and the agency has not received any reports of adverse events associated with the issue.

The announcement was made in light of recent studies performed by the FDA and other entities proving that cell phones and smart watches can sometimes activate magnet mode.
Cedartown, GA (30125)

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Rome, GA (30161)

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Shanghai to roll out vaccination for those 76 and above

Chinadaily.com.cn) 15:17, May 16, 2021

A foreigner gives a thumbs-up after receiving a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Shanghai on March 29, 2021. [Photo/Xinhua]

Shanghai will soon include residents aged 76 and above in its voluntary and free COVID-19 vaccination program, the city government announced on Saturday.

Like individuals between 18 and 75, the current population eligible for the vaccination program, people aged 76 or above who are healthy and are not allergic to the vaccines can reserve for inoculation at their neighborhoods starting from Monday and get vaccinated at designated sites.

The Shanghai Health Commission reminded that people of this age bracket should be accompanied by family when getting the vaccines.

Sun Xiaodong, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the elderly people, especially those with underlying disease, such as cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and diabetes, are more susceptible to the virus and stand a higher possibility of developing into severe cases.

"Such individuals ought to get protection through the vaccination. The premise is that his or her underlying diseases are in a stable state rather than in a period of acute attack," he said.

Regarding those who have gone surgical operations, Sun suggested that they reserve for the vaccination after their health situations become stable and obtain a nod from the doctors in charge of their cases.

By the end of 2020, Shanghais population aged 60 and above reached 5.34 million, accounting for 36 percent of the permanent residents, up 3 percent from the previous year.

Among them, 2.33 million were aged 70 and above, and 825,000 were 80 or older.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
Roseburg, OR (97470)

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Partly cloudy this evening followed by some light rain after midnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

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Partly cloudy this evening followed by some light rain after midnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
The Economic Development Corporation Michigan City is leading an effort to gather wage information from employers in LaPorte County.

The LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership and the LaPorte County Office of Community and Economic Development are also involved in the initiative to gather salary and benefits data as part of a joint effort with the South BendElkhart Regional Partnership to quantify what compensation businesses are paying their employees in Northern Indiana.

Business owners are encouraged to participate in the confidential South BendElkhart Regional Wages and Benefits Survey through June 15.

The survey aims to gather thorough information on benefits, such as time off, health insurance, financial incentives and retirement plans. It also is compiling data on wellness incentives, childcare assistance, training opportunities and other workplace practices.

Survey responses will be combined with Bureau of Labor Statistics data and wage data from a labor market analytics firm to create a 2021 wages and benefits report for the South BendElkhart region that will be published in August.
Set your contractor up for success. To do that, be sure to have a complete project design, and dont change it during construction.

Do for sure: While some decisions are line calls, some arent. For sure refinish wood floors, and remove old carpet and bathroom tile. It just feels cleaner to not move in on that, Elliot said. Always paint and landscape.

Biggest bang for the buck: Beyond painting in light neutrals throughout and landscaping, other moves that yield big results include moving or widening doorways to improve flow, and bringing in light by swapping out old light fixtures and adding new ones, and adding decks, porches and patios to expand usable living space. Outdoor shutters are also an easy, low-cost way to add character and curb appeal.

Beware of social media. HGTV and Pinterest have in some ways made our job harder, Elliot said. Buyers come in with these expectations and wonder why they cant have a navy-blue island with a quartz countertop. Id love to make every house Pinterest worthy, but thats not practical.

Know how the pandemic has impacted the market. Todays buyers value square footage more than they did a year ago, Lavinder said. Where in the past we would have hesitated to finish a basement, now thats an easier decision. We are not risk takers. For us, it is all about the math.

Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of five home and lifestyle books, including Downsizing the Family Home  What to Save, What to Let Go and the forthcoming Downsizing the Blended Home  When Two Households Become One (Sterling Publishing, Dec. 2019). You may reach her at www.marnijameson.com.

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"We didn't think it was real or anything serious until we started seeing the fire," Perez said. "We don't know what happened. We don't have an idea of what really provoked the fire."

Birds and the home's certified therapy dog, Angel, also were rescued.

Carmelite Home Director Tom Lemke said the community response in wake of the fire has been "very quick, very generous and very helpful."

"What's most important is that all the children are safe. All the staff are safe. All the children are safe," Lemke said. "Because we have an additional building on campus, we're able to relocate the children and meet all of their needs. ... We just ask for people's prayers for the Carmelite sisters and for the children."

North Township Trustee Adrian Santos, along with East Chicago Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th, were at the Carmelite Home Sunday and promised to help in anyway they could.

The pair helped secure food, clothing, vouchers and 15 cots for the home, and pledged to finding accommodations for any sisters in need of a place to stay.

Santos noted Red Cross had also been called.

St. Catherine Hospital, along with other Lake County officials, also reached out to help, staff said.
GRIFFITH  Students will not have the option to remain virtual in the upcoming school year.

During a Thursday school board meeting, Griffith Public Schools Superintendent Michele Riise recommended an in-person learning only model for the 2021-2022 academic year.

"Virtual learning will not be an option for families next year. Our administrators, teachers and staff agree that students work best when our students are in the classroom," Riise said.

The school board accepted Riise's recommendation 4-0. Board President Kathy Ruesken was absent.

Riise also announced Griffith will offer summer school, which is set to be held from June 14 to July 2 at Beiriger Elementary School.

The pre-K through eighth grade summer learning program also will be in person, without a virtual option, after potential summer school teachers and families were surveyed, Riise said.

The summer learning sessions will be from 8 a.m. to noon five days a week, during which time breakfast and lunch will be provided, Riise said, noting transportation also will be provided to those who need it.
Saying goodbye

Although Hammond High in its present location opened in 1917, the school was first established in September 1884 in the Central School Building, a two-story, wood-frame building with six rooms on the southeast corner of Hohman Avenue, according to a centennial commemorative chronicle for the school.

As Hammond grew over the years, a bigger school was needed, said Bill Hutton, whose great-grandfather Joseph T. JT Hutton was the architect of Hammond High.

"In 1912, Joseph Hutton, well-known architect, Thirty-Third Degree Scottish Rite Mason, the highest degree possible, was hired to design this building. This building that has been standing for 105 years, unbelievable," Hutton said. "In 1917, the school was open, the public was given the opportunity to walk around just as you're going to get to walk around for the last time.

Huttons grandfather and father were the architects and engineers of Clark, and Huttons father later determined Hammond High could be saved following the 1967 fire  which Hutton referred to as Hammond Highs biggest test of all for surviving.
Once you get into that conversation, you really hate to cut it off because now youve gained some momentum, he said.

Hardaway said its clear prejudices and biases exist in society, and he believes they are learned at home.

Ive seen that too many times, he said.

His hope is those participating in the diversity training will share their experiences with their loved ones.

Once you attend these sessions and glean something from them, then it becomes a dinnertime conversation at your house that you can share with your family, Hardaway said.

With Merrillvilles first training program completed, more sessions will take place in coming weeks for other town employees, and it appears there are several eager to participate in them.

Theres been people asking about it, Public Works Superintendent Kevin Markle said of his department.

The next two groups of town employees will begin diversity training in early June. Two more groups will follow in July, and more sessions will take place until all employees have received training.
Mrvan said he believes the measure appropriately recognizes the essential duties of longshore and harbor workers, including those at the Port of Indiana and Burns Waterway Harbor in Porter County, which annually generate more than $15 billion in business revenue and support the jobs of more than 80,000 workers  including many union jobs with the International Longshoremens Association.

Raymond Sierra, vice president of the longshoremen's union, said the organization appreciates Mrvan leading the effort to protect the nation's longshoremen and maritime workforce.

"Our workers have faced increased exposure to COVID-19 due to the nature of their work and they deserve our support. The American Rescue Plan made positive strides for COVID-19 workers compensation, and it is overdue that protections apply to our workers on navigable waters," Sierra said.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, hinted last week Mrvan's proposal is likely to advance at least out of his committee and to the full Democratic-controlled House.

"Workers who contracted COVID-19 lost out on wages and ran up medical bills that they will have to cover out of their own pockets, unless they can overcome a difficult, burdensome process for proving they were infected at their workplace," Scott said.
"We have a monthly dinner once a month to fundraise for the veterans homeless shelter in Gary, and we ask for toilet paper and laundry soap for $2 off the dinner, which all the proceeds go to that shelter," said Danita Champion, a bartender at the VFW. "So today, to tell you the truth, it was a flop. We didn't sell what we needed to, and we had the leftovers. So we thought, 'Hey, man, why not?'"
During his administration former President Trump frequently sowed seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. A significant number of those seeds took root in gullible people and Trumps Defense Fund collected over $100 million. As the fine print on the donation form declared that 75% of the funds would go to Trumps campaign fund, Donald Trump remains an attractive candidate to Republican leadership not for his leadership capabilities but for his fat campaign chest.

Now a similar strategy is underway via a survey being mailed to Christians. The survey, along with its obligatory request for a donation, presents various incidents from the news in a fashion designed to convince the recipient that the Extreme Left of the Democratic Party has declared war on Christianity and that the only viable defense is to vote Republican in the coming primaries and mid-term elections. This is clearly an attempt to peddle paranoia among gullible Christians.

One can only hope that the some in the portion of the saying that states You can fool some of the people all of the time. Is an insignificant number.

James Deck, Valparaiso

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During this time, Galloway also allegedly fired about 10 rounds through a window into a home occupied by another woman and a 6-year-old child, court records said. Galloway fled the scene and was later arrested by police, where he was booked on additional charges.

This is quite literally a matter of public safety.

Martinez has complained about the effectiveness of the company and its cost. Martinez touts a preferred company that he claims would do a better job at less cost.

It would seem wise to listen to the county's top law enforcement official when it comes to law enforcement matters.

As The Times' Dan Carden reported recently, the county commissioners' attorney Matthew Fech said even if ICU's bid was higher than other companies, it is a minority-owned business in Lake County and therefore entitled to a price preference under the countys purchasing guidelines.

The county is right to seek local businesses to award contracts. It's also good policy to seek out minority-owned firms.

But county purchasing guidelines shouldn't come at the cost of public safety and the taxpayers.
Yitzhak Arad, who as an orphaned teenage partisan fought the Germans and their collaborators during World War II, then went on to become an esteemed scholar of the Holocaust and the longtime chairman of the Yad Vashem remembrance and research center in Israel, died on May 6 in a hospital in Tel Aviv. He was 94.

Yad Vashem announced the death but did not specify the cause.

Mr. Arad was not even bar mitzvahed when the Germans invaded Poland and what is now part of Lithuania in 1939 and began rounding up Jews, forcing them into ghettos and murdering them. His parents and 30 close family members would perish before the war ended in 1945.

But he survived. He was a forced laborer at first  cleaning captured Soviet weapons in a munitions warehouse  and then, sensing the fate that was probably awaiting him, he began smuggling weapons to partisans in the forests and formed an underground movement in the ghetto. He, his sister and their underground associates eventually stole a revolver and escaped, meeting up with a brigade of Soviet partisans.

Mr. Arad went on to take part in ambushing German bases in what is now Belarus, and setting up mines that blew up more than a dozen trains carrying German soldiers and supplies. Among his exploits was a battle with pro-German Lithuanian partisans in fields and forests covered in deep snow.
At a news conference on Saturday night, Commander Borza said the tiger had been found after an employee of the citys animal shelter spoke to a friend of the tigers owner, who said the owner wanted to turn the tiger in.

Commander Borza said the owner was the wife of Victor Cuevas, 26, who had been the last person seen with the tiger.

She brought the tiger to the Houston police on Saturday, Commander Borza said.

He said the tiger would be able to roam freely at the ranch in Murchison, where, hopefully, hell live the rest of his life in a very safe environment.

You should not have that in your home, he said. Its not good for the tiger.

Commander Borza said Mr. Cuevass wife was not facing charges, but that an investigation was continuing. He said the tiger had been passed around a little bit but that she had known all along where the tiger was.

Commander Borza thanked several officers who had helped search for the animal.

I think the public thought itd be easy to catch a tiger, he said, but it wasnt at all.
Days after ending its divisive ban on allowing citizens to return from India, Australia carried out its first repatriation flight from that country, with the plane departing from New Delhi and arriving in Darwin, in Australias Northern Territory, on Saturday.

The flight had been scheduled to carry 150 passengers, but just 80 people were on it, after 70 people were barred from travel because they or their close contacts had tested positive for Covid-19, according to the Australian government. The new arrivals in Australia now face two weeks of quarantine in a converted mining camp outside Darwin.

Because of Australias rigorous preflight testing, in which passengers must show two negative tests for the coronavirus, the seats could not be given to other passengers. At least 9,500 Australians in India have registered as wanting to return home. Around 1,000 of those people are classified as vulnerable for health or financial reasons.

When the numbers of new cases of the coronavirus began a perilous ascent in India last month, Australia followed in the footsteps of New Zealand and imposed a temporary ban on travel from India. Those who defied the ban faced the threat of jail time or large fines. The policy was heavily criticized and labeled a breach of human rights by lawmakers, advocacy groups and those in the Indian diaspora.
The announcement of their divorce has brought attention to a marriage whose dissolution has large social and financial implications. Multiple people said that during their marriage, Mr. Gates engaged in work-related behavior that they said was inappropriate for a person at the helm of a major publicly traded company and one of the worlds most influential philanthropies.

Ms. Arnold disputed the characterization of his conduct and the couples divorce.

It is extremely disappointing that there have been so many untruths published about the cause, the circumstances and the timeline of Bill Gatess divorce, Ms. Arnold said.

Your characterization of his meetings with Epstein and others about philanthropy is inaccurate, including who participated, she continued. Similarly, any claim that Gates spoke of his marriage or Melinda in a disparaging manner is false. The claim of mistreatment of employees is also false. The rumors and speculation surrounding Gatess divorce are becoming increasingly absurd, and its unfortunate that people who have little to no knowledge of the situation are being characterized as sources.

Mr. Gates and Ms. French Gates met at work. He was technically her boss. He ran Microsoft, and she began working there in 1987 as a product manager the year after she graduated from college.

Throughout their relationship, the two have played up the cute aspects of their office romance. He flirted with her when they sat together at a conference, then asked her out when they ran into each other in a company parking lot, according to Ms. French Gates, who described their relationships beginnings during a public appearance in 2016.

Long after they married in 1994, Mr. Gates would on occasion pursue women in the office.

In 2006, for example, he attended a presentation by a female Microsoft employee. Mr. Gates, who at the time was the companys chairman, left the meeting and immediately emailed the woman to ask her out to dinner, according to two people familiar with the exchange.
I would say one out of four times, someone would give me a call back, he said. And I would have to say, Oh, I actually cant work for you for health reasons, but the Department of Labor asked that I do this anyway.

Research suggests that work search requirements of some form in normal economic times can compel workers to find their next job and reduce their time on unemployment. But the pandemic has added a new layer to a debate over how to balance relief with the presumption that joblessness is only transitory. Most states cut off unemployment benefits after 26 weeks.

Business groups say bringing back work search requirements will help juice the labor market and dissuade workers from waiting to return to their old employers or holding out for remote or better-paying jobs.

Opponents contend that the mandate keeps undue numbers of Americans from continuing to receive needed benefits because it can be hard to meet the sometimes arduous requirements, including documenting the search efforts. And they say workers may be forced to apply for and accept lower-paying or less-satisfying jobs at a time when the pandemic has caused some to reassess the way they think about their work, their family needs and their prospects.

I think the work search requirement is necessary as an economist, said Marta Lachowska, an economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich., who has studied the effects of work search requirements on employment. But she added, Perhaps given the big disruption we have observed to the labor market, people should be given some slack.

In Washington, the issue has become part of a larger clash over jobless benefits that intensified after the disappointing April jobs report, with Republicans asserting that Mr. Bidens policies are deterring people from looking for work and holding back the economic recovery.

A rising number of Republican governors have taken matters into their own hands, moving to end a weekly $300 unemployment supplement and other federally funded emergency assistance that otherwise isnt due to expire until September.
I expect that Eric Adams and Maya Wiley will perform the best in the communities of central Brooklyn, as well as in other traditionally African-American neighborhoods throughout the city of New York, Mr. Jeffries said, going on to note Ms. Wileys potential in both traditionally African-American communities and parts of the city that are home to many white liberals, mentioning neighborhoods like Chelsea, in Manhattan, and progressive Brooklyn enclaves.

Thats a pretty powerful electoral pathway, if the campaign can continue to put it together over the next few weeks, he said.

Some rival Democrats have feared the prospect of a late surge from Ms. Wiley, and the coming weeks will test her ability to execute on that possibility.

Every day I will be out to speak, and we will be making sure that our message is getting out both on television and on radio, she said. People are starting to turn their attention to this race in earnest and were going to make sure they know who I am and what I stand for and what Im going to do.

Mr. Jeffries said that at a policy level, he was drawn to Ms. Wileys promises to lead an equitable economic recovery coming out of the pandemic. Ms. Wiley, a civil rights lawyer, speaks often of reimagining New York, a city marked by significant racial and economic inequality.

Those communities who have been hurt the most in terms of an economic crisis have often been helped the least, Mr. Jeffries said. Those communities that have been hurt the least have often been helped the most. It seems to me that Maya Wiley is the person to make sure that this time will be different.

In recent weeks, issues of violent crime have moved to the forefront of the mayors race, amid a significant spike in shootings and a number of high-profile attacks in the subways. Mr. Adams and Mr. Yang have been especially direct about the role they believe the police can play in restoring calm, even as they also support combating police misconduct.
So, the next time someone tells you that Israel is a purely racist, anti-Arab country, think about those numbers. But the next time someone tells you that Israel is a paradise for its Arab citizens and that they should have nothing to complain about, think about this quote from that Haaretz story. Its from Dr. Suad Haj Yihye Yassin, who had returned from a long shift saving Israeli Arabs and Jews from Covid-19 at her Tel Aviv hospital and had just heard Netanyahu rule out forming a government that included Israeli Arabs.

When I come home from the emergency room, after Ive given my all to treat everyone, she said, and hear the prime minister say that we have to form a national unity government to deal with the crisis  but without the Arabs, as if we are second-rate citizens  it hurts. Why is it OK for us to be on the front lines in the hospitals dealing with corona, but not legitimate for us to be in the government?

That is why it was so important to have a true national unity coalition governing Israel, ending Netanyahus 12-year reign as prime minister and fundamentally challenging Hamass narrative that the only hope for Israeli Arabs is the destruction of the Jewish state.

And that is why the column I was working on last Monday was planning to say, Hey, folks! Look what is playing Off Broadway! Maybe that can come to Broadway!

I was going to tie it together with Liz Cheneys courageous stand against Donald Trumps big lie and wonder aloud if a breakaway faction of Republicans might one day work with the center-left Biden to actually heal post-pandemic America and help pass the legislation we need to thrive in the 21st century.

But then, around 10 a.m., one of my editors called to ask me what I thought about the fighting that had just erupted inside Israel between Israelis and Palestinians and between Hamas and Israel  and shouldnt I think about writing an emergency column on that?

I realized that it was impossible to ignore. But in that column last Monday I warned that Netanyahu  who is desperate to stay in power and avoid possibly going to prison if he is convicted in his current corruption trial  was not above inflaming the situation so much that his right-wing rivals have to abandon trying to topple him and declare instead that this is no time for a change in leadership.
The spike in Arizona prompted Gov. Doug Ducey to declare a state of emergency in several counties last month and to deploy the National Guard along the border. Republican lawmakers have been sharply critical of the admission of tens of thousands of young migrants, along with a large number of families, who would have been turned back under the Trump administration. Even Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, recently criticized President Biden for not addressing the immediate crisis at the border.

During a single weekend in early May, agents in the Yuma area intercepted 1,600 migrants.

So many people around the world saw their standard of living slide backward, its no surprise that they would jump at the chance to get into the U.S. when they hear that others have managed to cross from Mexico successfully, said Andrew Selee, president of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.

I saw some of the same dynamics in 2019, he said. But it was on a much smaller scale.

Opportunity and despair

While most of the migrants do not necessarily understand the intricacies of U.S. border policy, many said in interviews that they perceived a limited-time offer to enter the United States. Friends and family members already in the country, along with smugglers eager to cash in, have assured them that they will not be turned away  and this is proving to be true.

What were hearing back home is that the new president is facilitating entry, and there is demand for labor, said Rodrigo Neto, who came from Brazil, where the pandemic killed his business and left him overwhelmed by debt. I couldnt pass up this opportunity.

Mr. Neto, 55, shuttered his electrical shop, sold his car and gathered up his savings to pay for the journey.

Like many people from Brazil and other countries ravaged by the pandemic, he was unable to get a visa to enter the United States. Instead, he flew from Sao Paulo to Mexico City and then to Tijuana, where a driver working for a smuggling network met his group. They were then ferried to the side of the road in Algodones, Mexico, across the border from Arizona, where they were deposited one recent morning.

From there it took them just 10 minutes to reach County Road 8, where a Border Patrol agent stood near an opening in the wall.
A brush fire in California, which sent smoky plumes into the sky above Los Angeles County as it continued to burn on Sunday, has forced the evacuation of more than 500 homes, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.

The blaze, named the Palisades fire, started on Saturday. It had burned 750 acres in western Los Angeles County and was at zero percent containment on Saturday evening, the Fire Department said. By Sunday, the fire had spread to 1,325 acres and was still at zero percent containment, the department said.

Evacuation orders in three areas remained in place early Monday.

The cause of the fire was deemed to be a suspicious start and it remains an open, active investigation, the department said. One person was detained and released, and another was being questioned Sunday night, the Fire Department said.
NEW DELHI  Within the worlds worst coronavirus outbreak, few treasures are more coveted than an empty oxygen canister. Indias hospitals desperately need the metal cylinders to store and transport the lifesaving gas as patients across the country gasp for breath.

So a local charity reacted with outrage when one supplier more than doubled the price, to nearly $200 each. The charity called the police, who discovered what could be one of the most brazen, dangerous scams in a country awash with coronavirus-related fraud and black-market profiteering.

The police say the supplier  a business called Varsha Engineering, essentially a scrapyard  had been repainting fire extinguishers and selling them as oxygen canisters. The consequences could be deadly: The less-sturdy fire extinguishers might explode if filled with high-pressure oxygen.

This guy should be charged with homicide, said Mukesh Khanna, a volunteer at the charity. He was playing with lives. (The owner, now in jail, couldnt be reached for comment.)
LANY, Czech Republic  In a region long fought over by rival ethnic and linguistic groups, archaeologists in the Czech Republic have discovered something unusual in these turbulent parts: evidence that peoples locked in hostility for much of the modern era got along in centuries past.

A few yards from a Czech Army pillbox built as a defense against Nazi Germany, the archaeologists discovered a cattle bone that they say bears inscriptions dating from the sixth century that suggest that different peoples speaking different languages mingled and exchanged ideas at that time.

Perhaps fitting for a such a fractious region, the find has set off a furious brawl among academics and archaeologists, and nationalists and Europhiles, about what it all means.

The bone fragment, identified by DNA analysis and carbon dating as coming from the rib of a cow that lived around 1,400 years ago, was found in a Slavic settlement in 2017, said Jiri Machacek, the head of the archaeology department at Masaryk University in the Czech city of Brno. But in what is considered a major finding, a team of scholars led by Dr. Machacek recently concluded that the bone bears sixth-century runes, a system of writing developed by early Germans.
LA TRINITE-SUR-MER, France  It was the setting for a straightforward origin story, or so it seemed. Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader aiming to be Frances next president, came to launch her latest campaign in the seaside resort where her firebrand father once announced his own bid for the presidency from the family home.

But the recent trip to the family base at La Trinite-sur-Mer in western France, where Ms. Le Pen posed for selfies with admirers, schmoozed with oystermen and took TV journalists on boat rides, was a critical part of a rebranding effort toward respectability.

Steering the motorboat was Florent de Kersauson, a prominent businessman who, after decades of backing center-right candidates, was switching to Ms. Le Pens National Rally. By embracing Mr. de Kersauson, a former senior executive at the telecommunications giant Alcatel, Ms. Le Pen latched on to the kind of establishment figure who could help persuade voters that her party was more than a scrappy, family business. And maybe even assuage doubts about her competence to move into the Elysee Palace.

The National Rally, formerly the National Front, has gone from being a protest movement to an opposition movement, and is now a government movement, Ms. Le Pen said.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Hady Amr, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Israel and Palestinian affairs, wrapped up a day of talks Sunday with key Israeli officials and the Office of the Quartet, which mediates Middle East peace negotiations. He is scheduled to hold similar discussions on Monday with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank but lost control of Gaza in 2007.

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has ignited a wave of related violence between Arabs and Jews within Israel itself this past week. That and demonstrations across the occupied West Bank have made analysts wonder whether Palestinians are on the verge of a major uprising, the third since the late 1980s. Protests and clashes were less intense on Sunday after a major crackdown by the police in Israel and by the Israeli Army in the West Bank.

But Arabs and Jews clashed in the Negev desert in Israels south, in East Jerusalem and in Lod, a mixed Arab-Jewish city in central Israel. The police response to the civil unrest over the past week has mostly focused on Arabs, following attacks on synagogues that some likened to a pogrom.

On Sunday, an umbrella organization for Arab leaders in Israel appealed to the international community to help protect Palestinian citizens of Israel from violent attacks and human rights violations by both state and private actors. The group added, Palestinian citizens, collectively, are afraid for their lives.

On Sunday afternoon, a Palestinian rammed a police checkpoint, injuring several police officers in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Seconds later, the police fatally shot the driver. Several Palestinian families face expulsion from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah in a case that has galvanized Palestinian national sentiment, setting the stage for the renewed conflict in Gaza.

The weekends rocket fire by Hamas and other Islamist militant groups in Gaza included a major barrage over central Israel early Sunday morning.

Understand Developments in Israeli Politics Key Figures . The main players in the latest twist in Israeli politics have very different agendas, but one common goal. Naftali Bennett, who leads a small right-wing party, and Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the Israeli opposition, have joined forces to form a diverse coalition to unseat Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels longest-serving prime minister. Range of Ideals. Spanning Israels fractious political spectrum from left to right, and relying on the support of a small Arab, Islamist party, the coalition, dubbed the change government by supporters, will likely mark a profound shift for Israel. A Common Goal. After grinding deadlock that led to four inconclusive elections in two years, and an even longer period of polarizing politics and government paralysis, the architects of the coalition have pledged to get Israel back on track. An Unclear Future. Parliament still has to ratify the fragile agreement in a confidence vote in the coming days. But even if it does, it remains unclear how much change the change government could bring to Israel because some of the parties involved have little in common besides animosity for Mr. Netanyahu.



Most of those rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, an antimissile detection system partly financed by the United States. But where they hit, they brought terror on Israeli residents, particularly in towns like Sderot, close to Gazas perimeter.
The narrative around civilian casualties takes on a bigger importance than normal, perhaps even bigger than the numbers, because it goes to the moral legitimacy of the two sides, said Dapo Akande, a professor of public international law at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.

The calculus of the war is brutal.

Although Hamas fires unguided missiles at Israeli cities at a blistering rate, sometimes over 100 at once, the vast majority are either intercepted by Israels Iron Dome defense system or fall short inside Gaza, resulting in a relatively low death toll.

Israel sometimes warns Gaza residents to evacuate before an airstrike, and it says it has called off strikes to avoid civilian casualties. But its use of artillery and airstrikes to pound such a confined area, packed with poorly protected people, has led to a death toll 20 times as high as that caused by Hamas, and wounded 1,235 more.

Israeli warplanes have also destroyed four high-rise buildings in Gaza that it said were used by Hamas. But those buildings also contained homes and the offices of local and international news media organizations, inflicting enormous economic damage.

It may not look it, but there are rules to govern the carnage.

The laws of war  a collection of international treaties and unwritten laws, also known as international humanitarian law  govern the behavior of combatants. The killing of civilians is not, of itself, illegal. But combatants must abide by widely accepted principles, Professor Akande said.
More than 100 worshipers were injured and two were killed on Sunday evening, when a seating structure collapsed inside a crowded, unfinished synagogue near Jerusalem that officials said had not been deemed safe for use.

At least 600 people were packed into the temple in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement, to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, officials said. The congregation belongs to the Karlin-Stolin Hasidic group, an ultra-Orthodox branch of Judaism.

Those responsible will be arrested, Doron Turjeman, the Jerusalem police chief, predicted.

During the past week a meeting was held, during which the commander of the station informed the head of the council that this structure cannot hold prayers in it, and clear instructions were given accordingly, Mr. Turjeman said.

The Israel Fire and Rescue Services said that on Friday, it learned of the planned gathering and told the congregation not to proceed, because the unfinished structure had not been authorized for occupancy.
The major IT issues affecting hospitals nationwide caused by the ransomware attack are expected to disrupt and could cause long delays at Tullamore and other Dublin Midlands Hospital Group facilities into next week, according to the HSE.

A statement said all patients should attend their appointments as scheduled unless they hear otherwise from the hospital where the appointment is scheduled but at Tullamore Hospital, all routine radiology appointments are cancelled.

The HSE says patients can expect some delays due to the ongoing issue.

"We ask that you bear with us and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.

"We would ask that patients who do have scheduled appointment for next week pay attention to updates on services as hospitals may not be able to access information in order to call and cancel appointments," they say.

The HSE says emergency services remain open across the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group but remain extremely busy.

"We ask that patients consider their care options and only attend the ED in an emergency. Non urgent patients may expect long delays in being seen," said the statement.

COVID-19 vaccination appointments are going ahead as normal. Covid-19 tests will go ahead but there may be some delay in getting results.

Most community health services such as disability, mental health, primary care and older peoples services are operating as normal. Chemotherapy and dialysis services are continuing as normal.

Information on hospital disruptions from the HSE:

Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore: Emergency services continue. All routine radiology appointments are cancelled. We regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled asap.

Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise: Emergency services continue. All routine radiology appointments are cancelled. We regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled asap.

Naas General Hospital: Some outpatient appointments have been cancelled for Monday 17th May. The hospital will contact patients directly. We regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled asap.

Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital: Outpatient appointments are still going ahead but there may be some delays from time to time. Please bear with our staff who are doing everything they can on your behalf.

St Lukes Radiation Oncology Network: all outpatients appointments and all non-emergency Radiation Treatment have been cancelled for Monday, 17th May, across St Luke's Radiation Oncology Network sites: St. Luke's Hospital Rathgar; St. Luke's Centre at Beaumont Hospital; St. Luke's Centre at St. James's Hospital. If you feel unwell or symptomatic please contact your usual St. Luke's Centre directly, the team are available to take your call. We apologise for the impact that this has on our patients at this time.

Tallaght University Hospital: Please only attend the ED if you require urgent care. All routine Radiology outpatient appointments cancelled. We regret any inconvenience and appointments will be rescheduled asap.

The HSE says updates on service disruption will be posted on the HSE service disruption website https://www2.hse.ie/services/hospital-service-disruptions/hospital-service-disruptions-covid19.html.

Updates will also be posted on hospital Twitter accounts and on their website. We encourage all patients to check on these sites for up-to-date service disruption and cancellations for DMHG hospitals.

The HSE adds that it will provide updates as the situation changes on any service disruptions and patient appointments due to the ongoing IT issue via email updates and/or Twitter @DMHospitalGroup @HSELive and individual hospitals who might have their own social media accounts.
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The city of Oneida holds its annual Memorial Day parade on Friday, May 24, 2019.
A customer exits a corner market while wearing a protective mask in the retail shopping district of the SoHo neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York, Friday, May 14, 2021. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has yet to say whether he will change his states mask mandate in light of new federal guidance that eases rules for fully vaccinated people.
Ramat Gan is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many high-tech industries.
Demonstrations were held across Canada on Saturday amid escalating violence in the Middle East, with pro-Palestinian supporters gathering in cities from coast to coast and a pro-Israel virtual event planned for Sunday.
Social restrictions eased in Greater Sydney on Monday after no new COVID-19 cases were linked to an eastern suburbs couple, and the UN has weighed in on the escalating Israel-Palestine crisis.
The attack took place one day after Israels military was accused of misleading foreign journalists by announcing it had launched a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, then retracting that claim an hour later.
The German government said while they support global vaccine supplies, "the protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future."
Bella Hadid took to the streets over the conflict in the Middle East, marching in support of the Palestinians. The march, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, drew thousands of people who showed their support. Bella, whose father Mohamed Hadid is from
Bella Hadid joined a protest in New York City on Saturday in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Police in Germany disbanded pro-Palestinian rallies as Middle East tensions intensify. Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the country "will not suffer" antisemitic protests.
The warning by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer came after serious cases of antisemitic sentiment were seen at pro-Palestinian protests over the weekend.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the Ministry of Labour to provide help to a Thai labourer in Israel who was injured in an explosion in the Gaza Strip.
Police clashed with protesters in London on Saturday as thousands turned out to demonstrate against the Israeli offensive in Gaza
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Police in Northern Ireland say they are "increasingly concerned" over the welfare of two boys who have been missing since Friday.
A firecracker was thrown at an Israeli reporter covering pro-Palestinian protests in the German capital while four men were also arrested in London over an antisemitic incident.
PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP)  Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims.



In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites, police said.



On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.



Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19, he said.



He said some villagers did not cremate their dead, as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance and disposed of them in rivers or digging graves on riverbanks.



K.P. Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground for those who died of COVID-19 on the Prayagraj riverbank and the police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront.



Sehgal state authorities have found a small number of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but didnt give a figure.



Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organization that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of the bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and shortage of woods. The cremation cost has tripled up to 15,000 rupees ($210).



Health authorities last week...
As the second batch of the Sputnik V landed in Hyderabad, Telangana on Sunday, Russian Ambassador to India, Nikolay Kudashev termed the Russian-Indian fight against Covid-19, as an example of the special and privileged strategic partnership and an effective model of international anti-pandemic cooperation.
President Joe Biden spent part of Saturday on the phone with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas expressing his concern about the escalating violence and death in the region, according to read outs...
National Party leader Judith Collins says the Government is proposing South Island water assets to be co-owned by Ngai Tahu - a deal done "with no say by local residents".Collins made the claim in a speech at the party's regional...
Eurasia Review 29 May 2021

By Michael Eisenstadt*



Since the creation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Iran has distinguished itself (along with..
Al Jazeera STUDIO 23 May 2021

30 years between wins. find out who has taken home the top honours in the Eurovision song contest.
Israels army said Sunday it had bombed the home of the political leader of Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as the UN Security Council was to meet amid global alarm about the escalating conflict. The heaviest fighting since 2014, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, saw both sides again trade heavy fire and has []
Israeli strikes killed 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday, the worst reported daily death toll yet in the almost week-long clashes, as the UN Security Council prepared to meet amid global alarm at the escalating conflict. The heaviest fighting in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, saw the rivals again trade heavy fire, with []
Israeli strikes killed at least 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday, the worst daily death toll yet in the almost week-long clashes, as the UN Security Council met amid global alarm at the escalating conflict. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for an immediate end to the deadly violence, warning that the fighting could plunge []
Palestinian and Israeli leaders both appealed for support at a UN Security Council session Sunday but little action was in sight despite soaring violence, with China accusing the United States of obstructionism. After a delay pushed by the United States, Israels critical ally, the Security Council held its first public meeting on nearly a week []
Six current and former employees of Gates and his endeavors told The New York Times he fostered an uncomfortable workplace.
Cinemas, galleries and museums are also among those reopening as Wales moves into alert level two.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Los Angeles on Saturday to demonstrate support for Palestinians amid violence that has rocked Gaza and Israel over the past week.
Ricky Schroder is not pleased about Costcos company policy requiring masks, and hes letting everyone know it. On Sunday, the actor posted a video of himself being turned away from the big-box store for not donning the cover-up, then subsequently harassing the supervisor that wouldnt let him in.



Although the CDC has lifted restrictions on wearing masks in public, saying that those who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear them in most circumstances now, mask mandates are still in place in California until June 15. Operating under that guidance, plus guidance from Costcos company policy, a supervisor named Jason turned Schroder away when he attempted to enter the store maskless.



Didnt you see the news? You didnt see the news, Schroder tells the supervisor from behind the camera in a video that went viral. Nationwide, Costco has said you dont need to wear masks.



The employee corrected Schroders claims, detailing the current company and government policy and noting that a change in policy is likely coming, but until it does, these are the rules everyone must follow.



Oh, if they allow us? If they grant us that, our kings? The people in power? Schroder mocks Youre gonna listen to these people? Theyve destroyed our economy. Theyre destroying our culture. Theyre destroying our state, and youre just gonna listen to their rules.



When the employee confirms that hes going to continue following local policy, Schroder turns the camera on himself, showing off a hat with the Blue Lives Matter flag.



Im getting my refund. Im getting my refund from Costco, Schroder says. I suggest everybody in California get their refund from Costco. Give up your membership to Costco until they remove this.



You can watch Schroders full tirade below.







Former child star Rick Schroder harasses a Costco employee over face masks pic.twitter.com/HRlWeJJlt1



 Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) May 16, 2021
News organisations have demanded an explanation for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City tower housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.AP journalists and...
Damon Weaver, who as a child landed an interview with President Barack Obama in 2009, has died at the age of 23, according to a medical examiner.
JERUSALEM (AP)  An Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza...
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Sunday the government will stick to plans to start reopening the country only from mid-next year, as pressure mounts on the ruling
Eurasia Review 13 May 2021

In an escalation of violence in the region, Israel said early Friday that it had sent ground troops into Gaza.



"IDF air..
Israel dropped a bomb on the home of Hamas's chief in Gaza early on Sunday (May 16). At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes across the coastal enclave.
Eurasia Review 29 May 2021

By Sonia Qadir and Junaid S. Ahmad*



As part of the ongoing Nakba, Israel has once again unleashed its latest reign of..
Tens of thousands of protesters marched in support of Palestinians on Saturday in major European cities including London, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, as the worst violence in years raged between Israel and militants in Gaza.
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.
At least 60 worshippers were injured, some of them critically, on Sunday when a grandstand seating area collapsed in a crowded synagogue in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israel's Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Eurasia Review 21 May 2021

Anyone who lived through the Second World War  and we are growing fewer by the day  knows the experience of fighting a..
Israeli medics said at least two people were killed and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue on Sunday.


Television

2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards: Leslie Jones hosts the annual bash, which brings some attitude to honoring notable moments from film and TV. (9 p.m. Sunday, MTV)

Death and Nightingales: Miniseries set in Ireland in 1885 (which premiered in 2018), starring Ann Skelly as a woman who sets out to escape from her unhappy life with her stepfather (Matthew Rhys), and who finds help thanks to a handsome fellow played by Jamie Dornan. (10 p.m. Sunday, Starz)

United Shades of America: Comedian and commentator W. Kamau Bell returned to Portland to interview activists and others for a look at protests for racial justice in this latest episode of his series. (10 p.m. Sunday, CNN)

Related: Portland protests against police brutality, racial injustice explored in CNNs United Shades of America

2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards  Unscripted: This years two-night MTV extravaganza tonight recognizes head-turning moments from reality shows, and more. Nikki Glaser hosts. (9 p.m. Monday, MTV)

American Experience: Billy Graham is the focus of a documentary that tells the story of how he became a Christian leader whose influence extended far beyond the church. (10 p.m. Monday, PBS)

Superman & Lois: The series returns from hiatus to continue its first season. (9 p.m. Tuesday, The CW)

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: The dramatics continue in Season 11, which sees the arrival of Sutton Stracke as a regular, and newcomer Crystal Kung Minkoff. (8 p.m. Wednesday, Bravo)

Already streaming

Halston: Ewan McGregor stars as the famous clothing designer who enjoyed a glamorous rise to fame, before things started to go wrong. (Available to stream beginning Friday, Netflix)

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: The series with one of the longer titles in showbiz returns for Season 2. (Available to stream beginning Friday, Disney Plus)

The Underground Railroad: This much-anticipated series comes from filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) and is adapted from Colson Whiteheads Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Heres the series description, courtesy of Amazon:The limited series chronicles young Coras (Thuso Mbedu) journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. (Available to stream beginning Friday, Amazon Prime Video)

Subscribe to our free weekly What to Watch newsletter. Email:



-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist
SALEM  The first court test of whether local governments can ban police from enforcing certain gun laws is playing out in a rural Oregon county, one of a wave of U.S. counties declaring itself a Second Amendment sanctuary.

The measure that voters in the logging area of Columbia County narrowly approved last year forbids local officials from enforcing most federal and state gun laws and could impose thousands of dollars in fines on those who try.

Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions have been adopted by some 1,200 local governments in states around the U.S., including Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Illinois and Florida, according to Shawn Fields, an assistant professor of law at Campbell University who tracks them. Many are symbolic, but some, like in Columbia County, carry legal force.

The movement took off around 2018, as states considered stricter gun laws in the wake of mass shootings, including a high school shooting near Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and made survivors into high-profile gun control activists.

In this Feb. 19, 2021, file photo, firearms are displayed at a gun shop in Salem. The first legal test of whether a wave of U.S. counties can legally declare themselves "Second Amendment Sanctuaries," and refuse to enforce certain gun laws is playing out in a rural Oregon logging county. The measure Columbia County voters narrowly approved last year bans local officials from enforcing most federal and state gun laws, which includes things like universal background checks or any prohibition on carrying guns. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)AP

After President Joe Biden took office, conservative lawmakers in several states proposed banning police from enforcing federal gun measures, and at least one proposal in Arizona has been signed into law.

The movement hasnt yet faced a major legal challenge. The Oregon case was filed by Columbia County under an unusual provision in state law that allows a judge to examine a measure before it goes into effect. No timeline has been set for a court hearing.

This will allow the court to tell us whether the county can actually decline to enforce certain state laws, and it will tell us how to abide by the will of the voters to the extent that we can, said Sarah Hanson, who serves as counsel in the conservative-leaning county in deep-blue Oregon.

Supporters of the ordinance include the Oregon Firearms Federation, which said in a November statement that extremists and big city radicals were trying to curtail gun rights.

The group referenced Portland protests opposing police brutality that occasionally turned violent last summer and called the ordinance a common sense step that would ensure your right and ability to defend your life and the lives of your loved ones.

The ordinance would ban the enforcement of laws like background check requirements and restrictions on carrying a gun, though it would have exceptions for others, including keeping firearms from convicted felons.

The Oregon Firearms Federation didnt respond to a request for comment on the court case.

Sheriff Brian Pixley has expressed support, saying in a March statement that one of his responsibilities is to uphold peoples Second Amendment rights and that hes eager to move forward with the will of the voters.

The measure is divisive locally, though, and four residents filed court documents opposing it. One, Brandee Dudzic, referenced the strict gun safety drills she learned in military medic training, saying she values the right to own a gun but believes it should come with safety measures like background checks and secure storage.

A gun shop owner in Columbia County said he supports background checks and believes that state law trumps the county law. But he voted in favor of the Second Amendment measure on principle.

We need to make sure that people are safe. We need to make sure that people are responsible, he said. But as more rules are in place, we just need to make sure that were not overregulated.

He spoke on the condition he not be identified because some of his customers take a hard line against gun restrictions and he didnt want to lose their business.

The group Everytown for Gun Safety is pushing for the measure to be overturned. Managing director Eric Tirschwell said it would be the nations first court test of a Second Amendment sanctuary law.

Everytown argues that the ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution, which says federal law supersedes state law, as well as the state Constitution and an Oregon law that gives the state power to regulate firearms.

The decision wont have a direct effect outside Oregon but could send a message.

This case is important and should send the message that where state or local jurisdictions attempt to unconstitutionally or unlawfully nullify gun safety laws, we are prepared to and will go to court, Tirschwell said.

Other laws trying to blunt the effect of federal gun restrictions havent fared well in court, including a 2009 Montana measure that made guns and ammunition manufactured in the state exempt from federal law and a similar 2013 measure in Kansas.

Many of the latest wave of measures, though, take a different tack by focusing on the actions of local police, including punishments like fines.

In terms of federal law, gun rights advocates may have a successful legal argument under the so-called anti-commandeering doctrine, which says the U.S. government cant make state and local officials enforce federal law, said Darrell Miller, a professor of law at Duke Law School and co-faculty director of the Duke Center for Firearms Law. He agreed that the Oregon case is the first of its kind.

Local enforcement of state law, meanwhile, is another matter. Most states dont have similar provisions in their own legal codes, and Oregons attorney general said in court documents that the Columbia County ordinance is incompatible with criminal law and the duties of county officials.

To the extent the local government is trying to say, Were also not going to enforce state law either .... thats a much more difficult and complicated position, Miller said. The authority of the state over localities is much, much stronger.

-- Associated Press

Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.
A recent headline was straightforward and factual but nevertheless was objectionable to some readers.

The headline in The Oregonian on Wednesday morning said: Unvaccinated 46-year-old Estacada teacher dies from COVID-19.

Ill admit when I saw it on the front-page proof Tuesday night, I paused. Does the headline read as if we are blaming the victim for her own death? And, as a mother myself, I thought of her two teenage children and wondered how they would feel reading the headline.

But I approved it as written. Headlines are difficult to write, especially for print editions where space is limited. Headline writers must succinctly capture the gist of the article in very few words. They also want to use everyday language and make the headline interesting enough that readers will go on to read the article.

They must choose which of many potential angles they will emphasize by calling them out in the headline.

In this case, I think we got it exactly right.

Samantha Fox, 46, was the first teacher known to have died with COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic in Oregon. An obvious reader question is whether she was inoculated with one of three highly effective vaccines that first became available in December, vaccines government officials are promoting as the best chance of ending the pandemic.

Yes, the vaccines are about saving your life, but also the lives of the people around you, President Joe Biden said last month. But theyre also about helping to get us get back to closer to normal.

It would be a reader question regardless, but the controversial decision by Oregons governor in January to prioritize educators over senior citizens for vaccines (when they were much harder to come by) also looms large. Many senior citizens were outraged by the decision when the death toll was highest among the oldest Oregonians.

In addition, the teachers mother spoke emotionally and in detail about the decision not to receive the vaccine, not due to political reasons but because of a dislike of injections and doctors.

Please, Foxs mother, Mary Beck, told reporter Fedor Zarkhin, if you can get the shot, get it.

The news of Foxs death came on the day Gov. Kate Brown announced the overall vaccination rate of Oregonians would be the determining factor for lifting most restrictions for all. Health officials announcing the change noted that vaccinations greatly reduced severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths.

Comments on our Facebook page were mixed on the question of highlighting Foxs unvaccinated status. Many understood immediately why we included it. Others found it to be victim-blaming.

Victim-blaming, the tendency to ascribe the blame for bad things to some choice or action of the victim, is baked into us. Its a psychological defense that allows us to believe -- however inaccurately -- that such bad things will never happen to us, because, after all, we wear our seatbelt religiously, never bike without a helmet, etc.

Other readers saw bias or an attempt to push an agenda in favor of vaccinations.

Brad Schmidt, the editor who has guided our coronavirus coverage over many months, said readers frequently contact the newsroom asking whether people who had died with COVID-19 had been vaccinated. The state health department discloses deaths daily but does not release the vaccination status of each fatality, instead releasing aggregated reports monthly.

So far, state officials have identified just eight people  all 70 and older  who died despite being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In this case, we knew that Fox had not been vaccinated, and we also knew that Foxs mother felt it had cost the family dearly, Schmidt said. The mothers decision to speak about Foxs vaccination status, in an effort to encourage more people to get vaccinated, was central to the story  and an important point of clarity to include in the headline.

Some readers also expressed shock that teachers were allowed to skip the COVID-19 vaccines.

One reader wrote: Why was she allowed in the classroom without proof of vaccination? ... If you are drawing a public salary and working closely with the public, you should be required to be vaccinated and happily comply.

Some readers seemed to think Browns decision to place teachers ahead of others somehow meant that all educators would be vaccinated before returning to in-person teaching. Not so. There is currently no requirement that educators receive the vaccine, according to the Oregon Education Association.

Its undeniable that the issue of COVID-19 transmission, or lack thereof, in schools is an important one for teachers, parents and students.

As with all of our pandemic coverage, we seek to be fair, accurate and thorough. Being an honest broker of news and information has never been more important than during this deadly pandemic. We take the responsibility very seriously.

Thanks to our print and digital subscribers who help support such vital local journalism.
Royal Harris

Harris, a program coordinator in the Multnomah County Health Department, Healthy Birth Initiatives Father Involvement Program and a member of the Portland Black Male Achievement executive committee. He lives in Portland.

Portland is currently experiencing a record number of homicides and shootings  31 homicides and more than 380 shootings as of May 12  with a disproportionate number of Black men among those murdered. As our city looks for ways to reduce gun violence, it is also time for the citizens of Portland to have the difficult conversation about why in America we believe murder is a legitimate form of conflict resolution. Some people will consider such a comment hyperbole. However, based on my experience growing up in America, murder as a form of problem-solving is as American as Dirty Harry and Rambo.

As a kid, I spent Saturday afternoons watching cowboy and Indian movies and then going outside, toy guns blazing, to play out the killing I had just watched. I remember Sundays spent playing war with my cap gun after watching John Wayne kill the Nazis or Communists to protect democracy and freedom. As I got older it seemed like all the cool guys in movies and on TV carried a gun to fix problems. By the late 80s and early 90s I watched as American culture started to embrace murder in the form of Gangsta rap and its glorification of killing to obtain respect.

Is it any surprise that this message would take root? American cultures validation of murder as a legitimate form of conflict resolution has had a dramatic effect on my life. In August 1993  the year with the most murders in Portland until 2020  my cousin Torrey Carter was murdered during what would be one of the most violent periods for Black men in the history of Portland. In 2004, my cousin Aaron Crews was murdered after a disagreement in a bar. His murder remains unsolved. In 2013, my brother Durieul Harris was murdered after an altercation. In the years since, over 200 retaliatory shootings have been linked to his murder. I carry these and the stories of dozens of Black men I grew up with and mentored who have lost their lives over perceived disrespects, bruised egos , and the inability to let things go.

With the upswing in violence that is continuing to take the lives of Black men, I am organizing a March Against Murder to take place on Saturday, May 22 at Peninsula Park starting at 1 pm.

The march has three important goals. The first is to unite all Portland citizens to stand together against the premeditated killing of another human without justification or valid excuse. The most important thing we must do as a community is restore the value of human life. While it is important to focus on gun violence, we must be against murder in all forms. Fear, hate or intolerance of a person because of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender expression, identity or status are not valid reasons to murder someone.

The second goal of the march is to provide a platform for Black men to present a comprehensive strategy to eliminate murder as a legitimate form of conflict resolution. This platform and strategy have been developed by African American men and organizations with experience in mental health, mediation, conflict resolution, restorative justice, mentoring, community justice, public health, policy development, and most importantly lived expertise as part of street culture. Too often, Black men specifically Black men who are experiencing the problems we look to solve  are not part of the solution. This march aims to feature Black men as the solution generators.

The third goal is to inspire community members to create the change they want to see in their communities. Too often, communities feel powerless and wonder where support and hope will come from. This march is to show people we are the solution we are looking for.

For more information on the march, email thewinnerzcircle503@gmail.com or go to the March Against Murder page on Facebook.

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SEATTLE (AP)  European green crabs were found in Washingtons inland waters in 2016, prompting extensive monitoring. Now state officials say this destructive invasive species is spreading in several coastal locations.

They thrive in shallow water and soft sediment, which Washingtons estuaries provide. And over the past two years it seems the populations of green crab are exploding, especially on the coast.

Green crabs in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor are appearing at densities easily five to 10 times greater than they were ever observed in the late 1990s. And so thats caught a lot of peoples attention, says marine ecologist Emily Grason, who leads Washington Sea Grants Crab Team at the University of Washington.

She says this sudden proliferation in coastal areas is somewhat surprising because they did not spread rapidly after those initial sightings two decades ago. Now, in addition to the hot spots on the southern end of the coast, green crabs appear to be spreading in Drayton Harbor and Lummi Bay.

She says since 2016, her team has seen the number of detection sites and the number of green crabs trapped each year steadily creeping up, although not necessarily at an even rate. Some sites have seen declines, notably Westcott Bay on San Juan Island  site of the first inland trapping five years ago  and Dungeness Spit, where only three were found last year after finds of 50-100 in years prior. She says its likely those locations do not offer very good habitat for green crabs.

By contrast, the coastal locations with good estuary that they have started monitoring have recently seen big increases. Many of those also provide prime real estate for Washingtons shellfish growers, whose operations could see great harm if green crabs continue to proliferate.

Green crabs are known as voracious ecosystem engineers that use their claws to crush up anything that might be edible, often dramatically changing underwater landscapes and destroying eelgrass beds and other critical habitat for native species.

Theyre not really good to eat, but theyve dramatically reduced the harvest of important shellfish species on the East Coast, such as soft-shell clams in Maine.

They eat absolutely everything. They are opportunistic predators that are quite happy to make a living off of anything that they can eat, Grason says.

Some shellfish growers in Washington have seen recent declines in some products, such as wild-seed manila clams, Grason says. This has growers and scientists wondering if green crabs might be at least partly to blame for that. She says it will be the subject of some of her teams research this year.

Theres a lot of concern that shellfish resources could be at risk, Grason says, both in the coastal geographies and inland, should green crabs become more abundant along inland shorelines as well.

Thats a huge part of the economic and cultural identity of Washington state. And so a lot of folks are working very hard to protect those resources from damage by European green crab.

She says the only way to contain the spread of European green crabs is through labor-intensive trapping and monitoring. And theyre likely a threat  like a virus  that will never go away completely.

Nobody so far that weve heard of has successfully eradicated European green crab from any geography, Grason says. There are no known chemicals or biological control agents that would be safe and effective to use, so trapping is currently the best strategy for controlling populations.

And she says that will be a really long-term project at best.

Among the places where that reality is taking hold is Makah Bay, south of Cape Flattery on the Olympic Peninsula.

Arianne Akmajian, a marine ecologist with the Makah Tribe, says a member of the public found and reported their first green crab in August 2017. A couple of months later, the tribe started setting traps. She says on their first try, the traps filled up quickly, with 34 green crabs caught in just two days.

So that was fairly alarming, going from essentially not really being aware of the species or knowing that they were in our area to catching a pretty good number of them just over a couple of days, she says.

The area around the reservation has two rivers that mix with saltwater, providing ideal habitat for the invasive species, and their catch rates have steadily gone up. She says they have now trapped a total of more than 3,700 green crabs, including about 200 since the start of this years trapping in April.

What concerns me with this season is that we are seeing a lot of small crabs and small molts, which to me tells me theres a really good crop of crabs this year  young-of-year crabs that are going to grow. And so were trying to do some targeting of those smaller crabs in hopes we can knock them down a bit, Akmajian says.

She says some are best caught by hand and it is labor intensive, although they have improved their trapping methods and are now able to catch more crabs with less bait.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has allocated some $2.2 million to fighting the spread of European green crabs. Thats more than a third of its $6 million aquatic invasive species budget for the 2021-2023 biennium.

The state says the public can play a key role in helping contain green crabs by learning what they look like  theyre not necessarily green; the best identifier is their shape, with five spines on each side of their eyes  and snapping photos and uploading them for state biologists to review. They say this species is often confused with similar-looking native crabs, so its important not to handle or try to kill any suspects.

 The Associated Press
After a violent week that included three shooting homicides in Portland, the mayor, police and elected officials have sounded the alarm around gun violence, telling residents that officers will be out in force over the weekend.

Eight Portland investigators from the newly formed Enhanced Community Safety Team and three FBI agents will be on the ground this weekend in efforts to quell the recent rise in gun violence, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell and Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon Kieran L. Ramsey said Saturday.

We want to make sure that we in the Police Bureau are doing everything we can to make people safe, Lovell said during a virtual news conference. Theres a cycle of violence here were trying to break.

In a joint statement the night before, Mayor Ted Wheeler and the citys four commissioners claimed they had recently learned three alarming things from law enforcement indicating the potential for imminent gun violence.

Those included gang members from California and Washington traveling to Portland with violent intent and an order issued locally to shoot someone in the next 30 days or be shot for not showing loyalty, Wheeler and Commissioners Jo Ann Hardesty, Mingus Mapps, Carmen Rubio and Dan Ryan said in their statement.

Both actions could lead to a retaliatory cycle, the officials said, noting that several vigils and funerals for previous shooting victims planned for the coming days are credible targets for further violence.

Portland police have responded to four shooting homicides and 14 gunshot injuries in May alone. The agency has also recovered 231 shell casings throughout the city and received 40 reports of shootings since the beginning of the month.

So far this year, the bureau has recorded nearly 400 shootings, not including suicide attempts, with more than 100 involving injuries, according to preliminary data shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The bureau also reported two shootings so far this weekend: one that left bullets in the side of an occupied car on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Ivy Street on Friday night, and another that left a woman seriously injured near Southeast Portlands Ventura Park on Saturday morning. The woman was shot once in the shoulder as she was driving, police said. They believe the shots came from another car near Southeast Stark Street and 119th Avenue.

Lets be honest, were not going to be able to deter every shooting or prevent every shooting or be on the scene of every shooting, Lovell said. Were going to do our best to be visible, be active and (gather) information and intelligence to get ahead of the next shooting.

The FBIs Ramsey described Portlands gun violence situation as beyond a public safety crisis, saying that the goal of this weekends increased street presence was to provide some measure of deterrence, follow up on leads and take shooters off the streets and take guns out of hands.

Ramsey asked faith-based groups, elected leaders and the community at large to help stem the rising tide of violence. He also asked anyone who knows anything about a recent shooting to reach out to law enforcement by calling either Portland police or the FBI at 503-224-4181.

We know there have been incidents that have happened where weve had a tremendous amount of reluctance on the part of people who saw something to share that with law enforcement, Ramsey said. And we know that there are people out in the community right now that know something about some of these shootings, and perhaps know something about an individuals plan to commit another shooting beyond that.

In a separate statement Friday, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt acknowledged the acute trauma, fear and anxiety associated with the unprecedented rise in gun crimes and the threat of continued violence, saying that prosecutors would continue to prioritize and apply all of our legal resources and knowledge to investigating and prosecuting acts of gun violence to hold shooters accountable.

There is an urgent need for everyone to recognize and respond to the profound and lasting harms inflicted by gun violence, Schmidt said. I join community leaders and law enforcement to say I am worried about retaliatory and targeted shootings that may occur at funerals and vigils after someone is murdered.

Lovell formed the Enhanced Community Safety Team earlier this year to provide a full-time response to shootings. The team, which includes three sergeants, 12 officers and six detectives, was designed to focus more on shooting investigations, less on the kind of uniformed patrol and interdiction provided by the former Gun Violence Reduction Team, which was disbanded last summer after the City Council raised concerns about the disproportionate arrests of people of color.

On Thursday, Portland leaders approved a $5.7 billion city budget that included a $3 million cut to the Police Bureau, or about 1.4% less than current spending. Protesters who marched through the streets of Portland after the police killing of George Floyd last May had asked for far deeper cuts to police spending.

The City Council also approved a sweeping $6 million plan to combat the historic surge in gun violence nearly six weeks ago, but most of the plans core components have been slow to materialize.

There is no firm date for when a reestablished police team tasked with stopping shootings will hit the streets. The community oversight committee that will eventually monitor and review those officers has yet to come together. The city has yet to cut a check from the $4.1 million set aside for nonprofits focused on gun violence prevention and healing, and only plans to dole out about 5% of that money by July 1.

Weve looked for ways to add to our gun violence response, and up until this point, weve had to take those resources that weve had existing, Lovell said. Two hundred and thirty-one bullets flying through the streets of Portland in a two-week period is just not acceptable. And if it comes to the point where we just need more resources to keep people alive, Im happy to fight that fight.

City and police officials pointed to a drive-by shooting at a Gresham vigil that left seven people injured late last month as evidence of the potential for more violence at other vigils planned this weekend.

In that shooting, someone in a dark SUV drove past a group gathered at Southeast 174th Avenue and Stark Street to mourn the shooting death of 22-year-old Alejandro Barajas, who was killed at the same intersection the previous night.

Someone in the SUV opened fire, and others in the crowd fired back. Seven people were taken to hospitals. They were expected to survive.

Another man was fatally shot some three-tenths of a mile away less than two weeks later. And in the past week alone, three people have died from Portland gun violence.

Early last Sunday, Jemare Lowell Manns, 21, was found dead after officers responded to reports of shots fired in the 8500 block of Southeast Harney Street in the Lents neighborhood.

On Wednesday, Jalon Yoakum, 33, the stepson of a prominent pastor and anti-violence advocate, was shot and killed in the parking lot of a food cart pod in the 11800 block of Northeast Sandy Boulevard in the Parkrose neighborhood.

Also Wednesday, Danae K. Williams, 25, was shot in the 6800 block of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Williams later died of her injuries.

Williams homicide was the 32nd in Portland this year, including a fatal police shooting at Southeast Portlands Lents Park last month. That figure puts Portland on track to shatter its previous record of 70 homicides in 1987.

At this point last year, there had been four homicides, according to the bureau. That figure rose to 55 by the end of 2020, however, marking the highest tally in 26 years. Forty-one of the killings were the result of gun violence.

-- Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com, @tdmrussell
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AGENCY [mdash]MaryAnn Wanner, 75, of Agency, died at 4:45 a.m. June 9, 2021 at Ridgewood Specialty Care. She was born February 18, 1946 in Lake City, IA to Lubbert and Erma DeVries. She married Martin Joseph Wanner and he preceded her in death on March 18, 2021. MaryAnn had worked as a beaut
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli medics said at least two people were killed and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue on Sunday, the eve of a major Jewish holiday.

The bleacher was packed with ultra-Orthodox worshippers and collapsed during prayers at the beginning of Shavuot. A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.

Rescue workers were on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital. The collapse comes weeks after 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it dispatched medics and other search and rescue troops to assist at the scene. Army helicopters were airlifting the injured.

Amateur footage showed the collapse Sunday during evening prayers in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement just north of Jerusalem. The ultra-Orthodox synagogue was packed with hundreds of people.

Shavuot is a spring harvest festival that also marks the day in the Jewish calendar on which the Torah was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is traditionally marked with all-night Torah study and the consumption of dairy.

Israeli authorities traded blame.

The mayor of Givat Zeev said the building was unfinished and dangerous, and that the police had ignored previous calls to take action. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said the disaster was a case of negligence and that there would likely be arrests.

Deddi Simhi, head of the Israel Fire and Rescue service, told Israels Channel 12 that this building is not finished. It doesnt even have a permit for occupancy, and therefore let alone holding events in it.

Television footage from the scene showed the five-story building was incomplete, with exposed concrete, rebar, and wooden boards, and plastic sheeting as windows. A sign in Hebrew pasted to a wall of the building warned that for safety reasons entrance to the site is forbidden.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter that my heart is with the victims of the disaster in Givat Zeev.

On April 29, a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel killed 45 ultra-Orthodox Jews, the deadliest civilian disaster in the country's history.

The stampede at Mount Meron came after years of warnings that the holy site was unsafe for the tens of thousands of visitors it draws each year for the Lag Baomer holiday.

This year's festivities were attended by about 100,000 people, most of them ultra-Orthodox Jews, after powerful ultra-Orthodox politicians reportedly pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others to lift attendance restrictions.

Experts had long warned the Mount Meron complex was inadequately equipped to handle the enormous crowds that flock there during the springtime holiday, and that the existing state of infrastructure was a safety risk.

The disaster triggered renewed criticism over the broad autonomy granted to the countrys politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.

Last year, many ultra-Orthodox communities flouted coronavirus safety restrictions, contributing to high outbreak rates in their communities and angering the broader secular public.
A bicyclist was fatally struck in Colorado early Sunday by a compact sedan driven by a man suspected to be under the influence of drugs, according to Lakewood Police Department.

The woman was riding east in the bike lane along West Alameda Parkway in Lakewood when she was struck by the eastbound car that drifted into the lane, police said.

The collision occurred about 10 AM Sunday at the intersection of West Alameda Parkway and South Indiana Street.

Fatal Crash in Lakewood May 16, 2021 (Photo) Credit Google Maps A woman was killed Sunday May 16, 2021 in Lakewood while riding in the bike lane along West Alameda Parkway when a suspected driver under the 

The bicyclist, whose name was not released, was transported to a hospital where she died of her injuries.

The man, whose name was also not released, involved in the crash remained on scene. He was arrested by Lakewood Police and faces a DUI-D (drugs) charge with the possibility of an additional charge of vehicular manslaughter, which will be presented to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, police said.

Speed is not considered to be a factor in the crash, police said.

Lakewood is a suburb west of Denver and is the 5th-largest city in the metro area.
Review: 'Those Who Wish Me Dead' Is More Like '(Run) Forest Run'

By Dustin Rowles | Film | May 15, 2021 |

Those who may remember director Taylor Sheridan from his acting days  specifically, as Danny Boyd in Veronica Mars or as Deputy Chief David Hale over the first two seasons of Sons of Anarchy  may have been surprised to see the same guy writing and directing well-regarded films like Hell or High Water, Wind River, and Sicario, or writing and running point on Kevin Costners Yellowstone TV series. You hate to judge a book by its cover and all, but he hardly looked the part of prestige writer/director.

On the other hand, he looks exactly the part of the director of a film like Those Who Wish Me Dead, the sort of B-movie Western thriller that might otherwise star Kevin Costner or Gerard Butler, save for the fact that Sheridans clout attracted the likes of Angelina Jolie to the film. Its refreshing to see Jolie in a blue-collar role  she plays a Montana smokejumper (a firefighter who enters into the scene by parachute)  but its also hard not to believe that shes also been woefully miscast. Jolie is a fine actress, obviously, and very capable of getting lost in a role, but smokejumper feels ill-fitting, like casting Helen Mirren as a car mechanic or Timothee Chalamet as, uh, a smokejumper. It just feels like Evelyn Salt going undercover as a firefighter.

Jolies character, Hannah Faber, is suffering from PTSD after she wrongly predicted which way the wind would blow during a Montana forest fire the previous year, which resulted in the deaths of three kids, who she witnessed being engulfed by flames. Meanwhile, in Florida, a forensics accountant (Owen Casserly) sees on the news that his boss, a local district attorney, was killed, and he flees with his son, Connor (Finn Little), believing he will be the next target. The information he holds  which implicates governors and Senators, etc.  is such a MacGuffin that the information is never actually revealed.

Owen drives toward Montana to hide out with his sister, Allison (Medina Senghore) and her husband, Ethan (Jon Bernthal). En route, the two assassins  brothers Jack and Patrick Blackwell (Aidan Gillen and Nicholas Hoult, the latter of whom is also weirdly miscast)  take out Owen but his kid, Connor, gets away with information given to him by his father about a mob boss played by Tyler Perry.

Thats the setup, but most of the movie entails Connor and Jolies Hannah  who he encounters in the Montana woods  running from the assassins, who set a massive forest fire to smoke them out. Bernthal and Senghore get involved, too, and theres a lot of shooting, a lightning storm, and a big-ass fire, but theres not a lot of story or character development.

There is, however, a lot of bad writing. To wit, a quiet scene in which Hannah explains to Connor, who is about 12-years-old, how to build a campfire because its like catnip for teenage girls, and voila, youre swapping spit with a cheerleader. Connor, in turn, says to Hannah, You look sad to me, and so Hannah pours her heart out to a 12-year-old about three kids about your age who died in a fire and how she feels responsible.

Hannah: They got caught in a fire and all I could do was watch.

Connor: I watched my mother die of cancer.

Hannah: It is impossible to feel sorry for myself around you.

I want to say that the action scenes are decent, at least. The gunfights are sufficiently intense, and Aidan Gillen is a terrifically menacing assassin (Nicholas Hoult, less so). The fires, however, look like CGI fires, and for a film that seems to be built around a character whose occupation is that of a smokejumper, theres surprisingly few smoke jumps. Disappointingly, theres not that much fire, either. Backdraft, this is not.

It is not a bad film, but it is decidedly mediocre. It says nothing, and it doesnt even try, and the performances are mostly unremarkable. Its a film that belongs in the Liam Neeson thriller subgenre. Its competent, and its mostly not boring, but its not thrilling enough to matter as much beyond a watchable time-killer. Its certainly not a movie that deserves a title with a lot of faux-profundity like Those Who Wish Me Dead. It warrants a one-word, generic title like, Smokejumper or The Fire or Forest Run. Still, its nice of Sheridan to finally fulfill the role of mediocre director best suited to a guy who looks like Deputy Chief David Hale.

 Review: Haifaa Al Mansour Returns to Saudi Arabia for the Satisfying 'The Perfect Candidate' | Keegan-Michael Key Hosts 'SNL' and Shows Them How It's Done 

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.

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After more than a year of cameo appearances by kids, spouses and pets, work meetings may be headed toward pre-pandemic formality.

The reemergence of downtown Chicago offices in the upcoming months could mean the window is closing on an unprecedented look into colleagues home lives via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Some experts say the use of virtual platforms, forced into action by the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, unexpectedly humanized co-workers in a way that working side by side never did.

Now, as many large companies begin nudging employees back to the workplace, executives and human resources departments are weighing how soon, and how strictly, they should return to rigid conventions of the office.

One of the things Ive found totally fascinating as a social scientist is, if you remember early in the pandemic everybody started using backgrounds in Zoom, said Edward Ned Smith, an associate professor at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management.

Over time, people started dropping their virtual backgrounds and started having their house as the background, said Smith, an expert on management and organizational culture. A lot of people dont bring too much of their home to the office. During this time, we all allowed one another into each others houses, and with that we saw which kid was screaming or which dog couldnt be managed.

Some of that has preserved or even enhanced organizational culture. Its very different to see a picture of kids on your desk rather than seeing a mess in the background made by your kids. It seemed like people were OK with that.

After months of expanded vaccinations, and recent relaxing of mask and social distancing guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, employers including financial services firms BMO Financial Corp. and JPMorgan Chase are pushing for large numbers of employees to return downtown this summer.

The peek at workers vulnerabilities and quirks has led to more open conversations about their well-being, said Dave Casper, the Chicago-based U.S. CEO of BMO.

I think it is actually easier today, because of what weve gone through, to have some of these conversations, Casper said in a recent roundtable discussion hosted by World Business Chicago and BOMA/Chicago, an association of 240 downtown buildings.

Its been easier to talk about what the issues are, Casper said. Its been easier for people to kind of open up, in their home, where BMO has been an uninvited guest now for over a year. People are getting comfortable saying, Here are my issues. Theyre more honest.

We have to be much more understanding of what the issues are, and at the end of the day get people to want to come back and not shame them into it.

How many workers return, and how quickly, also will affect the well-being of downtown Chicago, which some experts have predicted could take years to fully bounce back from the pandemic. The downtown office market ended 2020 with a record amount of vacant space.

I think most business leaders in Chicago are much more optimistic than a few months back, said Michael Fassnacht, president and CEO of World Business Chicago and the citys chief marketing officer. So I make the prediction that by July, 80% of the downtown and Loop and Fulton Market workforce will be back in the offices, at least three days a week. Thats how optimistic I am. And thats what Im hearing based on the breadth of business leaders Im talking to.

The return to downtown offices could accelerate even more after Labor Day, according to real estate and workplace experts, although its unclear whether the number of downtown workers ever will return to pre-pandemic levels.

What the density of downtown work is going to look like is still very much an open question, said Farzin Parang, executive director of BOMA/Chicago. Everything is connected, but I feel like offices are the driver. There were 600,000 people coming downtown to work, and then theyre going to the theater or out to dinner.

Working from home has provided safety and convenience for white-collar workers, particularly those with children. Yet the past 14 months also have hatched new terms such as Zoom fatigue and languishing  a work-from-home fogginess in which a worker is neither failing nor thriving.

Jane Fraser, a longtime banking executive who became the first female CEO at New York-based megabank Citi in March, recently told the Economic Club of Chicago that the relentlessness of working from home has left everyone exhausted, and she was looking forward to the socialization and collaboration that comes with working in an office.

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God bless Zoom and God bless the videos and Microsoft Teams and all the other platforms, Webex, that weve been using, but its not the replacement, Fraser said. Im concerned around culture in organizations, because weve depleted the asset that many companies have of everyone knowing each other, that sense of belonging to an institution, that purpose, that identity, and its been lonely for many people.

At the same time, Fraser said employers will have to build more flexibility into the office environment after more than a year of working remotely.

Soon after Fraser took the reins of Citi in March, she implemented Zoom-free Fridays, banning employees from using internal video chats for at least one day of the week, part of a broader effort to strike a healthier work-life balance during the pandemic and beyond.

Fraser said she uses her own Zoom-free Fridays to relocate from a desk to an armchair, trading in her computer screen for paper documents. She also adds boundaries to the rest of her seemingly endless remote workdays, carving out time to work out and clocking out at night to have dinner with her son, who is home from college.

Citi and other companies will need to show empathy and emphasize flexibility as employees begin to transition back to the office, Fraser said.

Were going to have to invest a lot when we all are back at work, she said. I think most clients I speak to will certainly give flexibility during this year.

Fraser didnt put a timetable on Citis return to the office but is clearly looking forward to that day.

At the end of the day, were typically better together for apprenticeship, for feedback, for collaboration and for energy levels, for the human touch, Fraser said.

At Black Opal Cosmetics, CEO Desiree Rogers expects to move slowly on requiring workers to return to its offices within the 1871 incubator in the Merchandise Mart. The Chicago-based company has many mothers on its payroll.

Even so, Rogers acknowledges limitations of remote work.

Heres what I have noticed: If you knew the person well before the pandemic, then on a Zoom or on a phone call you know their mannerisms, you know if they said this they might mean that. You know them, Rogers said during the recent roundtable discussion. For new people coming in, we dont know them.

So sometimes theres confusion or people might get bent out of shape about something  because they dont know the people. Its been harder to integrate people on our team through Zooms, with people not having any time to socialize.

Time will tell whether a hybrid model of working some days from home and some in the office will become the norm, or whether a mostly office-based culture will return.

Workers, especially parents, have gotten used to having more flexibility, Kelloggs Smith said. Taking that away in one fell swoop would not be wise, I dont think.

Even for workers without children, many have come to enjoy skipping a long commute, wearing casual clothes and saving money by eating at home. Office life may be a culture shock for people now accustomed to running an errand or going for a walk in the middle of the day.

In the months to come, firms may need to establish a more structured flexibility, Smith said.

Its not going to be feasible for people to just leave the office when theres supposed to be a meeting, he said. Its going to be a tricky but important thing to figure out.
For decades the McLean County Museum of History has provided first rate, experiential internship opportunities. As a nationally accredited museum, we are not only committed to providing historical education and stewardship to our lifelong learners, but also offering hands-on, immersive internships for students diving headfirst into practical career preparation.

In 2019, the museum was honored with an incredibly generous legacy gift from the Myra Jane Rodgers Shepard estate. To honor Myras legacy, the museum created the Myra Jane Rodgers Shepard Internship scholarship program. This scholarship provides a $1,200 stipend to a maximum of eight students who complete an internship per calendar year. These scholarships are offered in the interest of helping mitigate financial barriers that may preclude students from pursuing educational experiences in museum and related fields.

To be eligible for the scholarship, student candidates are required to be enrolled at an Illinois-based institution of higher learning to apply. Eligible students can take their internship for credit or not for credit. A for-credit internship requires 160 hours of service per semester.

While our internship program was thrown a curveball in 2020, the museum felt it was vitally important to continue offering internships despite the restrictions on in-person learning. So, we decided to offer remote internships only.

Alan Lessoff, history department academic adviser at Illinois State University, is a great example of how passionate professionalism can motivate and encourage students to continue to pursue their aspirations, despite enduring a global pandemic. Lessoff and other academic advisers have been excellent about continuing to connect interested students to the museum.

Our internship program works closely with ISU, Illinois Wesleyan University, Lincoln College and Heartland Community College to advertise our internship opportunities within the student body.

The real challenge then became how to conduct each project offsite without the hands-on, practical experience that the museum typically provides. In the fall 2020 semester, two ISU interns came on board as remote interns working in the collections department: Elise Fox, an English major/art history minor, and Madison Bobrytzke, a history major.

Both students embarked on a newly offered collections online database internship. The project consisted of researching artifacts in our collection that had little to no provenance, or origin/history of ownership. Interns used their research to write a label for each artifact with the end goal of not only deaccessioning artifacts without provenance to McLean County but also to make those artifacts with provenance available online to the public.

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While historical resources such as Newspapers.com, Ancestry.com and digitized finding aids on the museum website were accessible to the interns remotely, they could not replace the valuable lessons and experiences of an onsite, in-person internship. So, we are very much looking forward to having students working onsite once again.

There are many perks to joining the museum as an intern. Students have the opportunity to grow in their field of study by working alongside our award-winning staff and programs. They also connect with a wide variety of passionate community partners who either work or volunteer at the museum or come onsite for business or pleasure.

One of the requirements of an internship with the museum is to conduct an interview for each staff member. The purpose is not only for staff to get to know the intern but also for the intern to learn what role each staff member plays at the museum and what they studied in school and what led them to the museum field. Interns are often surprised to learn that many current and past staff members were once museum interns themselves, representing a wide range of personal and professional disciplines.

Today our interns come from a wide variety of disciplines as well, including history education, geography, communications, anthropology, archaeology, graphic design, library sciences, art history, music and fashion design.

This summer, the museum welcomes the following ISU student interns who will benefit from Myra Jane Rodgers Shepards philanthropy:

Mollie Spoerer, fashion design major, textile collections internship.

Abigail Etchison, fashion design major, textiles collections internship.

Kim Stahl, archaeology major, collections management internship.

Dennis Awuah, history major, library special projects internship.

Erica Mallek, graphic design major, graphic design internship.

Anastasia Ervin, music liberal arts and anthropology double major, public programs internship and a current museum volunteer.

Haley Youhas, history education major, Evergreen Cemetery Walk internship.

To learn more about becoming an intern or volunteer with the McLean County Museum of History, contact Rachael Masa, director of volunteers and interns, at rmasa@mchistory.org

Pieces From Our Past is a weekly column by the McLean County Museum of History. Rachael Masa is director of volunteers and interns at the museum.

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GAZA CITY  Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday.

The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. That attack was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel ad the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces says only that IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.



TOP NEWS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flatten three buildings and kill at least 42 people on Sunday

 An AP reporter documents the terrifying final minutes of leaving the Gaza office before it is blown up by the Israelis

 An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip despite urgent demands by the news agency to halt. AP's top editor called for an independent investigation into the airstrike.

 Protesters in major US cities urge Israelis to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip

 French police use tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian march that was banned in Paris



RABAT, Morocco  Moroccans have taken to the streets in the capital and other cities to protest Israeli air raids on Gaza during clashes with the Hamas extremist group that rules the Palestinian territory.

Sizeable demonstrations were held Sunday across the North African kingdom, including in Casablanca, the countrys largest city, where thousands waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israels military actions. Protesters also gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat.

In December, Morocco announced it had resumed relations with Israel as part of a U.S. brokered deal. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Moroccos claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

On Friday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI ordered forty tons of aid to be be shipped to the West Bank and Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of recent clashes.



UNITED NATIONS  The three U.N. Security Council nations trying to get the U.N.s most powerful body to take action on the escalating violence between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers say they are still trying to get the U.S. to support a statement including a call to end the fighting.

China, Norway and Tunisia tried unsuccessfully at closed meetings Monday and Wednesday to get agreement on a council statement. Diplomats say the U.S. argued such a statement could interfere with diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

There also was no agreement at Sundays first open meeting on the violence.

The ambassadors of China, Norway and Tunisia issued a joint statement on the Gaza conflict demanding an immediate end of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction.



PARIS  A media watchdog group is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israels bombing of buildings housing The Associated Press and other media organizations in Gaza as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

The group says the Israeli militarys intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment could violate one of the courts statues. It says the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

Israels military says Hamas was operating inside the building where AP had offices and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike Saturday.



UNITED NATIONS -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is urging the United States to join the 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council and support a statement urging a halt to violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.

He also wants the U.S. to support calling for a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wang chaired a high-level emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday and said the dangerous and urgent situation calls for an immediate cease-fire.

He urges Israel to exercise restraint, stop evictions and settlement expansion, put an end to the violence, threats and provocations against Muslims and respect the status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem. He says Palestinians must avoid steps that would escalate the situation, avoid civilian casualties and work for an immediate de-escalation.



UNITED NATIONS  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israels U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gazas Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.



THE HAGUE, Netherlands  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to end violence and expressing support for mediation by Egypt and the United States.

Rutte said in a statement Sunday that the Netherlands stands ready to help using its good relations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the U.S.

He says that a further escalation and yet more Palestinian and Israeli civilian casualties must be avoided.

Rutte says Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks but says the country must act proportionally within the borders of international law.



UNITED NATIONS  Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki is accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and carrying out a policy of apartheid in Jerusalem.

Al-Malki told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that there are no words that can describe the horrors that our people are enduring, listing families and children and infants killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time, he said. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem. Its expelling families, one home, neighborhood at a time. Israel is executing our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.



ISRAEL  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed his claim that a Gaza building leveled by an Israeli airstrike housed a Hamas office as well as American and Middle East news organizations, but gave no evidence.

Netanyahu spoke to CBSs Face the Nation about ongoing violence between Israeli forces and the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and about Saturdays airstrike that leveled the building housing Gaza offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news organizations. Its a perfectly legitimate target, he said.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call later Saturday with President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, We pass it through our intelligence people.

Netanyahu gave no time frame for when Israel would be ready to halt its side of the fighting after nearly a week of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages. We hope that it doesnt continue very long, but we were attacked by Hamas, he said.

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Asked about reports that Hamas had agreed to an Egypt-brokered cease-fire but Israel had not, he said, Thats not what I know.



UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. Mideast envoy says the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Tor Wennesland told the Security Council on Sunday that over 40 U.N. schools in Gaza have been turned into shelters. He says the schools have limited water and no access to food or health care, and serve for protection purposes only.

After nearly a week of fighting, Wennesland called for calm and said further escalation would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis.

He called Hamas rocket fire from civilian neighborhoods in Gaza into Israeli population centers a violation of international law. He also urged Israel to show maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in its operations in Gaza.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said. It is the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The violence, which came as international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory, marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes Sunday hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 yards (meters) down the road.



UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief is appealing to Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza to immediately stop the utterly appalling escalation in fighting and senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction at the start of a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the virtual meeting on Sunday that the United Nations is actively engaging all sides towards an immediate cease-fire.

He warned that the most serious escalation in violence in Gaza in years only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace.

The open meeting is scheduled to be addressed by the Palestinian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, China, Tunisia, Norway, Ireland, Algeria and the deputy foreign minister of Russia along with ambassadors from other nations on the 15-member council, an Israeli representative and the head of the Arab League.

Guterres said he is appalled by the increasingly large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes, and deplores Israeli casualties from rockets launched from Gaza. He called the destruction of media offices in Gaza extremely concerning, stressing that journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes on a main thoroughfare in Gaza City has climbed to 33, including 12 women and eight children.

It was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers erupted nearly a week ago. The airstrikes hit Wahda Street, a major thoroughfare.

The ministry says another 50 people were wounded in the strikes early Sunday, mostly women and children.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.



ISTANBUL  Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency has offered to share its Gaza offices with The Associated Press and Al Jazeera after Israel bombed the building that housed the media offices.

Anadolu said its Director-General Serdar Karagoz made the offer in letters to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt and Al-Jazeeras chairman.

Karagoz said the Turkish wire service was appalled by the Israeli militarys targeting of media offices.

Since this recent conflict has escalated over the past week, there is an apparent pattern of targeting journalists who are carrying out their professional duties so as to block coverage of the situation on the ground, Karagoz said.



BRUSSELS  The European Unions foreign policy chief says the 27-nation blocs foreign ministers will talk Tuesday about what the EU can do to help end the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Josep Borrell tweeted Sunday that he convened the special videoconference in view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties.

He added that we will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to end the current violence.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gazas militant Hamas rulers fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli assault on Gaza.



VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has denounced the unacceptable spiral of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the deaths in particular of children was a sign that they dont want to build the future but want to destroy it.

Francis prayed for peace, calm and international help to open a path of dialogue during his Sunday blessing, delivered from his studio window overlooking St. Peters Square.

The pope said: I ask myself: this hatred and vendetta, what will it bring? Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?

In unusually pointed comments, Francis added: In the name of God, who created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity and are called to live as brothers, I appeal for calm and an end to the violence.

Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza City for days as heavy fighting has broken out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among the 26 people killed in Sundays airstrikes, with another 50 people wounded in the attack.



JERUSALEM  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 23 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the attack. Rescuers were racing to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader in a separate strike. It was the third such attack in the last two days.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed the strike on Sinwars house in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis to army radio.



JERUSALEM  The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, the third such attack in as many days, after nearly a week of heavy Israeli airstrikes on the territory. The Palestinian militant group ruling Gaza has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes have struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City early Sunday.

According to photos circulated by residents and journalists, the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. It said rescuers are still digging through the rubble and had so far pulled up five more wounded.

Two hours into the heavy bombardment, there has been no comment from the Israeli military.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP)  The student reporter who gained national acclaim when he interviewed President Barack Obama at the White House in 2009 has died of natural causes, his family says.

Damon Weaver was 23 when he died May 1, his sister, Candace Hardy, told the Palm Beach Post. Further details were not released. He had been studying communications at Albany State University in Georgia.

Weaver was 11 when he interviewed Obama for 10 minutes in the Diplomatic Room on Aug. 13, 2009, asking questions that focused primarily on education. He covered school lunches, bullying, conflict resolution and how to succeed.

Weaver then asked Obama to be his "homeboy," saying then-Vice President Joe Biden had already accepted.

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"Absolutely," a smiling Obama said, shaking the boy's hand.

He used that meeting to later interview Oprah Winfrey and athletes like Dwyane Wade.

"He was just a nice person, genuine, very intelligent," Hardy said. "Very outspoken, outgoing. He never said no to anybody."

Weaver got his start in fifth grade when he volunteered for the school newscast at K.E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary in a farm community on the shores of Lake Okeechobee.

"Damon was the kid who ran after me in the hall to tell me he was interested," his teacher, Brian Zimmerman, told the Post in 2016. "And right away, I just saw the potential for the way he was on camera. You could see his personality come through. He wasn't nervous being on camera."

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CANWARN Online Training 2021

Radio Amateurs of Canada is pleased to announce that we have now partnered with the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre Team to provide CANWARN Training this spring.

CANWARN (CANadian Weather Amateur Radio Network) is a network of volunteer Amateur Radio operators who observe and report both winter and summer severe weather conditions.

Date: Wednesday, May 26

Time: 7 pm EDT

Description: This will be a one-time session for this season, offered through the Zoom online meeting platform.

Topics covered in the training include the basics of thunderstorm formation, the types of damage severe thunderstorms can produce and what to look for in the sky. Winter severe weather is touched on as well.

The training also provides ways that storm reports can be provided to the OSPC and a number of safety tips to keep storm spotters safe.

Registration: To register for the training session click on the link provided below.

Webinar Registration  Zoom

For more information on the program, please contact canwarn.ontario@ec.gc.ca

Read more at

https://www.rac.ca/emergency-services/canwarn/
A Space Force lieutenant colonel has been removed from his command after appearing on a conservative podcast criticizing the United States military.

Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier joined "The Steve Gruber Show" to discuss his new book, "Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military," which alleges that Marxist ideologies are becoming widespread within the armed forces. He expounded on those concerns in the podcast.

"Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead," a Defense Department official told CNN. "This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity."

On the podcast Lohmeier said: "Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be. That wasn't just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature."

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When pressed on what exactly he meant, Lohmeier decried the New York Times 1619 Project, a historical look at how slavery formed America's institutions, as "anti-American."

"It teaches intensive teaching that I heard at my base  that at the time the country ratified the United States Constitution, it codified White supremacy as the law of the land," Lohmeier said. "If you want to disagree with that, then you start (being) labeled all manner of things including racist."

A defense official said the investigation would also look at all elements of rules and policy by which the book was published. It is not clear whether Lohmeier consulted his chain of command before publishing. A blurb about the book on Amazon described it as a "timely and bold contribution from an active-duty Space Force lieutenant colonel who sees the impact of a new-Marxist agenda at the ground level within our armed forces."

Conservative Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida tweeted Sunday that he would be "seeking action on this in the Armed Services Committee" though he did not specify what that action could be.

"Lt. Col. Lohmeier is a Patriot telling the truth about the attempted wokeification of our military  and worse," Gaetz wrote. "His demotion is clearly retaliatory."

The-CNN-Wire  &  2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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Over the past year, doctors repeatedly told Renato Aquinos family to say their final goodbyes. His niece, Tasha Sundstrom even began making funeral arrangements.

But each time, Aquino, 65, of Glendale Heights, held on. And Sundstrom eventually saw a news story that appeared to offer one last chance for her uncle. A double lung transplant had saved then-28-year-old Mayra Ramirez, who was near death from COVID-19.

I did all the arrangements and the next day he proved us wrong. He wanted to live, Sundstrom said.

Sundstrom asked Aquinos medical team about the transplant surgery, and he was soon transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where, in February, he became the first known COVID to COVID double lung transplant recipient.

Improbably, Sundstrom sat next to her uncle during a news conference Friday at Northwestern, smiling while he bantered about once again singing karaoke.

Legacy of Coach Jerry Sloan lives on in Illinois hometown McLeansboro isn't just where Jerry and his late wife, Bobbye Sloan, were from. The couple and their three children lived here in the years when Jerry was between coaching the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz, and the family came back here every off season.

After performing the United States first COVID-related double lung transplant last year, Northwestern surgeons have now done 20 such surgeries. In Aquinos case, the surgeons used lungs from a person who had contracted a mild case of COVID-19 and died of unrelated causes  an important milestone because the surgerys success greatly expands the number of lungs available for these procedures, the doctors said.

If we said no to those patients from being donors, that means we are not going to have enough organs to save lives, said Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of the Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program, who performed the procedure. He noted that there have been more than 32 million cases of COVID-19 diagnosed in the U.S.

Aquino was born and raised in the Philippines before he moved to Illinois to pursue a medical career. He worked as a phlebotomist in suburban hospitals when the pandemic took hold, and had direct contact with COVID-19 patients.

On May 14 of last year, he couldnt breathe and drove himself to the emergency room. Doctors placed Aquino on a ventilator. He also received convalescent plasma and was placed on a life-support machine for the heart and lungs called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO.

The disease had permanently damaged Aquinos lungs, and his prognosis was grim.

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It was so crazy, an emotional roller coaster, said Sundstrom, who is Aquinos goddaughter.

After consulting with doctors about a transplant surgery, he was transferred to Northwestern and spent a week on the transplant list. Though the general consensus among experts is that organs from donors who have recovered from COVID-19 can be used as long as they test negative, some transplant centers are still wary, doctors said.

But doctors expect that health problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic will increase the need for lung transplants in coming years, so organ supply is crucial. Before the doctors decide to use lungs from a donor who had COVID-19, they screen them to make sure the virus has cleared the body and that the lungs have no significant damage caused by the virus, Bharat said.

They use several tests to ensure the health of the lungs, including testing the lung fluid and performing a biopsy of the organ, doctors said.

Lung transplants due to damage from the COVID-19 virus are high-risk procedures that are more difficult than other lung transplants. Bharat has described the state of COVID-damaged lungs as if a bomb blast has gone off. The surgery lasts about 10 hours, and usually requires eight to 10 units of blood, a startling contrast to the half unit needed for other, non-COVID-19 lung transplants.

The surgery is only undertaken when patients are on the brink of death and have no other options.

At the news conference, Aquino thanked his team of surgeons for a second chance at life. His family shared a number photos of the beloved uncle  grinning broadly while barbecuing, posing at Disney World and surrounded by family members in front of a Christmas tree.

The White Sox fan and karaoke hobbyist threw his arms up and said, I feel wonderful.

Sundstrom said her family is grateful to have him back.

Hes going to be doing karaoke soon, she said.

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CHICAGO  A 29-year-old man joined a tow truck driver to pose for a threatening selfie in January before heading to another mans Cragin home to shoot him in the face and leg, authorities said Saturday.

Michael Gracia, a resident of the Logan Square neighborhood, was charged Saturday with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and multiple felony drug possession counts, according to court records.

Judge Charles Beach held him without bail following his bond court appearance, while his attorney argued the 35-year-old man who was shot later attempted to blackmail him.

Prosecutors said prior to the shooting, the man who was critically wounded in the shooting was with a tow truck driver, 32-year-old Nicholas Athans, who was his employer, following a work shift on Jan. 16. Athans, a Brookfield man, was charged earlier this year with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery through discharge of a firearm in connection with the shooting, court records show.

The day of the shooting, the 35-year-old asked for a ride home from Athans, who became irate and started arguing before dropping him off.

Athans then picked up Gracia, who the 35-year-old recognized as a shooter for the La Familia Stones street gang, prosecutors said. They said after the man and Athans continued their spat through texting, calling and video chatting, Athans sent a selfie of him and Gracia inside his tow truck with a follow-up text that said, I told you my family got it like that.

Athans also told the man that he and Gracia were going to his home, in the 5300 block of West Oakdale Avenue, and alerted him to their arrival. The 35-year-old went outside, where he found Gracia sitting as the front passenger seat of the tow truck and Athans in the drivers seat, prosecutors said.

About 7:50 p.m., Gracia pulled out a gun and fired one shot in the mans face, and the bullet became lodged below his brain, prosecutors said. Then Gracia allegedly fired another bullet into the mans left leg.

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A witness hiding behind a PT Cruiser ducked, and Gracia fired three shots in that direction, at least one of them hitting the car, prosecutors said. Gracia and Athans fled before the 35-year-old was hospitalized. Four shell casings from the same weapon were found at the scene.

The witness identified Gracia as the shooter from the selfie and from a photo array, prosecutors said. Gracia was arrested Friday in the 2500 block of West Congress Parkway and allegedly tossed a fanny pack with felony amounts of suspected crack cocaine, heroin, and a loaded handgun and magazine.

Gracias private defense attorney Joseph Lopez said the events of the shooting are murky, and alleged the man texted photos to Gracia of himself armed and that he has a recording of the man trying to shake down his client for money in exchange for testimony.

Im not sure what happened out there that day, Lopez said. We have just as much evidence as the state has on the other side of the coin.

Lopez added that Gracia works for his mother at a residential and commercial cleaning business and has two children.

Gracia was automatically held without bail because, prosecutors said, he violated parole following a 2011 aggravated battery with a firearm conviction in which he was sentenced to eight years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. That shooting took place April 26, 2011, in the 4700 block of West Berenice Avenue, before the Tribune began tracking Chicago shootings in fall 2011, according to records.

Gracias next court date for the January shooting is May 26.

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Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker got to deliver a rare bit of good financial news this week when he announced the state will bring in a few billion dollars more than expected, courtesy of a rebounding economy and federal largesse.

That allowed Pritzker to quell a bipartisan outcry of his previous plan to keep school funding flat. But it fell far short of solving a number of issues that remain as the governor and legislators look for ways to cover a projected $1.3 billion shortfall in next years budget of roughly $42 billion.

Lawmakers from both parties maintain their dim view of parts of Pritzkers proposal to raise revenue by closing what he describes as corporate loopholes, but what business groups say represent tax hikes that will further beat down pandemic-battered businesses.

And the promise of $8.1 billion in federal coronavirus relief money, while solving some problems, appears to have a major string attached that might not allow the state to use the windfall to cover pandemic-induced borrowing.

All those factors are swirling as Pritzker and lawmakers begin to engage in earnest on the biggest annual rite in Springfield: agreeing on a spending plan before the new budget year starts July 1  and preferably before the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn at the end of May.

The choices are really clear: Were either going to have to find ways to cut to fill that hole, or were going to have to review the proposals the governor made to close corporate tax loopholes on wealthy individuals and corporations, said House Majority Leader Greg Harris of Chicago, a lead Democratic budget negotiator. Some mix of those will be required.

Pritzker finds himself in this spot after voters last fall overwhelmingly rejected his graduated-rate income tax proposal, which would have brought in an estimated $3.6 billion a year to help stabilize the states chronically shaky finances.

A key point of the budget debate will be what to do with the federal relief money, with the state now in line for $600 million more than originally expected. Pritzker and legislative leaders in both parties have long said the money should first go toward paying down the states debts, most notably the remaining balance on $3.2 billion in Federal Reserve loans taken out to patch budget holes caused by the pandemic.

But preliminary federal guidelines on how the money can be spent contained an unwelcome surprise for cash-strapped Illinois: The Treasury Department says states cant use the money to pay off borrowing.

Illinois was the only state that tapped the Fed program, and state officials are lobbying Washington for permission to repay the central bank with the influx of federal funds. Whether an answer will come before May 31 remains to be seen, but in the meantime Pritzker and lawmakers also are working to hash out how to use the rest of the money.

We have to be very thoughtful over how we spend it over a period of time, Harris said. We know its largely one-time money, so I think were all going to want to look at it really carefully to be sure that were not building this into a base that then there would be a cliff when this money expired.

Unfortunately for Illinois, other uses for the federal cash that could prove most helpful to the states long-term financial health  such as using it to pay down $141 billion in unfunded pension liabilities or depositing it in the minuscule rainy day fund  also are prohibited.

Despite those restrictions, the aid from President Joe Bidens American Rescue Plan, which also includes billions of dollars for local governments, public schools and mass transit systems, offers the state time to come up with a better long-term plan for its finances as it emerges from the pandemic, said Laurence Msall, president of nonpartisan budget watchdog The Civic Federation.

The states in a very bad financial situation. It was before the pandemic, and this revenue support has the potential to help the state of Illinois get through the next year, Msall said. But it is not going to solve the pension (problem), the high debt and Illinois sort of worst-in-the-nation credit rating unless the money is used wisely and more is done.

That said, Msall gave Pritzkers budget plan generally high marks for largely holding the line on spending and not relying on the budgetary gimmicks previously employed to cobble together so-called balanced budgets.

But he sides with many legislators in saying Pritzker should abandon his proposed tax changes  the corporate loopholes  in the midst of recession, especially with revenues up due to a stronger-than-expected economy and federal aid available to help cover some pandemic-related expenses.

So far, the Pritzker administration isnt backing down, at least not publicly, despite the brightened financial picture.

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The governors budget office on Thursday released new estimates showing the state is on track to bring in nearly $1.5 billion more than expected in the current budget year  thanks in part to economic activity generated by federal stimulus payments to individuals and enhanced unemployment benefits  and another $842 million in the budget year that begins July 1.

The bump gave Pritzker leeway to revise his plan to hold funding for elementary and secondary education flat for the second straight year. Instead, hes now calling for a $350 million increase, meeting a target established in the bipartisan school funding overhaul signed into law by his predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner.

But in announcing the rosier revenue numbers, the Pritzker administration doubled down on its proposal to end $1 billion in corporate welfare.

The budget plan Pritzker laid out in February called for raising $932 million in new revenue by making a series of changes to business tax policies, some of which took effect automatically in Illinois as a result of President Donald Trumps 2017 tax cuts.

The largest share of the additional revenue  $314 million  would be generated by putting a $100,000-per-year limit on the amount of operating losses businesses can deduct. Another $214 million would come from rolling back a provision that allows business to write off the full cost of eligible equipment in a single year rather than in smaller increments over time.

While Republicans are no fans of any of the ideas on the governors list, what particularly draws their ire are proposals that renege on agreements Pritzker made to secure GOP votes for his budget and infrastructure plan during his first year in office.

Those proposals include Pritzkers call for preserving the corporate franchise tax, eliminating an additional credit for companies receiving other state incentives if they create construction jobs, and lowering the credit for taxpayers who donate to private school scholarship funds.

We put tough votes on for him, House GOP leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said. We made him look good two years ago.

Durkin said the proposals are more about spite over opposition from Republicans and business organizations that helped tank the governors graduated rate income tax proposal.

The additional revenue wouldnt have been needed if Pritzker and the legislatures Democratic majority had cut spending for the current year rather than relying on borrowing and the hope they could use federal aid to pay it off, Durkin said.

Republicans also are frustrated about not being any more involved in budget negotiations under new House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch of Hillside than they were under his longtime predecessor, Michael Madigan, Durkin said.

What was supposed to be a new day in Springfield is just a continuation of what Ive dealt with over the years, he said.

While Republicans have been much more vocal in their opposition to Pritzkers proposed tax changes, some of his ideas, such as allowing the franchise tax to remain in place and limiting a discount for retailers who collect state sales taxes, are expected to be just as tough a sell to fellow Democrats  especially as small businesses have struggled as a result of Pritzkers COVID-19 restrictions.

Time is now short to come up with a plan to close the $1.3 billion gap in next years budget, but state Sen. Elgie Sims of Chicago, the Senate Democrats top negotiator, said he thinks budget talks need to go beyond the immediate crisis and focus on charting a better course for years to come.

He said hes cautiously optimistic the state will get the green light to repay some of its debts with the federal relief money, but he also noted that the money can be used to cover expenses through the end of 2024.

Lawmakers need to evaluate whether any of Pritzkers proposals would provide stable revenue to help address some of the states long-term budget problems.

If were going to turn our fiscal ship around and make sure that were putting ourselves on a path to fiscal stability, its going to be important that we recognize that even with the rosier revenue projections, theres still significant challenges and significant decisions that need to be made to cover those gaps, he said.

Chicago Tribunes Jenny Whidden contributed.

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The city of Springfield is no longer enforcing its mask mandate.

While the local mandate has not officially been repealed yet, in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new masking guidelines announced Thursday, local fines will no longer be issued to those not wearing masks.

Even though the CDC's guidelines say those who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks or physically distance, the city is still suggesting people continue to do both.

"The City of Springfield encourages anyone who has NOT received his or her COVID-19 vaccine to do so as soon as possible," the city wrote in official statement issued Friday. "Right now, with businesses serving the public, there is no way for them to know who has received their vaccination and who has not. This makes it difficult to keep businesses and their employees' safe while serving the public.

"That is why we respectfully recommend people to continue to wear a mask, practice good hand hygiene, and keep social distance."

However, a few national businesses with Springfield locations have already updated their mask policies to reflect the new CDC guidelines.

Beginning Tuesday, Walmart and Sam's Club will no longer require vaccinated shoppers and employees to wear masks in stores outside of municipalities that require it, the retailer announced Friday.

"To be eligible to work without a mask, associates need to answer 'yes' to the vaccination question in the daily health assessment," reads a memo sent to Walmart employees. "If you are not vaccinated, we expect you to answer 'no' and to continue to wear a face covering. Integrity is one of our core values, and we trust that associates will respect that principle when answering."

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The memo  which says employees will get a $75 bonus for providing proof they are vaccinated  does not detail a method for ensuring customers without masks are fully vaccinated.

Beginning Monday, masks will also be optional at Starbucks for those who are vaccinated, according to the coffeehouse chain's website, which notes that its updated mask policy applies to all locations, "unless local regulations require them by law."

Meijer, Target, CVS and Walgreens are among the stores that, following the latest CDC guidelines, have stated they will continue to require all customers to wear masks for now.

"While we are aware of new CDC guidance, many state or local orders in the Meijer footprint remain in effect regarding masks," the Midwest grocery store chain wrote in an official statement. "In order to help ensure the continued health and safety of all its team members and customers, Meijer continues to require face coverings by anyone entering a Meijer store or Meijer Express station at all locations, except where medical conditions prevent them from wearing one."

With the state entering Gov. JB Pritzker's bridge phase on Friday, capacity limits increased to 60% for offices, retail establishments, gyms, movie theaters, zoos, museums, amusement parks, seated spectator events and conventions. Meanwhile, standing areas in restaurants and bars can now operate at 30% capacity indoors and 50% capacity outdoors.

Fully vaccinated people should still should wear masks in health care settings and on planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation, based on the latest CDC guidelines.

The Illinois Department of Public Health sent local health departments across the state a memo Friday, which states "fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask or physically distance in any non-healthcare setting, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance."

The memo also states, "employees and residents of congregate settings, such as correctional facilities and homeless shelters, should continue to mask."

As part of the governor's Restore Illinois plan, all COVID-19-related restrictions could be lifted as early as June 11.

"Unfortunately, we have not reached Phase 5 full reopening in Illinois, and that is why the city recommends for people to still wear a mask," the city's official statement reads. "Our businesses are not fully re-opened nor has our entire business community returned to in-person work. We ask everyone to please use caution and keep the health and safety of others in mind, because we want to continue to move forward together."

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In 1854, the dominant national parties were the Democrats and the Whigs. The latter was fading and the former continued to dominate the scene as it had for many years. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois was a leading Democrat nationally. Abraham Lincoln, then no longer an office holder, was a Whig. The Republican Party was not yet a force.

Led by Douglas that year, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. That act effectively opened all the new territories in the West to slavery. It destroyed the sanguine assumption of moderate opponents to slavery, such as Lincoln, that the evil institution would be forever restricted to the states where it then existed, to slowly die a quiet demise.

The widely disparate elements opposing slavery would have to somehow be brought together to stop the spread of the national cancer - slavery. Anti-slavery Democrats, a growing number, and anti-slavery Whigs would somehow have to unit. Immigrant Germans, a growing contingent in the nation, were strongly anti-slavery. However, a party was formed mid-decade, called the American Party, which although anti-slavery, was strongly anti-immigrant. It was also known as the Know-Nothing Party.

Lincoln would need the support from not only the anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats, but also the Germans and the Know-Nothings. Illinois was an influential state in the growth of anti-slavery forces. But the party was bitterly divided between the Chicago Whigs and the downstate Whigs. The moderate anti-slavery advocates, like Lincoln, also had to deal with the more radical abolitionists.

Lincoln's delicate approach to each of these separate contingents, attempting to keep peace among them all for the common good, was ultimately successful. His many rivals for the Republican nomination in 1860, were not as adept in molding and shaping this motley collection of partisans. He gained enough support from each of these groups to gain the nomination of the relatively new party in the summer of 1860, and then election in November. Throughout the ensuing five years, he continued to master the task of keeping all these oars pulling in the same direction.

His ability to unify resulted in the success of the Republican Party, and more significantly preservation of the Union. For generations it remained the party of Abraham Lincoln.

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But in 2016, it became a different party, with the rise of Donald Trump. A sizeable block of the Republican Party flocked to him. This left those Republicans who did not follow that course outside looking in. These include the conservative Liz Cheney and moderate Adam Kinzinger, who serve in the House of Representatives from Wyoming and Illinois respectively. They represent different sides of the traditional conservative-moderate split within the Republican party.

Notwithstanding that difference, they are united on the same side of the new fissure within the embattled party - those who demand character and integrity from party leaders and those that don't. Their independence, integrity, and character drove them to speak out in defense of traditional Republican values.

Trump's unwillingness to embrace all Republicans contributed to his defeat in 2020. The hope for the future of the Republican Party is that the Trump phenomenon will go away and the party can come together to challenge the Democrats in 2022 and 2024. But Trump's behavior and actions make unity most improbable.

His continuing demands to support the highly questionable claim that he had in fact won the election makes unity most improbable. His turning on his loyal Vice-President, because Pence had performed his uncomplicated constitutional mandate to certify the election results, makes unity most improbable. His lashing out at the highest-ranking Republican office holder, Mitch McConnell, makes unity most improbable.

Trump announced that he is seeking candidates to oppose Republican incumbents in 2022 that are not supportive him, and that makes unity most improbable.

The irrational tirades by Trump show his real intention. He is seeking to run in 2024 without the support of any Republican who is not totally committed to him. His behavior effectively blocks any other Republican from seeking the nomination. Current polls show a sharp decline in those who identify themselves as Republicans since Trump was elected.

Lincoln unified the Republican Party and elevated it to become a dominant force in modern American politics for over 160 years. Donald Trump's nomination in 2024 could push the Grand Old Party in a sharp downward path, perhaps never to recover. Then it could truly be the party of Donald Trump. Lincoln was re-nominated by the Republicans in 1864. Republicans who value unity hope that there will be no such repeat event for Trump in 2024.

Guy C. Fraker is a retired Bloomington attorney and Lincoln scholar.

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Twenty-nine people have been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo in connection with Eid violence that erupted in the capital, Kinshasa.



One police officer was killed and dozens of others were injured in clashes between rival Muslim groups.



They had gathered to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, but fell out over who should lead the event.



The death penalty is no longer applied in DR Congo and those found guilty will serve life sentences instead.



Trial broadcast live



The police had used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse thousands of people who gathered outside the Martyrs' Stadium in Kinshasa on Thursday for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.



Some of the officers injured in the violence are still in critical condition, the authorities say.



The clashes were fuelled by a leadership dispute between two camps within the Muslim community.



Forty-one people were arrested at the scene and were put on trial on Friday.



The court session was broadcast live on television and went on all night.



There were 31 convictions - 29 people were given the death sentence and two received five-year jail terms.



Given the speed with which the sentences were passed there are bound to be concerns over the fairness of the trial, says BBC World Service Africa editor Will Ross.

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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President Akufo-Addo has addressed the nation on measures his administration has put in place so far to fight Covid-19.



It may be recalled that in his 24th address he announced the arrival of the AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility into the country.



In his 25th address today, President Akufo-Addo said the second vaccine rollout will commence on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.



Read the full text below



I am embarking on a nine-day official working visit to France, Belgium and South Africa, as part of efforts being made to ensure our nations rapid and sustained post-Covid economic recovery, and have pre-recorded this update, prior to leaving the country.



I must, at the outset, express the gratitude of the nation to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, and all Muslims across the country, for adhering to the request to have a subdued Eid ul-Fitr celebration, devoid of large public gatherings.



By and large, it is gratifying to note that many Ghanaians are adhering to the protocols, and it is heartening to see law enforcement agencies acting against persons and institutions flouting the regulations.



Until we vaccinate the requisite numbers of Ghanaians and achieve herd immunity, which will help return our lives to normalcy, the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012), will remain in force, and the security agencies will not relent in their efforts to enforce it.



We have seen a marked reduction in active cases, i.e., persons who currently have the virus, from five thousand, four hundred and forty-four (5,444) persons as at 26th February, to one thousand, three hundred and fourteen (1,314), as at 11th May.



Our rate of infection has dropped significantly from four hundred (400) a day when I last spoke to you to less than one hundred (100) now, and the number of persons who have recovered from the virus has also increased from seventy-seven thousand, nine hundred and seventy-two (77,972) to ninety-one thousand, one hundred and forty-six (91,146) within the same period.



One hundred and seventy-six (176) more persons, in that time, have also, unfortunately, lost their lives to COVID-19. Cumulatively, we have conducted one million, one hundred and twenty-one thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight (1,121,168) COVID tests.



Since I announced the arrival of the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from the COVAX facility, together with the procurement and receipt of others, we have rolled out two phases of our vaccination plan.



The first phase involved vaccinating a segment of the population in forty-three (43) districts, i.e., health workers, persons with co-morbidities, persons above the age of sixty (60), physically challenged persons, journalists, frontline security personnel, and a cross section of persons in the three arms of government.



The second phase involved vaccinating all other health workers across the country. Nearly a million people have now received the first dose of the vaccine.



International vaccine politics and the unpredictability of the supply chain, as well as a third wave of infections in some countries in Europe and Asia, have meant that we have not been able to secure as many vaccines and vaccinated as many Ghanaians as we would have wanted at this stage. In spite of these obstacles, the target is to vaccinate some twenty million Ghanaians, i.e., the entire adult population of Ghana, by the end of the year.



In the past few days, Government has, through COVAX, received an additional three hundred and fifty-thousand (350,000) doses of AstraZeneca vaccines. These will be added to existing stock to provide the second jab for the three hundred and sixty-thousand (360,000) persons, in the forty-three districts in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Central Regions, who received their first jabs from 1st to 9th March.



I am happy to announce that, beginning Wednesday, 19th May, to Wednesday, 26th May, the deployment of the second dose of vaccines will take place across the designated vaccination centres in the forty-three (43) districts, approximately twelve (12) weeks after the first jab, as the science prescribes. More details of the deployment will be communicated by the Ghana Health Service in the coming week.



Efforts are being made to ensure that those who received their first jabs after the 9th of March will, in due course, receive their second.



We are expecting an additional three hundred thousand (300,000) doses of Sputnik V vaccines, which have already been approved by the Food & Drugs Authority, to arrive in the country. As and when we make further progress in the acquisition of vaccines, the Ministries of Health and Information will make this known to you. We are making all efforts to achieve our overall vaccination target.



I want to reiterate, as captured in the travel directive jointly issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the Ghana Health Service, that all non-essential trips to countries with high COVID-19 infection rates should either be cancelled or postponed. There will be plenty of time, God-willing, for such trips in the future. We will continue to review our travel restriction measures.



To prevent fake COVID-19 PCR certificates being used to enter our country, Government, through the Ministry of Health, has begun the process of digitising PCR test results to ensure ease of verification. The technology platform being used at KIA is based on standards set by the Africa Trust Travel and ECOWAS Biomars. All travellers arriving in Ghana must have test results or certificates bearing the trusted travel or biomars codes to be acceptable at KIA.



We have re-evaluated quality checks on testing at KIA, and we are satisfied with the sensitivity and specificity of the testing regime there. All arriving passengers who test positive will follow the laid down procedure. Those who test negative from designated COVID-19 hotspots, and testing negative at KIA, may be subjected to a repeat test on the third day of arrival.



Our fight against the virus, my fellow Ghanaians, is by no means over. The continuous havoc being experienced by some countries, as a result of the virus, is a testament to the fact that, until all countries have rid themselves of the virus, and have achieved herd immunity, none is safe.



So, let us all continue to adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols that are now part of our day-to-day activities. We see the rewards for our compliance with the protocols, whenever we witness favourable scenarios in our fight against the virus, evidenced in the easing of some of the restrictions.



I am particularly happy that the significant investments we have made in ensuring compliance with the safety protocols have enabled us to open, in safety, all schools, private and public, at all levels, and I want to thank parents, teachers and students for making them work.



We have also put in place the necessary protocols that have allowed us to return to churches, mosques, workplaces, markets, stadia, and to travel. Our ability, however, to congregate in closed spaces, like cinemas, theatres and nightclubs, remains restricted.



In a move towards the reopening of cinemas and theatres, Government has engaged cinema owners and operators on a set of protocols and guidelines that need to be put in place and implemented by all operators before eventual re-opening. In the coming weeks, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Tourism Authority will be announcing these protocols and mandatory modalities, and work with the operators on a set of directives that will ensure the health and safety of all patrons and staff in all the facilities involved.



I remain optimistic that we can return our lives to normal if we co-operate and work together. Let the reduced rate of infections not lull us into a false sense of security; let us continue to adhere to the safety protocols, i.e., the enhanced hygiene and mask wearing protocols; let us take the vaccine when it gets to our turn; and let us continue to put our faith in Almighty God.



There is light at the end of the tunnel, our goal of zero active cases is in sight if we remain vigilant and steadfast.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Amanfrom, a farming community in the Asutifi South District of the Ahafo Region was thrown into a state of mourning, when seven people were electrocuted during a downpour on Friday.



Their charred bodies have since been deposited at the Hwidiem St Elizabeth Hospital, while five others, who sustained serious burns, are currently responding to treatment at the Hospital.



The Ghana News Agency (GNA) learnt the rains, which followed a heavy storm, set in around 1730 hours and caused extensive damages to properties, and several electrical poles, where live wires electrified some houses in the town.



However, the victims were pronounced dead on arrival by staff on duty at the St Elizabeth Hospital, and they were believed to have touched iron gates, and metal objects in the electrified houses.



Meanwhile, Mr George Boakye, the Ahafo Regional Minister had visited and consoled the bereaved families and the victims.



He described the incident as unfortunate and promised the governments support to the victims and the deceased families.



The Regional Minister was accompanied by Mr Robert Dwomoh Mensah, the Asutifi South District Chief Executive and some officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Progressive People's Party (PPP) has proposed wide-ranging constitutional and public governance reforms to help address fundamental issues impeding the development of the nation.



While throwing support behind the ongoing social media campaign dubbed #FixTheCountry, the party indicated that the country would not see major developmental changes until some critical aspects of the constitution were amended.



The party held the view that the power granted the executive by the constitution "is simply too much" and accounted for the lack of checks and balances required to ensure accountability and prudent management of the country's resources.



At a news conference in Accra yesterday, the National Chairman of the PPP, Nana Ofori Owusu, called for a review of the 1992 Constitution to prevent the President from selecting at least 50 per cent of his minsters from among the Members of Parliament (MPs) to cushion the legislature against Executive influence.



He also proposed an amendment of Article 88 of the Constitution which makes the Attorney-General (AG) also the Minister of Justice, stressing that the current arrangement "makes it difficult to deal with political corruption cases.



The press conference was the first of a monthly engagement series introduced by the party to offer policy alternatives to pressing issues bodering on national development.



Weak Parliament



Article 78 (1) of the Constitution states that: Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among Members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among Members of Parliament.



In the assessment of the PPP, the above provision had weakened the ability of Parliament to put the Executive in check and demand accountability.



"The selection of at least 50 per cent of ministers from the legislature denies Parliament the needed brilliant human resource which is usually selected into the executive to become ministers. This limits the strength and ability of Parliament to effectively check the executive.



"Again, when an MP becomes a minister, the time he/she has to perform parliamentary duties becomes significantly reduced since they will have to spend a lot of time doing the work of the Executive," Nana Owusu said.



The party further called for an independent AG to empower the office to effectively deal with political corruption cases.



The enormous powers of the AG require that he/she is separated from Cabinet in order for him to have the necessary independence to do the job without or with less political considerations," Nana Owusu explained.



Economy



Touching on the economy, Nana Owusu expressed concern over what he described as dominance of foreign investors in key sectors of the economy, a situation he said undermined the progress of indigenous businesses.



He urged the government to roll out "deliberate policies" to empower Ghanaian businesses to expand and be able to withstand foreign competition.



"The PPP purposes positive and concerted effort by the Executive to direct its agencies, ministers, and departments to spend only on external products only if there's no local substitute," he said.



On the issue of illegal mining, Nana Owusu took issue with the approach adopted by the government in the renewed fight against the menace, describing it as a knee-jerk reaction.



He urged the government to rather resource the various institutions responsible for regulating the mining sector to deal with the issue sustainably.

Source: Graphiconline.com









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Head of Monitoring Unit of the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has waded into the controversial debate of religious intolerance between Muslims and Christians in the country.



There is an ongoing heated argument over a decision by the management of Wesley Girls High School not to allow a Muslim student to observe the just-ended Ramadan fast.



According to the management, not fasting on campus is a policy of the school and that cannot be breached.



GES Response



However, the Ghana Education Service issued a directive to the school to allow Muslim students to fast.



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 or any such student are also directed to write to the school indicating that the school is not to 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, a statement signed by the Head Public Relations of the GES, Ms Cassandra Twum Ampofo, said.



Methodist Church Statement



Following the GES statement also came a counter-statement from the Methodist Church which read; Fasting undertaken by students for various reasons and observed differently by the respective groupings has had varied health implications on our students over the years.



The net effect was that students developed various health conditions. The school, therefore, took the decision then that irrespective of ones religious background, fasting was not permitted.''



Don't Destroy Our Peace



Reacting to these back and forth religious debates, Charles Owusu rebuked the Wesley Girl's School and any other Christian school that doesn't allow Muslims to exercise their faith like fasting to desist from it, challenging any '' Pastor or Bible scholar in this country who can prove to us where in the bible is written that when you (Christian) see a Muslim, don't talk with him. The God, we serve, says He has opened his arms wide to receive every person. He didn't say some people. And also, when you observe critically, it's our churches that we put under padlock and close it but the mosque is not closed. I don't usually see the doors of a mosque shut. One can enter and sleep in the mosque without anybody sending you away and also those who are most receptive to strangers are Muslims''.



He called for a peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians.



Charles Owusu, speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'', advised the schools not to disturb Ghana's peace by their policies and rules that seem to cause conflict among religious entities.



''We plead with our various schools and headteachers/headmistress, don't use your belief to ruin our peace'', he stated.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The weekend began with yet another quadruple shooting in Philadelphia amid a spike in shootings of four or more victims.

The most recent, at 9:30 p.m. Friday, took place inside a convenience store in the 5600 block of Market Street in West Philadelphia, police said.

There, two men, 34 and 29, were each shot once in a foot, a 37-year-old woman was shot once in the left shoulder, and a 17-year-old male was shot once in the chest and once in a leg, according to police.

They were all in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center on Saturday, police said.

As of Thursday, there had been eight shootings in which four or more people were struck by bullets, with a total of 42 victims, The Inquirer reported after analyzing city data. At the same time last year, there had been two shootings with a total of nine victims, according to the data.

Shootings of multiple victims are becoming commonplace in gun-plagued Philadelphia

By this time last year, the city had recorded just one death in shootings of four or more people. The total this year was seven, as of Thursday, The Inquirer reported. And with just over 190 homicides, the city is on track to exceed last years total of 499 slayings and the all-time high of 500 in 1990.

In other shootings this weekend, two male teens were hit by gunfire around 6 p.m. Friday in the citys Harrowgate section, on the 1900 block of East Wensley Street, police said.

An 18-year-old who was shot several times in the head and torso was in extremely critical condition at Temple University Hospital. A 17-year-old shot in the left leg was at Temple in stable condition, police said.

Shootings Saturday morning injured three more people.

Around 12:10 a.m., a 57-year-old man was shot once in the left hip on the 2700 block of Germantown Avenue in North Philadelphia. He was in critical condition at Temple, police said.

At 1:45 a.m., a man 40 to 50 years old was shot once in the neck inside Bar 50 on the 1300 block of North 50th Street in the citys Parkside section, police said. He was in critical condition at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.

And at 8:46 a.m., a 33-year-old woman was shot twice in the buttocks on the 8600 block of Gillespie Street near Holmesburg. Her condition at Jefferson Torresdale Hospital was not known, police said.

Later Saturday the gun violence continued with a double shooting shortly after 2 p.m. on the 600 block of West Diamond Street in North Philadelphia. Police said a 27-year-old man was shot in the right hip and in the left buttock, and a 25-year-old man was shot in the right leg. Both were in stable condition at Temple.

No arrests were reported in any of the shootings.

Police also reported three stabbings Saturday:

At 12:26 a.m., a 67-year-old man was found on the 500 block of West Erie Avenue in Hunting Park with stab wounds to the chest, right shoulder, and abdomen, along with multiple cuts to the head. He was in stable condition at Temple.

At 1:20 a.m., a 32-year-old man was stabbed in the chest on the 1200 block of North 55th Street in West Philadelphia. He was in critical condition at Penn Presbyterian. An arrest was made, but police provided no additional details.

At 6:13 p.m., a 21-year-old woman was stabbed under the right breast on the 6000 block of Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia. Police said she was in stable condition at Penn Presbyterian.
After about an hour of deliberations, a jury found Paul Alexander Bacorn guilty on all charges Friday in the 2019 beating and starvation death of 14-year-old Antonio Juan Gonzalez Jr.

The boys father, Antonio Juan Gonzalez Sr., pleaded guilty April 24, 2020, to first-degree murder and has been sentenced to life in prison.

Bacorn, 30, of Delaware Township, will be sentenced July 6. He was found guilty on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy to commit those crimes and tampering with evidence. First-degree murder carries a possible sentence of life in prison.

During closing arguments Friday, defense attorney David Wenger told the jury that the commonwealth produced no evidence to prove that Bacorn took part in or knew about the abuse dealt upon Antonio Jr. by his father.

(Bacorn) cares about people and hes not evil, Wenger said.

Wenger told the story from Bacorns point of view.

He said on Oct. 24, 2019, Antonio Jr. died of hypovolemic shock. A forensic pathologist testified that he died of internal bleeding from repeated beatings and starvation, used as a punishment, was a contributing factor. The boy weighed only 70 pounds when he died.

Wenger said Bacorn gave a consistent account of Antonio Jr.s death to police. The prosecution disagreed.

Bacorn told police in an interview that on the day of Antonio Jr.s death, he woke up in the middle of the night as Gonzalez Sr. beat his son. Bacorn said he saw the father spraying the son with a hose. The boy then tried to get up and fell, hitting his head on a concrete block.

Antonio Sr. dragged the boy into the trailer on a tarp and left him lying on the floor in pain. The father then left for Walmart in Greenville. While he was gone for about 90 minutes, Bacorn sat on the bed playing on his phone, and logged the boy onto his cyber school website at 7:50 a.m.

He didnt call for help, Wenger said. He shouldve done more.

Gonzalez Sr. returned home and tells Bacorn that its not good, referring to his sons well-being or hes not breathing, Wenger said.

Bacorn said he left because he didnt want the 4-year-old to see what was happening, but the prosecution said Bacorn left because he knew he was going to be in trouble.

Hes not running from anything, Wenger said. He removed a child from a horrific scene.

Before Bacorn left, Gonzalez Sr. gave him a bag that contained weapons  brass knuckles, a broken table leg and a broken bat  that prosecutors said had been used to beat Antonio Jr. The items, which were entered into evidence, had the boys DNA on them.

Wenger said Bacorn moved in with the Gonzalez in 2016 because the family needed help around the house and Antonio Sr. needed help watching the children.

Wenger said Bacorn admitted that he had seen Gonzalez Sr. smack the boy around and said that the father inflicted extreme punishment on his son. The prosecution said the boy was denied food, and his father sometimes punished Antonio Jr. by forcing him to stand for hours with his arms against a wall.

Wenger said when the family moved to Mercer County in July 2019, Bacorn did not live in the same building as the family and the father beat up his son while Bacorn was sleeping. He said the actions taken against the boy were solely by Gonzalez Sr. and there was no evidence that Bacorn injured the teenager.

At no point do they have evidence that he knew this was happening, Wenger said. Do not hold him responsible for the acts of someone else.

Assistant District Attorney Jacob Sander made the closing argument for the prosecution. He said Bacorn implicated himself by his own words.

This is a story of neglect, abuse and starvation, Sander said. " Paul Bacorn is one of the antagonists.

Sander said Bacorn was Gonzalez Sr.s accomplice.

By his own words hes putting himself at the scene, showing hes an accomplice, Sander said.

Sander said there were inconsistencies in Bacorns story in his two interviews with state police.

In his first interview, (Bacorn) says he didnt see Sr. beat Jr., Sander said. In the second, he said right away, he beat him with everything he could find.

Sander said Bacorn was trying to distance himself because he had been caught, and that, in his second interview with police, Bacorn tried to shift the blame onto Gonzalez Sr.

Sander accused Bacorn of seeing more than he admitted. Bacorn, the prosecutor said, was aware of the types of punishments, such as food deprivation, Gonzalez Sr. inflicted on his son.

Finally, Sander said Bacorn did nothing when he was left alone with the dying boy.

Prosecution testimony included a video, taken just four days before Antonio Jr.s death, of Gonzalez Sr. beating the boy. Sander said that Bacorn is in the beginning of the video, setting up the camera, and can be seen walking in and out of view several times.

Sander reminded the jury of expert testimony by forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Vey, who reported 219 individual, identifiable injuries, including cigarette burns and ligature marks, on Antonio Jr.s body.

His death was prolonged and suffering, Sander said. (Bacorn) sees the abuse. Hes the accomplice. He doesnt care.

Attorneys for the defense and commonwealth refused to comment after the trial, due to a previously issued gag order that will expire after Bacorns sentencing hearing.
A Baltimore man is accused of holding three employees of a Shrewsbury Rite Aid at gunpoint late last year before making off with nearly $36,000 in drugs.

Jamal Alvin Lee Gwaltney, 30, of the 700 block of Villager Circle in Baltimore, Maryland, is charged with robbery, prohibited possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property, carrying a firearm without a license and theft by unlawful taking of movable property. All are felonies.

He also faces three counts each of terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another and simple assault, both misdemeanors.

Southern Regional Police responded about 8:55 p.m. on Dec. 21 to an armed robbery at a Shrewsbury Rite Aid, located at 577 S. Main St., according to charging documents.

A man had entered the store with a stolen, loaded Glock 23 handgun and held three employees at gunpoint before leaving with 80 different medications, charging documents says.

The hooded gunman pointed the semiautomatic weapon at each of the employees and threatened to shoot them if they didnt follow his demands, according to police.

He wanted Oxycodone and Oxycontin  which was stored in a locked safe in the pharmacy  and ordered everyone to the back of the store, according to charging documents.

He forced (a victim) at gun point to the safe that contains the narcotic medicines. The robber was hitting/poking (the victim) in the head with the handgun, charging documents allege. He told (the victim), he would shoot the other employees if he didnt open the safe containing the narcotic medicines.

The robber also demanded other drugs from the general shelf area before he fled in a getaway car with the goods in a plastic bag, according to charging documents.

Unbeknownst to the robber, secreted within the black plastic bag with the stolen narcotics was a GPS tracking device which activated upon being removed from the store, charging documents state.

Police matched the movement of the GPS device to a gray 2015 Ford Fusion that was on Interstate 83 and had stopped at a gas station, located at 5425 Falls Road in Baltimore, according to the criminal complaint.

Surveillance video at the gas station showed a passenger go into the store to buy some snacks while the driver, whom police believe is the Rite Aid robber, got out and opened the trunk, charging documents say.

When the Fusion left the gas station, an officer who was in the area followed the vehicle while Baltimore City Police responded, but the robbers had been alerted, according to charging documents.

The vehicle took off and ran through a stop sign before it went off the road and crashed into a pond, where the suspects abandoned the car and its contents, police said.

Officers retrieved $35,896.97 in goods stolen from the Rite Aid and impounded the car, according to charging documents.

The Ford Fusion was registered to a man in Maryland who had rented it to Gwaltneys girlfriend using a car sharing app, police said. Charging documents didnt indicate whether police were able to identity the second suspect.

Gwaltney is considered a career criminal with an extensive criminal history, police said.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, Palestinian medics said. Despite the heavy death toll and international efforts to broker a cease-fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gazas Hamas rulers would rage on.

In a televised address, Netanyahu said Sunday evening the attacks were continuing at full-force and will take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price from the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

The Israeli air assault early Sunday was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas nearly a week ago, marking the worst fighting here since their devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes hit a major downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 yards (meters) down the road.

At one point, a rescuer shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole in the rubble. Are you OK? Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out and carried him off on an orange stretcher. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded, and rescue efforts are still underway.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in a separate strike in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza. But targeting the groups leaders could hinder those efforts. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is meeting Sunday.

In its airstrikes, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press office and those of other media outlets.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month when Palestinian protests and clashes with police broke out in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focal point of clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint that is located on a hilltop compound that is revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on impoverished Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians and has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Speaking alongside Netanyahu on Sunday, Israels military chief, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, said Hamas did not anticipate Israels overwhelming response to its rocket fire. Hamas made a serious and grave mistake and didnt read us properly.

The turmoil has also spilled over elsewhere, fueling protests in the occupied West Bank and stoking violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah  where the Palestinian families had been threatened with eviction  injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States, with French police firing tear gas and water cannons at demonstrators in Paris.

The military said Sunday it struck Sinwars home and that of his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Hamas upper echelon has gone into hiding in Gaza, and it is unlikely any were at home at the time of the strikes. Hamas top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, divides his time between Turkey and Qatar, both of which provide political support to the group.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out Monday. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

An Egyptian diplomat said Israels targeting of Hamas political leaders would complicate cease-fire efforts. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations, said Cairo is working to broker an end to the fighting, as are other international actors.

The Egyptian diplomat said the destruction of Hamas rocket capabilities would require a ground invasion that would inflame the whole region. Egypt, which made peace with Israel decades ago, has threatened to suspend cooperation in various fields, the official said, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has affirmed its support for Israel while working to de-escalate the crisis. American diplomat Hady Amr met with Gantz, the Israeli defense minister, who thanked the U.S. for its support. Gantz said Israel takes every precaution to strike at military targets only and avoid harming civilians, while its civilians are the targets of indiscriminate attack.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2,900 rockets into Israel. The military said 450 of the rockets had fallen short or misfired, while Israeli air defenses intercepted 1,150.

The interception rate appeared to have significantly dropped since the start of the conflict, when Israel said 90% were intercepted. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel has meanwhile carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Gaza.

On Saturday, Israel bombed the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, which housed the offices of The Associated Press, the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, along with several floors of apartments.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building. Such reasoning is routinely given for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.

The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the buildings owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely. Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, Pruitt said. We are shocked and horrified.

___

Fares Akram and Joseph Krauss of The Associated Press wrote this story. Krauss reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn.  Elected officials in a Minneapolis suburb where a police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in April approved a resolution that puts the city on track to major changes to its policing practices.

The Brooklyn Center City Council voted 4-1 Saturday in favor of a resolution that would create new divisions of unarmed civilian employees to handle non-moving traffic violations and respond to mental health crises. It also limits situations in which officers can make arrests and requires more de-escalation efforts by police before using deadly force. In addition, a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention would be formed to oversee efforts on community health and public safety, led by a director with public health expertise.

The city attorney and mayor have said that adopting the resolution commits the city to change, though it is not a final action.

The resolution will establish a new north star for our community, one that will keep all of us safe, said Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott. It says that we, as your elected leaders, are committing ourselves. And that you can hold us accountable for achieving those goals.

Elliott introduced the resolution last week, less than a month after then-Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter, who is white, fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist. The citys police chief, who has since stepped down, has said he believed Potter meant to use her Taser on Wright during the April 11 stop instead of her handgun. Body camera video shows her shouting Taser! multiple times before firing. The shooting ignited days of unrest.

Council Members Marquita Butler, April Graves and Dan Ryan joined Elliott in voting for the resolution. Council Member Kris Lawrence-Anderson voted against it, saying that the council hadnt taken enough time to weigh the proposal, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The three-hour meeting included testimony from Wrights family as well as the family of Kobe Dimock-Heisler, who also was killed by Brooklyn Center police.

I truly believe if this was implemented prior to April 11, our son would still be with us today, said Katie Wright, Dauntes mother.

Potter, who is charged with second-degree manslaughter in his death, resigned within days of the shooting. Police have said Wright was pulled over for expired tags, but they sought to arrest him after discovering an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and had a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June.

Dozens of citizens spoke at Saturdays council meeting. In one tense moment, a man said he didnt agree with having unarmed people pull over drivers. He then turned to Wright and said: Your son was killed, not because of a traffic stop in my mind. But because he had warrants. The man was drowned out by boos.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota called the proposal an important first move in changing policing. But several police groups have raised concerns, saying parts of the resolution conflict with state law and will put public safety at risk.

No police officers spoke at Saturdays meeting.

___

Find APs full coverage of the death of Daunte Wright at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-daunte-wright
Henry McCollum and Leon Brown spent nearly 31 years in prison for a brutal crime they did not commit  one they were convicted of on the basis of confessions that they insisted, for decades, had been coerced.

In a federal courtroom in Raleigh late Friday afternoon, after nearly five hours of deliberation, a jury delivered the half brothers a sense of long-awaited justice.

An eight-person jury awarded McCollum and Brown $31 million each in compensatory damages  $1 million for every year they spent in prison after they were wrongfully convicted, twice, of the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Red Springs. McCollum and Brown, both intellectually-disabled with IQs in the 50s, were teenagers when they were charged after they signed confessions they insisted they didnt understand.

The combined $62 million award in compensatory damages was part of an $84 million day for the brothers. The jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages after the Robeson County Sheriffs Office, one of the defendants named in the civil suit, settled its part of the case earlier on Friday for $9 million.

I thank God, McCollum said outside the courtroom, his eyes red from crying.

He and Brown had spent the previous moments embracing the team of attorneys, led by a group from the Washington, D.C. firm Hogan Lovells, who for years had worked toward this day.

The first jury to hear all of the evidence  including the wrongly suppressed evidence  found Henry and Leon to be innocent, found them to have been demonstrably and excruciatingly wronged, and has done what the law can do to make it right at this late date, Elliot Abrams, a Raleigh attorney who was part of the brothers legal team, said after the trial.

In some ways, McCollum and Brown had been waiting nearly 40 years for a day like Friday. Even after a Robeson County judge in 2014 overturned their convictions, their desired outcome in the civil case had been a long time coming. That judge exonerated the brothers after the emergence of DNA evidence that placed a convicted murderer named Roscoe Artis at the scene of the crime.

The next year, in 2015, McCollum and Brown received full pardons of innocence from the state. Since then, the brothers, both Black, had pursued a federal civil rights case against law enforcement members behind their wrongful convictions.

The judgment on Friday came against former SBI agents Leroy Allen and Kenneth Snead, both of whom were part of the original investigation in 1983 that led to McCollum and Browns convictions.

The SBI had been the last remaining law enforcement entity not to settle in the case, after the Red Springs Police Department settled in 2017, and the Robeson County Sheriffs Office settled on Friday before closing arguments began after four days of testimony in the civil case.

The brothers lawyers contended that law enforcement officers violated McCollum and Browns civil rights in several ways: that they coerced the brothers confessions; that they suppressed and fabricated evidence; that they investigated the crime in bad faith, ignoring evidence that would have pointed to another suspect; and that they violated McCollum and Browns due process rights.

Coerced confessions can never be the basis for probable cause, Des Hogan, who delivered the plaintiffs closing argument, told the jury on Friday.

In painstaking detail, Hogan during his 45-minute closing argument described how McCollum and Brown suffered during their incarcerations. They were both sentenced to die in 1984, at the conclusion of their first trial.

Brown, 16 at the time, became North Carolinas youngest death row inmate. McCollum, 20 when he went to death row, remained there for most of his 31 years in prison, and became the states longest-serving death row inmate.

Throughout his time on death row, McCollum endured the executions of 42 of his fellow inmates and all the while feared he would also die in prison. Some of the executed had become the closest thing McCollum had to family. After one execution, in 1986, Hogan revealed during his closing that McCollum attempted to kill himself.

Brown, meanwhile, was later re-sentenced to life in prison, where he was victimized in unspeakable ways, Hogan told the jury.

Toward the end of his closing argument, Hogan asked the jury to sit quietly for a minute and consider the minutes that passed slowly for McCollum and Brown over three decades. Theyd lost more than 15 million minutes during their wrongful imprisonment.

Scott MacLatchie, the lead defense attorney for the SBI agents, attempted during his closing argument to cast doubt on the brothers innocence, and downplayed the agents involvement in the investigation that led to the brothers convictions. Twice during MacLatchies closing, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle sustained objections to MacLatchies questioning of the brothers innocence.

His argument that the brothers are rapists and murderers is inappropriate, Boyle told the jury at one point, reminding its members that McCollum and Brown had received full pardons of innocence.

MacLatchies attempt to cast doubt on McCollum and Browns innocence reflected law enforcements overall defense strategy from the beginning of the civil case. For years, MacLatchie and the attorneys for Garth Locklear and Kenneth Sealey, the former Robeson County Sheriffs deputies named in the civil case, argued their clients were protected by qualified immunity.

When that argument failed, first in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and then in a federal appeals court, the deputies and SBI agents argued they did nothing wrong. In various court filings over the years, their attorneys implied at times that McCollum and Brown might be guilty, after all, despite their exonerations and pardons.

The jury on Friday delivered a swift rejection of the law enforcements denial of wrongdoing.

For more than 37 years, Henry McCollum and Leon Brown have waited for recognition of the grave injustice that law enforcement inflicted upon them, the brothers attorneys said in a collective statement after the trial. Today, a jury did just that, and have finally given Henry and Leon the ability to close this horrific chapter in their lives.

Since their exonerations in 2014, McCollum and Brown have attempted to rebuild their lives  a process that has proven difficult after 31 years in prison. Boyle barred their first lawyer in the civil case, Patrick Megaro, after he arranged predatory loans for the brothers and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars when the state paid them $750,000 each following their pardons.

McCollum and Brown require guardians to manage their finances. Brown, who has been living in a group home and suffers from mental health conditions related to his time in prison, requires full-time care. On Friday afternoon, both McCollum and Brown sat outside the courtroom for hours while the jury deliberated.

Someone beside Brown asked him if he wanted to go for a walk to pass the time and he said he didnt: He wanted to be there the moment the jury returned with a verdict.

Finally, a little after 6 p.m., it did. After Boyle read it, delivering the news of a $75 million judgment, McCollum and Brown exchanged emotional embraces with their legal team.

Some of their lawyers believed the $75 million judgment to be the largest for a wrongful conviction case in state history. Afterward, the brothers dabbed their eyes, unsure what to say while people congratulated them and hugged them.

Ive got my freedom, McCollum said moments later, before turning his thoughts to people he knew on death row. Theres still a lot of innocent people in prison today. And they dont deserve to be there.
PITTSBURGH (AP)  First responders freed a man and woman from a car found on railroad tracks in Pittsburgh over the weekend, police said.

A Pittsburgh officer noticed the four-door vehicle on the tracks shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday, police said.

Firefighters and medics and firefighters were able to get the man and woman out of the car and carry them over the railing. They were taken to a hospital and considered to be in stable condition.

Police said they believe the car may have entered the CSX tracks from a service road in nearby McKees Rocks.
A clerk was found dead in the basement of a cellphone store in Delaware, and police there are investigating her death as a homicide.

The Metro by T-Mobile store on the 900 block of Kirkwood Highway in Elsmere, just outside of Philadelphia, had been robbed three times in the last two years, and each time, the female clerk had been the victim, Elsmere police Chief Laura Giles told Action News 6 ABC.

The clerks name has not yet been released.

According to reports, Elsmere resident Kevin Peterman called police around 5 p.m. Saturday after he walked into the store and suspected something was wrong.

Just the open register, I knew that wasnt right because nobody was at the counter, and I said, She wouldnt just leave the store, Peterman told 6 ABC. I just knew something wasnt right, so I called 911.

Police are investigating the case as a homicide.

Peterman told the station the woman had at least two kids and described her as being friendly, helpful and having a good sense of humor.
WILLIAMSPORT - The reputed ringleader of a criminal organization accused by prosecutors of scamming banks out of more than $200,000 will remain jailed for now.

James Harris-Bey, 50, of the Detroit, Mich., area, was arraigned Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court on bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud charges.

Magistrate Judge William I. Arbuckle ordered him detained. He deferred a decision on bail until he receives an assessment from Detroit probation officers of the home of a sister who has agreed to be Harris-Beys custodian.

The indictment remains under seal because at least one other individual is still at large.

However, court documents state the charges relate to criminal activity in Bradford, Lycoming and Tioga counties between October 2019 and this March.

Harris-Bey was arrested in Mississippi on March 23. He said during his arraignment he was headed to Arizona to be with his wife.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alisan V. Martin disputes that claim, saying Harris-Bey was going through Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee to target banks in those states.

Check-printing software was found in his vehicle and laptops and a printer that were seized are being analyzed, she said.

An analysis of his cellphones revealed he was directing the movement of co-conspirators, Martin said.

In a brief supporting her motion to have Harris-Bey detained pending trial, she alleged:

Harris-Bey and others recruited more than a dozen women to pose as home health-care aides and traveling nurses working due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He would provide them with fake leases so they could obtain fraudulent identification cards in states where targeted banks were located. He then created and provided them counterfeit checks they cashed, Martin said.

Based on phone calls Harris-Bey made from prison there is concern about witness intimidation, the prosecutor said. He has expressed curiosity as to who is cooperating with law enforcement, Martin said.

The prosecutor argued Harris-Bey is a danger to the community, a risk to flee and he has not maintained employment.

If convicted of any of the counts in the indictment, he could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.

He served an 80-month federal sentence followed by three years supervised release after pleading guilty to charges in a similar scheme. The sentence in 2008 in Ohio also required him to make restitution of $765,112.

Harris-Bey was one of 34 individuals charged in that check cashing scheme that victimized 35 banks and credit unions in Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Participants would open accounts using fake IDs. The following day, they would go to branches of the same bank or credit union and cash what looked like payroll checks.

The withdrawals occurred before the financial institutions could reconcile the accounts to realize they were overdrawn.

Like he did unsuccessfully in the Ohio case, Harris-Bey claims he should be released pending trial because his medical needs cant be met in the Columbia County Prison where he is housed.
FORT LAUDERDALE  Melissa Clark is a single mother of five who just ended a year of living in a shelter and working two jobs until the pandemic took one of them, but she was all smiles Saturday as she and her kids were stocking up on free food, clothing, school supplies and even toys.
I just read the Pennlive article about the ranking of PA high schools. No matter our PA zip code, we all agree that we all want our children and grandchildren to have access to the best opportunities for a quality education.

Since 2008, the PA General Assembly has had a benchmark in state law for calculating how much funding each school district needs in order to provide the resources necessary for students to meet state academic standards. According to our own state law, Pennsylvania schools are woefully underfunded by $4.6 billion and 86% of school districts, including those in rural, urban and suburban communities, do not have the funding they need.

Pennsylvania ranks 44th in education funding across the nation. Over the years the PA General Assembly has significantly reduced how much they are willing to fund K-12 education to 38% of the cost, priding themselves at holding the line on taxes. However, local school districts are left to come up with a whopping 57% of the bill by raising property taxes at the local level.

Shame on our state for not investing in the future of our children. Imagine the results of our PA high school rankings if the PA General Assembly fully invested in the future of our children and passed the proposed education budget for 2021-2022. We need education funding reform.

Anita Mentzer, Hummelstown, Pa.
A Vancouver Police Department patch is seen on an officer's uniform in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on Saturday, January 9, 2021.The mayor of Vancouver says he is "appalled" that police officers wrongfully detained and handcuffed a retired British Columbia Supreme Court justice out for a walk Friday morning.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
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I wasnt expecting a fight, Starkey said. I was expecting them to stand their ground. Everyone understands that. But I would hope theyd understand it if they see the data. We want the state legislators to look at the data and come up with a fair formula. We want to make sure we get our fair share. Were not asking for more than that. Everyone should get their fair share.
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It's always a good idea to review auto insurance policies to look for potential savings and to make sure you have the coverage you need, but this year that's particularly important.

If, like me, you're now working from home and no longer commuting, you should be paying less for auto insurance than before. People who have retired or left the workforce likewise should pay less if they're driving less.

Many factors go into the price of auto insurance premiums, some of which are outside the policyholder's control, but a significant amount of the cost is related to time spent behind the wheel.

After all, if you're not driving, you can't get in a wreck.

The average personal vehicle logs more than 12,000 miles yearly. Before the pandemic, I wasn't driving quite that much, but in the last 10 months I've only driven about 3,000 miles.

Naturally, I called my insurance company. And they reduced my premium, which was already pretty low, by about $100 a year.

That's the easy step anyone can take. Just make that phone call if you're now driving much less than your auto insurance premium reflects.

If you do get your vehicle rerated for low mileage, the insurer will likely want you to prove it. It might want a photo of your odometer, for example.

Another option is to take the opportunity to shop around for the best deal. Some insurance companies now offer fluctuating rates based on how much a vehicle is actually driven.

Nationwide and Allstate, for example, have pay-per-mile plans that charge a base rate plus a mileage rate. Allstate's is called Milewise and Nationwide's is SmartMiles.

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In an example offered on Nationwide's website, based on a 35-year-old man with a good driving record who lives in Chicago, the cost was $35 per month, plus 7 cents per mile.

Many of us have a different relationship with our cars than we did before the pandemic. Families with multiple cars might decide they don't need so many.

If that's the case, then there are more options.

Of course, selling one of the vehicles is an option. And by many accounts, there's rarely been a better time to sell a used car, because a shortage of inventory has prices spiking this year.

Those with a vehicle they aren't using now, but don't want to sell, could get a large temporary drop in the cost of auto insurance by classifying it as "withdrawn from service."

I did that once, a few years ago when my son was attending college out of state but left his car at home for several months. That saved $58 each month.

Unlike getting a discount for driving less, listing a vehicle as withdrawn from service temporarily changes the coverage, and the vehicle can't be driven. So, it's a money-saver, but one that only makes sense when a vehicle won't be used at all for some time, and will later return to service.

If all this prompts you to review your auto insurance, don't forget to look at all of the coverage. As vehicles age and depreciate, coverage that once made sense  or may have been required while paying off a car loan  might have outlived its usefulness.
The seemingly unquenchable demand for building supplies is helping revive a shuttered South Carolina factory, giving it a third lease on life.

James Hardie Industries decided to close its 60-worker Summerville siding plant slightly more than a year ago, as COVID-19 was coursing its way, in near-random fashion, through the global economy.

It was among the first manufacturing sites in the state to go dark permanently because of the virus-induced downturn.

"The move will realign supply and demand in the North American market following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic," the company said in April 2020.

At the time, Hardie made no reassurances the plant between Highway 78 and I-26 would ever reopen.

These decisions are always extremely difficult, and our leadership team took this action with considerable thoughtfulness, and the strategic objective of preserving and enhancing the global organizations competitiveness over the long term," CEO Jack Truong said last year.

Times have changed, in short order.

Truong informed investors during his last quarterly earnings call that Hardie has changed its mind and "made the decision to reconfigure and restart" the Summerville site. It's part a companywide plan to boost siding output over the next three years, he said.

"We will, No. 1, expand on North American ... capacity by 800 million standard feet," Truong told analysts.

Hardie was among the earliest to use cement fiber to make siding and other durable exterior cladding materials for the building industry. HardiePlank is among its best-known consumer brands.

Now headquartered in Ireland, the company was started by its Scottish namesake in 1888, when he started an importing business in Australia. The company later diversified into construction materials and started making cement siding in the mid-1980s. Hardie now employs about 4,800 workers with operations in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

The South Carolina plant dates back to the late 1990s, courtesy of a rival. Belgian-Swiss startup Cemplank built the 150,000-square-foot factory to crank out its own competing line of siding and cash in on the Southeast construction boom. It picked the Summerville area because it's near the big cement plants just up the interstate.

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Hardie eventually acquired Cemplank, and by 2003, it was running the Dorchester County plant 24/7 to keep up with demand.

It hit the wall as the global financial system and real estate market collapsed in 2008. Hardie mothballed the Lowcountry site a decade ago, saying it would remain offline until "market demand returns to acceptable levels."

It kept its promise after a lengthy hiatus. Hardie invested about $19 million to reboot the Belgian Drive factory in 2017.

But just a few months into 2020, all bets were off again as economic uncertainty reigned. The Jedburg-area plant was idled for the second time.

In hindsight, Hardie Industries probably wishes it had waited before turning the lights off. The company's North American sales from April through December last year increased a respectable 11 percent to $1.84 billion compared to the same period of 2019, before the virus was a factor. Revenue growth accelerated in the last three months of 2020, jumping 20 percent to $518 million.

"It's really a strong housing market we see at James Hardie," Truong told Bloomberg TV hosts during an appearance on March 17.

Sales from locked-down homeowners taking on exterior remodeling projects have been a surprising bright spot during the pandemic, he added.

"That has really been a big change in consumer behavior we have picked up in the past year," Truong said.

The Hardie CEO will provide his next financial update this week. He'll discuss the latest batch of quarterly results  and perhaps more details about the third Summerville revival  on May 18.

For now, all the company had to share was that the plant off of Highway 78 will reopen "as early as March 2022 to meet our customers needs and further support our organic growth strategy.
The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.
A newly made-over Meeting Street hotel started welcoming guests last week.

The Ryder, a 91-key property with a name pulled from a Jack Kerouac novel, officially opened May 11.

The new concept replaces the former King Charles Inn, which was sold in late 2019 for $43 million. An overhaul of the property was announced just after the sale. The hotel, along with dozens of others in the Charleston area, temporarily closed its doors last spring.

Unlike other local lodgings that reopened after a few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the King Charles Inn kept its doors closed for a little over a year for its transformation into The Ryder, which involved gutting the property, giving it an all-new look and creating two suites on the top level.

On its website, the hotel describes its look as "inspired by Charleston's coastal beauty," with style that's "sophisticated, but still relaxed."

The Ryder's two dining venues, the restaurant Little Palm and a cafe serving coffee and breakfast, are open to hotel guests now and will open to the public this week. Gin & Luck, the hospitality group behind the Manhattan cocktail bar Death & Co., was tapped to develop the food and beverage concepts. This is the group's first project in Charleston.

The "Ryder" name comes from Japhy Ryder, a character in Kerouacs 1958 novel The Dharma Bums."

Introductory rates starting at $296 a night are being advertised on The Ryder's website.

While The Ryder is new to the city, the property itself has been hosting visitors for decades. Before its sale in 2019 to Atlanta-based High Street Real Estate Partners and WHI Real Estate Partners of Chicago, it was under the same ownership since 1983, with an affiliate of locally based Charlestowne Hotels.

Before being known as the King Charles, the property had once been associated with Best Western, but eventually severed ties with the flag to reposition as an independent, boutique property.

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The Ryder is the first hotel to open in Charleston so far this year. Other recent lodging debuts have been at Mount Pleasant's Ferry Wharf development, the Sweetgrass Inn at Wild Dunes Resort and in Summerville.

Emeline accolades

More accolades continue to roll in for a boutique hotel that opened in downtown Charleston last summer.

After being named to an "It List" of the most remarkable new and newly redone properties around the globe" by Travel & Leisure magazine, Emeline was named to Conde Nast Traveler's "Hot List," which also recognizes outstanding openings and renovations.

In an announcement about the second award, Brad Harvey, Emeline's general manager, described the last year as "monumental" for the property. Prior to its life as Emeline, the hotel was a DoubleTree. The transition from chain hotel to Emeline was described by Conde Nast as a "sophisticated, top-to-bottom redo."

Just last week, Emeline was ranked the No. 7 "Hottest New Hotel" by the travel website TripAdvisor. The list, which was part of the site's annual Best of the Best Awards for Hotels, ranked lodgings worldwide that debuted in July 2019 or later. Emeline was the highest-ranked U.S. hotel on the list.

In total, seven Charleston hotels made various lists in the awards, including the French Quarter Inn and The Spectator, which were ranked No. 4 and No. 25, respectively, among the best hotels in the U.S.

Emeline, which is steps from the City Market on Church Street, has 212 guest rooms, a restaurant and a cafe.
American Ballet Theatre takes to the road this summer, reviving a company tradition of yesteryear that is perfectly suited for present-day, pandemic-constrained times.

Starting in July, American Ballet Theatre is traveling the country by bus and truck to visit eight U.S. cities over 21 days.

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Charleston has made the list. The performance, which is presented by Charleston Gaillard Center, will take place outside on the campus of The Citadel.

Stephen A. Bedard, President and CEO of the Charleston Gaillard Center noted, "We are thrilled to present ABT Across America this summer at The Citadel. While our Education & Community Program frequently serves our community outside our walls, this performance gives us a unique opportunity to present world-renowned artists outside of our beautiful venue. We extend our sincerest thanks to American Ballet Theatre, Citadel alumnus, Bill Moody, and The Citadel for making this event happen!"

For the initiative "ABT Across America," the heralded ballet company builds on its rich history of cross-country tours in the 1940s and 1950s. For the new tour, 20 ABT dancers and 28 support crew will traverse 14 states, covering a total of 3,100 miles. Along the way, the company will perform outdoors for socially distanced audiences.

Hitting the road after a performance in Lincoln, Neb., the "ABT Across America" entourage will travel in a caravan of six sleeper buses and three production trucks.

The buses roll into Charleston for a July 17 outdoor performance at The Citadel, which will be performed without an intermission. Other stops include Iowa City, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Middleburg, Va. The tour culminates on July 21 with a performance at Rockefeller Center.

In an interview with The New York Times, American Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie said, We missed out on celebrating our 80th anniversary, but were going to end this tour at Rockefeller Center, where we performed our inaugural performance on January 11, 1940, adding it will be a prelude to a very new and different future for the company.

Repertory for the tour includes Lauren Lovettes "La Follia Variations," a work for eight dancers set to music by Francesco Geminiani; Jessica Langs "Let Me Sing Forevermore," a pas de deux blending ballet and jazz vocabulary set to songs sung by Tony Bennett; Darrell Grand Moultries "Indestructible Light," a celebration of American jazz music; and a classical pas de deux from ABTs extensive repertoire.

More details on the Charleston stop are forthcoming from Charleston Gaillard Center. For information on tickets, visit gaillardcenter.org.
COLUMBIA  A major convenience store chain could stop adding locations in South Carolina or pull out of the state completely because of the state's high liability insurance costs, the chain's owner said.

Liability insurance rates have climbed 400 percent in the past couple of years for Georgia-based Parker's Kitchen, which operates 28 convenience stores in South Carolina including nine in the Charleston area, company founder and CEO Greg Parker said. That's far above what he's paying in Georgia.

Parker blames how S.C. courts have allowed a single company to be targeted as defendants in alcohol liability cases. The potential cost is so huge that it has Parker reconsidering his plans in South Carolina.

"With this law being the way it is, we might be better off going somewhere else," Parker said.

The law that has drawn Parker's ire is how courts in South Carolina can decide which parties must pay lawsuit damages.

Parker is well aware how much such suits potentially can cost. His company is being sued over a Beaufort County boating accident that left a young woman dead.

Under current state law, a company in South Carolina can be ordered to pay the entire amount of damages from a lawsuit related to alcohol even if a jury agrees that the company was one of several responsible parties.

Other states including Georgia spread the responsibility for an accident more broadly.

Such a lawsuit can raise a company's insurance rates sizably even if the case has not been decided yet, said Bruce Bishop, president of the PC&L Agency, a business insurance company in Charleston.

In such a situation, an insurance company will raise rates to bolster its accumulated funds in case of a large payout, he said.

The insurance industry has been hit by major payouts by disasters including the California wildfires in recent years, Bishop said. That means insurers likely are looking to cut down on their exposure to risks.

The result, he said, is one of the toughest markets to buy business liability insurance in decades, Bishop said.

The leader of the state's plaintiffs attorneys group said that the S.C. law was crafted in 2005 as a compromise between the rights of plaintiffs and defendants. The Legislature wanted plaintiffs to have the opportunity to receive the full award the court ruled for them, even in a case where some defendants have settled and others go to trial, he said.

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A pending bill in the Legislature that would drastically change how state liability law works, said Richards McCrae, a Rock Hill attorney and president of the legal group S.C. Association of Justice.

Under the current law, a defendant might be held liable for an entire settlement if they are assigned more than 50 percent of the responsibility for damages in court, he said.

The bill, drafted by Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, an Edgefield Republican who is a lawyer, allows a portion of responsibility for the damages to be assigned during the lawsuit to groups that are not defendants, such as those that already reached settlements in the case. That would make it less likely that one company would go to trial and lose, then be assigned the full liability.

The bill did not advance beyond a Senate committee this year, the first year of a two-year session.

Parker's business is one of several defendants in a lawsuit over a boating accident that left a 19-year-old woman dead. The boat struck a bridge near the Parris Island Marine training facility in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2019, killing Mallory Beach.

The lawsuit, filed in Hampton County, alleges that Parker's Kitchen bears liability for the death because a minor illegally bought alcohol at a Ridgeland store with an identification that was not his, serving it to others including the boat's pilot.

A settlement by the family of Paul Murdaugh, who has been charged as the driver could leave Parker's company as the lone defendant in the case.

In response to the lawsuit, Parker's company issued a statement saying that it takes its responsibility for alcohol sales seriously.

If the law in the state is not changed, Parker believes that many other companies besides his own in the state will suffer with high insurance costs. Only two companies now cover alcohol-related liability for businesses, he said.

He wonders how mom-and-pop convenience stores that don't have the resources of his chain will be able to afford insurance. The problem could extend beyond convenience stores to bars and restaurants, he said.

Liability coverage for alcohol sales has been a problem area in South Carolina that the state Department of Insurance has been monitoring for a while, said Raymond Farmer, the agency's commissioner.

Farmer said he has heard from a couple of businesses that costs have become a problem. His advice for now is the same that he tells all insurance customers: shop around whenever it is time to renew to get the best rate.
The family of Jamal Sutherland, including his mother Amy Sutherland, father James Sutherland and brother Jamar Sutherland, appear outside the Charleston County jail on Friday to speak out about his death after the release of body camera and surveillance footage. Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
Last Sunday morning, my wife and I pulled up to a stoplight not far from our home and spotted our neighbors pulled alongside us. In a brief moment, we exchanged the prerequisite fun faces of surprise before the green light signaled our Subarus to resume highway speed.

For the next 10 minutes, we passed each other back and forth along a 10-mile, four-lane highway toward the California foothill town of Auburn. Coincidently, we both turned off the highway at the next stoplight.

It would be fun if they were joining us this morning, I said to my wife.

Three stoplights later, I drove our car into our church parking lot and then glanced back to see a blur of the neighbors car as they continued higher into the Gold Country hills.

I cant say where they were headed, but according to a new Gallup poll, they were likely among most Americans not going to church.

The March poll brings startling news for the faithful. Americas membership in a church, synagogue or mosque has declined at least 1 percent each year  dropping from 70 percent in 1998 to an all-time low of 47 percent by 2020.

Before 1998, church membership had remained steady as far back as 1937.

So, in just 21 years, we had a whopping 23 percentage point decline  the sharpest in recorded American history.

Take just a moment to consider that polling word membership.

As a young man, I considered myself privileged to pastor a 200-member church. However, I rarely preached to more than 70 people. I quickly learned that membership doesnt equal commitment, attendance or activity level.

In a not-so-subtle effort to resolve that discrepancy and boost our attendance, Id sometimes ask neighbors, If you went to church tomorrow, where would you go?

Theyd pause a moment before naming their preference  Either the church I grew up in or the one down the street.

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However, according to the Gallup poll, the majority of people today would say, without hesitation, I wouldnt. I just wouldnt.

With more than 100 churches in America closing every week, where has our religion gone?

Besides the usual suspects of yard sales, the mall and sporting events, Shadi Hamid suggests a more disturbing answer to that question in a March 10 article in The Atlantic called America Without God. Hamid is a contributing writer for the literary and cultural magazine and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Hamids article argues that there is a suspicious connection between the decline in religious faith and todays rising ideological intensity.

He further suggests that our faith is a limited quantity. So as weve invested more energy into our political ideals, weve become less faithful to our places of worship.

And if thats true, then we may have to consider faith as something we must budget. If thats true, we are confronted with the question Where do we spend it?

Presently, we seem to be expending our faith coins on Red vs. Blue. Fascism vs. socialism. Progun vs. gun control. Fox News vs. CNN. Trump vs. Biden.

The Bible identifies our misspent faith in the very first commandment regarding idolatry. Exodus 20:3 says, You shall have no other gods before me.

Put simply, God should be the number one item in our faith budget. (Not to be followed by country.)

My working definition of idolatry is: Excessive devotion to or reverence for some person or thing.

Im as guilty of squandering my faith as you are. Consider the amount of time weve spent advocating for our pet issue on social media versus the time spent volunteering at church or in prayer. No wonder Americans find their faith nearly bankrupt.

So, in the meantime, the faithful are left asking, What do we do to save our churches?

I believe its possible to do so. We simply have to reintroduce the priorities of passion and relevance. Next week, Ill tell you how I think we can start down that road.
THE PARTED EARTH. By Anjali Enjeti. Hub City Press. 272 pages. $26.

Though Deepa had longed to believe in something  in a benevolent force that provided guidance, in the possibility of transcendence  only literature, the power of words, and ancient stories, had served as her anchor.

During the exodus of British colonial rule on the subcontinent, the 1947 Partition forced the creation of the Hindu-majority nation of India and the Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan. In doing so, it also led to a period of religious genocide that took more than a million lives.

The Parted Earth, the stunning debut novel from award-winning writer, teacher and organizer Anjali Enjeti (Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change), delves deeply into the ramifications of the Partition and its resulting diaspora through the heartrending experiences of three generations. Enjeti masterfully balances the epic with the intimate in a narrative that captures the past while speaking directly to ongoing dialogues of identity, acceptance and culpability.

In 1947 New Delhi, teenager Deepa Khanna, the daughter of dedicated medical practitioners, is in a burgeoning, albeit secret, relationship with Amir Rahim, a boy from a Muslim family. When the violence of the Partition displaces Deepa to London, while Amirs family flees to Pakistan, the star-crossed young lovers seem destined to be separated forever. From there, Enjeti delivers an intergenerational story of loss, grief, transcendence and reunion as gracefully folded as the origami love notes Amir crafts for Deepa.

In 2016 Atlanta, Deepas estranged granddaughter Shanti Shan Johnson, finds herself at a crossroads as a lawyer, wife and expectant mother. Untethered from her past and uncertain of her future, Shan is befriended by an Indian immigrant neighbor, Chandani Singh. Bound together in grief, they begin to unravel parallel tragedies: the guilt-driven suicide of Chandanis husband Harjeet, and lonely quest and ultimate death of Shans father Vijay as he sought to discover the fates of his globe-scattered family.

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Shans spirited detective work takes her around the world and restores her into the lives of both long-lost and heretofore unknown relatives. Moreover, she comes at last to know her true self and the histories, both horrific and achingly beautiful, that have led to this revelatory moment in her own story, still unfolding.

As Enjeti weaves together her tapestry of interconnected lives, lost pasts and newly forged destinies, the sacrifices of fractured families torn from their homeland come heartbreakingly to life. In the modern day, the echoes of the Partition manifest in art and activism  notably in the poetry of Shans grandmother Deepa, now living in Amsterdam; in the origami-inspired metal sculptures of Amirs sister Laila in Lahore, Pakistan; and in Harjeets oral history archived on a website dedicated to chronicling and sharing the lived experiences of those who endured the Partition and its aftermath.

In its past and near-present timelines, The Parted Earth circles back to pilgrimages to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, built as a monument to transcendent love. Amid the historical atrocities of her novel, Enjeti likewise offers hope  a hard-earned optimism of the possibility of reconciliation of families, the healing of long-held traumas and the peace of acceptance into a global community.

But in the novel, as in our lives, it is only through an honest reckoning with the past and an earnest grieving of its many losses that such a homecoming becomes possible.
HARLEYVILLE  There's a woman who lives in the mobile home neighborhood with two of her young children. And then there's the couple on Mill Street  they're expecting their second child. A woman has started remodeling a home on Kate Street while another family is getting ready to move to Brazil.

Charles Ackerman has met them all.

As mayor of Harleyville for 27 years, Ackerman makes it a point to meet everyone who lives in this town stretching 1.7 miles from end to end at least once.

"That's the advantage of living in a small town, you get to know everyone individually," Ackerman said. "I like that personal touch, because if a resident has a problem, they know who they can come to. I always tell them I might not remember their name, but I'll always remember their face."

Many of the faces have changed since Ackerman and his wife, Deloris, moved to Harleyville in 1990 (he became mayor four years later) but the rural character of the town of roughly 700 residents has remained intact. People still relax on front porches brightly decorated with hanging flowers and, more often than not, an American flag. A monument along Main Street pays respect to Harleyville's fallen veterans and residents wear their small-town pride, literally, on their chests: Employees at the Just Desserts cafe sport T-shirts proclaiming "I'd Rather Be In Harleyville."

But while progress seems to move at the same slow crawl as the CSX Corp. freight trains that bisect Main Street, Ackerman knows change is headed toward the outer edges of Dorchester County.

"We have a lot of real estate companies coming in wanting to buy land and wanting to know what we can provide for them and where the water and sewer is," he said, adding the town's proximity to Interstates 26 and 95 could make Harleyville a prime industrial location.

Ackerman and other residents are conflicted about that potential.

More coverage To read more stories in the series about growth and development, go to postandcourier.com/boomandbalance.

A survey of town residents by Harleyville's government showed 84 percent are "somewhat concerned" or "very concerned" about maintaining a small-town atmosphere. That same survey, conducted last year, showed 79 percent shared the same concerns over job opportunities.

Stanley Lawley, general manager of the Ace Hardware store his father-in-law owns on Main Street, said growth would mean more customers, but he also worries about the vehicle traffic that comes with it.

"We're not used to that kind of thing," said Lawley, who's lived in Harleyville for 30 years.

The town recently completed an update to its comprehensive plan  a document designed to guide the town's future  that looks an awful lot like the comprehensive plan that was approved years ago.

"The town's vision? Keep it just like it is," Ackerman said, only half-jokingly. "Keep it like Harleyville."

Love and politics

Ackerman expects his latest term as mayor, which ends in 2023, will be his last. He'll turn 80 in August and is ready to relinquish his seat to "someone with some fresh ideas, new thoughts."

It's not the first time he's thought about stepping away from public life. He previously announced his retirement in 2001. The move prompted state legislators to pass a resolution in his honor, recognizing the "great pride and recognition" Ackerman has brought to the people of Harleyville and citing his "active role in all aspects of his governance and in the life of the community."

He ultimately decided to stay on the job.

Ackerman said he didn't plan to run for mayor in 2019, his most recent election, "but I had a lot of people talking to me, trying to convince me to do it again."

He tallied 90 votes against four write-in ballots.

It was love, not civic duty, that initially lured Ackerman to Harleyville.

Ackerman had grown up in nearby St. George and he knew the former Deloris Steen, a Harleyville native, from their days attending St. George High School. The two drifted apart after graduation, but after a pair of failed marriages they found each other again and married in 1982.

Charles Ackerman was an Army officer working at the Navy Shipyard in North Charleston  he retired as a brigadier general  and Deloris Ackerman wanted to move back to her hometown. The couple bought a home on Main Street, and Charles Ackerman decided to try his hand at politics.

"I ran for mayor and surprisingly won," he said of his first election victory. "I didn't expect to. I was running against a guy with 14 years of experience on Town Council."

Although many of his duties might seem like small-town stuff to some, it's of vital importance to his constituents. Like the time he got the state's Department of Transportation to paint a solid white line separating the driving and parking lanes along Main Street.

"We had a few mailboxes torn down and a couple of wrecks," Ackerman said, adding out-of-town drivers unfamiliar with the road thought they could travel in the right-hand lane where parking is allowed. "We still have some people who try to pass on the right-hand side. I've told my police officers to start ticketing those people."

When Harleyville had a problem with its town-limit signs being stolen on the assumption that Harley-Davidson enthusiasts were pilfering them for their garages or man caves, the town saw opportunity in the crime spree. Harleyville started making new signs and selling them. The thefts stopped and Harleyville made a little profit.

Ackerman has tried for years to convince Walmart to put one of its Neighborhood Markets in town, but the retail giant says the demographics just aren't there. The town had two grocery stores years ago, but one closed and the other burned to the ground, creating a food desert.

Ackerman finally got Dollar General to open a store, but it isn't the full-service grocery chain he's been after. For that, residents have to travel 9 miles to the Piggly Wiggly in Holly Hill.

"Dollar Generals are going everywhere," Ackerman said, "but it took us two years to get one."

Attracting business

A few industrial businesses have already discovered Harleyville.

SpecChem LLC, which makes curing compounds and sealants for the concrete industry, opened a 65,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in 2014 that employs about 50 people. Greg Maday, the company's chairman and CEO, said at the time that SpecChem picked Harleyville because of its central location along the East Coast, offering a one-day trip to customers between Miami and New York.

Two years ago, vehicle auction firm Copart opened a 53-acre facility where salvaged cars and trucks are sold to online bidders.

"Any time we can bring dozens of new jobs to the great people in Harleyville, we count that as a win," George Bailey, chairman of Dorchester County Council, told the Summerville Journal Scene when the auction firm made its Harleyville debut.

Harleyville has also fostered homegrown business growth, like the Just Desserts bakery and cafe, where grilled pimiento cheese sandwiches and sweet tea, with the emphasis on sweet, are specialties. Waitress Ariel Gallucci explained the cafe's "I'd Rather Be In Harleyville" T-shirts as a somewhat defiant answer to those who think the town is too small to support such a business.

"When we first opened, people would ask us why didn't we go to St. George or somewhere else," Gallucci said. "We'd always answer, 'We'd rather be in Harleyville,' "

Any large-scale growth, however, is going to depend on the town's water and sewer system. Ackerman has worked for decades to upgrade the treatment plant, replace equipment at and build new pump stations and replace waterlines that were installed in the 1960s, but he's not sure the current capacity exists to serve much more than residential growth. Any industry that locates at or near Harleyville would have to build its own infrastructure to hook into the town's system.

The town's comprehensive plan acknowledges expansion of the wastewater treatment plant "must be addressed to accommodate new growth." The project that could be eligible for up to $750,000 in grant funding.

"At some point we're going to be expanding," Ackerman said. "We need to start looking at where that expansion can take place and if we can handle it."

In the meantime, Ackerman will focus on the day-to-day duties of running the town for the nominal salary of $100 a month, while serving as a one-man welcome wagon for new residents.

Over the years, he's refined those in-person visits to give newcomers a hearty "hello" while also providing basic information about the town: who the council members are and where they live, where the closest doctor is located, when Town Hall is open and how to get in touch with the police or Fire Department.

And while he prides himself on meeting everyone, Ackerman still has a few residents to go.

"I've gone to their homes and knocked on their doors, but they won't come to the door," he said. "Maybe they're avoiding me because they think I'm trying to sell them something."
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.
Over the past 15 months, we have been able to see the tremendous work, dedication and caring our EMS personnel have given to our community.

Day or night, rain or shine, these men and women put themselves in harms way to take care of their patients. They see horrific scenes, the likes of which many can only imagine.

So during EMS week, May 16-22, if you happen to see them out in the community while they are not working, give them a wave and let them know how much you appreciate them.

Something else that would mean more than that is to contact legislators about South Carolina House bill 3939.

This is a much-needed bill to include mental health coverage in workers compensation.

Unfortunately, the current bill does not recognize EMS as first responders. That is a tragedy and an embarrassment. If you think this should be changed, give local legislators in Columbia a call and let them know this needs to be fixed.

Of all of the cities in South Carolina, the city that went through the slaying of nine church parishioners by a gunman and nine firefighters dying in a large furniture story fire is certainly one that can confirm this is needed for all of our first responders.

DON LUNDY

President, National Association of EMT Foundation

Muirfield Parkway

Charleston

Monorail bridge?

Before realizing the aerial view of the Ashley River bridges was showing the location of the new bicycle and pedestrian bridge, I thought monorail.

A monorail system across the Ashley could serve hundreds of commuters each day rather then a few dozen walkers and bikers.

Those working downtown, especially in the complex of medical facilities, could park in a lot in West Ashley, jump on the tram and be deposited within walking distance of their places of employment. Bikers could carry their bikes onto the tram and continue on their journey.

It is imperative that Charleston explore ways to improve mass transportation, especially as numerous apartment complexes are built along northern corridors into the city.

PAMELA GABRIEL

Springwood Circle

Mount Pleasant

Mask order wrong

Gov. Henry McMasters executive order ending the mask mandate for cities and counties across the state would be supremely wrong all on its own as it continues to put politics over public health.

Adults can more easily choose not to be places where others are not wearing masks, or at least choose to be there for only a short time. But the order allowing parents to opt their children out of the mandate at schools, a place all children must be for seven hours a day, is callow and egotistical.

The week that a group of Charleston County School District parents protested children wearing masks at school, my child was in quarantine because he had been in close contact with another child in his class who got COVID-19 from a family member. Had there been no mask mandate, the entire classroom would have been exposed to the coronavirus.

Children in elementary and middle schools havent had a chance to get the vaccine yet, so thats a poor justification for it being OK to not wear a mask.

The governors executive order makes it seem as if he cares little about the well-being of people in this state.

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And the parents pushing this policy should not be using their children in this political fight.

LAURIE LATTIMORE-VOLKMANN

Atlantic Avenue

Sullivans Island

A success story

The May 10 Post and Courier article about the University of South Carolina Medical School being No. 1 for graduates practicing in underserved areas reflects statewide efforts dating back to the late 1970s, when a shortage of primary care physicians was present and predictable.

Dr. James Edwards was MUSCs president and realized that institution could not meet the needs all by itself.

A pioneer program was instituted with private-public alliances in six locations across the state to train family doctors. In each of these places, community hospitals received state funding and developed national accredited three-year residency programs.

These programs continue to perform and graduate scores of family doctors with the majority remaining to practice in underserved areas of our state.

Those South Carolina towns, in addition to Columbia, the eventual site of the USC School of Medicine, were Anderson, Florence, Greenwood, Greenville and Spartanburg.

Dr. FREDERIC G. JONES

Director of Medical Education at Anderson Area Medical Center, 1978-98.

Heidelberg Drive

Mount Pleasant

Stand for children

I applaud Attorney General Alan Wilson for taking a stand for the children of South Carolina, as reported in a Tuesday Post and Courier article.

Mr. Wilson is urging Facebook to abandon plans to develop an Instagram photo/video sharing network specifically for young children.

He stated, Facebooks plans to create a platform where kids under the age of 13 are encouraged to share content online is contrary to the interest of protecting our youngest citizens.

I wholeheartedly agree.

As of now, children under age 13 are barred from using Instagram and other Facebook platforms under federal privacy regulations. It is time parents begin active advocacy for children in America. Demand the federal privacy regulation regarding Facebook and Instagram be enforced and not overturned for the benefit of this big corporation. Our children should be thriving, but their mental, emotional and physical health is deteriorating.

CNN reported data from the 2016 National Survey of Childrens Health, done before pandemic isolation. The study showed nearly 1 in 7 children and teens have a mental health condition and half go untreated.

We have been lulled into the belief that the technology era is beneficial to our children. But dependency on social media and video games results in our children staying indoors instead of pursuing healthy physical activity. It can impede family interaction and social skills, and browsing online can be dangerous. A social media presence for children would open them up to predators and increase cyberbullying.

KAREN BEARD

White Chapel Circle

Charleston
Police said a precautionary shelter-in-place order was in effect for nearby homes. Officers say there is nothing airborne at this time, although teams are searching the area.
COLUMBIA  South Carolina's 2021 legislative session started with a law banning most abortions and ended with passage of bills expanding gun rights and resuming the death penalty.

As the regular session came to a close May 13, Democrats blasted the Republicans who dominate both chambers as prioritizing "red meat" issues for socially conservative primary voters over improving South Carolinians' lives.

But the Legislature's Republican leaders called it a hugely successful year as they completed efforts that have fallen short repeatedly, following an election that gave the House and Senate their largest GOP majorities ever.

"There were expectations that came along with that, and we delivered," Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, said.

The Legislature accomplished much more that didn't get a lot of attention, he added.

"I know we started off with heartbeat (the anti-abortion law) and ended with guns, so there are social issues on the front and back. But we did a lot of big stuff in the middle," the Edgefield Republican said. "The reality is, we did a lot."

The Legislature managed to avoid, or even flat-out reject, issues that brought backlashes in other GOP-led states.

Bills calling for big election law changes in absentee and early voting went nowhere. Both chambers did pass bills on election oversight. But with their versions vastly different, whether they do anything on that front is a question for next year.

And legislators repeatedly rejected proposals on transgender youth in sports, prompting LGBTQ advocates to organize a daylong celebration May 16 in Columbia on the bills' non-passage.

Debate on bills can resume in January 2022 at wherever in the process they were when the gavel fell May 13. But anything that doesn't make it into law by the end of next year's session officially dies (South Carolina sessions officially last two years).

Here are highlights of what the Legislature did, didn't do and left hanging:

Budget

Legislators' main task for special sessions next month will be to pass a state budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The Senate passed a roughly $10.5 billion spending plan April 29 that includes a $1,000 pay boost for every teacher, a 2 percent cost-of-living raise for employees across state government and $44 million to further boost pay in 17 agencies, largely for law enforcement. It also includes more than $100 million for senators' special projects, identified thanks to a new Senate rule on public disclosure of earmarks.

The regular session ended with the House's budget-writing committee working on a response.

Democrats' main victories for the year could come in the budget and allocations of federal aid, Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said.

So far, that includes $100 million in the Senate budget plan for maintenance and renovations at poor schools. He also expects a big chunk of the $2.5 billion sent to the state from the latest federal aid package to be spent on extending broadband in rural areas. Discussions on how to spend that giant pot of federal taxes, which can be doled out over several years, haven't officially even started.

"Ultimately, this might have been a successful year. Right now, its a work in progress. Weve accomplished very few things because that was not the priority set for us," Hutto said about the Senate's 30-Republican majority over 16 Democrats. "My frustration is, there were other things we didnt need to do that got prioritized over things we need to do."

Abortion

A measure banning abortions after an ultrasound detects a fetal heartbeat, as soon as six weeks into a pregnancy, moved swiftly through the Legislature. The ban gave exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest, or if the mother's life is in jeopardy. Gov. Henry McMaster signed the bill into law moments after receiving it Feb. 18.

But whether it will ever take effect is doubtful.

As expected, the operators of the three clinics in South Carolina that provide abortions sued, and a federal judge blocked the ban, saying the law is unconstitutional and it's highly unlikely a higher court would rule otherwise. A fight in a higher court is exactly what many advocates wanted, in hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Guns

One bill wrapped up in the session's final week allows people with a concealed weapons permit to carry their handguns openly. The legislation, opposed by law enforcement officials, also bars the State Law Enforcement Division from charging anything for processing CWP applications. McMaster has promised to sign it.

A separate bill allowing any adult to carry a handgun, visibly or hidden, without any official training passed the House. The Senate squashed that proposal.

Gun-control measures sponsored by Democrats went absolutely nowhere. That includes legislation to close the "Charleston loophole," which would give the FBI more time to complete background checks before guns are sold.

The so-called Charleston loophole came to light after the Emanuel AME Church shooting in June 2015.

In 2015, Dylann Roof went to buy a gun legally from a Midlands shop. The sale should not have gone through because he was legally prohibited from buying the weapon, but his background check failed to find an arrest report indicating his drug use.

Since the background check went unfinished after the three-day waiting period, Roof was able to obtain a .45-caliber Glock handgun, which he used to gun down nine people.

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Teaching history

South Carolina college students must take a course in American history under a law signed April 28, which updated a 1924 state law colleges stopped following years ago.

The law mandates the course include reading the U.S. Constitution; the Declaration of Independence; the Emancipation Proclamation; at least five essays from the Federalist Papers; and at least one document considered "foundational to the African American freedom struggle," which the House added amid debate over whether and how to list the Reconstruction era.

Civil unrest around the nation helped propel a bill that's died repeatedly over the last eight years.

Other bills filed in the House and Senate would require at least 30 hours of instruction annually to middle and high school students about America's founding, to include the Revolutionary War, the events leading up to it and the ideals in the Constitution. While they generated public discussion, neither of those advanced.

COVID-19

A fast-tracked bill signed Feb. 19 provided more than $200 million from state reserves toward the vaccination effort. It was aimed at speeding up the process of getting available doses, then in short supply, into willing arms.

The biggest chunks went to the state's public health agency and the Medical University of South Carolina, with the rest split among other vaccine providers, to pay for whatever they needed to ramp up, including staffing, storage, security, facility rentals and transportation.

The fast-tracking of another bill in January to expand on the limited types of health care workers who could legally give shots in South Carolina prompted DHEC to make it happen without a law. But that regulatory waiver didn't go far enough for legislators, who added podiatrists to the list with a bill signed April 12.

A bill specifying how to dole out $272 million in federal aid for emergency rental assistance in the 39 counties that didn't get their own allotments from Congress was signed into law April 16. The program can cover back rent owed since mid-March 2020.

Legislators shielded employers from COVID-19 lawsuits with a bill promising "immunity from liability" if they follow safety guidance published by state health agencies. The law, signed April 28, applies retroactively to the beginning of the pandemic and is meant to make it much harder for people to sue over where they may have contracted the virus.

A priority of the state Chamber of Commerce, the bill passed both chambers overwhelmingly, though many legislators argued it's unnecessary since it's very difficult, if not downright impossible, to prove where someone caught COVID-19.

Education

The Legislature mandated that all K-12 public schools offer a full week of face-to-face learning by April 26.

By the time that law passed, after weeks of debate, only a few districts weren't already offering full weeks in the classroom to all grades.

Beyond ensuring in-classroom learning continues next school year, the law also does a couple of things praised by teachers: It ensures teachers get paid more money if they're required to work double duty in teaching students in person and virtually. And it allows districts to rehire retired teachers at a salary of up to $50,000 a year, for three years, without losing their pension payments.

Currently, rehired public employees who come back lose their pension for the rest of the year after hitting a $10,000 salary cap. Lifting that cap is seen as a way to help fill teacher vacancies and help catch students up post-pandemic.

In March, the Legislature sent $9 million to public charter schools to cover their enrollment increases amid the pandemic and provided up to $50 million to retroactively restore the salary bumps teachers normally receive for another year of experience. The so-called step increases, which average 2 percent, were frozen when the Legislature didn't pass a new budget during the pandemic's economic uncertainties.

While not completed, the state budget for 2021-22 is expected to finish expanding state-paid, full-day 4-year-old kindergarten statewide  15 years after legislators created the program as a pilot for poor districts that sued the state over education spending. The Senate plan spends $47 million toward that expansion, which McMaster also included in his spending proposal.

Police reform

Massey said one of his biggest disappointments of the session was the Senate not tackling police training and reform issues, something that he pledged amid last year's protests would be a priority.

On the session's final day, the House sent the Senate a police reform bill to set minimum standards, including on "no knock" warrants and officers' duty to intervene if they see a colleague do something wrong. It also bars chokeholds unless it's absolutely necessary to save a life and creates an "early warning" system designed to track bad behavior in an effort to prevent an officer fired for misconduct from getting hired by another department.

The compromise, worked out between Reps. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, and Republican Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, was added to a bill requiring any officer who hasn't completed training to be accompanied by a certified officer while on duty.

It didn't go nearly far enough for some Democrats, and the American Civil Liberties Union sent a news release after the vote complaining the legislation will not stop police violence. But the bill passed the House 100-13.

That puts it in the Senate's court to decide what, if anything, advances on that front next year.

Looking ahead on other undone issues

A bill legalizing medical marijuana made it to the Senate floor in late March, but it was never debated further.

Massey promised Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, who's been the chief advocate for years, the Senate will take it up in 2022.

While not making any predictions on the outcome, "my commitment is, its going to get a vote," Massey said May 13.

Also on the Senate calendar for next year is a bill adding up to five years of prison time for violent criminals who choose their target out of hatred. South Carolina is among just two states without a hate crime law.

After the session concluded May 13, the state Chamber of Commerce held a news conference to thank legislators for getting it closer to passage and to urge the Senate to send it to the governor early in 2022.
x has completed a tour of duty at Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington, and earned the Navy Achievement Medal for professional achievement in the superior performance of duty from March 2018 to May 2021, according to a release from NAVFAC Washington.

Under Culala's leadership, his crew of eight Seabees improved infrastructure and quality of life for supported tenant commands while delivering $121,000 in high-quality construction.

As funeral honors coordinator, Culala trained 12 sailors in ceremonial etiquette to conduct over 35 funerals honoring our nations fallen heroes.

Culala reenlisted in August 2020.

He will continue service abroad in Greece.

I want to say thank you to all of PWD Washington and NAVFAC for the help and support they gave me," Culala said. "To my parents and my brother in Guam, I hope everything is good down there and hope to see you guys soon.
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Reps. Tracy Pennycuick, right, and Jeanne McNeill, announced their introduction of House Bill 1299, known as Victorias Law, in the Pennsylvania House. The bill would prohibit the sale of dogs, cats and rabbits in pet stores throughout Pennsylvania unless sourced from shelters and rescues.
Hurricane Dorian exposed the human devastation caused by severe weather. Its impact on Bahamian lives was immediate and still is an ongoing major burden. Following Hurricane Dorian, the United States stepped up and USAID gave more than $35 million. This was significantly more than any other country. The Bahamians, over the course of their history, have survived many natural disasters but nothing like the COVID-19 pandemic. An offer from the U.S. to supply the AstraZeneca vaccine to the Bahamas would be a win-win for us both. The humanitarian benefit and the impact on the Bahamas economy are inarguable. In order to ensure resilience, sometimes we need to step up and help our allies create it.
The driver filled our ears with the popular America Versace 98 lyrics of the king of fuji music, Wasiu Ayinde, as we journeyed to Olumirin waterfall, located at Erin-Ijesha, Osun State. We experienced a smooth road all the way from Akure, Ondo State, where the trip began, and the wheels of the car floated effortlessly along.

The narrative, however, changed as the driver turned to the road leading to the waterfall located in Oriade local government area of Osun.

The inscription at the entrance reads Welcome to Olumirin Waterfall but all we saw in the village was a metaphorical graveyard with no cars, no market, no school, no hospital and even though it was high noon, there were no people.

After about a three-minute drive, we were welcomed to a bumpy road, abandoned for several years by the state government and here, we could sight humans living in ancient buildings, including dilapidated ones.

I expected that the road to this waterfall would have been fixed by now. It is a shame that the government closed its eyes against what is capable of bringing economic and social impact to the state, the young man who served as our tour guide lamented.

You will have to pay N1,000 each to gain entrance to the waterfall, Esther Adebayo, the state government revenue officer at the waterfall said. Asked why it cost that much, she responded saying the government just changed the fee. It used to be N500 per head before.

The Olumirin waterfall

The ridge of the waterfall is an eye-catcher for travellers who ply the Ilesha-Akure expressway. The waterfall known as Olumirin is two kilometres off Erin-Ijesha town, with an assemblage of seven distinct cascades.

It has a point where cold and hot water meets. According to research, its atmospheric temperatures range from 30 to 34 degrees Celsius, while annual rainfall averages 1500cm.

Some indigenes told our correspondent that apart from serving as a tourism centre, the waterfall has healing powers, a claim that PREMIUM TIMES could not independently verify as of the time of filing this piece.

There was a woman who had been carrying a pregnancy for three years, she visited different hospitals and traditionalists for help but all proved abortive. The woman drank the water and gave birth weeks after.

This and many other narratives are what we hear about the healing powers of the waterfall. The water has popularised Erin-Ijesha as people visit from all over the world, Ronke Ajadi, a resident, said.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that there are different versions of stories on how the waterfall was discovered but the most widely accepted narrative, according to historians, is that in the year 1140 AD, Akinla, founder of Erin-Ijesha town and granddaughter of Oduduwa, discovered the falls during the migration of Ife people to Erin- Ijesha.

While some historians argue that the water falls from a big pot located at the top of the ridge, the fact remains sacred and that Erin-Ijesha waterfalls, like those in other parts of the world, is a work of nature beyond human imagination.

This reporter observed that the waterfall also serves a mountaineering purpose for tourists with evergreen vegetation around. The view was pleasing and this reporter would always love to return there if time and chances permit.

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Though difficult to climb, the view at all the levels kept this reporter and his team going. At the top of every ridge, we were able to see the true natural beauty of the Nigerian landmass. This reporter learnt that if one climbs for two hours, we could get to Abake settlement, a village that is said to be in Efon Alaaye local government of Ekiti State.

Other activities that could interest tourists at the water fall are swimming, bird and game watching, reading, base jumping and many more.

Left to ruin

Despite all its uniqueness, it is worrisome that the Osun State government is sitting on such a goldmine without making efforts to explore the gold.

The community which hosts the waterfall has been left to ruin. They lack good road, stable electricity supply and other basic amenities.

The ground at the waterfalls is overgrown with tall grasses, and the handrails are yearning for maintenance.

This reporter also observed that most of the sheds, ordinarily designed to serve as relaxation centres, are worn out and have been surrounded by tall grasses, denying tourists the opportunity to have a short rest after climbing the rocks.

In 2013, a former governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola, announced his plan to make the waterfall meet international standards. He constructed steps from the entrance up to the second layer and built tourist chalets.

Four years after, he approved the construction of the access road to the waterfall. The flag off took on Thursday, November 2, 2017. His Special Adviser on Tourism and Culture at the time, Taiwo Oluga, said the governments effort was to make tourism a veritable source of revenue.

But PREMIUM TIMES last visit to Erin-Ijesha in mid-April revealed the decrepit state of the waterfall. The road is marred with portholes and the site, itself, is in a sorry state.

This is despite several comments by the current administration under the leadership of Governor Gboyega Oyetola that he will take advantage of tourism to unleash the states economic potentials to the world for the purpose of shoring up her Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

A report by BudgIT, a civic advocacy society that uses technology to intersect Citizen-engagement with improved governance in 2020 listed Osun State as one of the 13 states that were unable to fund their recurrent expenditure obligations together with their loan repayment schedules due in 2019 with their respective total revenues.

The worst-hit of these 13 states are  Oyo, Kogi, Osun and Ekiti States while the other states on this pendulum are Plateau, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Cross River. Benue, Taraba and Abia.

Socio-economics impacts

A tourism expert and economist who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said Osun has failed to harness the full potential of the waterfall due to lack of commitment from government.

Kingsley Ndimele said if properly developed, Erin-Ijesha could accelerate economic growth and equally generate substantial employment, thus reducing the burden of unemployment in the state.

The government first need to invest in the social infrastructures in that axis to give them a face lift befitting the status of a tourism community. This is what other countries of the world are doing.

Our leaders lack the political will to sustain tourism development efforts. Theres need for good infrastructures that will make leisure and business travel grow at Erin-Ijesha waterfall. If we have all of these, it will attract traffic and boost the economy of the state.

Why our effort to develop Erin-Ijesha waterfall is yet to yield  Osun govt.

This newspaper reached out to the states commissioner for tourism and culture, Wale Adebisi, on the poor state of the waterfall. He said Governor Oyetolas administration has partnered Sterling Bank towards expanding the economic base of the state and their commitment towards exploring Osun tourism potential.

During the launch of the Osun State Tourism Master Plan: Culture and Tourism for Sustainable Economy in Osogbo, in collaboration with Sterling Bank Plc, in November 2020, Mr Oyetola said as tourism progressively raises its profile in national economic planning, there is a clear need to ensure that attention is paid to its long-term development potential.

Such an approach demands comprehensive strategic planning for the industrys future. As a government, we are keying into that by laying a solid foundation for a better tourism sector in Nigeria.

Asked if all Mr Oyetola said about tourism was a mere speech, considering PREMIUM TIMES findings at Erin-Ijesha waterfall, Mr Adebisi defended his principal.

We want to rely on tourism but we need huge money to put tourism centres into normal shape. We have to be strategic about the development, we have to partner private sectors to develop our tourist centres and we have made this public.

Sterling bank was excited with our plans and they offer to collaborate with us. However, the investors are sceptical at the moment because of COVID-19 and insecurity. We have listed the road to the waterfall as part of what we will develop to enhance traffic. What we are trying to achieve is a blend of concept that we appeal to people within and outside the country. Our investors are being monitored.

Also, Mrs Adebayo, the revenue collector at the waterfall, said insecurity has contributed to the decline in numbers of people who visit the tourism centre.

Before the incessant kidnappings on Akure-Ilesha expressway, we used to have up to 200 people on week days and on weekends, the waterfall used to look like a market place. That has, however, changed as we now have reduction in number of visitors and there are some weekends that we dont even have up to 50 people.

Corroborating this, Mr Adebisi said the security challenges are not limited to Osun and have really affected the economic growth of the waterfall.

Even as an individual, we are being cautioned to travel less and ignore some joints because of insecurity.
The embattled Yoruba actor, Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, is traumatised and walks with difficulties in police detention, his lawyer, Adesina Ogunlana, has said.

Mr Ogunlana, a former chair of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, said this in a letter addressed to the Lagos Commissioner of Police seeking Baba Ijeshas bail on Friday.

Actor Baba Ijesha is under investigation by the Lagos State police command on allegations of rape and has been in police detention since April 22 for the alleged offence.

The actor is being accused by a Nigerian comedienne, Princess, of raping a minor (when she was 7-year-old) who was kept in her care.

In a letter addressed to the Lagos police commissioner, Mr Ogunlana, who doubles as the chairperson of the Radical Agenda Movement In The Nigerian Bar Association, (RAMINBA), said his client should be released on bail.

He also added that Baba Ijeshas colleague and close pal, Yomi Fabiyi, is ready to stand as a surety for him.

As of today when I met with Omiyinka in the company of his thespian colleague and ready surety, Mr Yomi Fabiyi, he appeared traumatised, emaciated, and walked with a limp in his right leg. May I assure you, sir, that Mr Omiyinka is not a flight risk and he is prepared to face trial, the letter reads in part.

In the letter, the lawyer lamented Baba Ijeshas continuous detention at the SCID Panti Yaba facility for almost a month, saying it is in gross breach of his fundamental human rights as cognisable under the 1999 constitution, the grand norm of the nations legal architecture.

We are aware that a piece of legal advice on our clients matter has been issued about two weeks ago, disclosing prospective charges of bailable character.

From all indications, the investigation has been concluded in his matter and it is inconceivable that the issuance of legal advice will now be a basis for the denial of bail as you have been widely reported in the press to have claimed.

Bail application update

Ayo Ademiluyi, Secretary of RAMINBA, who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, said Baba Ijeshas bail application has not been granted.

We went to the Deputy Commissioner of police, the state CID, where he is currently being detained and we argued that he cannot be denied bail on the basis that the Nigerian courts are on strike. So, the DCP told us to apply for his bail, and we brought an application under the aegis of Winner Dont Quit chambers which is Mr Ogunlanas law firm.

Mr Ademiluyi said the bail application has been submitted and acknowledged but they are yet to get a feedback.

We submitted that application, that application was written to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police said he is going to translate it to him. And it has been acknowledged, and as we speak, there has been no feedback or no response to that application.

Mr Ademiluyi said the refusal of the police to grant Baba Ijeshas bail application means that the country has no regard for its own constitutional provisions.

If the application is granted, that means that the police are following the law but if it is not being granted that means that we have graduated in this country to a state of lawlessness.

More woes

The Attorney-General of Lagos and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, recently revealed that the actor would be tried under five provisions of the criminal law of Lagos State based on the advice given on the case by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

The charges and implications are listed below:

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1)Section 135, Indecent Treatment of a child- punishable by 7 years imprisonment,

(2)Section 137- Defilement of a Child-, punishable by life imprisonment,

(3) Section 261. Sexual Assault by Penetration- punishable by life imprisonment,

(4) Section 262- Attempted Sexual Assault by Penetration, punishable by 14 years imprisonment and

(5) Section 263, Sexual Assault-punishable by 3 years imprisonment.

Since April 22, 2021, when PREMIUM TIMES reported Baba Ijeshas alleged rape incident, he has faced some serious backlash and lost his goodwill.
Thousands of people took to the streets of cities across Germany and France on Saturday to protest Israels military action in the Gaza Strip.

In Germany, the protesters shouted Freedom for Palestine and commemorated Nakba Day, referring to the Palestinian catastrophe, which remembers the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

Around 2,500 people demonstrated for a free Palestine in Frankfurt city centre.

Many of the participants came with Palestinian flags.

There were no major incidents, according to a police spokesperson.

The police broke up the gathering at 6 p.m (1600 GMT) because there had reportedly been violations of the regulations.

There were tumultuous scenes at a pro-Palestinian rally in the south-western city of Stuttgart, police said.

There were no injuries, a police spokesperson added.

There were significantly more people than the 50 registered, and at the same time there were also counter-demonstrators.

There were conflicts between the different groups of demonstrators as well as with the police.

Further to the south-west in Freiburg, the police spoke of a partly heated atmosphere at a rally with up to 600 participants, also organised by the initiative Palestine Speaks.

There were banners with provocative  but not criminally relevant  content: Both the rally leader and the police had persuaded the participants to refrain from doing so, police said.

Earlier, services by the Jewish community had been held on the same square.

A 17-year-old insulted a man of the Jewish faith, according to the police.

Criminal proceedings were initiated against the youth.

In the same south-western region, in the city of Mannheim, police reported that police officers were pelted with stones after the break-up of a pro-Palestinian rally.

Four officers were slightly injured, a spokesperson said on Saturday evening.

In addition, a man tried to set fire to an Israeli flag.

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The police stopped him and arrested him.

The police are also investigating a banner with allegedly criminal content.

According to the police, the rally with up to 500 people was stopped on Saturday afternoon because the Coronavirus (COVID-19) distance rules were not respected.

Afterwards, several groups marched through the city. Because no follow-up events were allowed, the police are investigating two groups for violations of the assembly law and possibly also for breach of the peace, according to the spokesperson.

Some 120 people marched to the administrative buildings of the district of Neukoelln in Berlin, protesting peacefully.

Another demonstration nearby attracted 3,500 people and turned violent when the police broke it up due to breaches of the coronavirus regulations, the police said.

Protesters threw bottles and stones as well as firecrackers at the police.

The police also said protesters hit officers, and officers used pepper spray. It was unclear whether there were any arrests.

Cologne in western Germany saw 800 people gather to defend the Palestinian cause and protest against Israel, demanding Freedom for Palestine and Stop the genocide.

Protesters also carried signs saying Against Zionists  not against Jews.

The organisers shut the rally down early because more people showed up than expected, violating coronavirus regulations.

An unknown person tried to set fire to an Israeli flag. When the police tried to intervene, he disappeared into the crowd.

After the dispersal of the action, up to 150 demonstrators refused to leave the square. The police forced the group apart.

One man allegedly punched a police officer in the face. He was taken into custody. In addition, police officers were allegedly mobbed and a policewoman was insulted. Three other people were taken into custody.

In Hamburg, some 120 people demonstrated peacefully in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

They carried signs showing the map of the Palestinian Territories and Palestinian flags.

The rally was later broken up as the crowd swelled to 500 people and the atmosphere got more charged when people appeared with Israeli flags, a police spokesperson said.

A massive police presence accompanied protests in the northern city of Hanover, where about 300 people took part in events by different groups  some in solidarity with the Palestinian people, others in solidarity with Israel.

Police said the situation was calm in the afternoon.

The two camps also squared off in eastern Leipzig, where at times 400 pro-Palestinian protesters stood face-to-face with a pro-Israeli rally with 200 people.

While demonstrators engaged in heated discussion, the situation remained calm, the police said.

Several German cities have seen anti-Israel rallies in the wake of the resurging conflict between Israel and Gaza.

Anti-Semitic incidents were seen at some protests.

In the western city of Gelsenkirchen, 180 people marched from the train station to a synagogue chanting anti-Semitic slogans.

The German government has strongly condemned anti-Semitic acts at the protests and promised to ramp up protection for Jewish institutions.

In Paris, France, despite a ban, large numbers of people gathered on Saturday for a pro-Palestinian demonstration.

Police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the first groups of demonstrators, the broadcaster Franceinfo reported on Saturday afternoon.

Around 4,200 police officers were deployed in the French capital, according to the report.

By 7.00 p.m. (1700 GMT), 44 people had been arrested there, according to the police, and one policeman was injured.

People demonstrated in the capital to mark Nakba Day, especially in Paris 18th district, where the police had previously ordered shopkeepers to close their businesses.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 2,500 and 3,500 people took to the streets in Paris, French media reported.

According to official figures, around 22,000 people demonstrated throughout France.

There were also demonstrations in cities like Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg.

Nakba Day, referring to the Palestinian catastrophe marks the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

The Paris police prefecture had previously banned the demonstration on the orders of Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin.

A court confirmed the decision.

It justified the ban on the grounds that public order had been massively disrupted in 2014.

Thousands of people demonstrated seven years ago against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip at the time.

Rioters also attacked a synagogue and Jewish shops.

The organisers stuck to their call for a demonstration despite the ban.

The police, therefore, assumed that there could be riots  especially as the current tensions in Israel and the Palestinians could draw large crowds to the rally.

The Paris area Palestinian Association had sharply criticised the ban on the demonstration.

We have no interest in being violent, Pauline Salingue of the New Anticapitalist Party, which supports the demonstration, told Franceinfo radio.

We will participate in demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, whether they are authorised or banned.

(dpa/NAN)
The attacks on police facilities by criminals continued last week with at least one police officer killed and two others injured in separate incidents.

All the attacks occurred in the South-east and South-south regions, which have both witnessed multiple attacks on security officials and facilities in the past two months.

Although the volume of attacks increased last week (May 9 to 15) compared to the previous week, the casualty decreased significantly: from 16 deaths to one. A total of 18 police officers were killed in the penultimate week (April 25 to May 1).

The reduction in casualty could be a result of increased intelligence gathering by Nigerian security operatives who appear unable to prevent the attacks but ensured the casualty reduced. In at least two of the attacks on police stations last week, officials said they were forewarned about the attacks and had vacated the premises to ensure no one was killed or injured.

Apart from the attacks on police facilities, the criminals also targeted the facilities of other public institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

IPOB, an outlawed secessionist group, and its security network, ESN, has been blamed for the attacks but the group has denied any involvement.

Dozens of suspected members of the ESN have been killed or arrested as security agencies move to quell the attacks. The Nigerian Army on Thursday announced that its officials had arrested another top ESN official.

To prevent further attacks, President Muhammadu Buhari met with security chiefs last week during which new security measures were reached for the two regions. However, the new measures were not publicly disclosed.

PREMIUM TIMES highlights the reported cases of attacks on police facilities last week (May 9-15).

Ubani Market Police Station

Suspected members of the ESN on Sunday razed the Ubani Market Police station in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.

No life was lost in the incident as policemen had relocated from the place days before the incident.

Daily Trust reported that the officers working at the station were moved to a station at the nearby TradeMoore housing estate.

Another station attacked in Abia

On the same Sunday as the Bende station attack, armed persons attacked another police station in Abia State.

John Okiyi-Kalu, the Abia commissioner for information, said the attack was on the Mike Okiro Police Station, located along the Umuahia-Uzoakoli Road, in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA).

He said there was no casualty from the incident because there was a security report earlier that the station could be attacked. He said the police officers at the station were relocated from there three weeks earlier.

Mr Okiyi-Kalu said the Abia State Government condemns the attack.

Attack in Akwa-Ibom

Gunmen on Sunday attacked another police station in Akwa Ibom State, less than 24 hours after the killing of five police officers and a wife to one of the officers in a similar attack in the state.

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A police officer said the attack occurred on Sunday afternoon at a local police station in Abak Local Government Area of the state.

While no life was lost in the attack, some vehicles were set ablaze by the gunmen, according to photographs of the attack posted on Facebook.

Police officer killed in Akwa Ibom

A police officer was killed on Wednesday by gunmen in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The police spokesman in Uyo, Odiko MacDon, identified the slain police officer as Edogi Bassey, a police constable.

The officer was said to have been killed while repelling an attack on a police facility.

At about 6:30 a.m. today, armed men, in their numbers, armed with AK 47 Rifles and other dangerous weapons, in two vehicles attacked the rented building housing the Etim Ekpo Area Command and Division, Mr MacDon said in the statement.

The undaunted and vigilant police officers on duty, gallantly fought back, repelled them and averted the intended carnage.

Unfortunately, a dedicated officer, one PC Edogi Bassey paid the supreme price while a small portion of the building was torched.

According to Mr MacDon, the gunmen proceeded to another local government area  Ika Local Government Area  to attack a police division there, but were repelled again by the officers at the station.

NDLEA Office Attacked

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Abia State confirmed that part of its office at Amaekpu in Ohafia Local Government Area of the state was set ablaze.

The State Commandant of the agency, Bamidele Akingbade, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that the attack took place at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

Mr Akingbade blamed the attack on hoodlums, adding that only a section of the office complex was set ablaze.

He said that the assailants intention was to free the suspects who were detained in the facility.

However, the suspects were relocated out of the facility, in the wake of Mondays attack on the nearby office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, he said.

He said the agency recorded no casualties and their weapons were intact, adding that important official documents were stored in a fire-proof safe.

Another attack in Bende

Suspected members of ESN, numbering at least 100, on Wednesday, attacked a local police station in Abia State, Nigerias South-east, leaving two operatives with gunshot wounds.

The attack occurred at Bende Divisional Police Station.

The station was set ablaze by the gunmen.

A resident of the area said they heard gunshots around 10.45 p.m. and when they rushed outside, they saw the station on fire.

At that point, it dawned on us that the station was under attack so everybody began to scamper for safety, the witness said.

The police spokesperson in the state, Godfrey Ogbonna, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

Mr Ogbonna, a superintendent of police, said two operatives were shot in the leg and that the attackers also burnt down the generator house and a multi-purpose building belonging to Bende Local Government Council.

He said the hoodlums later released criminal suspects who were detained at the station.

Condemnation

A security analyst, Timothy Avele, had told PREMIUM TIMES that the attacks on police officers could lead to a higher crime rate across the country which is still battling with other cases of insecurity like kidnappings and terrorism.

First, this will result in more violent crimes like kidnapping, murder, armed robberies etc as the security personnel, especially the police, will feel less concerned to respond to distress calls from the public, he said.

Secondly, there will be transferred aggression from the security personnel to the citizens; no more police is your friend slogan in practice.

On the other hand, the police not responding to distresses of the public and being cruel to citizens due to the unprovoked attacks on them could result in missing out on criminal information normally shared with them by the public, Mr Avele stated.
Following the security challenges rocking Nigeria, the 17 governors in southern states of Nigeria, on Tuesday called on the federal government to convoke a national dialogue as a matter of urgency.

They called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address Nigerians on the challenges of insecurity.

The resolution was among 12 reached by the governors at their meeting in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The security challenges include kidnappings, ethnoreligious crises, farmers and herders conflicts, terrorism and banditry. At least one of such acts occurs daily in the country.

Over 100 persons were killed in various violent attacks across Nigeria last week.

These figures were compiled using a review of newspaper reports, interviews with victims families, and in some cases, confirmation by public and security officials.

Sunday

Gunmen attacked a police station in Akwa Ibom State, on Sunday afternoon at Abak Local Government Area of the state.

Two police officers and 12 cows were killed.

The Kaduna State Government confirmed the death of five people and one other missing in separate incidents in the state.

The government said three people were shot dead by gunmen at Golkofa village in Jemaa Local Government Area while one person was injured.

Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security and home affairs, said in a statement on Sunday that all the victims were members of the same family.

He said the incident was confirmed by the Defence Headquarters outfit Operation Safe Haven and the state police command.

Bandits on a revenge mission reportedly killed 11 villagers and injured others when they attacked Tsatskiya community in Safana local government area of Katsina State.

Monday

Three villagers were killed by bandits in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The Nigerian Army said the troops of 8 Division operating in Zamfara and adjoining states had eliminated many commanders and 48 members of bandits gangs in the North-west.

The spokesperson of the army, Mohammed Yerima, said this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

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Mr Yerima, a brigadier-general, said the Division had earlier launched Operation Tsare Mutane following the directives of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Ibrahim Attahiru.

Bandits in the early hours of Monday reportedly abducted 40 worshippers observing midnight prayer (Tahajjud) at a mosque in Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The incident took place at the Abattoir area of Jibia.

Another police facility located at Mkpanak in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom Statewas attacked too. The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, disclosed in a statement on Monday.

Mr MacDon, a superintendent of police, identified a slain officer as Obadia Eli, who was attached to MOPOL 57 Ukana, in Essien Udim. He was on his way to his beat when he was accosted and killed by the hoodlums.

The police in Edo State on Monday engaged kidnappers in a gun battle, killing three of them and rescuing seven victims.

Kontongs Bello, the Edo police spokesperson, said this in a statement on Monday. He said the police worked with a local vigilante team to achieve the feat.

Tuesday

A Deeper life Pastor and ex-Director in the Ondo state civil service, Otamayomi Ogedengbe was abducted by unknown gunmen.

The wife of the victim, Mrs Ogedengbe, said that they came to the church together for a programme when the gunmen stormed the church and abducted her husband.

The spokesperson of the state police command Tee Leo lkoro confirmed the abduction of the clergyman.

Two farmers were also abducted by gunmen on their way from their farms in Ikaramu Akoko, Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State, on Tuesday.

Wednesday

A deputy Superintendent of Police, Abdulqadir Hardo, was shot dead by suspected bandits in Kebbi State.

He was shot in the leg by bandits while leading the Inspector General of Police Tactical Squad in a gun duel with the armed men at Tsamiya town, in Bagudo Local Government of the State.

The Nigerian Army also confirmed the foiled attempts by Boko Haram terrorists to attack part of Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital.

According to a statement by the Army spokesperson, Mohammed Yerima, on Wednesday, the terrorists were countered by combined gallant troops in conjunction with the police, youth vigilante and hunters.

It said heavy casualty was inflicted on the terrorists by the troops as nine of them were killed while many escaped with gunshot wounds.

Gunmen, numbering at least 100, on Wednesday, attacked a local police station in Abia State. The attack occurred at Bende Divisional Police Station.

The station was set ablaze by the gunmen.

Two people said to be residents of Modakeke in Osun State, were reportedly shot dead in Alapata village by some gunmen.

Thursday

Personnel of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) on Thursday in Iseyin, Oyo State, engaged suspected smugglers in a shootout during which four persons were reportedly killed and property destroyed.

The exchange of gunshots by the customs officials and suspected smugglers threw the rustic town of Iseyin into panic with residents, who were celebrating the Eid-el-Fitr, fleeing to safety.

Friday

The Nigerian military said it killed many bandits and destroyed their camps in some forests in Chikun and Birnin Gwari local government areas of Kaduna State.

This was contained in an operational feedback from the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to the Kaduna State Government on Friday.

The development was recorded by the air component of Operation Thunder Strike during a series of aerial missions across several locations in Kaduna State.

But military sources said at least 10 died in the operation.

The police in Akwa Ibom State confirmed the death of eight people in a cult clash in Esit Eket Local Government Area of the state.

The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko MacDon, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

Saturday

Two persons were reportedly killed by some hoodlums during a violent attack at Arulogun area of Ede in Osun State.

The hoodlums invaded the house of one Wakili Olayiwola, set his Toyota Corolla car on fire and rained bullets on the building.

The hoodlums eventually killed a 23-year-old man, Rilwan Kareem of Oke Bode Area in Ede and one Taofeek.

The police confirmed the incident.

The Nigerian police stormed the hideout of some of the fleeing wounded gunmen in Oyigbo Local Government Area, Rivers State, killing four of them and a female nurse.
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A former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , has said she is disheartened by the suspension of the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman.

Ms Usman, according to Nigerias transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, was suspended over unremitted funds.

The minister, in a letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari, said the NPA under Ms Usman failed to remit N165 billion (N165, 320, 962, 697) between 2016 and 2021 and should therefore be probed.

Granting the ministers request, the president ordered the probe and asked Ms Usman to step aside pending the outcome of the investigation.

She was replaced by Mohammed Koko, who is now acting in that position.

Although the former MD has denied any impropriety, Nigerians have called for transparency of the probe.

Joining the call via a twitter post, Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf said she has known the ousted official to be an accomplished leader and dedicated servant.

She then urged that the rule of law be adhered to as the situation evolves.

I am disheartened to hear about the suspension of Nigerian Ports Authority MD @hadizabalausman, who I have known to be an accomplished leader and dedicated public servant. I urge adherence to the rule of law and fair and equal treatment as the situation evolves, she wrote on Saturday.

I am disheartened to hear about the suspension of Nigerian Ports Authority MD @hadizabalausman, who I have known to be an accomplished leader and dedicated public servant. I urge adherence to the rule of law and fair and equal treatment as the situation evolves.  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (@MaEllenSirleaf) May 15, 2021
Kaduna residents are stocking food and other essential items ahead of the workers strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to begin on Monday.

Residents said they fear the strike may result in shops and markets not opening.

Already, the electricity distribution company has cut off supply to the Kaduna metropolis.

PREMIUM TIMES observed that many businesses were running generators for supply of electricity Sunday evening.

For us it has begun. Supply of electricity was cut off yesterday night. This is a serious problem. Yusuf, an electric appliances seller in the state capital, said.

Sanusi, a shop owner in the city, said, Residents have been coming to buy basic food Items since early morning. Look at it, no bread and we are not getting supply. Bakeries are not producing. This is a big problem we are getting into.

Mardiyya Saleh, a resident of Kawo Kaduna, told PREMIUM TIMES that the strike will hit hard on citizens of the state.

The sallah celebration is just ending and there are lots of food Items, including meat that are in the refrigerators. Without electricity now, everything will spoil, you can imagine.

My appeal is for the state government and the labour unions to settle their differences and the strike be aborted, Mr Saleh said.

Meanwhile, despite many worrying about the hardship it portends for citizens, some residents said they support the strike.

Abubakar Sani, a civil servant, said, he supports the NLC for the planned strike.

We are going to suffer, but it will not be as bad as getting sacked from your job just like that. The government is not sincere in its planned retrenchment exercise.

 NLC is doing the right thing. No Kaduna worker is happy with what the state government is doing. You cannot be sacking people just because you want to build roads, as the governor is insisting.

What you are able to get and build the road, use it and we will thank you, but laying off workers is not the solution.

Many other civil servants, who spoke to our reporter, also said they welcome the planned strike action.

The Kaduna state government had in March sacked thousands of local government workers.

NLC Strike

The NLC had called on all unions to join in the planned five-day warning strike in Kaduna from Monday.

The union wants to force the state government to cancel its plan for mass sack of civil servants.

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Going by letters seen by PREMIUM TIMES in which organisations, including banks and other financial institutions, have pledged to comply with the NLC directive, offices will not open for work from Monday.

No going back  El-Rufai

However, the state government has vowed to implement its decision to rightsize the public service and not subject public policy to a mobs veto.

The Commissioner for Local Government, Jafaru Sani, and Head of Service, Bariatu Y. Mohammed, stated the governments position during a press conference on Saturday.

According to them, the government regards the strike action and shutdown threats as futile gestures that will not stop it from taking the painful but necessary actions to cope with the fiscal crisis.

They said the Kaduna State Government believes that the welfare of public servants is sustainable only within the larger context of the general welfare of residents of the state that the government itself is mandated to serve.

Thus, it is not sustainable to persist in spending 84% to 96% of its FAAC receipts on salaries and personnel costs as has been the experience of the state since October 2020.

The administration said it will protect its facilities and workers right to access and exit their offices.

( Pictures  Some letters of Compliance by various organisation)
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Iran has promised the Palestinian Hamas movement its support in the fight against Israel in the Gaza conflict.

In a telephone conversation with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the commander of the al-Quds Brigade of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Esmail Qaani, assured Hamas of his full support on Saturday, Iranian state media reported.

For his part, Mr Haniyeh thanked Iran for its support and said, according to al-Alam news channel, that the fight against Israel was not just Hamas but of the entire Islamic world.

The Islamist Hamas is classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, among others, and has control of the Gaza Strip.

Militant Palestinians have been firing rockets at Israel from there for days.

The Israeli army has been reacting with airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.

Earlier, the Iranian foreign minister had cancelled at short notice a visit to Austria planned for Saturday after the government in Vienna hoisted the Israeli flag on its buildings.

The main topic of the meeting would have been the negotiations underway in Vienna to renew the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

Iran considers Israel its arch-enemy and supports anti-Israeli resistance groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.

The entire Iranian leadership had this week strongly condemned Israels brutal and cruel crimes against the Palestinians.

Nevertheless, Iran is keeping a low profile in the latest conflict.

One reason, according to observers, is the nuclear negotiations, which Tehran does not want to jeopardise.

The main issue there is the lifting of U.S. sanctions, which have plunged Iran into an economic crisis over the past two years.

(dpa/NAN)
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Former President Goodluck Jonathan has said that the Nigeria Governors Forum remains the best platform to discuss issues affecting Nigeria.

The former President, who made the observation in Benin, the Edo State capital, on Sunday while addressing journalists, said the antagonism between governors was uncalled for.

Mr Jonathan stressed that the coming together of all the governors in a round table to discuss and proffer solutions to issues affecting Nigeria would help the President.

Governors themselves should continue to meet, I dont really love a situation where the Northern governors will meet then the Southern governors will cry foul.

Then the Southern governors will meet then the Northern governors will cry foul, that will not help our country.

The governors through the governors forum should meet, they are the people who run this country, the President is just one person in Abuja.

The states, especially in a country where the local governments are very weak, its the states that people fall back to.

So if the governors of the states meet and dialogue, interrogate things that are good for this country, then we will move forward.

I dont really enjoy the antagonism between governors, they should come together and discuss.

If there are issues that is affecting one or two states, I think the governors should see how they can collectively come with a way to address those issues, he added.

(NAN)
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An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has destroyed a tower block in the city housing the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press (AP).

The building was home to several other media outlets and offices including several internet providers, and private apartments.

The Saturday airstrike is the sixth consecutive day of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

It occurred after the Israeli military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour.

Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust, according to the Associated Press.

The Associated Press president and CEO, Gary Pruitt, said he is shocked and horrified by the incredibly disturbing Israeli attack.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, he said.

We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.

This is an incredibly disturbing development, Mr Pruitt said, noting that AP is seeking information from the Israeli government and is engaged with the U.S. State Department to try to learn more.

Similarly, Al Jazeera condemned the bombing and destruction of its offices by the Israeli military in Gaza saying it is a clear act to stop journalists from conducting their sacred duty to inform the world and report events on the ground.

The aim of this heinous crime is to silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza, said

Mostefa Souag, acting director general of Al Jazeera Media Network.

We call on the international community to condemn such barbaric actions and targeting of journalists and we demand an immediate international action to hold Israel accountable for its deliberate targeting of journalists and the media institutions.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said, it is utterly unacceptable for Israel to bomb and destroy the offices of media outlets and endanger the lives of journalists, especially since Israeli authorities know where those media outlets are housed.

Israeli authorities must ensure that journalists can do their jobs safely without fear of being injured or killed, the organisation said.
Talk show hosts and many Republicans say Florida is doing better than any other state. But Florida is not doing well as far as the virus is concerned. A map of the U.S. that shows the daily number of cases has Florida with the most cases, between 3,000 and 4,000 a day. That is more than Texas, California and Michigan on a daily basis. How can anyone say we are the best when we have the most cases?
A self-styled Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, on Saturday, threatened to disrupt the 2023 general elections in Southwest states of Nigeria.

Mr Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during a Yoruba Nation rally, where participants called for a break away from the country.

He claimed that many Southwest governors are interested in breaking away but are scared that their monthly allocation could be denied if they declare open support for an independent Yoruba nation.

I cant be cowed or intimidated. They said I would be arrested. Who would dare do that? We are no longer part of Nigeria. We wont have anything to do with them again, he said.

There is no election again in Yorubaland until we have a Yoruba nation. Those in authority initially thought we were joking when we demanded an independent Yoruba nation.

All our governors are with us. From Oyo, Ogun and Ondo to Ekiti, Lagos and Osun, they are supporting us, but they cant do it openly. Allocation they give them in Abuja may stop if they do it openly. So, dont abuse them again. Governor Oyetola was informed I will be in Osun and he allowed us to come here. All our monarchs are with us, Mr Igboho said. Mr Igboho did not provide evidence for his claim and there is no evidence he has the support of the governors.

Mr Adeyemo, however, said he would revolt against stakeholders who failed to support his cause.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Yoruba nation agitators grounded activities in Osogbo on Saturday as major roads were blocked.

They were also seen chanting secession songs and distributing handbills to people along the streets.

Before Osun, similar rallies were held in Oyo and Ogun states in late April and early May respectively.

Some high profile Nigerians have said only an urgent restructuring would save Nigeria from breaking up.

Also, 17 southern governors in Nigeria called for restructuring last week.

But the presidency has maintained that calls for restructuring are recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the President to do one thing or another or else, in their language, the nation will break up.

Defying authorities

Mr Adeyemo is a notorious warlord with a history of negative past. This newspaper reported how he was evicted from Modakeke in Osun State in early 2000 following the crisis between NURTW members and motorcycle riders.

Mr Adeyemo was later made a political thug of former Oyo State Governor, Rashidi Ladoja, and became more prominent.

In January, he led a group of men to Igangan in the Ibarapa axis of Oyo state to eject the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Salihu Abdulkadir, triggering a face-off with the state and federal governments.

He accused Mr Abdulkadir of backing criminal herdsmen behind the kidnapping and killing of farmers and residents of the community. Mr Abdulkadir denied the allegation but he was nonetheless forcefully ejected from a community he had lived in for decades.

Also in February, he defied authorities order and proceeded to Ogun State to purportedly evict herdsmen resident there.

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He claimed that some security operatives attached to Oyo State Operation Burst attempted to arrest him at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while on his way to meet elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo, in Lagos.

This was denied by the State Security Service and other security agencies.

He has repeatedly threatened to attack top government officials including monarchs in Yoruba land.

The Osun police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking her reaction to the threat made by Mr Adeyemo in Osogbo on Saturday.
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Former President Goodluck Jonathan said in Benin on Sunday that he never believed in the use of temporary political office to punish people.

My belief, particularly when I joined politics is not to use a temporary privilege, a temporary position God has given to me to punish people, he said.

He was delivering an address at the 50th birthday celebration of Charles Osazuwa, President of the Rock of Ages Christian Assembly when he made the submission.

Mr Jonathan stressed that people would always be remembered for legacies they left behind.

Some of the things I did while in office to which people still make reference were based on the conviction not to use my position to cause the death of anybody.

Any position I have occupied by divine providence should not be used to create hardship for other people, he said.

Just at 50 years, you have impacted significantly on many lives, he told the cleric.

In his address, Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, lauded Mr Osazuwa for using the word of God to address current realities and challenges facing the country.

What singles you (Apostle Osazuwa) out is your ability and capacity to use and link the challenges we are having today as a country with the scriptures and to use same to give hope to the people particularly the youths.

Apostle Osazuwa understands the role of God and the role of the scripture in our modern society; nobody, in my view has been able to explain things the way he does.

Government helps to organise us and when government fails to help us to express ourselves, its the church and men of God like you that help us to pick up the piece; government will always be grateful to people like you, he said.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, who was also in attendance, commended Mr Osazuwa for using the church to impact on the lives of the people.

Mr Okowa said the Church was in a position to proffer solutions to challenges facing the nation and urged its ministers to continue to speak truth to power.

Earlier, Mr Osazuwa, enjoined politicians to make life easier for the masses.

King David used his position to make things easier for the children of Israel. I encourage our governors and all politicians not to use their positions to cause pain in the lives of the people, he said.

(NAN)
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Controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, says the students of Greenfield University kidnapped about two months ago have not been released because their kidnappers have links with Boko Haram.

Mr Gumi said this in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday from Kaduna.

The kidnappers had attacked the private university on April 17 and abducted 20 students, five of whom they have killed.

They have also threatened to kill the others unless a N100 million ransom is paid for their freedom.

In the interview with Channels Television, Mr Gumi said unlike previous cases of abduction in the North-west and North-central states, the kidnappers of the univrrsity students have linkage with some elements of Boko Haram in the forest.

The Greenfield abduction is unique because for the first time we saw a cooperation between some bandits and Boko Haram elements which confirm that Boko Haram are encroaching into the field, which is a bad situation, Mr Gumi said.

Mr Gumi said Boko Haram had reached out to the abductors of hundreds of students of Government Science College in Kankara, Katsina State, last year with an offer that the schoolboys be sold to them because they could bargain better for ransom.

He said the bandits, however, rejected the offer and eventually released the students after negotiations brokered by Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle.

The cleric also said all the students abducted in Kagara, Niger State; Jangebe in Zamfara State, and Federal School of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna were released through negotiations.

But the Greenfield abduction is proving difficult because of the linkage between the bandits and Boko Haram, Mr Gumi said.
Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello has polled only six per cent of the votes in a presidential poll conducted on Twitter despite saying he is considering running for president in 2023 as a result of calls from Nigerians.

Mr Bello, while speaking on Channels Televisions Politics Today on Friday, said; Nigerians, the youth and women, and all Nigerians, including very objective elites are asking me to run for president in 2023.

And I believe it is high time that we look into capacity, who can do the job, who is going to unify this country. And I think they are seeing something in me that they are asking me to come and unite and fix this country.

My answer will be in the affirmative in a few time from now, he said, urging Nigerians to be patient with him.

Its a work in progress. And by the grace of God, I am not going to disappoint you when the time comes for me to give a response to that.

But in a Twitter poll conducted by Channels TV on Friday, Mr Bello, 29 minutes into the poll, had lost by 91 per cent.

Would you support a Yahaya Bello 2023 Presidency? The Kogi State Governor hinted on Friday that he might run for the top spot in the next election cycle. the television station posted.

The poll, which has now been deleted by the TV station, had 6,796 participants but only six per cent voted in favour of the Kogi governor while the remaining three per cent were undecided.

It remains unclear why the TV station deleted the tweet.

Nevertheless, the result of the poll has generated varying reactions from Nigerians on the social media space, many of whom believed the television station deleted the tweet because of Mr Bellos performance.

Below are the reactions

@Nnamdiebele: So @channelstv have deleted the tweet with the poll asking Nigerians if they wanted Gov. Yahaya Bello to be President come 2023. I guess the result been choke some people.

So @channelstv have deleted the tweet with the poll asking Nigerians if they wanted Gov. Yahaya Bello to be President come 2023. I guess the result been choke some people.

LolsI don't even know who is the main werey we been dey disguise. @Gidi_Traffic pic.twitter.com/fCz0PV2Sut  Nnamdiebele (@Nnamdiebele) May 15, 2021

@Victoremah: Why did @channelstv delete the poll they made on Yahaya Bellos claims on the support for 2023 Presidency?

Why did @channelstv delete the poll they made on Yahaya Bello's claims on the support for 2023 Presidency?  Victor J. Emah (@victoremah) May 15, 2021

@itsnorthnormal: Not channelsTv deleting their tweet after seeing how woeful yahaya bello was doing on this poll in less than 30mins

Maybe the supposedly all Nigerians he claims told him shit! could not come to his rescue on the polls

Anyways Im running a poll for the real ALL NIGERIANS BELOW

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https://twitter.com/itsnorthnormal/status/1393328535230717954?s=19

@CaptainNikee: Why did @channelstv delete the Yahaya Bello poll? We need to carry placards for Channels before the Bello madness stops. A man who speaks without an iota of intelligence is plastered on tv daily. The more you listen to him the dumber I feel.

Why did @channelstv delete the Yahaya Bello poll? We need to carry placards for Channels before the Bello madness stops. A man who speaks without an iota of intelligence is plastered on tv daily. The more you listen to him the dumber I feel  Nikee (@CaptainNikee) May 14, 2021
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The Kaduna Electric has called for amicable resolution in the face off between the Nigerian Labour Union (NLC) and Kaduna State Government over the governments plan to rightsize its workforce.

The NLC in the state had earlier announced a strike to protest the mass disengagement of workers that will result from the governments plan and other alleged anti-labour moves by the government.

In line with NLC directives on shut down of activities in Kaduna, you are hereby directed to ensure TOTAL BLACK OUT in Kaduna by 00 hours on Saturday 15th May, 2021, the General Secretary of NUEE, Joe Ajaero, said in a circular obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Ajaero then advised the workers to liaise with other states or regions through which Kaduna could be back-fed to ensure that there is no supply of electricity to the state.

However, the electricity provider in the state said it was keenly observing the event as they infold in the state and is optimistic that the ongoing negotiations between the state government and labour union will avert the planned shutdown of the state.

As key stakeholders, we are deeply concerned and hope that the talks will yield positive outcomes that will guarantee no one suffers unduly in the event of the strike action.

Our concern is hinged on the fact that as a private corporate organisation, we are inadvertently caught in the middle of the impasse. The workers union to which our staff belong is affiliated to the NLC, hence, they may be obliged to join any strike called. Were on the other hand, a privately owned company that is not a party to the dispute.

We offer a critical utility service, the withdrawal of which will cause untold hardship on the citizenry. Moreover, being also a key player in the nations electricity value chain, we have responsibilities and commitments to keep to both our staff and the Nigerian electricity supply industry.

A shut down of the state will put that in jeopardy.

Its against this backdrop that we once again call for the urgent resolution of the industrial dispute. We call on both parties to, in the spirit of give and take, try to find common ground in order to resolved the dispute amicably, the electricity distribution company said.
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Kaduna Electric has urged the Kaduna State Government(KDSG) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve their impasse amicably to avert the planned strike by NLC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the NLC had planned to mobilise workers in both public and private sectors to shut economic activities in the state on Monday, over what it described as obnoxious anti-worker policies by the state government.

The company made the appeal in a statement on Sunday in Kaduna through its Head, Corporate Communication, Abdulazeez Abdullahi .

Kaduna Electric is keenly observing the ongoing negotiations between the Kaduna State Government and the NLC aimed at averting the planned shutdown of the state.

As key stakeholders, we are deeply concerned and hope that the talks will yield positive outcomes that will guarantee no one suffers unduly in the event of a strike, he said.

He said the company as a private corporation was caught in the middle as their staff belonged to a union, affiliated to NLC hence they might be obliged to join any strike called.

He explained that the company offered critical utility service in which withdrawal of services would cause untold hardship on residents, adding that the organisation also had the responsibility to keep to both their staff and the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

We urge both parties to, in the spirit of give and take, try to find common grounds to resolve the dispute amicably.

We are doing all we can on our part, to ensure that our esteemed customers have access to our services while a lasting solution is being sought to end the crisis. Our online payment services via our website is www.kadunaelectric.com, he said.
Muskellunge, a prized sportfish, are known as the fish of a thousand casts because of the difficulty many anglers have in catching them. Their movements and behaviors are shrouded in mystery, but a multiagency team of researchers is using state-of-the-art technology to reveal patterns of mus
AP FILE PHOTOSNursing home residents wait on line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, a nursing home facility in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, on Jan. 15. New York's long term care facilities have found themselves with acute staffing shortages while facing a sharp drop in admissions as the pandemic has motivated more families to choose other options for caring for frail relatives.
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.
LONDON, May 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States EB-5 visa  otherwise known as the Immigrant Investor Visa Programme  is set to expire on June 30th unless reauthorised by Congress. Launched in 1990, the EB-5 visa grants investors permanent residency once they invest US$900,000 into a business that creates jobs. For over three decades, the visa route has been popular amongst wealthy investors from Africa to Asia. However, its future remains unclear.

The lack of clarity could force investors to reconsider their options. While the EB-5 visa comes with several opportunities, it does not grant the holder citizenship or the passport that comes with it. Additionally, the programme only offers up to 10,000 visas per fiscal year with many applicants potentially experiencing delays that can take up to several months. However, by investing in a second citizenship, investors and families can gain the same opportunities but with increased benefits and the safety of having lifelong citizenship.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the United States has also declined in investor priorities when it comes to choosing a permanent home. Many Americans have gone as far as renouncing citizenship in favour of a different lifestyle that priorities health and wellness.

The Commonwealth of Dominica has become a top destination for second citizenship over the last few years, as highlighted in the annual CBI Index. The small Caribbean island has welcomes foreign investors and their families to become citizens after they contribute to a government fund or buy into selected real estate options. Operating since 1994, its Citizenship by Investment Programme has become a popular route to achieving financial security and increased opportunities in education and business. Investors can also rest assured that they do not have to take any language or cultural tests, or stay in the country for a number of days to qualify for citizenship. Lastly, if an applicant successfully passes the necessary security checks, a receipt of citizenship is granted within two to three months.

"Dominica's lush scenery, a record of safety and political stability are very attractive for potential investors. It's far from the big city hustle-bustle, yet it manages to bring the world closer because its passport allows one to travel to 75 percent of the globe. In fact, Dominica perfectly fits the needs of many middle and high net worth individuals for asset allocation, travel convenience and children's education," said Micha Emmett, CEO of CS Global Partners  a London-based firm specialising in citizenship and residency solutions.

With its proximity to the US, Dominica also benefits from having its currency pegged to the US dollar, making it an economically viable option for investors. Those who hold a Dominican passport also gain access to over 140 countries and territories, including key business hubs vital for keeping business competitive. Dominica's programme is also one of the most family-inclusive options on the market, enabling investors to include a wide range of dependants in an application.

Contact:

07824029952

[email protected]

www.csglobalpartners.com

Related Links

http://www.csglobalpartners.com/



SOURCE CS Global Partners
75 CA Sri Lanka schols to highest achievers of the 2020 GCE AL exam View(s):

Top achievers at the 2020 GCE Advanced Level exam will receive full scholarships from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), enabling them to kick-start a successful professional journey as globally recognised Chartered Accountants.

A total of 75 scholarships will be awarded to the highest achievers under six schemes. Accordingly, 50 scholarships will be awarded to the top 10 achievers from commerce, biological science, physical science, arts and technology streams, while 25 district toppers of the commerce stream will also be awarded full scholarships from CA Sri Lanka, the institute said in a media release.

The total duration of the CA Sri Lanka scholarship will be for five years with fees waived off for student registration, annual student renewal, exam and study pack fees as well as fees waived off for all IT and English courses which are offered as part of the CA Sri Lanka program.

Meanwhile, CA Sri Lanka recently organised a scholarship awarding ceremony where three of the top achieving students from Colombo were present to accept their scholarships. Due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic in the country, students from out of Colombo were unable to attend the event. Vice President of CA Sri Lanka Sanjaya Bandara and CEO of CA Sri Lanka Ms. Dulani Fernando presented the scholarships to island second in the commerce stream, Ms. Siriwardhanage Madhuwanthi Upamali of Visaka Vidyalaya, island third Ms. Khulusie Naadiya Mariam of Devi Balika Vidyalaya and island eighth Ms. Anjalee Dilshi Handaragama of Visaka Vidyalaya.

President of CA Sri Lanka, Manil Jayesinghe highlighted that the Institute is committed to ensuring Sri Lanka will continue to have the necessary skilled professionals in the future to take the nation forward. The past one year has been the most challenging year for all of us due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, despite the challenges we have been facing, we are devoted to our cause of continuing to produce top Chartered Accountants who will give leadership not just to corporates in Sri Lanka, but also overseas.
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Arqit, a British company established in 2017, has announced the launch of a new quantum cybersecurity platform designed to solve current and future threats to the security of internet communications. The platform, QuantumCloud, uses transformational innovation in both quantum physics and crypto-mathematics, and has been developed over the course of four years of collaboration with the UK Government, BT and Virgin Orbit.

The launch positions the British economy at the forefront of global innovation in quantum, space and cyber technology, and Arqit alone intends to create 2,000 high-tech jobs in the UK. Since 2017, Arqit has received significant financial support from the UK Government through various departments and innovation programs. Arqit is in a position now to announce that, as a result of Wednesday's announced financing transaction, it will remain operationally headquartered in the UK.

Arqit and BT today further announced that BT has entered into a contract to become Arqit's exclusive reseller in the UK, incorporating their products into its wider portfolio of Security solutions. BT was a foundational research partner for Arqit in 2017, and the companies intend to extend their collaboration to find new ways to develop the UK's quantum communications infrastructure.

Virgin, which has itself a long history of pioneering in aerospace technology, has invested via its Virgin Orbit subsidiary in the Arqit financing transaction as well as signing contracts to launch the first two Arqit satellites, possibly from Cornwall in the UK, targeted for 2023.

Arqit's mission is to use transformational quantum encryption technology to protect the data of our governments, enterprises and citizens. Over the past four years, Arqit has invented and patented technology which substantially extends the ability to provide the benefits of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) to end point devices. QuantumCloud puts a lightweight agent at any end point device, which is able to rapidly create an unlimited number of symmetric keys with partner devices.

QuantumCloud's reach is due to be expanded further through the usage of pioneering satellite technology. Currently the symmetric keys used in data encryption are created terrestrially. However, by 2023 Arqit plans to launch two quantum satellites, which will build on established QKD protocols to extend the capability to both create and transmit a backbone of secure keys to the data centres of Arqit's customers all over the world.

QuantumCloud is symmetric encryption reborn for the cloud, providing a significant improvement on legacy PKI encryption technology, and delivering future-ready protection against quantum-based attack. The US Government department NIST published a White Paper in April urging haste in the creation of new solutions to these problems  Arqit and its partners have achieved just such a solution.

Kwasi Kwarteng, BEIS SoS said: "Building back better from the pandemic means harnessing the latest developments in science and technology, so we want the UK to be the world's first quantum- ready economy given its potential to deliver new jobs, skills and knowledge across Britain.

"Our National Quantum Technologies Programme, that is set to pass 1bn of public and private investment over its lifetime, is helping create a world leading quantum ecosystem here in UK, and supporting the commercial success of innovative quantum businesses."

Howard Watson, Chief Technology Officer of BT said: "BT has been undertaking pioneering research in quantum security for many years, including working with Arqit on the research and concepts behind their technology. This launch is a great example of the innovation and capabilities that are being developed through collaboration across the UK's technology ecosystem. We are proud to be providing this technology to UK customers, which will bolster our industry-leading security capabilities."

Dan Hart, President and CEO of Virgin Orbit said: "The Virgin Group has been a long-term investor in space because of the transformational impact it will have on our world. At Virgin Orbit, we look for innovative companies to work with, and we are pleased to be Arqit's satellite launch partner and to invest in its development. Arqit's satellites will enable the company to further distribute its cutting-edge quantum encryption technology, which will drive and protect development across so many key sectors."

Arqit Co-Founder and Chairman David Williams said: "This is a global business and we are proud to have on the team some of the finest minds and capabilities from the US military and cyber, space and cloud tech markets. Also the UK's public and private start-up community must take considerable credit for providing the infrastructure and backing to build this business  which we believe will embed the UK at the heart of global cyber-security and quantum encryption commercial and government programmes for decades to come. In the course of the next few weeks and months we will be announcing a long list of international customer and partner initiatives which are testament to the regard in which the UK is held in this mission critical enterprise and we are grateful to the Government, BT, Virgin and other backers for their support in our development."

About Arqit

Arqit has invented a unique quantum encryption technology which makes the communications links of any networked device secure against current and future forms of hacking  even an attack from a quantum computer. Arqit's product, called QuantumCloud creates unbreakable software encryption keys which are easy and efficient to use remotely with no hardware or disruption to software required. The software has universal application to every edge device and cloud machine in the world.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in the United States, Arqit was founded in 2017 by UK satellite industry veteran David Williams. Arqit's venture investors included Notion Capital, Seraphim Space, Evolution Equity and the UK government's Future Fund.

About BT's Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) programme:

BT has been actively developing security solutions for quantum communications towards commercialisation since 2014, as part of its wider programme to research the impact that quantum computing will have on telecommunications. BT leads and contributes to a number of collaborative projects in the field of QKD, providing insight from its own research and engaging with industry to standardise and integrate QKD into broader future-ready security solutions. In addition to our work with Arqit on satellite QKD, BT provided the first industrial deployment of a QKD solution for the National Composite Centre in Bristol, utilising Toshiba's quantum technology.

Additional Information

This communication is being made in respect of the proposed transaction involving Arqit Limited ("Arqit"), Centricus Acquisition Corp. ("Centricus") and Arqit Quantum Inc. ("Pubco"), a newly formed Cayman holding company. This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. In connection with the proposed transaction, Pubco will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") a registration statement on Form F-4 that will include a proxy statement of Centricus in connection with Centricus' solicitation of proxies for the vote by Centricus' shareholders with respect to the proposed transaction and other matters as may be described in the registration statement. Pubco and Centricus also plan to file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction and a proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to all holders of Centricus' Class A ordinary shares. BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING OR INVESTMENT DECISION, INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE FORM F-4 AND THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC IN CONNECTION WITH THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

The proxy statement/prospectus, as well as other filings containing information about Arqit and Centricus will be available without charge at the SEC's Internet site ( http://www.sec.gov ). Copies of the proxy statement/prospectus can also be obtained, when available, without charge, from Arqit's website at www.arqit.uk, or by directing a request to: Centricus Acquisition Corp., PO Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman, KY1- 1104, Cayman Islands.

Participants in the Solicitations

Arqit, Centricus and certain of their respective directors, executive officers and other members of management and employees may, under SEC rules, be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Centricus' shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction. Information about Centricus' directors and executive officers and their ownership of Centricus' securities will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus when available. Additional information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests will be included in the proxy statement/prospectus when it becomes available. Shareholders, potential investors and other interested persons should read the proxy statement/prospectus carefully when it becomes available before making any voting or investment decisions. You may obtain free copies of these documents from the sources indicated above.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of section 10 of the Securities Act, or an exemption therefrom.

Caution About Forward-Looking Statements

This communication includes forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on Arqit's and Centricus's expectations and beliefs concerning future events and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These factors are difficult to predict accurately and may be beyond Arqit's and Centricus's control. Forward- looking statements in this communication or elsewhere speak only as of the date made. New uncertainties and risks arise from time to time, and it is impossible for Arqit and Centricus to predict these events or how they may affect Arqit and Centricus. Except as required by law, neither Arqit and Centricus has any duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forward-looking statements in this communication or elsewhere after the date this communication is issued. In light of these risks and uncertainties, investors should keep in mind that results, events or developments discussed in any forward-looking statement made in this communication may not occur. Uncertainties and risk factors that could affect Arqit's and Centricus's future performance and cause results to differ from the forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to: (i) that the business combination may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price of Centricus' securities, (ii) the risk that the business combination may not be completed by Centricus' business combination deadline and the potential failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline if sought by Centricus, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the business combination, including the approval of the Business Combination Agreement by the shareholders of Centricus and the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount following any redemptions by Centricus' public shareholders, (iv) the lack of a thirdparty valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the business combination, (v) the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination Agreement, (vi) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the business combination on the Company's business relationships, operating results, and business generally,

(vii) risks that the business combination disrupt current plans and operations of the Company, (viii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the Company or against Centricus related to the Business Combination Agreement or the business combination, (ix) the ability to maintain the listing of Centricus' securities on a national securities exchange, (x) changes in the competitive and regulated industries in which the Company operates, variations in operating performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company's business and changes in the combined capital structure, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, (xii) the potential inability of the Company to convert its pipeline or orders in backlog into revenue, (xiii) the potential inability of the Company to successfully deliver its operational technology which is still in development, (xiv) the potential delay of the commercial launch of the Company's products, (xv) the risk of interruption or failure of the Company's information technology and communications system and (xvi) the enforceability of the Company's intellectual property.

Contacts:

Arqit Limited

UK - Montfort Communications: +44 (0) 20 3514 0897

Nick Miles: +44 (0) 7739 701634, [email protected]

Olly Scott: +44 (0) 7812 345205, [email protected]

James Olley: +44 (0) 7974 982302, [email protected]

US - Nicholas Fox: +1 (347) 882 0804, [email protected]

SOURCE Arqit
The Apartment Housing and Rentals Foundation (AHRF) is delighted to announce that the Foundation has partnered with V School to provide job retraining to our members who wish to learn to code. V School has headquarters in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas Nevada and offers online classes to interested students all over the US that teach students how to write code and design software. V School has just announced that it is offering a FULL RIDE SCHOLARSHIP to one of the AHRF members for job retraining in Programming and front-end design. It's Your Turn to Join Today's Fastest Growing Career Path The demand for web developers and UX/UI designers continues to grow across industries and companies and there is no sign of this slowing down. We need great web developers to build top-of-the-line websites and apps as our digital lifestyles grow every day.

100%Tuition-Paid Scholarships to V School. The AHRF scholarship is available for V School's web development or UX/UI design online programs. Apply now .

The AHRF helps tenants in the United States who have over-due rent or are facing eviction. Tenants can join AHRF and once a member, Case Managers work with the tenant/member and their landlord to prevent eviction. This process grants the tenant the ability to stay in the property and helps the landlord avoid the costly process of eviction. It is a win-win program called the Eviction Prevention Program or EPP.

Each Member participates in classes to teach budgeting and tenant rights and responsibilities. These classes are required but are offered for free except for the purchase of course books. Members are then eligible for a variety of job retraining opportunities. The V School works with each student to show them how to write a great resume, to gain an interview and to improve their presentation when interviewing in addition to the training. Students continue their V School relationship throughout their career path and can return for training in code language updates and refresher courses.

The AHRF also has angel businesses located across the country who offer paid internships to the AHRF member graduates of this V School program. Graduates can go on to become developers or use their new skills to enhance work in other professions like website design, marketing, customer service, software sales and more.

If your company is interested in contributing to scholarships or offering paid internships to this program, please contact Lashondra Graves at [email protected]

For information about the VSchool programs contact

https://vschool.io/scholarships/apartment-housing-rentals-foundation/

For more information about getting help with your rental situation, contact the AHRF here . To donate to the AHRF click on this link. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/Wecareaboutu

SOURCE Apartment and Housing Rentals Foundation Inc

Related Links

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CAU Receives 3 Million from Tucker, GA Business for New Entrepreneurial Center Tweet this

"These significant new resources to fund entrepreneurial programming will enable Clark Atlanta University to continue to graduate our students with a competitive edge to become successful career leaders, innovators and social justice change agents," said President George T. French Jr., Ph.D. "We are extremely grateful for such a generous gift and are convinced that the Robert H. "Bob" Bell/House of Cheatham Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development will continue to develop and invest into the future of our students, who when they depart CAU, are prepared to positively impact the world."

"Bob" H. Bell, served as a Representative and Senator in the Georgia General Assembly from 1969-1982. In 1971, he purchased Cheatham Chemical, later changing the name to House of Cheatham. Under his leadership, the company developed as a global leader and supplier, selling beauty products in mass market retail, grocery, drug and specialty beauty stores in over 30 countries.

About the House of Cheatham

House of Cheatham is a privately held company located in Tucker GA, established in 1924, as a personal care and grooming products manufacturer. Its portfolio currently includes 11 brands of hair and skin care products sold in over 30 countries. Learn more about the company's brands and commitments at: houseofcheatham.com.

About Clark Atlanta University

Established in 1988 by the historic consolidation of Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869). Clark Atlanta University continues a 150-year legacy rooted in African-American tradition and focused on the future. Through global innovation, transformative educational experiences, and high-value engagement. CAU cultivates lifted lives that transform the world. Notable alumni include: James Weldon Johnson; American civil rights activist, poet, and songwriter (Lift Every Voice and Sing "The Black National Anthem"; Ralph David Abernathy Sr., American civil rights activist; Congressman Hank Johnson, Georgia District 4; Kenya Barris, American award-winning television and movie producer; Kenny Leon, Tony Award-winning Broadway Director; Jacque Reid, Emmy Award-winning Television Personality and Journalist; Brandon Thompson, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for NASCAR; Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Recording Academy. To learn more about Clark Atlanta University, visit www.cau.edu

SOURCE Clark Atlanta University

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Los Angeles, May 16 : Hollywood veteran Jane Seymour has shared her unusual hobbies, revealing she is a keen fly fisher.

"I fly-fish enthusiastically, but not very well," Seymour said, adding that she also likes to watch fish in their natural habitat when she goes scuba diving.

"I love scuba diving and snorkeling through coral reefs. I hated prawns growing up but loved to catch them. Now they're my favourite," said the 70-year-old actress, according to a reports in femalefirst.co.uk.

Seymour talked about her varied hobbies in the "25 Things You Don't Know About Me" feature for the new issue of Us Weekly magazine, saying she is a committed painter and has long experimented with making her own clothes.

"Art has always been a passion. I love painting, sculpting and designing. I used to make my own clothes and wore vintage long before it was cool," she said.

"As a child, I loved ant farms, beehives and tadpoles. I loved science so much that I had my own microscope at seven. You know, my first boyfriend and I bonded over stamp collecting," recalled Seymour, who is still popularly recalled as Bond girl Solitaire in the 1973 film "Live And Let Die", which was the late Sir Roger Moore's debut as 007.
Beijing, May 16 : The Chinese mainland has reported four new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases in Liaoning province, the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

Besides the four locally-transmitted cases, there 14 new imported infections registered in the mainland, Xinhua news agency quoted the Commission as saying.

Of the 14, five were reported in Guangdong, three in Yunnan, two in Shanghai, and one each in Inner Mongolia, Henan, Sichuan and Shaanxi.

Meanwhile, there were no deaths related to the disease, the Commission added.

China's overall caseload and death toll as of Sunday morning stood at 90,829 and 4,636.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Beijing, May 16 : Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that he expects Beijing and Islamabad to take the opportunity of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties to open up a brighter prospect for bilateral relations.

In a telephone conversation on Saturday with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Wang said the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan is unique, and bilateral relations have become a model of friendly cooperation between countries, reports Xinhua news agency.

Wang noted that over the past 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two sides have firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other's core interests.

Wang stressed that China will continue to stand firmly with Pakistan in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Beijing is also is ready to work with Pakistan to step up efforts to implement the outcomes of the video conference of Foreign Ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on Covid-19 and play a bigger role in regional economic recovery, he added.

Noting that Pakistan has an important traditional influence on the Afghan issue, Wang said China recognises and appreciates Pakistan's efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan and calls for all parties to reach a political arrangement acceptable to all sides under the "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned" framework.

For his part, Qureshi congratulated the landing of China's Tianwen-1 probe on Mars, and said bilateral relations have achieved fruitful results since the establishment of diplomatic ties.

He said his country hopes to jointly celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and push forward the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership with China.

Qureshi thanked China for its strong support for Pakistan's fight against Covid-19 and expressed hope that his country would continue to enhance anti-pandemic cooperation with China.

Pakistan appreciates the joint statement on the Afghan issue issued at the China+Central Asia foreign ministers' meeting, and maintains that US and NATO troops should leave Afghanistan in an orderly and responsible manner, and supports Afghanistan's neighbouring countries in playing a bigger role in pushing forward the peace process in Afghanistan, he added.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Lucknow, May 16 : The Yogi Adityanath government's UP Oxygen Production Promotion Policy, 2021, is designed to augment production of medical and industrial oxygen, and generate jobs as well.

The policy blueprint, which was hammered out by the infrastructure and industrial development department, will bolster supply of medical oxygen amidst a surge in demand due to Covid's lethal second run.

A government spokesman said that the policy will enable private investment in liquid oxygen plants, medical oxygen plants, zeolite and cylinder manufacturing, oxygen concentrators and accessories, cryogenic tankers and container manufacturing units.

Applications under the policy will be accepted within six months of release.

Sources in the government said the government has an estimated daily requirement of 1,200 tonnes of oxygen based on requirement of Covid-19 patients in home isolation or hospitals.

The policy received the cabinet nod at a meeting held virtually on Saturday evening.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Washington, May 16 : US President Joe Biden expressed concerns about the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip in separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

During his call with Netanyahu, Biden on Saturday voiced concerns about violent confrontations in the West Bank and "shared his grave concern about the intercommunal violence across Israel", Xinhua news agency quoted a White House readout of the conversation.

He also raised concerns about "the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection", likely referring to an airstrike carried out by the Israeli military earlier in the day that destroyed a building housing international news organizations in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Biden "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza", said the readout.

Biden also held his first phone conversation with Abbas since he took office in January, in which he conveyed Washington's "commitment to strengthening the US-Palestinian partnership".

The two leaders discussed current tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank and expressed their shared concern about the loss of civilian life in the ongoing violence, the White House said in a separate readout.

Biden emphasized to Abbas the need for Hamas to halt firing rockets into Israel.

He voiced his support for the two-state solution in speaking with both leaders.

The phone calls came amid escalating violence between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian militants.

Israeli fighter jets on Saturday bombed and demolished Jala Tower, a high-rise building in Gaza City housing Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press (AP) offices, as well as residential apartments.

The building "contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of Hamas", said an Israeli military spokesperson in a statement.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said ithat "we are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza".

"We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life," he said.

"A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time." The ongoing conflict was the worst violence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave since 2014.

Militant groups in Gaza continued firing barrages of rockets targeting cities in northern, central and southern Israel.

A spokesperson of the Israeli army said that more than 200 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel in the last 12 hours, while the overall number since Monday increased to over 1,800.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in Gaza said that since Monday more than 140 Palestinians have been killed, including 40 children and 20 women, and about 1,000 others injured.

The rocket attacks have also killed at least nine Israelis and wounded 200 others so far.
Tehran, May 16 : A total of 592 people have registered for the 13th presidential polls in Iran, Jamal Orf, head of the country's election campaign, said.

Out of the total candidates, 40 are women and 552 are men, Xinhua news agency quoted Orf as saying in a statement on Saturday.

On Saturday, the last day of the registration process, three senior political figures announced their bid for the June 18 election.

Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi as a principlist candidate, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri as a reformist candidate, and former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani as a moderate conservative political figure officially registered for the campaign.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs on May 11 officially started registering candidates for the 13th presidential race.

From Sunday, each candidate will be scrutinised by the Guardian Council of the Constitution (GCC), the country's highest legislative body.

The GCC will assess the qualification of the applicants and release the names of qualified candidates by May 27.

The nominees will have 20 days to campaign before election day.

A presidential candidate should be an Iranian national, prudent and capable of taking on leadership duties, and believe in the Islamic republic's principles and official religion, according to the constitution.

Recently, the GCC updated the requirements for individuals planning to register as candidates.

"All nominees must be between 40 and 70 years of age, hold at least a master's degree or its equivalent, have at least four years' experience in managerial posts, and have no criminal record," said Hadi Tahan Nazif, a GCC jurist member.

Meanwhile, top military commanders of major general and higher positions are also allowed to run for President.

Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani cannot stand for re-election after two terms in office.
Lucknow, May 16 : While many states have curtailed the vaccination in the 18-44 years' age group, citing lack of vaccines, the Uttar Pradesh government is preparing to expand the drive in this age group from Monday.

According to the government spokesman, vaccination for 18 plus group will be conducted in 23 districts of the state from May 17.

The 23 districts include Aligarh, Agra, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Bareilly, Meerut, Moradabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Firozabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Ayodhya, Shahjahanpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Mirzapur, Banda, Gonda, Azamgarh and Basti.

Five more districts have been included in the campaign and these include Mirzapur, Banda, Gonda, Azamgarh and Basti. Earlier, 18 districts had initiated the vaccination campaign in the 18-44 age group.

Taking the lead in Covid vaccination, the state has so far administered as many as 1,47,94,597 doses of vaccine.

Of these, 1,16,12,525 have received their first dose and around 31,82,072 got their second dose of the vaccine.

The government has been consistently working to ramp up the vaccination drive in the state.

The chief minister is making all necessary arrangements to ensure there is no budgetary constraint in procuring vaccines. The state government has already made an advance payment to the vaccine manufacturers and became the first state to make such a move.

The state government has placed orders for the supply of one crore Covid vaccine doses -- 50 lakh doses from Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited that manufactures Covaxin and 50 lakh doses from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) that makes Covishield.

The state has received 3.50 lakh doses of Covishield from SII and 1.50 lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech so far.

The state government had floated a global tender for 40 million vaccine doses, earlier this month, to meet its huge requirement of vaccine doses.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also opened communication channels with prospective suppliers to ensure quick delivery of Covid-19 vaccines to boost the inoculation drive for the 18-44 years' age group as well as those above 45 years.

Six vaccine manufacturers attended a pre-bid meeting convened by Uttar Pradesh last week to discuss procurement of 40 million Covid-19 jabs.

The government is estimated to spend up to 100 billion rupees to buy Covid-19 shots.

Meanwhile, for seamless monitoring of Covid-19 arrangements, the UP government has appointed 59 officials in the rank of secretary and principal secretary as nodal officers in 75 districts.

Chief secretary R.K. Tiwari has directed officers to review treatment and prevention mechanisms and monitor Covid-related activities.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Colombo bourse DvP roll out next month By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera View(s): View(s):

The Delivery versus Payment (DvP) on the Colombo bourse will be launched next month  which was talked about for over two decades and will essentially wipe out the settlement risk in a share trade, officials said.

When this system kicks in, a buyers cash payment for shares must be made before or at the same time as their delivery of the shares. This system is a big part of building trust with foreign clients, according to the officials.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) board has approved the relevant rules for the DvP and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sanctioned them at the last commission meeting. The test run was successful and its ready to be launched, the officials said.

Amongst the many efforts in broad-basing the capital market the SEC has in principle sanctioned to include telco operators to introduce share trading in their platforms in a bid to give a wide choice for investors.

Viraj Dayaratne, Chairman SEC told the Business Times recently in an interview that it will be groundbreaking to take this initiative forward. The telco subscribers will need to prefund the trades. The framework is still being developed by the CSE.

More than 90 per cent of the new CDS accounts have been opened via the new mobile app launched last September and this has made it easier for enabling such platforms.

The existing mobile app will be further improved to make it more user-friendly by making the app available in three languages and including other macro-economic indicators to the app to enable carrying out detailed analysis.

We are contemplating providing a seamless trading and settlement experience for all stakeholders which would enable the market to be on par with other developed markets, Mr. Dayaratne said.
Srinagar, May 16 : Thunder accompanied by hailstorm occurred at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday as farmers and orchardists continued to wail and weep watching their fruit and vegetable crops getting damaged, officials said on Sunday.

Hailstorm destroyed vegetable and fruit buds in north Kashmir's Sopore and its adjoining areas on Saturday as the meteorological (MeT) department said same weather is likely to continue during the next 24 hours.

"Light rain with thunderstorm is expected to occur in J&K during the next 24 hours", an official of the MeT department said.

Frightening hailstorm has been occurring in Kashmir during the last 5 days with specific areas being damaged on each day.

Hailstorm first occurred in south Kashmir Kulgam area and then spread to north and centre of the Valley in a cyclic manner, Kupwara, Baramulla, Srinagar, Budgam and Sopore.

Orchardists in some of the worst hit areas believe that their almond, cherry and apple crop has suffered irreparable damage due to these cyclic hailstorms.

Srinagar had 11.7, Pahalgam 6.4 and Gulmarg 3.4 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature on Sunday.

Leh town of Ladakh had 2.0, Kargil 5.0 and Drass 2.4 as the night's lowest temperature.

Jammu city had 22.0, Katra 19.8, Batote 13.4, Banihal 10.6 and Bhaderwah 9.7 as the minimum temperature.
Kanpur : , May 16 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Kanpur (IIT-K) will now study the impact of the immersion/burial of bodies in water and soil.

According to Prof Vinod Tare, advisor to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the development comes in the backdrop of mass graves being discovered on the banks of the Ganga in Rae Bareli, Unnao, Kanpur, Fatehpur and Kannauj, and fears about possible contamination of water and soil if the bodies were of Covid-19 patients.

"We are going to study the impact of immersion of bodies and their burial on water and soil," said Prof Tare, adding that the issue had been discussed at the NMCG level.

"Immersing a Covid body in Ganga would wash the virus, but it won't be destroyed. You need different agents such as heat and others to destroy the virus," he said.

Prof Tare, who is with the institute's environmental science department, has been part of all top panels formed to rejuvenate the Ganga.

The professor sought a complete ban on immersion and burial on the riverbed and said the government should make arrangements in order to prevent the practice.

Prof Tare has issued an appeal to the people not to dump the bodies in the river or bury them close to it.

The graves found in Unnao, Kanpur and Kannauj in the last few days were shallow as bodies have been buried at less than two-to-three-feet. This has increased the fear that these corpses would be washed away once the river rises during monsoon.

Kanpur police commissioner Aseem Arun has said that arrangements would be made for proper cremation if the concerned families could not afford the cost.

The state government has also set up a unit of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), one platoon of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and jawans from river police to patrol the river on boats and prevent immersion of bodies in the Ganga.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kochi, May 16 : The first oxygen express train to Kerala reached Vallarpadam terminal in Kochi at 3.30 a.m. on Sunday. A total of 118 Metric Tonnes of Oxygen was delivered.

The load which was originally sent to Delhi from Tata Steel plant, Kalinganagar, Odisha, was rerouted to Kochi as it was released to Kerala by the Union government after the requirement in Delhi dipped.

The oxygen will be loaded in tanker lorries and despatched to other districts of the state under the supervision of the state fire force. The oxygen control room functioning at the state capital Thiruvananthapuram will monitor the situation of the movement of the tankers to the various districts of the state.

The arrival of oxygen will alleviate the situation of oxygen shortage in the state.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had the other day told media persons that the state is witnessing a shortage of oxygen and that it has appealed to the union government to provide the necessary oxygen. With the arrival of oxygen express, this issue will be settled for now.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Pune, May 16 : Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, Rajiv Satav, passed away in a hospital here after a 23-day long battle with Covid-19, party officials said here on Sunday.

He was 46, and belonged to the core team of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Satav had developed Covid symptoms on April 19 and a swab test turned out to be positive on April 21.

He was admitted to the Jehangir Hospital in Pune and as his condition worsened, a week later he was put on a ventilator.

After a brief spell of recovery, his condition again deteriorated alarmingly since the last week and he remained in the ICU where he succumbed early today Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday that besides Covid-19, Satav was also being treated cytomegalovirus infection and some additional complications with the help of experts.

State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat visited the hospital and inquired about his health while Minister of State for Agriculture and Congress leader Vishwajeet Kadam was regularly in touch with the family and the hospital.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, May 16 : Police departments in New York City and other large metro areas across the US are bulking up patrols and implementing new tactics to prepare for what they say could be a "violent summer", according to a media report.

States lifting Covid-19 restrictions and more people out in public spaces in warmer weather increase the likelihood of more shootings, as well as less-serious crimes, officials were quoted as saying The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report on Saturday.

Many crimes, including violent ones, normally rise in summer, Xinhua news agency reported.

Gun purchases also rose during the pandemic and cities have seen an increase in guns being used in crimes, according to the WSJ report.

Shootings and homicides in big US cities are up this year again after rising last year.

In the last three months of 2020, homicides rose 32.2 per cent in cities with a population of at least one million, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Quarterly Uniform Crime Report.

In New York City, the number of homicides has reached 146 for the year so far, an increase of 27 percent from 115 during the same period in 2020.

In Dallas, police have counted 75 homicides this year, up from 58 during the same period last year.

Chicago police have recorded 195 homicides, up from 160 in the year-ago period.

"We're coming out of the pandemic, life is starting again and more people are going to be out on the street," director of public safety James Shea of the Jersey City, New Jersey, was quoted by the WSJ as saying.

So far, over 30 per cent of Americans have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, mask mandates are being loosened at federal, state and city levels, and local governments are preparing to open economies to wider spectrums.

New York City is to fully reopen its economy on July 1.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Nay Pyi Taw, May 16 : Myanmar's Foreign Affairs Ministry will hold talks with officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next week, a spokesperson of the military-run State Administration Council said.

"There is no official notice regarding the visit of ASEAN chair and secretary general to Myanmar so far, but the Foreign Affairs Ministry will have discussions with ASEAN officials next week," Major General Zaw Min Tun told a press conference on Saturday.

The spokesperson also said a total of 63 civilians have been killed in attacks across the country fsince the military coup on February 1 to May 12, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, 57 explosions of handmade bombs and mines took place in the country in April and May, mainly targeting educational institutions and township education offices, he said.

Security operations have been planned in school surroundings and on the main roads leading to schools to ensure the safety of students and teachers when schools reopen next month, the spokesperson said.

Several incidents of explosions recently took place in Myanmar's regions and states while martial law orders were imposed in six townships of Yangon region and one in Chin state.
New Delhi, May 16 : Former Union minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Sunday questioned the Narendra Modi government on the decline in the numbers of daily vaccination while taking a jibe at Health Minister Harsh Vardhan over the shortage of vaccines.

"Why is the number of vaccinations administered going down every day? It was only 11,60,000 doses on Friday, bringing down significantly the daily average of May. It is a far cry from the 42 lakh doses administered on April 2.

"The only reason and explanation is shortage of vaccines. Of course, the loyal and obedient Union Health Minister will flatly deny any shortage of vaccines!" Chidambaram said.

Harsh Vardhan on Saturday reviewed public health response to Covid-19 and progress of vaccination in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

All the state health administrators were advised to increase ICU and oxygenated beds, undertake oxygen audits, take stock of availability of medicines in the state and strengthen their medical workforce.

Detailing the ramping up of vaccine production, he said, "We will have 51.6 crore vaccine doses by the end of July including the 18 crore doses already administered. Sputnik has been approved. This along with the slated approval of the new vaccine of Zydus Cadila, Serum Institute of India- Novavax vaccine, Bharat Biotech's nasal vaccine and the Genova mRNA vaccine will push the availability of Covid vaccines to 216 crore doses in the August-December period."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Colombo, May 16 : Sri Lanka and the World Bank have signed an $80.5 million additional financing deal to help the island nation access and distribute Covid-19 vaccines and to strengthen the country's inoculatio system and pandemic response.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank country director for Sri Lanka, said the global lender remained responsive to the health priorities of Sri Lanka as well as emergency needs, reports Xinhua news agency.

Effective deployment of the vaccines would help Sri Lanka protect people, build human capital and facilitate inclusive economic recovery, Faris said.

The second additional financing to the Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project is to purchase and deploy safe and effective jabs that meet the World Bank's Vaccine Approval Criteria; to strengthen relevant health systems that are necessary for successful deployment; and to prepare for the future, the World Bank statement said.

"The government of Sri Lanka is committed to protecting our population from the impacts of the pandemic, and we have placed a high priority on strengthening and expanding the Covid-19 vaccination program," Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said.

"This useful and timely resource will help us to ensure equitable vaccine deployment among the eligible population of Sri Lanka." The Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project with a total of $298.07 million has contributed to Sri Lanka's pandemic management and prevention efforts.

Project funds have supported the provision of essential works, goods, services, and consultancies for emergency pandemic management and prevention activities, including the procurement of medical and surgical consumables.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Cairo, May 16 : Egypt has started dredging works to expand the Suez Canal's southern section aimed at allowing two-way traffic in the vital waterway, authorities said.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced Saturday that the dredging is part of a project to develop the southern entrance of the Suez Canal, Xinhua news agency.

SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said in the statement that the project is a continuation of developing the waterway that began with the opening of the new Suez Canal in 2015, adding that dredging works will take place in several stages.

The project, Rabie said, is expected to raise the efficiency of the canal and reduce the transit time for ships, in addition to increasing the safety of navigation in the southern section.

Last week, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi approved the SCA's plan to expand and deepen the southern stretch of the Suez Canal.

The project, to be completed in two years, will widen and deepen 40 km of the waterway, including the part where a container ship Ever Given became jammed and blocked traffic for six days in March.

The SCA will also widen the 30 km southern stretch of the waterway between the city of Suez and the Bitter Lakes area by 40 metres, and deepen that section from 20 to 21 metres.

Linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, the Suez Canal is a major lifeline for global seaborne trade since it allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa, thereby reducing the sea voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7,000 km.

Some 12 per cent of the world trade volume passes through the Suez Canal.

At least 18,840 ships passed through the canal last year.

The Suez Canal provides one of Egypt's main sources of income, alongside tourism and remittances from expatriates.

Revenue from the waterway reached $5.6 billion last year.
New Delhi, May 16 : Congress leaders have expressed grief on the demise of Rajeev Satav, Congress In-charge of Gujarat, who lost his life due to Covid on Sunday.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "I'm very sad at the loss of my friend Rajeev Satav. He was a leader with huge potential who embodied the ideals of the Congress. It's a big loss for us all. My condolences and love to his family." Expressing grief Priyanka Gandhi tweeted, "In Rajeev Satav, we have lost one of our brightest colleagues. Clean of heart, sincere, deeply committed to the ideals of the Congress & devoted to the people of India. I have no words, just prayers for his young wife & children. May they have the strength to carry on without him." Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala remembered his long association with him. "Satav is not the first leader Congress has lost to Covid, it has lost Ahmed Patel and Tarun Gogoi also," he said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, Rajeev Satav passed away in a hospital here after a 23-day long battle with Covid-19.

He was 46, and belonged to the core team of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Satav had developed Covid symptoms on April 19 and a swab test turned out to be positive on April 21.

He was admitted to the Jehangir Hospital in Pune and as his condition worsened, a week later he was put on a ventilator.

After a brief spell of recovery, his condition again deteriorated alarmingly since the last week and he remained in the ICU where he succumbed early on Sunday.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday that besides Covid-19, Satav was also being treated cytomegalovirus infection and some additional complications with the help of experts.

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Everyone likes the fruit, but View(s):

This week I came across an interesting, but controversial, write-up by Joseph Stiglitz and another author, Lori Wallach titled Will Corporate Greed Prolong the Pandemic? The first author, Joseph Stiglitz is a familiar name; a former chief economist of the World Bank (1997-2000), a Nobel laureate in economics and also a Professor at Columbia University. According to the two authors, the profit greediness of the pharmaceutical companies doesnt allow the COVID-19 pandemic to come to an end soon!

Apparently, the article has been subject to many criticisms too; some of the critiques have expressed that it is unbelievable that Stiglitz authored such an article and, reported that the article even contains false information.

Divided world

Well, it is not my intention to argue for either side of the above; rather, I want to highlight the economics of both sides so that we may be able to make a fair judgement.

First, I want to recall two articles that I wrote in this column in the past on the topics related to COVID-19 pandemic; todays discussion is essentially related to them too: The first article was under the title Beneficiaries of COVID-19, published on May 17, 2020. By this time, the world had not invented a vaccine. However, many multinational pharmaceutical companies of which most of them were from the US, with the support of the governments and other organisations with research funds, had initiated research activity to invent a vaccine. And these companies which would also receive the patent rights will eventually enjoy the monopoly profits out of the global pandemic.

The second article was under the title First the rich, then the poor, published on January 10, 2021. By this time, about 12 vaccines had been produced by some of the pharmaceutical companies which had spent on inventing them. And there was a big rush from all over the world to buy them, while the rich countries wanted to buy more than their need. The way these vaccines were purchased by different countries in the world, it was clear that income inequality in the world is going to play a big role in its distribution among different countries as well as different people; it would be the rich who gets it first and then the poor.

Profits before lives

I believe that the whole world is eagerly waiting to see the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible. The irony is that, however, it would not happen until and unless everyone is vaccinated  that is the 7.8 billion world population. In other words, the greater the number of people gets vaccinated, the faster will be the end of the pandemic. And for anybody to feel safe, everybody should get it and nobody should be left behind!

There is someone, who is against it happening  pharmaceutical companies, which have the vaccines!

As Stiglitz and Wallach argue in their paper, it is the pharmaceutical companies which prevent it happening. Why? Profit greediness, according to Stiglitz and Wallach. They invented the vaccines and obtained the patent rights to protect the monopoly powers of producing and supplying the vaccines to the market. If anyone finds the secret vaccine formula and starts producing and marketing, then that company is liable for infringing the exclusive rights of the patent right holder. The intellectual property law provides protection to patent rights, copyrights, trademarks, designs, and other.

If not for the profit greediness, these companies would have disclosed the vaccine formula, allowing any country to produce it freely. Then within a few weeks time the COVID vaccines would have been in each and every pharmacy in the world for sale like a paracetamol drug! Well; I am not sure whether every country has the resources and capacity to start and administer production of vaccines even if they have the formula. And the validation of the new vaccine production sites might also take months, if not years.

If it is not a possibility, then someone could still argue that the pharmaceutical companies can produce as much vaccines as the world needs and distributes it among all the countries. Even if the pharmaceutical companies volunteer to do so, I am not sure whether the inputs for an exponential increase in vaccine production can be supplied in such magnitude.

If we dont have any of the above obstacles, obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic will be over within this year, but as of now it has been predicted to be stretching at least until 2023. After all, everyone agrees on the point that the concern for humanity is far superior to the profit motive! I must also say that some of the pharmaceutical companies have made commitments to supply the vaccine at the cost of production, without focusing too much on profits.

Roots of the fruits

Lets look at the reality: Western medicine is the fruit, which has well grown roots  a global business in which the multinational companies have made big investments to produce drugs, vaccines, equipment, and other needs for the health sector. In order to carry out this business, they also must employ highly-skilled professionals  scientists, engineers, doctors, accountants, managers and others alike. They also invest constantly and competitively in research and development (R&D) to develop new drugs, new vaccines, new equipment and new machines.

If not for all that, the world would not have enjoyed the benefit of western medicine as we see it today. The goal of the pharmaceutical companies is clear  to maintain a bigger market for a longer period in order to make profits. Patent rights provide an assurance that the company has an assured market to recover its R&D expenditure, cost of production, and to make profits for a given period of time.

If the pharmaceutical companies had to commit that they should reveal the vaccine formula and will not receive the patent right, as business entities they would not have been committed to bring out vaccines for the pandemic. As long as they are profit-making business entities, they focus on market and profit, not the pandemic issue. By earning profits, they would invest further on R&D, when the next health issue or the next pandemic hits the world.

Yesterdays profits were necessary for todays medicines, while todays profits are necessary for tomorrows medicines! Its a growth process without which it is not possible to bear fruits. Because of this reason, it is not for anybody or any country to bring out fruits overnight without planting the tree.

It is a bluntly stated truth that the profit greediness of the pharmaceutical companies has enabled the production of COVID-19 vaccines. In other words, if we take profit greediness away from the equation, there wont be any vaccines in the world.

Vaccine rush

Thats not all, however; there have been mixed developments on the part of the governments in many different countries. Everybody wanted the vaccines. But it has so far been mostly available in rich countries, while the poor countries are struggling to get a little.

As the BBC reported this week, the rich countries have been speeding up their vaccination programmes with 67 per cent of the population in the UK and 56 per cent of the population in the US already receiving the first dose of the vaccine. Some of the vaccine producing countries, including the US and the UK have banned or restricted the export of vaccines and the raw material required to produce it, which came under the criticisms of France and India. By the end of last month, in fact, it was India which had been the largest exporter of vaccines, followed by Germany.

India had argued for surrendering the patent rights so that its world-wide production would go up and the cost would go down. In the meantime, the US decided to grant a temporary waiver of the patent right, which means that its production by someone else will not be an infringement of the patent right. These new developments are likely to provide fresh breathing space for the COVID-hit world in the coming months.

(The writer is a Professor of Economics at the University of Colombo and can be reached at

sirimal@econ.cmb.ac.lk and follow on Twitter @SirimalAshoka).
Baghdad, May 16 : Iraqi authorities have lifted the planned 10-day full lockdown to curb the rising Covid-19 infections, and replaced it with a partial curfew.

The authorities had earlier decided to tighten pandemic-related restrictive measures, including a full curfew from May 12 to 22, reports Xinhua news agency.

Malls, restaurants, cafes, and other public facilities were required to be closed.

A after the full curfew came into effect on May 12, a statement by the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety said that the committee decided to ease the restriction and replace the full curfew with a partial one to facilitate the vaccination campaign.

A statement of the Ministry of Health revealed that the daily count of citizens receiving vaccines before May 12 exceeded 21,000, while decreased sharply to 8,774 on May 13 and 3,825 on May 14, apparently due to the curfew and the beginning of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Ziyad al-Jubouri, a professor of economics at Baghdad University, told Xinhua that vaccination is an essential process to contain the pandemic and help the country return to normality.

However, he said facilitating vaccination is not the only reason that prompted the higher committee to quickly lift the full curfew. He also attributed the decision to the the economic difficulties faced by people in the war-torn country, where the poverty rate is about 27 per cent.

The previously announced full curfew angered many laborers, stall vendors, and other self-employed craftsmen who were living hand-to-mouth and anxiously waiting to do a brisk trade during the last several days of the Ramadan and the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Hundreds of citizens rallied in Baghdad and some other provinces to protest against the restrictions, particularly the full curfew.

As of Saturday, Iraq's caseload reached 1,136,917 with 15,930 deaths.
Dhaka, May 16 : Bangladesh has again extended the closure of all secondary and higher secondary educational institutions until May 29 following an ongoing Covid-19 resurgence across the country.

The Ministry of Education said in a statement on Saturday night that the government extended the closure of the institutions till May 29, reports Xinhua news agency.

Previously the closure was extended in phases till May 22.

According to the statement, the latest decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers, institution employees and guardians.

It, however, said all online academic activities of all schools and colleges will continue.

Bangladesh on March 16, 2020, had first announced to close all educational institutions in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the disease.

Since March 2020, the virus has spread to nearly every Bangladeshi district, and the total number of cases has risen to 779,796 with 12,124 deaths so far.
Chennai, May 16 : The Tamil Nadu government has directed to take necessary precautions as Cyclone Tauktae is likely to intensify further. It has asked the authorities to summon back fishermen who are in the sea.

Around 244 deep sea fishing vessels were in the sea and after the state fisheries department took the initiative, 162 had returned to the shore by Saturday night. Efforts are on to bring the rest of the fishing boats back to the shore, the Chief minister's office said.

Chief minister M.K. Stalin who held a review meeting with officials including district collectors and meteorology department officials has specifically stressed on the safety of fishermen from Kanniyakumari, the statement said.

Four teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are already in the state -- two teams in Madurai, one team in Coimbatore district and one in Nilgiris district. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) is also ready as a fall back option.

The Chief minister in his meeting with the district collectors was briefed by the Deputy director general of meteorology S. Balachandran on the possibilities of the rainfall and the preparations of the department. Stalin called upon the revenue officials to be on their toes and to get prepared with necessary equipment in areas prone to landslides.

The Chief minister has also directed the revenue department to ensure Covid norms and protocol in the relief camps being set up to accommodate people from the low lying areas.

The government is also monitoring the storage in reservoirs in the state.
New Delhi, May 16 : The Delhi government will collaborate with the OLA Foundation and GiveIndia to deliver oxygen concentrators to Covid-19 patients recovering under home isolation, as well as for those who need it post-recovery under its Oxygen Concentrator Bank (OCB) scheme.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that the state government is going to start yet another important service, the OCB scheme, in an effort to aid the capital's residents amid the devastating second wave.

"It has been often observed that whenever a person gets infected with the virus, their oxygen levels drop. If they are given oxygen immediately, their health can be prevented from further deterioration. If they do not get timely oxygen, things may worsen. Therefore, it is imperative that Covid patients get timely oxygen," Kejriwal said.

Under the scheme, nodal officers have been set up in 11 districts and each district will have around 200 oxygen concentrators.

In a notification issued by the Delhi government late Saturday, it said that hospital authorities will ensure that doctors were in touch with all those Covid patients who are being given oxygen concentrators.

Also, if needed, the patients will be sent to healthcare centres.

The maximum duration for which the oxygen concentrator will be provided to patients is two months.

"Under the Covid management rules, if the oxygen therapy is needed again, the patient will be evaluated by the physician and oxygen concentrator would be provided as per the demand," the notification stated.

To avail the facility of oxygen supply at one's door-step, the person has to submit a voter ID, copy of discharge from the hospital.

The patients will also be get an oxymeter.

The AAP government, instead of releasing a new helpline number to operate its OCB scheme, has decided to strengthen Delhi Government's existing helpline number - 1031, and released this number as a centralized helpline number for Covid management in the national capital.

Apart from 1031, people can also directly call the control rooms of the 11 districts of Delhi.

The government's ambulance services can be availed by dialling 102 or 1099, and the authorities have also set up a dedicated helpline, 011-22304568, for pregnant and lactating women suffering from Covid-19.

Delhi has been battling against the pandemic with a collapsed healthcare system and shortage of oxygen for nearly two months now.

In the last one week, 2,173 Covid patients have died in Delhi, taking the total death toll to 21,244 since the first wave of the pandemic hit early last year.

The city has been reporting over 300 deaths every day since May 4.

The highest daily deaths in one day were reported on May 3, when a total of 448 Covid patients had died in the city.

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Politicians, businessmen, a women commercial pilot and others joined hands to ensure dignity in death for Covid patients. Image Source: IANS News

Politicians, businessmen, a women commercial pilot and others joined hands to ensure dignity in death for Covid patients. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 16 : Politicians, businessmen, a female commercial pilot and others joined hands to ensure dignity in death for Covid patients from the posh Sainik Farm area in South Delhi to the holy city of Ayodhya, by arranging their last rites.

Over two dozen people like businessman Vikram Mittal, commercial pilot Richa Sood, President Chandni Chowk Cloth Market association Gopal Garg, Delhi BJP Vice President Virender Sachdeva and others joined hands under "Covid Action Group" led by former Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay to serve the people in need at difficult time.

"It is a completely non-political group with a sole purpose to serve people," Upadhyay said.

The group started serving two-times food to Covid patients in Greater Kailash and other posh colonies of South Delhi has now ensured dignity in death to infected patients who are either disowned by their family or living alone in the city.

Upadhyay shared that in the last few weeks the group has ensured last rites of over 130 people in the national capital and 30 in Ayodhya.

"When it came to our team's notice that family members or relatives have disowned the person who died of Covid, we decided to conduct last rites of all those who are either leaving alone or left by family in death. We are also ensuring last rites of the unidentified body," he said.

The group has ensured the last rites of half a dozen patients in affluent colonies like Sainik Farm, Hauz Khas, Green Park, Lajpat Nagar and Gol Market.

"First, we arranged an oxygen cylinder for an 80-year-old woman living alone in the Sainik Farm area. When she died, no one came forward to conduct her last rites. Her family members living abroad failed to come back on time and neighbours and relatives refused to do the last rites. To ensure that she gets dignity in her death, we conducted her cremation," Mittal said.

The group has also sent wood and other support to cremation grounds in Ayodhya.

"We learnt that the cremation ground in Ayodhya is facing difficulties, our team has delivered 125 tons of wood to carry out cremation. We are also conducting last rites of people there," Upadhyay said.

Sharing detailed plans for the coming days, the former Delhi BJP Chief said that in the next couple of days they will start helping people in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh.

"More and more cases are reported from rural areas, so we decided to serve the people in the rural part of Uttar Pradesh.

Our team is sending supplies of 14 essential items to Ayodhya and Bhadohi, where we have non political volunteers to help the people," Upadhyay said.

Mittal explained that starting from serving to Covid patients now they are helping people from arranging medicines, oxygens, hospital admission, doctors consultation and dry rations.

"In last three weeks, we have served two time meal to around 15,000 Covid patients. Today we served food to 500 Covid patients and the biggest kitchen is managed by Rajiv Kohli and Vijender Dhama in Mayur Vihar which served food to over 200 people," Mittal said.

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Kolkata, May 16 : The major drive to vaccinate the aged people between the age group of 61 years and above is showing a positive effect on the health of the senior citizens of West Bengal. The fatality rate among the aged people have come down considerably in the last two months and the state government is hopeful that they will be able to protect the senior citizens from the deadly Covid-19 in the next six months.

The state government started the vaccination process in the state from January 16 but vaccination among the senior citizens particularly among the people who are above 60 years old started from March 1 onwards. If we take close look at the data chart provided by the state government, we will find that when on March 1 the fatality rate among the citizens between the age bracket of 61 to 75 was 4.9 per cent on March 1 it came down to 3.9 per cent on May 1 and on May 15 it reduced further to 3.4 per cent.

Not only that, the vaccination process is showing marked improvement in the health system of the people who are above 75 years of age, convincingly more vulnerable to the disease. The data sheet shows that when on March 1 the fatality rate of the people above 75 years was as high as 11.3 per cent, it came down to 9.2 per cent on May 1 and reduced further to 7.9 per cent on May 15.

"This is marked improvement and we are hopeful that if we carry out the vaccination process in this way, we will be able to immunize the senior citizens of the state within the next short period. What I would like to mention is that we have an improved treatment which is reducing the fatality rate in general. What we need is an adequate supply of vaccines to carry on our mission to safeguard the life of the senior people of our state," Director of Health Services Ajay Chakraborty said.

However, though the vaccination showed a direct effect on the senior citizens, it didn't not have that much of an effect on the fatality rate of people between the age group of 45 years to 60 years. When in March the fatality rate of the people between this age group stood at 1.6 per cent it remained the same on April 1 and reduced marginally on May 1 coming down to 1.3 per cent and on May 15 it came down further to 1.1 per cent.

When asked about it, Chakraborty said: "We had the primary target of saving the lives of the senior citizens who are more vulnerable to the disease and that we have done effectively. In the first wave the middle-aged people were not that much affected but this age group is getting affected and so the fatality rate is also increasing".

The state health department officials are, however, afraid that the recent lockdown announced by the state government might have an effect on the vaccination drive going along in the state. "With the imposition of lockdown and the suspension of the transport system it will be difficult for the senior citizens to come to the vaccination centres and this might hamper the process of vaccination," another senior official said.
Bengaluru, May 16 : With the exponential rise in Covid-19 cases during the second wave of the Covid-19pandemic, Karnataka is also witnessing an increase in the number of deaths. But what is worrisome is dead bodies are found in decomposed condition due to its metropolitan culture, where interaction with neighbours is near zero.

This culture has plunged to another abyss, after the emergence of the Covid pandemic, even our own 'near and dear ones' have either become pariahs or treat us one like pariah, after either of us realise that some of us are taken ill.

Covid warrior and software engineer with the TCS, Sathyanarana Roy aka Ruchi Roy's friend of Odisha's local channel reporter living in Bengaluru received a call from his home state Odisha on May 12 at around 4 p.m. Distressed parents of their only 25-year-old son, Santhosh Jena was not picking up their call who had fallen sick three days ago before they heard him last on May 7 at 5 p.m.

According to Roy, after receiving the call along with his friend working with media, Gobind Barik reached Koodlugate in Parappana Agrahara police limits. What they saw was this young man sitting on chair under the ceiling fan had died three or four days ago and his body had already started decomposing that too with his limbs started dislocating.

Roy said that the parents had tried their best to reach out their son though few relatives and fellow villagers who work in Bengaluru to know about Jena's wellbeing, but none had come to their rescue and only then they had taken help of their village head, who though some of his political contacts came to know about Gobind Barik working in Bengaluru.

Roy said that Jena's parents were not even aware about his whereabouts like where he stays or where he worked in Bengaluru and none could blame them as they are from a very remote village of Bhadrak district in Odisha, which is around 1,980 km from this tech-hub.

"They were dependent on Jena for their survival in their village. Even to reach us they had taken help from their village head's (Sarpanch) help, who somehow knew that a reporter (Gobind Barik) of local channel of Odisha works here," Roy told IANS.

Roy said that the irony of this episode is that the deceased house owner who stays nearby and few neighbours who lived here were not even aware that Jena was dead and the owner even insisted that Jena was not in the house and left his bike here and perhaps left Bengaluru due to imposition of partial lockdown on April 27.

"Somehow, we both (Gobind and me) sensed that something was a miss. Then we sought his permission to see his room, which was on the third floor of the building. When we reached his room, his room was locked from inside, and then we saw from the window, realised that he was no more," the Covid warrior explained.

Then Roy approached Parappana Agarahara police, who immediately came with him and broke open the door and recovered the dead.

"The police informed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike authorities who came with an ambulance conducted Covid test on the deceased and it was found that the deceased was Covid positive. The BBMP officials did take good care as the first ambulance which they had dispatched did not have experienced staff to wrap the decomposed body. So, the BBMP rushed another team of experts who are specialised in handling decomposed bodies like the Jena's, whose limbs had started falling apart," Roy explained.

When Roy broke the story of Jena's death through Sarpanch's phone, the parents had fainted and were admitted to hospital and they were wailing inconsolably as they felt that they could not even take part in the last rites of their only son and lone earning member of their family.

Roy poignantly reminded that nowadays, many people are less interested in maintaining any friendly relation with their neighbours.

"The face to face interaction and the sense of brotherhood have been diminishing since the emergence of sophisticated life and hi-tech culture. That is where we are finding such dead bodies often in cities like Bengaluru. For this city is not to be blamed, we, the people must take responsibility for reaching out to our neighbours and keeping in touch with them. Cities like Bengaluru provide us an ample opportunity for employment, but after coming to this city, we people should also need to contribute by keeping our neighbourhood vibrant," he signed off.

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New Delhi, May 16 : Luxury Professional Hair care brand Kerastase has been offering its consumers in India a personalised yet indulgent hair care experience for more than 10 years by partnering with only the most luxurious salons across the country. The brand offers hair care rituals and home care products in more than 350 salons across 30 cities including Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow etc.

In light of the challenging situation brought about by the global pandemic in 2020, the luxury hair care brand created an opportunity for its salon partners by launching a pioneering SoComm platform in order to reach out to new and existing consumers and give them the convenience of having their luxury hair care delivered to their doorstep. "Being where the consumer is, is critical for any brand and all the more important in today's scenario! For our partner salons to stay ahead of the curve and better service the needs of their consumers offering a platform for online purchase was key. We launched a Social Commerce platform in 2020 to enable our salon partners to grow their consumer base via digital activation and hyper local media advertising. This year we continue to strengthen Social Commerce with improved features and simplified back-end management systems for our salons to be able to accelerate their business", says Rachit Mathur, GM, Kerastase India Q: How does Kerastase plan to promote Vocal for Local in India?

A: Kerastase has been serving Indian consumers for almost 15 years now. We bring high quality products with efficacious ingredients to our loyal consumer in India through our network of luxury partner salons across the country. Our consistent investment in educating hairstylists, developing the luxury quotient in salons and creating awareness among the right consumers has helped us grow successfully in the country all these years (we should talk about consumer experience here). Any new strategy formulated by the brand is always designed keeping the interest of our salon partners at the forefront.

Q: How are you coping with challenges faced due to pandemic situations and what are the solutions according to you? A: When the Covid-19 lockdown began, we worked closely with our salon partners to explore and activate a home delivery model, which enabled our customers to place orders for Kerastase with their salons and have their products delivered to their homes. Since this strategy was well received by our partner salons, as well as our end-consumers, we decided to launch our own Social Commerce channel. In simple terms, Social Commerce -- or SoComm -- is the sale of products and services through Social media channels be it Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp etc.

Q: What steps and measures are you taking in terms of innovation and pulling business? A: For a growing luxury brand like Kerastase, in a market like India, creating awareness and ensuring the right consumer experience is our primary objective. Over the years, we have been focussing on creating high quality content and ensuring extremely precise targeting especially on Social Media. Our success with reaching out to new consumers and catering to existing consumers through Social media has, in today's scenario, given us the confidence to open up a completely new channel of Social Commerce working in tandem with our salon partners Consumers today are looking for authenticity/performance and most importantly experience when it comes to dealing with brands. And this makes Social Commerce such a natural fit for the Salon Industry -- it is based on the unique relationship shared between the "Expert" i.e. the salon, and the end-consumer. The platform lets salons offer potential and existing consumers the opportunity to discover, consider, consult with an expert and finally make a purchase -- all online using social media platforms. The beauty is that this Social Commerce model gives consumers the convenience of an online experience, without eliminating the personalisation and human element of the salon/hair expert conversation.

Q: Kerastase India's Social Commerce platform is a unique way of reaching out to consumers, but how receptive are consumers towards it? A: We are humbled by the loyalty and love shown by our customers. Despite salons being shut, we have a constant flow of consumer queries asking us how they can still access products from their favourite luxury haircare brand. Our Social Commerce platform was launched early July 2020 and we are extremely excited by the initial feedback and are still learning new things every day. Enabling Social Commerce with our salons is our way of meeting customer needs through the salon channel. The platform has been successful and very well received by our salon partners.

For us, this model is here to stay. What is important to note is that our platform is ever evolving and we are constantly fine-tuning it to make it as beneficial to our salons and consumers as possible.

Q: How do you ensure proper sanitisation when it comes to providing services through #KerastaseAtHome campaign? A: Kerastase partners with only the most luxurious salons across the country. These salons follow the most impeccable standards of customer service, safety and hygiene.

Q: What marketing strategies are you going to follow in the upcoming phase? A: We plan to do more of what we do best! Introduce the Kerastase Experience to more and more consumers. We will do this through an array of marketing initiatives including social media, in salon activations and influencer marketing. In 2021, we have introduced Sampling by offering two complimentary Kerastase sample sachets on all orders. This way the customers get to experience more of Kerastase's offerings.

Q: What is your strategy when it comes to influencer marketing? How new and upcoming influencers can join the team of Kerastase? A: For a niche experience-driven luxury brand like Kerastase, engaging and working with the right kind of influencers is very important. We have an international property called the Kerastase Club, which includes advocates and friends of the brand. We launched the Kerastase Club in India with a group of 30 real users of the brand. These are our real customers of Kerastase who are happy to share their experiences with the brand with their followers. We regularly work with the Kerastase club to curate content across product usage, in-salon experiences, and new launches. As you may already know, recently associated with Alaya F as well for our Genesis campaign.

Q: Kerastase works in collaboration with different salons, are there any plans for the opening of Haircare salons by Kerastase in the future? A: Our strategy is to continue to work and grow with our partner salons. As always we continue to look for the right kind of business collaborations to bring the best of luxury haircare to our customers.

(IANSlife Features can be contacted at IANSlife@ians.in)
New Delhi, May 16 : Petrol and diesel prices have increased across the four metros on Sunday after a pause for a day.

In the national capital, petrol price increased 24 paise to Rs 92.58 per litre, up 24 paise from the previous level. Similarly, the price of diesel rose 27 paise to Rs 83.22 a litre.

In Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, petrol price increased to Rs 98.88, Rs 92.67 and Rs 94.31 per litre, respectively, and that of diesel was at Rs 90.40, Rs 86.06 and Rs 88.07 per litre.

Petrol prices in some states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and in few places in Maharashtra have breached the Rs 100 per litre mark while premium petrol has been hovering above that level for some time now.

Fuel prices increased on four of the six days from Monday to Wednesday, pausing on Thursday and again rising on Friday before a pause again on Saturday.

Prior to holding back auto fuel prices on Saturday and Sunday last week, its pump rates had also increased sharply on previous four days as well.

Petrol prices have increased by Rs 2.03 a litre in Delhi in May in the nine increases so far.

Similarly, diesel prices have risen by Rs 2.49 per litre in capital this month.
New Delhi, May 16: India and France with backup support from Japan and the United States - key members of the Indo-Pacific QUAD, which also includes Australia - may need to focus on Mozambique to counter the deadly Islamic State terror group.

Alarming reports are emerging about the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in Mozambique, a country with vast natural resources. Specifically, the IS appears to be eyeing Mozambique's energy reserves, including oil and gas, to fuel a prolonged conflict, if not emergence of a new Caliphate in Africa.

The IS has already acquired considerable experience in Syria of taking over oil wells and fuelling its operations by selling energy through grey-zone channels. After its displacement from West Asia, the IS can now leverage that experience, and knowledge of underground networks to monetise illegal sales, in its new geographical setting.

The IS was essentially thrown out of Syria and Iraq. Consequently, it has discovered new safe havens in parts of Afghanistan, Central Asia and Africa, including Mozambique.

The IS has been digging in, in the impoverished Cabo Delgado region in the northern part of Mozambique. In March, it overran the resort town of Palma, not far from an energy project run by Total, the French energy major.

In an opinion article in The Hill, Kelly Alkhouli a political consultant at the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs (CPFA), points out that apart from energy, the Cabo Delgado area is a significant trafficking route for ivory, timber, rubies, arms and, most importantly, heroin.

Heroin, he says, is largely produced in Afghanistan and then trafficked into Iran and Pakistan; from there it follows various routes to the international market.

Over the past three decades, northern Mozambique has become increasingly significant in the southern trafficking route, where heroin produced in Afghanistan and into Iran and Pakistan is then transported to South Africa and shipped off to Europe.

According to a recent study, roughly USD 600 million to USD 800 million worth of heroin is trafficked through northern Mozambique, says the report.

Where does India fit into the picture and what is its interest in denting the IS's hold in the country? The marginalisation of the IS in Mozambique is important to India for several reasons. For instance, Mozambique has 3,000 Indian nationals, representing various Indian companies or working as professionals in Mozambican companies. Besides, there is 20000 strong Indian diaspora population tracing is roots to Gujarat, Goa, Daman& Diu. This Indian-origin community is mostly engaged in wholesale and retail trade in Mozambique, according to an Indian embassy posting.

Second, India has invested billions of dollars in Mozambique, but these investments are now being endangered by the IS forays. India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) and Oil India Ltd. (OIL) have invested heavily in the $24.1 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project on the Afungi peninsula in Mozambique, which was being led by French energy titan Total SE. The project is meant to yield 12.88 million tonnes of LNG per annum. But following the IS attack in March in the Cabo Delgado region, Total has pulled out of the Afungi project.

Further entrenchment of the IS in Cabo Delgado would also mean that the terror group could permeate its influence in neighbouring Malawi, Tanzania and South Africa, along the Indian Ocean coastline.

With the IS impinging significantly on Indian interests, as well as that of the France, certain contingency plans may have to be drawn. But Kelly Alkhouli in his article in The Hill advises against any form of direct military action by foreign powers in Mozambique. "A foreign military intervention should be avoided at all cost; it would only be an expensive advertisement for global jihad in southern Africa," he observes.

Instead, he suggests that certain countries with experience in combating terrorism could provide substantive support by training Mozambican forces on the ground and increasing security cooperation with Mozambique, especially along the Tanzanian border.

Analysts say that in order to impose psychological pressure on IS, without arming it with any propaganda mileage, India can team up with France and two other QUAD members, Japan and the United States, to locally train and provide backup support to the Mozambican forces. France, Japan and the United States all have military bases in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. France can also provide assistance to Mozambique from its territories of and La RAunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/
Factory workers isolate at BOI zones View(s):

COVID-19 positive factory workers are being provided with intermediate care locations within the BOI zones to isolate.

We are trying to set up an intermediate place within the zone for those contracting the COVID-19 virus and the first of these is at the Katunayaka FTZ, BOI Manufacturers Association General Secretary Dhammika Fernando told the Business Times.

He noted that in this respect they have already established about 150 beds and now there are several persons there but we need to equip it.

Since COVID-19 positive patients are asked to stay at home until a bed is found for them, these workers find it hard to go back to where they are boarded since they are meted out with harsh treatment.

Once a factory worker becomes COVID-19 positive the zone they are in, is in the process of establishing isolation centres for them so they do not have to return to their boarding homes.

Boarding house owners are treating the girls disgustingly when they contract COVID-19, Mr. Fernando said adding that this is what led them to ensure that these workers have a place to stay.

Meanwhile, he noted that the factory workers are being given the Sinopharm vaccine only now despite repeated requests to prioritise these persons in the first phase of the vaccination programme itself. The first inoculation programme commenced in the Katunayaka BOI zone comprising 32, 000 factory workers from 86 factories, Mr. Fernando said. He pointed out that that health authorities were also due to carry out the vaccination programme on factory workers in the zones of Mirigama with 10,000 workers; Wathupitiwala with about 20,000 and over 30,000 from Biyagama.

With a slight escalation in the number of COVID-19 positive patients from about 1800 in a factory about 40 cases had been detected, Mr. Fernando said.

In addition while some workers are to be provided company transport to arrive at their places of work despite the ongoing restrictions, others who are interested in coming to work on their own will be allowed to travel using a valid BOI pass.

There had been a halt in the Antigen testing carried out at the factories but this has now been resumed, Mr. Fernando said. (SD)
Prayagraj, May 16 : Yoga guru Mahant Anand Giri of the Bade Hanuman temple from Baghambari Math and the Niranjani Akhara has been expelled by the Shri Panchayati Akhara Niranjani for being in constant touch with his family which is against the traditions of 'sanyas'.

Sri Mahant Ravindra Puri, secretary of Niranjani Akhara, said that Giri has also been accused of financial irregularities.

The action was taken after a complaint was lodged by Mahant Narendra Giri, president of Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad.

Anand Giri, being a disciple of Mahant Narendra Giri, wielded a lot of clout within his fraternity and among devotees, but differences between the guru and disciple cropped up a few months back.

Anand Giri hails from a village in Bhilwara district in Rajasthan.

He had met Narendra Giri around 18 years ago and became his disciple. He learnt Sanskrit, Vedas, and Yoga along with English at the akhara.

"Anand Giri called his entire family to Nashik, Ujjain, Prayagraj, and Haridwar Kumbh, whereas, according to the tradition of our akhara, family relations cannot be maintained," Mahant Narendra Giri said.

"Parents should be respected, but there is a tradition of the akhara. He was breaking the rule even after several warnings and was thus first removed from Baghambari Math and then expelled from the akhara," he added.

There were also complaints of misuse of funds at the Bade Hanuman temple by Anand Giri.

The complaints were inquired by Panch Parmeshwar of Niranjani Akhara and the accusations were found to be true.

When asked, Anand Giri said his guru, Narendra Giri, has the right to take action against him and that he would continue to respect him and honour his words.

However, Anand Giri has written a letter to the UP and Uttarakhand police expressing his apprehension about his murder.

He said that he could be murdered at any time. He said that he has been implicated and stripped of his protection as part of a larger conspiracy.

On the question of expulsion, Anand Giri said that he does not know on what basis this removal has taken place and would wait for the right time to speak.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 : Even after two weeks of Pinarayi Vijayan winning the April 6 assembly polls when he created history by becoming the first to retain office, the only thing that's clear is, he will take oath of office on Thursday.

One more thing which is certain is -- it will be he who is going to be the Chief Minister and none has a clue who else will be taking oath of office from his party along with him.

And would there be any prizes for the correct guess, unfortunately it's not going to be there, but Vijayan continues to taunt the media when asked if the names of those which have already been put out by the various media is right, all what he said was, "continue to guess".

And when asked if the guesses are close to be correct, pat came the reply, "that will be known when I give out the names and then as is the normal practice, you can say, what was said by you has become correct," said Vijayan.

Even with the Indian Medical Association's Kerala chapter has requested that with Covid continuing to surge, it would be better to have it virtually, the swearing in has been fixed to be held outdoors at the Central Stadium, a stone's throw from the seat of power of the State Secretariat, but with Covid protocols in force.

Vijayan is still undecided on the total number, as according to the rules including the CM's post he can have 21 ministers.

However in 2016 to set a mark of austerity, he decided to have 20, but this time he is in a quandary as in the 140 member assembly the LDF has won 99 seats.

In the outgoing Vijayan cabinet, the CPI-M had 12 Ministers and the Chief Minister's post, the second biggest ally CPI had four and one each for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress (S) and Janata Dal (S).

However this time the Left has given full fledged ally status to Kerala Congress (B), Indian National League (NL) besides two new llies who jumped the fence from the Congress led Opposition - Kerala Congress (Mani) and Loktantrik Janata Dal.

Then there is Kovoor Kunjumon who has been a fellow traveller of the Left ever since he came from the UDF, ahead of the 2016 assembly polls and this time he won his fifth straight elections.

While the second biggest ally- the CPI, will get four ministers, they will decide on their team.

However he has already told point blank the NCP, which has two legislators, outgoing Minister A.K. Saseendran and Thomas K. Thomas, that if they continue to fight amongst themselves for the one cabinet post, none will be considered.

Vijayan is also mulling the idea of asking the single party legislator to share the five year term amongst themselves and here too none should be surprised if he decides K.B. Ganesh Kumar of the Kerala Congress (B) be given a full five year term.

A media critic on condition of anonymity said with the position of strength that Vijayan has at the moment, the frequent statement that he gives, the discussions will take place, does not have much meat in it.

"It's going to be his call, especially from his party and also from the numerous single legislator parties, in the Left Democratic Front. He has such strength at the moment to decide who he wants to be as Ministers and there is not going to be a whimper of protest from any quarters," said the critic.

The crucial meetings of the Left Democratic Front is scheduled for early next week and as things stand, it will be Vijayan who will tell them what he has in his mind and until then, keep guessing.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Washington, May 16 : The US' union of registered nurses condemned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for lifting mask recommendations for vaccinated people in the country, stating that it would jeopardise the health of frontline workers, the media reported.

The CDC recommendation "is not based on science" and it would jeopardise the health of frontline workers and the general public, Bonnie Castillo, a registered nurse and executive director of the union, National Nurses United, was quoted as saying by the New York Times on Saturday.

"This is a huge blow to our efforts at confronting this virus and the pandemic," said Castillo, adding that there still remain people who have not yet been vaccinated.

"The mask is another lifesaving layer of protection for workers." Since Covid vaccine distribution began in the US on December 14, 2020, more than 268 million doses have been administered.

Over 120 million people have been fully vaccinated.

The CDC, while introducing the new recommendations, also cited two recent scientific findings: few vaccinated people become infected with the virus, and transmission seems rarer still; and the vaccines appear to be effective against all known variants of the coronavirus.

However, the union noted that more than 35,000 new cases of coronavirus are being reported and over 600 people are dying each day, the report said.

"Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and we are outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century," Castillo said.

Businesses large and small are also grappling with how to adapt to the CDC's surprise guidance.

Some of the nation's largest retailers said that they have no immediate plans to change their policies and would continue requiring both customers and workers to wear masks on the premises, according to local media reports.

Other businesses said they are re-evaluating their protocols.

Walt Disney World located in Orlando, Florida announced on Friday that masks and face coverings for guests would be "optional in outdoor common areas" at the resort starting on Saturday.

Grocery chain Trader Joe's became the first prominent US retailer on Friday to drop its mask policies for vaccinated shoppers.

It was followed by Walmart, the country's No. 1 retailer with more than 4,700 stores, which said in a memo to employees that vaccinated customers can shop without masks.

At a White House briefing on May 13, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky: "Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities, large or small, without wearing a mask or physical distancing."
Washington, May 16 : Demonstrators took to streets across a number of major US cities, demanding an end to the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

In the capital Washington, D.C., hundreds took part in pro-Palestinian protests on Saturday, marching from the Washington Monument to the US Capitol, reports Xinhua news agency.

Also on Saturday, thousands of people rallied in Los Angeles in support of Palestinians.

Local media said a handful of pro-Israel counter-protesters also gathered, and police officers kept the groups separated.

A demonstration that started in a neighbourhood in the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which has a large Arabic-speaking community, continued through the streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon, said an ABC News report.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled "Palestine will be free" as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park, the report said, adding that pro-Palestinian demonstrations were also held in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and some other US cities.

The protests were planned for Nakba Day, which Palestinians observe every May 15 to commemorate the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel's war of independence, local media reported.

Since the tensions flared up on May, Israel has pounded Gaza with hundreds of air strikes and shells, killing at least 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women.

Meanwhile, rockets fired by militant groups in Gaza have killed 10 people, including a five-year-old boy, a soldier and two women.
New Delhi, May 16 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed condolence over the sudden demise of Rajeev Satav, Congress in-charge of Gujarat who lost his life due to Covid on Sunday, saying he was an "upcoming leader with much potential".

"Anguished by the passing away of my friend from Parliament, Shri Rajeev Satav Ji. He was an upcoming leader with much potential. Condolences to his family, friends and supporters. Om Shanti," Modi said.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra, Rajeev Satav, passed away in a hospital here after a 23-day long battle with Covid-19, party officials said here on Sunday.

He was 46, and belonged to the core team of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Satav had developed Covid symptoms on April 19 and a swab test turned out to be positive on April 21. He was admitted to the Jehangir Hospital in Pune and as his condition worsened, a week later he was put on a ventilator.

After a brief spell of recovery, Satav's condition again deteriorated since the last week and he remained in the ICU where he succumbed early on Sunday.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 16 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to the Chief Ministers of four states including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over Covid-19 management measures and vaccination drive.

Besides Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, the Prime Minister, in a telephonic conversation, also discussed issues of Covid-19 pandemic with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy.

The Prime Minister told the states that the Centre would continue to cooperate in the fight against coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic which so far haa infected 2,46,84,077 people across the county, including 36,18,458 active cases and 2,70,284 deaths.

The Prime Minister also suggested the state to notify the Centre from time to time, whatever the need may be. He also discussed on cases of corona infection, recovery rate, number of ICU beds, treatment resources in Covid hospitals and availability of oxygen.

Modi further stressed the need for the Centre and the states to work together to save the people from the second wave of the deadly disease that infected 3,11,170 new people and claimed 4,077 lives in last 24 hours.

The Chief Ministers briefed the Prime Minister about the recovery rate, corona curfew, temporary covid hospital, public awareness campaign, vaccination and availability of oxygen plants in their states.

Prime Minister Modi assured the Chief Ministers of these states that the Central government will provide all possible help to them in this hour of crisis. Prime Minister Modi emphasized on increasing the rate of vaccination.

Since the third Covid wave has accelerated, Prime Minister Modi constantly make calls to the chief ministers almost every day and takes information about Covid situation and treatment facilities in these states.

In the last 15 days, the Prime Minister has spoken with over 18 Chief Ministers and two Lieutenant Governors to take stock of their states and union territories efforts and plans to deal with the pandemic.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, May 16 : West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has warned the state's newly-elected Trinamool Congress government to "not force me to use my constitutional powers", sparking a fresh artillery exchange with the ruling party.

"He forgot his constitutional position by calling for a change in the state. His appeal was rejected, so old man is now obviously frustrated," said Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, while reacting to the Governor's warning.

Governor Dhankhar has been touring what he describes as 'violence-hit areas' since the Trinamool returned to power with a landslide.

His visit to Sitalkuchi in Northern Bengal provoked angry response from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who reminded Dhankhar of his constitutional obligations of working on the 'aid and advice' of the elected government.

The trip to Sitalkuchi, hit by poll-time violence where some voters were killed in firing by central forces, was followed by Dhankhar's visit to makeshift camps in Assam where 'victims of political violence' in West Bengal were sheltered.

His comment that this was a 'blot on governance' in West Bengal provoked accusations that Dhankhar was 'less a Governor and more a BJP functionary.' While some TMC leaders see in Dhankhar's tour to reinforce the BJP narrative of 'Bengal's law and order being worse than Kashmir' to keep up pressure on the Mamata government, others saw a more sinister design -- building a case for President's rule.

"He is doing now what Dharma Vira did as Governor to bring down Bengal's first non-Congress government in the late 1960s," said analyst Sukhoranjan Dasgupta, author of books on West Bengal.

Dasgupta said the BJP is unable to accept the resounding defeat, evident from former Union minister Babul Supriyo's comment that "Bengal has missed a huge chance by keeping BJP out of power." Supriyo resigned as Union Minister to contest the state polls from Tollygunge but lost to Trinamool minister Aroop Biswas miserably.
Pune : , May 16 (IANS) Led by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, top state leaders from various political parties paid rich tributes to Congress MP and youth leader Rajeev Satav who fell to Covid-19, here on Sunday.

Saying that the news of the untimely demise of the dynamic parliamentarian was 'agonising', the Governor said it came at a time when one felt that he would come out of Covid-19.

"He was known for his leadership qualities and organizational abilities. He had excellent public relations. Unfortunately, death has snatched away a promising leader with great potential," said Koshyari.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray expressed grief and said Satav was "a sincere and learned leader who had immense faith in the parliamentary system of democracy" whose loss will be felt by the Congress party.

State Congress President Nana F. Patole said that he was at a complete loss for words on learning of the demise of his dear friend - "Alvida (Goodbye) My Friend".

Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar described Satav as "a young, dynamic and learned" leader, and recalled how he successfully handled his responsibilities as AICC In-charge for Gujarat.

"In his untimely demise, the state has lost a great upcoming leader" said Pawar in a message mourning the demise of the youth leader from Hingoli.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the state has lost "a powerful young leader" whose friendship extended across party lines and will be a loss to the entire country.

PWD Minister Ashok Chavan, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, former CM Prithviraj Chavan and other senior Congress leaders paid tributes to Satav and remembered his contributions as an MP, AICC General Secretary and as a grassroots leader over the years.

Describing him as "a rising star which has gone down" Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari, accorded MoS status, reminisced the days when the young Satav started his political life at the Zilla Parishad level and soon grew into a national leader.

Posting an undated video with Satav, NCP MP Supriya Sule said she was deeply saddened to hear of the death of her dear friend and colleague - "I will surely miss you, Rajeev. RIP".

AICC Secretary Sanjay Dutt said: "Too shocked & deeply pained to express our agony. A promising, caring young leader was snatched away from us by cruel fate. Our dearest colleague and younger brother." Bharatiya Janata Party's Leader of Opposition (Assembly) Devendra Fadnavis said he was "shocked" to learn of the youthful leader's demise and offered condolences to the bereave Satav family.

Leader of Opposition (Council) Pravin Darekar said he was pained to know of Satav's untimely death and prayed for him besides consoling his family members.

Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap said he was "shocked and pained" by Satav's demise, while other senior leaders like Sanjay Nirupam, Milind Deora and central party leaders also expressed grief.

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Tel Aviv, May 16 : Hamas continued to attack Israel with rockets on Sunday and the Israeli army struck back with force as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to pursue the Palestinian militant group for as long as necessary.

"Fire will be met with fire," Netanyahu said in a video address late Saturday night.

"This (military) operation will continue as long as it takes until we achieve our goals and bring peace and security to all Israeli citizens," the Jerusalem Post quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

Israel's security cabinet is set to meet on Sunday, dpa news agency quoted the Jerusalem Post as saying.

Rockets fired by militant Palestinians continued to rain on Israeli cities on Saturday, while warning sirens wailed in the desert city of Beersheba and in border areas near Gaza, the Army said.

Alarms also went off several times in Tel Aviv, with the latest alarm triggered in the Israeli coastal metropolis late Saturday.

At least one person was killed in a rocket attack on the greater Tel Aviv area on Saturday.

The Israeli Army attacked further targets on Palestinian territory, including rocket launchers and two combat units belonging to the Hamas movement.

The air force destroyed a high-rise in the Gaza Strip that housed the offices of several media organizations, the military said.

The military said the building also contained "military assets" belonging to the Hamas movement, adding it had warned civilians ahead of the strike and left them time to evacuate.

"This is an incredibly disturbing development," Associated Press (AP) chief Gary Pruitt said in New York.

"We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life." The news agency had been informed in advance of the airstrike on the high-rise, he said.

A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were pulled to safety in time, he added.

Pruitt said he was "shocked and horrified" that the Israeli military destroyed a building with media offices. He said the world would now know less about what is happening in Gaza.

Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said it too had its office in the high-rise.

After the attack, the fifth high-rise destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the current conflict, a spokesperson for Hamas said Tel Aviv should prepare for an "answer that will shake the earth".

The Israeli army said it had targeted the house of Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, and other ranking officials.

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, about 145 Palestinians have been killed and 1,100 injured since fighting escalated on Monday.

According to the Magen David Adom rescue service, 10 people were killed and 636 injured in Israel as a result of the rocket fire over the past few days.

Palestinian militants have been continuously firing rockets at Israel since tensions first flared up on May 10.

More than 2,300 have been fired, according to Israel's Army, although about 20 per cent go down over Gaza without reaching Israeli territory.

Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery shelling, striking more than 650 targets, according to an officer.

Civil unrest has also been mounting between in Israel's Jewish and Arab populations, with protests and riots reported.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least nine people died in clashes in the West Bank and 21 were severely injured.

Rising tension first came to a head during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, with clashes at a Jerusalem holy site as well as over the forced evictions of Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.
Minsk, May 16 : A correspondent for Deutsche Welle has been sentenced to 20 days in prison in Belarus, the German broadcaster said.

Alexander Burakov had wanted to report on a trial of opposition politicians who had been accused of participating in "mass unrest", dpa news agency quoted Deutsche Welle as saying in a statement on Saturday.

According to the statement, the freelance journalist was detained in the city of Mogilev, east of the capital Minsk, while he was waiting outside the courthouse with other media representatives.

A court ruled that Burakov was guilty of "repeated participation in a non-authorised event", Deutsche Welle said.

Burakov already spent 10 days in prison last year for his reporting.

Deutsche Welle sharply criticized the sentence.

Classifying a group of journalists outside a courthouse as a "forbidden event" was a further step by the regime under Alexander Lukashenko to suppress media reports, the broadcaster said.

"We call on the authorities in Belarus to immediately suspend the sentence," said director Peter Limbourg.

Burakov has gone on hunger strike to protest the sentence, Deutsche Welle said.

During the hearing, he said he was tortured and treated inhumanely in custody.

He was repeatedly woken up during the night and forced to strip naked.

The human rights group Viasna said that two other journalists were also sentenced to prison for multiple days on Saturday.

Since mass protests against the re-election of long-time ruler Lukashenko broke out last year, authorities have cracked down more and more on the media.

At the peak of the demonstrations, hundreds of thousands of people protested against the election result, which is widely seen as having been rigged.
Foreign currency transaction monitoring system launched View(s):

Sri Lanka will be implementing a comprehensive cross border and foreign currency transactions monitoring system through licenced banks to assist migrant workers on the continuation of their remittances from overseas.

The aim of the government is to pay more attention and provide more assistance to migrant workers when they enter a very different job market in the new normal COVID-19 situation and afterwards, Finance Ministry sources divulged.

The economic crisis that triggered from the pandemic has exposed significant data gaps that restricted real time monitoring of remittance flows as well as movements of migrants.

Hence, there is a pressing need to improve the data collection systems on remittances, a Central Bank report revealed.

The International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) will be executed through licensed banks to improve statistics including but not limited to a wide range of data on workers remittances while also supporting to reconcile any statistical discrepancies.

The ITRS will provide disaggregated workers remittances data based on the country of origin, currency, remittance receiving districts, demographics of migrant workers.

It will enable recipient banks to better estimate the distribution of remittances and identify emerging trends that would be of use in devising policies to enhance remittances, the report indicated.

Departures for foreign employment declined sharply by 73.6 per cent to 53,713 in 2020, from 203,087 in 2019 with the spread of the pandemic.

Workers remittances increased by 5.8 per cent, year-on-year, to US$7.1 billion in 2020 up from $6.7 billion in 2019, Central Bank data showed.

Unlike in a normal year, in 2020 much of these terminal employment benefits and accumulated savings of migrant workers had been remitted through formal channels.

The reason for the increase in remittances was the diversion of informal remittances towards formal channels, R M N Jeewantha, Deputy General Manager (International, Treasury and Investment) of Bank of Ceylon said.

Migrant workers have been compelled to halt remittances through illegal networks as their movements were restricted in the COVID-19 crisis, he added.

Under these systems cash does not cross borders, relying on retail establishments to collect remittances overseas for pay out in Sri Lanka through money already in the country. (BS)
New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba addresses at the 6th Interpol Liaison Officers (ILOs)conference at CBI headquarters, in New Delhi, on June 20, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 16 : Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Sunday stressed on the need to take all measures to evacuate people in the areas affected by the cyclonic storm 'Tauktae' in the Arabian Sea so as to ensure zero loss of life and damage.

While reviewing the situation arising out of the cyclone during National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), Gauba directed to ensure all preparatory arrangements to restore power, telecom and other important services.

"All steps are to be taken to avoid disruption of functioning of hospitals and Covid Centres and maintenance of regular supply of oxygen to them," Gauba He directed the concerned agencies to work in close co-ordination and extend all requisite assistance to the state administrations.

The Cabinet Secretary expressed in views while reviewing the progress on cyclone 'Tauktae' (pronounced as Tau'Te) over east central Arabian Sea which is likely to intensify further in the next 24 hours.

Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) briefed the NCMC about the latest status of the cyclone, which is expected to reach the Gujarat Coast in the morning of May 18 with wind speeds ranging from 150 to 160 km per hour speed accompanied by squally winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge in the coastal districts of the state.

Chief Secretaries of the concerned states apprised the Committee of the preparatory measures put in place to deal with the cyclonic storm. Adequate stocks of food grains, drinking water and other essential supplies have been arranged and preparations made to maintain essential services such as power, and telecommunications.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has made available 79 teams in these states and 22 additional teams are also kept in readiness. Rescue and relief teams of the Army, Navy and Coast Guard along with ships and aircrafts have also been deployed.

Necessary arrangements have been made to ensure uninterrupted functioning of hospitals and Covid Care Centres, along with ensuring generation and supply of oxygen to Covid facilities across the country.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretaries of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, as well as Advisors to the Administrators of the Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Secretaries of Ministries of Home, Power, Shipping, Telecom, Civil Aviation, Fisheries, Chairman Railway Board, Member Secretary NDMA, Chief IDS, DG NDRF, DG IMD also attended the meeting

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Berlin, May 16 : Annalena Baerbock, the Green party's candidate for Chancellor in Germany's upcoming federal election, has said her husband will take care of their children if she wins.

"The responsibility of the Chancellor's office means being available day and night. I will be able to do that because my husband would take full parental leave (should she become Chancellor)," dpa news agency quoted the 40-year-old as saying on Sunday to the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

The Green party leader and her husband Daniel Holefleisch have two daughters aged five and nine.

Baerbock emphasized that her partner was already responsible for the girls' upbringing and for the housework.

"My husband takes on full responsibility and work at home. He has already reduced his working hours over the past few years because I often leave the house early in the morning and come home at night." In the final phase of the election campaign, her husband plans to stay at home entirely from "also to be there as a father when our younger daughter starts school", she added.

According to Baerbock, her husband had the right to veto her decision to run for Chancellor, "because it all changes our entire family life".

Holefleisch currently works as a lobbyist for Germany's mail service, Deutsche Post.

Should she become chancellor or get a seat in the federal cabinet after the federal election at the end of September, he is likely to change jobs, Baerbock said.

"If I accept a government position, it is very clear that my husband will not continue his work there."
Paris, May 16 : Despite a ban, tens of thousands of people gathered in Paris for a pro-Palestinian demonstration, during which police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse the demonstrators.

Around 4,200 police officers were deployed in the French capital ahead of the protest on Saturday afternoon, dpa news agency quoted Franceinfo as saying in a report.

By 7 p.m., 44 people had been arrested, and one policeman was injured, according to authorities.

People demonstrated in the capital to mark Nakba Day, especially in Paris' 18th district, where the police had previously ordered shopkeepers to close their businesses.

According to the Ministry of the Interior, between 2,500 and 3,500 people took to the streets in Paris, French media reported.

According to official figures, around 22,000 people demonstrated throughout France.

There were also demonstrations in cities like Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon and Strasbourg.

Nakba Day, referring to the Palestinian "catastrophe", marks the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.

The Paris police prefecture had previously banned the demonstration on the orders of Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

A court confirmed the decision. It justified the ban on the grounds that public order had been massively disrupted in 2014.

Thousands of people demonstrated seven years ago against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip at the time. Rioters also attacked a synagogue and Jewish shops.

The organisers stuck to their call for a demonstration despite the ban. The police therefore assumed that there could be riots - especially as the current tensions in Israel and the Palestinians could draw large crowds to the rally.
New Delhi, May 16 : Amid reports of people being arrested for putting posters against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has dared the government to arrest him.

Tweeting the poster on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi said: "Arrest me too." Meanwhile, Congress leaders, targetting the government, are putting up a social media campaign.

Congress leader Pawan Khera said: "People have expectations from the government which has broken... so whom the people will question when you want all the credit.

"Why should people not ask question that why their vaccines have been exported," he asked.

The Delhi Police has arrested over a dozen people in connection with the cases it registered, sources said on Saturday.

The matter relates to putting up black colour posters criticising the Prime Minister for exporting the Covid-19 vaccines to other countries instead of fulfilling the requirements of the people of the country.

The posters were found in several areas of Delhi like Shahdara, Rohini, Rithala, Dwarka and other places.

Budh Vihar ward councillor Gayatri Garg told IANS: "On May 12, we got the information that several posters have been stuck in areas of Budh Vihar, Vijay Vihar and others. Following the information, I along with my husband and several other members got those removed on May 13." A Delhi Police source said that the police has registered over 17 FIRs in connection with the posters against the Prime Minister.

The source said that police has registered two FIRs in Central Delhi and arrested four people, two FIRS have been registered in Rohini and two people arrested, one FIR in East Delhi and four people have been arrested, one FIR in Dwarka and two people have been arrested, one FIR in North East Delhi and three people have been arrested and on the basis of an FIR in Shahdara one person has been arrested.

The source said that the police has also obtained CCTV footage from Shahdara area where people were seen putting up the posters.

The source also said that the police is interrogating the person to identify other people.

It further said that it has also come to notice that for sticking three posters, the people were paid Rs 500 in Shahdara area.
Kabul, May 16 : The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for a blast at a mosque in Kabul that killed at least 12 people, including the imam.

In a statement released late Saturday via the Nashir News Agency, which publishes the terror group's official propaganda, accused the imam, identified as Mohammad Numan, of encouraging the fight against jihadis, reports dpa news agency.

"Soldiers of the caliphate" had planted an explosive device in the mosque, said the statement.

The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.

At least 15 others were wounded in the attack in Kabul province's Shakar Dara district during the Eid-ul Fitr festival to mark the end of Ramadan on Friday, according to Afghan security officials.

The attack took place as the Afghan government and the Taliban were holding a ceasefire for the Islamic Eid holidays.

The ceasefire ended at midnight on Saturday.

The IS has recently lost territory, leaders and other fighters in Afghanistan.

In addition to the Afghan government, the Taliban are also fighting the extremists.

According to a UN report, the terrorist group is still able to carry out attacks in various parts of the country.
Patna: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) carries out raids at the residence of a Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Hulas Pandey in an alleged Munger arms case in Patna on June 20, 2019. 22 AK-47 rifles smuggled from the Central Ordnance Depot in Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 16 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday conducted searched at four locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with an incriminating Facebook post by accused Mohammed Iqbal, an extremist advocating ideology of ISIS and Hizb-Ut-Tahrir, a fundamentalist organisation.

The anti-terror agency conducted searches in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu in connection with the case which was originally registered at Thideer police station in the same region relating to uploading of some incriminating posts on Facebook.

The searches were conducted at Kazimar Street, K. Pudur, Pethaniyapuram and Mehaboob Palayam in Madurai.

During the search, sixteen digital devices including laptop, hard disks, mobile phones, memory cards, SIMs, Pen drive and many incriminating books and pamphlets and documents have been recovered.

NIA had re-registered the case on April 15 this year and taken over the investigation which so far has revealed that the posts on the Facebook page "Thoonga Vizhigal Rendu is in Kazimar Street" was uploaded by accused Mohammed Iqbal for denigrating a particular community.

"The posts were designed to incite communal disharmony amongst different religious groups, in a manner prejudicial to the maintenance of public order," said the NIA.

Iqbal alias Senthil Kumar, a resident of Kazimar area in Madurai was arrested on December 2 last year and is presently under judicial custody.

"Further investigation in the case continues."
Varanasi/Kushinagar : , May 16 (IANS) Women in the villages of Varanasi and Kushinagar have now deified the Coronavirus and have started worshipping 'Corona Mai' to lessen her fury and save people from dying.

The women, on Sunday, lined up to offer prayers to 'Corona Mai' in Kushinagar district.

In Varanasi, women are coming together in groups on the Ghats to offer prayers and appease the Corona Mai.

Surili Devi of Kushinagar said that they would offer prayers for 21 days to appease the Corona Mai and were confident that the pandemic would recede.

When asked who prescribed them this spiritual method to check the deadly virus, she said, "A number of pandits have said that we should offer prayers to stop the Corona virus." She said that everyone was confident that the prayers would work and Corona would go away from their villages.

Women who are lining up to pray for hours, are not maintaining social distancing.

"When we are praying to Corona Mai, there is no need for anything else. The 'Corona Mai' will bless us and cure people," said Ishwari, another devotee.
New Delhi, May 16 : Amid the rising Covid cases, the famous Char Dham yatra has been suspended this time but the arrangement has been made for the devotees to have online 'darshan'. Millions of devotees from all across the country can 'visit' Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri Dhams (shrines), though through virtual means. Even the local residents of the district are not allowed to visit the temples.

The authorities of the Char Dham Devasthanam Board have made necessary preparations for the virtual 'visit'.

Uttarakhand Tourism Secretary, Dilip Javalkar, said that the outline is being fixed for the devotees of Char Dham for virtual darshan. Due to the suspension of Char Dharm yatra, devotees will be able to visit all four dhams, including Badrinath and Kedarnath, though virtually.

Garhwal Commissioner and Uttarakhand Chardham Devasthanam Board Chief Executive Officer, Ravinath Raman, said a website and other mediums are being updated to allow the devotees to visit the temples through virtual means.

Despite the suspension of Chardham Yatra, priests at the pilgrimage sites will regularly offer prayers in temples but devotees are not allowed to enter temples.

Giving official information, the Uttarakhand government said to IANS that no one is allowed to visit the Char Dhams this year. Devotees of the four Dhams have been asked by the Char Dham Devasthanam Board for virtual 'darshan' (visit).

Harish Goud of Char Dham Devasthanam Board said the yatra has been suspended but the doors of four Dhams will open on scheduled timings. The doors of Kedarnath Dham will open at 5 a.m. on Monday and those of Badrinath will open on Tuesday at 4.15 a.m.

Similarly, the doors of Gangotri Dham will open at 7.31 a.m. on the auspicious occasion of Baishakh Shukla Tritiya on Saturday and the doors of Yamunotri Dham will open on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya on Friday. The date of opening of the doors of Hemkund Sahib and Laxman temple has not been decided yet.

The Devasthanam Board said that at present all events are being held in a symbolic way. Covid-19 protocols would be followed at all events. Wearing masks, social distancing, sanitisation, thermal screening and Covid testing are being mandated as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). The administration has allowed only those people who are conducting daily prayers to visit the Dhams.

According to Harish Goud, the doors of Lord Madhmaheshwar is opening on May 20, the doors of Lord Tungnath and the Lord Rudranath are opening on Monday.

Meanwhile, Lord Kedarnath's "Panchmukhi Doli" was also conducted in presence of a select people.

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Mumbai, May 16 : Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit Nene took to social media on Sunday to express gratitude and share her love with her fans, followers, friends and industry colleagues for their wishes on her birthday.

Madhuri, who celebrated her her 54th birthday on Saturday, took to Facebook on Sunday to post a video thanking everyone for their warm wishes. At the same time, the actress reminded everyone to wear their masks and get vaccinated at the earliest keeping in mind the difficult situation we are going through.

In the video, Madhuri spoke in Hindi and English: "Hello everyone. Hope you all are safe and healthy and staying inside your homes. I wanted to thank all of you for such warm wishes on my birthday that you have sent me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and everywhere else. Thank you so much. Your love and wishes make me feel special every single day." Reminding all to take necessary precautions amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the actress added: "I know we are going through a very difficult time. I urge everyone to stay indoors with your loved ones. Stay safe, wear your masks and get vaccinated as soon as possible and follow all Covid guidelines. We need to stay together and be strong to overcome this. Once again thank you for your lovely birthday wishes."

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Hyderabad, May 16 : Telangana is in a better position compared to other states when it comes to the availability of oxygen and medicines, state Industry Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Sunday.

He claimed that the state government is ensuring a continuous supply of oxygen to avoid any deaths due to the oxygen crisis.

The minister was talking to reporters after receiving 200 oxygen concentrators donated by leading renewable energy firm Greenko.

A special flight from China carrying the concentrators landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said that the state government is taking all the steps to combat the Covid pandemic.

He also claimed that irrespective of political affiliations, public representatives are working as a team to combat the pandemic.

Noting that Hyderabad has been providing Covid treatment to the patients coming from neighbouring states, KTR thanked the Centre for increasing the supply of oxygen, Remdesivir injections, and also vaccines to the state. He said this would help treat the patients on time.

"Under the leadership of CM KCR, the government is working with complete coordination with the medical institutions. The public representatives and officials are on the ground to take stock of the situation and are acting swiftly during an emergency," KTR said.

KTR appreciated Greenko Group for coming forward to donate 1,000 oxygen concentrators to various states in India. In its first phase, the firm on Sunday handed over 200 oxygen concentrators to Telangana.

He thanked Greenko Group MD and CEO Anil Chalamasetty for helping the state government during these pandemic times The minister also thanked the management of Indigo Airlines for facilitating the transport of these oxygen concentrators from China.

Noting that various corporate organisations are coming forward to help the state during the pandemic, he appealed to the other corporate firms to come and join hands in combating the covid virus.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said that with the arrival of 200 oxygen concentrators, an additional 2 tonnes of oxygen will be available now.

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Improved rubber prices should see increase in production By Dr. L.M.K. Tillekeratne, former Executive Director, RRI Feature View(s): View(s):

Natural rubber production in Sri Lanka has been declining at an alarming rate from 135,000 Mt produced five years ago to 82,600 Mt in 2019. It is pathetic to note that Sri Lanka with over 140 years of proud history as the pioneer rubber grower in the world outside South America, was in the forefront (fourth place) in the world as a NR producer in the late 1960 has dropped to the 12th position, overtaken by countries which entered into growing rubber cultivation much later such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

It should be particuarly mentioned here that the rubber industry in Cambodia and Myanmar was developed with the expert assistance given by Sri Lankan scientists. With that technical support, they were able to increase their rubber production by three to four fold within a matter of six years. During this half a decade, the productivity of rubber lands in Sri Lanka has dropped down to 829 kg/Ha/ Yr from 1300 Kg/Ha/Yr produced a few years ago.

One of the cardinal reasons for this rapid decline in the local rubber productivity was the poor prices of rubber which prevailed in the world market and which was mostly below the cost of production over the past few years. Hence, mainly regional plantation companies (RPCs) and even smallholders totally neglected their plantations without maintainance. Some smallholders completely refrained from tapping during the past few years. Hence, the productivity of rubber lands in Sri Lanka has dropped drastically. Further no significant replanting has been undertaken by most of them over the past few years.

During the past few years rubber farmers did not even bother to use rain guards for which full subsidy payment was offered by the Rubber Development Department (RDD) to mitigate the crop losses caused by rain interference. As a result of the rain interference, annually over 70 days of tapping are lost in rainy rubber groving districts, namely Ratnapura, Kalutara and Galle thereby lowering the productivity further.

Some of the RPCs reverted to unrecommended rash tapping techniques using stimulants thereby causing tapping panel dryness (TPD) to make those heathy trees useless for latex extraction. Sadly, those TPD trees cannot be converted back to yield latex.This is mainly because they felt that the rubber industry is a Sunset industry and the rubber prices will never improve to a reasonable level for the plantations to survive again and they even made attempts to diversify their rubber lands to other crops which are harmful to the environment of the country.

At present, the contribution from the rubber industry to the total export value of Sri Lanka is only 5 per cent of which Rs. 4.8 billion comes from the export of raw rubber particularly in the form of Latex crepe rubber. Income from rubber finished product exports is US$864.4 million (Rs. 152 billion). Hence all attempts must be made now to produce more raw rubber and convert them to value added products particularly examination gloves for the demand is fast improving due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for export to improve the economy of the country which is in a sad state at present.

Productivity of rubber plantations depends mainly on the following points:

Planting RRI (Rubber Research Institute) recommended high yielding clones

Maintaining a stand of 500 healthy rubber trees per hectare at the time of tapping

Regular weeding and manuring according to RRI recommendations

Following correct exploitation techniques recommended by the RRI

Using rain guards to minimise rain interference on tapping

In order to get the maximum potential yield of those top clones recommended by the RRI, all the above requirements must be fulfilled. Just planting high yielding clones and neglecting the other four requirements will not help the plantation to yield over 2000 kg of rubber per ha per year.

The RRI has been able to recommend over five clones yielding over 2500 to 3000 kg/ha/yr if maintained properly. Recently they revised and updated the clone recommendations introducing a few newly developed high yielders. They do not recommend stimulation of virgin panels of trees to extract more latex. Even on renewed panels stimulation is recommended under carefully controlled conditions taking precautions to avoid TPD formation.

It is absolutely essential that in order to extract latex constantly over a period of 24 years, tapping must be done carefully without exhausting trees. Essentially, it has to be emphasised that there is no clone developed anywhere in the world to tap on a daily basis. The most recommended exploitation frequency recommended all over the world is s2d2 where only one half of the spiral is tapped every other day. Any effort taken to exceed this frequency or to stimulate trees to extract more latex will end up in a disaster. However, there is a low frequency tapping system introduced by the RRI to minimise the problem of tapper shortage called s2d3 where half spiral of the bark is tapped once in three days with light Ethrel stimulation recommended by the RRI. Whichever the tapping technique followed, the maximum amount of rubber you can get from a well-looked after healthy tree is 5 kg per yer. But, the average yield given anywhere today under normal conditions is about 3 to 4 kg per tree per year.

Regular manuring is essential with the correct fertiliser formula at the correct time when the soil is wet. That is at the beginning of the monsoon or towards the end of it. Weeding is essential to ensure nutrient loss caused by the weeds.

Even then, the yield one can get from a well maintained rubber farm is 2,000 to 2,500 kg/ha. If we achieve this norm, the rubber production in Sri Lanka today could have achieved a formidable target of over 180,000 Mt. But the above mentioned low production of 74,700 Mt has been because of the total neglegence of rubber farms by the RPCs and smallholders, mainly due to the low prices they got for the production during the last few years.

Six months ago, some of the smallholders refrained from tapping and neglected their plantations because there were no buyers for their latex in the field. Even those who bought little quantities paid them only about Rs. 90 per kg. But, with this sudden demand increased for rubber, they get almost close to Rs 400 per kg; recording a four fold increase. Hence, there is no doubt that the rubber farmers would put their maximum effort during next few months to follow agricultural practices recommended by the RRI and get the best benefit from this price improvement, which will be continued for few more months or years at least.

However, it should be recorded here that those who ruined their trees by trying to over extract latex totally neglecting the recommendations of the RRI will have to regret. In RPCs and in the smallholder sector, there is tremendous interest now to replant neglected areas to reap benefits of this price improvement. If that is the case not only the economy but even the environment of the country will improve making this country a comfortable place to live. It is universally accepted that the contribution from natural rubber (NR) plantations to the environment is equal to the contribution from natural forests. NR plantations help to minimise Green House effect by sequestrating 10 Mt of Carbon dioxide gas per hectare per year unlike other agricultural crops. The final message I want to drive into the rubber growers is to take the maximum benefit of this enhance price-benefit and convert their plantations to profitable venturers.
Chandigarh, May 16 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday underscored the need to propagate the ideology of the ninth Sikh master, Guru Tegh Bahadur, around the world to promote the values of peace, harmony, secularism and coexistence, which Guru Sahib upheld through his supreme sacrifice.

Taking part in the deliberations during a webinar organised by the K.S. Raju Legal Trust on Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur -- the Epitome of Resistance against Genocide and Conversion of Hindus and Sikhs under Islamic Rule in India, the Chief Minister said the secular character enshrined in the Constitution of the country was a shining example of 'unity in diversity' -- a deep-rooted philosophy of 'Hind Di Chadar' Guru Tegh Bahadur.

"Guru Sahib preached the concept of 'Sarbat Da Bhala' to create a harmonious society, where people, regardless of colour, caste, creed, race and religion, can live together in peace and harmony," he said.

Singh said he was blessed to have been personally associated with the celebration of several momentous occasions related to Sikh history, including the 400th anniversary of the installation of Guru Granth Sahib at Sri Harmandir Sahib in 2004, followed by the 350th Prakash Purb of Guru Gobind Singh, the 350th birth anniversary of legendary Sikh warrior Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, the 550th Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev and now the 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur during his present term as Chief Minister.

Noting that while the government had released a commemorative postage stamp on Guru Tegh Bahadur's birth Anniversary, the Chief Minister said the state had sent a detailed memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a grant of Rs 938.37 crore for infrastructural projects as a part of the historic celebrations.

The Chief Minister spoke about the various events planned by his government to commemorate the 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur, which had to be shifted to virtual mode to the Covid pandemic.

Further, his government had initiated several infrastructural and development projects, including the conservation and development of Old Jail at Bassi Pathana where the ninth Guru, along with his supporters, was imprisoned by Noor Mohammad Khan Mirza for 40 days while he was reportedly on his way to meet Emperor Aurangzeb, he added.

The Chief Minister also cited projects for the upgradation of Baba Bakala panchayat to nagar panchayat, and the upcoming Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur State University of Law in Tarn Taran district.

The 103 Charan Chhoh places, including 79 villages and 24 towns, connected with Guru Sahib had been identified and given development grants of Rs 50 lakh each and Rs 1 crore per town for infrastructure development, said the Chief Minister.

Also, more than 60 lakh saplings have been planted in 6,986 villages so far, as part of the ongoing celebrations.

Speaking on the occasion, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar said the unique sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur practically demonstrated that 'one should never forsake those who had come to you seeking shelter even if that means sacrificing your life'.

He lauded the Sikh community, which is known the world over for helping the people in distress or adversity with a sense of commitment, by arranging free community kitchen and now bailing out the people amid the Covid crisis by providing free oxygen service and other medical assistance.

In his presidential remarks, Governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammed Khan, referred to Guruji's sacrifice and underlined the need to disseminate the basic teachings of Guru Tegh Bahadur among the people.

He also appreciated the services rendered by the Sikh community from across the globe to lend a helping hand to the people of Kerala, even though the state has a minuscule Sikh population during the floods last year.

Earlier in his welcome address, Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, Jagmohan Singh Raju, and mentor of the K.S. Raju Legal Trust expressed gratitude to Amarinder Singh for the kind words for his late father K.S. Raju, whom the Chief Minister described as an able administrator for the overall development of Patiala city as being Deputy Commissioner.

Noted writer, filmmaker and philanthropist Harinder Singh Sikka said this webinar would go a long way to inspire the humanity with Guru Sahib's universal message of unity, sacrifice and righteousness.

He also proposed the vote of thanks on the occasion.

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Nagpur : , May 16 (IANS) Concerned by the sheer resistance among tribals for the Covid-19 vaccine jabs, a group of NGOs and leading personalities in Maharashtra have launched an awareness drive among the forest folks for the life-saver jabs.

In several districts of Vidarbha region, with a significant tribal populace, there are misgivings and misconceptions about the ongoing vaccination programme in the state, said Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM) President Kishore Tiwari, accorded a MoS status.

"Like in other regions, the tribal people harbour wild ideas, they feel that vaccinations could lead to side-effects, short or long term handicaps or even death, and they are keeping out of the programme... In many areas, they chase away the medical or health workers going to enroll them for the drive," Tiwari told IANS.

Roping in social workers and NGOs, Tiwari is leading small groups to tribal hamlets, explaining to them the benefits of the dose, how it can prevent them from Covid-19 and other aspects to convince them to register for the drive.

He said that in Vidarbha, Gadchiroli has almost 40 per cent tribals, 24 per cent in Yavatmal and 20 per cent in Chandrapur and most people are keeping off the vaccination drive, ringing alarm bells among the local and state health authorities.

The team members include Khushroo Poacha, the famous 82-year old Sikh, Baba Karnail Singh Khera, social worker Salim Khetani, filmmaker and Grand Maratha Foundation head Rohit Shelatkar, the Adar Poonawalla Foundation of Pune, with help from Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, State Minister Eknath Shinde and legislator Sanjay Rathod, besides VNSSM farmer volunteers.

"Last year, at the height of the lockdown, we distributed over 20,000 foodkits to the tribals in the region, under a project named 'Aadhar Uddhavcha' which proved very helpful to them. This year, we are distributing similar foodkits but now requesting them to join the vaccination," said Poacha.

Shelatkar said that there are thousands of small tribal dwellings across the region with reports of large-scale Covid-19 infections, but the locals seem to ignore the dangers as they go about their routine chores.

"We shall be conducting complete health checkups, distribute 30,000 foodkits, give them thermometer and oxymeters, teach them the importance of physical distancing, hygiene, washing hands, wearing facemasks, etc to help keep Corona at bay," said Tiwari.

After covering the main tribal districts of Vidarbha region, the team plans to concentrate on two other districts with massive tribals, like Nandurbar (70 per cent) and Palghar (40 per cent) with a similar initiative soon, said Shelatkar.

An aide to Minister Shinde said that, if necessary, the group may rope in celebs and travel to other districts with lower tribal populations to ensure that all the citizens in the state are covered by vaccination as soon as possible, as stated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray several times.

Besides, the groups will also make appeals on social media, local Marathi TV channels, newspapers, banners, posters and personal contacts to drive home the message of significance of vaccination, said Khaira Babaji, who has fed millions of migrants at his small 'langar' near Karanji on the NH-7 in Yavatmal, working non-stop since the pandemic set in.

In Nandurbar the Biladi Zilla Parishad Primary School Principal Sachin Patki is conducting a drive among locals in a unique way by donning fancy dresses of a doctor, policeman, Lord Shiva, Lord Vasudeo (Sage Naradmuni), goes singing and dancing in villages and succeeded in getting many reluctant tribals to go for vaccination.(IANS report - May 05).

Maharashtra currently has the country's highest caseload of 53,44,063, the maximum 80,512 deaths, but has also topped in vaccinations with 1,99,12,924 people already vaccinated with the first or second jabs across all categories till date.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

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New Delhi, May 16 : Delhi's Qutab Garh village, where nearly 50 residents have lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is still struggling to get proper testing facility to detect the deadly virus and timely medication to treat its victims.

Located in Saraswati Vihar tehsil of northwest Delhi district, Qutab Garh's residents said the second wave of the coronavirus seems to have gone on a killer spree in the village in the last two months.

Not much far from Saraswati Vihar town, the village's story is similar to that of the nearby Saoda, Chatesar, Jonti, Garhi Rindhala, Nizam Pur Rashid Pur, Lad Pur, Kanjhawala, Gheora, Rani Khera, Mubarak Pur Dabas and Kirari Suleman Nagar villages as well as others across Delhi which are still not able to get facilities being provided by the Delhi government amid the crisis.

As per Census 2011, Qutab Garh, which has 1,369 houses, has a population of 7,639 of which 4,094 are males while 3,545 are females. Population of children with age of 0-6 was 1,107 which is 14.49 per cent of total population. The female sex ratio is of 866 against state average of 868, while child sex ratio is around 771 compared to Delhi state average of 871. The literacy rate is 84.46 per cent (male 91.58 per cent and female 76.40 per cent).

However, its residents are deprived of easily accessible Covid testing facilities and medicines with proper instructions of a seasoned doctor of any government or any reputed private hospital despite the pandemic.

Most of the residents of Qutab Garh told IANS that "almost every house has more than two patients suffering from fever and cough, and many of them have all the Covid-19 symptoms".

"But only a few could manage to go for Covid-19 tests." Harjeet Pal, who is in his 50s, told IANS that "there are one government hospital in Ferozpur Bangar area and two Delhi government dispensaries in the radius of 5 km but the crowd gathering at these spots might be a virus spreader".

"So, most of the people avoid visiting these government facilities to get themselves tested to avoid Covid-19 infection. If Covid testing is made available at the village primary school, it might be helpful for villagers here to get themselves tested." In absence of proper health care facilities, most residents are relying on quacks running 'dispensaries' in the area and assuring of treating Covid with medicines which, they claim, are advised by top doctors of Delhi.

Several people have been getting treatment only at these 'dispensaries' because these quacks have advised them that they don't have Covid-19 symptoms.

"Several residents of this village have been treated by these quacks but those lost their lives as they were diagnosed with Covid in last stage in lack of timely testing and initial medication," said resident Badrinath Bhati.

Then some of the villagers don't want themselves tested for Covid-19 as they think that the government hospitals have been declaring to all those who have any symptom as "positive".

"I don't think that everyone is Covid positive. This is a time of viral infection too. I don't want my family getting infected with Covid while trying to get them tested at any government facility where huge crowd is seen everyday standing in long queues," said Siddheshwar Prashad, another resident, whose three family members have mild fever for almost a week now.

Prasad said if there is facility of testing in the village, he would be the first person to get his family tested for Covid as it would be a safe option.

He said that over 50 to 55 people in the village have lost their lives due to Covid, they have decided to avoid visiting outside the village.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

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New Delhi/Washington, May 16 : President Joe Biden who came to power in the United States on a pro-minorities and human rights agenda is drawing world-wide condemnation from Muslims for his support to Israel in the ongoing violent conflict in which dozens of Palestinians have been killed.

"Biden's presidential campaign said human rights come first. In four months as President, he has failed to sanction MBS for murder of Khashoggi, despite naming him responsible, sold $200 million dollars of weapons to dictator Sisi in Egypt and now failed to condemn the killing of children in Gaza," Vice News journalist Hind Hassan pointed out in a tweet on Sunday after reports emerged of dozens of civilian killings in Gaza due to Israeli airstrikes.

During the US Presidential election campaign last year, the Democrats had aggressively projected itself as secular saviors of minorities in the US and the rest of the world, while painting former President Donald Trump as an Islamophobe.

However, all the goodwill candidate Joe Biden had earned from Muslims around the world, frittered away after President Biden extended his support for Israel's right to defend itself from the terror group Hamas' rocket attacks.

In a global outrage, Muslims, liberals and Leftists across the democratic world, poured angry reactions against Biden on social media. A popular Palestinian poet and writer Mohammed el-Kurd, in a tweet said that "Biden is enabling not one-but two-genocides." Several social media users posted pictures of little kids holding posters which said, "Biden was supposed to be better than Trump. But he is letting Israel kill Palestinian kids too!" A Pakistani lobbyist based in Europe, Muhammed Faisal said the Biden statement has proved that he is a party to the Israeli attacks by defending them. Now US mediation will be ineffective in this matter, China and Russian will have to play a role." The Islamist organization in the US, the Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR) denounced the Biden administration's support of Israeli bombing of "innocent men, women and children in Gaza," saying that it will boycott the White House's annual Eid celebration.

CAIR in its statement said that the US President gave Netanyahu the green light to Kiev targeting Palestinian civilians (and reporters) under the guise of self-defense. Instead of condemning these war crimes, the White House keeps enabling them.

US Congress woman Rashida Tlaib who is known as a member of the far Left lobby within Democrats, also slammed the Biden administration for backing Israel, which she called an 'apartheid state'.

Likewise in India, many who had supported Vice President Kamala Harris of Indian descent, were disappointed by her support to Israel. Lawyer Karuna Nundy said in a tweet, "That this can happen in full view of the world and tacit support of POTUS and Kamala Harris should be a matter of some global fury." She was pointing out the Israeli air strike that brought down the building where Al Jazeera's office was housed in Gaza.

President Biden has also drawn criticism from the opposition at home. In a scathing piece against the Biden administration's policy on the Israel-Palestine conflict, columnist David Harsanyi censured the government for restoring $235 million in the US aid "to the corrupt and authoritarian Palestinian Authority without any preconditions that they refrain from terrorist activities or institute democratic institutions." The White House, he said, is bailing out Iranian mullahs, who will almost surely divert some funding to their proxy terror army in Gaza, which will in turn use it - not to buy vaccines or build homes, but to assemble hundreds of rockets that will be fired at Jewish cities.

"It's clear that forces in the region understand that Biden would sell out Israel and Sunni Arab nations for a deal with Iran. And they all act accordingly," he wrote.
Panaji, May 16 : Stormy winds and heavy rains caused by Cyclone Tauktae claimed two lives and uprooted more than 1,000 trees in Goa, disrupting normal life and road traffic and causing power outage in most parts of the coastal state on Sunday.

"Two people lost their lives because of the cyclone. A woman of around 30-35 years died after a coconut tree fell on her at Mapusa town (in North Goa). Another accident occurred at Marcel where two youth were going on a scooter and an electric pole fell on them and one of them lost his life while he was being rushed to hospital," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told a press conference.

He said that all roads faced blockages due to debris and uprooted trees.

"In Bardez, the worst-affected sub-district in North Goa, 31 houses were damaged while in South Goa, Mormugao was the worst affected sub-district where 36 houses were damaged," Sawant said.

Power Minister Nilesh Cabral said that feeder electrical lines from other states have been damaged in the state, which has resulted in a severe power outage.

"We are still in the process of assessing the damage caused to electricity poles which have been uprooted across Goa," he said.

Konkan Railway said that rail traffic was affected by the cyclonic winds and rain with uprooted trees blocking the railway track in at least five places in the state.

"No injuries or casualties have been reported. The traffic on the Konkan Railway route is running smoothly," it said in a statement.

The Goa branch of the Indian Meteorological Department has predicted that the severe cyclonic storm will last till May 17 with wind speeds in the range of 100 to 175 km per hour.
Srinagar, May 16 : As many as 59 Covid patients succumbed in different hospitals of J&K on Sunday taking the total number of people killed by the pandemic in the Union Territory to 3,149.

Officials said the fatalities comprised 31 in the Jammu division and 28 in the Kashmir division, while there were 4,141 cases, of which 1,690 were from the Jammu division and 2,451 from the Kashmir division.

So far, 244,608 people have been infected with coronavirus in J&K out of which 189,836 have recovered.

The number of active cases is 51,623 out of which 20,434 are from the Jammu division and 31,189 from the Kashmir division.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Srinagar, May 16 : People's Conference Chairman Sajad Lone has hit out at Jammu and Kashmir Police for arresting the sons of separatist leader Ashraf Sehrai.

Sehrai, who was detained under Public Safety Act (PSA), died in a Jammu hospital on May 5.

"And y do u have to do that. Which society will condone ur actions. They lost their father who died while being in govt custody. What r u competing for-- ferocity. Point taken. Yes u do come across as ferocious, Cruel and Ugly. Now Can we have an end to this Rambo culture," Lone said in a tweet.

Earlier, police said Sehrai's sons and others were arrested for raising "anti-national" slogans and were not booked under the stringent PSA. Police also appealed to people not to pay heed to rumours.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 16 : A fishing boat, with 15 aboard, which had sailed from Beypore in Kerala's Kozhikode from May 5 and was declared missing as there was no contact with it for the past couple of days, has been located off the Mangaluru coast, it was announced on Sunday.

P.A. Mohammed Riyas, the MLA-elect from Beypore, told media persons that he got information from the Kerala coastal police that the boat, "Ajmer Shah" is anchored off the Mangaluru coast and all the 15 fishermen on the boat are safe.

Another boat, "Milad 03", which had also ventured into the sea carrying 15 fishermen, was found off the Goa coast following mechanical issues. Information on this had come earlier.

Riyas said that the Inspector General of Police, Coastal Police, P. Vijayan has informed him that the fishermen on "Ajmer Shah" are safe and that once the weather conditions turn better, the fishermen and the boat would be brought back.

He thanked the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, the police and the Coast Guard for their timely intervention.
Amaravati, May 16 : The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Sunday directed that rebel Narsapuram MP, K. Raghurama Krishnam Raju, be shifted from Guntur district jail to a private hospital.

After receiving a report from a lower court about the nature of MP's injuries, the high court took up the hearing and directed that he be shifted to the Ramesh Hospital.

Counsel of the rebel YSRCP MP told the court that its orders that doctors from Ramesh Hospital examine his injuries were ignored. He argued that CID officials met the petitioner when he was in custody, thus violating the law. After hearing the arguments, the high court directed that the MP be immediately shifted to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Raju's wife Rama alleged that her husband's life is in danger in jail. She stated that if anything happens to him, the state government, the Chief Minister, and CID will be responsible.

Earlier, police shifted Raju to the district jail amid high drama. He was taken out of the Government General Hospital (GGH) from the rear gate and was shifted to jail.

The high court had on Saturday constituted three-member Medical Board headed by Superintendent of GGH, Guntur to examine the nature of injuries of Raju.

The rebel MP of Andhra Pradesh's ruling party was arrested on charges of sedition by the police in Hyderabad on Friday. He was later brought to Guntur.

On Saturday, he was produced before Additional Junior Civil Judge's court in Mangalagiri. Though he complained to the judge that CID sleuths tortured him in custody, the court sent the MP to judicial custody till May 28 and sent him to hospital for treatment.

Raju's lawyer later moved the high court, which passed the orders constituting a medical board as immediate relief and gave directions to provide necessary treatment to the MP. The bench also directed that the entire examination should be videographed and handed over to the District and Sessions Judge in Guntur.
New Delhi, May 16 : Amazon India on Sunday announced that it is working with sellers on its marketplace to help them bring in about 9,000 oxygen concentrators for customers in India.

Amazon's global procurement teams are helping interested sellers from India connect with leading global suppliers to enable them to procure oxygen concentrators for customers in need.

The first batch of 1,000 oxygen concentrators has already landed in India and are now available for purchase for consumers and business customers.

The rest are expected to come through in the second half of the month, the company said in a statement.

"We are working at multiple fronts, leveraging our global logistics network and resources to help in India's fight against Covid-19," said Manish Tiwary, Vice President Amazon India.

Sellers on Amazon will now be offering oxygen concentrators along with other genuine and high-quality products like oximeters, thermometers, masks, gloves, sanitisers and disinfectants for customers across India.

As part of our commitment to help India fight the devastating second wave of Covid-19, the company recently announced that they are importing and donating 100 ventilator units.

"We have also joined hands with multiple partners to urgently bring in over 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP machines to India," the company said.

The medical equipment will be donated to hospitals and public institutions to augment their capacity to help Covid-19 infected patients across multiple cities.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Sampath Bank  regaining momentum amidst continuing headwinds View(s):

While the pandemic is undoubtedly one of the most formidable challenges Sri Lanka has encountered in recent years, it is believed that the collective response of the local banking sector has helped the country as a whole, to handle the unexpected economic downturn in 2020, Sampath Bank said this week in a media release releasing its 1stQ results for 2021. The bank too faced many challenges in adjusting to the pandemic.

Transitioning into a fully digital environment and an entirely new operating model under pandemic related restrictions was no easy feat. However, thanks to the solid progress made on the digital front in the recent past, the bank was able to make the transition in a matter of days to ensure uninterrupted operations. Equally importantly, Sampath Bank played a vital role in stabilizing the economy through the disbursement of the relief package for COVID affected businesses and individuals.

The bank recorded a Profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 6.1 billion in 1Q 2021 compared to Rs 3 billion in 1Q 2020, showing a sharp growth of 101 per cent, while Profit after tax (PAT) increased by 83 per cent to Rs 4.6 billion from Rs. 2.5 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2020. Resilient performance of all business lines along with the improved credit quality helped bolster Sampath Banks performance in the first quarter of 2021.

The Sampath Group also registered significant growth in 1Q 2021, as seen by the improvement in both PAT and PBT in the first quarter of the year. The Group reported a Rs 5.1 billion PAT and a Rs 6.7 billion PBT for the period under review, realising a growth of 90.7 per cent and 103.5 per cent, respectively compared to the figures reported for the same period in the previous year.
Bengaluru, May 16 : Two Air India cargo aircraft have landed in Bengaluru with 34,200kg of zeolite imported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to make medical oxygen for treating Covid patients, an official said on Sunday.

"The two aircraft carrying zeolite from Rome arrived as the first consignment of the key component," a DRDO official told IANS here.

Zeolites are 'molecular sieves' comprising silicon, aluminium , and oxygen among othersand are used as a raw material to make industrial and medical oxygen.

"The component will be used to make medical oxygen at Tata Advance Systems Ltd plant at Malur in Kolar, with the technology developed and transferred by DRDO," said the official, who did not want to be identified.

"Zeolite will be used as a molecular sieve in making purified oxygen in the plant, which adopts pressure swing adsorption technology developed by the DRDO," said the official.

More consignments of the raw material are scheduled to land at the city airport this week from Italy and South Korea to generate oxygen, whose demand shot up exponentially for treating Covid patients amid the pandemic's second wave.

"The technology has been transferred to 5-6 companies for making medical oxygen on priority to meet the growing demand," added the official.

DRDO developed the technology to generate oxygen onboard its fighter aircraft Tejas, which has been inducted by the Indian Air Force.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 16 : A report by the Swiss financial regulator FINMA claims that Credit Suisse ignored over 100 warnings of potential breach of regulations.

Swissinfo quoted that the NZZ am Sonntag paper as reporting that the management of Credit Suisse had overlooked breaches of regulations for years and that bank leads the pack when it comes to the most ongoing FINMA investigations.

In recent years, FINMA has initiated five proceedings against the bank to remedy these omissions. The most recent cases concern the billions lost via the Greensill and Archegos funds. There have also been investigations into money laundering and executive espionage. A report shows that Credit Suisse ignored more than 100 red flags in total, the report said.

The SonntagsBlick paper highlighted one such red flag around the time when Urs Rohner was head of the board of directors. It concerns a client advisor who managed the funds of wealthy Eastern Europeans that earned the bank some 25 million Swiss francs a year.

According to the SonntagsBlick, he was alleged to have invested his clients' assets in high-risk investments without their knowledge, falsified documents and lined his own pockets in the process. Despite warnings, he allegedly continued to work for the bank and was only fired in 2015 after making massive speculations.

The SonntagsZeitung paper wrote that the bank's heavy losses also have political consequences. The Credit Suisse issue is on the agenda of the House of Representatives' economic committee next week. The main topic for discussion will be whether and how the regulation of the big banks should be strengthened.
New Delhi, May 16 : Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transfer Rs 6,000 per month to the accounts of eligible poor.

"The Congress President has suggested that the centre should provide free food grains to the needy and give Rs 6,000 per month to all the jobless people. In view of the above mentioned condition of the poor and downtrodden due to the ongoing pandemic, I shall request that at least to start with you may give a serious thought to the suggestion of the Congress President that the Central government should resort to direct cash transfer of Rs 6,000 per month in the bank accounts of all the eligible poor people of the states under lockdown, including the State of West Bengal," he said, in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Chowdhury contended that this will not only mitigate the sufferings of the millions of poor but it is good economics as well because it will have a multiplier effect on the economy.

Stressing that he wanted to bring to notice the hardship and suffering being faced by the poor, daily wagers and the marginalised sections of the society due to the current lockdown imposed in various states, he said: "In view of the ongoing pandemic and the lockdowns, such people have been rendered unemployed, resulting in their incomes dwindling and them not being able to provide for and feed their family. Accordingly, such people are in a deplorable condition and are feeling abandoned, completely left-out and hopeless."
United Nations, May 17 : While mourning the death of an Indian nurse in Israel, India's Permanent Representative T. S. Tirumurti on Sunday condemned the rocket attacks from Gaza that killed her.

Speaking at a rare Security Council meeting held on a Sunday, he, however, also reiterated India's support for the Palestinian cause and condemned the retaliatory attacks by Israel.

Soumya Santosh, who is from Kerala, was killed in Ashkelon inside Israel by the rocket launched reportedly by the Iran-backed Hamas organisation from Gaza last week. She was working as a caregiver for the elderly.

The Council met in a virtual session as the situation in the Israel-Palestine-Gaza region spiralled into a violent crisis, with reports that before the session, Israeli air strikes had killed at least 40 people, some of them children.

At least four people were killed in Israel as some Hamas rockets pierced Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defence system.

Referring to Santosh, Tirumurti said: "India has also lost one of her nationals living in Israel in this rocket fire -- a caregiver in Ashkelon. We deeply mourn her demise along with all other civilians who have lost their lives in the current cycle of violence." "The indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel, which we condemn, and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza, have caused immense suffering, and resulted in deaths," he said.

While reiterating New Delhi's "strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the two-State solution", Tirumurti also expressed "strong condemnation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement, and destruction".

He called for an immediate de-escalation of the situation to stop "any further slide to the brink" and the resumption of dialogue between the parties to the conflict.

He said that Jerusalem has a special place in the hearts of Indians and added that attempts should not be made to change the status quo in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood.

He mentioned the presence of an India-associated in Jerusalem's old city. New Delhi had restored the Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya, the Indian hospice associated with Indian Sufi saint Baba Farid, he said.

The holy places in Jersualem, including the Haram al-Sharif, also known as the Temple Mount, that is sacred to Muslims, should be protected, he added.

The triggers for the current wave of violence is the attempt by some Israelis to evict Arabs from homes in East Jerusalem and the entry of Israeli security forces into the Temple Mount.

At the UNSC session presided over China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said: "Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately. Rockets and mortars on one side and aerial and artillery bombardments on the other must stop. I appeal to all parties to heed this call." "It has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole," he warned.

He drew attention to the Israeli bombing of the offices of the US news agency Associated Press and Qatari TV network Al Jazeera in Gaza City and said: "Journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment." "I am appalled by the attack on a refugee camp in Gaza, in which 10 members of one family were killed. Humanitarian installations must be protected," he said, but added: "Israeli civilians live in fear of rockets launched from Gaza." Holding the meeting on a Sunday itself showed the isolation of the administration of US President Joe Biden which had vainly tried to stop the Council from discussing the situation. After blocking a session on Friday, it was forced by other members to agree to the meeting on Sunday.

Biden is facing a split in his party over his Israel policy with a vociferous group of Democrats condemning his backing for that country, even as many in the party continue their strong support for Israel.

US Permanent Representative Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that "the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict" and is "intensively engaged with Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials, as well as the Special Coordinator (of the UN, Tor Wennesland) and his team -- all of whom are working to define and establish conditions for a sustainable calm".

In a break from the four years of former President Donald Trump, she, however, called for an end to "evictions" - including in East Jerusalem - demolitions, and settlement construction east of the 1967 lines".

"Critically, all parties need to uphold and respect the historic status quo at the holy sites," she added.

Without condemning any of the attacks by either side, Thomas-Greenfield said: "We've also been alarmed by violence impacting journalists and medical personnel, whose roles are crucial and must be protected and respected." "It's time to end the cycle of violence. The United States calls on Hamas and other Palestinian groups in Gaza to immediately halt rocket attacks and other provocations. We also are deeply concerned about the ongoing intercommunal violence within mixed communities in Israel. We urge all parties to avoid actions that undermine a peaceful future." (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 17 : Delhi Police have finally managed to trace and arrest Navneet Kalra, the owner of the famous 'Khan Chacha restaurant, who was absconding in the Oxygen concentrators black-marketing case.

The South Delhi police have arrested Kalra from Gurugram on Sunday late night and handed over him to the Crime Branch, sources said. Kalra was absconding since May 7.

His alleged involvement in the black-marketing of Oxygen concentrators has also triggered a political blame game. The Bharatiya Janata Party has accused him of being close to the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.

Kalra had also approached the High Court for anticipatory bail after the raids. However, the court had rejected his plea.

On May 6, the Delhi Police had received information about black-marketing of oxygen concentrator in some restaurants. Acting on the information, the police raided the Nege & Ju Bar, located at the Lodhi Road Central Market and recovered three dozen concentrators.

After the arrest of four people present in the restaurant, it was revealed that it is a big nexus and the matter is connected to the famous 'Khan Chacha' restaurant that Kalra owns.

Thereafter, on May 7, the police raided 'Khan Chacha' restaurant in Khan Market. Kalra had switched off his mobile phones as soon as he got the information about raids. The police had also raided his farmhouse in Chhatarpur, but Kalra had managed to escape and since then he was evading the arrest.

According to the police, the black-marketing of oxygen concentrator also has a connection in London. Gagan Duggal, the owner of Matrix Cellular Company, was running this racket. He used to buy Oxygen concentrators for Rs 20,000 per unit from China and send them to India. Here in India, these concentrators were being sold between Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000 per unit. The CEO of Duggal's company in India, Gaurav Khanna, was involved in the black-marketing. The police have already arrested Khanna from Gurugram.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Jaipur, May 17 : BJP National General Secretary and in-charge of Rajasthan Arun Singh on Sunday accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of having mala fide intentions 'due to which he intentionally did not use the ventilators allotted under the PM Care for Rajasthan'.

Addressing a virtual media conference, Singh said, "The ventilators which were termed as faulty could have been made operational by spending a mere amount of Rs 300. In Bikaner, 20 ventilators were made operational by our workers. Why other ventilators were not made functional a year back by the Congress government?" People would not have died if the ventilators had been made functional. The Gehlot government should be held accountable for this, he added.

If the Central government can provide a ventilator worth Rs 4 lakh, why could not the Gehlot government spend Rs 300 to improve any of its parts. Operating and maintaining ventilators was a part of state government and Gehlot government's loopholes are now out in the public, he further said.

Singh alleged that the Central government allotted 453 MT oxygen but the state government could not reap the benefits as it did not arrange for tankers. Health sector comes under the state government but it did not do anything and kept sleeping with no work done on ground for installing oxygen plant, he said.

"Due to their male fide intentions, neither the ventilators provided under PM care were used nor the Rs 201 crore funds sanctioned for installing oxygen plants were used. This would have popularised PM Modi's image and hence public lives were compromised upon," he said.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kabul, May 17 : Fighting in Afghanistan resumed with 31 Afghans, mostly militants, killed in the insurgency-battered Asian country on Sunday after a three-day ceasefire observed with the start of Eid al-Fitr on Thursday to enable celebrations of the end of the Muslim fasting month Ramadan, officials said.

Mohammad Zaman Hamdard, the spokesman for provincial police in the southern Helmand province, has accused the Taliban militants of violating the ceasefire, saying the Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints on Friday, the second day of the Eid al-Fitr festival, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Hamdard said that the security forces after the end of the three-day truce targeted the militants from the ground and air on Sunday killing 21 militants and injuring 13 others.

In the meantime, a roadside mine planted by militants struck a car in Khwaja Omari district of the southeastern Ghazni province early Sunday killing three civilians and injuring three others, district chief Ahmad Zia Yaqubi said.

Similarly, Taliban attacks on security checkpoints in Nasay district of the northern Badakhshan province were repulsed Sunday and the militants fled away after leaving seven bodies behind, army officer Abdul Razaq told said.

Four other militants and two security personnel were injured in the fighting lasting hours, the officer added.

A driver sustained injury as his car ran over a mine in the Dasht-e-Padola area of PD 7 of the capital city of Kabul on Sunday, police said.

Taliban-related militancy, according to the Afghan Defense Ministry had left more than 40 people dead and injured during the three-day Eid al-Fitr holidays in Kandahar, Kunduz, Ghazni, Herat, Farah, Logar and Wardak provinces as the armed group violated the cease-fire.

Among the deadly violent incidents was a blast inside a mosque on the outskirts of Kabul on Friday, the second day of Eid al-Fitr, which claimed 12 lives and injured 15 others. Taliban purported spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid besides condemning the attack has denied the group's involvement.

In a counter claim, Mujahid has accused the government forces of breaking the ceasefire.
Clear Imaging Research, LLC ("Clear Imaging"), an image and video technology research and licensing company, announced that it has signed a worldwide, non-exclusive patent license agreement with Samsung Electronics ("Samsung), one of the world's leading manufacturers of smartphones, consumer electronics, and imaging technologies.

With the signing of the agreement, Clear Imaging and Samsung have also agreed to dismiss the pending litigation between the two companies.

We are pleased to sign this agreement with Samsung Electronics.," said Fatih Ozluturk, CEO of Clear Imaging Research. " We are continuing our effort to close licensing agreements with a number of other manufacturers in the near term. We wish Samsung continued success in their worldwide business."

About Clear Imaging Research

Clear Imaging Research has been creating digital imaging solutions that aim to improve, enhance, and correct digital images and video for well over fifteen years. We have created innovative and practical solutions to long-standing technical challenges impacting digital cameras and smartphones more than a decade ahead of market adoption. The company continues to invent and license imaging solutions in the consumer electronics industry that directly improve users experience and help to capture important moments and create lasting memories.

Clear Imaging Research Contact:

Fatih Ozluturk / John Garland

Email: fatih@clear-imaging.com, jgarland@clear-imaging.com

+1 212-993-6258
A community college education provides the foundation for numerous fields of study for countless students across the U.S.

The educational short TV program, Viewpoint, hosted by The Parent Trap actor Dennis Quaid, is gearing up with content providers to promote content featuring the essential role of community colleges. The program will showcase the stories of individuals positively impacted by their community college experiences alongside experts in the higher education arena.

Community colleges play a significant role in higher education in the U.S, with millions of students enrolling each year. Many individuals seek out community colleges to continue their education instead of traditional four-year universities and colleges due to their affordability. Tuition fees are typically lower by thousands of dollars than their four-year university counterparts, in addition to lower room and board costs.

Class loads are typically more flexible, ideal for students looking to ease their way into higher education or juggling a work-school balance. Also, many community colleges offer smaller class sizes, making it easier for students to receive more personal one-on-one time with instructors.

A community college education provides the foundation for numerous fields of study for countless students across the U.S. Viewpoint is excited to utilize its platform to communicate the role community colleges play in the lives of many. American actor Dennis Quaid will introduce the upcoming segment of Viewpoint, sharing the value of community college.

The educational short-form television program Viewpoint with host Dennis Quaid is created for television stations. The show has accepted multiple Telly awards and is made possible by content creators and a crew of talented developers and producers.
We want the world to know, especially children, that knowing Jesus is a great and exciting thing.

Allison Morancie-Davidson and Navine Johnsons book, Jesus You Are More ($12.49, paperback, 9781498441025; $5.99, ebook, 9781498441032), is available for purchase.

Jesus You Are More will help kids understand the character and friendship of Jesus. Jesus is more than the best friend. His gift to us is greater than any earthly gift we could ever receive from our mommies, daddies, grandparents, or friends. Find out what Jesus means to us in this adorably illustrated story of what Jesus means to us!

We want the world to know, especially children, that knowing Jesus is a great and exciting thing, said Morancie-Davidson and Johnson.

Allison Morancie-Davidson and Navine Johnson met at their church Faith Evangelistic Ministry in New York, New York. Since that meeting at the churchs young adult ministry, they have been close friends. After months of discussion, they have collaborated creating childrens books with a faith-based background. They both continue to reside in New York City.

# # #

Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Jesus You Are More is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.


Storm brews on SLs tea plantations By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Sri Lankas tea industry is ravaged by the storms of present day policies and a health crisis that has hit the plantations and likely to impact the production of Ceylon Tea.

Planters Association Spokesman Dr. Roshan Rajadurai told the Business Times that the issue of a lack of chemicals or fungicide is going to be critical in the short term.

He explained that back in 2018 when the glyphosate was banned the plantation sector faced a number of setbacks resulting in losing prime markets like Japan as they now purchase about 50 per cent less than what they did earlier.

We lost the Japanese market and they have changed their (tea) packs to Indian and Kenyan market, he said adding that while Sri Lanka had previously exported nearly 7-8 million kg annually to Japan this has now dropped by over 50 per cent.

Moreover, he noted that the European market has also switched to other teas as a result of a number of local planters using other substances resulting in higher residue levels in the teas.

Dr. Rajadurai pointed out that if there is no fertiliser there will be crop loss and reduction of work and earnings for work.

However, the tea industry remained hopeful that the government will consult practitioners and come to a practical solution to this issue.

Ceylon Tea Traders Association (CTTA) Chairman Jayantha Karunaratne said they had sent a letter to the President on the need to phase out the chemical fertilizer following a due process over a period of time in a systematic manner.

An immediate cessation of chemical fertilizer without an alternate viable solution, will result in an almost 40-50 per cent drop in volumes and export revenues, the letter dated May 6 stated.

The letter was signed by all stakeholders in the industry namely the traders, exporters, planters, brokers, smallholders and factory owners.

I think the opinion of the state officials is that this is the government policy to and this could be resolved by engaging scientists involved in this process, Mr. Karunaratne said.

It is likely to be a restricted ban and there could be a method where import of chemical fertiliser could be made by obtaining a special import licence to do so, Mr. Karunaratne said.

Meanwhile, concerns are rising over the increasing COVID-19 hit plantations as two estates continue to remain under lockdown and a number of pockets of cases are emerging in estates around the upcountry and low country.

As a result of the local level lockdowns the COVID-19 positive cases are being isolated on the plantations itself.

Dr. Rajadurai pointed out that with the cropping season on the coronavirus has hit production and in other issues a few regional trade unions are creating further issues.

He noted that these local level regional trade unions representatives are advising estate workers to refrain from plucking any more than 18 kg. But it was observed that there are a larger number of workers who continue to work according to what is available to pluck and not just keeping to the norm.

In the meantime, the tea exporters are facing issues regarding prices at the auctions since some of the key tea markets are said to be not doing very well due to their own economic and COVID-19 related issues, Mr. Karunaratne explained.

He also pointed out that currently despite the ban on travel their workers are able to report to work as they have been permitted to do so. Officially there is no ban on us to stop work  we all work and our factories work, he said adding that they do take care of all their employees but the danger still exists.
Purdue President Mitch Daniels addresses the graduates at the spring 2021 commencement on Saturday. The ceremony was held in Ross-Ade Stadium for the first time, and was Purdues first in-person commencement since December 2019 due to the pandemic.
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Downsizing your stuff

Thinking about downsizing your stuff? Vali Heist is ready to help

Vali Heist of the Clutter Crew shares insights on getting rid of all your nonessentials.
Opinion

Free community college tuition under American Families Plan could be a game-changer
U.S. foreign policy -- from the founding era to the present moment -- revolves around a recurring debate about the diplomatic means for securing freedom. As the nation grew and the world changed, it was necessary to revise and refine the understanding of Americas role in international affairs and the character and extent of the nations alliances. With the rise -- and rising awareness of -- the worldwide China challenge, the question of how best to conceive of and manage the U.S. alliance system to secure freedom has taken on renewed urgency.

The nations founding generation generally thought that limiting alliances secured freedom. In his 1796 farewell address, President Washington exhorted the new nation, for the sake of true liberty and in defense of a free Constitution and free people, to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. In 1801, in his first inaugural address, President Jefferson echoed Washingtons warning on behalf of Americas free and democratic government: peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.

But a foreign policy well-suited to securing freedom during an era in which transoceanic communications and travelers -- aboard the same wooden sailing ships -- took weeks to arrive ill fits a world in which global communications occur instantly and jumbo jets fly across oceans in a matter of hours.

With the onset of the Cold War and the division of the globe into a U.S.-led free world and a communist system under the Soviet Unions tutelage, the American foreign-policy establishment recognized that enduring friends and partners anchoring a far-flung international alliance system had become crucial to Americas ability to secure freedom at home. Vital as well, they believed, was a system of international organizations and agreements to provide the institutional infrastructure of an international order composed of free and sovereign nation-states.

The consensus that formed in response to the Soviet challenge did not resolve all controversies but, amid the China challenge, it continues to frame the salient questions. The most important of these questions concern how this diplomatic plan or military operation, that alliance, or these aspects of the international order secure freedom.

In The Case for Microlateralism, which recently appeared in Foreign Affairs, Jared Cohen and Richard Fontaine make the excellent point that the United States can enhance its alliance system by doing more to enable small states to lead diplomatic efforts. And they offer practical recommendations for ramping up such endeavors. To appreciate the full significance of their insight, however, it is necessary to separate it from the authors distortion of Trump administration foreign policy, misdescription of the realities of multilateralism, and failure to connect U.S. foreign policy to the nations paramount interest in securing freedom.

Cohen, CEO of Jigsaw (and my colleague on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeos Foreign Affairs Policy Board), and Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, welcome what they present as President Bidens restoration of reasonable diplomacy. In sharp contrast with former U.S. President Donald Trumps America first agenda, they write, President Joe Biden and his administration have conspicuously embraced multilateralism. To showcase the importance of alliances and international cooperation to the Biden administration, the authors stress that it spent its first weeks in office reversing some of the more controversial manifestations of its predecessors approach  rejoining the Paris climate accord, halting the United States withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), reengaging with the UN Human Rights Council, and conditionally recommitting to the Iran nuclear deal. The authors say these actions are generally to the good.

Confusingly, however, they promptly undercut their praise of Biden and implicitly acknowledge the merits of his predecessors approach.

In agreement with the Trump administration, Cohen and Fontaine affirm that not all multilateralism is created equal. They also, consistent with the previous administration, observe that [i]n an era of renewed great-power competition, venues such as the UN Security Council and the G-20 are frequently deadlocked, even when their members share broad interests. And in a manner that coincides with Trump administration assessments, Cohen and Fontaine criticize two Biden administration multilateral initiatives they had only just praised: Chinese influence has undermined the effectiveness of key international organizations, such as the WHO, and multilateral trade agreements, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, lack domestic political support.

The other Biden administration multilateral initiatives the authors highlight, moreover, are equally flawed. Eight years of failed Obama administration efforts to reform the UNHRC from within support the Trump administration view that respect for human rights requires severing relations with an organization dominated by authoritarian powers and obsessed with condemning Israel. And proper evaluation of the Obama administrations Iran deal turns not on the goodness of international cooperation but on the wisdom of providing the Islamic Republic of Iran with tens of billions of dollars; standing by as it foments terror in the region, destabilizes governments, and develops ballistic missiles: and leaving it on a glide path to nuclear weapons.

To address the shortcomings of the conventional multilateral options, Cohen and Fontaine advise the new administration to put to good use the potential for small countries to take a multilateral lead. They call this microlateralism and see it as complementing rather than replacing global governance and broader multilateral efforts.

As they show, small-country leadership and large-state participation are long-standing diplomatic realities. In the early 1990s, Norway orchestrated negotiations that contributed to the Oslo Accords. In the late 1990s, Togo pursued talks that hastened the end of Sierra Leones civil war. In 2008, Qatar took the lead in producing the Doha Agreement, which restored stability to Lebanon. In 2015, Jordan initiated the Aqaba Process, convening countries to counter terrorism. And in 2020, Austria brought together a diverse group of nations -- including Greece, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Israel, Norway, and New Zealand -- to deal with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Groupings led by small countries, argue Cohen and Fontaine, have several advantages over traditional multilateralism. Small countries can quickly launch new programs. They can bring a diversity of experience and expertise to bear. And they can operate more nimbly and impartially amid great-power competition.

Digital issues and the global pandemic, Cohen and Fontaine advise, are particularly ripe areas for fostering such diplomacy. The authors also urge the Biden administration to build on the Abraham Accords -- a signature Trump administration achievement.

To enrich appreciation of the benefits that small-country diplomacy yields, Cohen and Fontaine helpfully invoke Tocquevilles observations about the art of association. The Frenchman marveled at the propensity of 19th-century Americans to organize themselves into various sorts of groups in civil society -- the wide space in a liberal democracy between the individual and the state. These civic or intermediate associations provide for a multiplicity of needs and advance many interests -- from feeding the hungry to fostering commerce to enhancing social and cultural life -- that are either beyond governments purview or more effectively satisfied by citizens cooperating in their own communities to promote the public interest. Such associations are valuable not least, Tocqueville emphasized, because participation in them cultivates the virtues of freedom.

It is difficult for multilateralism as it is generally understood to apply the lessons of Tocquevilles art of association to the international arena. For many diplomats and foreign policy thinkers -- especially Europeans and American progressives -- multilateralism does not denote, as its Latin root suggests, many-sided diplomacy. Rather, it has come to mean maxilateralism, or U.N. supremacy.

True multilateralism, however, leaves plenty of room for recognizing the opportunities within international civil society -- the sphere between free and sovereign nation-states and international organizations. Indeed, thanks to its appreciation of the need for a diversity of associations within that sphere, the Trump administration was able to revitalize the Quad (the U.S., India, Japan and Australia), stand up the Clean Network, and broker the Abraham Accords.

With the China challenge unfolding in every region of the world, securing freedom depends not only on American citizens cooperating in countless ways at home in domestic civil society. It also requires the United States to operate effectively in international civil society by assisting partners in the formation of diverse groupings to accomplish the great variety of concrete tasks that sustain a free and open international order.
In the lead-up to Pennsylvanias primary, which takes place Tuesday, Gov. Tom Wolf and his administration have injected partisanship into what had been a non-political aspect of state government.

Earlier this year, the state legislature passed three amendments for voters to consider in the primary. The executive branch has a clerical duty to summarize such ballot questions for voters in neutral, descriptive language. Question 3 was an equal rights provision with bipartisan support that received unobjectionable wording. Questions 1 and 2, however, concern limits on the governors emergency powers. Wolf and his appointees oppose this idea  and their summary language reflects that position.

Question 1 would allow the legislature to end an emergency declaration by majority vote. Current law allows the governor to end emergencies unilaterally and to veto legislative attempts to do so. Question 2 limits governor-declared emergencies to 21 days, after which the legislature must consent to any extension. Both amendments are reactions to Wolfs declaring a state of emergency  in response to COVID-19  last March and keeping it in place for 14 months and counting .

The Department of State summarized Question 1 as follows: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to change existing law and increase the power of the General Assembly to unilaterally terminate or extend a disaster emergency declaration  and the powers of Commonwealth agencies to address the disaster regardless of its severity pursuant to that declaration  through passing a concurrent resolution by simple majority, thereby removing the existing check and balance of presenting a resolution to the Governor for approval or disapproval?

The departments take on Question 2 reads: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to change existing law so that: a disaster emergency declaration will expire automatically after 21 days, regardless of the severity of the emergency, unless the General Assembly takes action to extend the disaster emergency; the Governor may not declare a new disaster emergency to respond to the dangers facing the Commonwealth unless the General Assembly passes a concurrent resolution; the General Assembly enacts new laws for disaster management?

The ballot questions start in the same way they always have: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended But even here, the Department of State puts its thumb on the scale, adding the phrase to change existing law. Of course, any amendment, by its nature, changes existing law. Ballot language in previous amendment proposals in 2016 , 2017 , and 2019 contained no such wording, but the Wolf administration chose to make the current questions sound more ominous.

Further along, the descriptions are even more slanted. The Department of State adds regardless of its severity and regardless of the severity of the emergency to the summaries, even though the amendments texts make no mention of severity. Again, the language attempts to persuade voters, rather than just following the legal duty to summarize the text.

Wolfs fingerprints show most heavily in Question 1s wording, in which the ballot language editorializes that passing the amendment would be thereby removing the existing check and balance in the constitution. Even ignoring the grammatical clumsiness, the language isnt neutral. Instead, the administration is clearly attempting to influence the amendment process.

Party politics play a role here: Wolf is a Democrat, and both legislative chambers have Republican majorities. But there is also a legitimate pushback to the idea that an executive can unilaterally declare an emergency and retain his emergency powers for as long as he wants. And in response to being challenged, Wolf has acted even more unilaterally in an attempt to hold on to these powers.

The pandemic was certainly a crisis, but never in the commonwealths history has any executive claimed such broad powers for so long a time. The British army occupied Philadelphia during the American Revolution. Confederates invaded central Pennsylvania in the Civil War. Even amid these threats to the existence of the state, Pennsylvania managed to maintain the republican form of government and the separation of powers mandated in the state constitution.

Emergencies happen. At times, they require swift action where delay would invite even more danger. But it is the factor of time, not the severity of a calamity, that justifies any temporary circumventing of the checks and balances of the state constitution. Unexpected threats demand speedy action, but once the legislature can convene and debate the problem, that justification fades away. The 21-day limit on unilateral emergency declarations is quite reasonable. Three weeks is enough time for lawmakers to assemble in Harrisburg and address whatever problem theyre facing.

Wolf has gone to extraordinary lengths to maintain his emergency powers despite repeated, bipartisan legislative action to stop him. As Calvin Coolidge noted, Government control cannot be divorced from political control. To those inclined to trust in government, that phrase sounds cynical, but Wolf demonstrates the truth of it. Given enough time, any lever of government control will become a partisan weapon. Wolf has thoroughly discredited the executive branchs limited role in the amendment process. Perhaps the next amendment should aim at fixing that.
Working together View(s):

It was the unmistakable shrill tune of the choon-paan karaya in his modified tuk-tuk on Thursday morning that alerted the neighbourhood that their much-looked-forward-to mobile breakfast had arrived. It was the unmistakable shrill tune of the choon-paan karaya in his modified tuk-tuk on Thursday morning that alerted the neighbourhood that their much-looked-forward-to mobile breakfast had arrived.

Oya kohomada ave? Rata wahala ne thiyenne (How did you come? The country is closed noh?) asked Kussi Amma Sera, as she went through the offerings, looking for maalu paan.

Mata prashnayak thibbe ne (I didnt have a problem), said Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya, adding: Mama polis kattiyawa dekka, eth egollo mava navath-thuve ne (I saw some policemen but they didnt stop me).

Banis thiyena-wada (Do you have any buns?) asked Serapina, while Mabel Rasthiyadu offered her views on the lockdown: Mokakda saha monawada kiyanne kiyala therenne-ne (There is a lot of confusion).

My thoughts this morning were on the confused messages from government spokespersons and the police on the 77-hour travel restrictions (11 p.m. on Thursday to 4 a.m. on Monday). Is it a lockdown? Is it a curfew? Or is it both?

Social media was replete this morning with contributors asking why the government was shy in announcing a curfew or lockdown instead of the use of the words travel restrictions. Be honest, exhorted one commentator.

Just as Aldoris was making his sales pitch and the trio was into a long conversation with him, the phone rang. It was my jolly-mood economist friend, Sammiya (short for Samson) on the line: And he was not in a jolly mood!

I say what is this nonsense that the government is talking about? They say travel restrictions while the police spokesperson says people cannot get out of their homes. Isnt that a curfew? Why cant the government say so instead of hiding behind vague definitions, he asked, in an angry tone.

I agree travel restrictions is too vague for people to understand, I said. While the initial response to the pandemic was commendable, the government seems to have lost the plot and is all over the place without a clear plan, he said, adding that in a proper information flow where the public gets clear messages, maybe they should have invited the private sector to help with less complicated messages being disseminated.

On that point, I totally agree, I said and continued the conversation lasting 16 minutes, while we discussed many issues other than the pandemic.

Sammiya makes a good point which is also the focus of todays conversation with my readers: Is the government engaging the private sector particularly in areas in which the latter has more expertise in dealing with an emergency and its related issues?

Yes private sector assistance was sought in some hotels being converted to intermediate care centres for COVID-19 patients, while at least three to four garment factories were converted into hospitals. Private hospitals are also offering the PCR tests, while at the beginning of the epidemic last year there was a flood of support from the private sector contributing cash and other requirements such as PPE, face masks and hospital equipment.

But why didnt the government respond positively when the private sector offered to purchase two million doses of the vaccine  through state channels  for inoculation of one million private sector workers, with the balance 1 million doses being donated to the government? There was no positive response from the government.

Today, the government is struggling to get another 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while supplies have run out at Indias Serum Institute.

According to a statement from the Presidents Office earlier this week, Sri Lanka received 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca free of charge from India and the Government purchased another 500,000 doses. Sri Lanka also received another consignment of 265,000 doses of AstraZeneca from the global vaccine initiative, COVAX, making it a total of 1,265,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine. Under the first phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive, around 925,000 people were given the first jab of the vaccine.

However, the recent developments in India obstructed getting down vaccines required for the second dose. The health authorities have pointed out that around 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine are required to complete the second dose of the vaccination, it said, adding that the Government is currently in discussions with various parties to obtain the required AstraZeneca vaccine doses.

Sri Lanka has received a donation of 600,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine and 15,000 doses of the Sputnik vaccine and will get 85,000 more Sputnik vaccines for the second phase of this vaccination drive, it said.

If the previous offer by the private sector to purchase vaccines was accepted by the government, we wont be in this supply mess today as the private sector would have helped the government to improve the supply streams since all the vaccines are produced by private companies and often private-to-private sector engagement and contact work better.

The government information mechanism also shows there are too many cooks. Mixed messages to the public are the order of the day. For example, a post-Cabinet media briefing was told (by one minister) that the vaccines will be mixed and matched if there is a shortage of one particular vaccine. Moments later, a more knowledgeable minister said studies are still continuing on whether mix-and-match has or hasnt any side-effects.

With 80 per cent or more of the economic activity being undertaken by the organised private sector and small and medium scale entrepreneurs, it is a necessity for the government to consult the private sector in areas where it has the expertise.

For example, private sector hospitals can also inoculate the people at cost (without making any profit), since this is a calamity. The private sector can help in using its contacts abroad in getting the balance 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from countries that have an oversupply.

And its important that the government treats vital export sectors like garments, tea and also migrant workers whose contribution to foreign exchange earnings is well known, as priority in receiving the jab. The private sector is far better organised than the government, one example is how it speedily responded in organising a chain of online deliveries of food, medicines and other essentials. Talk to the chambers and get their support in areas they have expertise in.

As I typed my final words for todays column, in walked Kussi Amma Sera with my second mug of tea. Sir, eliyata yanna be neda (Sir, cant go out, noh?) she asked.

I nodded in agreement, hoping that this column will catch the eye of a high public official or an influential minister in starting a conversation with the private sector to seek its assistance in a crisis that would continue for months, perhaps years.
63 of Kewadin, passed away June 1, 2021 at her home. A memorial for Sandra will be held at a later date this summer. Sandy's wishes are for you not to get sappy, but have a big bash to celebrate because she'll be up "there" preparing for the after party. Beacon Cremation and Funeral Service,
Poet Bard Terry Wooten has been performing and conducting writing workshops in schools for more than 30 years. He is also the creator of Stone Circle, a triple ring of boulders featuring poetry, storytelling and music on his property north of Elk Rapids. Learn more at www.terry-wooten.com.
About the author: Fred Anderson retired from a long career in legislative, political, regulatory and community affairs in Lansing and Washington D.C. Now a homeowner in Traverse City, he is concerned about balancing the pressure for growth and protecting the nature of the city.
A sinking ship View(s):

My dear Gota maamey,

I thought I must write to you even if the current situation is such, you must be feeling that all about you are losing their heads and blaming it on you. To put it mildly, Paradise is facing an unprecedented situation and you need all the right help and advice. Unfortunately, you dont seem to be getting that.

They say a week is a long time in politics, so a year is like an era. You would have realised that now. Around this time last year, you closed our borders, ordered lockdowns and  despite the many hardships we faced at the time  we were alive and well. As a result, people were singing your praises.

They were even comparing you with what might have happened had Cheerio Sirisena and the yahapaalanaya lot been in charge and thanking their stars that they were not. No wonder then that, when the polls were held at last in August, they gave you and the pohottuwa a record majority.

That was just nine months ago. How different matters are now! Thousands are getting infected and dozens of people are dying daily. It is unfair to put all the blame on you but I hope you recognise that we have been getting mixed messages about the pandemic from various ministers and officials.

It doesnt look good when your Health Minister is smashing pots of holy water and drinking dubious potions to beat a virus that has defeated scientists the world over. It is worse when, soon after the lockdown, your cousin brings down tourists from Ukraine who go gallivanting around the country.

We all know you are a military man and that you trust the military to get the job done, as you did once with the terrorists. With all due respect to Shavendra, I dont think that putting a military man in charge of the Task Force dealing with what was essentially a medical crisis was your best decision.

That is probably why, when the second wave emerged, we were told there was no community transmission but only two clusters in Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda. We were asked to believe that everyone who was infected at that time either went to a garment factory or a fish market!

Part of the blame must also go to the doctors who kept silent but they say that they could say or do little on their own when decisions were taken over and above them. Their usually vociferous trade union also kept mostly silent, but that was only to be expected because Padeniya was beholden to you.

Now even the various doctors organisations are saying the same thing  go for a lockdown or face thousands of deaths. It is not often that these squabbling doctors speak in one voice. It is even less often that the GMOA says what you dont want to hear. So, something serious is about to happen.

What is also clear is that your advisors got the vaccine distribution all wrong. A child studying for the pahey shishyathvey is able to divide twelve million by two but your officials couldnt do that. As a result, most of those who received one dose of the vaccine now dont have a second dose available.

We know China is your friend and is one of the few friends we have left. They agreed to give us some vaccines. That still required approval and when respected medical experts refused approval because there wasnt enough data, that Johnny-come-lately Jayasumana thought he can just sack the experts!

As if that isnt enough, your new recruit, Kingsley, perhaps in his first task, said that after you had a chat with the WHO boss, he approved the Chinese vaccine for emergency use the same evening. The WHO now says that is not so and their process took months. Why is taking the credit so important?

We heard you say several times that a lockdown is not possible because it will hurt the economy too much. We dont know whether your economic advisors told you that, whether your medical advisors said that or whether you yourself made that decision. Whoever it was, I think they got it wrong.

Right now, there are still Generals, officials and ministers who say a lockdown is not needed when we now have a lockdown in all but name with a virtual curfew and travel restrictions. It is like saying there is no community transmission when it was rampant. Who are we trying to fool, Gota maamey?

When a majority of people chose you one and a half years ago, you promised you would change the system. Had you done that, we would have dealt with this crisis better. What has happened instead is that the system has changed you. That is sad for you but sadder still for Paradise, Gota maamey!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: You postponed a visit to the United States despite becoming a grandfather for the first time. You stayed to deal with the pandemic. A few days later though, we were told that Basil maama had left. The last time he got going was when the going got tough. Is it a sign of things to come?
Weather Alert

...The Flood Warning continues for the following rivers in North Carolina... Contentnea Creek Near Hookerton affecting Greene, Pitt and Lenoir Counties. For the Contentnea Creek...including Hookerton...Minor flooding is forecast. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. Additional information is available at water.weather.gov/ahps. ...The Flood Warning remains in effect... The Flood Warning continues for the Contentnea Creek Near Hookerton. * Until further notice. * At 8:00 PM EDT Thursday the stage was 13.2 feet. * Flood stage is 13.0 feet. * Minor flooding is occurring and minor flooding is forecast. * Recent Activity...The maximum river stage in the 24 hours ending at 8:00 PM EDT Thursday was 13.7 feet. * Forecast...The river is expected to rise to a crest of 13.9 feet early Monday afternoon. * Impact...At 13.0 feet, Minor flooding of low lying areas adjacent to creek can be expected. Several homes threatened by water in northwest Greene County near HWY 58. &&
COVID-19 resurgence a severe threat for economic revival View(s):

The resurgence of COVID-19 and its rapid spread in most regions of the country is a serious threat to the economy. The much expected economic revival in 2021 may face serious difficulties owing to production activities being hampered by the spreading of COVID-19 in many parts of the island.

Fall in production

Most economic activities are likely to be hampered by the resurgence of COVID-19. Agricultural production, manufactures and services are likely to face severe setbacks in the coming months owing to lockdowns, travel restrictions and non-availability of fertiliser and raw materials. Reduced employment would depress incomes and increase poverty. Widespread food insecurity is most likely.

Global revival

Meanwhile, global economic revival too may be delayed owing to a continued spread of COVID-19 in some countries. The expected V shaped global recovery is unlikely though some countries like the United States appear to be containing the pandemic. International travel restrictions could also hamper the expected revival of tourism later this year.

Economic downturn

Unlike in 2020 when our economic growth was mainly affected by the global economic downturn, this years economic performance will be hampered mostly by the dislocation of both agricultural and industrial production in the country due to the resurgence of COVID. This resurgence was due to the haste to normalise the country and adoption of inappropriate policies.

All blame for the economic disruption cannot be on COVID-19. Apart from the impact of COVID-19, inappropriate economic policies could bring about severe difficulties to increasing production of both agriculture and manufactures.

Tourism

Tourism and related services could be severely restricted by COVID in originating countries, restrictions in international travel and the COVID situation in the country. On the other hand, the relaxation in restrictions to enhance tourism has been a reason for the spread of COVID in the country.

Policies

Appropriate economic policies are crucial to mitigate the emerging problems. Conversely, ill-advised and inappropriate policies could aggravate the economic downturn and hardships of people. The ban on chemical fertiliser is a glaring example of this.

Output of rice and other food crops as well as tea and rubber output is likely to fall drastically later this year and in 2022. This implies higher food imports and lower agricultural exports. It will result in drastic reduction in farmer incomes, higher food prices and widespread food insecurity among the poor.

Decision making

Has the Government heeded either technical advice of agronomists, agricultural economists or farmers before this drastic decision was taken? There is a spate of scientifically based articles on the inadvisability of banning chemical fertiliser immediately in the media and among scientists.

Relaxing restrictions

There is a broad consensus that the cardinal error was the relaxation of preventive measures during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year that resulted in the spread of the dangerous virus. Relaxation of restrictions for some tourists could have contributed to the spread of the virus and the introduction of new mutations of it.

The impatience to get the economy moving was no doubt a primary reason for relaxing restrictions. There was also considerable social irresponsibility in the manner in which people acted that contributed much to its spread. There was no exemplary behaviour with the higher echelons of society and political leadership.

Precondition for economic revival

The countrys economic performance would be determined largely by the measure of success in containing COVID-19. The eradication of COVID-19 is a pre-condition for economic revival.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had warned all countries that haste to get economies to function may endanger the containment of COVID-19. They had repeatedly advised that containment of COVID-19 should precede the reopening of economic activities as the spread of COVID-19 would paralyse economic activity.

Sri Lankas medical services had also warned about the possibility of a third wave if restrictions were lifted during the festive Sinhala and Tamil New Year. These predictions have materialised and the third wave of COVID is extensive and beyond the capacity of the medical facilities to cope with it.

Vulnerability

The countrys economic vulnerability could be compounded by inappropriate policy responses that would aggravate the global and local economic shocks. For instance, the current shortages in fertilisers that farmers are experiencing could reduce rice, vegetable and food production.

The ban on chemical fertilisers could result in a severe drop in food availability requiring large food imports at high prices. Similarly, loss of tea and rubber production would affect export earnings.

Manufacturing

There are indications from time to time of manufacturing industries having difficulties in obtaining raw materials. This, together with travel difficulties and lockdowns could hamper industrial production as well.

In such a grave context inappropriate economic policies could heighten difficulties and hamper production.

Unrealistic expectation

In this backdrop, it is unrealistic to expect the realisation of the Central Banks optimistic economic scenario expressed in the Annual Report of the Central Bank for 2020 that the Sri Lankan economy is expected to rebound strongly in 2021 and sustain the high growth momentum over the medium term, buoyed by growth oriented policy support.

This expectation of economic rebound at the beginning of this year was based on the prospect of a global economic recovery at that time that would enhance the countrys exports and revive global travel and tourism that is not likely this year with the increasing spread of the virus in several regions of the world and in Sri Lanka. In fact the situation in the country and in neighbouring India could be more potent than the global situation and retard the economy.

Conclusion

The containment of COVID in the country is a precondition for economic production and income generation. While foremost efforts must be given to this, the economic difficulties should not be compounded by inappropriate policies.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 50F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 50F. Winds light and variable.
Beckley, WV (25801)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Thomas Carson Martin, 91, of Oak Hill, WV died on Sunday, June 06, 2021 at Hidden Valley Nursing and Rehab Center in Oak Hill, WV. Born June 04, 1930 in Fayetteville, WV he was the son of the late James W. Martin and Georgia Mae Cox Martin Repass. Thomas was a 1947 graduate of Oak Hill High 
STAMFORD  After 60 years in the business, Ed Greenberg is ready to pack up his bag.

Greenberg and his family decided to shut down Wagners Fine Luggage and Gifts, the store hes helped run since 1961. And while more than half a century of business warrants celebration enough, the shops long history dates back to the 1850s. A German immigrant named Herman A. Wagner started selling buggy whips and ox collars in Rye, N.Y.

We think its the oldest luggage store in the country, Greenberg said.

Though Wagners first found a home for his store south of the Connecticut border, Wagners Fine Luggage posted up on Greenwich Avenue thanks to the Wolfe family. Greenberg married into the clan, and hes been in on the family business ever since.

Since its provincial origins a few miles south, Wagners has changed with the times. The shop sold leather saddles at the turn of the century, then moved to fine ashtrays and pipes in the 1950s. In more recent years, they pivoted to cell phone cases and other phone accessories.

But no matter the product, Greenberg put service at the heart of his business strategy. Its what he thinks has kept customers coming back for so long.

You just got to do that little extra mile. You go the mile, and your customers appreciate it, Greenberg said. Our customers go the mile for us too.

If anything, working in retail for so long has only strengthened his faith in humanity, he said. A truck driver once drove an hour back to the store to return a tiny box of merchandise tucked inside a suitcase he purchased. Another woman forgot to hand Greenberg a check for more than 500 dollars worth of luggage but returned a few hours later to make sure he got paid.

It doesnt hurt that Greenberg is a natural-born salesman. He knows the merchandise at Wagners like the back of his hand and could sell even the most skeptical customer on the merits of a well-designed bag. In his hands, a sturdy, green piece of luggage tucked in the back of the store can become the latest, hottest luxury good. The old suitcases tucked away in your closet that get rolled out annually for family vacation seem like relics from the past after one of his sales pitches.

Greenberg believes in the products his store carries, too. He knows quality when he sees it, and so does his son, Robert, who took over the store several years ago.

Hes probably one of the most knowledgeable people in this industry, and customers love him, Greenberg said.

But that expert touch is becoming rarer and rarer, he said. First, big-box retailers started crowding out mom-and-pop shops. Once upon a time, Wagners ran another location on Bedford Street, but it couldnt compete with the massive Bloomingdales. Years later, even that department store would go out of business. The University of Connecticut Stamford campus now sits on its former location.

Online retailers only worsened the picture. And for many small businesses, the pandemic served a final blow. Opportunity Insights  a research and policy center run by Harvard University that focuses on economic mobility  found that 37 percent of small businesses in Connecticut closed during 2020.

Theres a certain level of expertise that comes along with running a small business, according to Greenberg, and its something that online reviews and internet shopping cannot replicate. When someone comes into the shop, staff can walk them through all the options, can show off the mechanics of the products, can let customers feel a products quality in their own hands.

Amazon cant do that, he said.

Greenberg maintains that the COVID-19 pandemic didnt drive them out of Stamford. While it didnt make business easier, he thinks it was just time to go.

Its our choice, he said, And we just felt the time was right now.

Marsha Greenberg, Eds wife, said she feels strange leaving behind the business shes spent so long managing. Their children have worked at the store on and off for decades. Even their grandson, Max, was helping out at the store as old customers came in to take advantage of the final sale offers.

But Ed and Marsha Greenberg are ready to keep busy after formally retiring, which they expect to do sometime in June. In fact, they have decades worth of memories with customers and family to keep them company.

The best part was really the customers, Greenberg said. Im not saying this just to say, but I learned so much from our customers. The most important thing that I can say about the customers is that there are more good people out there than bad people.

veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
Is Sinhala Only the cause of the countrys ills? View(s):

Most people have their own ideas as to why the country has not progressed as much as expected in the post-Independence period.

Some feel it is the politicians who have led the country who are responsible, forgetting that it was a choice made by the voter at the hustings in selecting those self-same politicians. Others opine that democracy is not suitable for the country and that a dictatorship would have served us better. There are many other diagnoses as to the cause of the failure of the country to move forward.

One of the more frequent comments over the years is that the Sinhala Only policy ushered in by SWRD Bandaranaike in 1956 is the root cause of all our problems. Last week his eldest daughter Sunethra Bandaranaikes views on this point were sought by a viewer when she was being interviewed on TV Ones current issues programme Newsline.

The interview was primarily related to her work as Chairperson of the Sunera Foundation with an outstanding record of working to enhance the quality of life of persons living with disability and facilitating their fullest integration to society.

Towards the end of the programme a viewer posed the question to Ms Sunethra as to whether the country would be thriving now if not for S.W. R. D. Bandaranaikes Sinhala Only policy. Sunethra did not mince her words. She said that she agreed with what the viewer said and went on to add He was my father but the truth must be told. Why he did it is anybodys guess.

The talk show host Faras Shauketally thanked her for being honest, up front and open.

Sunethra was being candid and open about the issue although her disapproval of the Sinhala Only policy meant that she had to disagree with her father. The Bandaranaike siblings have always been candid with their views even when it is to their detriment. Although Mrs Sirima Bandaranaikes Government followed an economic policy which critics described as a closed economy Chandrika Bandaranaike did not hesitate to dissociate herself from that policy and rather went in for an open economy with a human face when she contested the 1994 Presidential Elections.

When she was campaigning at the 2000 Presidential Elections and describing the LTTE as minimaru LTTE on election platforms, she was cautioned by supporters not to be so strongly critical of the LTTE in the middle of the campaign as it may alienate a section of the Tamil populace. Her spontaneous response was, what she was saying was true.

The youngest of the Bandaranaikes, Anura was no different. In the run up to the 1988 Presidential Election when the SLFP was trying to build an alliance with all anti-UNP forces to support Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike, during discussions with the JVP, he did not hesitate to be bluntly critical of the JVPs actions despite his colleagues cautioning him to tone down in the interest of building a common front.

Coming back to Sunethra Bandaranaikes comments there are two points worthy of note. The first was: she did not hesitate to disagree with the policy even though it was implemented by her father. A useful lesson in politics for modern day politicians that the natural affection for ones kith and kin should not prevent one from expressing disagreement with their policies particularly so because they relate to public matters.

The second aspect of Sunethras comments relate to the impact of the Sinhala Only act on the countrys progress. Prior to 1956, although the country had gained independence in 1948 it was still governed by the English speaking elite with little participation of the ordinary people. Those in power at that time were often insensitive to the needs of the ordinary people.

This fact is brought out very vividly by an incident during the time of the Premiership of Sir John Kotelawala. A delegation of Swabasha trained teachers went to meet Prime Minister Kotelawala to demand that their salaries be increased to be on par with that of the English trained teachers. The Prime Minister summarily dismissed the demand saying the English trained teachers had to be paid more because they consumed ham and bacon while the Swabasha trained teachers had no such need.

In fact one can argue that if not for the change in 1956 which gave the common man his due place, the Southern insurrections of 1971 and 1987 may have happened sooner. What Bandaranaike was attempting to do by ushering in the common mans era was to bring about a transition that made the ordinary people part of the process of Government.

His celebrated statement that he was performing a caesarean operation on the womb of time was a conscious reflection of his thinking. He repeatedly emphasised that political freedom won in 1948 had no meaning without economic freedom.

Many of the problems that Bandaranaike faced during his stewardship was as a result of his being unable to control or manage the forces that his assumption of power unleashed. Ultimately he himself succumbed to the conspiracy that was set in motion by Venerable Buddharakita Thero who was a business magnate with interests in shipping who was enraged that Bandaranaike would not play ball with him.

One of the criticisms of the Sinhala Only policy was that it made the Tamils second class citizens. In fact one can argue that prior to 1956 both Sinhalese and Tamils were second class citizens. Where Bandaranaike failed was in not making both Sinhala and Tamil as official languages and ensuring that the standard of English was maintained and built on. He tried to make amends later by ensuring the reasonable use of the Tamil Language through the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact but could not sustain it due to hostile forces which ganged up to force him to tear up the pact.

His reluctance and disappointment in being forced to do so was evident when he stated that he was forced to tear up the pact much against his wishes but would not be responsible for the consequences of such an action. At worst Bandaranaike may be accused of being opportunistic in using the slogan Sinhala Only in 24 hours in the 1956 Election campaign. But he was never racist in his campaign. His intentions were not to discriminate but to empower the poor and marginalised.

Bandaranaike was essentially a generous and large hearted man. He was propelled to power largely and almost exclusively by the Sinhala majority. But not once was he heard to say that his ascent to power was due to the majority community alone to the exclusion of the minorities. He rendered a great service to the educational and social elevation of the Muslim community. In fact it could be stated that the educational renaissance of the Muslim community started under his tenure. In this he was greatly assisted by the Education Minister in his Cabinet, Dr. W. Dahanayake, and Dr. Badiuddin Mahmud.

Another example of his large heartedness was the grant of Rs. 100,000 (a princely sum at that time) for the pioneering effort of the Moors Islamic Cultural Home for the first translation of the Quran into Sinhala. The fact that the Muslims had not voted for him at the Elections did not prevent him from reaching out to them and serving them as any leader was required to do.

(javidyusuf@gmail.com)
CANTON  One person was killed and three others were injured when a car struck a tree Saturday, police said.

Officers responded to the intersection of North Mountain and Orchard Hill roads around 11:29 p.m. and found three people in the car, police said.
Amy A. De Jong M.D. is a consultant in Family Medicine where she is Chief of Staff at Mayo Clinic Health System in Red Wing.

Randy M. Foss, M.D., is a consultant in Family Medicine and Chief of Staff at Mayo Clinic Health System in Lake City.

Megan S. Johnston Flanders, M.D., is a consultant in Family Medicine and Chief of Staff at Mayo Clinic Health System in Cannon Falls.

Mansi J. Kanuga, M.D. is a consultant in Allergy and Immunology and is Medical Director for Mayo Clinic Health System in the River Corridor.

Brian L. Whited, M.D. is a consultant in Family Medicine and is the Physician Executive for Mayo Clinic Health System in the River Corridor.
The constellation Corvus the Crow is certainly not one of those constellations that you stand in your backyard and gaze at in awe. The truth is that its really a dumb little constellation and isnt all that bright, but its a distinct one and pretty easy to find.

You can find the celestial crow hanging a little above the Pottsville southeastern horizon, resembling a lopsided trapezoid in the early evening, low southern sky. That lopsided diamond is supposed to be a crow. Its one of my favorite little constellations mainly because of its legend.

Crows really get a bad rap, but in truth theyre one of the smartest birds around. In fact, according to Greek and Roman mythology, crows were actually one of the most respected birds on Earth. Back then, crows were highly intelligent, sang a beautiful song, and had bright white feathers with gold trim. They served the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus with great distinction, until Corvus screwed it up for all crows forever.

Apollo, the god of the sun, dispatched Corvus on a vital mission to fetch water from a far off magical fountain. Apollo sent the great bird with one of his favorite chalices to collect the magic water. Corvus didnt know exactly where the fountain was, but he thought he knew which town to fly to. Corvus flew recon over the entire countryside in search of the magic water. Being less than a humble crow, Corvus told Apollo that he should be back by that evening, no problem.

Finding that magic fountain proved to be a heck of a lot harder than Corvus figured. There were hills, valleys, caverns and many other places where the magic fountain could be hiding. It was also a hot Friday afternoon as Corvus flew around the city and surrounding countryside, searching in vain for his prize. Of course, being a male crow, he was too stubborn to ask for directions. The afternoon got longer and his throat got drier. His wings had had it! He had to take a break. In the distance he could see the flashing neon light of a roughneck bar, and thought hed catch the end of happy hour.

He swooped right in through the swinging doors and wouldnt you know it? One of his childhood crow buddies was sitting at the bar with a giant mug of beer and a pile of pull tabs. It was like old times! Corvus and his old buddy drank and talked for hours. As a joke, he had the bartender pour tap beer into Apollos chalice. At closing time, Corvus stumbled out of the crow-bar and passed out on a park bench, clutching Apollos cup half full of beer.

The next morning, a very hung-over Corvus dumped the leftover stale beer out of Apollos chalice, and took to the skies, resuming his search for the elusive magic fountain. After hours and hours of clumsy flying, Corvus gave up. He decided it was time to fly back to Mount Olympus to face the music.

As he got closer to the home of the gods, he swallowed the rest of his breath mints to hide the evidence of his wild night. Corvus could see Apollo standing out on his mountainous decking waiting for him. He could even see Apollos angry glare from a half-mile away. All the way home, the wayward crow was concocting a story about how a crazed water snake bit him while he was getting a drink of water, making him too woozy to find the fountain.

When Corvus made his landing, he pitched his excuse about the crazed water snake and almost had Apollo convinced until he handed back the chalice. Oops! Corvus forgot to wash it out, and it stunk of rotten beer. Corvus was busted! Apollo went nuclear, and fired Corvus on the spot. He didnt stop there though. Apollo banned all crows from Mount Olympus, and used his magical godly powers to turn all crows from their beautiful white and gold colors to the jet-black colors we see today. Continuing his temper tantrum, he waved his forefinger in anger once again, and turned every crows beautiful singing voice into the caw-caw we hear today.

If only Corvus had stopped at one beer!

(Lynch, an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast

meteorologist, can be reached at mikelynch@comcast.net)
POTTSVILLE  One is a judge who wants to continue to serve on the Schuylkill County bench.

Another is an assistant district attorney who wants to continue her public service as a judge.

A third is a lawyer with more than 26 years of experience who is making his second try for a judgeship.

The fourth is a veteran lawyer with a family tradition of success in elections who is trying to carry on that tradition in the judicial rather than the political world.

They are, respectively, Judge Christina E. Hale, Julie D. Werdt, James G. Conville and Christopher W. Hobbs, the four candidates for the two available positions on the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County. It is the only countywide contested race in Tuesday's primary election.

The two vacancies arise from the retirement of Judge John E. Domalakes and the decision of Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin not to run for retention after 30 years on the county bench. The ballots do not differentiate between the available positions.

Bar rankings

Schuylkill County Bar Association members, all of whom are active attorneys in the county, cast ballots expressing their individual opinions as to the fitness and qualifications of the candidates.

Rankings in order of highly recommended, recommended, not recommended and not familiar with candidate are:

James G. Conville: 49, 41, 16, 11.

Christina E. Hale: 74, 24, 13, 6.

Christopher W. Hobbs: 70, 35, 8, 4.

Julie A. Werdt: 24, 46, 30, 17.

Candidates comment

Hale and Hobbs are Republicans, while Conville and Werdt are Democrats. However, each has cross-filed on both the Democratic and Republican ballots, meaning there might not be any competitive races in the Nov. 3 General Election.

Hale, 45, of Butler Township, took office in 2020 after being nominated by Gov. Tom Wolf and confirmed by the state Senate to succeed Domalakes, but is now running for the full 10-year term. She had been the magisterial district judge in Frackville-based District 21-2-01 before joining the county bench.

I love being a judge, she said. I feel very fortunate and lucky to have such a position.

That experience is what sets her apart from the other candidates, Hale said.

Im the only candidate with judicial experience, and Ive presided over thousands of cases, she said. Ive issued rulings, written opinions and conducted jury and nonjury trials.

Hale said she has known Hobbs for many years, and their decision to run a joint campaign was easy.

Our families knew each other. We decided very quickly that such a campaign was appropriate because of similar temperaments and legal views, she said.

Hobbs, 48, of Pottsville, who practices law with the Pottsville firm of Lieberman, Tamulonis & Hobbs, agreed.

Christina and I have been friends for a long time, he said. Wouldnt it be great to have two people work together to try to unify ... rather than divide? We feel strongly we are the most qualified.

Hobbs, who worked as an assistant public defender from 2000-13 and currently serves as an assistant county solicitor, said the law is his way to serve the people of the county.

I come from a family of public servants. Its why I practice law, he said. Ive handled pretty much every type of case.

His father and father-in-law, Frederick H. Hobbs and James J. Rhoades, each represented the county as state senators.

Conville, of Port Carbon, emphasizes that he has more experience in the law, more than 26 years, than any of the other candidates.

I have the most experience, said Conville, who works for the Schuylkill Haven firm of Zane, Rossi, Conville & Harley. Im in court almost every day. (I can) treat everyone fairly in the county, listen to what everyone has to say.

He said that perhaps the most important experience in that respect is his work for children.

Ive been a guardian and advocate for children for over 15 years, Conville said.

A graduate of Penn State University and the Widener University School of Law, Conville does not like what he believes to be the political nature of the contest.

The race for the judgeships has turned into a political race, which should have no bearing on it, he said. Im not a politician. I dont come from a political family.

This is Convilles second try for a seat on the county bench. In 2011, he ran to replace the retiring judge, now Senior Judge, D. Michael Stine, but lost in both the Democratic and Republican primaries to District Attorney, now Judge, James P. Goodman.

This time, he hopes for a different result.

Im asking for the people of Schuylkill County to go out to vote and get their friends out to vote, Conville said. Pick the two that have the most experience. If you do make an informed choice, I think Ill be one of them.

Werdt has served as an assistant district attorney since 2018, and currently handles cases arising from the office of Magisterial District Judge Anthony J. Kilker, Shenandoah.

She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the Widener University School of Law.

I want to be a judge because I see a need in our county for people with experience making decisions, Werdt said. Ive seen all sides of it.

Werdt, who lives in East Brunswick Township, said she has litigated almost every type of criminal and civil case, saying her legal career includes far more than her stint as an assistant district attorney.

Her civil experience includes adoption, custody, dependency and parental rights cases. She notes that a judges workload is far more than criminal jury trials, and she said she had the ability and experience to handle all of them.

Ive worked with a lot of people who have come through the court system, Werdt said. Because I work so much in a courtroom, I know what needs to be done. I know whats expected in a courtroom. Ive lived it.

Additionally, Werdt said she grew up, practices law and raises her children in the county.

(Updated to add bar association rankings.)
100 years ago  1921

One of the prettiest displays for Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights, was witnessed Saturday night in this section. Flashes of many tints extended high into the heavens and lasted for almost an hour. Local electric wire companies were seriously affected for a time by the magnetism in the air.

75 years ago  1946Standing rule only will be the rule at the Capitol Theater, Pottsville, tonight when the world-famous Fred Waring Pennsylvanians will present a show that will be the opening phase of a Welcome Home Celebration for Pottsvilles veterans of World War II.

50 years ago  1971PINE GROVE  An agricultural mechanization fair was sponsored by the Schuylkill County Agricultural Society at Pine Grove Area High School. It was held in conjunction with the student council May Fair.

25 years ago  1996

ASHLAND  A borough man was arrested carrying 46 pounds of marijuana  with a street value of $500,000  from his apartment around 1:30p.m. Wednesday, authorities said. The arrest of Daniel F. Villarreal, 36, came after a two-year investigation into the trafficking of large quantities of the drug from Texas to the borough, said Ashland Police Chief Adam J. Bernodin Jr. Villarreal, of 909 Center St., is in Schuylkill County Prison in lieu of $1 million cash bail.
Maldives Speaker bounces back as Foreign Ministry gives him new name View(s):

He is easily one of the flamboyant politicians in the Republic of Maldives.

A believer in democracy and human rights, Mohamed Nasheed was once the elected President of the archipelago, a haven for tourists and rich in marine resources.

Just days earlier, he was given up for good after an improvised explosive device exploded when he was returning from a meeting in the capital island of Male. His lung was damaged, and a shrapnel missed his heart only by less than an inch. Doctors were against flying him out in an air ambulance for treatment in Singapore. Moving his body, they warned, would have been an anathema. He left Male on Thursday to Germany for treatment. He was accompanied by a personal security contingent. In addition, the government has also given him an official residence. And suddenly this week, doctors and family members were thrilled when he gained consciousness.

At the time the incident occurred, he was returning after a meeting with President Ibrahim Soli, a personal friend. Nasheed is the Speaker of the Majlis or Parliament.

In the weeks before the incident, he had been discussing a proposal for the Maldives to return to parliamentary rule with a Prime Minister.

Now, detectives from Australias Federal Police have arrived to conduct a full investigation. There were messages from the world over wishing Mr Nasheed an early recovery.

Alas, the message from the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry showed that everything is foreign to them. A statement condemning the incident described him as Mohamed Abdulla Nasheed. It appears that the Foreign Ministry has not verified the name. There is no Abdulla in his name.

One of Mr. Nasheeds efforts as President, which received worldwide publicity, was the Cabinet meeting he chaired underwater wearing diving gear.

His ministers and donned diving gear and the exercise was designed to draw world attention to what would happen to Maldives due to global warming.

No show by Weerawansa as ruling alliance partner leaders meet

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and Minister Wimal Weerawansa was a notable absentee when partner leaders of the ruling alliance met at Temple Trees last Tuesday.

In marked contrast, his political bete noir Basil Rajapaksa was present at the meeting and shared the head table with Prof. G.L. Peiris, Premier Rajapaksa (who presided) and Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena, who is Leader of the House.

Basil Rajapaksa left for Los Angeles later in the week to join his family who are living there.

Minister sets bad example, breaks travel restrictions

Everyone is equal, but some are more equal is an old quote from the famous book Animal Farm by George Orwell. And so it is in this resplendent isle.

While everyone is asked to adhere to strict travel restrictions and lockdowns, a Cabinet Minister showed the way to break all those requests of his own government. He went with his family from the North Western Province to Riverstone in the cool climes of Matale in the Central Province.

Then disaster struck. Though the site is popular among tourists for its scenic beauty, it is also well known for its leeches. The Ministers daughter was bitten by leeches so badly that she had to be rushed by the Ministers security detail to the nearby Dambulla hospital for treatment.

Elsewhere, police were warning or turning away hundreds of persons for violating the travel restrictions and were seen putting up checkpoints on main roads to ensure people adhered to COVID-19 regulations.

One law, one country is the Ministers governments credo.

Scramble for bottle ends in traffic chaos in Jaffna

On Wednesday, shortly after the Government announced that a three-day travel restriction would be coming into effect until Monday, many lined up in front of grocery stores to stock up on adequate supplies.

Then, there was another group of law-abiding citizens who lined up in front of liquor stores to make sure they had adequate supplies during the weekend. In some instances, they were not so law-abiding having openly violated COVID-19 health regulations, in a scramble for the bottle.

At a wine store in Puloly, Jaffna, there was utter chaos as people lined up in a long queue along the street creating traffic congestions in the streets nearby. Since many police personnel tested positive to COVID-19 in the North, there were no traffic police officials to control the chaos in the suburban city.

Lawyer takes up case of missing dogs

A leading lawyer in Jaffna used to feed stray dogs near the Jaffna High Court complex every week. Returning after a brief trip to Colombo last week, he was shocked to see there was not a single dog on the premises.

When he inquired from Court staff about the sudden disappearance of the dogs, he was not given a satisfactory answer. He later got to know that the Jaffna Municipal Council had taken somesteps following complaints to remove those stray dogs and admitted them to a dog foster home in Jaffna.

The lawyer, not convinced with the explanation visited the foster home to see the dogs, but found some missing. The lawyer hasnt given up the search. If only he can file a Habeas Corpus application, he must be thinking.

FMs pat on the back for NYPD

Foreign Minister, Dinesh Gunawar-dena was full of praise for the New York Police.

The precinct which covered the office of the Permanent Representative offices to the UN received a complaint months earlier that a Buddha statute had been lost. During a raid, the Police had recovered the statue and restored it to the rightful owner.

I must commend their action, he told the Sunday Times.
POTTSVILLE  Eight high-ranking officers at the Schuylkill County Prison probably will be getting pay boosts after the Prison Board approved them Wednesday.

The board wants to ensure the officers receive higher compensation than the corrections officers, President Judge William E. Baldwin said.

We have a really good corps of lieutenants, said Baldwin, who also chairs the board. We want to have incentives for corrections officers to become lieutenants.

The raises, which still must be approved by the county salary board, would boost the salary of lieutenants to ensure they make 3% more than corrections officers, and of captains to have them make 3% more than the lieutenants, Baldwin said.

Were really pleased with the administration at the prison, he said.

Additionally, Baldwin said, a captain or lieutenant with at least five years of supervisory experience will make an additional $500 a year if the salary board approves the proposal. Human Resources Director Heidi Zula recommended that addition.

Warden David J. Wapinsky said there are two captains and six lieutenants at the prison.

Wapinsky also said at the meeting that there are no cases of COVID-19 at the prison, but officials are still trying to arrange for vaccines for the prisoners. He said Prime Care Medical Inc., which handles health care for the inmates, has nowhere to store the vaccine at the prison.

Thats what theyre trying to work out now, Wapinsky said. They have them. Theyre not here.

Also on Wednesday, Wapinsky said the prison population is at 238, with 191 men and 47 women. There are 18 cases of triple-celling  three inmates in one cell  and officials want to alleviate that by arranging transport of inmates to another prison that will take them.

Centre County is the most accommodating, with 23 of the 33 outsourced inmates there, Wapinsky said. Columbia houses six and Northumberland four, he said.

Wapinsky said the average inmate population for April was 241.
Five seats are open for the North Schuylkill School District school board this year, with seven candidates vying for those position in the primary election on Tuesday.

There are two challengers among the seven, with five incumbents hoping for another four-year terms. The incumbents are Glenn H. Weist, Suzanne A. ONeill, Douglas R. Gressens, Janine M. Simms and Thomas Fletcher. The challengers are David Seresky and Donna Salem. All candidates are running on both Democratic and Republican tickets.

Glenn H. Weist

Glenn H. Weist, 51, of Frackville, is seeking his third term on the school board. He is a 1988 graduate of North Schuylkill and attended Bloomsburg University. He is the general manager of Keystone Potato Products in Hegins. His family includes his wife Lori and two sons, Glenn and Doug, all North Schuylkill graduates.

Property taxes provide much tax revenue for public school districts, but also burden many taxpayers, especially those with fixed incomes. Weist said school districts are doing the best they can, but they rely on what the legislators in Harrisburg can come up with to fix the problem.

I do believe that we have to encourage them at the state level to deal with property tax reform, Weist said. I think we have to have a good financial basis for all schools, public and private, and the new online schools. Possibly some kind of base payment to all the school districts.

Suzanne A. ONeill

Suzanne A. ONeill, 69, of Gordon, is seeking her fourth term on the school board. A retired North Schuylkill teacher after 35 years of teaching in the district, she is a 1969 graduate of Pottsville High School, and has a degree in fine arts from Penn State University, graduating in 1973. She has one son, Joseph Sean ONeill.

ONeill has served on the Gordon Borough Council after her late husband, Joseph ONeill left the council after winning a seat on the N.S. school board, and also was Gordon mayor for four years.

ONeill said dealing with the reliance on property taxes to fund school operations is a tough situation, but she suggested the state legislators could put themselves, the teachers, state workers and state police under a unilateral benefit plan, which would save money for the school districts.

South Carolina does that and it works out really well, she said.

Douglas R. Gressens

A resident of Ashland, Douglas R. Gressens, 71, is running for this third term on the school board. He is a 1967 North Schuylkill graduate and has attended college.

Retired since December 2012, Gressens served for 36 years for the Schuylkill County Court in domestic relations. He will be married 45 years in September to Pamela Gressens, has two adult sons, Gregory and Brent, and has three granddaughters: Mackenzie, Harmony and Vayda.

As for property tax, Gressens said there is a need from Harrisburg for making sure the public schools are funded adequately and to help homeowners with property taxes.

They (Harrisburg) have to take a look at the money spent on charter schools and hold them accountable and let the people know how its being spent, he said.

Gressens said he is very proud about how everyone has hung together during the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Seresky

David Seresky, 49, of Frackville, is running for his first term on the school board. He graduated in 1990 from Franklin Delaware Institute, Franklin, New York, and afterward earned a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Bloomsburg University. Seresky is currently a substitute teacher in area school districts. He and his wife Lisa have two daughters, Rachel and Olivia. Seresky also served four years as a Ringtown Borough councilman.

I want to be a fresh perspective in the school district, Seresky said about running for the seat. I think any time you have incumbent after incumbent after incumbent, there tends to be tunnel vision, and I want be some fresh air to give a new perspective and see things a little differently.

Reducing reliance on property taxes to fund the schools is at the state level, Seresky said.

As far as what we can do as a school board, if they (Harrisburg) would eliminate property taxes and still guarantee us funding through the state, that would be something we would have to work with as a school district.

Seresky said he does not have a particular agenda, but does want to look into some actions by the board, such as the purchase of the former Cardinal Brennan High School campus.

We have an empty school bought a few years ago that is just sitting there, he said. I like to look at what we can do with that school, possibly open that up as a third school building.

Janine M. Simms

Janine M. Simms, 51, of Ashland, is running for her third term, having been a director since 2013. A graduate of Mahanoy Area High School, she is currently a school nurse at Tri-Valley High School. Married to Bill Simms for 29 years, the couple have two children, Brady and Sara Simms.

My two goals for running for the school board include, but not limited to, getting more help from the state on our property taxes, Simms said. Another is working with legislators to help pass legislation that sets a statewide cyber-charter tuition rate. Major funding issues are severely impacting the budgets of all 500 school districts across the commonwealth , which is diverting much needed funding from our students.

Thomas Fletcher

Thomas Fletcher, 58, is running for his third term on the school board. A 1980 graduate of the Mahanoy Area School District, Fletcher earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1984 and a master of arts degree in 1991 in education from Penn State University.

He is currently Student Success and Enrollment Services vice president at Bloomsburg University.

Fletcher resides in Frackville with his wife, Martha, and has two daughters, Sarah and Alexa.

When asked about the property taxes issue in funding schools, Fletcher said that basically depends on those who are running the state as the school district operates on guidelines and laws in the state. He also said that charter school funding changes are needed especially as to how that funding impacts on the school districts budgets.

We need the support of the legislators to look into making changes as to how that funding happens, Fletcher said.

About the school board, Fletcher said, I believe that this school board has the best interests of the students in mind. Thats why we are there. Were not there for political motives. I think we have a good working relationship.

Donna Salem

Primary candidate Donna Salem could not be reached for comment.
POTTSVILLE  Zachary Snyder liked getting outside Saturday for the Soap Box Derby in the city, and had a simple explanation.

I think its a lot of fun, Snyder, 9, of Pottsville, said after finishing one of his races down Laurel Boulevard.

Undoubtedly, Snyder, a fourth-grader at John S. Clarke Elementary Center, had a lot more fun after celebrating his victory in the Stock Division, one of three in which the youngsters competed at the derby.

As one of the winners, along with Aidan Finn, 13, of Schuylkill Haven, in the Masters Division, and Brennah Sullivan, 13, of Pottsville, in the Super Stock Division, Snyder will now head to Akron, Ohio, for the national derby on July 23.

It was a great day, said Barbie Carroll, one of the staff who staged the derby for the 36 competitors and approximately 300 spectators who lined the boulevard and cheered their youngsters to do their best in the event, which was sponsored by M&T Bank.

Two racers crashed their cars, one after a spectator crossed the boulevard during one of the races, but neither suffered any injuries.

Coal Reichert, 11, of Tremont, hit the side of the track partway down the hill and bent an axle in his car. While he was fine physically, he did not like the fact that he could not race for the rest of the day.

Giovanna Chiccine was the victim of the wayward spectator, as her car crashed. She also was not hurt, but the damage put her car out of action. Some spectators were visibly upset that someone had ventured onto the track.

The track was all downhill for approximately four blocks along the boulevard, from the intersection with Sanderson Street to the Humane Fire Company at North Third Street. The boulevards two lanes were freshly paved and enclosed with wooden edges, and Carroll credited the city and Tropp Contracting, among others, for making sure it was a safe and smooth race.

For several of the youngsters, the derby was more than a series of races, although they enjoyed those a lot.

I like to race because I get to have fun with friends, said Nicholas Kurchock, 10, of Minersville.

Preston Webber, 9, of Wayne Township, agreed.

I like it because I can meet new friends, he said.

Joshua OToole, 12, of Norwegian Township, raced Saturday for the third time in a derby.

Its like a family tradition, he said, adding that his brother did it twice. I go fast.

For William Riegle, 9, of Orwigsburg, the event is a chance to preview growing up.

I raced two years ago, he said. I like driving, having control.

In recent years, girls have made an increased impact on the races. Jayden Moyer, 11, of Pottsville, was one of those enthusiastic female racers this year.

I like it because its fun and its kind of like driving your own car, she said.

Derby Director Robert Womer spent much of the day loading youngsters into his pickup truck, and their cars onto his trailer, and driving them back to the starting line following their races. He said heading the race is in his blood, and that he took over leadership of it when no one else wanted to do it.

My (now-deceased) wife talked me into it, he said. About 30 years ago, my children raced here. I saw what a good time they had.
Pennsylvanias $62 billion pension plan for public school employees needs a major house-cleaning regardless of whether a federal criminal investigation results in charges.

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from the Pennsylvania School Employees Retirement System, reportedly covering investment practices and its acquisition of land in Harrisburg.

Earlier this year, PSERS acknowledged that it miscalculated its earnings in a way that passed on a required $25 million contribution increase to taxpayers rather than teachers. The historically mismanaged plan requires each of the states 500 school districts to contribute, annually, an amount equal to 34.94% of its payroll. It and the State Employees Retirement System together receive nearly $5 billion a year from the state government.

Now the New York Times has exposed the systems practice of investing in highly dubious schemes, some of which also further terrible public policy.

The investments are hard to track because they often are through private equity firms that promise enormous returns but, as time has shown, rarely produce aggregate returns better than those of passive stock index funds.

For example, PSERS invested in profiteering by putting public money into a company that charges outrageous rates for prisoners to speak by phone with their families.

It also invested in a company that owns trailer parks because of its demonstrated track record of raising home rental rates. Even the U.S. border could not contain PSERS folly. Through a private equity firm it invested in a company trading on the Caymans Stock Exchange, which promised a 12% return, partially on projected oil sales by Kurdistan.

The oil sales briefly produced that return. But Kurdistan is not a sovereign nation. It is a region of Iraq. When Kurdistan began marketing oil and conducted an independence vote in 2017, Iraqs army seized the oil fields. But that 12% projection still looks good on paper.

PSERS deserves neither public trust nor confidence. The Legislature and the Wolf administration should do whatever is necessary to clean house at the agency.
Hey, Hometown, President Joe Biden does not control the gas prices. I repeat, does not control the gas prices. Get your information straight.

Minersville



Air Force vet, call your local American Legion, VFW or the AMVETS, etc. I am sure someone will volunteer to take you to the VA hospital in Lebanon. Good luck and God bless.

Frackville



To Pine Grove, without Donald Trump we would have had the vaccine months sooner instead of being told that COVID was a Democratic hoax. And with Donald Trump, we could have saved thousands of lives that we lost. You need to get your facts straight.

Mahanoy City



Does anyone else, beside myself, notice all the cars parked on the wrong side of the street, facing the wrong direction on the side street at Turkey Hill? Right on the corner, you cant pull out. Lets get a ticket on them. Lets get them moved.

Ashland



I want to give a little reminder about JFK and Marilyn, Bill Clinton and Monica. They did their little indiscretions while they are were in office. Trump, what he did, was before he took office. There is a big difference. This is what you haters are concerned about instead of the imminent crisis our country is in and being torn apart by the left. I never thought any president could be worse than Carter, but now we have the worst anti-American president in history. Only God can save us.

Schuylkill Haven
The mortal remains of Keralite woman Soumya Santosh, who was killed in a recent rocket attack in Israel will be brought to India on a flight by Saturday morning, said Israel's Deputy Envoy Rony Yedidia Clein. She added that the Indian authorities are in touch with Soumyas family and with the embassy in Tel Aviv that is arranging to have her body flown back to India.

Indian embassy had a call with one airline today. If everything goes as per plan, Soumyas mortal remains will be brought in on a flight on Friday night/Saturday morning. It'll land Delhi and transported to her village, the envoy said.

Clein also said that the Israeli authorities will take care of Soumyas family, in compensation for the loss of life. Although nothing can ever compensate for the loss of a mother and wife, she added.

Weve been in touch with the family. She was talking to her husband when this happened and I can imagine how horrendous it is for the husband. I can only sympathise with what he must be feeling, the Deputy envoy said.

Among all the people who lost their lives in Gaza, a 30-year-old Indian nurse Soumya Santosh was also killed in a rocket attack by Palestinian militants on May 12. She hailed from Kerala's Idukki district and worked as a caregiver attending to an elderly woman at a house in the southern Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon.

Condoling the death of Soumya Santosh, who had been living in Israel for the last 10 years, Clein said, "We were so upset when we heard about this. When we first got the news that it was a foreign caregiver, I had a gut feeling that she was probably Indian. She had a 9-year-old son. We were very heartbroken."

'We are protecting all citizens equally'

Speaking on the safety of Indian citizens working in Israel amid violent attacks by the militant group Hamas and the Palestinian forces, Clein said the Israeli authorities will take equal care of all the civilians in the country.

Just as Israel protects Israeli families, we are also protecting everyone in the country. There is no differentiation is providing safety to an Indian caregiver or an Israelite. We have bomb shelters in almost all homes been built in last 30 years. Older ones have had bomb shelters added to them and we're doing as much as we can," the envoy said.

Rony Yedidia Clein also said that they have the Iron Dome anti-missile system to deflect any rocket entering the Israeli airspace. "Unfortunately, it's not a 100% seal. It cannot get every rocket. The Iron Dome is there to protect Israelis and we do in fact try to protect civilians actually on both sides of the line, she added.

Israel-Palestine conflict

The violence that began nearly a month ago has now turned into rocket firing in Jerusalem's Old City near Al-Aqsa. On Tuesday, the Hamas Islamist movement in Gaza fired massive gunfire of rockets in southern Israel where two women including Soumya lost their lives. Hundreds of rockets were fired at Israeli territory and retaliatory airstrikes from Jerusalem on Monday evening. Hamas has targeted the Iron Dome missile defence system with nearly 137 rockets. In retaliation, Israel launched airstrikes in Gaza City in which more than 35 Palestinians have reportedly lost their lives.
As India currently battles second wave of COVID-19 and where medical infrastructure in some states is outstretching its capacity, Israel has stepped forward in providing medical and life-saving support during the ordeal.

According to Ambassador of Israel to India Dr Ron Malka, another aeroplane with oxygen devices and other medical equipment arrived in Delhi, earlier today. It is pertinent to note the Ambassador did not miss out to mention Israel stands with India during trying times despite the war-like situation prevalent back in Israel. He stated,

Even while #IsraelIsUnderAttack,

another airplane with oxygen devices and other emergency medical equipment from Israel arrived in Delhi. @ILAerospaceIAI has sent medical aid to #India. #IsraelStandsWithIndia in its #FightAgainstCOVID19.  pic.twitter.com/rVcBCp1EQn  Ron Malka  (@DrRonMalka) May 16, 2021

Israel delivers life-saving equipment

As pledged, this is the third round of healthcare equipment delivered by Israel, assigned to India for medical relief. The second consignment of medical aid arrived on May 6.

Meanwhile, official Israels Foreign Ministry statement had said that the delivery of the assistance, which will be transferred to India by air through a series of flights throughout the week, is the result of the Foreign Ministry's work in cooperation with the National Security Council, Health Ministry, Finance Ministry, and Control Center, together with full coordination with the Indian government through Israel's embassy in New Delhi and the Indian embassy in Israel. Their Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi had also said,

"India is one of Israel's closest and most important friends. We stand with India particularly during these difficult times India is experiencing and are sending life-saving equipment to our Indian brothers and sisters."

Israel- Palestine conflict

The current escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict started earlier this month when the unrest began in East Jerusalem over an Israeli court's decision to evict several Palestinian families from the area. The situation on the border between Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip has been deteriorating ever since.

The ongoing war-torn episode has been noted as the heaviest aerial exchange since the 2014 Gaza war a.k.a Operation Protective Edge.

Outpouring solidarity in the form of medical aid from several countries

Exponential hike in COVID-19 infections across India since the inception of the second wave 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. 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, Thailand, Qatar, Ukraine, Israel, Netherlands, Romania on behalf of the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, China, Singapore, Bhutan amongst few that have come forward in providing assistance to India in procuring tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, transporting mobile oxygen plants, drugs, vaccine and other medical amenities to cater as requirements against the destructive COVID-19 second-wave.
The funeral of India's Soumya Santosh who lost her life in the rocket attack in Israel's Ashkelon was held at Nithya Sahaya Matha Church in Keerithodu of Idukki district on Sunday. The womans mortal remains were brought to her Kanjiramthanam residence near Adimali in Idukki earlier in the day.

Jonathan Zadka, consul general of Israel to South India, visited Soumya's home at Keerithodu to pay his respects and extend condolences to her family. The Consulate General of Israel to Bengaluru also extended its condolences to the family at loss in a tweet.

CG, @Jonathan_Zadka, paid a visit to the family of Soumya Santhosh who lost her life during #Hamasattack on #Iseael. On behalf of the Israeli people, @israelinbenguluru extends its condolences to the family at loss. We hope peace restores soon  https://t.co/pYw2t322I4  Israel in Bengaluru (@IsraelBangalore) May 16, 2021

"Honoured to pay my respects and convey our sympathies to the family and friends of Soumya Santosh as she was laid to rest in her hometown Keerithod, Kerala. May she RIP our prayers are with the family that lost an angel in a cowardly Hamas terror attack," Zadka tweeted.

After Soumyas mortal remains arrived at the Delhi airport, Union Minister V Muraleedharan and Rony Yedidia Clein, Israel's Deputy Envoy paid floral tributes to the departed soul. I empathise with the pain and sufferings of Soumyas family. More strength to them, Muraleedharan tweeted.

With a heavy heart, received the mortal remains of Ms. Soumya Santhosh in Delhi and paid my last respects. CDA of Israel Embassy @RonyYedidia also joined.



I empathise with the pain and sufferings of the family of Ms. Soumya. More strength to them. pic.twitter.com/97bvOziCpG  V. Muraleedharan (@MOS_MEA) May 15, 2021

The 30-year-old Indian woman, hailing from Keralas Idukki district, was among the victims of a rocket attack on Israel by a Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Tuesday. She worked as a caretaker to an elderly woman at a house in the Ashkelon, which borders the Gaza strip. She had been living in Israel for the last seven years, while her husband and nine-year-old son live in Kerala.

'Palestinian terror is blind'

Israel's Consul General in Mumbai, Ya'akov Finkelstein had condoled the incident and slammed the 'blind' Palestinian terror over the ongoing attacks. The unfortunate killing of Soumya Santosh in Israel is said reminder that Palestinian terror is blind... From about 1,000 rockets, about 200 of them exploded in Gaza itself. You see, Hamas is making a double war crime, using all the population as a human shield and deliberately targeting Israeli women and children, Ya'akov Finkelstein said.

Before Finkelstein, Israeli Ambassador India Ron Malka condoled her death and said that he spoke with the womans family. "The whole country is mourning her loss and we are here for them, " he said.

Israel's Iron Dome Missiles have been pounding Gaza with counter airstrikes as Gaza continues to send a heavy barrage of rockets into the country. The ongoing violence between Israel and Palestine marks a dramatic escalation to the tensions linked to the alleged eviction of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers and access to one of the most sacred sites in the city, which is a key hub for Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

(With inputs from agency)
New Delhi, May 15 (PTI) India needs to restore deterrence if it wants to stop China from attempting to nibble at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and changing its status quo, noted strategic affairs expert and former National Security Adviser and foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon said on Saturday.

In an online discussion, he said making noises or building some international coalition in response to what China has been doing will be ineffective and India needs to strengthen itself along the LAC to make sure that the neighbouring country is not able to change the situation in its favour.

"The answer is not making noise or building some international coalition or passing resolution at the UN. To my mind (it) is ineffective. If you want to stop them from nibbling at the LAC and changing the status quo, you need to restore deterrence which we did partially around Pangong in August. You need to restore it across the line," he said.

Menon, whose book 'India and Asian Geopolitics: Past, Present and Future' has just been released, was replying to a question at the discussion organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps.

He also called for a broader vision of India's relationship with China.

"If we are saying peace and tranquillity is an essential condition for the rest of the relationship, then how do you explain the fact that in 2020, China again became your biggest trading partner overtaking the US which has been your number one trading partner in 2019. How do you explain the first quarter of this year, where trade has boomed between you and China, maybe because of medical supplies and the outrageous prices they are charging, whatever it is," Menon said.

The former NSA also said that problem arises when attempts are made to spin the issues.

"The problem is when we start spinning these issues when we play them for domestic politics when we start telling lies about what is happening, what is not happening. Then you cannot deal with it effectively on the ground. Then it becomes very difficult," he said. He said there was a need to think about how far India can economically decouple itself from China and what it is going to do to strengthen itself on the LAC to make sure that China cannot keep changing the situation in its favour whenever it suits it.

Asked whether the perception of India's mishandling of the second wave of the coronavirus crisis will have an impact on its image, Menon said it was not possible now to gauge if there would be any long-term impact.

"I do not know about the long-term impact. I do not think we can say anything yet. But it certainly means that people will not rely on you to some extent," he said.

On what should be India's foreign policy priorities, Menon said it must focus on consolidating relations with countries in the neighbourhood as also in the Indian Ocean region which included Southeast Asian nations.

"You have to be much more with your neighbours, especially when the world is getting more and more chaotic, more and more fractious, much more difficult," he said.

In that context, he also mentioned that walking away from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) was a "huge mistake" by India.

In November 2019, India pulled out of the RCEP over unresolved core concerns saying the pact in its current form would have an adverse impact on the lives and livelihoods of all Indians.

"So this idea that we can cut off from the word and we are a world unto ourselves; we have so much demand at home and we will run ourselves; for me, that's crazy thinking," Menon said, adding there could have been many ways to deal with the issue.

To a question, whether domestic politics was driving foreign policy he suggested that it has been the case always.

"If you have a domestic politics which is clear about the kind of India you want and the kind of world you want to enable that India; then it is much easier to deal with the world and the world also knows what to do with you," he said.

"They also know what to expect from you and at least for a very long time, we had a very clear view where democracy we were building as a secular, modern democratic country of our own and that is what we would like the world to be a democratic place where laws applied, which is peaceful, and therefore, enabled the rise of India," Menon said.

He said India was a very active participant in the international processes and that it had a very clear view of its role in the world and what kind of world it wanted.

The former foreign secretary also cited examples of how neighbouring countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka looked up to India in drawing inspiration.

"That's stopped; why, because you are not clear what kind of India you are building up. You are busy arguing about that among yourselves. And the India that they see some people are arguing for in India is not very attractive to your own neighbours. So the power of example today no longer works.

"So, it is not just, oh, we dragged domestic politics into our foreign policy, it is the kind of domestic politics we have dragged into our foreign policy that makes the trouble," he said.

Asked about the escalation in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, he said the problem is that Israeli politics were in a very complicated state.

He said there is a real risk of further deterioration of the ground situation because of the nature of Israeli politics with the ambition of individual politicians wanting to look more heroic than their rivals.

On the Quad or Quadrilateral coalition comprising India, the US, Australia and Japan, Menon said New Delhi has significant interests in ensuring freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and it must seize the available options considering its strategic interests.

He said if the Quad serves some of India's interests, then it should go for it. PTI MPB ZMN

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
A tragedy was saved by the Indian security forces on Sunday as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was timely detected by forces along with Kashmir police in Turkawangam area of south Kashmirs Shopian district. No damage was reported as the suspected Pakistan terrorists exploded the IED from a distance. The entire area has been cordoned off and a search operation is underway.

Reportedly, the Jammu and Kashmir police were made aware of the blast by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists on police and security forces of Turkawangam village, and following the warning, an intense search operation was launched. The explosive was deducted on Sunday morning and bombs were neutralized however, the IED had blasted between Tugaon and Turkawangam area.

Today morning, an IED was detected and neutralised between Sugan and Turkhwangam by the security forces. The security forces are committed to foil all attempts of terrorists to disturb peace in Kashmir: Vijay Kumar, IGP Kashmir pic.twitter.com/EIeG5yhRWl  ANI (@ANI) May 16, 2021

IED recovered from Pulwama

The unfortunate incident from the Shopian district comes a day after a 10-kg IED was recovered from Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Saturday attack was suspected to be planted by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist outfit that had planned to carry out a major attack. The officials had informed that a major terror attack was avoided by the forces.

In April, an IED material was recovered from the Kamraazpora area of South Kashmir's Pulwama district by the Indian Army. In February, reports had come out stating that IED attacks by terrorists were on a rise in Kashmir generating worrisome concerns for security. In February a major explosion had rocked the Pazalpora area of Bijbehara in South Kashmir. Prior to that, a soldier was martyred and three others sustained injuries when an IED was exploded in Kulgam area of South Kashmir.
Plea to Boris: Give us the jab and well finish the job Britain may hold the key to Lankas AstraZeneca shortage as UNICEF asks Boris to share huge stockpile with nations View(s): View(s):

Lanka should make a Churchillian plea to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to give us the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to meet the countrys current dearth, after it was revealed Britain has a stockpile of the vaccine, far in excess of her own needs.

The United Nations Children Fund, commonly referred to as UNICEF, told Britains Independent newspaper this week that Britain could share 20 percent of its available Covid-19 vaccine doses and still meet its target to give all adults their first shot by the end of July.

Two thirds of adults in the UK have now had at least one vaccine dose and almost 18 million are fully vaccinated. Real-world data suggests the jabs prevent eight to nine out of 10 severe Covid cases, almost all deaths and also slash transmission of the virus by half.

The charity warned that the success of Britains vaccination programme could be reversed and it could face a fresh wave of infections from mutations of the virus unless more is done to share vaccines around the globe. They warned hogging vaccines and allowing the virus to continue spreading elsewhere would raise the risk of a new variant emerging and coming back to wreak havoc in Britain.

UNICEF-UK called on the government and other G7 countries to start sharing vaccines through the vaccine sharing facility Covax from June to ensure vulnerable people can be vaccinated.

UNICEF said the UK should give away a fifth of its Covid vaccines to help poorer countries protect their citizens. The British media, it is said, had reported that the UK has ordered 517 million doses though it required around 160 million to vaccinate all adults and give them booster jabs in the autumn, as planned. Analysis by the UK arm of the United Nations Childrens Fund asserted that the country could have enough leftover doses to fully vaccinate 50m people  the population of Spain or South Korea.

In the light of UNICEF-UK requesting Britain to help less fortunate counties on the principle of reciprocal altruism lest the virus returns from a foreign land to haunt Britain again, the Lankan Government should move in double quick time to lay first claim to Britains largesse.

UNICEF-UKs request to the British Government to share her blessings with other nations is a heaven sent opportunity for Lanka to explore the possibility of obtaining her much needed stock of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The Government has tried to obtain it from Indonesia but it is still uncertain whether her efforts will prove successful. Last Friday evening, President Gotabaya appealed to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom to use his good offices to find for Lanka the 600,000 doses. The President later tweeted that I believe he will make effort to fulfil Lankas need for 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca for the 2nd dose of vaccination.

Given that 600,000 Lankans are in a quandary, left high and dry after having being initially vaccinated with the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and now have no option but to take the same brand which is presently unavailable, the Lanka Government should write to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson forthwith, appealing to his and his countrys Christian heart and generosity to come to the aid of a fellow Commonwealth member  that exclusive club of Britains former colonies, which still pays symbolic obeisance to Britains former role by having Britains reigning sovereign as the titular Head of the Commonwealth of Nations.

After all, having occupied this island for nearly 150 years and enjoyed without interruption or disturbance the spoils of conquests in return for language, laws and alien customs, donating a measly 600,000 doses out of a stockpiled medical arsenal of a reported 517 million vials, is the least Britain can do, in the name of humanity if nothing else, to help 600,000 Lankans stay COVID proof and alive.

Britain should be tacitly reminded of how, when Britain stood alone with her back to the wall in the face of the unstoppable Nazi advance towards her islands sceptred shores during World War II, her Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill made a public address to the American President Franklin Roosevelt appealing for American arms for sheer survival.

The begging plea was partly prompted by Roosevelts handwritten letter quoting a verse from Longfellows poem The Building of a Ship which Churchill mentioned in his famous appeal, broadcast to the nation over BBC radio. He said:

The other day President Roosevelt gave his opponent in the late Presidential Election, a letter of introduction to me, and in it he wrote out a verse, in his own handwriting from Longfellow, which he said applies to your people as it does to us. Here is the verse:

Sail on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, so strong

and great

Humanity with all its fears

With all the hopes of future years

Is hanging breathless on thy fate

What is the answer that I shall give, in your name, to this great man, the thrice chosen head of a nation of a hundred and thirty million people? Here is the answer which I will give to President Roosevelt. Put your confidence in us. Give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence, all is well.

We shall not fail or falter, we shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor the long drawn trials of vigilance or exertion, will wear us down.

And then Britains celebrated war time Prime Minister Churchill, who once stated he was lucky to have been called to give the roar to Britains lion heart, ended his plea to Roosevelt: Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.

True. Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are not on the samematey terms; nor do they share an excellent rapport as did Churchill and Roosevelt. And if there is no love lost between them, what better occasion than this can there be to thaw the detente, to melt the icy relations that now exist between the two countries following the disastrous UNHRC Geneva summit in March when Britain put Lanka on the human rights dock?

But in the face of the coronavirus pandemic such issues should not muffle the plaintive bleat of humanity nor deny a section of it, the potentially lifesaving protection of the vaccine, especially if one has enough to spare. If the presidential appeal fails on deaf ears and fails, at least it will not be for the want of trying. The effort, though it may prove vain, will be laudable.

With UNICEF-UK paving the path by its request to the British Government not to miserly hoard its vaccine gold but to share it with less privileged nations, the opportunity has presented itself to the Lankan President to be the first to knock on Downing Streets No 10 door bearing his appeal on behalf of Lanka. Money is no object since the World Bank on Friday granted Lanka an 80 million dollar loan, specifically for vaccine purchases.

Referring to shared ties, to shared values, to a shared vision, to a common destiny to be forged through the same shared commitment to democratic ideals, institutions and principles, the presidential message must appeal to Britain to transcend their diplomatic war of attrition, the chilly atmosphere of hostility and their appalling horror of Lankas tainted track record on human rights, to suspend their grouses, their prejudices, their distastes and hold in abeyance their judgements for the present, and answer Lankas desperate cry for succor made amidst impending doom, and provide her with not only 600,000 of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines but also the necessary wherewithal Britain has at its command to give to vanquish the common COVID foe.

And finally state that if Britain rises to the occasion in the name of suffering humanity and gives us the jabs to finish the job, then  to paraphrase the words of Churchill  should the British-led Commonwealth of Nations last for a thousand years, men will still say: This was Britains finest hour.

At last, COVID clampdown but is a 3-day ban enough? Is Port City bill dictating Govts lockdown agenda Despite its earlier proclaimed determination not to enforce lockdowns come what may and cripple economic activity further, the Government was forced, in the face of rising COVID cases and deaths, to make a welcome climbdown from its intransigence and bring itself to grudgingly declare on Wednesday a three-day travel ban  stopping short of labelling it either as a lockdown or curfew. Earlier on Monday, the Government had announced that travel between the nine provinces will be banned on Tuesday midnight till May 30 as a means of stemming the rising COVID tide. Though it was initially hailed a welcome preventive measure, deeper analyses soon proved it was nothing more than a cosmetic exercise, designed only to create the semblance of action. Banning travel between the provinces was ineffective in a land where the coronavirus had spread beyond the clusters and was running amok throughout the whole community. The Government announced the same day, it was also planning to restrict travel between the districts but even this plan to marginally reduce the ambit of the COVID domain was met with the same disdain and was dismissed as futile. The virulent virus has enough stomping ground and a ready supply of fodder in a district, let alone a province, for it to multiply its growing tally of scalps. A particular districts contagion can aggravate beyond measure without help from its brethren, active in other districts with an abundance of victims to lay claim. The folly of travel bans between provinces or districts or even Grama Niladhari Divisions as a means to reduce the alarming increase in COVID cases, when the real need is to prevent social mingling even in a village, led to the Association of Medical Specialist dispatching a letter to the President on Monday, warning the Government on the danger of pursuing meaningless area bans without banning people mixing within it. They said: the current practice of isolating communities at the GN division level is neither preserving economic activity nor controlling transmission of COVID. The Governments laissez-faire attitude toward the impending COVID catastrophe had to end, it was clear. It was time to adopt the hands-on, interventionist role to avert a worse disaster waiting to happen. Closing the provincial or district gates and let the flock frolic free was not enough. The long awaited clampdown or lockdown or curfew euphemistically called by the Government travel ban or travel restrictions, as similar to a curfew but not a curfew, was perhaps, prompted, by COVID Minister Sudharshani Fernandopulles timely warning on Wednesday morning. She told the media, the predictions made by an independent health research centre in the US of 10,000 to 20,000 cases and 200 deaths a day would certainly come to pass if no interventionist action is taken. On Friday, the Deputy Director General of Health Services, Dr. Hemantha Herath, warned the alarming surge of COVID cases will continue unabated for another two weeks, with a downward trend expected only thereafter. With such warnings given by its own COVID Czars and other red alerts flashing danger, why is the Government still dragging its feet to take effective, meaningful, concerted, preventive action to stem the rising tide of infections and deaths, opting, instead, to impose half-hearted measures like a three-day token travel ban till Monday morn and 11pm to 4am travel bans till the end of May when what is called for is a complete lockdown for at least two weeks? God forbid, but could it be that the paramount importance the Government attaches to see the controversial Port City Bill enacted in Parliament, come what may, this week despite the Oppositions demand for a delay, is the compelling motive for its seeming apathy to declare all-out war on the coronavirus which has laid siege on the land and infected 136,685 and claimed 900 lives since its Lankan occupation in March last year? Even at this eleventh hour, in the midst of alarm, it behoves the Government to show that it places the health of the nation above all else.
In a recent development overseas, China has sought to step up cooperation with Central Asian countries on security issues amid fears of a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan and subsequent threat to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects in the region.

As the September 11 deadline of complete withdrawal is approaching, Beijing is petrified about instability in the country. It fears that it could give ground to Islamic Fundamentalism that would spill over into China's Xinjiang province that borders the country, South China Morning Post reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Central Asian counterparts on Wednesday, that they should work together to crack down on terrorist forces and prevent transnational crime to create a safe "Silk Road".

Wang told the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the Chinese city of Xian, in Shaanxi,

"We should cooperate to prevent transnational oraganised crime, on drugs control, network security, managing non-governmental organisations, the security of large-scale activities and projects, and to safeguard our institutions, personnel, and facilities to create a safe Silk Road."

US withdrawal from Afghanistan to add security threats

Moreover, there is a looming sense of fear in Pakistan that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan will increase instability in its neighbourhood, and add security threats in the region while putting Belt and Road projects at risk. Violence has intensified in Afghanistan since the United States missed a May 1 deadline, as agreed with the Taliban last year, to withdraw all of its troops. The US and NATO have pledged to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by September 11. They have begun their final withdrawal from the country, after 20 years of war.

Instability in Pakistan has steadily increased and outlawed groups like Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have increased cross-border attacks in the country, Nikkei Asia reported. According to an analyst Fakhar Kakakhel, the US pull-back along with a weak Afghan government will seriously destabilize the region.

Last week China had blamed the United States' "abrupt announcement of complete withdrawal of forces" for the explosive attacks throughout Afghanistan, saying the step has worsened the security situation and has threatened peace and stability as well as people's lives and safety in the war-torn country.

China's reaction came after brutal multiple explosions at a girls' school that reported over 90 dead in Kabul. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had said China was "shocked" by the attacks and "deeply saddened" by the death toll. She also called on Washington to pull out troops "in a responsible manner".
Denmark and Norway have found a slight rise in the blood clots among those inoculated with the AstraZeneca jab, a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal BMJ has found. According to the findings, there was a spike in rates of vein blood clots including clots in the brain, compared with expected rates in the general population. However, the researchers stress that the risk of such adverse events is considered low. Scientists assembled data from those who were recently administered their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Denmark and Norways analysis came after European Medicines Agency (EMA) stated earlier in a report that it had found a possible link between the AstraZeneca shot and the rare fatal blood clots without any age restrictions.

However, in the recent study, the UK and European medicine regulators said that when the incidences were compared with the total population that received the AstraZeneca-Oxford jab, the benefits of the vaccine still outweigh the risks. Although, Denmark and Norway have both suspended the use of the vaccine as several other EU countries have. Denmark was also the first country to suspend the use of US Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot over reports of blood clots. While the research analysis published by BMJ argued that the related condition impacted only a low percentage of those vaccinated, the Danish health authority, last week, said at a news conference that the benefits of suspended jabs did not outweigh its risks, adding that the pandemic was under control. Deputy director-general Helene Probst told Danish media outlets that the country plans to expand inoculation for the younger and healthier population and it did not want to stake the risks.

In the midst of pandemic, this has been a difficult decision to make as we have had to discontinue using the Covid-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, Probst told reporters.

Side effects within 28 days of getting first shot

As many as 280,000 people aged 18-65 received a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Denmark and Norway from February 2021 through to 11 March 2021. Scientists extracted the data from the national health records and identified a range of side effects such as cardiac arrest, strokes, deep vein blood clots and bleeding events within 28 days of receiving a first AstraZeneca vaccine dose, according to the BMJ study. Researchers found 59 blood clots in the veins compared with 30 expected, corresponding to 11 excess events per 100,000 vaccinations. This included a higher than expected rate of blood clots in the veins of the brain, known as cerebral venous thrombosis (2.5 events per 100,000 vaccinations), said the study.
Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinians protested on Saturday along the Lebanon-Israel border with some climbing a border wall triggering Israeli fire that wounded one person.

One of the biggest protests took place Saturday evening in the Lebanese border village of Adaisseh where hundreds marched waving Palestinian, Lebanese and yellow flags of the militant Hezbollah group.

A few protesters climbed a high border wall where they placed Palestinian and Hezbollah flags.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that Israeli troops fired warning shots near Adaisseh wounding one person who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Lebanese and Palestinians from around Lebanon have been heading to the border to protest against Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

On Friday, Israeli troops opened fire at protesters who crossed a border fence killing a 21-year-old Hezbollah member.

Earlier Saturday, an Israeli military spokesman warned Lebanese authorities not to allow protesters to breach the border.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Condemning the violence which has gripped the Middle East in the last fortnight, India at the United Nations Security Council meeting on Sunday, called for de-escalation and resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine. Ambassador to the UN, T S Tirumurti expressed India's 'deep concern' over the violence in Jerusalem, especially during the holy month of Ramzan, and reiterated India's strong condemnation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction. After a delay caused by the United States, UNSC convened in New York on Sunday under the chairmanship of China to deliberate upon the violent airstrikes that have so far claimed 132 lives.

"Indiscriminate rocket firings from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel, which we condemn, and the retaliatory strikes into Gaza, have caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths, including women and children," Ambassador Tirumurti told the UNSC meet on Sunday.

Tirumurti also mentioned the death of an Indian citizen - Soumya Santosh, resident of Kerala - who was killed in the rocket fire and mourned her demise along with all civilians that have lost their lives in the violent engagement. Pushing for the resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine, the Indian representative also urged both sides to refrain from attempts to 'unilaterally change' the existing status quo. Significantly, Ambassador Tirumurti also remarked that India backs a 'two-state solution' to end the conflict.

"We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions, and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo, including in East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood. We believe that every effort should be made to create conducive conditions for resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine," Ambassador Tirumurti said.

At #UNSC meet today on Israel-Palestine, I said: 1/3



Deep concern at violence in #Jerusalem, Haram Al Sharif/Temple Mount, & eviction in #SheikhJarrah & Silwan

Rocket attacks from #Gaza, we condemn, & retaliation into Gaza caused deaths

Condemn all violence, destruction  pic.twitter.com/smd3Ztco8o  PR/Amb T S Tirumurti (@ambtstirumurti) May 16, 2021

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres started the Security Council meeting by calling on both sides to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed. The current hostilities are utterly appalling....The fighting must stop. It must stop immediately, he said.

OIC holds emergency meeting

With the Israel-Hamas violent clashes entering the second week, all 57 nations of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) huddled up on Sunday to address the escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The clashes which erupted earlier this month has witnessed a barrage of airstrikes from both sides leading to a vast number of civilian casualties. In response to the heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas, the OIC emergency meeting was the first major move by middle eastern countries to address the conflict.

Israel-Hamas conflict

The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews. Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza. Since then, Hamas has fired more than 3,000 rockets, though most have either fallen short or been intercepted by anti-missile defenses i.e. the Iron Dome.

Israel's warplanes and artillery have struck hundreds of targets around blockaded Gaza, where some 2 million Palestinians live. On Saturday, the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the offices of the AP, the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets are located was razed to the ground by an Israeli rocket strike citing 'Hamas operation inside the building'.
Amid the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, the Bangladesh government has decided to extend a stringent lockdown for one more week until May 23 in order to stem the coronavirus infections. Earlier, tens and thousands of people left Dhaka on Thursday to join their family members in home villages to celebrate the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Fitr despite the strict warnings that the potential exodus could further worsen the COVID-19 situation in the country. According to World Health Organization (WHO) tally, from January 3 last year to May 15, Bangladesh has confirmed at least 779,535 COVID-19 cases with at least 12,102 deaths.

However, as of May 3, WHO states that Bangladesh has administered at least 9,413,433 vaccine doses. As authorities already feared that people defying the COVID-19 restrictions would further trigger a third wave of the outbreak, local media reports cited State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain as saying that Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in May 15 had approved the decision to extend the lockdown. The authorities earlier this week had ordered that the employees of government, semi-government, autonomous and private organisations, banks and non-bank financial institutions should not leave stations during the holidays that end on May 16.

Authorities urged citizens to prayer in mosques

As per the Associated Press report, Bangladeshi officials urged citizens to pray in phases in the countrys more than 300,000 mosques to adhere to health guidelines but people crowded the exit points in Dhaka, violated the national lockdown that was in effect till Sunday. People reportedly chose to visit their homes dispute the suspension of long-standing passenger buses, trains and ferries. The additional fear among the authorities was due to the drastic surge of a more infectious variant of the novel coronavirus, B.1.617, that was first discovered in India.

Many people for holidays, took risky rides or walked to get to local ferry terminals and cross the rivers. Since Wednesday, AP report on May 13 said that at least five people had died in stampedes when people packed ferries beyond their capacity. As per the report, Shila Akhter, an employee at a private company at the time said, As Muslims, we should celebrate Eid with our families, she said. Dhaka is the place of work for many of us. We work for the whole year. So, once in a year, we need to go home to our children and parents. Theyre the reason Im going home.

IMAGE: AP/Pixabay
Nearly 2,000 civil servants have quit for the Hong Kong government in 2020-21. This is the highest annual figure in at least 15 years, reports South China Morning Post. The number of people quitting has been rising since 2006-07 when nearly 400 government workers, which is around 0.3 per cent, left. According to a paper prepared for legislators by the Civil Service Bureau, the number surpassed the 1,000 mark in 2015-16. The figure for 2020-21 represented 1.05 per cent.

The Bureau said, In 2020-21, the wastage in the civil service was about 8,500, accounting for around 4.8 per cent of the strength. It added, Retirement was the primary reason for departure of civil servants, while the other reasons, including resignation, completion of agreement and death, accounted for only a small proportion of wastage.

The government argued that percentage-wise, the number leaving was insignificant. However, there were lawmakers who believed that civil servants to be offered better packages. According to the reports by the South China Morning Post, Unionist lawmaker Kwok Wai-keung, who chairs the panel on public service at the Legislative Council where the paper will be discussed next Monday, agreed that given a 170,000-something-strong civil service, having 1,000-plus people leave in a year might not come forward as a big deal. However, he further said that it was not something to be taken "too lightly". He also blamed the rise in resignations on "new terms" introduced by the government in 2000. As per these terms, those joining the service after June that year would not be entitled to pension benefits, and medical and dental benefits after retirement.

A new law passed

In another significant development, Hong Kong government passed a new law that puts the citys politicians patriotic loyalty to test. The latest law allows the citys Secretary for Justice to launch legal actions against any lawmaker who is deemed to have violated his or her oath. For this purpose, a negative list enlisting a wide range of unpatriotic acts such as insulting the flag to endangering national security has been prepared. A public official will be immediately suspended if the Secretary for Justice finds him or her disloyal.

Under the new decree, all public office holders will be required to make a "pledge of loyalty" that they must adhere to throughout their term. It includes principal government officials, cabinet members, legislators and judges as well as members of the legislature. Additionally, more than 470 district councillors and local neighbourhood officials are also subjected to the new law. The decree is scheduled to come into effect later this month, US News reported.

IMAGE: AP
Following an agreement between organisers and authorities to prevent last years violent confrontations, a truncated version of a Hindu chariot festival took place on May 15 in Nepals capital Kathmandu. A five-story-high wooden chariot of the deity Rato Machindranath, whose statue is made from clay and covered in red paint with wide-open eyes, is usually pulled by devotees around Kathmandu. The festival lasts about a month a draws tens of thousands of people.

However, this year, amid coronavirus restrictions, only around hundred-hand-picked devotees were allowed to pull the chariot for just a few meters. According to AP, the riot police had sealed off the neighbourhood to prevent any spectators from entering as the country is experiencing a virus surge, with record numbers of new infections and deaths. Nepal authorities had also imposed a lockdown across most of the nation last month and extended it in recent days by another two weeks.

In the midst of the rising cases and deaths, the agreement to drastically scale back the festival came after consultations among local politicians, officials, security forces, priests and organisers. The agreement also came in a bid to avoid a repeat of violent confrontations between police and protests. This year several devotees stayed home and celebrated with feats and rituals with their families. The festival is held in the belief that it will please God so they can provide for a generous rainfall, a good harvest and prosperity.

COVID-19 outbreak in Nepal

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that Nepal has reported 447,704 confirmed coronavirus cases and 4,856 deaths. Last week, its neighbouring China also cancelled attempts to climb Mount Everest from its side of the worlds highest peak because of fears of importing COVID-19 cases from Nepal. Recently, the country's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had also said that the country is battling a new and brutal wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. He also appealed to the UK and other developed nations to urgently provide his country with essential medical items, life-saving drugs and vaccines to combat the pandemic, PTI reported.

"Nepals history is one of hardship and struggle, yet this pandemic is pushing even us to our limits. The number of infections is straining the healthcare system; it has become tough to provide patients with the hospital beds that they need," PTI quoted Oli citing his oped in the Guardian.

(With AP, PTI inputs)




STORY: Mexico Mideast Protest - Protest in Mexico City in support of Palestinians

LENGTH: 01:22

FIRST RUN: 2356

RESTRICTIONS:

TYPE: Spanish/ Natsound

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

STORY NUMBER: 4326058

DATELINE: 15 May 2021 - Mexico City

SHOTLIST

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Mexico City - 15 May 2021

1. Demonstrators holding a Palestinian flag, UPSOUND (Spanish) "Israel should cease its repression. We want a free world and we should raise our voices. Up for a free Palestine!"

2. Demonstrators shouting UPSOUND (Spanish) "Up with Palestine! Up with peace! Down with Zionists!"

3. Demonstrator giving a speech

4. Demonstrator

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Demonstrator, no name given:

"We call on both parties to cease confrontation and restart a dialogue for peace, with all the support of the international community interested in a just and long-lasting solution that guarantees a Palestinian state with borders based on pre-1967 line with East Jerusalem as its capital, just as the United Nations has mandated."

6. Various of demonstrators painting Palestinian flag on ground

STORYLINE:

Dozens of demonstrators gathered in Mexico City on Saturday to show their support for the Palestinians.

The protest follows days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, and Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel.

One of the demonstrators called for an end to the clashes and for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Some painted a large Palestinian flag on the square where the demonstration was held.

The protest took place on the 73th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or Catastrophe, commemorating the Palestinians who were expelled or fled their homes during the war that led to Israel's creation in 1948.

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(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Amid the final withdrawal of the United States Army and NATO troops from Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani has emphasised the requirement for a decision on peace by the regional players, and for Europe's much-needed role to "get Pakistan on board" on the ongoing peace talks with Taliban.

Ashraf Ghani while speaking to the German news website, Der Spiegel in an interview said,

"Peace will primarily be decided upon regionally and I believe we are at a crucial moment of rethinking. It is first and foremost a matter of getting Pakistan on board. The US now plays only a minor role. The question of peace or hostility is now in Pakistani hands."

Talks with Pakistan underway

Ashraf Ghani met Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Bajwa earlier this week to discuss Pakistan's role in the peace process and escalation of violence in Afghanistan. Elaborating on Pakistan's influence on the Taliban, Ghani said,

"Pakistan operates an organised system of support. The Taliban receive logistics there, their finances are there and recruitment is there. The name of the various decision-making bodies of the Taliban are Quetta Shura, Miramshah Shura, and Peshawar Shura- named after the Pakistani cities where they were located. There is a deep relationship with the State."

The Afghan Presidential Palace said in an official statement on Monday,

"President Ashraf Ghani attached great importance to the role of the regional countries particularly Pakistan in establishing peace in Aghanistan and the country's influence on the Taliban."

Ghani further said that there is no military solution for the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the Taliban's insistence to stick to a military solution is unacceptable for the people of Afghanistan. The sub-continent has witnessed a surge in the incidents of violence in recent weeks, subsequently reporting casualties of Afghan security forces and civilians. While the Taliban forces avoided engaging US troops, they have furiously attacked Afghan government forces. Violence has rocked several provinces in recent weeks.

Afghanistan tranquillity disrupted despite US and NATO troops withdraw

After weeks of deadly violence, a three-day ceasefire was agreed upon by the warring sides which came into force on Thursday to mark the Muslim holiday (Eid al-Fitr). However, the tranquillity was disrupted by a blast at a mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital. This explosion on Friday afternoon reported the killing of 12 persons including the Imam (one who leads Muslim worshippers in prayer). No group has so far claimed the attack and the Taliban has denied their responsibility too.

The grave attack last week killed over 90 people, many of them pupils leaving a girls school when a powerful car bomb exploded. The Taliban denied involvement and condemned the attack. US and NATO troops withdrawal from Afghanistan is underway and set to finalise on September 11.

Violence has intensified in Afghanistan since the United States missed a May 1 deadline, agreed with the Taliban last year, to withdraw all of its troops. The US and NATO have pledged to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan by September 11 however they have begun their final withdrawal from the country, after 20 years of war. Earlier this week, U.S. troops left southern Kandahar Air Base, where some NATO forces still remain. At the war's peak, more than 30,000 U.S. troops were stationed in Kandahar, the Taliban heartland. The base in Kandahar was the second-largest US base in Afghanistan, after Bagram north of Kabul.

(With inputs from ANI)
The days of low and odour! View(s):

One law for all, they said.

The citizenry roared in approval. For what seemed like eons the populace of the Resplendent Isle had been waiting for just leaders. At last the princes and paupers were to be judged under the same laws. How low can they get, thought the upper crust and the deal makers, to try us along with the hoi polloi.

But the knowing people knew, as the saying goes.

Out with nepotism, they said.

Like the Roman citizens who had gathered by the body of the assassinated Caesar, they urged Anthony to read Caesars will. When Anthony did and the citizens heard what Caesar had bequeathed to the people of Rome, they burst into sustained applause. They urged Mark Anthony to read on. And the more he did, the more the people praised the slain Caesar.

O mighty Caesar, why did they get rid of you when you had done so much for us, left us all the parks and the walkways so that we could lead a healthy life, the citizenry lamented.

But over in the country like no other a healthy life is hard to develop with the rupee what it is and everybody grabbing the cow dung for fertiliser.

Meritocracy will decide who gets the plum jobs hereafter, they said. Oh yeah?

The competent and the qualified cheered awaiting the new dawn when they would get their rightful places in the administrative hierarchy and other slots and places where the qualified, educated and the professionals were required if this country like no other was to break loose from the moorings of political influence, interference, cronyism and chumocracy.

If one might slightly twist the words of Shakespeare, it was a Daniel come not to judgment but to bring order to the country from years of chaos and confusion. Or so the people thought.

If today the citizenry go about with glum faces and in sullen silence, it is not because a pandemic has enveloped the country increasingly susceptible to new variants of the virus or because meritocracy is not to be found anywhere. It is because the pundits or pandithayas dont want it found.

Those with the medical and scientific qualifications and experience to handle this pandemic have been shunted to secondary positions or no positions at all while some with pips and others with chips on their shoulders have replaced the learned in the subject.

Be sure, today there is a sullen silence, one gathers from what one reads and hears, because there is a general mess in dealing with the spreading virus as politicians break the health laws and ignore the rules while medical specialists and health workers are hard pressed to get their voices heard and their advice accepted.

News reports  not fake one presumes as even the State media quotes the Police media spokesman on this  say that last Wednesday 448 persons were arrested for violating quarantine laws. This was mainly for not wearing face masks.

There had also been pictures previously in the media of the police carrying away violators of the health regulations and dumping them in vehicles to be taken where, one does not rightly know.

Obviously wearing face masks is an essential part of preventing contracting the virus. In fact, Dr Sudarshani Fernandopulle, State Minister for Covid Disease Control among other responsibilities, in a recent statement recommended wearing two face masks which shows the importance of covering part of the face as a preventive measure.

Quite often the Government and its officials admonish the public for failing to adhere to these preventive measures announced by health authorities. But then those who preach to the people on social conduct must lead the way and act as a beacon to be followed.

Imagine then the spectacle of seeing the Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekera seated in the front row at some official event without a face mask while all others beside and behind him are seen wearing their masks including a person in camouflage dress at one end of the front row.

His decision to dispense with a face mask which is considered an essential requirement and a violation of existing health regulations especially at some organised event where others are present, might well be described, as public figures have done, as a deliberate act of impunity and a macho performance.

As has been said a picture is worth a thousand words and a picture of the maskless Weerasekera did the rounds last week followed by a series of comments and jokes not to mention a cartoon in an English-language daily of a protesting minister being carted away by three policemen.

One comment appears to have some credence. It says that since Minister Weerasekera has been a vociferous advocate of banning the face covering for Muslim women perhaps he thought he should remove his own mask as an example!

The Public Security Minister is not the only one in the cabinet who in the last few days has conducted himself with crass impunity, we gather. There was widespread public criticism of Transport Minister Gamini Lokuge after he saw to the lifting of Covid-control restrictions that had been clamped on the Kesbewa-Piliyandala area by the responsible medical officers who are authorised to take necessary steps to minimise the spread of the virus.

Had the public been informed that Minister Lokuge, a long time politician who has been on at least two sides of the political divide like many of our politicians who have established long jump records, is a recently-approved specialist in Covid prevention and control, the public might have accepted his countermanding the instructions of the authorised and medically-qualified without a murmur.

But there has been no such communication to the public on his suddenly-acquired expertise. Scant wonder, officials in parliament are fighting shy of disclosing the educational qualifications of the peoples representatives lest they are forced to cover up blank spaces.

The odour of dysfunctionality is unmistakable. Though the ruling SLPP appears to have developed an admiration for the governance style of the Chinese Communist Party  even Education Minister GL Peiris appears to be leaning in that direction  watching the governments policy-making and implementation it is more like what Lenin called One step forward, two steps back. And, one might add, a lurch sideways now and then.

In the midst of all this meddle and muddle, a presidential spin doctor has thought it fit to crown the president with having, in a single communication with the head of the World Health Organisation, got him to approve in the blink of an eye, as it were, the Chinese anti-Covid vaccine Sinopharm.

Before long the WHO blew this outrageous claim sky high. If this story is true then it is time to select some good spinners who can also bowl the Chinaman. Now that Hitler is back on the shelf as a role model for Sri Lankas leaders and ardent advocates of Hitlerite rule such as Dilum Amunugama are to have their egos buttressed with some 28,000 storm troopers to aid the grama niladharies, would it not be prudent to select propagandists with more Goebelsian cunning?

I mean applying meritocracy, as will surely happen when some 40 recruits are absorbed to the foreign service as we have heard. Would they follow the Lucky Six absorbed recently  the progeny of ministers and politicians also recruited undoubtedly on merit?

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Standard and worked for Gemini News Service in London. Later he was Deputy Chief-of-Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London.)
On this day in history, a Japanese woman named Junko Tabei became the first-ever woman to climb the world's highest peak of Mount Everest. She also became the first woman in the world to do an expedition of all "Seven Summits"  the tallest peak on each continent across the globe. According to the Japanese broadcaster NHK, Tabei passed away at the age of 77 after she lost her battle to Cancer.

As a mountaineering enthusiast, despite being diagnosed with the ailment, Tabei continued her hike into the tall mountain peaks even as she was undergoing treatment. She confronted the globes tallest peak despite the dangerous avalanche and life-threatening ascent in 1975. She had defied the cultural norms and stereotypes as she left her 3-year-old daughter with her husband and headed to Nepal to become the first woman to complete the daring feat.

Junko Tabei was the first woman to ever summit Mount Everest, in 1975, and was also the first woman to complete the Seven Summits in 1992. pic.twitter.com/T1x0KfN4wO  Guinness World Records (@GWR) May 16, 2021

Six years after her expedition to Mount Everest, Tabei found the Ladies Climbing Club, which became popular with the slogan: "Let's go on an overseas expedition by ourselves among the women worldwide. It was also the first-ever all-female mountain climbing club in Japan. In her interview with the local broadcaster Japan Times, Tabei said: Back in 1970s Japan, it was still widely considered that men were the ones to work outside and women would stay at home. Even women who had jobs  were asked just to serve tea. So it was unthinkable for them to be promoted in their workplaces.

[Credit: Twitter/@MindTheCeiling]

[Credit: Twitter/@montagne360]

She continued that her all-women Everest expedition was told that they should be raising children instead. But Tabei had a passion for stout, mighty snowy peaks since she was 10 years old. And therefore, she told the Japanese media outlets that her love for mountains did not change her resolve to climb Mount Everest.

Took same trail like Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

Tabeis all-women team reached the worlds tallest peak at 21,326 feet above sea level at the time of a dangerous avalanche nearby Nuptse on May 16, 1975. Everyone survived. The group briefly rested in tents at Camp II and braved the rough weather. Tabei had decided to go the same trail taken by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who made it to the summit 22 years earlier on 29 May 1953. In all, her team comprised of 14 mountaineers, 23 sherpas, and 500 porters, all of whom were managed by the Tokyo Women's Mountaineering Club. In 1970 Tabei also hiked atop Annapurna III (7.555m). In 1975 she became the driving force for women for Everest women's expedition.
Parents demonstrated in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday demanding the government provide greater security after a deadly bomb attack at a girls' school last weekend.

In the mostly Shiite neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi, families had brought bouquets of flowers to the empty classes to pay tribute to the victims.

They said 90 people were killed, most of the students of Syed Al-Shahda girls' school, in the bombings outside the school.

No one took responsibility but an affiliate of the Islamic State group has declared war on the country's minority Shiites.

Nasrullah Rezayee, holding a photo of his daughter Atifa Rezayee who was killed in the attack said: "If they (the government) don't provide security for the schools, people will not send their children to schools because there is no security."

Student Farida, who was wounded in the attack, returned to her almost empty class on Sunday determined to continue her studies.

The 13-year-old said no matter what happens she will continue to come to her school and resist against any obstacles which may come in her way.

"I will resist against them, if they use guns, I will use my pen," said Farida.

A three-day cease-fire marked by violent attacks  most claimed by the Islamic State group  ended Sunday in Afghanistan amid calls for renewed peace talks between the government and Taliban.

Even as the Taliban and government signed on to the cease-fire, which was declared to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, violence continued unabated in Afghanistan.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Thousands of young people and college students have been at the forefront of Colombia's antigovernment protests for more than two weeks, armed with improvised shields made from garbage cans and umbrellas.

They have taken the brunt of the tear gas and gunshots from security forces, and dozens have paid for it with their lives.

The young men and women have become the voices for Colombians fed up with a government they say has mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic and crushed hopes of a better future.

To a large extent, we found that there was no fear of death. Sometimes it is the only thing that remains when the system is starving us and there are no opportunities, said Yonny Rojas, a 36-year-old law student who also runs soup kitchens in one of the poorest areas of Cali, the city where the government response has been especially violent.

The students didn't begin the demonstrations, which erupted on April 28 when unions called people into the streets after President Ivan Duque's government tried to raise taxes on public services, fuel, wages and pensions, effectively squeezing the middle class. That protest drew tens of thousands of people across the South American nation.

The administration withdrew the proposal four days later, but it was not enough to quell the discontent that had simmered during the pandemic. Anger grew with reports of police brutality, deaths and disappearances of protesters.

Despite more than a half century of nearly constant civil conflict between the government and leftist rebels, Colombia is among the wealthier nations in the region, with one of the highest levels of university education in Latin America.

But it is plagued by profound inequality and violence, by powerful drug trafficking organizations and paramilitary groups blamed for displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their lands, and by murders of social and labor activists at a scale unseen elsewhere in the hemisphere.

Hopes that a 2016 peace deal with the largest rebel group would lead to a flowering of opportunities had been frustrated even before the pandemic hit.

Duque tried to calm the protests by meeting with young demonstrators in Cali and Bogota, the capital, promising subsidies for low-income students at public universities. But students leaders rejected the offer, complaining it would not apply to all students and repeated a pledge that was only partly fulfilled following 2019 protests.

The protests continued this weekend.

Human rights groups, including the U.N.'s rights body, have accused government security forces  long accustomed to confronting suspected guerrillas and drug gangs  of excessive use of force against protesters.

The government said it has confirmed only 14 deaths directly tied to the protests, but Human Rights Watch said it has received credible reports of 48 deaths  most between the ages of 13 to 34.

The government accuses protesters of vandalizing properties, looting and setting up roadblocks that have caused food shortages, prevented vaccine deliveries and blocked ambulances. Officials have also accused the protesters of trying to burn alive 10 police officers in Bogota.

The Ministry of Defense has reported the arrests of nearly 700 people as well as the seizure of 520 firearms and 14,000 sharp weapons.

Paloma Valencia, a pro-Duque senator, equated the roadblocks to kidnappings of Colombian society with a social protest.

We understand that our constitutional obligation is also to protect those who participate in the protests, in the mobilizations, if they are peaceful, but it is also to combat the vandalism and the violence when it emerges, and avoid that they affect the rights of others, Defense Minister Diego Molano told reporters last week.

Young people were also heavily involved in protests in 2018 and 2019 against other proposed government reforms. But the anger has spread throughout the nation as people lost jobs, friends and relatives to a pandemic that has claimed at least 80,250 lives across the country. Many have given up hopes of being able to afford to return to colleges when they reopen.

Thousands of young people have taken the streets across Colombia because they feel they have no future. They see government institutions as distant entities that are not willing to listen to them, Jose Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch's director for the Americas, said in a statement. While some of them have engaged in violence, police officers have arbitrarily dispersed peaceful protests and responded with excessive, often brutal, force to violent protesters.

Colombia's security forces have spent decades fighting rebels  and have been often accused of cooperation with right-wing paramilitaries and of killing innocent civilians to boost rebel body counts.

Struggles to make Colombia more democratic and equitable are often met with murderous force, whether by government forces, particularly the police in 2021, and in 2019, or sometimes what they called paramilitary forces that are kind of loosely allied in shadowy ways with usually the armed forces, or the police or both, said Forrest Hylton, a professor of history and politics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Medellin. So anybody who stands up for their rights in Colombia is often risking his or her life."

The government also has alleged that rebel factions that rejected the 2016 peace deal, along with drug traffickers, have infiltrated the protests.

Its a continuation of a long history of state repression of popular protests, and stigmatizing protesters," said Lesley Gill, a Vanderbilt University professor focused on cultural anthropology, political violence and human rights.

The situation in Cali is so sad that today, unfortunately, young people in less favored communities are more likely to be linked to a criminal gang than to a cultural group, said Andres Felipe Gonzalez, a 29-year-old communications student and community leader in an impoverished neighborhood in Cali. Colombia is in a very precarious situation and in all social classes."

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
The face of a new Chile begins taking shape this weekend as the South American country elects 155 people to draft a constitution to replace one that has governed it since being imposed during a military dictatorship.

Nearly 80% of voters in a plebiscite last year chose to draft a new charter for the nation following a year of protests, though there is much less consistent agreement over what it should contain.

Activist groups have mobilized in hopes of enshrining equality for women, protections for the environment, for Indigenous people, for or against the right to abortion. Conservatives hope to maintain a dominant private sector and rules making it hard to pass major reforms in the legislature.

Their ability to get any strong clauses may be limited, though: Two-thirds agreement is required, so any bloc that can muster a third of the votes in the constitutional convention can block any clause.

The governing center-right coalition and other conservative parties are running a single slate in the two-day voting, while the left and center-left are divided.

The document that emerges from the wrangling will go to a public vote in mid-2022. If rejected, the current constitution will remain in force.

The makeup of the body reflects a wave of revulsion against the current political system that was obvious during unrest that spread across the nation in late 2019, with a grab-bag of protests against increased taxi fares, inadequate pensions and health care, poor schools and general inequality in one of Latin America's richest nations.

Members of Congress are barred from the convention, and by law, half of the body must consist of women  the first time any constitution has been drafted in conditions of gender parity, according to the United Nations.

"I don't believe in the current politicians. ...It's the hour for us, for all who have been fighting for a most just country, to be part of the change," said candidate Natalia Aravena, a 26-year-old nurse who lost an eye during the the recent wave of protests.

Seventeen seats are reserved for Indigenous peoples, who are not mentioned in the existing constitution.

The left, especially, has long detested Chile's current constitution, which was written and imposed under the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

That document, which created a strong presidency and guarantees protections for private property, has guided the nation through a period of overall prosperity but also of intense inequality. It also gives broad powers to security forces that civil libertarians see as excessive.

The old constitution was amended over the years, notably with the 2005 repeal of an article that had allowed appointed senators and senators for life in Congress.

The vote originally was scheduled for April but was delayed by an upsurge of COVID-19 cases. Overall, Chile has been among the countries most successful at vaccinating its population, with nearly 60% of Chileans getting at least one dose, though most of the country's districts remain under some sort of pandemic restrictions.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Protesters demonstrate in Hpakant in Myanmar's northern Kachin state in support of Mindat, a town in Chin state where a civilian defense force has clashed with the military, May 16, 2021.

Junta troops pounded a town in the mountains of western Myanmar's Chin state with heavy artillery and helicopter gunships on Sunday, killing at last five civilians in a campaign to subdue a local ethnic militia that had resisted the army with crude hunting guns, a local rights group and a media outlet said.

The weekend siege of Mindat, where the military regime had declared martial law Thursday, produced accounts of the possible commission of war crimes by army troops, the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said, including reports that junta soldiers were shooting civilians on sight and using them as human shields.

At least five civilians reported dead and ten injured, and houses and properties destroyed under heavy bombings from air and ground assaults as junta army lay siege on the town of Mindat, the CHRO said in a Facebook post Sunday.

The Chinland Defense Force-Mindat said they made a tactical retreat in order to save civilian lives from indiscriminate attacks on the town by junta troops using heavy artillery and helicopter gunships, the group said, referring to local militia formed last month to defend the town.

Possible commission of war crimes may have occurred as there appears to be evidence of grave breaches of the Geneva Convention in the battle for control of Mindat town, said the CHRO.

The Irrawaddy, an independent on-line news outlet, reported that junta troops backed by artillery and helicopters raided Mindat, a town of 20,000 people on Saturday, following several days of fighting after a ceasefire broke down on Wednesday.

The report quoted residents as saying eight Chinland resistance fighters were killed and approximately 20 were injured in shootouts in Mindat with the security forces, according to residents.

Junta troops also used 18 detained civilians as human shields while entering the town, according to residents, the Irrawaddy reported.

Troops are now deployed across the town and are opening fire on anyone on the streets, it added in a report Sunday. RFA was unable to immediately confirm the account.

Militia members attend a training led by Karen National Union (KNU), in Karen State, Myanmar April 9, 2021 in this still image obtained by Reuters from a video, April 26, 2021.

Respect and condolences

In a Facebook post Sunday, the Chinland Defense Force (CDF) voiced respect and condolences to the families of members Mang Kee Thang, Hung Awm Hung, Kee Tam, Thang Phep, Ha Khui Shing, and Khui Shing Ning, who had donated (their) life while fighting for the public.

Counting the six dead Chin fighters, the Thailand-based rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said that as of Sunday, at least 796 people have been killed by the junta, and 3998 are in detention.

The attacks on civilians drew criticism from the U.S. embassy in Yangon and by rights groups.

The militarys use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a further demonstration of the depths the regime will sink to to hold onto power. We call on the military to cease violence against civilians, the embassy said in its Twitter account Sunday.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the siege of Mindat and reported abuses of local residents there comports with the Myanmar armys long record of wantonly disregarding human rights and failing to protect civilians in its operations.

Thursdays martial law declaration set the stage for the junta "to act with impunity against the people of the town, including indiscriminate attacks, disproportionate use of force, and mass roundups of suspected activists, including any men and boys who remain in the town, he said in a statement Sunday.

Chin, a poor and mountainous state on Myanmars western border with Bangladesh and India, is home to about a half million mostly Christian citizens.

Mindat and the eight other townships in Chin state were among the first areas in Myanmar to form local militias to resist the juntas security forces in response to violent crackdowns on protests against the militarys seizure of power from Aung San Suu Kyis democratically elected government on Feb. 1. Scores of other militias have been formed, with some receiving training from ethnic rebel armies in border areas.

Recruits for a new force formed by protesters against Myanmar's military junta receive classroom instruction in ways to fight at a training camp in an area held by an ethnic armed group in Karen State, Myanmar April 9, 2021. Credit: Reuters

We all have guns

The CDF was formed on April 4, but Chin fighters had already started attacking junta forces after the March 23 arrest of anti-coup protesters when troops did not release them at a time demanded by the Chin group.

When the deadline passed, we went to their camps and attacked them with reinforcements from Matupi, a member of the CDF told RFA Friday.

Every Chin man has used guns to hunt since a young age and we are all familiar with firearms. We all have guns in our houses, said the fighter, who requested anonymity to speak freely.

A total of 40 soldiers were killed, 30 in Mindat and 10 in Hakha, the Chin state capital, he added.

In Chins neighboring Sagaing region, the city of Kalay, where more than half the population is ethnic Chin, a resistance movement called the Kalay Region Defense Association (KRDA) sprung up after the military used heavy artillery to smash barricades disperse peaceful protests in early April.

The youth broke into small armed groups. Some groups were not strong enough to fight against the military, but now we have merged into a large organization, and we have more manpower as well as better tactics, a KRDA member told RFA Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

He said that the youths had no experience or weapons, but were galvanized into action by the juntas brutality. The KRDA claims to have killed nine junta soldiers in April.

We are armed with only hunting rifles and air guns. We dont have proper weapons, and only six out of 10 have any weapons at all, the KRDA member said. We only have the strength of our morals to rely on.

Air rifles and slingshots

South of Kalay in Sagaings Kani township, the Kani Peoples Defense Force (KPDF) sprung up after the attempted arrest of a Buddhist abbot had driven villagers into active revolt against the military, said a militia member, who claimed the group now has 7,000 members..

Some of us had air rifles and others had slingshots, but I only had a knife in my hand, he told RFA

They had only about 60 troops that day, and when the two sides met, there were about a thousand of us. But our air rifles are no good. After firing a shot, it takes another three minutes to shoot the next, he said.

While our side was reloading, those armed with slingshots fired upon the enemy continuously. About 40 soldiers were killed that day, added the KPDF fighter.

The National Unity Government (NUG), launched in mid-April by lawmakers ousted in the coup, formed a nascent national army called the Peoples Defense Force (PDF) on May 5 with the goal of uniting the various local militias and forming alliances with well-armed ethnic rebel groups who have been fighting against the military for years.

The real work for the NUG will be to bring everyone together. The groups in Chin state are very active now and their cooperation has been exemplary, said Myanmar political analyst Than Soe Naing.

They need to organize and help the scattered groups in the various townships and give them necessary guidance. Otherwise, the military will use a bigger force to crush the small individual resistance groups," he said.

Possibly complicating the effort, the military junta has designated the Chinland militia, the NUG and the PDF as terrorist groups.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Paul Eckert and Eugene Whong.
Since it was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has channeled hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign infrastructure, boosting trade, and clearing the way for China to forge political and economic links around the world.

The massive undertaking -- which Xi dubbed the project of the century -- has become a pillar of Chinese foreign policy and a strategic tool for Beijing as it has deepened its partnerships and boosted its influence in the process.

The BRI has since been supported by international organizations and more than 150 countries -- including many in the West -- as it has expanded in scope from ports, pipelines, and roads to include digital technology, health care, and green energy.

But a combination of growing disillusionment among partner countries with the resulting projects, room for more investment, and increased unease about the strategic implications of the BRI might have opened the door for an alternative to emerge.

Ahead of Junes Group of Seven (G7) summit in the United Kingdom, U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson setting up a Western-led infrastructure plan that would rival Chinas flagship BRI.

There is a real opportunity right now. The sheer global need for investment in infrastructure far exceeds the ability of any country to meet it, Jonathan Hillman, the director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told RFE/RL. Even the most exaggerated estimates of BRI will not meet the worlds needs.

China will feature prominently on the agenda of the June 11-13 summit, which will bring together the traditional group of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States, plus representatives from Australia, India, and South Korea.

Forming an alternative to the BRI may come into sharper focus as Biden presses ahead with plans to establish an alliance of democracies to counterbalance Chinas growing influence.

Biden said in March that he would prevent China from passing the United States to become the "most powerful country in the world," and his administration has outlined plans to boost collaboration with its allies.

The European Union and India already inked a connectivity partnership on May 8 that aims to increase cooperation on digital and hard infrastructure, with an emphasis on strengthening regulatory standards on emerging technologies.

Hillman said the timing is right for advanced economies to offer alternatives to the BRI that can focus on providing more transparency for higher-quality projects across the developing world.

With their combined resources and a growing convergence among allies on how to approach development, especially Brussels and Washington, Western infrastructure plans could receive a boost that theyve recently lacked.

The United States is now much more aligned with its European partners when it comes to environmental issues, and that creates more opportunity for collaboration, said Hillman. There is a heft and confidence behind these talks that wasnt there before.

A Window Of Opportunity

The current push comes as the developing world struggles with the economic pressures brought by the pandemic and as the BRI brand has been tarnished by controversy.

The World Bank has said that COVID-19 will plunge the world economy into the worst recession since World War II and the worlds infrastructure needs -- estimated at $94 trillion over the next two decades -- are still unmet.

The BRI has also been undercut in recent years with questions regarding the commercial value of many of its projects, growing debt worries over murky lending practices, and concerns over the initiative being a vehicle for Chinese control.

Montenegro asked the European Union in April for help repaying a $1 billion Chinese loan for an ongoing highway project in that small Balkan country.

Debt and transparency concerns also surfaced in May as Hungary announced a $1.5 billion loan to build a Chinese university. This followed a controversial move by the government in April 2020 to keep all details classified around $1.9 billion borrowed from China for a railway project connecting Budapest to Belgrade.

Wider aspersions have been cast on the terms of deals for BRI projects, which a recent study of 100 Chinese contracts by the Center for Global Development found contained uniquely restrictive secrecy requirements and clauses that could allow Chinese entities to influence the policies of debtor countries.

WATCH: Plans For Chinese University In Hungary Prompt Concerns Over Influence

The shine is now gone from the [BRI], Theresa Fallon, the director of the Center for Russia Europe Asia Studies in Brussels, told RFE/RL. Positions towards China have been hardening and this is a chance for Europe to start thinking more strategically in their own neighborhood and beyond.

The terms of what a Western alternative could look like are still being discussed but will likely seek to build off past agreements and rely on a mix of public and private funds.

The European Union launched a connectivity plan in 2018 and signed a deal with Japan in 2019 in what former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a sustainable, rules-based connectivity from the Indo-Pacific to the Western Balkans and Africa.

The United States also passed the Build Act in 2018, which is intended to boost investment from the private sector in the developing world, and also launched the Blue Dot Network with Japan and Australia in 2019 as a way to uphold standards for infrastructure projects.

None of the initiatives, however, has yielded much in terms of concrete results, raising concerns that the West is unable to offer a true alternative to the state-backed economic vision put forward by Xi.

According to Fallon, Western nations should not be focusing on matching Beijing in terms of the volume of financing, but should instead be looking to use an infrastructure push to help spread higher standards for executing projects and integrating more transparency into contract negotiations.

Simply being present on the ground already increases the leverage on China by making them have to improve what they offer and be more transparent in order to compete, said Fallon.

A Patchwork Of Projects

While efforts to come up with alternatives to the BRI are gaining steam, they also face growing obstacles.

Western countries currently lack a centralized point to coordinate infrastructure partnerships. This makes it unlikely that one unified initiative to rival the BRI will materialize. Instead, analysts say, any future Western initiatives are likely to remain a mix of separate but coordinated projects between various players like the United States, the European Union, Japan, and India.

Political interest around this is moving, but actually pulling an alternative together and showing what it looks like is not developed yet, Andrew Small, a fellow with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told RFE/RL. Its been hard enough for each countrys system to do this on their own, let alone to get them all to cooperate and coordinate together.

Another potential obstacle is funding. While public institutions from G7 nations can step in to provide funding, a large amount of financing would need to come from the private sector, which is traditionally hesitant to get involved in large-scale infrastructure projects.

Moreover, many players are also cautious about setting up initiatives that would be seen as direct rivals to BRI or anything that could be seen as an anti-China alliance.

Rather, said Daniel Markey, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a former State Department official, any future alternative should be looking to make partnerships based on shared standards and norms.

The growth of Chinas domestic tech companies through the BRI has allowed them to take up a dominant position across the world and with that allow Beijing to set the standards for many next-generation technologies. Markey said that any alternative initiative should look to focus on crucial sectors instead of simply investing broadly in infrastructure.

Rather than crafting a direct response to BRI, Washington's approach should play to the strengths of the United States and its allies rather than attempting to beat China at its own games or on its home turf, he said.
A top Iranian commander has expressed support for the Palestinian Hamas movement in fighting that erupted this week in Gaza against Israel.

The commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IGRC), General Esmail Qaani, assured Hamas of his full support on May 15, Iranian state media reported.

Qaani made the comments in a telephone conversation with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who thanked Iran for its support. According to Irans Al-Alam television channel, he also said the fight against Israel was not just Hamas's but that of the entire Islamic world.

The Islamist Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, and other countries, has fired thousands of rockets at Israel in a new flare-up of violence that on May 16 entered its seventh day.

The Israeli military has pummeled Gaza with air strikes and on May 15 destroyed a building housing news media.

The number of people killed in Gaza since May 10 has climbed to 145, including 41 children, according to the Palestinians. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

Earlier on May 15, the Iranian foreign minister canceled a visit to Austria after the government hoisted the Israeli flag on its buildings.

The main topic of the meeting would have been negotiations that have been taking place in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers.

Iran, which considers Israel its archenemy, supports anti-Israel resistance groups, including Hamas in Gaza and Hizballah in southern Lebanon.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on May 11 urged all nations to condemn Israels brutal and cruel crime and said Palestinians need to be empowered in order to force Israel to accept their rights.

Based on reporting by dpa and AP
Alyaksandr Lukashenka will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month as the Belarusian strongman faces growing isolation from the West over his crackdown on peaceful protesters.

The visit is scheduled for the end of May, Kommersant reported, and will be Lukashenkas third trip to Russia this year. The two leaders will discuss their closer integration, among other issues, the paper reported.

Putin has been pushing Lukashenka in recent years to take steps toward the integration of their economies in order to cement a 20-year-old agreement to form a union state.

Lukashenka has rebuffed the pressure, but unprecedented street protests over last year's presidential election and subsequent Western sanctions have weakened his negotiating position with Putin.

Crisis In Belarus Read our coverage as Belarusians continue to demand the resignation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka amid a brutal crackdown on protesters. The West refuses to recognize him as the country's legitimate leader after an August 9 election considered fraudulent.

Lukashenka is seeking lower energy prices from Russia before moving ahead with integration, while Putin wants integration first before cutting prices for Belarus, Kommersant reported.

Belaruss economy is heavily dependent on below-market Russian energy to fuel its outdated manufacturing sector.

The Kremlin has outlined plans to gradually raise energy prices for its smaller neighbor, potentially squeezing the nations finances at a time when it has few alternatives to Russia.

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials and companies in response to Lukashenkas violent crackdown on protesters in the wake of the August 2020 presidential election, hampering the countrys ability to raise money in the West.

According to a presidential decree published on May 15, Belarus will sell bonds inside Russia with the aim to raise up to 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion) over the next two years.

Russian state-owned banks are the largest buyers of ruble bonds.

The money raised from the bond sale will be used to refinance the nations foreign debt, which stood at $18.3 billion as of February 1, much of which is held by Russia.

With reporting by VTimes and Kommersant
Since Shavkat Mirziyoev took over as Uzbekistans leader in September 2016, the Uzbek government has been saying the country is no longer the repressive state that first President Islam Karimov ruled over for 25 years.

Uzbek authorities say reforms are under way and there is a new respect in the country for basic rights and freedoms.

But in May, Uzbekistans judicial system seemed to return to practices not seen since Karimov was alive.

One blogger was imprisoned for 6 1/2 years for reporting about local corruption. At roughly the same time, all but one of the individuals whose incompetence and corruption led to Uzbekistans Sardoba dam bursting in May 2020, causing the evacuation of more than 100,000 people in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, widespread property damage, and the death of at least six people, were given prison sentences of five years or less.

Another blogger who voiced support for the LGBT community -- and was beaten outside his apartment for doing just that -- is facing charges. And an opposition party leader, who is trying to get his party registered and run in the presidential election later this year, is facing charges of slander from a group of people who reportedly tried to start a fight with him.

On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir hosts a discussion on the recent investigations and court decisions that seem to go against the people who displease the Uzbek authorities.

This week's guests are: from Kazakhstan, Mihra Rittmann, the Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch; from Germany, Umida Niyazova, the director of the Uzbek Forum For Human Rights; from Prague, Alisher Sidikov, director of RFE/RLs Uzbek Service, known locally as Ozodlik; and Bruce Pannier, the author of RFE/RL's Qishloq Ovozi blog.

Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.
Pyotr Zuyev, a diabetic pensioner from Kaliningrad, knows the dangers the elderly face by actively participating in Russias pro-democracy protest movement.

On May 9, Zuyev marked his 75th birthday in the infectious-diseases ward of a hospital in the Baltic coast city while serving a 15-day administrative-custody term for participating in a protest the previous month. He had tested positive for COVID-19 while in jail.

I have been charged under that statute several times already, Zuyev told RFE/RL. I guess it will be with me for the rest of my days.

Generally speaking, the elderly have been the staunchest supporters of authoritarian President Vladimir Putin. According to a Levada Center poll published on May 13, more than half of Russians aged over 55 view the countrys pro-democracy protesters negatively, compared with just 21 percent in the 18-24 age range and 31 percent in the 25-39 cohort. Another Levada poll found that 60 percent of those above 55 felt the April court decision to send opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to prison for 2 1/2 years was just.

And a 2018 Levada survey found that 89 percent of those over age 55 get their news primarily from state-controlled television, compared to 49 percent for the 18-24 cohort.

There have been exceptions to this pattern, however, when particular issues have struck at the interests of retirees. In 2005, pensioners led a massive wave of national protests against a controversial reform to their social benefits. Putins government was rocked by scenes of old people banging pots and shouting for revolution.

In 2018, some elderly Russians joined in with protests against the governments move to raise retirement ages that were organized by the fairly geriatric Communist Party of Russia, again marching under slogans calling for Putin himself to retire.

But the overall pro-democracy movement in Russia and the struggle for basic civil liberties has gained little sympathy among the elderly. There have been a few high-profile exceptions, such as in December 2009, when Moscow riot police manhandled then-82-year-old dissident Lyudmila Alekseyeva at a protest demanding the right to peaceful assembly and photographs of the incident shocked the world.

'Putin Is A Thief!'

Kaliningrads Zuyev, a retired choirmaster, is a clear exception who has become something of a celebrity in the port city. For years now, he has been a regular fixture at democracy demonstrations and pickets. He has come out in support of those considered political prisoners, and he joined local protests in support of neonatologist Elina Shushkevich, who was accused of deliberately killing a premature baby in 2018 and was acquitted in December 2020.

He was detained at a June 2019 pro-Shushkevich demonstration, where he carried a poster reading: The whole system needs to be replaced and Navalny is the contractor. He was later fined 150,000 rubles ($2,025). In February, he was fined another 180,000 rubles for attending a January 31 demonstration supporting Navalny, who had been arrested in Moscow upon his return from Germany following treatment for a nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives acting at Putins behest.

Court officials began garnishing half of Zuyevs 15,000-ruble ($200) monthly pension. Although Zuyev crowdsourced enough funds to pay off his own fines and contribute more than 200,000 rubles to pay those of other activists, he continues to pay off his debt monthly from his pension.

They will be taking the money until I die, he said. My wife and I decided not to pay the whole amount. If I pay it and then appear at another demonstration, theyll just fine me again. It will be endless. But this way, years will pass, and everyone will see how the state is taking away the pension of an 80-year-old man.

In his latest brush with the law, Zuyev was pulled out of the crowd at a demonstration on April 21 calling for Navalny to be examined by his own doctors while in prison. He told RFE/RL that a plainclothes security agent approached him, addressed him by name, and took him to an awaiting police van.

They already had a list of whom to detain, Zuyev said.

The police report filed against him noted: Zuyev was shouting: Putin is a thief!

So what? Zuyev said. I wasnt disturbing the public or swearing. If there were 250 marchers, as police said there were, then why was I the one who was arrested? In the end, it turns out that Putin is a thief but I go to jail.

A Cellmate Recruited

He and four other activists from the demonstration began serving their 15-day sentences on April 26. Within a day, Zuyev became ill, his blood sugar soaring and a fever raging. Initially, a doctor examined him, gave him some aspirin, and sent him back to jail.

The goal of the jailers is to break people morally, Zuyev said. The whole atmosphere aims at that. Psychologically, it is very hard.

Nonetheless, while in custody he spent his time trying to convert a cellmate who was serving time for public drunkenness.

I totally recruited him, Zuyev said with a laugh. Now our families have become friends. He called me and told me hed go to the next demonstration with me.

And he promised hed never vote for United Russia again, Zuyev added, referring to the ruling political party that is Putins tool for maintaining a monopoly of power at all levels of government.

In Television's Grip

Zuyevs jail stretch ended on May 11, but he remained in the hospital for several more days until a second COVID test came back negative. He believes the first test was a false positive and is thankful the outcome wasnt much worse.

He said that most of his friends who are his age dont sympathize with his politics.

There are some who are against Putin, he said, but most dont have the health or the recklessness that it takes. Television has a firm grip on their lives, and hardly any use the Internet. And that makes a huge difference. The people have been deceived. Every word on television is a lie.

But I am not afraid for myself, he added. I live by the principle: Do what you must and come what may. And my family supports me.

Anna Volodina is an 85-year-old retiree in the northwestern city of Pskov with a story similar to Zuyevs. She has been protesting actively in recent years, saying I dont have anything to be afraid of anymore. She has been a member of the liberal Yabloko party for a decade.

She bristles at the suggestion that Putin is irreplaceable and lists as possible successors Navalny, former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, and Pskovs own liberal regional lawmaker Lev Shlosberg.

After I moved here, I met Lev Shlosberg by chance, she told RFE/RL. Amid all the hatred and lies, it was like a breath of fresh air. He is a man of the future. Pskov should be very proud of him, but he is practically unknown. And many of those who have heard of him, slander him.

Volodina also said most people her age disagree with her, a fact she attributes without hesitation to state-controlled television.

I know a lot of people, she said. And no one thinks like I do. I havent fallen out with them, but I dont like being in touch with them. Some of them have taken offense and think Im crazy. They all think Putin is the greatest president.

Sometimes I look at state televisionto see what the people are seeing, she added. Sometimes it just makes me want to smash my set.

Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Robert Coalson based on reporting from Russia by correspondent Yulia Paramonova of the North.Realities desk of RFE/RLs Russian Service
The grim sin of the Easter Sunday attacks and a states failure View(s):

The outgoing Attorney Generals pronouncement this week that charges and indictments against conspirators and abettors of the 2019 Easter Sunday jihadist attacks on churches and hotels could not be presented during his tenure of office due to incomplete investigations by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) is an indictment on Sri Lankas entire justice system.

A predictable result

Of course, that result was predictable, inevitable even. For what other end could possibly ensue when the CID itself is decapitated, its skilled investigators either in jail or in hiding overseas and the criminal investigation machinery, fundamentally compromised? This is despite roaring in Parliament by the Government that, justice will be done to victims and a few high profile arrests of extremists carried out in response to threats by the Roman Catholic Church and its (selectively) vocal Cardinal.

Such shadow games are somewhat akin to, I might say, the United States bombing Iraq, as famously declared by its generals, back to the Middle Ages under the false pretence of locating weapons of mass destruction in the wake of attacks on New York while Islamist jihadism continued to be globally funded and propagated by ruling echelons in the power structures of American allies, including Saudi Arabia. The rest is, of course history, leading to the great destabilisation of that region and several holy wars which erupted in hideous manifestations in consequence of that capricious misadventure.

Fast forward decades later to Sri Lanka and we see transparent shadow games in failing to carry out actual investigations in regard to one of the greatest atrocities committed on our nations soil while all the time, protesting that the perpetrators will be punished. Let it be said that this too, will have consequences, sooner or later as the case may be. From extraordinary revelations by opposition members of parliament on alleged complicity by state agents in the attacks made in the House under the cover of parliamentary privilege to the Public Security Ministers repeated warnings in regard to continuing threats of religious extremists, this is a State that has failed hundreds of innocents.

Tactic to whip up religious hysteria

Rather, this atrocity will be used to whip up religious hysteria against the Muslim minority whenever that is needed for political purposes. And in what is the final insult to horrendous injury, a Commission of Inquiry report raised more questions on many aspects of these attacks, including pinpointing the mastermind of the attacks. The Commission report essentially reproduced what was common knowledge though some of its recommendations including the taking of stringent action against religious extremist groups, Buddhist and Muslim alike, are salutary.

Yet, this again is not something that a Commission needs to emphasise. It is the ordinary criminal law that should be worked in this regard, not for the law to be used selectively to imprison critics and poets for subversive writings which has been the case. Essentially if investigators had done their job properly and if the Commission report had resulted in concrete findings against responsible individuals, the 2008 amendment to the Commissions of Inquiry Act, No 17 of 1948 may have been utilised to bring the full weight of the criminal law to bear on those responsible. That amendment conferred upon the Attorney General, the power to institute criminal proceedings in a court of law in respect of any offence based on material collected in the course of an investigation or inquiry, as the case may be, by a Commission of Inquiry appointed under the Act.

The amendment was the result of long advocacy by civil rights practitioners who pointed to the importance of reforming the Commission of Inquiry process. However, rather embarking on indepth reform and revision of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, this amendment was brought as a patchwork gesture. It was predicted in these column spaces at the time that, absent an overhaul of the entire process including Commissioners being appointed at the whim and pleasure of the political command, the amendment would have little effect by itself. The decade since then has proved that gloomy prediction correct.

Commissions of Inquiry have not fulfilled their purposes

Indeed, whether it is the Central Bank bond scam or the 2019 Easter Sunday investigations, each time a Commission of Inquiry sits, gigantic dust is thrown in the eyes of the public. These have had little impact on institutions of justice except when a Commission established to investigate political victimisations of public officers recommended the cessation of trials and the setting aside of convictions entered into by courts of law. That will remain the grandest irony that Act, No 17 of 1948 has seen fit to inflict upon the Sri Lankan legal system. Yet that reality remained to be grasped even as Commission upon Commission entertained the masses, as much as the satirist Juvenal mocked the Roman people for their fascination with bread and circuses.

Our modern version of these circuses had acrobats, clowns and jugglers aplenty certainly. Even so, that insistence to close ones mind to critical thinking is pervasive. In a curious paradox, this afflicts more the (presumably) educated in regard to which educationists and sociologists may perhaps enlighten us. In 2015, when the country was swept by a fervent desire to see the end of one-family rule, the Government that came into power perpetuated the Central Bank bond scam not once but twice. As we may remind ourselves, this was enabled not only by the colossal arrogance of the United National Party leadership but also by Colombos educated. What scam? questioned some, it was just a passing conflict of interest with the Governor of the Central Bank and his son-in-law, they said.

Here too, a Commission of Inquiry entertained the public but to what ultimate effect? Indeed, these are failures of governance that pervade the full spectrum of the Sri Lankan State, from investigating Easter Sunday attacks to competently handling the covid-19 pandemic. Today, those helming the public health sector stammer and stutter as the virus erupts in a full blown third wave in the country. Unlike when countries with just five or six cases insisted on the strictest precautions, what we had was the contrary. Medical talking heads at the Epidemiology Unit, the Director General of Health Services and his deputies kept on insisting that there was no community spread.

Failures of accountability from one end to the other

Ridiculously, every case was traced to the Brandix/Minuwangoda cluster. With no overall guidance by the Government in early April despite warnings by Public Health Inspectors (PHIs), people threw caution to the winds. Now we have the Avurudu cluster with a steady daily increase in infections and deaths. Who should be held responsible? A far stricter burden of care rests on the Government to put into place safety precautions in time. And rarely do trade unions in the medical sector agree but it seems that all, including the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) are at one on the failure of the Epidemiology Unit to share timely and crucial data.

In fact, the humble Public Health Inspectors Association (PHIA), though treated cavalierly by the Ministry of Health, has been the more reliable if not independent voice among the rest eagerly genuflecting to the political command. In sum, whether it be deaths by jihadists, terrorists, state agents or brought about by a global pandemic, these need accountability and genuine corrective action. If not, more deaths are inevitable. That is the tragically common denominator across all these contexts.

We have yet to learn this, to our grim cost.
If youve been to Butler on a busy daysay during the summer Community Festyou know that the small town can fill up pretty fast and it doesnt take long before its overflowing. Thats how it was in the early spring of 1906the hotels were crammed full and more folks were arriving on every train.

They were coming from all over the country in business suits, but they had on heavy boots as well, for pacing off acreage through the mud. Men from New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburgh all showed up to elbow their way into the good graces of Worthington Township landowners, and try to cash in on the action.

Because that was the year that Butler got on the map and into the headlines when they struck it rich at an obscure oil well that came in a gusher.

The famous well was known in the news columns as Mengert#1 because it rose in the lowlands of the Mengert Farm. The derrick stood 80 feet tall and when the drill hit the right layer of prehistoric swamp underground the oil literally shot 100 feet in the air.

Within four days of the first headlines there were 62 leases signed and filed in the County Courthouse for farms in the nearby hills and hollows. Representatives of Standard Oil were quickly on site negotiating with farmers about big bucks, and as the landlady said when the boiler exploded: roomers was flying.

The Festivities

In 1906 there were 800 people living in Butler and for months none of them could get much done because the town was so crazy. They lined up along Union Street to watch the pipeline laid that came down the hill from the oil fields to the B&O depot, and it was a townwide party the first time oil flowed through the pipe into a trains tanker cars.

The big well started out at 250 barrels a day, and 26 tanker cars rolled out of town heading west to refineries. After the initial big burst Mengert#1 evened off at 75-100 barrels a day, but then in March Remy#1 hit just a few hundred yards down the hollow from Mengerts.

Up and down the B&O tracks folks were speculating that the whole Clear Fork Valley was sitting on top of a great primeval pool of liquid assets, and Richland County was about to live up to its name.

The Jackpot

An oil strike is often referred to as black gold, and thats why this Butler strike was so amazing and notable to oilmen all over the US: because the oil coming out of southern Richland was not black at all and appeared almost clearas if it had already been refined by time and kindly mother nature.

Reporters from Cincinnati and Pittsburgh wrote, This oil is the highest grade product known in the world and commands $1.70 a barrel. It is so nearly devoid of color that one can stand on the top of a 250-barrel tank and, looking down, can see the bottom of the tank.

Well well.

It was like one of those intoxicating summer thunderstorms we get hereit starts with no warning, goes crazy for a while with a big fuss and wild to-do, and then just as quickly its over and the sun shines again.

When some investors from Pittsburgh arrived in Butler only 18 days after the first oil strike, intending to lease land, they found every piece of propertyfarm and fen, hilltop or pigpenalready under contract for more than 5 miles to the east and west.

In the ensuing months there were more than 10 wells pounded in the Butler area and that many more in the county as far north as Shiloh. All but 2 of them failed.

Marion McClellan did hit natural gas on his farm, and pipelines from the Butler Oil & Gas Company distributed his good fortune to Bellville and Butler to fuel their stoves and keep the lights burning for a while.

But Mengert#1 closed in November of 1906 and the Butler storm passed quietly into the pages of history.
This story is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. Click here to read the original story.

Food banks and other distributors are coming up with creative answers to the problem of reaching the food-insecure in rural areas.

Solutions have ranged from using the U.S. mail in Montana, to employing tractor-trailers to resupply dozens of local agencies in Tennessee, to morphing ad-hoc firewood deliveries into a full-fledged food and supply distribution in the most remote area of the Navajo Nation.

Hunger is a persistent feature in rural America, and the pandemic has only made problems there worse. The Food Research & Action Center estimates that 8% to 18% of households experienced food insecurity between 2014 and 2016 in states where at least one-third of the population is rural.

In that same period, rural areas faced significantly higher food insecurity than metropolitan areas, at 15% (rural) versus 11.8% (metro), according to FRAC. Rural areas also had higher poverty, with those areas registering 15.8%, versus 12.2% below the poverty line in metros.

The Montana Food Bank Network has been mailing food to distant recipients since 2015, said Eric Luongo.

One way to cope with rural food insecurity is pretty straightforward  mail the food.

The Montana Food Bank Network started using UPS to send boxes of food to some of its most distant recipients in 2015, according to Eric Luongo, Agency Resource Coordinator. Boxes mailed on a Friday usually get to remote addresses early the next week, he said.

The food is all non-perishable, Luongo said, as UPS trucks are not refrigerated, and includes items such as canned goods, powdered milk, oatmeal and pasta. It is intended as a monthly supplement, mainly to the elderly.

I mostly do direct mail. Theyve been pretty reliable, Luongo said of the UPS service he uses for 20 to 25 people once a month (occasionally at different intervals). He prints mailing labels and adds some relevant reading material to the boxes, like senior nutrition facts or recipes.

Its a pretty expensive thing to do, he said. Mailing a 30-pound box by UPS ground can cost $25 to $30. He includes a stamped, self-addressed envelope with a form that recipients fill out and return to get a box again the next month.

MFBN, based in western Montana, also ships pallets of food to nine drop sites in eastern Montana, a drive that can take seven hours or more in that very long state. Part of its outreach is to American Indian reservations, and it hopes to add more Native homelands, Luongo said.

Second Harvest of East Tennessee has a rural route for each of the 18 counties it serves, said Elaine Streno.

In Tennessee, Second Harvest of East Tennessee has started a program it calls Rural Routes, using tractor-trailers to navigate mountainous roads to deliver food to remote agency partners.

There is a rural route for each of the 18 counties the food bank serves within its 6,600 square mile territory, which can include drives of 300 miles one way to serve dozens of food pantries. The food bank just bought two new trucks, equipped to easily move around on mountain roads, said Executive Director Elaine Streno.

Pre-Covid, deliveries were sent four or five times a month. Now, they are going out two or three times a week, with volunteers putting boxes of food into the trunks of peoples cars.

Pre-Covid, our partners would pay for the rural route truck to go to their agency or pantry, Streno said. Since Covid, weve been paying for it ourselves in some areas that have been hit very hard.

She estimated the deliveries benefit 300 to 400 families, including people of all ages. Due to the opioid crisis, a lot of grandparents are bringing up their grandchildren in Eastern Tennessee, she noted.

In a remote part of an already-remote reservation, a firewood delivery route has morphed into a robust effort to get food to residents both through personal deliveries and drive throughs.

Utah Navajo Covid Relief Coordinator Sahar Khadjenoury III, a Navajo tribal member, recalled the modest beginnings of the program, run through the Utah Navajo Health Services (UNHS). As Covid cases started to emerge in the tribe, she and a co-worker sought ways to keep people out of public settings.

They decided to start a modest friends and family effort to bring food to the same elders and shut-ins for whom they chopped and delivered firewood during wintertime. This part of Utah is a food desert. It takes us an hour to drive to the nearest grocery store, Khadjenoury said.

The Utah reaches of the Navajo Nation are the northernmost areas of the giant reservation, which is the size of West Virginia and stretches through Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. The Utah part of the Navajo is so spread out, it can take all day to make eight deliveries, Khadjenoury said.

Friends and family organized food drives and U-Hauls to bring food back to their part of Utah to assemble food care packages. With a modest weekly budget from UNHS, the project expanded to include several drive throughs by the end of March.

The relief effort now includes drive throughs, home deliveries to those sickened by the pandemic, and help for families and those with compromised auto immune systems. At its peak, the effort aided more than 3,000 families in Utah and neighboring Colorado and New Mexico, she said.

Khadjenoury has made the relief effort a second full-time job in addition to her position as youth behavioral specialist. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication by all involved, she said. Were building muscles in places where we didnt know we could build muscles.
MANSFIELD -- St. Matthew Lutheran Church was left to crumble, but two former parishioners were determined to save it.

Carolyn Dollish and her son, James, attended St. Matthew in the 1970s. When the building went up for sale early last year, Carolyn offered $10,000 for it. To her surprise, the sellers accepted her offer.

I didnt think it should just go to anybody, she said.

Since then, the Dollishes have worked almost non-stop to preserve the building. They plan to turn it into a community art center where residents can take budget friendly art classes. They also want to open up the building for weddings, funerals and other events.

The building has sat empty and abandoned for five years, so they began the restoration by addressing flooding issues and mold. Next, they sanitized and cleaned the building, mended stuck and broken windows, reconditioned the hardwoods and redid some of the floors.

Many tasks -- like fixing the roof, repairing holes in the plaster and switching to LED lighting -- are a work in progress.

Thats about one years worth of work, James Dollish said. It doesnt sound like a lot, but it is. Were trying to make sure everything's done to code. We want to do it correctly.

In the future, the family hopes to get the organ re-tuned and tackle the overgrowth of weeds in the parking lot.

Although St. Matthews holds great sentimental value for the Dollishes, its also a matter of preserving an architectural gem. According to James, the historic church building is home to the largest dome in Mansfield. It also has about 20 stained glass windows that were made in Italy and shipped across the Atlantic.

Things like this tend to get neglected and torn down, James said. Mansfield has so much rich history just in the buildings and the architecture that I think we would have been losing something very special.

The Dollishes hope their project will breathe some new life into the historic Sherman Estates neighborhood where James grew up.

Im tired of Mansfield getting poked around and being called a horrible place to live because it's not," James said. "Its truly a wonderful town, it's just been neglected. Someones got to stand up and start helping out.

The budding art center held its first art show last Saturday and Sunday. Art Under the Dome featured work from 30 local artists.

Everybodys so ready to get back, said Clare Boggs, the organizer and one of thirty participating artists. I think art is closely linked to mental health. Its expression. Its process. its release. And people have made some incredible stuff over the time that we havent been able to do anything.

Boggs intended to have the inaugural Art Under the Dome event last year, but the event had to be canceled due to the pandemic. She also coordinates the Artist of the Month rotation at The Happy Grape.

Boggs said she hopes to make Art Under the Dome an annual event.

The community has been really welcoming to me, said Boggs, who immigrated to the United States from England in 2011. I've lived in quite a lot of cities and this community here is incredibly creative and talented.

"I want to do what I can to help and encourage that.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published at the Mansfield City School's website.

MANSFIELD -- This week's Mansfield Senior Alumni Spotlight falls on Class of 2016 graduate Caitlynne McLaughlin.

Take every opportunity thats given to you to grow.

Those are words resonating to McLaughlin, who will join her fellow cadets on May 22 as she graduates from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

McLaughlin always set her sights on attending West Point. She participated in Young Marines during elementary school and her grandfather was enlisted in the Army. She initially entered college at Ohio State Universitys main campus in Columbus immediately after graduating from Senior High in 2016.

Shortly after enrolling, she received her acceptance letter to West Point. She finished her first year at OSU, majoring in electrical engineering and also participated in OSU Army ROTC before continuing her journey to New York in the summer of 2017.

McLaughlin will graduate with a Bachelors degree in Arabic, a language that peeked her interested after she took an aptitude test. After taking a class, she landed on it as her major area of study. In addition to a degree, McLaughlin will be commissioned into the United States Army with the rank of second lieutenant.

There were many transitions into the culture of West Point. She says coming from Mansfield to OSUs campus was a culture shock for her. Navigating such a large campus with sometimes 500 students in one class was difficult to get used to.

Moving to the tightly-knit West Point community, was not. Thanks to her experience at Mansfield City Schools, the common thread of togetherness was one she was familiar with.

At Mansfield, it feels like a family, she said. The people come first.

With the feeling of home anchoring her, McLaughlin has enjoyed being able to travel much of the domestic United States and abroad, spending a semester in Morocco in 2020 prior to the pandemic.

McLaughlins plans after graduation will take her to Georgia then to Kentucky in the fall where she will be studying in the United States Army Signal, the branch of the armed forces that manages communications and information systems. All graduates of West Point must serve for a minimum of eight years, five of those as active duty.

In the meantime, McLaughlin will continue to visit Mansfield when she is able -- during the summer months and holiday season, to visit her family.

Viewers can watch the West Point graduation virtually on Saturday, May 22 at 10 a.m.: https://www.westpoint.edu/graduation2021.
Written By

Joe Schulz served as the reporter of the Green Laker in 2019 and 2020, before being hired as a reporter for the Commonwealth in October 2020. He is from Oshkosh and graduated from UW-Oshkosh in December with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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Greater support needed for frontline workers View(s):

Theres little point any more in blaming the Government for allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to slip into virtual free fall. Reports coming in from all parts of the country are distressing. The time for blame-games is over, its time for action.

That the country as much as the world was taken by surprise last year when the virus broke out of China to infect the whole world through open borders and individual Governments that played it by ear permitting a certain degree of laxity and carelessness among their citizens, failed to curb the curve, is easy to see in retrospect. It was a case of the blind leading the blind in how to cope with the new virus. An independent report has now suggested an over-arching global monitoring system in the future so that no country can suppress such bad news for too long.

Ironically, Sri Lanka performed relatively well at the start of the pandemic in controlling the spread while Europe and the United States went reeling, especially as they were too late in closing their borders. Being an island, Sri Lanka had the advantage of not having too many entry points and no porous land borders. And yet, under pressure from interested parties in the hospitality industry and those fly-by-night newcomers to the business with relative merits, the Government imported the virus with its eyes open. The Government listened to the wrong advisors and got the balance between health and economy skewed. Now, the consequences.

The centralised command structure seems to have collapsed. The need now is for rapid decentralisation. The system is overwhelmed and reliance on the vaccination programme as the sole life-saver is not enough. The vaccination rollout itself is riddled with favouritism locally and up against a global shortage on the other side partly due to Intellectual Property issues by manufacturers demanding returns on their Research and Development expenses and countries like the UK and the US hoarding stocks due to traditional self-interest measures.

While the Government is now down to firefighting this blaze, everything must be done to support the hard-pressed and over-burdened health workers  at ground level. From the doctors, nurses, laboratory assistants to the health inspectors and ambulance drivers working round the clock, dressed in cumbersome PPE gear, all resources including welfare measures and extra allowances must be made available to them from whatever budget. It is they who are now in the frontlines of this war, face to face with the unseen enemy, and in the protection of victims.

With India now the epicentre of the pandemic and the World Health Organisation warning this year is worse and more dangerous than last year, the situation is not just grim but dire.

Genocide: The Canada connection

Canada has long had issues with Sri Lanka ever since the 1983 race riots. The country opened its doors with an abundance of goodwill to planeloads of refugees fleeing from the madness. Keen to showcase the nation as a caring one, it opened the doors to others too, claiming to be persecuted in their home countries, like the Sikhs from India when then PM Indira Gandhi was having terrorism problems with armed elements of the community.

Canada has its own separatist problem with the province of Quebec, but it is not an armed struggle. Those newcomers they welcomed some decades ago, however, brought with them their home politics and their blood feuds to settle from Canadian soil.

In 1985, the Sikh extremists (Khalistan Liberation Force) in Canada were responsible for blowing up an Air India plane on its way from Montreal to Delhi via London. All aboard, 329 of them, including 82 children died. Canada was to be accused as a state sponsoring terrorism.

The Sri Lankan Diaspora in Canada did not go that far, but they have remained a pressure group on Canadian political parties. In the late 1980s, the Canadian Government began the practice of refusing to accept ex-military chiefs as Sri Lankas high commissioners, a practice it maintains to-date. Not that Canada is an anti-war nation. Its Special Forces are on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan right now.

Last week, the pro-LTTE Diaspora in Canada succeeded in getting a Private Members Bill passage through the provincial assembly of Ontario. Moved by an avowed fan of the LTTE chief, the Bill declares a week in May to be commemorated as Tamil Genocide Education Week. The law which has now got Royal Assent will see the provinces Education Ministry brainwash the kids that a case of genocide occurred in Sri Lanka, not just in 2009 when the LTTE was liquidated on the battlefield, but ever since 1948.

Even if cases can arguably be made about excesses during the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, the most ardent critic of the military campaign to neutralise the LTTE (declared a terrorist organisation by Canada in 2006) has found trouble justifying it as genocide; a loosely bandied word that in its ordinary sense means the systematic and deliberate elimination of an ethnic group.

The Ontario clan (which is the Toronto-based Diaspora) will, of course, claim one-upmanship with their like-minded colleagues around the world on their success.

The Government will have its work cut out in meeting these challenges whether in Ontario or elsewhere. It will need to be proactive, diplomatically and legally. The mission in Canada has been headless for months on end. Summoning the Canadian envoy in Colombo and expressing concern is just not enough. The Government must retain skilled lawyers specialised in the fields of Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Administrative Law, briefed and instructed (i.e. pay their fees!) without allowing these issues to snowball like has happened at the UN Human Rights Council. Most of these claims by the Diaspora can be clinically debunked with consummate ease if only the Government can get its act together.

For the Canadians, if they really are interested in the subject of genocide, the current upsurge of violence in Palestine might be a good starting point. But there probably arent enough Palestinians in Canada to talk of genocide when they were evicted from their homeland  in 1948. In neighbouring USAs Capitol Hill that debate has started.
Weather Alert

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING... The Flash Flood Watch continues for * A portion of central North Carolina, including the following areas, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Nash, Person, Vance, Warren and Wilson. * From Friday afternoon through Friday evening. * Strong showers and thunderstorms will develop along a cold front and ahead of an upper-level system on Friday. With a tropical airmass in place, slow moving and training storms will create an elevated risk of flash flooding. The greatest risk of flash flooding will be from Friday afternoon to Friday evening. * Areas which receive excessive rainfall will be susceptible to flash flooding. Low-lying, poor drainage, and normally flood prone areas could become flooded. Roads in these areas could become flooded and impassable. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued. &&
Ashish Pethe, Chairman of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), formerly known as All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) is based in Mumbai. As the third-generation heir of M/s Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers established in Mumbai way back in 1909, Ashish Pethe comes with decades of experience in the jewellery sector.

After completing his bachelors degree in B.E. (ELECTRICAL) from VJTI, Mumbai followed by masters in MBA (Marketing) from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, and a certificate course in Diamond Grading from International Gemological Institute, Ashish has been actively involved with the trade bodies at various levels.

Now, as Chairman of GJC, Ashish Pethes vision is to transform and energize jewellers across India to bring more synergies within the indigenous industry. His motto is to unite the entire industry and work towards achieving GJC's set goal of One Industry One Voice.

Here, in an Exclusive Interview with Rough&Polished, Ashish Pethe takes us through the Indian jewellery sector, articulating the nuances of the traditional market

As the Chairman of the All-India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), what are your initial plans to grow the Indian G&J industry into a more transparent and compliant industry? Are there ideas in your mind that may be implemented soon?

There are a lot many initiatives that we have planned and shall be executed soon, but due to Covid 19 pandemic, we are taking it slow because still there is a lot of uncertainty due to lockdowns and stricter social distancing norms. Currently safeguarding lives should be the priority of everyone.

However, we have not stopped doing webinars and digital activities. Our Labham seminars are being conducted online as well, which focuses on educating the Jewelers to become compliant and organized. We have plans to initiate more interactive seminars and webinars in the coming days. Mandatory Hallmarking and GST laws are the subjects in which the industry requires handholding. We are holding regional seminars to educate the industry and help them in understanding and implementing the Compliance requirements.

Has GJC started any new initiatives/projects recently? Are any strategies being planned now, despite the current challenging pandemic times?

Although the markets were seeing an upward graph, now with a new outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19, where social distancing is the only norm, new physical events practically would be difficult for the next few months considering the safety and wellbeing of all concerned. However, depending on the situation the decision will be taken on new plans. End of last year, we succeeded in organizing GJS Virtual and it was a grand success. This year, we are looking forward to our 1st B2B grand jewellery show - GJS, maintaining all the Covid guidelines and protocols given by the Government.

As a new initiative, we will soon launch a Youth Forum for all the GJC members as the youth are the ones who will take our industry to the next level.

GJCs popular flagship platform Preferred Manufacturer of India' event was a success. Will the Council continue organizing the event across the country even in the futuremaybe a virtual event?

Preferred Manufacturer of India (PMI) is one of the most prestigious events of GJC. This year before the second wave struck the country, we organized two super successful PMIs at Bangalore and Cochin. Recently, we had planned a PMI in Chennai from 4th-6th May 2021, however, with the new lockdown restrictions we had to postpone the event keeping in mind the safety of all concerned. PMI is a luxurious event with the best of both Leisure and Business. It is truly a benchmark buyer-seller meet of the Industry and GJC shall continue to serve the industry through PMIs. Doing PMI virtually, may not do justice to the core values of PMI which is networking and one on one interaction between the participant manufacturers and top retailers of the country.

Indias domestic jewellery sector is still not completely organized. Have the steps taken earlier by GJC resulted in some sort of order till now? Are the jewellery manufacturers/retailers now willing to follow rules and regulations?

One needs to understand that a large part of the industry is uneducated and works like a handicraft industry. Everyone in the industry wants and desires to follow rules and law of land. GJC has been working with the Government to try and get the rules and regulation formed in such a way that it makes easy for the industry to implement it without much disruption. Excellent examples of this are the implementation of Excise and GST laws.

Still, a major part of the Industry is yet to become organized and GJC through Labham seminars has been helping and hand-holding jewellers to conduct business in an organized manner. To date, we have conducted over 76 physical and over 20 Virtual Labhams, with a total participation of more than 15000 Jewellers. Apart from Labham, GJC has also been conducting various seminars and webinars to impart knowledge and instill the importance of having a compliant business structure.

As a jeweller yourself, do you see any changes in terms of the way the jewellery business is done now in India compared to a few decades ago? In what way has the attitude/taste/ choice etc of customers changed over the years? Has high gold price resulted in jewellery demand declining in the country? Your opinion.

The choice and preference of customers keep constantly changing. Todays generation is keener towards lightweight Jewellery, which they can wear regularly, while heavy Jewellery is more preferred during the wedding season. The designs have also gone into a major transformation, especially to attract the millennials.

More buying occasions have been added as well as newer distribution channels. Online sales are picking up in India. A new generation of customers gives preference to designs and brands in their purchase decisions. Almost 70-80% of the decision-making process is done at home or online when the customers do the exploration process. While the end process of purchase happens offline or in-store.

The rising Gold price sometimes also helps in generating demand, because in this scenario customer takes quicker decision in buying Gold as they anticipate that the price may increase further. The pandemic has reinforced the confidence of customers in gold as an asset class.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the jewellery sector? What is the current situation of the gem and jewellery sector in the country? Do you see the industry get over the present hurdles and return to a healthy industry, going forward?

Covid 19 has impacted our Industry very severely. In 2020 and now also in 2021, wherein once again the lockdown has been imposed, a lot of jewellers have shut their businesses, many 'karigars' (artisans) and employees have lost their jobs. The Gems and Jewellery sector is also identified as one of the 26 stressed sectors of India due to Covid. Interestingly, while all other asset class investments such as real estate, mutual funds etc were volatile, Gold was the only investment option that gave a substantial return in 2020. Hence Gold has once again proven to be the best investment option that helps people sail through difficult times. Hence, I believe the love for Gold has further increased in the minds of the customers. A lot of marriages were postponed last year. Marriages are happening on a smaller scale. So, a lot of money was saved from marriage expenses which are getting invested in Gems and Jewellery.

What is the outcome of the GJC representations made to the Maharashtra government recently regarding keeping the jewellery sector open during the festival/wedding season?

As an industry, we appreciate the Governments concerns about containing the spread of Covid-19. We had urged the Government to relax the restrictions imposed because of the rising COVID-19 cases during 'muhurat' days to ensure the livelihood of many craftsmen and self-employed jewellers. The traditional 'Make in India' indigenous Gem and Jewellery will not be able to survive one more lockdown as the on-ground situation is worse. All the expenses are ongoing while the business is shut due to lockdowns. Also, these few months are very important for our industry with Akshaya Tritiya just around the corner followed by full wedding seasons. There are thousands of customers who have placed the order and waiting for the pieces of jewellery to get delivered. So, we have requested the ministry to keep our industry exempted from the rules as a jewellery store is undoubtedly one of the only secured retail formats where protocols are adhered to very strictly. However, our appeal was not fully considered but we have obtained an exemption from the strict Covid-19 measures in Mumbai and the surrounding region where manufacturing and support activities can continue in India.

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
Softlogic IT joins forces with SLTC to facilitate Laptop purchases for undergraduates View(s):

In an effort to help students adopt to digital transformation, Softlogic Information Technologies Pvt Ltd has joined forces with Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC), in a pioneering initiative to make laptop purchasing dreams of undergraduates a reality.

This ground breaking partnership enables over 1000 students of the 2021 intake of SLTC to purchase a brand new laptop at a special discounted price to continue their higher education.

Commenting on the tie up, Chief Executive Officer/Director  Softlogic IT, Roshan Rassool said, We are indeed proud to partner with SLTC to support fresh undergraduates who are stepping into higher education prospects. With this pioneering initiative, we expect to bridge the existing gaps in higher education by integrating new technology which we perceive is the need of the hour. As a socially responsible company, it is with great pleasure that we embark in this initiative to help students succeed in their higher education and achieve great milestones in life.

Digitalisation has made way for the emergence of a highly sought after hybrid learning model which is embraced by top universities around the world. Today, the focus is on this highly convenient learning model that enables students to participate in both physical lectures as well as virtual lectures, deviating from the traditional learning experience. In this background, Softlogic IT-SLTC partnership will open up a world of opportunities for undergraduates to pursue their higher education aptly supported by technology.

We are indeed happy to be partnering with Softlogic IT to empower our latest batch of undergraduates with access to laptops at discounted prices in making sure that each and every student has access to a new laptop. We are highly grateful for the support extended by Softlogic IT for the betterment of these students who hold the key for the future of the country. A laptop is indispensable for a student pursuing higher education especially today, where distance learning has come to stay for the long haul. Being in an age where technology is the key driver, partnerships of this nature bode well for the future of education. said Eng. Ranjith G. Rubasinghe, Founder President/CEO of SLTC.

Hailed as a renowned higher education provider, SLTC, a leading non-state university in Sri Lanka specialises in Technology, Engineering, Business, Computing & IT, Music, Professional studies and postgraduate studies. SLTC being the first corporate powered, research based, residential university in Sri Lanka, is equipped with state of the art facilities including laboratories, study spaces that provide a favourable environment for higher education. With the focus of building a generation of innovation and excellence, SLTC deploys cutting edge teaching methodologies to provide high quality education which is on par with industry standards. SLTC is driving the organisation in a strategic mission to provide a liberal environment for research and learning of the highest caliber that enforces professional ethics and integrity, promotes diversity, encourages constructive critique, and rewards informed risk-taking to produce well-rounded graduates who are capable of providing the leadership necessary.

A subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings, Softlogic Information Technologies is a pioneer in IT and technology solutions and is the leading importer of ICT products to Sri Lanka. In the last 28 years, the company has been duly recognised for its outstanding performances at several awards events. Today, Softlogic IT has transformed to be the preferred IT partner for corporates in Sri Lanka and is committed to provide world class ICT solutions in education, telecom, banking & finance, manufacturing and e-government areas. As a customer centric entity, Softlogic IT is geared to cater to the ICT needs of customers through its strong regional support services.
UoC to partner with Malaysian university for research project View(s):

The University of Colombo will carry out a research project on the impact of advertising unhealthy food through electronic media platforms.

The research project will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Taylors in Malaysia.

University students from nine countries in Asia will participate in the project.

The International Research Centre in Canada will finance the project for University of Taylors in Malaysia.

The Malaysian university which will channel funds to the University of Colombo for the project work.
A fishermans tale View(s):

Disability need not be an obstacle to success, Stephen Hawking ,one of the most influential scientists of modern times said. Devapriya Vass took this to heart.

Marians Devapriya Vass is a father of three residing in Mohoththuwarama in Kalpitiya He makes a living going to sea on a raft. He has a rare disorder which makes it impossible for him to move his legs. Despite this, he fishes off the island of Kalpitiya.

Vaas said he had to face this unfortunate fate when he was 14 years old. Before which, he was healthy and fit as most kids.

Many things changed for me. Its not easy ending up disabled for life at 14, he says.

I developed this condition when I was 14. I suddenly fell on the island and fainted. I was taken to the Kalpitiya Hospital and later had to be treated at several hospitals.When I returned I was 19 but I could not walk and I became helpless afterwards.

I married at 21. Now I have three daughters.

Its hard to lean on my hips because they are immobile, so sometimes its difficult to catch fish but I didnt think of it as a hurdle and continued venturing to sea. I always kept myself fit, as I am the sole breadwinner of the family.

All I request from the government is to help my children get a proper education.

Vaas wife Menaka Udayangani says, I married him knowing his condition, Our three daughters are currently attending school. We want a better future for them.
Coronavirus developments around New England:

MAINE

Maine might extend the ability of its residents to use telehealth services beyond the coronavirus pandemic.

Many people in Maine and around the country have transitioned to telehealth during the pandemic, in part to avoid crowded doctors offices. Democratic Sen. Heather Sanborn of Portland has proposed a bill to guarantee Maine health care providers have a right to provide telehealth services in the future.

Sanborns proposal would also allow health care licensing boards to create rules and practices for health care workers. She said its time for the state to make it clear that telehealth is a proper form of health care delivery, and ensure that people across our state can continue accessing these critical services no matter where they live or what the circumstances are.

The proposal would add language to health care licensing board statutes to guarantee providers have a right to provide it, Sanborn said.

The proposal is expected to be considered in committee.

___

MASSACHUSETTS

More than 656,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Massachusetts, including nearly 660 cases announced Saturday. Five new deaths were announced, bringing the totalsince the pandemic began to 17,389.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Massachusetts has decreased over the past two weeks, going from 1,244 new cases per day on April 30 to 707 new cases per day on May 14.

___

NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshires courts are continuing to ease restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Tuesday, the Supreme Court building will be open to the public during normal business hours permitting full access to the clerks office and public kiosk. The law library also will be open.

All superior and circuit court courthouses and clerks offices also will be open to the public during normal business hours, but public kiosks will not be available. In the superior court, grand jury and jury trials will continue to be conducted on an in-person basis and will be expanded to include more than one trial at a time in the same courthouse.

The superior and circuit courts will be issuing administrative orders that make telephonic and video hearings a normal feature of their ongoing operations.

___

RHODE ISLAND

The amount of quahogs harvested in Rhode Island dropped by about 35% last year because of the pandemic, but officials expect landings to bounce back this year, aided by the opening of new shellfishing waters in the lower Providence River.

Quahogs are the states fifth most valuable marine fishery, behind squid, scallops, lobster and summer flounder.

The local clams will be celebrated May 17-23 during the 5th annual Rhode Island Quahog Week.

___

VERMONT

More than 23,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Vermont, including 28 new cases announced Sunday. Deaths stood at 252.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in Vermont has decreased over the past two weeks, going from 79 new cases per day on April 30 to 57 new cases per day on May 14.
ROME (AP)  Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass for the people of Myanmar following the countrys military takeover, praying Sunday for peace, unity and for God to set us free from evils power.

A few hundred people, many of them students and religious sisters from Myanmar, joined Francis in St. Peters Basilica for the service, which followed his earlier appeals for an end to violence in the Asian nation.
As Dartmouth College sophomore Nicholas Sugiarto flipped through the course catalog last semester, two words caught his eye: Asian American.

The 19-year-old Chinese Indonesian American didn't know Asian American-focused classes were even an option at the Hanover, New Hampshire, campus. The biomedical-engineering major ended up enrolling in Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature" and now wishes he could minor in Asian American studies.

I never realized how long and storied the history of Asians in America has been, Sugiarto said. You also hear about stories that just never made the news or never made it into the standard AP U.S. history textbooks.

That feeling of being seen resonates now more than ever for Asian American and Pacific Islander students and faculty at college campuses around the country. For all the Stop AAPI Hate hashtagging, accounts keep emerging of new incidents of Asian Americans being coronavirus scapegoats or made to feel like foreigners in their own country.

Ongoing anti-Asian attacks along with the March massage business shootings in Georgia that left six Asian women dead have provoked national conversations about visibility.

The debate has renewed an appetite at some colleges for Asian American studies programs. As student diversity grows, so does the desire for representation in the syllabus. But qualified professors of color say such programs wont last if they arent being offered permanent decision-making power.

Inspired by his literature class, Sugiarto added his signature to the nearly 1,000 on a petition calling on Dartmouth to establish an Asian American studies major, a challenge that's been brought to the Ivy League school on and off for four decades.

Sugiarto and his classmates hope this time will be different given recent events.

Eng-Beng Lim, the Dartmouth professor who taught Sugiarto's class, said the petition gained momentum after the massage business killings, and even fueled discussions with administrators.

Those talks recently stalled, though Lim still described it as a promising and critical impasse.

When U.S. universities refuse to support Asian American studies that are framed in a way that we have framed it, its really a missed opportunity to think about how we might have a more nuanced understanding of American racism beyond binary terms of Black and white, Lim said.

Pawan Dhingra, a professor at Amherst College and the incoming president of the Association for Asian American studies, said he is aware of a few other East Coast schools either considering Asian American studies or renewing their commitment to it.

A lot of ethnic studies programs grew out of student demand during key inflection points in American history, Dhingra said. This is an inflection point. The push for ethnic studies  in this case Asian American studies  fits the tradition of how these programs come to be. Its rarely the brainchild of administrators or faculty.

The concept of ethnic studies is believed to have started in California, where it became state law in August that California State University students take one ethnic studies course to graduate.

In 1968, students of color at San Francisco State University, which was named San Francisco State College at the time, joined Black classmates demanding a curriculum that wasn't just Euro-centric. What followed was five months of protests  the longest student strike in U.S. history  and hundreds of arrests.

In March 1969, after intense negotiations, the university officially launched a College of Ethnic Studies. Other schools also devised similar programs.

Alumni who were on strike 53 years ago see parallels with today's Stop Asian Hate rallies, said Mai-Nhung Le, chair of San Francisco State University's Asian American studies program. Young Asian Americans are again demanding classes relevant to them  not just history but everything from popular culture to environmental justice.

But while the backdrop in the 60s was the Vietnam War, today it's two concurrent pandemics: COVID-19 and structural racism, Le said.

Establishing an Asian American studies department is one thing  nurturing it is another. Ethnic studies programs are on shaky ground if schools don't recruit instructors who can plan courses and mentor students.

Of more than 428,000 faculty who were tenured or on tenure-track at degree-granting institutions nationwide in 2019, 70% were white, 11% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 5% were Black, and 5% were Latino. Native Americans and Alaska Natives comprised just 0.4%, according to data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics.

A furor erupted at Dartmouth in 2016 when Aimee Bahng, an assistant English professor, was denied tenure. She had unanimous support from a departmental committee but not with higher-ranking campus officials. The rejection came as students were making another push for Asian American studies. Bahng had even started planning potential classes.

She recalls receiving hundreds of sympathetic messages from female academics in the U.S. and abroad.

I had an electronic folder of just women or women of color who had been denied tenure," said Bahng, who now teaches at Pomona College. It was amazing but also depressing. ... I always know when its tenure-denial season because I still get a handful of emails."

Dartmouth freshman Anais Zhang, 18, never gave Asian American studies much thought until she was assigned to write about it for the school newspaper after the Atlanta-area massage business shootings. In her research, Zhang learned of all the attempts to start a program that ultimately went nowhere. It left her frustrated.

I talked to a lot of my friends about the article and my shock at how we really dont have an institutionalized program and just my reaction learning about how previous students had put so much effort in petitioning the college and hiring professors ... only to have this support trickle away and have all this progress undone in the subsequent years," Zhang said.

A lot of times fledgling ethnic studies programs decline because junior professors who aren't full time or permanent have to carry them, according to Dhingra.

It's just creating extra labor for faculty that burns people out and it isnt able to grow because it wasnt created with enough infrastructure in the first place, Dhingra said.

At the University of Arizona in Tucson, an Asian Pacific American studies minor launched last month. While it is an "example of the way the university is combating anti-Asian hate and ignorance," it was a culmination of efforts that started several years before the pandemic, said Brett Esaki, an assistant professor who helped come up with the coursework.

The short- and long-term goals are definitely about stability, said Esaki, who is not tenured. We cant just hope for another disaster to get people to say, Youre important. ___

Tang reported from Phoenix and is a member of The Associated Press Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ttangAP
Agrochemicals stuck in port, Govt. insists on shift to organic fertiliser By Namini Wijedasa View(s): View(s):

Several consignments of previously-ordered fertilisers and pesticides were stuck in the Colombo port this week despite a gazette being issued to permit any shipments of agrochemicals seaborne on or before May 5 to arrive, be cleared and distributed.

The block occurred because the necessary instructions had not been conveyed by the relevant authorities, a spokesman for a pesticide company said, adding that the shipments were likely to be cleared next week.

Meanwhile, fertiliser and pesticide companies have drafted a position paper and have also conveyed their concerns to the Government. However, they have not been called for a meeting yet regarding the challengesas they see itin shifting from chemical to organic fertiliser. Also, pesticide importers maintained that there were no substitutes for their products.

But Presidential Secretary P.B. Jayasundera said there would be no shift in the Government position to completely shift away from agrochemicals. He also said organic fertiliser imports would be allowed and that all those things are being worked out, including what products have the best standards for application here.

Mr Jayasundera also pointed out in an interview with the Sunday Times that the Government had not banned the application of chemical fertiliser this season. Subject to certain shortages, there are agrochemicals available for the ongoing Yala cultivation. But the policy is to cut out chemicals permanently subject to taking specific actions to meet the transitory problems.

We dont block the whole thing, he said, calling it a chicken-and-egg situation. The land was amply chemically fertilised at present for there not to be any negative effect if application was stopped for one season. But there is a six months gap before the Maha season to increase the input of organic fertiliser and to re-condition and re-orient the country towards the new policy.

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, this was a good time to introduce the change and to create a more organic mindset, Mr Jayasundera insisted. Its not simple, he admitted, because everybody likes importing fertiliser, distributing and getting subsidies. But farmers, just to retain their production, apply fertiliser. Production doesnt go up despite the levels they apply.

Certain crops, like the various plantations or hybrid varieties, might continue to need agrochemicals, he admitted. What you need is a crop-wise, area-wise fertiliser needs assessment and then channel, he said. That means reduction is definitely feasible. You may not be able to have zero chemical fertiliser now or even for a year. But it is definitely possible to have a substantial reduction and then see how the soil and crop conditions develop.

It was, above all, crucial to change the farmers psychology, he reiterated. Their mindset is that, unless you apply artificial fertiliser, you cant get a good crop.

Many countries, including South Korea, are advanced in organic fertiliser. There is a Board of Investment company in Sri Lanka that manufactures organic fertiliser for that market. Mr Jayasundera said the Government envisaged that kind of industrial shift. There could also be production at the Eppawela phosphate mines and more efficient use of waste as fertiliser.

There is an implementation plan, the Presidents Secretary insisted, adding that the new 46-member Task Force appointed to transform Sri Lanka into a green economy would have a key role to play.

A fair amount of pressure is brought in by the President among the ministries because our culture is to do what we are used to doing, not something new, he pointed out. Now the Task Force has been set up and growing zones have been established.

For the last 20-30 years, the country has been struggling to move towards more organic fertiliser but doing everything against promoting it, he said. This will be a good message for those who did right.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Rep. Liz Cheney, newly ousted from House Republican leadership for challenging former President Donald Trump, criticized GOP colleagues Sunday for downplaying the Jan. 6 riot and condoning Trumps lies that the 2020 election was stolen, saying they were complicit in undermining democracy.

In television interviews, the Wyoming Republican said there was no question an attack like Jan. 6 could happen again if Trump's claims go unchecked.

I think its dangerous, Cheney said. I think that we have to recognize how quickly things can unravel. We have to recognize what it means for the nation to have a former president who has not conceded and who continues to suggest that our electoral system cannot function, cannot do the will of the people.

Weve seen not only his provocation of the attack, but his refusal to send help when it was needed, his refusal to immediately say, Stop,'" she added.

Asked in a separate interview if she believes House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California and Rep. Elise Stefanik, who replaced Cheney in the No. 3 leadership job, are complicit by embracing Trump, Cheney responded: They are.

Im not willing to do that, she said. We all have an obligation to stand up against that.

Stefanik, a Trump stalwart from upstate New York, was elected Friday to the leadership post by House Republicans after they voted to remove Cheney on Wednesday. Stefanik has a moderate voting record but had strong backing from Trump and other party leaders.

Speaking Sunday, Stefanik described Republicans as now unified in their goal of beating Democrats, with Trump playing a key role in the GOPs future success.

He is the leader of the Republican Party, Stefanik said. Voters determine the leader of the Republican Party. And they continue to look to President Trump for his vision.

Cheney on Sunday called it indefensible that some GOP colleagues, such as Reps. Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Louie Gohmert of Texas, suggested last week that the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6 posed no real threat, with Clyde likening it to a normal tourist visit.

The notion that this was somehow a tourist event is disgraceful and despicable, Cheney said. And, you know, I wont be part of whitewashing what happened on Jan. 6. Nobody should be part of it. And people ought to be held accountable.

She also said McCarthy should testify before a bipartisan commission that is investigating the riot because he has key facts about Trumps state of mind on that day, including whether the former president knew the proceedings were turning violent and did nothing to stop it.

He clearly has facts about that day, that an investigation into what happened, into the presidents actions, ought to get to the bottom of," Cheney said. "And I think that he has important information that needs to be part of any investigation, whether its the FBI, the Department of Justice, or this commission.

Speaking about her future, Cheney said she now regrets voting for Trump last November and did not expressly rule out a presidential bid of her own in 2024, admitting that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, would like to see her run though hes not objective.

At this moment, the majority of the Republican Party is not where I am, she said.

Cheney appeared on ABCs This Week and Fox News Sunday and Stefanik spoke on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Even as railroads are operating longer and longer freight trains that sometimes stretch for miles, the companies have drastically reduced staffing levels, prompting unions to warn that moves meant to increase profits could endanger safety and even result in disasters.

More than 22% of the jobs at railroads Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern have been eliminated since 2017, when CSX implemented a cost-cutting system called Precision Scheduled Railroading that most other U.S. railroads later copied. BNSF, the largest U.S. railroad and the only one that hasnt expressly adopted that model, has still made staff cuts to improve efficiency and remain competitive.

The railroads acknowledge they have cut staff, lengthened trains and made other adjustments to reduce spending, but they are adamant none of the changes increase dangers. Regulators at the Federal Railroad Administration say they are tracking the changes and that the data so far does not show the new operating model is unsafe. But unions counter that with the stakes so high any time a train derails, the new system is risky.

Every time the wheels come off the rail, its kind of like buying a lottery ticket to the big disaster, said Jason Cox with the carmen division of the Transportation Communications Union.

Precision Scheduled Railroading calls for running fewer, longer trains with a mix of freight to reduce the number of crews and locomotives needed to deliver millions of tons of goods nationwide. The railroads also operate their trains on more of a set schedule now, with fewer stops and pickups, and they have eliminated shorter, less-profitable routes.

By increasing the length of trains, railroads can reduce total trips, cut down on the number of engines and railcars needing maintenance, and manage with fewer employees. Some trains now stretch longer than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers). Union Pacific said the average of its maximum train length has grown more than 30% to 9,250 feet, which is 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers), since it started using the new operating model in 2018, and the railroad is expanding track sidings throughout its network to accommodate much longer trains.

The railroads say they abide by federal regulations for car and signal inspections and that human inspections are supplemented by high-tech systems that can scan tracks and railcars for defects.

They also say safety has improved overall over the past five years. All the major railroads issued statements defending their safety records and citing investments they have made in their networks.

Across the board, I do not see evidence of our workforce at Union Pacific being rushed, overworked or put in harms way. I just dont see it statistically, said Lance Fritz, CEO of Union Pacific, the nation's second-largest railroad.

CSX officials said most of the key safety measures they track like employee injuries and train accidents have improved since it started using the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model.

We do not move freight at the expense of the safety of our employees or the communities where we operate, CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild said.

The head of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Oregon Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, last week asked the Government Accountability Office to study Precision Scheduled Railroading's impact on safety and the industry overall.

Independent expert David Clarke, director of the University of Tennessees Center for Transportation Research, said the safety data is inconclusive.

Right now I just havent seen anything to demonstrate that its definitely having a negative impact on safety, Clarke said.

However, the union coalition Transportation Trades Department notes the amount of time carmen have to inspect each car in a train has been reduced by more than half  from three minutes to just 60 seconds. Also, staffing cuts mean less-trained train crews are often handling those inspections, the group says.

From the conductor side, were basically finding things that are just obvious, said Greg Hynes, national legislative director with SMART-TD union that represents conductors.

The unions also say that most signalmen who maintain railroad crossing guards and safety signals along the rails have seen their territories grow by 150%, leaving little time for maintenance work once required tests are completed.

As maintenance gets neglected. then obviously the failures go up, said Tim Tarrant, a vice president with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

Overtime is also up, which the unions say increases fatigue and the chance that a safety defect could be missed.

Unions acknowledge it's part of their mission to maintain or increase staffing levels, but members said they're more motivated by the potential for disasters, such as a 2013 derailment in Canada that killed 47 people in the town of Lac Megantic and caused millions of dollars in damage or a 2005 derailment in Graniteville, South Carolina, where nine people were killed and more than 250 treated for exposure to toxic chlorine gases.

Former CSX employee Kasondra Bird said safety concerns led her to resign in December after 24 years with the railroad, even though she didn't have another job lined up. As a conductor operating trains by remote control in a Grand Rapids, Michigan, railyard, she went from switching 150 cars a day to 300 to 350 each shift.

Bird said some workers skipped meal and bathroom breaks to keep up.

I was hoping to stay a lot longer, but if it means my safety, its not going to do me any good staying another day if that means Im not going to come home, said Bird, who is a 45-year-old single mother. Safety and the well being of employees have definitely taken a backseat to production.
Kenneth Gill, age 65, husband of 47 years of Marsha Gill of Lily, Kentucky went home to be with the Lord on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at his residence. He was the father of Kenneth E. Gill, Jr., of Hamilton, Ohio and Jessica Bowman and husband Terry of London, Kentucky; the brother of Vic Gill 
Two men were shot to death and a third was critically wounded in two separate incidents Saturday near San Franciscos Potrero Hill neighborhood, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

Police were working to determine if the two sets of shootings were related, said SFPD Sgt. Michael Andraychak.
As California descends deeper into drought, state regulators are planning to do something theyve done few times in modern history: order thousands of people, farms, and even cities and towns that hold historic water rights to stop drawing water from the rivers, lakes and ponds they rely on.

The move is intended to make sure the dwindling flows in Californias waterways are reserved for those with the most senior water rights, as well as for fish and other wildlife. Many of those with lesser rights would have to turn to storage, groundwater or another source, if they have it.

The problem, besides leaving several in a tough spot, is that the state doesnt have an accurate tally of how much water is being pulled from its watersheds, nor who exactly is taking it. This lack of information makes it hard for regulators to determine which water rights holders to restrict, and how many.

The decision has huge ramifications. While most large urban water agencies have alternative supplies, surface water remains the states biggest source, and any curtailment of water rights puts a dent in municipal portfolios. Smaller utilities could be forced to ration supplies. Private landowners and farmers may go without water entirely.

Im super-worried about curtailments, said Bret Munselle, who has water rights along the Russian River that allow him to pipe water to his wine grapes at Munselle Vineyards in Sonoma County. You take that water away and well have a hard time making it to harvest, a really hard time.

The states lack of data on water use was an issue the last time the state widely curtailed water rights, during the 2012-2016 drought. The State Water Resources Control Board recognized that more information was needed to keep restrictions from being overly broad and unnecessarily burdensome, yet strong enough to protect supplies. As a result, with direction from the Legislature, the board marched out stricter rules for measuring and reporting water draws for Californias more than 40,000 water rights holders.

Still, according to water board records and state officials who spoke with The Chronicle, reliable data on how much water is being drawn, and from where, is not being reported by rights holders, and the water board continues to struggle with an incomplete picture of the water its charged with managing.

Among the snags:

 Fewer than 20% of those required to submit new, more detailed information on water use each year, under SB88 passed in 2015, are doing so. Of the submitted reports, less than 5% are complete.

 The annual reporting required of water rights holders even before SB88 also remains flawed. A recent state audit of a sample of water users in the Sacramento River watershed found that more than half miscalculated how much water they took  and by a lot. The total draws reported by the basins largest senior water rights holders for 2019, the latest year submitted, is estimated to be off by 700%.

Its very concerning, said Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state water board, a 2,300-person agency responsible for ensuring protection and beneficial use of Californias water. This issue of lack of data is so fundamental to good decision making.

Esquivel, who was named chair two years ago, said the water board has been working to improve its water accounting. Its helping water rights holders obtain measuring devices and making the reporting easier. Its also slapping fines on those who refuse to cooperate.

Progress, though, is likely to come too late for navigating the current drought. Consequently, regulators are left trying to make sense of often scant and faulty water data, correcting the info if they can and consulting other measurement tools to make decisions about restrictions.

Yes, maybe its hard; yes, maybe its messy, Esquivel said. Were just not going to have a perfect system in place.

While water board officials havent said when and where theyll order widespread curtailments this year, theyre considering several areas, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and the watersheds that feed it, and the Russian River basin. Gov. Gavin Newsom last week declared a drought emergency in dozens of counties, which would help expedite the cuts.

Last winter was one of the driest in California history, capping two straight years of little precipitation. With barely half of the average snowpack to nourish rivers and creeks, the states waterways stand no chance of meeting the demand for water.

Californias water rights system is designed to prioritize these low flows. It dates back to the Gold Rush, when prospectors posted claims on trees. The system is generally based not on how water is used, but when the water was first drawn, meaning properties with older rights get first dibs.

Any person, business or public agency drawing water in California has to have a water right. San Francisco, for example, has dozens of water rights, dating from between 1901 and 1911, which allow it to provide supplies to much of the Bay Area.

While its not uncommon for some junior water rights holders to face cuts in dry years, when the water board targets the bottom of the hierarchy, those with claims before 1914 as well as those with land adjacent to water are considered to have senior rights, and theyve largely avoided curtailments. The water board has pursued large-scale restrictions affecting senior rights holders only twice before, during the droughts of 1976-77 and last decade. In 2015, even San Francisco faced constraints.

The far-reaching cuts created numerous challenges for the water board. As the curtailments went farther up the water rights ladder, some sued over the states authority to enforce them, citing a water right that predated the water boards regulatory power. The question of jurisdiction over the most senior claims is still in dispute and largely untested in court.

Another sticking point last decade was the water boards inability to appropriately restrict water users given the states lack of data.

We felt like last time they hadnt made their case that it was necessary to curtail, said Steve Ritchie, an assistant general manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which ignored the states order to stop drawing water from a creek that serves the citys Camp Mather near Yosemite.

Thats one area that they havent gotten a good handle on that they should, he said. Understanding all the diversions and how they fit into the water rights system.

SB88 was meant to fill the information gap. As mandated by the 2015 law, the water board established rules requiring water rights holders taking more than 10 acre-feet in a year, a relatively small quantity, to measure and report their draws annually, including providing such details as daily use and even hourly use in the case of the biggest consumers.

Previously, many water rights holders reported their use only once every three years and by estimating it, not by using a meter.

In a scenario where every drop counts, its really difficult when you cant measure every drop, said Erik Ekdahl, deputy director for the water boards Division of Water Rights, who helps evaluate the need for curtailments and has been working to improve the states water data.

The new regulation, however, has not produced the desired results. While urban water agencies and big irrigation districts often have modern water meters and submit the required information, most water rights holders do not. The reasons are numerous.

For starters, some dont have the means or inclination to acquire a measuring instrument, which can cost upward of $20,000. Even when they do, problems with the devices have been rampant.

Steve Mello, who farms corn, alfalfa, safflower and pears near Walnut Grove in Sacramento County, says the murky water in the delta trips up the machines, particularly the siphon systems that use air pressure to draw water from creeks and canals.

The aquatic weeds and other floating debris, they render the measuring devices inaccurate and sometimes they cease to function, he said.

Then theres difficulty reporting the data. Under the new law, not only do water users have to fill out templates on the water boards website, but they have to upload supplemental information from the meters.

I equate it to filling out your tax returns, said Paula Whealen, a principal at Wagner and Bonsignore Consulting Civil Engineers in Sacramento, who helps farmers, cities and water agencies do the reporting. When people ask me, I say I dont do my own taxes. There are too many complications. Its no different for water.

In 2018, the first year the supplemental information had to be tracked, just 18% of the nearly14,000 required to file did so, according to the water board. In 2019, about 13% did so. Both years, only about 3% to 4% of the filings met the requirements of the new rules, officials said.

As for the more basic reporting, which was required with passage of legislation in 2009, most water users have been submitting that information  close to 90% in recent years. However, the water boards audit of about 6,500 senior water rights filings in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds for the last year reported revealed vast inaccuracies.

The total draws reported by those taking more than 5,000 acre-feet in 2019 in the Sacramento River basin was nearly 30 million acre-feet of water. By going through a time- and labor-consuming process of correcting obvious filing mistakes and cross-referencing water gauges and historical records, regulators figured that the draws were probably closer to 4 million acre-feet.

An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons or enough water to supply nearly two households for a year.

One source of the many errors was water rights holders reporting the amount of water they thought they were entitled to instead of what they used. Officials blamed the misstep, which generally resulted in reports of higher use, on a state law that says water rights holders stand to lose their water right if they dont exercise it. Other miscalculations resulted from transcription errors or double-counting water by reporting the same draw under multiple water rights.

Ekdahl acknowledged that the state needs to make it easier to report water use. Hed like to see the online reporting system made more user-friendly and include a script that checks for common mistakes.

On our end, we didnt build the right data infrastructure to really intake the data and be able to use it and integrate it quickly, he said. But we dont have the same structure and resources that a tech company might ... even though this is critically needed.

At the same time, Ekdahl said, many water rights holders arent doing their share.

You look at the compliance rate and that shows that some people are trying to comply, but a lot of people arent, he said. Some just dont even try.

The list of water rights holders that didnt submit even the basic information required after 2009 includes wineries, ranches, colleges, corporations, cities, and state and federal agencies. The city of San Jose, San Francisco Zen Center, San Quentin State Prison and musician Neil Young are just a few of the thousands that missed last years deadline, water board records show.

The previous year, the state fined 15 water rights holders for not filing, and more in previous years, generally the most egregious or repeat offenders, preferring to send friendly reminders to the others. Penalties range from about $500 to $10,000. The water board has not yet taken punitive action against those who are not meeting the newer SB88 reporting requirements.

Michael George, the state watermaster who manages the administration of water rights in the delta, says hes seeing increasing willingness among water rights holders to report their water use and do it properly. Hes leading a consortium to improve water measurement.

People want us to have better information so we can share it, George said. They want to have better information so they know how much water theyll have.

Also promising, he said, is the development of OpenET, a satellite-based water tracking project that is funded by NASA, Google and others. By measuring water evaporation from the skies, the system will allow the state to track irrigation down to specific fields, providing additional means for getting accurate water data.

Were dealing with the data problems, George said, but it takes a long time.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
After seeing their Oakland pop-up Pyros Pastrami become an instant hit last fall, owners Anahita Cann and Cash Levi Caris started looking for a brick-and-mortar space. They thought itd be fairly easy, given so many restaurants closed during the pandemic. Surely, there would be some pretty good deals, right?

Nope.

Cann said shes reached out to at least 20 landlords in the East Bay about spaces. Most never responded. Those who did showed her old, dilapidated restaurants with hood systems from the 1970s, rusted pipes and a rough foundation  problems that would cost well over $100,000 to fix, Cann said. Yet the landlords wanted Cann and Caris to pay for those improvements, on top of rent priced at pre-pandemic levels.

Theyre asking for full rent during a pandemic for a business thats not even fully established as a brand, Caris said. Nobody wants to be reasonable. Everyone is trying to gouge you.

The Chronicle interviewed a dozen restaurant and pop-up owners looking for spaces throughout the Bay Area who described a real estate landscape thats nearly as heated as pre-pandemic levels. They expected to see tons of options on the market at reasonable rates, but there are few deals  and competition for whats available is intense, with 1,000-square-foot spaces in prime San Francisco neighborhoods getting snapped up for $7,000 a month, according to pop-up owners and real estate agents.

Landlords, meanwhile, are hesitant to offer discounts because theyve lacked income over the pandemic themselves. Theyre prioritizing renting to more experienced restaurateurs, meaning the Bay Areas next wave of new restaurants may be mostly from people with established businesses or more financial backing.

I think theyre playing the waiting game and being very cautious because they dont want to make a bad deal after theyve suffered so many losses during the pandemic, said Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association, which represents both commercial and residential landlords.

The result: Many would-be restaurateurs, particularly those who run smaller businesses, are shifting their focus to smaller, takeout-friendly spaces. With the recovery of the local restaurant industry still in flux, operators are trying to avoid the risk of a space that requires an expensive build-out or a lengthy zoning change process.

And the options, many said, are slim.

Mina Makram

A lot of landlords seem to not understand theres still a pandemic. Prices per square foot are like 2019 prices, said Wenter Shyu, who has been looking for a Peninsula location for his mochi muffin bakery Third Culture. As a small food business, I cant justify signing at that price. Were not Peets.

Mona Michael was optimistic as she began her search for a permanent home for her Manaeesh Lady pop-up. But she and her brokers became frustrated with how few spaces were available in the East Bay  even after driving around and cold-calling places that appeared to be permanently closed. When something did come on the market, there were numerous bids, and prices per square foot were similar or the same as before the coronavirus.

It was a stroke of luck when she finally found via Google search a North Berkeley space where shell open her dream California-Palestinian restaurant, called Lulu, this summer.

It was the clash of people looking for places and expecting landlords to bend over backwards for them because they thought landlords were desperate, Michael said, and landlords were not willing to budge.

Local real estate agents and brokers confirmed that theyre seeing multiple offers on restaurant spaces. Interest has picked up dramatically in just the past two weeks, said Tasha Delancey, a San Francisco Realtor with Vanguard Properties. She recently squeezed in 16 showings for Royal Oak Bar  a building for sale at $8.5 million in Russian Hill  after nearly two months of inactivity.

Were running out of inventory. The top-tier spaces are pretty much spoken for, said Santino DeRose of Maven Properties in San Francisco, referring to restaurant spaces in good shape and outfitted with proper equipment.

Kevin Gordon, a broker at Gordon Commercial in Berkeley and a landlord himself, said landlords he works with are mapping their own recovery after providing rent relief or letting tenants out of leases early due to the pandemic.

Property owners are more interested in working with experienced restaurateurs than pop-up operations, Gordon said. Two ready-to-go spaces he had available earlier this year were leased within months to tenants based on their operating history, he said.

There wasnt a lot of room in our tight food market around downtown Berkeley for new operators who had no prior experience, Gordon said.

Many new small food-business owners are also at a disadvantage because of the tough restaurant market overall; many are less willing than even before the pandemic to take on the risks, said Zack Schwab, co-owner of Schloks Bagels. Theres also more interest in ghost kitchens, where operators can run delivery-only concepts without the costly overhead of a brick-and-mortar space.

Celeste Noche/Special to The Chronicle 2019

Schwab and his partner at Schloks were able to nail down a space in a former laundromat off Divisadero Street in San Francisco  but only because the owner of the development, which also houses Falletti Foods and Nopalito, built out all of the spaces with the utilities and ventilation necessary for different uses, including for a restaurant.

Charles Chen of runaway hit Basuku Cheesecakes also isnt looking for an old cafe to occupy, but rather a bare-bones space, possibly even a warehouse where he can build a kitchen and focus on production more than service.

Im looking for more of a post-COVID model. I dont need a dining room  in fact, I probably dont need seats inside, said Chen, who has been searching since January. Looking for that kind of space is tricky.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Lars Smith, owner of State of Mind Public House & Pizzeria in Los Altos and Palo Alto, has been looking to expand to the South Bay but is seeking more protections in new leases, such as breaks on rent or free rent until restrictions on restaurants are lifted.

The hesitancy is: We are still in a pandemic, Smith said. Theres a lot of risk, and were still not all the way open. What will indoor dining look like over the next four years? For me to be excited (about a space), it has to be something Im really confident can work.

Many restaurants want landlords to pay for upgrades like new floors or better ventilation, sometimes just to bring spaces up to code. But improvements like that have been a big source of conflict between landlords and restaurateurs, said Delancey, the Realtor.

Right now with COVID, were having a really hard time trying to get the landlords to pay, because they havent had any income themselves, she said.

Gordon, who owns the Berkeley building where Spanish restaurant La Marcha is located, said he provided concessions to tenants during the shutdown while managing his own expenses.

Were successful when theyre successful, he said of landlords and tenants. At the same time, we all have the bills to pay. We all have overhead.

Another factor contributing to high costs for smaller businesses: San Franciscos bureaucracy, said DeRose. The permits that business owners need to convert, say, a retail space into a restaurant space can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take years to obtain. This issue recently struck a chord in San Francisco with the saga of Jason Yu, who wanted to open a matcha ice cream shop in the Mission but faced so many permitting problems that he gave up after spending $200,000. City officials  and business owners like Schwab  hope Proposition H, a ballot measure passed last year that mandates the city complete most permit reviews within 30 days, will successfully simplify and expedite the notoriously arduous permitting process.

If we dont get our permitting straightened out, restaurant spaces are going to dry out, DeRose said. If there arent new restaurants added to the marketplace  which there cant be if permitting is too slow  then people will pay more and more.

Still, there are some positive changes in commercial leases due to the pandemic. New leases tend to include language such as reducing rent if the city enters another lockdown, according to DeRose. Delancey said shes still brokering some good deals for clients, such as three months of free rent, and some lease prices are coming down by as much as 5%.

Chef Eric Ehler, whos hunting for a spot in San Francisco to turn his Outta Sight pizza pop-up into an East Coast-style slice shop, actually sees the heated real estate competition as a sign of optimism  that the Bay Area restaurant industry is coming back. He hopes landlords support that revival by being flexible on leases and rents to help small businesses expand.

Its feeling like post-recession where people are wanting to be more creative. I hope the landlords  want to support local business and support growth of the city, he said.

Janelle Bitker and Elena Kadvany are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com, elena.kadvany@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JanelleBitker, @ekadvany
The Bay Areas high rates of COVID-19 vaccinations and low coronavirus case rates are paying off in a big way when it comes to hospitalizations.

According to data collected and analyzed by The Chronicle, ICU admissions of COVID-19 patients in Bay Area hospitals are at an all-time pandemic low. On May 14, there were 55 ICU patients with COVID-19 in Bay Area hospitals, which ties the pandemic low of 55 a year earlier on May 29, 2020.

Overall Bay Area coronavirus hospitalizations totaled 234 on May 13, which was nearing the all-time low of 220 on June 18, 2020.

Those numbers contrast starkly with the dire winter months, when hospitals across California were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, many reaching 0% available ICU capacity. At one point the Bay Area dipped below 1% ICU availability, reaching a high of 2,210 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Jan. 7 and 539 ICU admissions on Jan. 8.

It is so gratifying and comforting to see this drop in hospitalizations, said John Swartzberg, infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley. The drop in hospitalizations is clearly related to the dramatic decline in infections with SARS CoV-2 here in the Bay Area. And this is primarily attributable to these marvelous vaccines.

Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, said high rates of vaccinations that prioritized the Bay Areas most vulnerable populations, and natural immunity from the brutal winter surge, have contributed to the dramatic decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Together this created a force field that kept even the variants at bay, scaring them away from the Bay Area and the state, he said. This could not be achieved without the stalwarts of alignment of local politics and public health, a fierce commitment in the Bay Area to eliminating disparities and a population with a general trust in science and in health care.

Coronavirus vaccination rates across the Bay Area overall are quite high. As of Sunday, county dashboards showed the following figures, from highest to lowest:

 Marin County: 86.5% with at least one vaccine dose, 73.6% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 San Mateo County: 77.4% with at least one vaccine dose, 57.7% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 San Francisco: 76% with at least one vaccine dose, 60% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 Santa Clara County: 74.7% with at least one vaccine dose, 57.6% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 Alameda County: 74.3% with at least one vaccine dose, 54.9% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 Sonoma County: 70% with at least one vaccine dose, 56% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 Contra Costa County: 69.4% with at least one vaccine dose, 58.6% fully vaccinated (residents 12 and older)

 Napa County: 67.2% with at least one vaccine dose, 51% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

 Solano County: 60% with at least one vaccine dose, 43% fully vaccinated (residents 16 and older)

Kellie Hwang is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kelliehwang
The largest union of registered nurses in California is asking state officials not to follow new guidance from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention on lifting mask mandates for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, union officials said Sunday.

The California Nurses Association, an affiliate of the nations largest union of registered nurses, condemned the CDCs guidance, calling it a big blow to the safety and welfare of the nurses, front line workers, as well as the patients, CNA president Zenei Triunfo-Cortez said in a phone interview Sunday.

We have to understand that the pandemic is not over, said Triunfo-Cortez. There continues to be high rates of infection and people continue to die, even nurses.

The CDC on Thursday said that fully vaccinated people do not have to wear a mask in most indoor and outdoor settings, bringing relief to some and surprise to others who feel that it was too soon.

On Sunday, the California Department of Public Health told The Chronicle, We are reviewing the CDC guidance  dont anticipate well weigh in until our review is complete.

Triunfo-Cortez said the CNA has been in contact with California state leglislators and is seeking their support on not lifting the mask mandate based on science.

The National Nurses United, the nations largest union of registered nurses, released a statement Friday saying the CDC guidance was not based on science.

The union said some information about COVID-19 vaccines was still unclear, like how long protection will last, and how well they prevent asymptomatic and mild infections and transmission of the virus.

Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and we are outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century, NNU executive director Bonnie Castillo said in a statement.

More than 35,000 cases of coronavirus are being reported each day with over 600 people dying daily in the U.S., according to the NNU. The union also called on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an emergency temporary standard for infectious diseases to protect nurses and health care workers.

The CDC released its guidance based on data that shows coronavirus vaccines are up to 95% effective at preventing illness and about 100% at preventing hospitalization or death. Data also shows that vaccines appear to be good at stopping transmission, and are effective against known variants.

But some health equity experts worry that the guidance was released too soon and could impact Black and Latino essential workers who want to get vaccinated but havent been able to yet.

Im enthusiastic about the guidelines  theyre fantastic and sound. The problem is, we have huge gaps in whos vaccinated, Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, vice dean for population health and health equity at UCSF, told The Chronicle Saturday. We should probably wait a few more weeks until as many people as possible can get vaccinated.

Triunfo-Cortez echoed Bibbins-Domingos worries about the CDCs guidance, saying it will disproportionately affect Black people, Indigenous people and people of color.

There has been so much inequity in the vaccine rollout and racial inequity in who is a frontline worker put most at risk by this guidance, Triunfo-Cortez said. The impact of the CDCs guidance update will be felt disproportionately by workers of color and their families and communities.

Triunfo-Cortez said vaccinations are just one way to stop the spread of the virus. She worries that people will let their guard down on safety measures  like hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks  and cases will begin to surge again.

The reason why our numbers are a little bit low compared to what it was in the past is because of these measures, she said. This is not the time to let our guards down and stop wearing masks because the virus can be transmitter via aerosol.

The CDC did not immediately answer a request for response to the criticism.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @jesssmflores
The SF Eagle was not the first leather bar in San Francisco, but it is the first to be recommended for city landmark status  and if it passes through the Board of Supervisors, it will probably be the last leather bar standing.

The low-slung saloon at 12th and Harrison burnished its fame in the 2020 presidential election when it served as a polling station. But that, and its annual Thanksgiving dinner giveaway, were the only days its double doors have been open since March 13, 2020.

The first hearing by the Historic Preservation Commission will address its application at a virtual meeting Wednesday.

If it is landmarked as expected, the Eagle will live on as a memorial to at least 22 staffers who died in the AIDS epidemic, including bartender Dennis Yount, one of the earliest attributed casualties. It will also serve as tribute to the traditional home of the Thursday night Bare Chest Calendar competition.

This is one of the oldest LGBTQ bars in San Francisco and the longest operating SoMa Leather LGBTQ space, said Supervisor Matt Haney, who represents the neighborhood and sponsored the resolution, with soldiering by the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District, which was formed in 2019 and runs from Howard to Harrison streets and Division to Seventh streets. Within that swath, the term leather is not a fabric. It is a lifestyle.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle 2015

Generally people consider a leather bar to have an aesthetic that tends to be robust or dominant and it attracts a clientele that is interested in various and sundry fetishes, said Bob Goldfarb, president of the district. The drive to landmark the Eagle is the first political action for the district.

LGBTQ bars are an important part of our citys culture, and theyve been disappearing, Haney said.

Located at the bend in the road where South of Market merges with the Mission, the Eagle was once a bookend to the Stud, another famous leather bar four blocks east. Through the 1990s you could watch the customers shiver in their chaps as they made a bare-bottom commute along the Harrison Street sidewalk from one to the other late into a foggy summer night. But the commute was permanently disrupted when the Stud closed for good one year ago.

The Eagle itself is endangered, as made evident by its only exterior signage  stark white against the Eagles black facade  offering the building for sale. Bar owner Lex Montiel, 49, has two years left on his lease with a 10-year option. But he has been around the leather bars since emigrating from Mexico City in the early 1990s, and hes seen how this story ends. He used to be among those making that nightly commute from the Stud to the Eagle.

The leather bars have disappeared over the years because of the gentrification. This has always been a community space that has a lot of history,  he said during an interview in the doorway. It needs to be protected for the future.

The Eagle is one of a flurry of LGBTQ landmark applications that, if passed, will nearly double the number of designated sites from four to seven. This month, the Martin-Lyon House in Noe Valley  the home of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the first same-sex couple to be legally wed in California  was unanimously approved by the board and awaits the mayor signature.

These are part of a concerted effort by the Planning Department and the Historic Preservation Commission to landmark more sites that have associations with underrepresented communities, said Alex Westhoff, senior preservation planner with Planning Department.

The Eagle would be the second gay bar to be landmarked, after the Twin Peaks Tavern, which was unique in offering picture windows on Castro Street, inviting the world to look in. The Eagle lacks windows but makes up for it by flying a huge leather pride flag bearing the colors of a red heart against black, blue and white stripes. The flag marks the Eagle Plaza, which is part of an adjacent development, making it the first leather plaza in the world, Montiel said. The bar and the Eagle Plaza cannot exist one without the other.

The plaza, which has not yet officially opened, will extend the Eagle patio from the side yard to the front by way of a barn door in the fence. There will be a historic marker in the parklet, which Montiel calls the big deck, and the 235-customer capacity will be twice that with the outdoor area.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

This will vastly expand the possibilities for employing the Eagle as a location for fundraising, which has been part of its charter since it opened in 1981.

The Eagle has been a central institution for the local leather communities for nearly four decades, said Gayle Rubin, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, who has done academic research on the leather community. It is an irreplaceable social and political hub.

The interior decor is not irreplaceable, and has already been replaced a few times with ownership changes. The lighting and furnishings were moved to the Hole in the Wall Saloon on Folsom Street, before Montiel took over the Eagle in 2012. The Bare Chest Calendar competition has also moved, to the Powerhouse, a younger leather bar, also on Folsom. But its Sunday Beer Busts will return.

A lot of leather bars have come and gone, said Larry Rich, Big Daddy for the Bare Chest Calendar. But the Eagle has been a constant.

Montiel does not know when he will be permitted to reopen the bar and dedicate the Eagle Plaza, but during its 14 months of closure he has been working on the interior as a surprise to offer his regulars. An even bigger surprise will come if he can find a way to buy the building, which would offer a level of protection even landmarking cannot.

Theres always a danger if bars like this are not protected, he said, as he stood in the doorway and watched the leather pride flag snap in the afternoon breeze. Were waiting to do a big inauguration.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf
With his political career on the brink of ruin amid multiple allegations of sexual assault, Windsor Mayor Dominic Foppoli turned to an old friend who had parlayed early loyalty and slight ties to Donald Trump into a multimillion-dollar lobbying business in Washington.

With the help of Robert Stryk, described by the Associated Press as one of the most successful lobbyists during the Trump presidency, Foppoli has waged an aggressive campaign to save his job that has alarmed many residents and local officials already upset over the allegations revealed in a Chronicle investigation last month.

The campaign hinges on an apparent attempt to shift the conversation away from the original Foppoli accusers by fiercely attacking Esther Lemus, a Windsor Town Council colleague and Sonoma County deputy district attorney who herself has accused Foppoli of sexual assault in a report to the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office.

Leading the barrage is Stryk, who laces a frantic speaking style with vulgar attacks on perceived enemies and wild claims that he possesses embarrassing private information that he plans to release imminently.

Among other claims, Stryk told The Chronicle that he may release a sex tape of Lemus and one of Foppolis friends captured by a surveillance camera at Foppolis winery north of Windsor. Stryk called this the nuclear option.

She knows if that tape comes out it will destroy her life, said Stryk, a former congressional aide whose prospects as a local politician ended in 2010 when he finished third in the mayoral election in Yountville after a series of conflicts with locals.

Lemus said she is petrified such a video may exist, telling The Chronicle she believes someone drugged her on the August 2020 night she was supposedly recorded at the winery, though she does not know who might have done it or how. She said she has gaps in her memory and was too intoxicated to consent to sexual contact.

He is terrorizing me, Lemus said of Foppoli. Hes not beating me with his fists, but hes continuing to violate and abuse me now with his viciousness in the media.

Foppolis attorney, Orchid Vaghti, declined last week to answer a series of questions about Lemus allegations and about the response by Foppoli and Stryk to other womens accounts of being sexually assaulted by the mayor. Vaghti said the questions were outside of Mr. Foppolis personal knowledge, impinge on the ongoing investigation or were not worthy of comment.

Across Sonoma County, elected officials have denounced Foppolis response to the scandal, though many details of his tactics have not been publicly revealed until now.

David Rabbitt, a county supervisor who has joined a chorus of people, including Foppolis older brother, in demanding the mayors resignation, said, I think its appalling to see, in this case, a predator trying to pass himself off as a victim.

Textbook denial and narcissism, said Chris Coursey, another county supervisor. Its the worst behavior in response to the worst behavior.

This account of Foppolis response to the allegations against him is based on more than two dozen interviews, as well as a review of text messages, emails and voice mails sent by Foppoli, Stryk and other representatives of the mayor.

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Foppoli has denied any misconduct, but has not addressed in detail the accounts of the women who have accused him of sexual assault. At an April 14 town meeting, the mayor  who was appointed to his seat in 2018 before winning the towns first mayoral election this past November  said, I know deep in my heart that I have done nothing criminally wrong and eventually will be cleared.

In an April 10 statement, he said he would choose not to share the true stories publicly at this juncture to avoid embarrassment to these women, who at one time engaged in consensual contact with me.

(no credit)

Foppolis strategy has unfolded in public statements and private phone calls in the six weeks since The Chronicle approached the mayor on April 5 with four womens allegations of sexual assault. Since then, four more women, including Lemus, have come forward with allegations of sexual assault or misconduct, and a group of residents has started a campaign to recall Foppoli.

Foppoli, 38, has not only declared his innocence but has sought to undermine the women, while taking aim at former allies who have urged him to leave office, calling them cowardly.

At the same time, Foppoli has cast himself as a victim, saying Lemus pressured him into a sexual relationship  though he has not explained how this could happen. Lemus, who is married, has denied that allegation, while declining to answer questions about whether she has ever had consensual sexual contact with Foppoli.

Critics saw Foppolis move against Lemus as a preemptive strike before Lemus could level her own allegations.

It seemed like he knew Councilwoman Lemus was coming forward  and trying to get ahead of it, said Lynda Hopkins, another county supervisor. That was sickening to me and revolting to me.

Behind the scenes, Foppoli informally enlisted Stryk, who reached out to The Chronicle and other media outlets, making threats and baseless claims and promising to provide or publicly release images and emails that would discredit women who have come forward.

Among Stryks assertions to The Chronicle was that he had hired James OKeefe, the right-wing figure known for conducting hidden-camera stings of liberals and journalists, to interview Foppolis accusers. The Chronicle sent an email Thursday seeking comment from OKeefe through his Project Veritas, but did not receive a response.

I dont do me too bullshit, said Stryk, who once owned a winery in Oregon and has a long history of legal and financial disputes. He said he knew Foppoli because his wife went to high school with him in Santa Rosa.

Everything I have, he said of the purported images and emails, Im going to release it slowly.  Were going to drip it out.

That Foppoli would not go quietly became clear on April 14, when Windsors Town Council members called an emergency hearing so they could vote to demand his resignation. Foppoli showed up and then presided over the meeting as residents unleashed their anger on him. The vote was 2-1, with Foppoli opposed.

But the mayors scorched-earth campaign took on new significance when an attorney for Lemus sent Vaghti a cease-and-desist letter.

Chronicle composite/

The lawyer, Oscar Pardo of Santa Rosa, wrote in the April 30 letter that Mr. Foppoli and/or his apparent agent, Mr. Robert Stryk, claim to be in possession of private and compromising video(s) taken of Ms. Lemus, and that Stryk had expressed his intent of leaking them to the media.

Stryk has admitted as much, repeatedly telling The Chronicle  which refused his requests to speak off the record  that Foppoli has a video of Lemus engaged in a sexual act at Christopher Creek Winery, which the mayor co-owns.

The Chronicle

On April 11, Stryk sent text messages to a Chronicle editor saying he wanted to negotiate the release of numerous Sex videos of Mrs. Lemus. The editor responded via text that The Chronicle would not engage in such a negotiation.

Lemus told The Chronicle that her report to the Sheriffs Office detailed perceived threats Foppoli made to release the video. Her lawyers letter to Foppoli demands that any such videos be preserved for legal claims, or a criminal investigation, and not be distributed anywhere other than to law enforcement in any form.

To date, we have not seen any videos though we have reason to believe they exist, the letter stated. We can only surmise that these videos have compromising sexual content to which Ms. Lemus never consented to participate in nor ever consented to be filmed and, it is our belief, that these are evidence of crimes against her.

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

The mayor of a town like Windsor has little power beyond that of a council member, running meetings and appointing people to boards and commissions but still representing just one of five votes. Many people who know Foppoli, however, said they are not surprised he is fighting calls for his resignation, saying that much of his identity is wrapped up in his role as mayor.

Until the towns inaugural mayoral election last November, the position was essentially a take-turns task passed every year to a different council member. But Foppoli capitalized on the lead role like no other Windsor official before him, boosting a wave of development and energizing a small town that had long sought greater notice in Wine Country.

Foppoli wore his new title with pride: He had at least three polo shirts and a jacket made with Windsors logo, his name and the title Mayor. At public events, he sometimes wore a sash emblazoned with the title.

During the Kincade Fire of 2019, Foppoli emerged in news articles and on social media as a sort of local hero, posting live updates and conducting interviews from the fire lines. The next year, as the pandemic took hold, Foppoli started a web series, Meals With the Mayors, designed to bring more attention to local businesses.

Dominic always wanted to be mayor, said former Town Council Member and Mayor Bruce Okrepkie, who has called for Foppoli to resign. I would say he liked the title.

When The Chronicle contacted Foppoli on April 5, seeking an interview about allegations of sexual misconduct, the mayor initially responded by asking for written questions. Im in meetings all day and have a dinner with my 95 year old grandfather this evening, he said in an email.

Reporters were instead contacted by Patrick Dorton, a Washington, D.C., media strategist whose business, Rational 360, recently collaborated with Stryks lobbying firm. Dorton said he was acting on the mayors behalf, seeking more information. The Chronicle shared details of four womens sexual assault allegations with Dorton in an April 5 phone call and with Foppoli in an email.

That evening, a Chronicle reporter began receiving calls via the messaging service WhatsApp from a man with an account initialed R.S. The person made false statements about the reporter and refused to identify himself. When asked directly whether he was Robert Stryk, he said no.

Reporters informed the man that they could not discuss sensitive allegations with an unknown person. Nevertheless, he called 43 times in a span of two hours, stopping only when a reporter blocked the account.

That evening, Stryk called a Chronicle editor and identified himself. He said he could provide off-the-record evidence that would refute the allegations. But The Chronicle insisted that all communications remain on the record.

Stryk made dramatic accusations against the women in the story, alleging that more than one of them had sent nude photos to Foppoli, and had asked him to send explicit pictures of himself after the alleged assaults took place. Stryk has provided no evidence to back up the claim in the weeks since.

Allison Britton, one of four women in The Chronicles April 8 investigation who accused Foppoli of sexual assault, called Foppolis response to the allegations predictable but disgusting.

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

I dont think theres any viable defense against eight women who were all total strangers at the time of their credible accusations, Britton said. So attacking the women is a last-ditch effort of a desperate man who is finally facing the inevitable day that he would pay for decades of predatory actions.

Stryk also said on April 5 that he and an associate at his lobbying firm had killed an investigation into Foppoli by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat two years earlier, suggesting the womens accounts were not solid enough to publish.

Rick Green, who became executive editor of the North Bay newspaper this year, said in an email that, to the best of his knowledge, the staff had no interaction with Stryk until April 2021.

The Press Democrat has said it made a mistake in not allowing a reporter  who now works for The Chronicle and is one of the reporters leading its investigation of Foppoli  to pursue womens allegations of sexual assault against Foppoli in 2019. In an April 9 editors note, Green apologized to readers and reasserted the organizations commitment to fair and assertive investigative journalism.

The day after The Chronicle first approached Foppoli, he called Rob Muelrath, a political consultant based in Santa Rosa who had run two of his campaigns.

Muelrath said in an interview that he listened as the mayor explained that four women had told The Chronicle that Foppoli sexually assaulted them. Foppoli told Muelrath he was completely innocent and needed help crafting a response.

The Chronicle story had not yet run. But reporters seeking an interview with Foppoli had sent him details of the womens allegations, which ranged from groping to nonconsensual oral copulation to rape. In one incident in 2019, a woman, then 21, and her friend said they believed they had been drugged while attending a party at Christopher Creek Winery. Muelrath asked to see the email.

When I read that, I severed ties, Muelrath said. I told him he needed a lawyer and he needed to resign.

I wont, Foppoli responded, in a text exchange reviewed by The Chronicle.

Foppoli ultimately declined to be interviewed by Chronicle reporters. The investigation was published April 8 with a statement issued by Foppolis then-attorney, Bethany Kristovich of Los Angeles, in which he categorically denied all the allegations and emphasized his support of women. Soon after, Foppoli hired a criminal lawyer, Vaghti of Santa Rosa.

Hours after The Chronicle published its story, Lemus said Foppoli called her and left a message, asking for her support.

Ive been with you through a lot of dark days, Foppoli said in a voice mail reviewed by The Chronicle. Ive always stood by you, and I ask that you do the same for me. At least dont come after me.

Lemus, a former Windsor school board member who was elected to the council in 2018 and has explored running for county district attorney, said she had reason to be concerned that Foppoli would retaliate against her if she called for his resignation. She told The Chronicle that last year, Foppoli had informed her he had a video of her engaging in a sexual act.

Alvin A.H. Jornada/Special to The Chronicle

In lengthy interviews, Lemus, who once considered Foppoli a friend and political mentor, said she believes she was drugged and sexually assaulted on two occasions in 2020 after drinking wine at events with Foppoli and others. Foppoli has denied assaulting her.

In the first incident, in February, Lemus said she believes she was sodomized while unconscious at her home after a crab feed fundraiser, citing pain and bleeding she suffered. Lemus said she has gaps in her memory and does not remember leaving the fundraiser, but said Foppolis girlfriend at the time, Amy Holter, later told her Foppoli and a friend had taken Lemus home. Lemus said Holter told her that Foppoli had said he tucked you in.

In an email Saturday, Holter said, I am fully cooperating with the sheriffs investigation into this matter, so I cannot make any public comment at this time.

In the second case, involving the purported video, Lemus said another of Foppolis friends engaged her in oral copulation in Christopher Creek Winerys barrel room when she was too intoxicated to consent.

In both instances, Lemus said she believes she may have been slipped date-rape drugs because she had amnesia for large portions of the nights and, in both cases, became violently ill and was vomiting.

Ive had alcohol before, and I know how I react to it, Lemus said. She described the moments before suffering a gap in her memory at the winery as like being under the effects of anesthesia.  It is just kind of a dream.

Lemus allegations differ in some ways from Foppolis other accusers who spoke with The Chronicle. Unlike these women, Lemus did not volunteer to come forward. Rather, she said that after reporting her allegations to law enforcement, she was forced to publicly speak out because Foppoli publicly attacked her.

The Chronicle has sought to independently corroborate the womens allegations of sexual assaults, reviewing contemporaneous messages and journals and speaking to witnesses. That was possible in some respects when it came to Lemus account, but not in others, in part because she wanted to keep some information private and in part because she said she didnt want to compromise the criminal investigation.

The Chronicle did not immediately publish the allegations Lemus and Foppoli made about each other, opting to investigate them further. Lemus cease-and-desist letter then elevated the public importance of the accusations and the statements Stryk had made to The Chronicle.

After the first incident after the crab feed, Lemus said, her husband tried to persuade her to go to the hospital, but she was afraid she would have to file a police report and didnt want to go public.

Here I was a professional, a lawyer, a woman who was respected in the community, a councilwoman  and it was humiliating, she said. I didnt want people to blame me.

She said she was also conflicted because she had considered Foppoli a friend. Within a week of the first alleged assault, Lemus said, she approached Foppoli and asked him twice whether something had happened between them that night. She said he told her, No, and that Lemus had been trying to kiss him all night.

I was so humiliated and thought that I drank too much, so I apologized. I told him that I had no recollection of doing that, she said. I was horrified over the whole thing.

In a statement last month to The Chronicle, Foppolis attorney, Vaghti, said Lemus was at a local beer establishment event with Foppoli and Windsors town manager less than twenty-four hours after the alleged assault.

The allegations recently made by Esther Lemus do not add up, Vaghti said. It is incomprehensible that she would be out at a beer drinking event, and more so consuming alcohol with her assaulter again.

Lemus said she attended an event at Russian River Brewing in Windsor four days after the alleged incident, but that a large group of people were there with her in addition to Foppoli and the town manager.

I was still on the council with Dominic and had a job to do and was invited to support the local brewery, Lemus said. Its not unusual to meet in a group to support Windsor businesses, and we regularly join together at establishments to meet business owners.

Lemus said she had never been in that type of situation before and was unsure how to work through it. I still liked him, oddly enough, and thats a confusing situation to be in, she said. I was asking myself, Why am I not angry and hateful?

But after the second incident at the winery, Lemus said, she told Foppoli she couldnt socialize with him anymore. She said he pushed back, telling her he hadnt been involved. Thinking Foppoli was referencing the incident in the barrel room, Lemus said she told Foppoli that nothing had happened.

He immediately said, I have it on camera, Lemus said. She said she was incredulous and responded, You do? She said Foppoli told her, Esther, I have cameras all over the winery. My phone notifies me whenever there is activity in any places, and I get alerts.

Lemus said Foppoli told her she was lucky because he was the only one with control of the videos. Lemus said she told Foppoli to delete the video. She said he told her, Dont worry, Ive got you covered. Its taken care of.

Two of Foppolis co-owners at Christopher Creek Winery did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.

Marlena Sloss/Special to The Chronicle

Lemus said she was so stunned and confused by the events of the evening at the winery that on Aug. 26, 2020, about three weeks later, she scheduled an appointment to have her hair follicles tested for date-rape drugs.

The sample was taken on Sept. 10, the first available appointment at the lab, Lemus said. The lab tested for GHB and other sedatives, opioids and barbiturates, among other substances, but did not find unnaturally elevated levels, according to a lab report Lemus provided to The Chronicle.

Toxicologists told The Chronicle it is possible to detect such substances in hair follicles about a month after exposure. But, they said, hair follicle testing is typically used to evaluate chronic exposure to substances and would be unlikely to detect a one-time exposure.

On Sept. 24, Foppoli posted a video of Lemus on his Mayor Foppoli Instagram page, in which Lemus expressed her support of Foppoli, pointing to his responses to the pandemic and wildfires, among other challenges.

Dominic Foppoli has the experience and the leadership that Windsor needs, and I am proud to say I endorse Dominic Foppoli for the next mayor of Windsor, Lemus said.

Lemus told The Chronicle she had previously endorsed Foppoli for mayor when he first announced his candidacy in May 2019. After the two incidents, she said, she was really conflicted but continued to publicly support his campaign, including recording a video endorsing him, because she was afraid of what might happen if she didnt.

I wasnt ready to go public, I wasnt sure I was ever going to be ready, Lemus said. I was concerned if I withdrew my endorsement, what questions would come up.

She said she continued to worry about the purported video. When she asked Foppoli about it a second time, months later, she said Foppoli again told her he had taken care of it. I wasnt convinced that he had gotten rid of it, Lemus said. And I did wonder if he would use it to try and control me and my actions.

But on April 8, as she read the four womens allegations against Foppoli in the initial Chronicle investigation, Lemus said she decided she needed to call for his resignation. Shortly after noon, she posted to Facebook and Twitter, announcing that she was saddened for the victims and disgusted by the allegations against Dominic Foppoli.

Within about an hour, Lemus said, she received a phone call from a Press Democrat reporter who had apparently spoken to Foppoli. According to Lemus, the reporter told her Foppoli had referenced wild Studio 54 parties at his winery and said he had a video of the council member. Lemus said she told the reporter that would not change her position on asking Foppoli to resign.

At about the same time, roughly 1:15 p.m., Stryk called The Chronicle and said he had compromising sexual information about Lemus. The Chronicle did not immediately follow up and first interviewed Lemus two days later.

Lemus said she believes Foppoli was trying to send her a message. Green, the Press Democrat executive editor, declined to comment on the conversation.

It was that day, Lemus said, that she contacted the Sheriffs Office, describing both the alleged assaults and the perceived threat of the video.

I felt that I was being blackmailed and extorted by Foppoli, she said. That day I knew, without a doubt, I felt in danger.

The Sheriffs Office would not comment, citing its active investigation.

An unpaid adviser to Trumps 2016 campaign with a handful of key contacts in Trumps orbit, Stryk rocketed to prominence as the surprise presidential victory upended power and influence in D.C., federal lobbying records and published reports show.

His firm, which changed its name last year from Sonoran Policy Group to Stryk Global Diplomacy, locked up more than $10 million in deals, representing companies and interest groups as well as foreign governments seeking to rehabilitate their image in Washington.

Clients included Bahrain and Somalia, which in 2018 wanted to reverse the inclusion of Somalia in the travel ban, according to contract documents available online.

Stryk helped arrange a 2018 trip to Bahrain by Rudy Giuliani, who was seeking a security consulting contract with the government, the New York Times reported. Last year, a law firm hired Stryk for $2 million to try to ease sanctions on Nicolas Maduros government in Venezuela, which the U.S. views as illegitimate. The arrangement ended after an outcry, the Associated Press reported.

Stryks tactics in Windsor have struck some people, including those in Lemus circle, as reminiscent of the 45th president, full of misinformation, repeated name-calling and deflection.

In recent weeks, Chronicle reporters and an editor speaking to Stryk by phone have often hung up on him during his tirades, only to have him call back eight or 10 times.

As Lemus began to speak out against Foppoli, Stryk intensified attacks on her. On April 11, Stryk told The Chronicle he intended to use the purported winery sex video to undermine Lemus credibility.

Alvin A.H. Jornada/Special to The Chronicle

The Chronicle asked Stryk why he and Foppoli thought it was appropriate to keep such a video and threaten to release it. Its his right to tape people in his private business, Stryk said. She went there of her own volition, drank wine and committed sexual acts.

Stryk said Lemus would hold sway over a potential criminal prosecution of Foppoli. The Sonoma County District Attorneys Office has recused itself, however, citing the conflict created by Lemus allegations. The California Attorney Generals Office has taken over the case.

On April 29, a reporter with Santa Rosa radio station KSRO called Traci Carrillo, a local lawyer representing Lemus, and asked about a video of Lemus, Carrillo said. The reporter indicated Stryk had said he was going to release it, according to Carrillo. The cease-and-desist letter went out the next day.

On May 3, Stryk made an appearance on KSRO, making a string of derisive accusations against Lemus. He said Foppoli was like a son, though, at 45, Stryk is only seven years older.

I want to thank these courageous women whove come forward with these great stories, because their stories should be heard, Stryk said of the original accusers. But unfortunately their stories have now been muted, they have been completely disregarded because of the lies from this fabricator, philanderer, adulteress, alcoholic that is your D.A.

Stryk repeated these names more than 10 times in a 13-minute interview. He denied to host Steve Jaxon having seen a sex tape, though he has told The Chronicle the opposite: Ive watched it, he said on April 11. Its brutally bad for her.

Stryk told Jaxon, I never spoke to anybody in the press about a sex tape, even though he had spoken to The Chronicle about it.

Mayor Foppoli will never resign, Stryk said on the air. He did nothing wrong.

On Thursday, a Chronicle reporter spoke to Stryk by phone. He told the reporter he would not answer any questions for this story without a promise that the newspaper would include a quotation from him, in the story, calling another reporter a misogynistic expletive. After the newspaper declined, the call ended with the reporter hanging up as Stryk repeated the expletive over and over.

Alvin A.H. Jornada/Special to The Chronicle

Though some aspects of Foppolis response to the allegations against him have not been made public until now, the maneuvering has incensed many residents and local elected officials and reinforced their calls for Foppoli to resign. The situation is unprecedented for Windsor: a standoff between its mayor and just about everybody else.

If you do love this town, Windsor resident Amanda Mauer said to Foppoli during the six-hour emergency Town Council meeting on April 14, please do not drag us through a recall.

Appearing at the meeting via Zoom, Foppoli calmly listened as dozens of residents, many calling him a rapist, pleaded with him to resign and lambasted his arrogant decision to host the meeting.

I dont appreciate you facilitating this meeting, telling us to mute and unmute like youre giving us power to speak, a man who identified himself as Michael Titone said.

After the meeting, Foppoli announced he was stepping away from some of his mayoral duties pending the sheriffs investigation, but would not resign. He left his role as CEO of Christopher Creek Winery, according to his brother, co-owner Joe Foppoli.

The mayors critics are not satisfied. The recall effort officially began April 29. On May 6, Foppoli filed his formal response, attacking the Windsor residents leading the campaign. They seek to advance their own leadership by any means necessary including tearing me down with false allegations, he said.

Such an election, which could cost the town anywhere from about $50,000 to $80,000, is unlikely to be held before the end of this year. Foppolis term is up in November 2022.

Windsor Vice Mayor Sam Salmon said he thinks Foppoli may view stepping down as an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. But whatever the outcome of any criminal investigations, Salmon said, the passage of time wont return Foppolis credibility.

He wont be able to govern in the near future from what I see, regardless of any outcomes, Salmon said. The perception of impropriety is what elected officials take on when we decide to pull papers and try to get elected. Its not a matter of truth and guilt, its the perception of who you are.

On May 2, as a fire tore through two Windsor homes, Foppoli reopened his public Dominic Foppoli, Mayor of Windsor Facebook page to post about the blaze. Hed earlier taken down the page, which had been overwhelmed by comments condemning his alleged misconduct. Now, he instructed residents to please avoid the area of the fire.

Myself or the town will update if anything changes, he wrote.

One person thanked Foppoli. But within minutes, the post was overrun with comments from people accusing Foppoli of using a public safety matter to distract from the sexual assault allegations. One commenter suggested that Foppoli had only posted so he can pretend hes a hero instead of a rapist!

Shortly after, Foppolis page was once again taken down.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Julie Johnson, Rachel Swan and Demian Bulwa contributed to this report.

Alexandria Bordas, Cynthia Dizikes and Matthias Gafni are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: alexandria.bordas@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com, matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @CrossingBordas, @cdizikes, @mgafni
As covid virus spreads in Tamil Nadu, more refugees from Sri Lanka want to come home By S. Rubatheesan More than a dozen who have so far come here illegally have been sent to quarantine centres; two tested positive View(s): View(s):

With India witnessing the worst phase of the global COVID-19 pandemic amidst life-threatening shortages of drugs, vaccines, oxygen, hospital beds and medical equipment, more and more Sri Lankan refugees are fleeing or want to flee the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu by taking the illegal sea route to reach Sri Lanka.

The Sunday Times last week reported how a Sri Lankan refugee woman left her husband in Tamil Nadu and arrived in Sri Lanka together with her two sons in a boat operated by Tamil Nadu fishermen cum human smugglers to save herself and her two boys from the deadly virus.

The Sunday Times learns that so far more than a dozen Sri Lankans who fled to Tamil Nadu to escape the woes of the separatist war have come back to northern Sri Lanka after they undertook the illegal sea journey.

They were rounded up and sent to quarantine centres. Two of them tested positive.

Their test samples have been forwarded to COVID-19 testing laboratory at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura to determine whether they were afflicted with the Indian variant B.1.617.2 of the virus, according to a Northern Province health official.

One of those tested positive was a nine year-old boy. He was among the four people returned to Jaffna on Wednesday from the Mandapam refugee camp at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadus southern tip, taking the illegal sea passage. They found shelter in a Gurunagar residence. PCR tests showed that in addition to the boy, an elderly person from the household were infected with the virus.

The other infected person was a Jaffna trader. He flew to Tamil Nadu before Sri Lanka recorded a spike in the number of cases and imposed a travel ban from passengers from India. The trader paid a human smuggler Rs 100,000 for the trip back in a fishing vessel.

The boat was intercepted by a Sri Lanka Navy patrol. The trader was sent to a Karainagar quarantine centre where he tested positive. Four people, including the two skippers of the vessels, were taken into custody.

More than 75,000 Sri Lankan refugees are residing at seven refugee camps across Tamil Nadu. The number of people testing positive for the new variant of the virus is on the rise within the closely guarded Mandapam camp in Rameswaram, refugees alleged.

Rajitha* (32), a Sri Lankan refugee from Trincomalee, fled to India in 2009. Speaking to the Sunday Times from the Mandapam refugee camp, she claimed refugees were being marginalised and discriminated against by health officials implementing the state governments COVID-19 health initiatives. There are no proper testing carried out inside the camp; neither are there adequate quarantine centres although the number of COVID cases are rising, she said.

As of now, 21 camp residents who tested positive for the virus have been isolated in small huts inside the camp. We came here to escape the war but now many of us want to return home rather than contracting the virus here and die in a pathetic condition, said Rajitha, a mother of three young children.

She said she had registered with a local non-government organisation to return home legally with her family but the pandemic had disrupted her plans.

The state government provides dry rations to the refugees. In addition, it also gives them monetary assistance. The head of a refugee family receives INR 1000 (Rs 2,688) a month, other adults INR 750 (Rs 2000) each and children INR 400 (Rs 1075) each.

This livelihood allowance is not enough to feed the family as the cost of living has been skyrocketing following the outbreak of the pandemic. My husband works as a labourer to support the family. I have pawned the jewellery I brought from Sri Lanka to support the family over years. There is no way for us to survive other than returning home, Rajitha said.

Even Tamil Nadu political parties which cried for equal rights for Tamils in Sri Lanka turned a blind eye to the hardships faced by the Lankan refugees, said another refugee, stressing that they visit them only during election campaigns.

Early this week, Vidhuthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader D. Ravikumar sought immediate medical intervention for the Sri Lankan refugees in Thumbalahalli camp in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu.

According to a post published on his official Facebook page, he had written to the Indian authorities to ensure that medical facilities were provided to Sri Lankan refugees who tested positive. Two refugees tested positive were critically ill, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Navy said that as part of its measures to prevent the new Indian variant of the COVID virus from entering Sri Lanka, it had stepped up around-the-clock patrols along the International Maritime Boarder Line (IMBL) and was cracking down on Indian vessels engaged in human smuggling.

The Navy is also carrying out awareness programmes in coastal areas of the North, urging the residents to be vigilant regarding the possible arrivals of illegal immigrants and inform the authorities if any suspicious activity is observed in their neighbourhoods.

(* Name was changed to protect the persons identity.)

(Additional reporting by

N. Lohathayalan)
WASHINGTON (AP)  What insurrection?

Flouting all evidence and their own first-hand experience, a small but growing number of Republican lawmakers are propagating a false portrayal of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, brazenly arguing that the rioters who used flagpoles as weapons, brutally beat police officers and chanted that they wanted to hang Vice President Mike Pence were somehow acting peacefully in their violent bid to overturn Joe Biden's election.

One Republican at a hearing Wednesday called the rioters a mob of misfits." Another compared them to tourists. And a third suggested the sweeping federal investigation into the riot  which has yielded more than 400 arrests and counting  amounts to a national campaign of harassment.

Its a turn of events that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another target of the rioters, called appalling and sick, and it raises the possibility that the public's understanding of the worst domestic attack on Congress in 200 years  an attack that was captured extensively on video  could become distorted by the same kinds of disinformation that fueled former President Donald Trump's false claims of a stolen election. It was the lie about the election that motivated the rioters in the first place.

I dont know of a normal day around here when people are threatening to hang the vice president of the United States or shoot the speaker, or injure so many police officers, said Pelosi, who has pushed for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riots.

The hearing Wednesday was supposed to be the latest dive by congressional investigators into the chaos of Jan. 6  the missed warning signs, confusion and delays that allowed the rioters to terrorize the Capitol for an entire afternoon. But several Republicans used their rounds of questioning not to pepper the witnesses with questions but to downplay the brutal assault on America's seat of democracy.

Lets be honest with the American people  it was not an insurrection, and we cannot call it that and be truthful, said Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia serving his first term.

Clyde said one video feed of the rioters looked like they were on a normal tourist visit. Those in the video, taken in Statuary Hall, were able to enter the building after rioters broke through glass, pummeled officers and busted through the doors as lawmakers were frantically evacuated. They were headed to the House chamber where they tried to beat down the doors with lawmakers still inside.

Clyde wasnt the only Republican making that argument. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar portrayed a woman who was shot and killed by Capitol Police as she tried to break through a door next to the House chamber as a martyr. He said Ashli Babbitt was executed and noted she was an Air Force veteran who was wearing an American flag. The Department of Justice decided after an investigation not to charge the police officer who shot her.

The Justice Department, Gosar said, is harassing peaceful patriots across the country as federal prosecutors file charges against hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol and participated in the riot. The massive investigation, one of the largest in American history, remains ongoing with federal agents continuing to serve search warrants and attempting to locate dozens of other people still being sought for questioning.

Georgia Rep. Jody Hice also painted the rioters as the victims, noting that they were four of the people who died, including Babbitt. The other three suffered medical emergencies while part of the crowd laying siege to the Capitol. It was Trump supporters who lost their lives that day, not Trump supporters who were taking the lives of others, Hice said.

A fifth person, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, collapsed immediately after the insurrection and died the next day. Video shows two men spraying him and another officer with a chemical, but the Washington medical examiner said Sicknick suffered a stroke and died from natural causes. The men have been charged with assaulting the officers.

Two other officers took their own lives in the days afterward, and dozens more were hurt  including one officer who had a heart attack and others who suffered traumatic brain injuries and permanent disabilities. The union that represents the Capitol Police said some of the officers may never return to work.

The attempt to defend the insurrectionists came on the same day that House Republicans voted to oust Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney from their leadership team for repeatedly rebuking Trump for his false claims that the election was stolen. Cheney voted with Democrats to impeach Trump for telling his supporters hours before the Jan. 6 attack to fight like hell to overturn Bidens win. Trumps lies about widespread election fraud were rebuked by numerous courts, election officials across the country and his own attorney general.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who led the Democrats impeachment prosecution and sits on the Oversight Committee, said after the hearing that he believes that Republicans were emboldened and emancipated by Cheneys ouster earlier in the day.

They have declared themselves to be on the side of Donald Trump and the big lie, and the big lie now has spread outwards to include denial of what happened on Jan. 6, Raskin said.

Timothy Naftali, a professor of history and public service at New York University, says it is deeply cynical to set aside the insurrection as if it didnt happen. He compares it to political elites in Southern states after the Civil War who failed to examine its causes, which he says prevented racial reconciliation and healing and still affects the country to this day.

Political amnesia never helps, Naftali said. Its a source of poison.

Given the extensive record of the attack, captured in video and photos seen the world over, defending the insurrectionists required some creative omissions. One point Clyde emphasized was that the rioters never made it to the House floor  even though they tried, only to be held back by police officers with guns drawn. Some lawmakers were taking cover in the gallery of the chamber as they tried to beat down the doors.

I can tell you the House floor was never breached and it was not an insurrection," Clyde said. "This is the truth.

The mob did break into the Senate minutes after senators had evacuated, some carrying zip ties and tactical equipment. They rifled through desks and hunted for lawmakers, yelling where are they? They walked into Pelosis office, stealing a laptop and calling out her name while some of her staff huddled quietly under furniture.

Other Republicans  some quietly, some publicly  have made clear they dont agree with their colleagues.

I was there, said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who was caught in security video being diverted away from the rioters by a police officer. What happened was a violent effort to interfere with and prevent the constitutional order of installing a new president. And as such, it was an insurrection against the Constitution. It resulted in severe property damage, severe injuries and death.

Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, another Democratic member of the Oversight panel, says the Republican denials are wishful thinking that reverberates with their most partisan voters.

These folks passionately want what they want to be true, Quigley said after the hearing. So its no longer Ill believe it when I see it. Its Ill see it when I believe it.

____

Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro, Michael Balsamo and Nomaan Merchant contributed to this report.
As California roars back from the pandemic, budget leaders must prioritize public health by eliminating the needless exclusion of income-eligible immigrants from Medi-Cal. The governor and legislature can make a down payment toward the health of all Californians by ensuring that immigrants, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, have access to health care.

Everyone living in California, regardless of immigration status, will benefit for years to come if we invest in strengthening our health care system.

The pandemic forced public health officials to consider how equity affects our collective well-being. We witnessed this when leaders protected older adults from COVID-19 by prioritizing them for vaccines. Our state can build on the success of its COVID-19 response and make all low-income Californians eligible for Medi-Cal.

One year later, it is not too late for Gov. Newsom to return to his promise of Medi-Cal for all adults 65 and over. But with a seismic surplus of $75 billion, coverage for seniors is low-hanging fruit. The governor must act with courage and guarantee health care for all. If weve learned anything after this year, its that no one in our communities is healthy until we all are healthy.

Benyamin Chao, Los Angeles

Ghost gun crackdown

Megan Cassidys article on the proposed ghost gun ban in San Francisco is demonstrative of a spike in senseless, preventable violence in our communities.

If I were so inclined, at this very moment, I could purchase an 80% complete firearm with a slide parts kit. I could purchase using Bitcoin or another type of cryptocurrency. Expected shipping: 3-4 business days. When I get my package, all I need is two hours, a drill and sandpaper. I now have a fully operational handgun, barren of any serial number.

I know these things because my little brother, at 18 years old, was shot and killed one summer night with a ghost gun. For too many of us, gun violence is a face remembered, a bittersweet reminiscence and the pang of realizing there will be no more future memories.

I want to live in a country where firearms are not the leading cause of death for children and teens. I want to live where nascent hopes, dreams and aspirations are not cut off by the pull of a trigger.

That envisioned future necessitates closing the ghost gun loophole. It needs to start now.

Sabrina Mangseth, Carlsbad

(San Diego County)

An education case study

As some school districts have reopened and others have not, we have what economists delight in: a natural experiment. I invite The Chronicles editorial board to pick a similar district to SFUSD that reopened last September (perhaps San Antonio, for its similar size); then pick a measure of choice (graduation rate, dropout rate, standardized test score, etc.).

If over the next couple of years we see a statistically significant decline of SFUSD versus the opened school district, I will be forced to agree with their May 13 editorial that my work and that of colleagues was inadequate.

If the evidence shows otherwise, I invite The Chronicle to apologize to all the teachers busting their butts to provide support in this crisis.

M. Wolf, San Francisco

Better late than never

It was so nice to read that Tom Ammiano finally received his letter for running track after six decades of delay, after being denied it in 1959 because he was gay.

I worked with Tom one summer as a teacher and got to know him over the years when he was a supervisor. He was an upstanding individual who cared for and stood up for the little person his whole career. Im so glad his letter and sweater made his day.

Thank you, Tom, for all the years of service you have given to us.

Laura Hurley, San Francisco

Real water wasters

California household users are being urged to conserve water. How about asking frackers to cut back, too?

The amount of water they use to get a bit of gas is unconscionable. We need the water more than the gas.

California is again in drought. Lets ask big industrial water users to cut back to help the whole state.

Connie Suzuki, Daly City
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A San Francisco judge on Friday denied a request for a preliminary injunction from the city that would have barred four people previously arrested for selling drugs from entering the city's Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

Back in September 2020, City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed civil lawsuits against each of the defendants, seeking to bar them from entering a 50-square-block area in an effort to break the supply chain for addicts who congregate in the Tenderloin.

Herrera had argued that the defendants are not neighborhood residents and instead travel from other Bay Area cities to sell drugs in downtown San Francisco, contributing to the recent rise in overdose deaths.

In his ruling, Judge Ethan Schulman said current state laws "do not authorize issuance of the stay-away orders."

Schulman added, "Further, even if such orders were authorized by the statute, they would violate defendants' constitutional right to interstate travel."

The defendants -- Guadaloupe Aguilar-Benegas, Jarold Sanchez, Victor Zelaya and Christian Noel-Padilla -- were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

"The city's request that the court grant preliminary injunctions excluding our clients from a large portion of the city without regard to the impact on them and their family members is unprecedented and unconstitutional," ACLU attorney Annie Decker said earlier this month in a statement. "The city should spend public money on services that support vulnerable communities with safe and supportive housing, mental health, harm reduction, and other life-affirming services, not further driving people into poverty and desperation."

Copyright  2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.
Google Street View

Three people are dead after a series of fatal shootings in San Francisco over the weekend.

The first was on a Friday evening. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., officers from the Ingleside police station responded to reports of a shooting at Vienna Street and Persia Avenue. There, they located a male victim suffering from a gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. After an investigation, police arrested a 17-year-old boy, who was admitted to the city's Juvenile Justice Center on suspicion of murder, according to police.
Apart from pineapples and macadamia nuts, Kona coffee might be the most recognizable Hawaiian product to reach consumers on the mainland. Advertising campaigns in the 20th century seized on mainlanders fascination with the Hawaiian Islands, marketing the coffee as a novel delicacy.

That popularity has lasted well into the present day, even as Kona competes with a growing culture of coffee aficionados who delight in popularizing new varieties. The brand is protected in Hawaii, with different quality levels assigned based on state standards. There are about 650 Kona farms today, and the average farm size is between 3 and 7 acres. The Kona Coffee Belt is just 30 miles long and 2 miles wide, but it produces about 2.7 million pounds of processed coffee a year.

Coffee wasnt native to Hawaii, however. Its introduction to the islands is inseparable from the history of missionary work, capitalism and imperialism that transformed Hawaii in the 19th century. Hawaiis fertile soil and attractive growing climate drew in sugarcane and pineapple growers who organized large plantations dependent on cheap labor and exploitation in order to be profitable. Christian missionaries, too, needed ways for their work to be financially self-sustaining, and they saw agricultural work as a way to force Hawaiians to accept European standards while being self-sufficient.

Kona coffee developed because of those forces but also diverged in some ways. Whereas pineapples and sugar were grown on enormous plantations owned by white Europeans or Americans, Kona coffee was a product grown by predominantly Asian families on small farms.

pawel.gaul/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The first recorded coffee plant was brought to Hawaii in 1817 by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish friend of King Kamehameha who acted as an informal adviser. Hawaiis monarchy accepted Marins advice on military matters, but Marin was also interested in the Hawaiian economy. Marin introduced a number of different plants to Hawaii, including grapes and the pineapple, but coffee did not succeed initially.

In a second attempt at coffee cultivation, Chief Boki of Oahu imported plants from Brazil in 1825. At the same time, the United States was in the midst of a Christian revival movement known as the Second Great Awakening. Believers were encouraged to spread Christianity through missionary work, and the Kingdom of Hawaii was a popular place for U.S.-based missionary societies to work. The first missionaries arrived in 1820, and within a few years, mission stations were established.

Samuel Ruggles was one of those first missionaries, and when he was transferred from the Hilo Station to the Kona region, he brought some coffee trees with him. Ruggles had an agenda, of course: coffee cultivation would make the missions more financially viable while also weaning converted Hawaiians away from their traditional power structures. Merchants and missionaries persuaded chiefs to legalize private property in the 1830s, allowing them to begin buying up land and amassing economic power.

Kuulani Auld, program coordinator for the Kona Historical Society, explained why Kona was the ideal region to grow coffee in and how coffee farming got started. We have a lot of lava, she said, and that makes the soil rich. Kona tends to have the right mix of sun in the morning and rain in the afternoon for the plants to thrive, and the temperatures are mild.

Attempts by these early missionaries to establish viable coffee plantations foundered, however. The elevation doesnt really work well for large plantations, Auld explained. The first coffee plantation in the islands was opened in 1836, had a brief boom period when coffee was sold to Californians during the Gold Rush but was abandoned in 1858, in part because of a labor shortage. In the meantime, sugar was vastly more profitable, and it rapidly dwarfed coffee production, though sugarcane was poorly suited to Kona.

Persistence kept coffee alive in the islands. An English merchant and broker named Henry Greenwell liked coffee from Hawaii, and Greenwell would help make it famous. In 1873, there was an international exhibition in Vienna, and Mr. Greenwell took a barrel of Kona coffee along with the Hawaiian contingent. That created more global awareness of Hawaiian coffee, Auld explained.

International investors began looking for opportunities to invest in Hawaiian coffee. Large coffee plantations were established, and this time they would survive for a few decades.

The industry remained small compared to sugar, but coffee was able to find labor in part because of the demands of the sugar plantations. Japanese and Filipino laborers were brought to Hawaii under contracts to work on the sugar plantations, working under brutal conditions. Once these contracts were up, these young men would be out looking for other work, often coming to Kona, said Auld. If they came this way they might find work on a ranch where the rancher would lease 5 or 10 acres to them. These men could acquire one of these farm leases, that is what got them established in Kona. That gave them their economic independence. They would send home for a picture bride [a practice of immigrants selecting a wife with photographs from a matchmaker] and start families in Hawaii.

Coffee prices collapsed globally in 1899, leading many companies to subdivide their plantations and lease the land out to cut costs as much as possible. This allowed Japanese and Filipino laborers to establish small farms, which were just about the right size for growing coffee here, according to Auld.

By the 1930s, Kona was home to more than a thousand farms, a large majority of which were owned by Japanese and Filipino immigrants. Few of them were larger than 5 acres, and the farms generally stayed in the families that worked on them. Coffee became important enough as a crop that Hawaiis Department of Education instituted a so-called Coffee Vacation from August to November in lieu of summer vacation so that children could help their families harvest. Farmers formed coffee cooperatives to pool resources and to improve economies of scale.

Kona coffee remained a boom-and-bust industry for the next several decades: World War I was a good time for coffee growers, but the Great Depression sent coffee prices cratering all over again. Frosts in Brazil created temporary booms for Hawaiian coffee in the 1950s, but demand would recede once conditions returned to normal. Throughout these cycles, the smallholder farmers persisted.

The 1980s proved to be the decade in which Kona coffee finally stabilized. Sugarcane was no longer profitable to grow in Hawaii, while gourmet food enthusiasts became interested in Konas flavor profile. Auld explained that it was the farmers themselves who helped brand Kona: There was a big push in the 1980s for it to be a gourmet product, and the fact that farming here was mostly family-run farms, so they could have that branding. Thats still the case today.

Barbara Alper/Getty Images

Small Kona coffee farms became boutique producers who could attract coffee enthusiasts seeking unique products. Even as Hawaiis coffee competes with a wide variety of specialty coffees from around the world, it remains popular and sought-after.

For visitors who want to better understand Kona coffees history, theres the Kona Coffee Living History Farm. Auld explained what the farm is and how Kona Historical Society operates it. Our farm is a big part of Kona's history, she said. Acquired in 1913, it was leased by a Japanese immigrant family in 1913, probably arrived in 1900 as part of a labor contract on the other side of the island. The last family member left in the 1990s and KHS restored it to the 1930s period.

Visitors can see interpreters demonstrate what life was like for these farmers and how they worked. Many working farms also offer tours for curious visitors.

We have the original farmhouse, mill and life as it was on the farm, she continued. Through a living history interpretation, we tell the history of this family. You'll also understand what it was like for a Japanese immigrant to arrive in Hawaii. You'll understand how they acculturated.

Zeb Larson is a writer, historian and software developer. Find more of his work at zeblarson.com.
CHICAGO (AP)  Two Chicago police officers were shot and wounded Sunday after they responded to reports of gunfire and someone immediately fired at them, authorities said.

Both officers were released from the hospital late Sunday morning.

The suspect also was shot in the leg and taken to a Chicago hospital, police said. His injuries were not life-threatening.

The shooting occurred around 7:20 a.m. in an alley on the city's West Side. Police said the officers were responding to gunfire identified by ShotSpotter, the city's gunshot detection system, and to multiple calls about shots fired. The officers were in full uniform and readily identifiable as police, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a news conference with Police Superintendent David Brown.

This offender had no regard for their position as police officers. No regard. And began trying to kill them, Brown said.

One officer was shot in the shoulder above his protective vest and in the hip. He was hospitalized in critical but stable condition prior to his release, Brown said. The other officer was shot in the hand and was in good condition, police said early Sunday.

According to Brown, 16 Chicago police officers have been shot in the past 15 months and 108 officers have been fired upon.

Lightfoot said Sunday's shooting underscores the danger that our men and women in the Police Department face every single day. They run to danger to protect us. And we cant ever forget that.

She also called for an end to the flow of illegal guns and gun violence in Chicago.

Lets say a prayer for all involved, she said. Lets pray for peace in our city.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  Two St. Louis firefighters were injured Sunday when part of a burning building collapsed while they were battling the blaze.

St. Louis Fire Department spokesman Capt. Garon Mosby said one of the injured firefighters was treated at a local hospital and released Sunday morning. The other injured firefighter was treated and didn't need to be taken to the hospital.
COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP)  Two former schools in Georgia could be redeveloped after the school board agreed to sell them.

The Muscogee County school board voted Monday to sell the former Waverly Terrace School for $425,000, while it approved an amended agreement to sell the former Rose Hill School for $450,000, The Ledger-Enquirer reported. Both are in Columbus.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  Two Mississippi high school seniors are being recognized for their academic achievement with a special honor from the White House.

Matthew Landon Yin from Madison Central High School and Emmanuelle Rachel Teng from Oxford High School have been named U.S. presidential scholars, according to a news release from the Mississippi Department of Education.
KINGSTON, N.Y. (AP)  Six of New York's county executives called Sunday for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to update the state's COVID-19 protocols in accord with new federal guidelines that ease rules for fully vaccinated people.

The bipartisan group of county executives cited Thursday's announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that vaccinated Americans could stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings.
Did you write my name among the stars with this little Asteroid? Did I serve botany in that way? Not by knowledge of it but rather by love of this sleeping dreaming, daughter of Flora. So if I die childless, then I shall nevertheless leave a little immortal daughter, the Lindheimer texensis. (Lindheimera texana or Texas Star)

 Lindheimer writing to Dr. Georg Engelmann, 1845.

Myra Lee Adams Goffs whimsical portrait of the Father of Texas Botany places in his beard many of the plants Lindheimer identified. Indeed, botanizing was a lifelong pursuit of this German emigrant.

Born (1) May 21, 1801, in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, Ferdinand Jakob Lindheimer was the youngest of four sons born to a prominent family. Lindheimers father, Johann Hartmann Lindheimer, was an affluent merchant. Lindheimers mother, Jahanette, was a distant cousin of the German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Young Lindheimer was well educated, although no record of his having achieved a degree has been found. He trained at various German universities, pursuing a classical education. He left university in 1827 and took a teaching position at Frankfurts Bunsen Institute. At the Bunsen Institute, Lindheimer joined a circle of individuals who would later play an important role in his emigration to America.

The Bunsen Institute was a hotbed of young intellectuals. There, young idealists wanted to start a revolution throughout the German Confederation of States; a revolution that would allow individual freedoms. They wanted to: give voting rights to those who did not own real property; give voting rights to women; and spend public monies on sanitation reform. In April 1833, they in fact attempted a revolution. Hessen troops were moved into Frankfurt and their attempted revolution ultimately failed.

Many of the perpetrators fled Germany. Historically, the Bunsen revolutionaries are part of the Dreiiger, predecessors of those who in 1848 did the same thing: revolted and then had to flee Germany. Yet the 1833 and 1848 uprisings became crucial events leading to the 1871 unification of Germany.

Lindheimer left Germany in early 1834 and arrived from Rotterdam at the Port of New York on August 4.

In an overview of Lindheimers life, author John Williams suggests Lindheimers son, Max Eugen, attributed his fathers departure from Germany to family discord rather than to political discontent. Ragsdale, writing in the Texas State Historical Associations Handbook of Texas states that Lindheimers political affiliations had alienated his family and placed him at risk (so he) immigrated to the United States as a political refugee.

+7 Grant helping restore Lindheimer home in New Braunfels Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer was headed to help fight for Texas independence, washed ashore i

In Wanderers Between Two Worlds, Douglas Hale describes Lindheimer as relatively apolitical. Whatever his motivation to leave Germany, Lindheimer made his way to Belleville, Illinois. There he joined a group of German emigrants, some of whom had participated in the 1833 Frankfurt Putsch. Among the Frankfurt ex-pats were Gustav Korner (2), George Bunsen, Gustav Bunsen and Theodore Englemann. Engelmann was the cousin of Dr. Georg Engelmann, who would later play a prominent role in the worldwide distribution of Lindheimers plant collections.

Lindheimer spent the better part of that summer and early fall in Belleville before leaving in September 1834 for New Orleans. Writing later in his life about his time in Belleville, Lindheimer stated, as agreeable as this aimless and unproductive life was for us for a while, the far niente (Latin for doing nothing) and living on so little were not what we had come to America for. He further noted, the roof of our old log house was so full of holes that we could make astronomical observations from our beds.

As winter approached, Lindheimer and five compatriots steamed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Once there, however, they had great indecision. Some wanted to go to Texas, where land speculation was promising. Others pined for Mexico, where other Germans had established a plantation in the lush highlands above Veracruz.

Ultimately, three members of Lindheimers party decided to return to Illinois. Lindheimer and the Friedrich Brothers, Otto and Eduard, opted for Mexico. Once in Mexico, Lindheimer worked first on the Sartorius Plantation, which he initially described as a paradise. He remained in Mexico about 1 1/2 years before leaving for Texas, where according to Geiser, Lindheimer had gone to fight for liberty. Goyne hints at a more practical reason. Essentially, prices at the local store were costly and Lindheimer could not get ahead financially. Events had converged to renew his Texas plans.

In October 1835, the Mexican Congress had adopted Siete Leyes, or Seven Laws. These declarations were issued by President Santa Anna and were designed to promote a centralized system of government. The Laws were contrary to Mexicos Constitution of 1824 and were immediately unpopular. Unpopular not only in Mexico but also in Texas, where a revolution soon began.

Just imagine how these repressive laws must have seemed to someone who had been at Frankfurts Bunsen Institute. The Texas Revolution spoke to the soul of these German emigrants.

Lindheimer himself set sail for Texas. Unfortunately, he booked passage on a ship that was blown off course, causing his arrival to be exactly one day following the decisive Battle of San Jacinto (3). Gustav Bunsen, Lindheimers friend, fought and died at San Jacinto in General Sam Houstons Army of Texas. Lindheimer served in that Army for about 1 1/2 years before being discharged on Dec. 5, 1837, at Houston.

The Battle of San Jacinto occurred April 21, 1836. April, as many plant enthusiasts know, can be a good time to view wildflowers in Texas. Lindheimer is said to have performed guard duty at San Jacinto (4) and, with his commanding officers permission, botanized the adjacent grounds. Its at this juncture in the Lindheimer story that we begin to see evidence for his later recognition as the Father of Texas Botany.

Notes:

(1) Ferdinand Lindheimers tombstone in Comal Cemetery, New Braunfels, TX, reports 1801 as his year of birth. Evangelische Kirche Frankfurt Baptism records report his birth and baptism on the same day: 21 May 1802. This record is available through Ancestry.com

(2) Gustav Korner was later Lt. Governor of Illinois. George Bunsen later served at Superintendent of Schools in St. Clair, IL.

(3) Goyne believes this widely reported account is apocryphal and cites the date (May 18, 1836) on Lindheimers application for a Class 2M land grant as evidence for his arrival in Texas.

(4) In Robert Robinsons book, The Bremers and Their Kin in Germany and in Texas, the author states that Lindheimer guarded the Mexican General Santa Anna. This is the only such reference that I have located, and it seems curiously omitted by other writers.

For more information:

Geiser, Samuel Wood, Naturalists of the Frontier. Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, TX, 1948.

Goff, Myra Lee Adams, Around the Sophienburg. Litho Press, Inc., San Antonio, TX, 2017.

Goyne, Minetta Altgelt, A Life among the Texas Flora: Ferdinand Lindheimers Letters to George Engelmann. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, 1991.

Hale, Douglas, Wanderers Between Two Worlds: German Rebels in the American West, 1830-1860. Xlibris, 2005.

Robinson, Robert, The Bremers and Their Kin in Germany and in Texas. Nortex Press, 1979.Williams, John E., The Writings of Ferdinand Lindheimer: Texas Botanist, Texas Philosopher. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, 2020.
Coming soon: A website to book your vaccine View(s):

A website where persons could register their names and obtain a prior booking to obtain the vaccination for COVID-19 will soon be introduced by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), officials said.

The website will be launched as a pilot project next week from the Army hospital and thereafter will be made available for the public to register themselves.

The website will provide details of the nearest location where the vaccine could be obtained, the date and the availability of the vaccine type.

Accordingly, people will be able to book a time to obtain the vaccine and call over at the centre at the given time.

People requiring the second dose of the vaccine too could register by giving in details of the vaccine they had obtained earlier.

The website provides facilities to get a print out of the certification after obtaining both doses. A QR (Quick Response) Code will also be made available so that when people travel overseas all vaccination details could be obtained by scanning the code.
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP)  Leah Paskalides was fairly new as an adoption caseworker for the Safe Children Coalition when she met Monyay  the 19-year-old woman she now calls daughter.

When I started in adoptions in 2015, she was one of my first cases and at first she did not like me, Leah said, shortly after the roughly six-minute April 27 adoption hearing, held via Zoom with 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Teresa Dees presiding, in which Monyay Faith Randall officially became Monyay Faith Paskalides.

The ceremony, which made national television news, was a mixture of giggles and laughter  including when Monyay spelled out her new last name  as well as hugs and tears.

Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Teresa Dees granted Leah Paskalides adoption of her daughter Monyay Faith Paskalides on April 27, in a Zoom adoption hearing that took roughly six minutes.

Tears of joy, as Monyay had what she called closure.

To me, this is something I always wanted, I wanted closure, Monyay said. When I was in foster care, I regretted not being adopted.

Now, heres my chance, I didnt want to miss out this time, she added. Like I tell most kids in care: Dont give up hope  I did spend six years in care, its never too late, Im grown but Im still being adopted.

ENTERING FOSTER CARE AT AGE 11

Monyay was born and raised in Manatee County. Both her birth parents are still alive. Her father lives in New York. Her birth mother, Rhonda Randall, still lives in Manatee County, but they arent really in each others lives.

Monyay was being raised by a great-aunt prior to entering foster care at 11, as a sixth-grader.

I was a little bit too much for her to handle, she recalled. For me, I did normal kid things. For her, it was a little too much to handle.

Monyay, who lived in two group homes, bonded well with her first caseworker, went on to become more focused in school and eventually graduated from Southeast High School a year early.

But things didnt start out that smoothly. When she came under Leahs care, at 11, the focus shifted to finding her adoptive parents.

Fearful of moving away from Manatee County and her four younger brothers  all of whom live with their fathers  Monyay wasnt wild about the idea of being adopted nor, in truth, wild about Leah.

She made my life definitely tough when I was her adoption worker, Leah said. I was like, I need you to work with me, honey, you need to be open.

I promised her I would find her an adopted family, she added. I just didnt know I would be it.

Leah served as Monyays adoption caseworker from 2015 until 2017 and her mentor after that.

The two became close. Both are homebodies at heart, both are pranksters. By the time she was 16, Monyay was already calling Leah mom.

Monyay said once she realized she had to deal with Leah  who herself was barely 26 when they met  she started to warm up.

Once I actually let my guard down and took the time out to get to know her, I was more open to her being in my life, she added.

Adopting Monyay herself wasnt foremost in Leahs mind; finding her a new family was.

But as for so many other teens in the foster care system, age was not on Monyays side.

Almost one-fifth of the youths in out-of-home care in the foster care system are age 13 to 17, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families most recent numbers.

In the 12th Judicial Circuit, that means 202 of the 1,066 children in the system. Those figures do not include youths like Monyay, who have aged out of the system but still need help getting established in life.

According to national data more than 20,000 youth between the ages of 18 and 21 age out of foster care every year.

I was very protective of her, since day one, Leah said. And when she let her guard down and she let me in, I was like Oh my God, I really love this kid.

It broke my heart that people look at her picture and would be scared away that shes a teenager, she added. Whereas if they got to know her, shes amazing.

In addition to graduating early, Monyay was heavily involved in Florida Youth Shine, a youth-led advocacy group for foster youth, and was named an Outstanding Youth Advocate in 2017 by Floridas Children First.

Leah said its important for prospective parents to look past the age on the birth certificate and give teens a chance.

I mentor three other teens and they have never missed a Mothers Day to say Happy Mothers Day, calling me on my birthday, she added. They need that support; they want that attention and they deserve it.

Monyay added, We just went through some unfortunate events in life that led us to being in foster care, which we couldnt prevent.

If you want to adopt, take a teen if you can, Monyay said. Dont look past us teens, we really do get left out a lot.

A QUESTION AT CHRISTMASTIME

Leah, now 32, could not adopt her former mentee until she aged out of the system. Prior to that, it was a conflict of interest.

After graduation Monyay started to work at a day care. She wants to return to school to get a degree in early childhood education and one day open up a group home for other young people like her.

Monyay and Leah would touch base about three times a week.

Its more interesting now, Leah said. She has started mentoring two kids that I mentor  she comes with me.

So, we spend time there but some days shell be like, Hey do you want to go shopping, or dinner, FaceTime?

At first, Monyay lived with her best friend in Manatee County and moved with her to Fort Myers, where they lived for about six months.

Monyay was sitting at home in Fort Myers around Christmastime, when she received a text from Leah asking if she wanted to be adopted.

Leah had been watching a documentary in which a person had been adopted as an adult and that got her thinking about adopting Monyay.

I just wanted her to know, You are wanted, youre loved you have a support system, Leah said.

Its important to me that she knew that she was wanted by somebody that loved her, she later added. I can say that as many times as I want but actions speak louder than words.

Monyay said she initially thought Leah  the notorious prankster  was joking.

When she did bring it up in December, I didnt think she was for real, I thought she was pranking me, Monyay said. Then she came back with some paperwork and I was like, Oh you were for real.

Monyay, who had been calling Leah mom and asking if she could just adopt her since age 16, thought about it more. The more she thought, the more it made sense.

I aged out of care and the crazy thing  she never, never left my side, Monyay said. I aged out of care, I moved out of the city, she still stayed there no matter what.

MATCHING OUTFITS

Monyay, who moved back to Palmetto the week before the adoption, spent the night before the hearing at Leahs house, ate pizza and played with Leahs two French bulldogs, Chunk and Chewey.

Shes very allergic to them, Leah said. Last night was a little rough for her.

Monyay added, Even though they make me sick and are very clingy, I love them to death.

Monyays four little brothers are equally fond of Leah.

My brothers love her, they love her, Monyay said.

They arrived at the coalition office in Palma Sola Square on April 27, wearing matching black outfits, black open-toed shoes and identical nail polish.

After warm-up interviews with local media, the two sat huddled together in front of a big screen TV that served as the Zoom screen, where other participants included the judge, their adoption attorney Linda Griffin, Monyays aunt in Atlanta and her future adoptive grandparents, Alinie and John Paskalides, in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Yearning for a change of pace, Monyay is thinking about moving near that aunt and her family in Atlanta.

Still, Monyay doesnt plan on losing touch with her mom, Leah.

Shell be making a lot of trips to Georgia, Monyay said.

Monyay Faith Paskalides, right, reacts after her adoption by Leah Paskalides becomes official.

One last closure

Remember, when Monyay first met Leah, she wasnt interested in being adopted.

That changed by the time Monyay was a senior in high school.

I basically did everything myself, my senior pictures and everything, she recalled. I remember being there and a girl walked in with her parents and their friends.

I started crying in the dressing room because I was like, I have no parents, Im really about to do this but theres nobody here helping me get dressed, theres nobody here fixing my hair for me, theres none of that, Monyay continued.

A woman there helped Monyay that day, but it still stung.

She confessed that hurt to a state senator, while on a trip to Tallahassee with Florida Youth Shine, when one of the topics they addressed was adoption for teenagers.

Monyay doesnt recall the senators name but she wants to find him.

I need to go through my photos and find him, Monyay said. I want to let him know that I got adopted.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Authorities have released the names of two men who died in a triple homicide case.

Albuquerque police say 44-year-old Brandon Torres and 41-year-old James Fisher were identified as two of the victims found Wednesday in a bullet-riddled car outside a city hospital.

The name of the third man was being withheld until his relatives can be notified.

Police said 41-year-old Richard Kuykendall was questioned and jailed on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

However, Kuykendall has not yet been charged in the triple homicide case.

It was unclear Sunday if Kuykendall has a lawyer yet,

Police said the shooting happened while the vehicle was parked in an alley. It was then driven to the northeast Albuquerque hospital.

The Albuquerque Journal reports court records show the victims all were members of a white supremacist prison gang and Kuykendall has an apparent association to the gang via identifying tattoos.

In a criminal complaint, the FBI said agents dont believe Kuykendall killed all three men but may be responsible for the death of one of them.

The FBI also said Kuykendall has a long criminal history with 35 arrests in New Mexico and Massachusetts including assault and battery, forgery, larceny and identity theft.
PHOENIX (AP)  Health officials in Arizona on Sunday reported 482 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven new deaths amid growing vaccination rates.

The state Department of Health Services said the latest figures increased the totals to 872,978 cases and 17,466 known deaths since the coronavirus pandemic began more than a year ago.
CHICAGO (AP)  A 13-year-old boy was shot in the head and neck while riding his bike in Chicago on Sunday morning, authorities said.

Police said the boy was riding his bike around 8 a.m. on the city's South Side when shots were fired from a passing car, the Chicago Tribune reported.
BROCKTON, Mass. (AP)  Two boys who drowned at a Brockton park were cousins who did not know how to swim, authorities said Sunday.

Rafael Andrade, 13, and Tiago Depina, 12, both of Brockton, died Saturday night in Waldo Lake in D.W. Field Park. An 11-year-old boy who was rescued earlier in the evening was hospitalized, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz.
BOTUCATU, Brazil (AP)  As some Brazilian states strain to get coronavirus vaccines to complete immunizing their seniors, a city in the interior of Sao Paulo state devoted all its doses Sunday to a mass immunization for all residents 18 to 60 years old as part of a medical research project for the pandemic.

The task forces set up 45 vaccination points at voting sites in Botucatu and people were directed to get their shots at their normal election center. Those showing up for shots also were separated by age groups.

The first doses of the day was administered by Brazil's health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, who highlighted the importance of maintaining care to avoid the transmission of the coronavirus.

In addition to vaccination, encourage non-pharmacological measures such as wearing masks and social distancing, he said.

Peter Wilson, the British ambassador to Brazil, attended the event.

Its absolutely vital for all of us across the world that we have as much data as possible, and the research that is being done in Botucatu for the next months is going to be really vital for that scientific sharing and the increase of knowledge in the world about how the AstraZeneca vaccine operates, Wilson told The Associated Press.

At 36, commercial representative Ana Lobardela and her husband, restorer Bernardo Piragda, 37, were emotional about being immunized now. She made sure to record the moment she received the first dose.

Knowing that for my age group it was going to take a long time to take it and having elderly people in my family, I have no words to describe it, Lobardela told AP.

The research project hopes to vaccinate 80,000 of Botucatu's 149,000 residents to test the effectiveness of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine as well as study people's behavior related to the pandemic. The study is expected to last about eight months, including the application of the second AstraZeneca dose and monitoring of the vaccinated population.

Similar research is being done by the Butantan Institute, which vaccinated more than 40,000 people in Serrana, also in the countryside of Sao Paulo, with the Coronavac vaccine.

Nisia Trindade, a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, one of Brazil's leading medical research institutions and a producer of the AstraZeneca vaccine, said scientists hope to more than evaluate the effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

With this research we will see the issue of behavior in the face of the variants, the transmission, and the effectiveness in the health system," she said.

According to data from the Sao Paulo state Health Department, Botucatu has registered 211 deaths from COVID-19 among 12,602 cases of coronavirus infections. The city also has a depleted public health system, with the Hospital das Clinicas using three more beds than its usual 40.

Brazil as a whole has recorded more than 434,000 deaths related to the pandemic.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community gained strength Sunday as about a thousand residents remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave, authorities said.

The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed suspicious and is under investigation, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Arson investigators with the fire department and the Los Angeles Police Department identified one individual who was detained and released. Investigators then detained a second suspect and were questioning them Sunday evening, according to a statement from fire department spokesperson Margaret Stewart.

Cool, moist weather early in the day gave firefighters a break, but by afternoon flames starting moving again in steep terrain where tinder-dry vegetation hasn't burned in a half-century, the fire department said.

We're definitely seeing increased fire activity, said Stewart.

No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported in the wildfire that broke out late Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains. It smoldered for much of Saturday before erupting in the afternoon.

A thousand or so residents of the Topanga Canyon area were ordered to evacuate their homes as flames raced along ridges, sending a huge plume of smoke and raining ash across surrounding neighborhoods and the U.S. 101 freeway to the north.

By Sunday evening, the fire had charred a little over 2 square miles (5.4 square kilometers) of brush and trees. There was no containment. The Los Angeles sheriff's department's Lost Hills station said on Twitter that the evacuation orders will remain in effect throughout the night.

Los Angeles has seen very little rain in recent months, making for extremely parched conditions and high fire risk.

Crews relied on aircraft making drops of water and retardant because the terrain is very steep and extremely difficult to navigate which hinders ground based firefighting operations, a fire department statement said.

Topanga Canyon is a remote, wooded community with some ranch homes about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of downtown Los Angeles, on the border with Malibu.

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AP journalist Emily Wilder contributed to this report from Phoenix.
The nation's top public health official on Sunday defended her agency's abrupt reversal on wide-ranging mask recommendations, saying that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had weighed new data before announcing that Americans who had been vaccinated could go without masks.

"[W]e now have science that has really just evolved even in the last two weeks," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on ABC's "This Week," citing new data that coronavirus vaccines are curbing spread of the disease and offering protection against virus variants. Walensky, who appeared on four separate Sunday morning news shows to explain her agency's new guidelines, also touted widespread access to those vaccines and called on tens of millions of unvaccinated Americans to go get shots.

"We also need to say that this is not permission for widespread removal of masks," she added on ABC.

Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, acknowledged that there was "some merit" to questions about whether CDC could have better laid the groundwork for its messaging shift.

"I would imagine within a period of just a couple of weeks, you're going to start to see significant clarification of some of the actually understandable and reasonable questions that people are asking," Fauci said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Thursday's announcement that CDC was changing almost all masking and distancing recommendations for fully vaccinated Americans caught physicians, state and local leaders and even some White House officials off guard. The Washington Post on Saturday reported that Walensky first signed off on changing her agency's mask guidance on Monday but continued to defend CDC's sweeping guidance that Americans wear masks in public, including in a Senate hearing on Tuesday before CDC narrowed its recommendations.

Pressed by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace about whether the CDC was pressured to roll back its call for widespread masking, Walensky insisted that the shift was driven by public health, not politics.

"It certainly would've been easier if the science had evolved a week earlier, and I didn't have to go to Congress making those statements," Walensky said. "I delivered it as soon as I can [sic.] when we have the information," she added, citing new research and falling case numbers.

Walensky also disputed Wallace's question about whether the CDC was relying on Americans to now follow a "honor system" on masks. The Biden administration has repeatedly said that it will not impose requirements for people to prove they've gotten shots, like mandating so-called vaccine passports.

"The honor system is to be honest with yourself," said Walensky, warning that Americans who weren't vaccinated and chose to go without masks were putting themselves at risk.

Public health experts have warned that the CDC's shift on mask-wearing could force grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses into the uncomfortable position of checking whether patrons have been vaccinated.

Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe's have dropped mask requirements for the vaccinated in recent days. Other major retailers, including Target, Home Depot and CVS, said they will continue to require masks in stores as they review CDC guidance and company policies.

Only 36.7% of Americans are fully vaccinated, according to a Washington Post analysis of CDC data, and 47.1% have received at least one shot.

"Probably the most important thing that businesses could do right now . . . is to work to ensure that it's easy for their own employees to get vaccinated," Walensky said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Walensky told reporters that CDC is "actively working" to update the agency's guidance on safety protections at schools, camps and child care settings. She added that she's hopeful about the state of the outbreak in the United States, as cases continue to fall.

"I am really cautiously optimistic that we are in a good place right now," Walensky said on "Fox News Sunday."

Walensky also sidestepped a question by CNN's Dana Bash about whether she would continue to wear a mask if she was a pregnant woman.

"That's going to really be an individual by individual decision . . . it really just depends on how much risk you're willing to tolerate," Walensky said.

Fauci also said that he understood questions about why the United States was prioritizing vaccines for teenagers, who are at lower risk for serious complications, even as coronavirus continues to spread abroad. The Biden administration has been under pressure to produce its promised plan to help vaccinate the world, as global virus cases hit new records this month and many developing countries say they do not expect to reach sufficient immunity for months or years. Only 10% of people in India have been vaccinated, according to the University of Oxford's Our World in Data project, even as the country deals with a raging coronavirus outbreak.

"I feel we do have a moral responsibility as a rich nation to make sure that others in poorer nations are not deprived of interventions that would be lifesaving. But I think we can do both," Fauci told "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson.
Govt. departments keep wheels moving amidst travel restrictions By Sandun Jayawardana and Damith Wickramasekara View(s): View(s):

While islandwide travel restrictions are to be lifted at 4 a.m. on Monday (17), functions in many sectors of the country will still be limited owing to COVID-19 health guidelines and restrictions that will continue to be in place.

Inter-provincial travel will remain banned till May 31, while a daily nighttime curfew will be in effect from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Meanwhile, only one member of a family is allowed to go out for essentials and based on the last digit of their National Identity Card (NIC).

The following are how some Government and private sector institutions are to operate after the lifting of island-wide travel restrictions, and what relief has been granted to the public in certain cases where services have been affected by the pandemic.

Public Services

Even after the lifting of movement restrictions, public services will function with a minimum number of staff. Accordingly, services will operate under the Public Administration Circular 02/2021(II) titled Ensuring Public Services Without Interruption.

As per the circular, Secretaries of Ministries / Heads of Departments / Heads of Institutions have been given the authority to decide on the minimum number of staff needed at their institutions to carry out Government services without interruption. This will be done by way of a formal duty roster.

The circular will not apply to the health sector or the security forces, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government J.J. Rathnasiri told the Sunday Times.

The health sector has informed us that they cannot function with such a minimum staff due to their involvement in fighting the pandemic. As such, they will operate under a different set of guidelines, Mr Rathnasiri said.

As per the new circular, Heads of Government institutions have also been instructed not to call pregnant employees to work. Employees required to work from home when they are not called to office under the duty roster.

Department of Labour

Those visiting the Head Office of the Department of Labour for claims related to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) have to make an appointment via the Departments website www.labourdept.gov.lk.

Those visiting Provincial and District Labour Offices for EPF claims are requested to make a prior appointment by contacting the relevant office via phone. The telephone numbers and email addresses of these offices can be obtained through the Department of Labours official website.

Any matter concerned with labour laws can be forwarded within the jurisdiction area in which ones workplace is / was situated in, in the form of a written inquiry or complaint. The relevant telephone numbers and email addresses can be obtained from the Labour Department website.

Department of Immigration and Emigration

The Departments Battaramulla Head Office will be open for the issuance of passports in case of an emergency, while Regional Offices in Kandy, Vavuniya, Matara and Kurunegala will be open for people who may have essential service requirements.

The visas of foreigners in Sri Lanka have been extended by 60 days with effect from May 11, 2021 up to July 9, 2021.Only Visa fees applicable for that period will be charged for the Visas that expire within this period and holders will be exempted from being charged an overstay penalty. The visa extension is also applicable for resident visa holders. However, both tourist and resident visa holders will need to pay their relevant visa fee before July 9 to get their visa extension endorsed.

Department of Motor Traffic

Driving licenses due to expire within the period from April 1 to September 30 will be extended by six months, Commissioner General of Motor Traffic Sumith Alahapperuma told the Sunday Times.

Meanwhile, vehicle owners who fail to submit their vehicle transfer documents to the Department due to the ongoing pandemic too will not face fines, he added.

Most services at the Department of Motor Traffics Narahenpita and Werahera offices continue to be suspended. However, from Monday (May 17) those who have to come to the Department for an essential service can do so by calling ahead and obtaining an appointment.

National Transport Medical Institute

The National Transport Medical Institute (NTMI) will resume operations from tomorrow (May 17).

Only clients who have made appointments using the e-channelling facility will be accommodated. However, NTMI branches in Polonnaruwa, Nuwara Eliya, Kalutara, Hambantota and Matale will remain closed. Clients who have scheduled appointments at these branches will be notified later of new dates and times.

Renewal of revenue licences for motor vehicles

In several provinces, the authorities have suspended the renewal of revenue licences for vehicles. The validity period of these licenses has been extended and no fines will be imposed.

Western Province - Renewal of revenue licences suspended from May 12 to May 28. Fines will not be imposed on those whose licences expire during this period and up until June 30.

North Western Province - Renewal of revenue licences suspended till June 15. Fines will not be imposed up until July 15.

Southern Province - Renewal of revenue licences suspended till June 16. No fines will be imposed during this period. The facility to renew licences online will continue.

Sabaragamuwa Province - Renewal of revenue licences suspended till May 30. No fines will be imposed up until June 15.

Central Province  Renewal of vehicle revenue licences suspended till June 14. No fines will be imposed on those whose licenses expire during this period.

Public Transport

With inter-provincial travel suspended till May 31, Sri Lanka Railways too will limit train services largely within provinces. We have about 96 trains that operate within provinces on a daily basis. Those trains will continue as normal from Monday (17), Deputy General Manager (Transport) A.D.G. Seneviratne said.

Several special office trains, however, will be in operation across provinces, Mr Seneviratne added.

These special trains will only stop at main train stations and will avoid all sub stations.

Morning 

1. Office train from Kandy to Colombo Fort  (Departure 5 a.m.)

2. Office train from Mahawa to Colombo Fort  (Departure 4. 45 a.m. )

3. Office train from Chilaw to Colombo Fort  (Departure 5.50 a m )

4. Special train from Bolawaththa to Puttalam  (Departure 7 a.m.)

5. Office train from Beliatta to Maradana  (Departure 4. 30 a.m.)

Evening 

1. Office train from Colombo Fort to Kandy  (Departure 17.45 p.m.)

2. Office train from Colombo Fort to Mahawa  (Departure 18.00 p.m.)

3. Office train from Colombo Fort to Halawatha  (Departure 17.18 p.m.)

4. Special train from Puttalam to Bolawatta  (Departure 16.00 p.m.)

5. Office train from Maradana to Beliatta  (Departure 16.40 p.m.)

Those who wish to travel on these trains must present their Office ID and a signed permission letter from their company.

The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) will operate buses as normal across districts within the respective provinces during the non-travel restriction period, subjected to health guidelines. Nevertheless, SLTB depot managers have been given permission to deploy enough buses to transport essential office workers across provinces, SLTB Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said.

We have many office workers travelling to Colombo from places such as Galle, Matara and Kandy. We are making arrangements to provide transport for them. I cant give an estimate on how many buses will be deployed for the purpose as individual depot managers have been given authority to decide for themselves on how many buses they should use, Mr Ranawaka noted. He added that police would check buses at provincial borders to see whether the commuters have documentation to show they have been asked to attend office.

While buses can travel through isolated areas, they will not pick up or drop off any passengers in such areas.

Department of Excise

The Department of Excise is facing a severe challenge as more than 30 of its officers have been infected with COVID-19 while some others have been placed in quarantine. Nevertheless, the Departments 24-hour operations centre continues to function and Departmental activities will be conducted using minimum staff, Spokesperson Kapila Kumarasinghe stated.

He said the department will continue to function according to guidelines issued by health authorities. The situation can change depending on new guidelines they issue, but the Commissioner General of Excise has introduced a mechanism whereby we can discuss the situation quickly depending on any new health guidelines, draft new regulations and convey them to all stakeholders in this sector, he stressed.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP)  Until one afternoon last August, Cedar Rapids had always been a lush, leafy island surrounded by a sea of corn and soybeans, with its giant oaks, sycamores and other trees towering over the communitys neighborhoods and providing a shady refuge from Iowas steamy summer heat.

It took 45 minutes to shred nearly all of those trees, as a rare storm called a derecho plowed through the city of 130,000 in eastern Iowa with 140 mph (225 kph) winds and left behind a jumble of branches, downed powerlines and twisted signs.

Power was restored in the following weeks, and workers continue repairing thousands of homes battered by the hurricane-force winds, but nine months later Cedar Rapids is not back to normal  because of the trees.

A lot of people once took the trees for granted, for what they provided, said city arborist Todd Fagan. Thats not the case anymore.

Now, city officials, businesses and nonprofit groups have teamed up with ambitious plans to somehow transform what is a city of stumps back into the tree-covered Midwestern oasis along the Cedar River.

They all acknowledge it wont be easy, or cheap. Most of the trees are gone, and many of those that remain lost many of their branches, giving them a sparse, stick-like appearance.

As Shannon Ramsay, who heads the nonprofit group Trees Forever, put it, It will take decades and decades to get our canopy back, but it will happen.

The lasting damage in Cedar Rapids is a testament to the scale of the storm, which cut a roughly 100-mile-wide (160-kilometer-wide) swath from Nebraska across Iowa and through Illinois and Wisconsin and into Indiana and Ohio. It took the storm about 14 hours to travel nearly 800 miles (1,290 kilometers), causing an estimated $7.5 billion in damage and ruining 850,000 acres (345,000 hectares) of crops in Iowa alone.

Derechos are sometimes called inland hurricanes, but theyre actually classified as thunderstorms, with straight-line rather than circular winds that make up hurricanes and tornadoes. A University of Iowa professor coined the term in 1888, using the Spanish word for direct or straight ahead," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The storm smacked directly into Cedar Rapids, and an estimated 100,000 trees were either snapped off or torn out of the ground, leaving giant root balls exposed on streets and sidewalks. Seventy percent of the tree canopy was destroyed and some of the citys 97 parks lost almost every tree.

It was chaos," said Austin Even, who has been hauling away trees nearly every day since the storm.

It's more manageable now, but in the days after the derecho, just getting around town was a nightmare, given 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) walls of debris, broken power poles and no cell service, Even said.

No one can really understand it, Mayor Brad Hart said. The crews who came from other parts of the country to help clean up said they had never seen anything like this.

Even now, piles of branches line streets and the whine of chainsaws is part of city life.

City officials have begun the long recovery process by committing at least $1 million annually for 10 years toward planting trees and $24,000 to watering new trees for the next two years. The city is working with Trees Forever on a releaf initiative'' that is expected to stretch for 15 years or more.

As part of the effort, organizers are tallying up the remaining trees and specifying where new ones are needed on city property. Organizers also hope to raise up to $25 million from private sources.

With current funding, officials said, it will be years before some streets have a city-provided tree, and property owners will be responsible for planting trees on private property. Even if more money were available, officials said the need in Cedar Rapids has outstripped the supply of native Midwest trees available to plant.

The city has put out detailed plans for grinding out massive stumps in the right-of-way and rules for residents who can take on the task themselves. Officials promise they have no intention of planting puny trees even though they might be easier to maintain.

Cedar Rapids has a long history of great shade trees on the street, and that's what citizens want," Ramsay said.

About 10,000 trees will be planted on city and private property this year, and that number will need to be repeated far into the future.

Ramsey said she hopes more businesses will pitch in. Hundreds of trucks and trailers lined up recently for a grocery chain's offer of an 80% discount on 2,500 bur oak trees that were up to 10 feet tall and would typically cost $500.

Trinidad Green said three trees around her house east of downtown came crashing down in the storm. The loss was heartbreaking, she said, and the lack of shade made it harder to keep her old home cool last summer and this spring.

It's so naked now," she said.

Lisa Williams, the director of development for Trees Forever, acknowledged Cedar Rapids won't look the same for years, but she said replanting efforts are picking up pace.

It's so important to replant now so people have this image of hope and the future rather than focusing on the tree skeletons," she said.

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Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge
IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (AP)  A former Upper Peninsula priest who left Michigan years ago has pleaded guilty to a remaining sexual abuse case against him.

Gary Jacobs, 75, is accused of sexually abuse teenagers in the 1980s while serving as a priest under the Catholic Diocese of Marquette.

He pleaded guilty Friday to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct in Dickinson County, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. His sentencing will be July 2.

In April, he pleaded guilty to four other counts of criminal sexual conduct in Ontonagon County. His sentencing in that case will be May 25.

According to the plea deal, which covers both counties, Jacobs will serve between eight and 15 years on each of the five counts, which will run concurrently. Nessel's office calls it the harshest prison sentence handed down in its clergy abuse investigation which has resulted in other guilty pleas.

Jacobs must undergo sex offender counseling and be on lifetime electronic monitoring when released. His attorney has not returned a previous request for comment.

Diocese officials said Jacobs was removed from ministry in 1988 and left Michigan. He was living in New Mexico when he was charged in January 2020.

I am proud of the work done by our clergy abuse team to reach this plea agreement, Nessel said in statement. None of this would be possible without the courageous victims who have been willing to share their stories in order to achieve justice.
HOUMA, La. (AP)  Corey Duplechin and son Alden Duplechin achieved their goals together this week.

The Houma duo walked across the stage Wednesday night for the Bayou Cane Adult Education Centers graduation ceremony.

Corey Duplechin said he was supposed to graduate in 1990, but thats when Terrebonne Parishs public school teachers went on strike for 41 school days. Amid the disruption, Corey dropped out and went to work.

His son, Alden, wasnt fitting in with traditional education, and his school shut down and went to online instruction at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic just over a year ago.

We kind of asked each other, Hey, man, you wanna do this? Corey said. And it was, like, Yeah, lets go for it. And for us to do it together  I mean if either one of us had done it alone, it wouldnt have been as good. Its nice to have somebody, and especially my son, and vice versa.

Many family members came out to support them at the commencement at the Houma-Terrebonne/Barry Bonvillain Civic Center.

My grandma, my mom, my dads right here next to me, a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins, Alden said.

Corey also had to work hard to be able to graduate at the same time as his son and is quick to boast that Alden received a higher score on the exam they passed to receive their high-school equivalency diplomas.

I only had a certain amount of time to complete this to be able to walk with him and I took a shot in the dark and made it, he said.

GRADUATES WHO NEVER GAVE UP

Another 2020 graduate, Sheree Bourg, said it took her 17 years to get to this point. Bourg wants to set a good example for her children and is taking cosmetology classes as well.

I want to not give up. Ive got five kids, so for them to see this, I can be a great role model, Bourg said. No matter how long it takes, they can always accomplish whatever they set their minds to.

This year, the centers graduates range from 16 to 73 years old. There were 83 graduates in 2020 and 62 this year. Forty-eight grads from both school years participated in Wednesday nights commencement.

One student speaker, Andrew Woody Carlos, spoke about how his wife didnt know he didnt finish school and thanked his family for the support they gave him to get to the stage. When he told the audience he and his family are proud of his accomplishments, family members chimed in from the stands, Yes, we are.

Youre never too old to go back to school, Carlos said. It is a wonderful experience to know I have accomplished my goals and the road is wide open.

Erin Landry, executive director of WorkReady U and state director of Adult Education, urged the graduates to support others who are going through the program or intend to do so.

You dont go anywhere without a team, Landry said. Youre a lifelong learner, but bring someone along with you. So I need you to find someone that needs that next step in education. I need you to find someone that needs a dream team.

After the ceremony, 2021 graduate Amber Gilling got hugs from family and friends and posed for photos.

Its great, Gilling said. Theyre the reason why I did it.

Her daughter, 10-year-old Zoie, is excited to celebrate her mothers achievement.

It feels good and Im going to give her a present, she said.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts tweaked his new policy requiring news outlets to apply for access to his press conferences, but media groups are still questioning the rules.

Ricketts' spokesman Taylor Gage defended the credentialing system.

We believe that it is a fair process for all involved, Gage said in a letter announcing the new application last week.

Media of Nebraska, which represents the state's newspapers and broadcast outlets, said the new form is an improvement over the original one released a month ago, but the group still has reservations about some of the questions, such as one asking if a journalist also writes editorials.

Randy Essex, who is executive editor of The Omaha World-Herald and vice president of Media of Nebraska, said the group will monitor implementation of this process with great interest and watchfulness that the office makes its decisions consistent with First Amendment principles.

The Washington D.C.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press questioned whether the credential policy really has much to do with the security reasons and concerns about operational limits that Ricketts says prompted the policy.

The new credential system was created after the governor's office was criticized for excluding a reporter from an Omaha-based news website from press conferences. The nonprofit outlet, NOISE, was founded three years ago to cover Omahas minority communities with community-based journalism, and it has published straightforward news stories about topics such as the Nebraska Legislature and a civil rights lawsuit filed against the city of Omaha.

That decision was criticized by the state's two largest newspapers, the World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star, in a joint editorial they published that called the move an affront to free-press rights and a political move by the conservative Republican governor.

At the time, Gage said that NOISE was excluded because the news outlet was an advocacy organization funded by liberal donors.

Since the new policy was announced, Ricketts hasnt held any events that would have required the new credentials.

The new application form changed some of the original questions, and the governors office is no longer requiring a notarized letter from a manager. The form also now acknowledges that online news outlets can apply.

Gage also said that if an organization is denied access, the reason will be spelled out.

The founder of NOISE, Dawaune Lamont Hayes, said his reporters will apply for access, but hes not confident they will be approved.

Youve already said you dont like us, he said. Just let us in. Were just here to report. The fact that we have to fill out a piece of paper thats still subject to your decision-making is disheartening.

Gage said that NOISEs application will be considered once it applies.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  Kristin Willmon was in her 40s when she managed to escape what she would only describe as a bad marriage in another city. But she escaped into an addiction and fell into a life on the streets of Montgomery.

Roderick Wilkerson was in his 30s, also homeless, and in and out of jail. I didnt know where my next meal was going to come from, he said. I was pretty much that guy that they put inside the car and run him into the wall. I was just a crash dummy.

Last week, they put on caps and gowns alongside people with similar stories and marched toward a new life, one they created during the pandemic. Getting there was as hard as it sounds.

The nonprofit Hope Inspired Ministries job training program started with 41 students across Montgomery and Lowndes counties. By graduation day, only 10 remained. Executive Director John Bowman said they had to battle through a lot more than traditional job training.

People oftentimes say, Why doesnt this person get a job? Many times they have barriers in their life that keep them from working, Bowman said.  Youd be surprised at the people who dont have identification. Many students havent had medical appointments.

Bowman said staff members have been listed as caregivers on medical forms because students had no family.

They reach new students through referrals from law enforcement and entities like the Salvation Army, or just by handing out food in the neighborhood and meeting people. Sometimes we have to explain it to them and speak hope into their lives. A lot of our students have never been told that theyre valuable, Bowman said.

Willmon found her way into the program when she ran into Bowman on the street. Shes already working a warehouse job at Jim Masseys Cleaners.

It helps us to hopefully get some good people, Jim Massey III said. If you graduate from a Hope Inspired Ministries class, you have done something.

Wilkerson is earning nearly $14 an hour at Genpak in Montgomery. He said he learned about the job training program through Patrick Aitken of the Mid-Alabama Coalition for the Homeless. Aitken was one of many taking pictures from the crowd as Wilkerson and others walked to the stage to tell their stories during graduation.

One by one, they revealed their jobs  a library worker, a commercial truck driver, a manufacturing plant employee. For most, the journey was just as much of an achievement as the destination.

Teenager Karlee Hollands eyes filled with emotion as she described escaping a life of addiction and homelessness to land both a full- and a part-time job. I have my own bank account now. Something so simple is just mind blowing to me, Holland said. I dropped out in eighth grade, so this is my first time wearing a cap and gown walking onto a stage.

Keith Hughes sounded measured when he described his decent into addiction. Very narrow. Very closed. Very empty, he said.

Hes now working at Whitfield Foods. But when he talks about his goals, he doesnt talk about a job.

Im looking forward to being a role model and father to my six children, just being the father that they need and deserve, Hughes said.
LORETTO, Ky. (AP)  On a Central Kentucky hillside, over a thousand American white oak stand in neat rows, just barely towering over nearby blades of grass.

These trees, currently just seedlings, have sat in this field on the Makers Mark Starhill Farm for less than a month. But years from now, researchers hope they can provide answers on how to protect a species endemic to many American forests and necessary for the creation of the amber liquid that has become one of the states most famous exports.

In mid-April, project participants descended on the grassy hillside outside Loretto and planted the first volley  over 1,400 trees  of what will become the worlds largest repository of white oak.

The repository was made possible because of a three-way partnership between University of Kentucky researchers, the Makers Mark distillery and barrel-makers from the Independent Stave Company. The collection of white oak will also tie in nicely with another Makers Mark and UK effort to map the entire genome of the white oak species.

Researchers and distillers alike hope the projects will yield stronger, healthier trees and maybe, just maybe, more flavorful bourbon. Charred white oak barrels are key to the bourbon aging process.

As we unlock the genome sequencing, we can find out which of the DNA pairs actually affect flavor, said Brian Mattingly, the director of bottling and warehousing operations at Makers Mark. Hopefully, we can actually end up with a barrel that contributes even bolder flavor to our bourbon.

The site, surrounded by fencing to prevent nearby deer from turning the project into lunch, will hold 300 unique families of white oak collected from across the eastern United States. Eventually the trees will span 23 acres and could stay rooted in the land long after their planters are gone.

Makers Mark has committed to having white oaks on that site, essentially into perpetuity, said Laura DeWald, a tree improvement specialist at UK who helps to run the universitys White Oak Genetics project. So even though well get some early results right away, the really nice thing is that these seedlings will be allowed to grow into big trees. It will be this really beautiful site with these big giant white oak trees.

WHAT IS AMERICAN WHITE OAK?

According to the U.S. Forest Service, the white oaks natural range spans much of eastern North America. The trees can be found in southwestern Maine all the way down to far eastern Texas.

In many natural forests currently, researchers have noted that there are many large, old white oak that make up parts of a forests overstory and good regeneration of white oak on the forest floor, DeWald said. However theyve noted that white oak are starting to go missing from the middle layers.

We know from a forestry perspective that they should be there, DeWald said. As forest managers notice that something is not there that should be there, that raises the red flag for us to say, something is not working the way its supposed to.

To combat this, DeWald said forest managers are working to introduce seedlings into the forests that are more competitive and more likely to survive to become larger, mature trees. But to get stronger white oak seedlings, researchers need high-quality acorns from high-quality trees.

The seedlings being planted on Makers Mark land are grown from acorns that have been collected from around the eastern United States and sent to Kentucky. DeWald said they have the GPS coordinates for where their acorns have been collected.

One of the great characteristics of the project is that its highly collaborative, DeWald said. State and federal agencies as well as volunteers are helping to collect acorns from across the country. As researchers receive more of the families of white oak, and have time to develop them from acorns to seedlings, theyll return to the repository at Makers Mark to plant more trees.

Over the course of several years, researchers will be able to watch the trees grow and know what families of white oak produce offspring that might grow faster, taller, straighter or into a tree that someone wants to make a barrel out of, for example.

In the first 7 to 15 years of a white oaks life, researchers can determine what a trees growth rate and survivability will be, DeWald said. However, determining wood quality could take 50 to 100 years, as the boards for barrels require mature wood.

WHY IS WHITE OAK ESSENTIAL FOR BOURBON?

Much of the color and flavor in bourbon comes from the aging process inside white oak barrels, Mattingly said.

Raw, un-aged whiskey  known as white dog  is left to sit in white oak barrels that have been charred on the inside. The whiskey-filled barrels are left to age about six years in maturation warehouses. Mattingly said white oak is great for barrels because the wood tends not to leak.

We want to get as much of that liquid that we put in six years ago back out, Mattingly said.

Inside the barrel, the whiskey gains its amber color and absorbs the wood sugars as well as vanilla and caramel flavors, he said.

We can only use the white oak barrel one time, and then we have to use a new barrel, each batch of bourbon, Mattingly said. So its vital to us to ensure that there is a sustainable supply of American white oak.

MAPPING THE MOTHER TREE

There is a great example of a healthy, long-living white oak already on Makers Mark property, said Seth DeBolt, the director of the James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits at UK.

Dubbed the mother tree, this absolutely magnificent specimen of a white oak is surrounded by a small forest near the bank of a lake on Makers Mark property. The tree has lived for 300 to 500 years, said DeBolt who is also a professor of horticulture at UK.

The mother tree has survived having the forest around cleared away, having cattle graze near it and then having the forest grow back up around it, DeBolt said.

Its just been able to tolerate the test of time, which is a nice indicator that its a very, very healthy and good example, DeBolt said.

Researchers are using genetic samples from the mother tree to map the full genome of the American white oak species, which would be incredibly valuable to have in case a major threat  like a disease  was found to be attacking the American white oak.

If somewhere in the millions of millions of oak trees there was a specific population resistant to a disease, youd quickly be able to realize why it was resistant, and then look for more plants that contain that marker in a very efficient way, DeBolt said.

DeBolt said hes proud that the bourbon industry was investing land and resources into scientific research that could help conserve the tree species.

That level of commitment to conservation, coming from the bourbon industry is a real indication of the commitment to the environment and understanding the forest and water and having clean water and air, DeBolt said.
LAGRANGE, Ga. (AP)  The police officers voices grew firm and loud as they pointed their guns at the human silhouettes in the distance.

Sir, drop the sword, drop the sword, one officer yelled.

Drop it, drop it, another hollered.

Does the officer shoot or not? If an officer must shoot, is there a way to lessen the chance of death? These questions hung over the training that played out days ago at LaGrange Police Departments gun range. But some version of these scenarios unfolds for real across America daily as police engage with individuals who are sometimes armed and erratic, posing a threat to officers or the public.

The training is part of a new program launched by the West Georgia agency meant to address some of these questions. The program, called Shoot to Incapacitate, is challenging decades of police orthodoxy around use of deadly force. Instead of teaching officers to always aim for available center mass of the body  usually the chest, upper torso and head  the training is giving them another option if they must fire their weapons in the line of duty.

The course is the first of its kind in Georgia and could well be a first in the nation. It teaches officers that in some instances where they are authorized to use deadly force, they have the option to aim for the pelvic region, abdomen, legs and arms of a person posing a threat. The idea is that a gunshot to these areas, while still potentially deadly, could stop the threat while increasing the chance that the wounds will not be fatal.

It is a break from generations of American law enforcement training taught in academies and in annual recertification training. The reason officers have been instructed to aim for the upper torso and head area is that it generally provides the largest target and the fastest way to stop the threat.

This method, while effective, has contributed to the roughly 1,000 fatal police shootings each year and helped plunge law enforcement agencies, and the communities they serve, into crisis after crisis. About a quarter of the fatal shootings each year occur in situations involving the mentally ill, sometimes at the height of a breakdown or episode.

Its a responsibility, in my opinion, of any police leader to look at options for their police officers so that a deadly force encounter doesnt necessarily end in a deadly result, said LaGrange Police Chief Lou Dekmar.

The training, launched in February, has already sparked debate and questions. It comes as police officers across the country feel besieged by public scrutiny and second guessing unlike anything the profession has seen its history. Some LaGrange officers viewed the course initially with a dose of skepticism.

To be honest, when Chief Dekmar called me and we sat down and talked about it, that was my first reaction, said Sgt. Joshua Clower, the departments training director. I was like, I dont know about this.

Clower said he changed his mind as he researched the issue to develop the training. He looked at dozens of police shooting videos and consulted with medical experts. The training includes a classroom session that lasts more than an hour, with a discussion of how the technique could apply to several actual cases, including the 2017 shooting death of a Georgia Tech student armed only with a multi-tool. Officers also undergo subsequent firing range sessions where they walk through various scenarios where the technique can be deployed in the field.

I worked on the street as a patrol officer for 17 years, Clower said. You find yourself in situations where the use of deadly force is justified, but I really dont want to take this subjects life.

He said the program hasnt replaced the agencys focus on de-escalation and less lethal options. The training instruction emphasizes the shoot to incapacitate method can only be used if deadly force is justified. It doesnt supplant the option to aim for the chest or head if a suspect has a gun or officers judgment deems those targets necessary to ensure safety for themselves or others.

After some initial reluctance and skepticism, the overall feedback has been positive in anonymous surveys by officers in the department who completed the training, Clower said.

Our folks are going to question things that may not make sense, he said.

Other agencies and police professionals are taking note. Some see Dekmar and his agency playing into the hands of activists and others pressuring police to reform in ways that could compromise the safety of officers or the general public. Some wonder if its stated goal of preserving life is realistic. Others see the training as the type of creative thinking that could hold promise, while still wanting more data before making a final judgment.

Park City (Utah) Chief Wade Carpenter, who heads the International Association of Chiefs of Police firearms committee, was in Georgia recently to take measure of the new training. He said he expects it to spur discussion as police leaders grapple with the ongoing need to change and evolve.

I think early on, until they do their own trials and tests, theyre going to be skeptical, Carpenter said. Im in that same boat. Thats why Im here today because I want to see firsthand what the concept is and see if its a a viable option.

CHIEF INITIALLY RELUCTANT

Dekmar didnt come to the idea overnight.

His law enforcement career has spanned more than four decades, including the past quarter century leading the LaGrange department, about 67 miles southwest of Atlanta. During that time, his officers fired their guns in 13 deadly force incidents, including two that resulted in death.

While other agencies prohibit using warning shots, Dekmar has kept it as an option for officers.

Warning shots have only been used once during his tenure, but the technique had a significant impact for one family.

To the 15-year-old that we didnt shoot and kill when we were lawfully justified, that made a significant difference, he said.

Dekmar said he first learned about the shoot to incapacitate concept 17 years ago in a police exchange program with Israel. He later learned that countries in Europe use a similar approach.

It became increasingly clear that many nations train their officers to shoot to incapacitate, if thats possible, he said.

At first, he wasnt sold on the technique.

It took me a period of time to process it and adjust to it, he said.

In 2019, he introduced the concept to his firearms instructors and asked them to think about it. Last year, the agency leaders researched the issue and couldnt find any other agency in the U.S. using the strategy. They developed their own protocol, and Dekmar approved the training and range procedures that were incorporated into the agencys annual training that started in February.

He said when the public calls police for help, they expect officers to show up with alternatives and knowledge of how to deal with a situation. His officers are trained for verbal de-escalation and crisis intervention methods, as well as less lethal options such as Tasers, 12-gauge beanbags, pepper balls and BolaWrap remote restraints. He views shoot to incapacitate as a tool he hopes his officers will rarely use, but one that is there if use of deadly force is justified and necessary.

Anytime you can preserve a life, what that does is earn trust and maintain confidence of the public, which is absolutely necessary if youre going to be effective in the entire arena of public safety, he said.

The unorthodox training isnt the first time Dekmar has made waves among his colleagues.

In January 2017, he made national news when he became the one of the first police chiefs in the South to apologize for his agencys role in the lynching of a Black man. Even though the crime had occurred more than 70 years ago, Dekmar, who is white, believed its legacy still impacted the communitys view of his agency and its officers. As president of IACP in 2017 and 2018, he urged other police leaders to repair the broken trust with minorities in their communities. He also called for an improvement in policies and training to handle mentally ill people.

DEFINITELY DOABLE

At the range training last week, Sgt. Clower was directing officers through different real world scenarios where the shoot to incapacitate concept might be an option.

At one end of the range, the human silhouettes were positioned with body sections that are color coded to indicate desired target areas. The pelvic area, thighs, legs and arms were green or yellow  indicating desired spots to aim. The chest, upper torso, head and neck were shaded in red  indicating areas to try to avoid.

The officers took positions 15 yards, seven yards and three yards away from the targets. Clower used a whistle to signal the point in the training scenario where deadly force was justified, which was followed by a series of gunshots by the officers. In most cases, the bullets struck the green area that marked the pelvis and thigh areas, which the training emphasizes because they carry more mass than the arms and lower legs.

In one scenario, at close range, the officers were told to aim for the red area because the close proximity of their suspect placed the officers at increased risk.

Corporal Robbie Hall said the training went better than he expected. He said there has been concern among some colleagues that the technique wont work or will place officers at risk. The training, he said, offers another option if use of force is necessary. Under the tactic, officers must assess whether the situation and distance make it a viable alternative.

Before I shot this target, it didnt seem like an option, he said. Its definitely doable. Now that I actually went through the course, its doable.

Still, some in the broader law enforcement community wonder if LaGrange is headed down a thorny path, according to interviews by the AJC. They worry that the training could create community expectations and raise questions about why officers didnt employ the tactic in all police shootings. They also question how realistic it is in live situations to hit a moving target and stop a lethal threat while also firing a gun with the precision to wound, but not kill.

The LaGrange program appears to be part of an effort by agencies nationwide grappling with ways to stop deadly threats while increasing the survivability chances of suspects, said Von Kliem, a policy attorney with the Force Science Institute, a company that studies police and community violence.

Kliem, a former police officer, said some agencies in recent years have turned to controversial policies that allow officers to use Tasers against knife-wielding suspects, as long as they have deadly force options available. He said that with any luck, the shoot to incapacitate policy will work in the rare instances where it would be appropriate.

To say these tactics are authorized is not to say these tactics should be considered in most cases, he said. The agencies, officers, and communities need to decide whether increased risk of death and serious bodily injury to the officers and the community members is worth these attempts to save suspects from the consequences of their deadly decisions.

Activists in Georgia say reform of police use of force is long overdue. They point to scores of deadly police shootings with little accountability. They say more emphasis needs to be placed on de-escalation tactics and preserving life in police encounters.

In this climate, we dont need any more police shootings, period, said Gerald Griggs, an attorney and activist who has worked on police reform with the Georgia NAACP. We need to reevaluate how we deal with all of that.

Dekmar views the debate to be critical as community standards and expectations evolve.

I think what the community expects is that we need to be wise, he said. The standard isnt awful but lawful. The standard is -- under the facts and circumstances -- did the police realistically do all they could do to preserve life in a situation. Were supposed to be the professionals. We have to be reacting with more than one alternative, which is shoot center mass  particularly if we can do so safely.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP)  An Indiana man has been arrested in connection with a shooting death in Iowa City last month.

The Iowa City Police Department said 29-year-old Renard Winfield Jr. of Gary, Indiana, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of 31-year-old Tommy Curry.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana resettlement groups are eager to resume their work with an increase in U.S. refugee admissions that had been slashed under former President Donald Trump.

The organizations applaud President Joe Bidens decision this month to boost the refugee limit from 15,000 a year to 62,500. The lower Trump caps led to only 21 refugees arriving in Indiana during the six months through March, according to federal records.

Heidi Smith, director of refugee services at Catholic Charities Indianapolis, welcomed Bidens action even though delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic make it unlikely the U.S. will admit the full number of refugees this year.

Honestly, it filled me with joy, Smith told the Indianapolis Business Journal about the higher cap. This administration is sending a very different message to our country about the importance of welcoming refugees.

The U.S. admitted about 85,000 refugees in 2016, which was the most since 1999, but Trump drastically cut the admissions limit after he took office in 2017.

Exodus Refugee Immigration, another Indianapolis resettlement agency, had been helping about 900 refugees a year before Trumps cutbacks, which forced it to eliminate 15 positions in early 2017.

Now, we can start to plan and budget and rebuild the infrastructure that had nearly started to collapse, both at refugee agencies and at camps abroad, said Cole Varga, the groups executive director.

Bidens order added more slots for refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Central America and ended Trumps restrictions on resettlements from Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Some 35,000 refugees have been cleared to go to the U.S., and 100,000 remain in the pipeline.

Just over 2,000 refugees arrived in the U.S. from October 2020 through the end of March, according to the State Department.

Resettlement groups face hiring and training new staff members, and coordinating with local organizations and companies to find refugees housing, basic household items and jobs, said Smith of Catholic Charities.

We get a lot of calls from employers that want to hire our clients  it definitely had an impact on the business community when that pipeline of potential employees was negatively impacted, Smith said.
Human-elephant conflict: GI pipes from China for 1500km fence; procurement procedures waived By Damith Wickremasekara View(s): View(s):

The Cabinet has approved a proposal to seek the help of the Chinese embassy to buy galvanised iron (GI) pipes to put up a 1,500km-long fence to prevent the entry of elephants into villages.

The Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation has submitted a cabinet paper to deviate from procurement procedure and buy the GI pipes from a Chinese Company which has quoted Rs 266.5 million for the supply.

The ministry in its cabinet paper has proposed that the GI pipes were urgently required and attempts to buy the pipes locally was more costly as the Ceylon Steel Corporation had quoted Rs 403 million, but later declined to proceed with the supplies citing increase in world market prices.

Therefore, the ministry deviating from procurement procedures had obtained prices from China and recommended a Chinese company.

However, the Cabinet paper has also sought and obtained approval for a tax-free payment.

Wimalaweera Dissanayake, State Minister of Wildlife Protection, Adoption of Safety Measures including the Construction of Electrical Fences and Trenches, told the Sunday Times the President had given approval for the urgent purchases of the GI pipes.

He said the project would come as a priority basis as there were protests from several villages in view of the escalating human-elephant conflicts.

Under the proposed project, the 1,500km of fencing is due to be put up during this year.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry is expected to coordinate with the Chinese embassy on the GI pipe purchases.
LANDOVER, Md. (AP)  Authorities in Maryland are investigating after gasoline was found leaking from a 200-gallon storage tank inside a parked van.

Prince Georges County police think the incident in Landover was a case of hoarding amid the panic last week over the Colonial Pipeline hack, the Washington Post reported.

Police spokesman Nicholas Clayton told the newspaper the leak caused no injuries. The vans owner had not been identified because the van had no registration tags, he said.

The tank was not equipped to hold highly volatile liquids such as gasoline. County firefighters had to be dispatched to clean up the spill, Clayton said.

The biggest message in all this is to advise the community that bulk purchasing and storage of fuel in an unauthorized container is not safe, he said. Its not safe for yourself or your family or the first responders who have to come out and try to clean this mess up.

The operator of the pipeline, which was hit on May 7th by a ransomware attack, announced Saturday that it has resumed normal operations" delivering fuel to its markets, including a large swath of the East Coast.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)  Mary Schmidt has eagle eyes and a bird brain.

Of course, we mean both those observations as compliments.

Curator of the Backyard Wildlife Center at the Lichterman Nature Center, Schmidt can spot an eastern phoebe or an indigo bunting in places where most people see only a tangle of branches.

With a brain attuned to birdness, shes quick to identify the signature Porky Pig-esque stutter of the northern parula and the urgent four-syllable call of the white-eyed vireo, a cry that birders  with perhaps more than a soupcon of thirsty onomatopoeic projection  translate as quick-with-the-beer-check, quick-with-the-beer-check.

Schmidt, 41, is the host of the Bird Talk & Walk series at Lichterman, which currently is devoted to a type of swallow prized for its royal luminescence and its eco-friendly pesticidal appetites, the purple martin.

Theyre aerial acrobats who catch insects on the fly, said Schmidt, as several of the birds arced and wheeled in the air around the gourd-shaped houses of their colony, suspended on a pole above the Lichterman lawn like a mid-air apartment complex. They do a good job of controlling insects, but theyre also very entertaining.

Even more impressive than the martins ability to snap up bugs is the way they drink on the fly: As they soar low over lakes and pools, they scoop up water with their beaks, skimming liquid refreshment from the surface like a fingertip sneaking icing from the top of a cake.

ENCOURAGING AND PROTECTING PURPLE MARTIN NESTING

Memphians may be familiar with purple martins, a species that has been encouraged to thrive in the city. Purple martin colonies have been erected in Harbor Town on Mud Island and in other neighborhoods, as a natural form of insect reduction. Some farmers have put up purple martin houses for similar reasons.

The Mud Island purple martin homes resemble traditional bird houses. At Lichterman, the colony consists of 24 gourd-shaped houses that function as nests, the botanical shape recalling the actual gourds that Native Americans used to attract the birds centuries ago, when they innovated the idea of ornithological pest control.

The 90-minute purple martin Bird Walk & Talk tour begins with a visit to the Lichterman colony, and a talk from Schmidt about her role as a landlord for the group.

Each gourd features an opaque screw-top lid that allows Schmidt access to the nest, so she can keep tabs on the number of eggs and nestlings in the colony. She also is able to protect the birds from mites and other dangers.

Schmidt said she checks each nest about once a week. She said being a purple martin landlord is a win-win situation that benefits both birds and humans, if you have the dedication. She said purple martins winter in Brazil but return to the same nests year after year, so a colony can last a long time, if it is maintained.

A visitor will notice a series of wire-like rods near the gourds. These are predator guards; they dont inhibit the martins, but they prevent hawks and owls from landing on the colony and from reaching with their claws into the nests. Before Schmidt arrived at Lichterman about seven years ago, We had a problem with Coopers hawks eating the young, she said; since her arrival, the colony has expanded from four to about 20 active nests during the spring season.

AN OASIS IN EAST MEMPHIS

A perhaps underappreciated attraction, the Lichterman Nature Center, dedicated in 1972 from donated land, is a 65-acre oasis in the middle of East Memphis, hidden by rows of trees from its residential and commercial neighbors.

The center features an exhibit center and a wildlife center, but mainly it is home to trees, wild flowers and numerous species of the type that arent often associated with urban Memphis. A great blue heron and several species of hawk were among the birds that flew overhead during a morning visit to Lichterman by a reporter and a photographer last week. The heron, Schmidt said, is a regular visitor to Merties Lake, the decades-old manmade lake that essentially has become a natural part of the landscape of an area that was once a millionaires retreat (past owners of the Lichterman property have included Piggly-Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders and former New York Giant William H. Terry).

Bird Walk & Talk groups are kept to about 10 people, not only because of COVID-19 protocols but because birding works best with small groups. In addition to learning about the birds, Schmidt gives participants a beginners lesson in birdwatching, including binocular use (binocs are provided for those who dont bring a pair).

Said Schmidt: If people are thinking they want to get into birding, this is a good way to test it out.
GRANDVIEW, Mo. (AP)  Police in Missouri shot and wounded a man who confronted officers with a gun Sunday morning.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the incident happened around 6:45 a.m. Sunday at a park in Grandview, Missouri, on the south end of the Kansas City metro area. The Highway Patrol said in a post on Twitter that an apparent suicidal person was at the park with a gun.

Highway patrol spokesman Sgt. Andrew Bell said the man called 911 and said he had a gun and wanted to confront officers at the park about two miles east of Interstate 49 and north of Highway 150.

Bell said the man with a gun approached officers aggressively before two officers fired their weapons at him.

The man was taken to a hospital, but details about his condition were not immediately available Sunday. No officers were injured.
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP)  A nonprofit senior housing agency has plans to build a retirement community at a now-closed Catholic school in Worcester.

Goddard/Homestead, which operates independent living facilities and a rest home in the area, is seeking a special permit to operate a continuing care retirement community at the campus of St. Peter-Marian High School, The Telegram & Gazette reported Friday.

The school merged last year with Holy Name High School to become St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School.

The plan calls for the demolition of the main school building to make way for a 145-unit, over-55 continuing care retirement community.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester is still listed in the application as the owner of the 24-acre property.

According to the application, Goddard/Homestead plans to build 120 one-bedroom units and 25 two-bedroom units in a three-story, 135,000 square-foot building.

The new development will provide services including respite care, access to third-party medical care, a licensed social worker, a resident services director, local transportation, dining services and activities, according to the application.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  Fentanyl overdoses, including by people taking pills falsely sold to them as Xanax or Percocet, are spreading across Georgia.

Officials say they have found clusters in the Savannah and Columbus areas after an initial set of cases was found mostly around Augusta.

The suspected overdoses began in January. The state Public Health Department warned of the problem in April and urged people who notice unusual overdose activity or counterfeit pills to contact the Georgia Poison Center or the Public Health Departments opioid unit.

The Savannah Morning News reported that from Jan. 1 to April 19 in Chatham County, there were 336 suspected overdoses, compared to 368 in all of last year. There have been 20 deaths through April 19, compared to 44 last year.

I dont think that there is any overwhelming demographic for drug use or overdose, said Chatham Emergency Services CEO Chuck Kearns. It attacks all. Its nondiscriminatory.

Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team Director Michael Sarhatt told the county commission recently that the agency has made multiple arrests for fentanyl trafficking.

Sarhatt said that when drugs were seized in late April to May 7, only one overdose death was reported.

That, in my opinion, has a direct correlation to the downtime," he said. We were running hot, and we were at that time. At that time we already had 20 fatal overdose deaths.

Public health officials say counterfeit pills are also being found in Chattahoochee, Dooly, Harris, Muscogee, Schley and Taylor counties.

Eleven patients have been hospitalized and several deaths are pending confirmation in the Columbus area.

The color isnt the same. If you have a pill, you can look up the imprint online. The imprint might be the right number, but the wrong font. Theres just something off about it, Public Health Educator Cheryl Kolb told WTVM-TV. Think about it, if that person was using meth for three days, or six days, now theyre also addicted to opioids, so theyre going through severe withdrawals that theyve never had before.

Officials note Georgia allows naloxone to be obtained for overdose prevention without a prescription. They say multiple doses of naloxone may be necessary if someone has overdosed.

In Chatham County, there have been 159 uses of naloxone through April 19, compared to 193 uses of naloxone last year.
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP)  Ray Brown, of Fort Dodge, starts his day earlier than most people.

The 69-year-old owner of Brownies Cafe, 1712 Central Ave., gets up and going at about 1:30 a.m. And he doesnt have to go very far to get to work.

I live in the back, Brown said.

By 3 a.m., he starts baking the cinnamon rolls and bread that the cafe is known for.

Not too long after that the first customer arrives.

My first customer is usually around 3 a.m., Brown said. And hes 92 years old.

Nancy Brown, a longtime employee of no relation to the owner, calls him Albert.

His real name is Alfred, she said, referring to the first customer of the day.

The Fort Dodge Messenger reports that Ray Brown, a U.S. Air Force veteran, started working at Brownies Cafe after he got out of the service in 1973. Brown was stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, and later in Washington, D.C.

It was toward the end of the Vietnam War, so they let a bunch of us get out early, Brown said.

Hes proud to have served.

I think everybody should do it, he said. It gives you a basic how to take commands and deal with people. That kind of thing.

His mother, Elta Brown, started the cafe in 1968. It was first located east of the current location and was part of a house. Later it was moved to where Sues Draperies is located. The cafe found its more permanent home in 1988, where it remains today.

Ray Browns father, Chet Brown, was a U.S. Marine during World War II. His parents met in California before moving to Iowa.

His mother passed away in 2012. His father passed away in 1997.

We lived two or three years in Carroll before we moved here, Brown said.

Brown spent the first few years at Brownies as a waiter. Later, his mother taught him to cook.

How to cook different foods and make the rolls and the bread, Brown said. How to get along with people.

He took over as owner in 1977.

The cafe caters to the breakfast crowd.

Our homemade cinnamon rolls are the big draw, Brown said. And most of our business is early morning. We have some lunch (offerings), but thats one of the parts that has fallen down over the years. That was before all-you-can-eat started hopping like crazy.

The Brownies breakfast special is eggs, potatoes, choice of meat and a drink for $9.

He makes a mean goulash, Nancy Brown said. A ham and cheese omelette with homemade toast is popular, too.

Nancy Brown is the restaurants only employee aside from Ray Brown. She started about 37 years ago.

Three generations of my family have been raised in here, she said. My kids and grandkids.

Operating the cafe has been all about the people, Ray Brown said.

They become family, he said.

When COVID-19 forced the closure of the restaurant for about two months in the spring of 2020, it was a difficult time.

I guess that was my vacation, Ray Brown said. We got 2 hours notice that we were going to be closed and that was just from the TV telling us. And they never said how long. We didnt know when we would be back open again, so I had to scrinch and save.

Brown said there arent very many family restaurants left in the city.

Theres a lot more fast food places out now, he said. Where its the big money. Theres not too many family restaurants left. Like Zakeers would be one. We would be another one. Fast food you are just a number. Here you are people.

He added, We are pretty laid back here. We dont have a lot of rules.

When not working, one of Ray Browns favorite events of the year is Frontier Days.

We enjoy Frontier Days because they line up on the street out front, Ray Brown said. A lot of families enjoy that.

Browns best friend is a dog named Lou.

She stays in the back with me, he said.

Brown has enjoyed doing business in Fort Dodge.

Theres pretty good people in this town and just knowing everybody and knowing the people, he said. Long as I can keep going, Ill keep doing it.
NORTON, Va. (AP)  Both the police chief of a small Virginia city and a man accused of shooting him have been released from a hospital.

Norton Police Chief James Lane was discharged from the Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee, where he was airlifted after suffering multiple gunshot wounds while responding to a shoplifting call May 7, the Bristol Herald Courier reported.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP)  Iowa City police are investigating a fatal shooting that happened early Sunday.

The Iowa City Police Department said officers responding to reports of gunshots found a vehicle that had crashed into a tree. Officers found that the driver had sustained gunshot wounds.

The man who was driving the vehicle was taken to a hospital where he later died.

An autopsy is scheduled to be performed Monday. The man's name was not immediately released.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)  A woman threatened to stab her husband over an argument about money to move to Japan before she allegedly killed their two children with a meat cleaver in a suburban Phoenix apartment, police said Sunday.

Yui Inoue, 40, remained jailed on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder, according to Tempe police.

It was unclear Sunday if Inoue had a lawyer yet who could speak on her behalf. Police said the woman primarily speaks Japanese and had an interpreter for their interviews.

Inoue drove to a police station about 7 a.m. Saturday and told officers she was hearing voices telling her to kill her children, authorities said.

Police said a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, whose names werent immediately released, were found dead in the apartment.

The two bodies were under a blanket and boxes and there were significant injuries to their bodies including numerous lacerations, incised wounds and some amputations, consistent with a violent attack and defensive wounds, said Sgt. Steven Carbajal, a Tempe police spokesman.

He said Inoue had blood and lacerations on her body when she was detained and there were blood stains in her vehicle.

A meat cleaver with a 6-inch (15-centimeter) blade was found inside a bag with blood-stained clothing in her vehicle, according to Carbajal.

There were several pieces of information/evidence that led detectives to believe that the cleaver was the weapon used during this incident, Carbajal said.

Police said Inoue told them she woke up around 4:30 a.m. Saturday with blood on her hands and arms and the two children were dead and bloody near the doorway of the bedroom.

Inoue didnt believe she had killed the children, but said she couldnt remember and woke up to the situation after taking a bath.

Police said they had been called to the same apartment earlier Saturday morning because of a domestic dispute involving a husband and wife.

Police said Inoues husband confirmed he had left the apartment around 12:30 a.m. Saturday after arguing with her over money.

He said the children were asleep at the time of the argument and he didnt have concerns about Inoue harming them.

Police also said there was no apparent reason at the time to call child welfare authorities.

The man told police he slept until morning in his vehicle in the parking lot of a bank where he works.

Carbajal said the officers who discovered the bodies were not the same ones who were at the apartment on the earlier domestic dispute call.

The officers who found the dead children were receiving counseling.
SAN DIEGO (AP)  President Joe Biden, under political pressure, agreed to admit four times as many refugees this budget year as his predecessor did, but resettlement agencies concede the number actually allowed into the U.S. will be closer to the record-low cap of 15,000 set by former President Donald Trump.

Refugee advocates say they are grateful for the increase because its symbolically important to show the world the United States is back as a humanitarian leader at a time when the number of refugees worldwide is the highest since World War II. But theyre frustrated, too, because more refugees could have been admitted if Biden hadnt dragged his feet.

About 10,000 to 15,000 is what were expecting, said Jenny Yang of World Relief, adding that Biden's inaction for months after taking office in January was definitely problematic."

That delay meant not being able to process refugee applications for four months. We werent able to rebuild for four months, so it really was unfortunate," Yang said.

Biden first proposed raising the cap to 62,500 in February in a plan submitted to Congress, but then refused to sign off on it for two months before coming back April 16 and suggesting he was sticking with Trump's target.

Democratic allies and refugee advocates lambasted him, saying he was reneging on his campaign promise in the face of bipartisan criticism over his handling of an increase in unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

To be clear: The asylum process at the southern border and the refugee process are completely separate immigration systems. Conflating the two constitutes caving to the politics of fear," said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Weeks later, on May 3, Biden raised the cap.

So far this year only about 2,500 refugees have arrived, with less than five months left before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

More than 35,000 refugees have been vetted and approved to come to the United States, but thousands were disqualified under the narrow eligibility criteria Trump established in October when he set the low cap.

By the time Biden expanded the eligibility, many health screenings and documents were no longer valid, according to resettlement agencies. And if someone had a baby during that time, then the entire family could be stalled.

Even under the best circumstances, it can take two months for each case to be updated.

Before the Trump administration's drastic cuts, the United States had admitted more refugees each year than all other countries combined under a program now 41 years old.

With a family history that includes two step-parents who fled Europe during and after WWII, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed to restore that leadership by significantly boosting the cap in the early days of the administration. The State Department recommended to the White House the ceiling be set at 62,500, officials said.

But a senior official familiar with Blinkens thinking said it quickly became clear that the State Department offices responsible for refugee resettlement had been so gutted that they wouldnt be able to process and absorb that number of refugees.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, described the situation as aspiration meeting reality and said Blinken reluctantly concluded that 62,500 wouldnt be possible in the short term.

It turned out there was even more damage done than we knew, Blinken told reporters this month.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement also has been taxed by the jump in unaccompanied migrant children coming to the U.S. border, according to the administration. Some $85 million was diverted from refugee resettlement money to help care for the children, government documents published by The New York Times show.

Biden did not want to promise something he wasn't sure was possible, Blinken said.

So we needed to take some time to make sure that the resources were in place, the people were in place, the programs were in place to actually receive refugees coming in, he said.

The Trump administration had cut U.S. staff overseas who interview refugees by 117 officers. As a result, the number of interviews that were conducted fell by one-third in 2019 compared with those done in 2016 under the Obama administration. That number fell off almost entirely in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to travel restrictions in and out of refugee processing sites worldwide, the U.S. suspended refugee arrivals from March 19 to July 29 of last year except for emergency cases. Only 11,800 refugees were admitted in the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest number in the history of the program.

The administration is working on rehiring that staff and addressing the backlog, including by making it possible to conduct interviews by video teleconferencing instead of doing them in person, deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

But it can take months to train new officers.

The government is also trying to tackle the layers of vetting put in place by the Trump administration, which brought the process nearly to a standstill and required, for instance, that refugees submit 10 years of addresses, something nearly impossible to do for people who have been on the move.

Biden has pledged money to expand the operations of resettlement agencies, which are paid by the federal government per refugee served. With the refugee numbers way down, the agencies were forced to close about 100 offices nationwide during the Trump administration.

Some agencies so far have only been able to cobble together a few dozen qualified people after losing their experienced staff.

They also need time to reestablish their partnerships with landlords, employers and others who have helped refugees get established in communities, a challenge with increasing housing prices and other added constraints related to the pandemic.

The sad truth" Biden warned when he finally set the target at 62,500 is that goal won't be achieved.

Instead, the administration and advocates are working to fix the program by 2022 when Biden has promised to raise the ceiling to 125,000.

_____

Lee reported from Washington.
Lanka escapes Tauktae lashing, but threats loom from monsoon amid pandemic By Jayani Chathurangika View(s): View(s):

The Arabian Sea tropical cyclone Tauketae is heading towards the western coast of India but not before causing havoc here with about 50,000 being affected by floods, landslides and strong winds upto Sunday. Altyhough the cyclone Tauktae is moving towards Indias Gujarat region for a landfall on Tuesday and its adverse effects on Sri Lanka are receding, people are advised to be cautious of strong winds in the coming days that can cause damage to property and lives, said Kasun Pasquel, Duty Meteorologist of the Meteorology Department.

He also issued another warning: Although, Tauktaes impact is receding, the South West monsoon will continue to bring torrential rains.

According to the Met Department forecast for this week, showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in the Galle and Matara districts. Fairly heavy falls can be expected at some places in the Nuwara-Eliya and Kandy districts too. The public should take adequate precautions to minimise damage caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thunder showers.

As a result of last weeks storm, four people died due to flash floods and earth slips. More than 600 houses suffered damage, and 1247 people were affected by floods in the Colombo and Gampaha districts while eleven families from Udapalatha, Kandy were evacuated to safe places.

According to the Disaster Management Centre, 46,730 persons from 11,796 families were affected by the torrential rain-led disasters with the majority from Gampaha district.Roads were inundated with flood waters in Kelaniya, Attanagalle, Wattala, Mahara, Divulapitiya, Minuwangoda, Meerigama, Dompe, Negombo, Gampaha and Katana areas. (See pics)

Kalutara experienced the highest rainfall of 336 mm. In Galle, Karapitiya Godakanda, Uluwitage, Opatha and lowlands in Baddegama were inundated with flood waters.

Areas in the vicinity of Deduru oya, Attanagalu oya, Kelani, Kalu, Gin and Nilwala rivers experienced flash floods. Floods were also reported in a number of low lying areas in Colombo district, and in Kurunegala and Matara.As the water levels rose, 1247 people from 304 families were taken to safety shelters with the majority from Kotte, Kaduwela, Kolonnawa, Seethawaka, Colombo city.

The official advised the Navy and deep sea fishermen to stay away from venturing into the southeast Arabian sea until the present stormy condition subsided.

Due to last weeks storm, three people were killed in flash floods and soil collapse. More than 200 houses suffered damage. About 170 affected people were moved to safe places, officials said.

They said landslides occurred in Rambukkana, Bulathkohupitiya, Warakapola and several areas in the Kegalle district. Areas in the vicinity of Deduru oya, Attanagalu oya, Kelani, Kalu, Gin and Nilwala rivers experienced floods.

Irrigation Department Water Management Director D. Abeysiriwardena said sluice gates of 10 reservoirs had been opened due to heavy rains with water levels of 15 reservoirs reaching the maximum capacity.

He said irrigated agriculture in Hambantota, Mannar and Anuradhapura was also affected due to the heavy rains. In Monaragala, 25 acres of corn harvest was damaged due to the torrential rains.

Meanwhile, the Air Force said it was monitoring the flood situation triggered by rising river water levels to coordinate rescue missions.

During the weekend, the National Building Research Organisation issued landslide warning to the Kalutara districts Ingiriya, Palindanuwara, Bulathsinhala, Walallawita, Mathugama, Agalawatta, Dodangoda and Horana areas; the Galle districts Niyagama, Baddegama, Yakkalamulla, Neluwa, Galle Four Gravets, Nagoda,Thawalama and Elpitiya areas, the Matara districts Pitabeddara area, the Colombo districts Seethwaka area, the Kegalle districts Warakapola and Dehiowita areas and the Ratnapura districts Eheliyagoda area.

Janaka Handunpathiraja, Assistant Director of the Disaster Management Centre, said that with the countrys covid situation in mind, they were taking what was necessary to face any adverse effect of the Southwest monsoon.

The DMC official said they had earmarked the Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Kegalle, Puttalam and Hambantota districts as high risk regions.

People in high risk areas will be advised to evacuate to friends or relatives (in safer areas) if possible and minimise community contact to avoid the spreading of COVID 19, he said. In case of emergency more than 3000 troops have been trained to be deployed on rescue missions. The DMC has projected that about 35,000 persons will be affected by the upcoming monsoon. Pic by Upali Ranaweera, Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
FULLERTON, Calif. (AP)  The Southern California city of Fullerton has agreed to pay $350,000 and take back its accusations of criminal computer hacking to settle a lawsuit against two local bloggers, a newspaper reported.

The agreement was approved by the City Council last Wednesday, ending a contentious fight over censorship and freedom of speech, the Orange County Register said.

The lawsuit accused Joshua Ferguson and David Curlee from the website Friends for Fullertons Future of stealing digital personnel files from a shared drive to which the city had mistakenly given them access. Some of the files were later published online, including those of a rogue Fullerton police official who was allowed to resign in a way that would keep her records from being released to the public.

Attorney Kelly Aviles, representing the bloggers, said she was pleased with the settlement, but the litigation could have been avoided.

The city shouldnt have tried to blame their mistakes on journalists trying to cover the city, Aviles said.

Fullertons attorney, Kimberly Hall Barlow, said the city acted in good faith when it filed its lawsuit in 2019.

Im glad were getting our documents back, Barlow said. That was the entire goal of the litigation.

Under the terms of the deal, the city must publish a public apology on the home page of its website, Aviles said. While no formal charges were brought against the bloggers, the citys accusations of criminal conduct were traumatic to them, she said.

In turn, the bloggers must return the remaining confidential records, which they dont plan on publishing anyway, Aviles said.
MILTON, W.Va. (AP)  A Milton Middle School teacher is changing the way West Virginia history is taught, two minutes at a time.

Brian Casto has taught an eighth-grade West Virginia Studies class at the school for the past four years, but has recently ventured down unfamiliar roads in order to spark his students curiosity about the Mountain States rich history through a series of animated lessons on his YouTube channel titled West Virginia History in Two Minutes or Less.

In the video series, Casto uses animated characters, still photos and other graphic elements as the backdrop for topics like John Browns raid at Harpers Ferry, the Hatfield and McCoy feud, and even some West Virginia trivia on state symbols and state parks.

Casto is wrapping up his 13th year teaching in Cabell County, the first nine of which were spent teaching history at the high school level. He used a variety of mediums in his classroom and consistently found internet videos that would help reinforce his lessons.

Then I get the West Virginia Studies job and I start looking for resources, and there were hardly any, if any at all. I was telling my wife that theres nothing out there and sometimes you need something a little different to introduce or review (a topic), Casto said.

His wife responded by telling him to make his own if he couldnt find any.

So thats how it started, and now a little over a year later Ive got 41 done and some more in the works, Casto said.

It was an idea that came to fruition about a month before the world went virtual in March 2020. When students were learning virtually, transitioning to a blended model and eventually returning to classrooms in early spring, Casto was hard at work creating mini-lessons that have gained popularity online.

Mr. Casto is an amazing, amazing middle school teacher who, even before the pandemic, was creating digital lessons and videos that are rich with tons of information to teach West Virginia Studies, Cabell County Superintendent Ryan Saxe said. Hes really been able to bring West Virginia history to the digital world in a very engaging and exciting manner.

Casto said each video takes between 15 and 20 hours to create from start to finish, working on them after his own children go to bed in the evenings.

This is what makes everyone go, What? Im sure its partly because its not my field and there has been a learning curve, said Casto. Its a passion project. I enjoy them, and it doesnt feel like work when Im putting them together.

What he didnt anticipate was that these videos would reach students far beyond the four walls of his classroom.

Its been really cool because teachers across the state are using them, which I never thought would happen, he said. Ive had home-schooled parents message me on Facebook and tell me how much their kids love them. I saw a home-schooled student out one day and he came up to me and said, Hey, Mr. Casto, and I did not know who he was because that was a little kid and I teach eighth-graders.

Milton Middle School Principal Curt Mann said Castos embodied exactly what a teacher is supposed to be, and said the videos have helped students from across the state connect with pieces of their culture they might not have known about before.

Hes not just reaching those 20-25 students that come through his class every day  hes reaching thousands of people everywhere, even outside of the state, and everyone is learning, Mann said. Thats what a teacher is supposed to do  teach people regardless of where they are, and those videos do that and its a great thing.

Casto was recently named the Cabell County Teacher of the Year, the reality of which he said still hasnt quite settled with him.

This year Ive tried especially hard with making animated videos and doing anything I can do to try and spark their curiosity. My goal, beyond them learning, is for them to have a deeper appreciation for this state, said Casto. I love this state and I feel like I have a lot to offer, and my mission is to teach them, yes, but even more I want them to appreciate whats around them and be better for it.
SOUTHPORT, N.C. (AP)  A cherished dock in a coastal North Carolina city has reopened in time for tourist season, years after it was wrecked by a hurricane.

Last week, Southport officially cut the ribbon on its rebuilt city dock, which was originally built in the late 1950s but had been closed since 2016 due to damage from Hurricane Matthew, The StarNews of Wilmington reported.
ELSMERE, Del. (AP)  Police in Delaware are investigating after a 28-year-old woman was found dead inside a cellphone store after an apparent robbery.

Elsmere Police Chief Laura Giles said officers responded to a call for a burglary at a Metro by T-Mobile store and when they arrived Saturday they found the cash drawer empty and the woman's body in the basement, The News Journal reported.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

A San Francisco judge on Friday denied a request for a preliminary injunction from the city that would have barred four people previously arrested for selling drugs from entering the city's Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods.

Back in September 2020, City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed civil lawsuits against each of the defendants, seeking to bar them from entering a 50-square-block area in an effort to break the supply chain for addicts who congregate in the Tenderloin.

Herrera had argued that the defendants are not neighborhood residents and instead travel from other Bay Area cities to sell drugs in downtown San Francisco, contributing to the recent rise in overdose deaths.

In his ruling, Judge Ethan Schulman said current state laws "do not authorize issuance of the stay-away orders."

Schulman added, "Further, even if such orders were authorized by the statute, they would violate defendants' constitutional right to interstate travel."

The defendants -- Guadaloupe Aguilar-Benegas, Jarold Sanchez, Victor Zelaya and Christian Noel-Padilla -- were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

"The city's request that the court grant preliminary injunctions excluding our clients from a large portion of the city without regard to the impact on them and their family members is unprecedented and unconstitutional," ACLU attorney Annie Decker said earlier this month in a statement. "The city should spend public money on services that support vulnerable communities with safe and supportive housing, mental health, harm reduction, and other life-affirming services, not further driving people into poverty and desperation."

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The Legislative Analyst's Office warns California lawmakers to prepare to dispatch emergency drinking water to vulnerable communities, particularly in the Central Valley.

By Rachel Becker

CalMatters

Rural, low-income Latino communities across California were hardest hit by the last drought and could see drinking water shortages again this year as extreme drought spreads across the state, according to a report released today by non-partisan advisors to California's lawmakers.

The report from the Legislative Analyst's Office warns state officials to prepare by ramping up monitoring of wells in vulnerable communities and lining up emergency drinking water supplies to send there.

"The communities most impacted by drinking water challenges during the last drought were small and rural; many were farmworker communities located in California's Central Valley. Moreover, many of the communities that lost -- or remain vulnerable to losing -- access to safe drinking water contain high proportions of both lower income and Latino residents," the report says.

The last drought -- a record-breaking 2012-2016 event -- spanned the driest four consecutive years since record-keeping began in California. The dry weather collided with hot temperatures to suck water from soils, parch plants and create warm, shallow rivers where 95% of the young winter-run Chinook salmon were killed in 2014 and 2015.

Now most of the state is again experiencing extreme drought conditions or worse. Earlier this week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in 39 counties, including most of the parched Central Valley and Klamath River area, bringing the total counties under drought emergencies to 41. Declarations already were announced last month for Mendocino and Sonoma counties due to severe conditions in the Russian River watershed.

The most recent drought didn't hit Californians evenly, according to the report. Farmers and ranchers fallowed some land and pumped groundwater to make up for dwindling water deliveries from state and federal aqueducts. But residential communities were a different story.

"Some rural residential communities -- mainly in the Central Valley -- struggled to identify alternative water sources upon which to draw when their domestic wells went dry," the report said.

Many of these towns were farmworker communities, home to lower-income and Latino residents, who also suffered financially from the drought's effects on agriculture. Now, in the midst of another drought, the COVID-19 pandemic has piled on them as well.

The legislative analyst advised lawmakers to consider focusing spending and assistance on these vulnerable communities.

"The LAO's report clearly identifies the challenges faced by rural, vulnerable communities -- mostly people of color, located in the Central Valley. These communities are still reeling from the last drought and the Coronavirus," said State Sen. Anna Caballero, a Democrat from Salinas. "The LAO is absolutely correct in saying that rural communities continue to be hit the hardest, and we need to focus spending and assistance on mitigating the impacts of the drought."

State officials should pre-position emergency bottled water and tanks in these communities, and also create a clear protocol for people so they know whom to call when their wells go dry, Susana De Anda, executive director of the Community Water Center, told California lawmakers last week.

"We were not ready for the last drought. As a result, we scrambled. The local and state response was uncoordinated. Families didn't know who to call. And too many went without water for too long," De Anda said in a statement.

The state isn't certain how many wells went dry during the last drought: A report from the California Natural Resources Agency tallied 2,600 reports of dry wells received through January 2019, mostly in 2014 and 2015. This is certainly an undercount, however, the report said.

"Residents seldom report dry private well issues to counties," the Natural Resources report said. "Although a tracking mechanism was successfully established, its limited utilization demonstrates the difficulties of obtaining household water shortage data."

De Anda also called for lining up funding for emergency water supplies now.

Last time, California spent $3.3 billion to respond to the drought, including $734 million in emergency response. The biggest chunk of the emergency response funding, about $384 million, went towards fire protection.

The second biggest chunk, $115 million, tackled drinking water emergencies in disadvantaged communities, primarily in the south San Joaquin Valley. The money went towards drilling deeper wells and connecting communities to other water systems.

About half a million dollars a month went towards bulk and bottled water purchases during the peak of the last drought, according to a March report from the California Natural Resources Agency.

Not all of the funding for farmworker communities was "well-targeted," the Legislative Analyst's Office said. Some, for instance, went towards a program that offered temporary relocation because of job losses from the drought. But people were uninterested in the program, preferring to stay put or find a more permanent place to settle.

The drought compounds the existing challenges that one million Californians already face finding safe and affordable drinking water, the legislative analyst's report said. "These conditions worsened during the last drought, when thousands of wells serving residential homes dried up or became affected by contaminants that emerged in the underlying aquifers."

The report comes on the heels of another state assessment that reported 343 water systems already fail to provide safe and affordable drinking water to Caifornians, and another 617 public water systems are at risk. Addressing the contamination and shortages could take $10.25 billion over the next five years.

This week, Newsom proposed $5.1 billion to respond to the drought and bolster water resilience over the next four years, including $27 million for drinking water emergencies during drought.

"Fortunately, the Senate and now the Administration have put forth significant plans to make investments to repair and modernize our water systems," said Caballero, who called for more innovation in monitoring and managing water supply projections in the face of climate change.

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If you walk the serene rows of the San Francisco National Cemetery in the Presidio, you may eventually come upon an unusual tombstone. Carved into its aging marble face are the words:

PAULINE C. FRYER

UNION SPY

How a Civil War spy came to be buried in San Francisco is a forgotten tale of adventure, intrigue and tragedy.

Pauline Cushman Fryer began life as Harriet Wood, a tomboyish daughter among seven sons in New Orleans. As a teenager, she was bit by the acting bug and set off on her own to New York City in the 1850s to pursue a career on the stage. Harriet Wood sounded a little dull to her ear, so she changed her name to Pauline Cushman, the moniker that would soon make her one of Americas most famous women.

But the New York theater scene didnt work out for Pauline, a pretty but generally unremarkable actress. She met a theater musician named Charles Dickenson, though, and the pair married. Her career failing, they decided to move to Cleveland to be closer to his family. Heartbreak and war soon followed. The pair lost two babies in infancy and Charles followed them in death in 1862, dying of dysentery far from home as a Union soldier.

Now on her own, Pauline returned to the stage. She made a modest comeback, and by 1863 was starring in a play in Kentucky. Louisville in 1863 was a tense place; Union troops were in control of the city but paroled Confederate prisoners walked the streets. As the legend goes, two such prisoners approached Pauline one day. They knew she gave a dinner toast during one scene of the play, and they said theyd pay her to change the script to dedicate the toast to the Confederacy.

Brady-Handy photograph collection/Library of Congress

Clever Pauline went straight to a Union colonel and told him of their request. To her surprise, the colonel told her to do it.

That night, when the toast scene came, Pauline stood up from the table, raised her glass, and proclaimed, "Here's to Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy; may the South always maintain her honor and her rights.

"The sentiment fell upon the audience like a bombshell, the San Francisco Call remembered three decades later. All the Union persons present were mortified and indignant, while Southern sympathizers were delighted.

Among the mortified people was Paulines boss, who promptly fired her after the performance. This was all part of the colonels plan, however.

"Romances of the lovely young actress who was persecuted and driven out of the two cities by the Union soldiers filled the South," the Examiner wrote, "and she was the Confederate heroine of the hour." Now a Southern star, Pauline was the perfect person to turn spy.

For the next few months, Pauline was one of the Unions most productive spies. Her usual ruse was pretending to be the sister of a missing Confederate soldier, using her sob story to sneak into Confederate Army camps. Once inside, she would assess their strength, supplies and plans. She drew maps from memory and wooed Southern soldiers into giving up intel.

Pauline was so good that in the summer of 1863, she was sent to Nashville to scout for the upcoming Tullahoma Campaign, a sweeping plan to push the Confederates out of Middle Tennessee.

While on a mission, she met a young Confederate officer in possession of fortification plans. She took a risk and stole them. While hurrying back toward the Union camp, her luck ran out. She was captured by Southern troops and court-martialed in Shelbyville. The verdict: guilty. The sentence: death by hanging.

Pauline knew if she could stall just a little longer, the Union troops would be coming. So she mustered all her acting skill to fake an illness so severe her captors would delay her execution. "She used to laugh when she related how she played sick when General Bragg was going to hang her, Paulines San Francisco landlady recalled years later.

Her plan worked. One day, she awoke to the sound of the Confederate camp around her in full retreat. She was left behind in the melee and rescued in the nick of time by her Union friends.

Her story made headlines across the nation, and soon Pauline Cushman was a household name, cursed by the Confederacy and venerated by the Union. The army awarded her the title of Major of Cavalry. It was said her exploits made it all the way to Abraham Lincoln himself, who allegedly remarked, "She has done more to earn her title than many a male who wore the shoulder straps of Major during the war.

Brady-Handy photograph collection/Library of Congress

Now outed as a spy, Pauline took to the stage once more, touring the nation as the Spy of the Cumberland with P.T. Barnum. Fame and glory did not last long, however. Although flowery prose at the time promised her name would never be forgotten, it quickly was. Other heroes and martyrs overtook her, and within the decade she was struggling once more. She married in San Francisco in 1872, but was widowed for a second time. She moved to Arizona Territory and married a man named Jere Fryer in 1877; their marriage dissolved, and she moved back by herself to San Francisco. In 1890, Pauline moved into a small, third-floor room in a boarding house at 1118 Market St.

Her landlady, Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, said sometimes Pauline didnt have enough money for food. She made a little cash by selling poetry, but her arthritis was so bad most of that money went toward buying painkillers. In April 1893, after 30 years of petitioning, the U.S. government finally awarded Pauline her first husbands meager army pension. As pain and poverty wore her down, Paulines friends saw her bright personality fading.

Taylor, Pauline told her landlady one day, this world is not my home.

On the morning of Dec. 2, 1893, Taylor went into Paulines room to wake her. She found Pauline unconscious on the bed, her breathing labored. Two doctors were summoned, but nothing could be done for the ailing war hero. Major Pauline Cushman died at 2 p.m.

"A childless, gray-haired, penniless broken woman, almost without friends, died a lonely death in a Market Street lodging house yesterday, the Call wrote the next day. When the reporter asked Taylor if Pauline spoke of her war service, she replied, It's been so long ago, and she's had so much trouble since, that I don't suppose she actually cares as much about her history as the school child who reads it.

A coroners inquest found morphine and other painkillers on Paulines bedside table and learned she frequently self-medicated for her debilitating arthritis. Although she was, understandably, depressed, shed been making future plans and friends said she was not suicidal. The inquest ruled the death an accidental overdose.

Because of her destitute state, she would be buried in a potters field in an unmarked grave, the papers reported. Luckily, this news horrified veterans groups, who rallied the funds to give her a proper funeral. The funeral home was thronged by visitors, who left so many flowers that her flag-covered casket was buried under them. A procession accompanied her to her gravesite. "A salute was fired across the grave and taps were sounded by Bugler Mitchell from the Presidio," the Call reported, "and the drama of the federal spy's life was ended."

All of Paulines children died in infancy, so she left behind only a few fond friends. On her bedside table was a letter, forever unsent, to one of them.

We must live until we are called. God ordains in many ways, Pauline wrote. There may be a bright future yet. We will hope for it."

-

Its Presidio Month at SFGATE. Well be diving deep into the neighborhood for the entirety of May as part of a new series where well be highlighting a different corner of San Francisco every month this year.
UPDATE, 8:25 p.m.: The Warriors will visit the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. for their first play-in game.

The Golden State Warriors are red hot.

They've won eight of their last nine games, including a topsy-turvy victory against the Memphis Grizzlies in the regular-season finale, 113-101. Their 39-33 record, six games above .500, is the best winning percentage they've had all year.

And yet, despite clinching the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, they haven't locked in a playoff spot due to the NBA's newfound play-in tournament.

The Dubs will have two chances to win one game and make the real playoffs. On Wednesday, they'll face the West's No. 7 seed  which will either be the Los Angeles Lakers or Portland Trail Blazers  in Los Angeles or Portland. The winner of that matchup goes to the postseason as the No. 7 seed against the No. 2 Phoenix Suns.

If the Warriors lose the No. 7 vs. No. 8 game, they're not out of the running. They'll play the winner of the No. 9 vs. N0. 10 contest, which is the Grizzlies against the San Antonio Spurs. Whoever wins that game will make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed against the Utah Jazz.

All that's known for certain as of Sunday afternoon is the Warriors are locked into the No. 8 seed for the play-in tournament, and they'll get two opportunities to advance.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  As violence flares within Israel and on a day in which Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors.

It might seem an odd proposition at an odd time given that major airlines have suspended flights to Israel amid the flare-up in violence and while the spread of coronavirus remains a threat.

But at Dubai's Arabian Travel Market on Sunday, billed as the first travel and tourism event to happen in person since the global coronavirus outbreak, a small Israeli booth  tucked behind Slovenia's  marketed the country as the Land of Creation. Promotional videos advertised Israel's vegan culinary scene, its beaches and urged: Book Your Trip Now to Tel Aviv.

And the devastating airstrikes on Gaza leading the world's television news?

"We were not talking about it. We are talking about the future. We are talking about what we can do to bring tourism to Israel, said Ksenia Kobiakov, director of new markets development at the Israeli Tourism Ministry.

The presence of Israel at the travel and tourism event in Dubai highlights the United Arab Emirates business-first approach and demonstrates how rapidly ties with Israel have developed since the UAE and Israel signed an accord to formalize ties in September. It also signals how even the most brutal conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians are no longer viewed by some Gulf Arab leaders through a prism of Muslim or Arab solidarity, but as part of a wider calculation in a region gripped by multiple threats.

Israel's tourism minister was scheduled to attend a panel at the conference on Gulf-Israeli tourism, but the panel was quietly renamed and her visit to Dubai did not transpire. Israeli tourism officials say the minister's visit was never approved by the prime minister and the cancellation had nothing to do with the current fighting.

The first plane of Israeli tourists to the UAE landed in November. Since then, the UAE has welcomed tens of thousands of Israelis to its sandy beaches and marbled malls, with most flocking to Dubai.

Kobiakov said the hope is that Emirati citizens and foreign residents of the UAE will visit Israel in return and help its tourism sector rebound when the country is open again to tourists.

We came here to show Israel as a new destination for the UAE and Gulf countries, as a very colorful, exciting destination that is open, Kobiakov said.

In all her discussions with tour operators, airlines and others in Dubai on Sunday, the focus was on tourism and not politics, she said. There was no discussion of the current flare-up in violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

A plan to open visa-free travel between the two countries was delayed due to Israeli quarantine rules. The UAE and Israel, which have had some of the world's most successful vaccination drives against the coronavirus, are on track to sign the visa-exemption agreement July 1, Kobiakov said.

The current round of violence could impact Israel's plans to lure back tourists, particularly its effort to appeal to Emirati and Bahraini citizens and not just potential investors or officials from these countries. Violence around the Al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem drew rare rebuke of Israel by both countries, which signed accords recognizing Israel last year.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded since long-simmering tensions erupted on Monday. Eight people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier. Violence has also roiled across Israeli cities between Jews and the countrys Palestinian Arab citizens, as well as in the occupied West Bank.

In its airstrikes, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press office and those of other media outlets.

The UAE's foreign minister stopped short of directly criticizing Israel in the most recent statement issued Friday. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed instead called on all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate a political dialogue, and exercise maximum restraint.

On the sprawling premises of Dubai's tourism event, Kobiakov's schedule of back-to-back meetings affirmed the long-view approach to bilateral ties the UAE and Israel have taken.

People dont feel safe to travel now to Israel. Its understandable. But this escalation, it will finish one day, she said. We know that all the conflicts are coming and they are going. Tourism is staying forever, she added.
Our nightingales who hold up the lamp of hope to many COVID patients, amidst their own hardships By Nadia Fazlulhaq View(s): View(s):

We are exhausted to the maximum, the condition of patients being admitted to the hospital is taking a deadly turn. The death rate is increasing and causing mental distress among nurses. I continue to console many nurses who weep when they fail to save the life of a person whom they have looked after for weeks.

These were the heart-rending words of D.W.Chintha, the Chief Nursing Officer of the Homagama Base Hospital, as the world marked Nurses Day on May 12, in deep appreciation of the sacrifices they continue to make as frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.

Chintha heads a team of 14 nursing managers and over 250 nurses at the hospital and has a nursing experience of three decades. For her, the pandemic, especially the recent wave, has been a challenging one.

Our hospital is a multi-disciplinary one which means we conduct surgery on COVID patients  there is a labour room for expecting mothers infected with the virus, where cesareans are conducted  and at present this is the only hospital that performs dialysis on COVID-infected patients with kidney ailments. We work closely with the patients, therefore the risk is high as exposure is high. We have a special bonding with the patients too, she said.

She added that more and more patients were being admitted to the Homagama hospital from COVID intermediate care centres, thereby increasing the workload.

We witness the real face of COVID-19. We see patients suffer from mild to severe symptoms, and see people dying from COVID. Knowing that this same fate could befall a family member or friend makes us anxious. Some nurses are extremely worried about going home. At other times there is great joy when they see a patient who they have been treating recovering from the deadly virus, she said.

She said despite being exposed to more than 7,000 patients since the beginning of the COVID outbreak last year, up to now none of the nurses had tested positive at the hospital.

This shows that if one follows health guidelines and adheres to infection control measures when it comes to patient care, we can prevent contracting the virus. The public should act more responsibly or else the health staff will be further burdened by this pandemic.

Most nurses are on 24-hour duty and wear personal protective gear for several hours at a stretch. It is extremely difficult on hot and humid days. When we saw crowds flocking to buy clothes, police arresting persons who failed to wear masks and parties and gatherings on TV, we just wished that these people could see the suffering of some of the COVID patients that we witness daily act, she said.

Expressing similar views was Geethani Udugama-Korala, the Matron/ Chief Nurse at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH). People should act with more responsibility, she stressed.

Four out of about 150 IDH nurses have contracted the virus and are being treated at the hospital.

All pregnant nurses have been sent on maternity leave, after the government decided not to expose pregnant mothers to the virus. Until last week, most expecting nurses were working tirelessly to treat patients. There have been many instances where nurses go through agony when a patient dies and we are like a family here supporting each other as the mental wellbeing of nurses is very important, she said.

It is extremely nerve-wracking for nurses who are mothers of young children or have elderly parents back at home.

A nurse who works at a leading government hospital said, I have sent my two children to our village home with my husband. I do long shifts and work for a week or two continuously, then take an antigen test before going home to see them. I do not call them frequently as they cry asking for amma. I miss them but I wont put their health at risk.

Many nurses took to social media, posting their experiences, grief and the grim reality of the pandemic.

Following the death of a 33-year-old man from COVID at the Teldeniya Hospital, a nurse posted the incident on her social media page: His condition became worse and his breathing became difficult. After three days being on the ventilator and all our desperate attempts to save him he left the world. All who were on duty cried at that time and we are haunted by his continuous pleas asking whether he can go home to see his young son and wife.

National Hospital Training Coordinator and Head Nurse Pushpa Ramyani de Soysa said the country was facing a severe shortage of nurses and the present pandemic situation has resulted in nurses being over worked.

The country has about 37,000 nurses but the requirement is about 55,000-60,000. There is a need to get experienced, recently retired nurses and matrons to handle the growing number of cases, not only COVID patients but also patients with other illnesses, she said.

The Government Nursing Officers Association charged that some COVID centres with about 300-400 patients had only about four to five nurses.

Its president Saman Ratnapriya said, In 2000 it was projected that the country needed 44,000 nurses. Twenty one years later we are still at 37,000. Nurses are not only over-worked but their nutrition is not looked into. Some are working long hours, they need rest. Nurses say there is a difficulty in obtaining leave and some hospital management refuse to send them on quarantine after being exposed to a COVID patient.

About 110 nurses have so far contracted the virus and among them were several pregnant nurses, he said, adding that we have requested from the Health Ministry for a separate COVID treatment/ quarantine centre for frontline health workers.
Beijing, May 16 (IANS) The Chinese mainland has reported four new locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases in Liaoning province, the National Health Commission said on Sunday.

Besides the four locally-transmitted cases, there 14 new imported infections registered in the mainland, Xinhua news agency quoted the Commission as saying.
New Delhi: Vaccination with Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine - COVAXIN, has produced neutralising titres (concentration) against all key emerging variants tested, including the B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first identified in India and the United Kingdom, the vaccine manufacturer informed on Sunday.



As per an infographic, a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was observed against the B.1.617 variant compared to the vaccine variant (D614G).

It however added that despite this reduction, neutralizing titre levels with B.!.617 remain above levels expected to be protective.

"No difference in neutralization between B.1.1.7 (first found in the UK) and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed," Bharat Biotech added.

These findings are from a study conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology - India Council of Medical Research.

COVAXIN is one of the three COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available in the country.

As per the Union Health Ministry, a total of 18,22,20,164 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered across the country so far.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The day Ashley Santoros family took her grandfather, John Yodice, 76, of Eltingville, to the hospital, she told him that she loved him so much.

I told him when he comes home, Ill have a big surprise waiting for him, said Santoro, a Todt Hill resident.

That was March 4, 2021 when Yodice was taken the Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze with coronavirus (COVID-19).

And hes still there after a 70 day battle with the deadly virus.

Ashley Santoro with her grandfather on her wedding day. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

These were 70 of the worst days of our lives. In the very beginning, it started off with a fever and uncontrolled bowel movements. As the days went on, his symptoms started to become worse. My grandfather is the guy who calls me at least four times a day just to say hello. Well, it was very hard getting in touch with him, said Santoro.

And not being able to visit him due to COVID-19 restrictions was nerve-wracking for his family.

We called his cell phone multiple times while he was there and he did not want to talk. We were not allowed to be with him due to COVID restrictions. When he did not answer our calls, we knew that something was very wrong, said Santoro.

The Yodice family at Ashley and Christopher Santoro's wedding. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

After a few days, the nurses would Facetime her family so they could speak to him.

Seeing him with an oxygen mask wrapped around his face destroyed me in every way. Doctors would call us with updates and everyday they had to put a stronger oxygen mask on him because COVID was beginning to attack his lungs, his health was declining, said Santoro.

Two weeks into his hospital stay -- on March 16, 2021 -- the doctor called Santoros family to tell them it would be best to put him on a ventilator, she said.

Pictured from left to right are: Donna Bronzo, John Yodice, Ashley Santoro, Kristine Yodice-Acanfora, A, Anthony Acanfora, Angelia Bronzo, Nicole Yodice and Vincenzo Acanfora. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

We really did not want to [because of] all the bad things we heard. But this was our last resort. I will never forget this day. Me and my mom dropped to our knees and cried. We begged and prayed to God to please make a miracle happen and allow this to help him, she said.

A BIG SURPRISE

That night the nurse called Santoro and her family via Face Time.

We told him to listen and to listen carefully. We said, You need to stay as strong as possible and fight this for us and for you. We need you here. You have so much to live for. You live for us and we live for you, she said.

She also told him about the big surprise she was initially saving for his return home from the hospital.

Pop, you are going to be a great grandpa, so please, I need you to get better, said Santoro to her grandfather on the phone.

I remember his eyes. Those beautiful eyes lit up. We told him that we loved him so much and to please fight. He looked at us and whispered from under his mask, and said, Alright, she added.

John Yodice with his grandson Vincenzo Acanfora. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

But these were the last words Santoro and her family heard from him for two months.

We hung up the Face Time call and completely shut down. Not knowing what the next few days would look like completely destroyed us physically and mentally, she said.

On March 17, Yodice was put on a ventilator, said Santoro.

That night a doctor called us and told us that he had a bleed somewhere and that he would not live to see another day. I never want to relive that night. Me and my mother collapsed to the floor, crying like never before and begged God. I have never screamed out in pain as hard as I did that night. I was not ready to lose the man who raised me as his own daughter, the man who taught me almost everything that I know; my best friend, she said.

Pictured is Ashley Santoro (left) with Nicole Yodice and their grandfather, John Yodice. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

Santoro said she simply couldnt envision her life without her grandfather.

We were completely broken inside and out, but we kept our faith. We went to church and prayed day in and day out. ... We were barely getting by throughout the days. Our family was completely shattered, added Santoro.

CHARTING PROGRESS

The days seemed drag for Yodices family. One day became longer than the next, as they waited for some positive signs he would beat COVID-19.

My mom started a notebook, my aunt wrote notes, and I started a daily chart. Everyday that we would get updates, we would write it all down so now we could keep track of whats going on and how he was doing that day. We also kept track of his vent settings every day, said Santoro, who said her family was so appreciative of the hospital staff who has cared for Yodice.

John Yodice with his grandson Christian Bronzo. (Courtesy of Ashley Santoro)

Things started to look up. Me and my family would take turns dropping off donuts, bagels, pizza, etc. This was to let the doctors and nurses know how truly grateful we were. ... He has an army out here waiting for him, she added.

According to Santoro, after 40 days, the doctors decided to do a Tracheotomy.

They believed the trach would help him breathe easier and it would allow him to be more comfortable to start waking up. Again, our family got on our hands and knees and prayed this would all go well. After nine days of him having the trach, he was weaned off the ventilator and was put on the BIPAP [bilevel positive airway pressure] machine, she said.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***

A MIRACLE

Suddenly, Yodice started to recover. His family calls it a miracle.

My grandfather had a 1% chance of survival, and this week he will be discharged from the hospital where he will find all of his family and friends cheering for him, said Santoro noting she is planning a standing ovation of friends and family when Yodice is released later this week.

My grandfather is one of a kind. He is everything to me and my family. He raised me as a daughter and I am nothing in this world without him. I am grateful to call him dad. He is the strongest, most loving, kind-hearted human I know. Me and my family are grateful to God, and to everyone who prayed for him and our family. I am the luckiest person in the entire world, she added.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Transportation Alternatives hosted a rally on Saturday afternoon at the frenetic intersection of Hylan Boulevard and Bay Street in Rosebank to drive home the point that a reduction is needed in the speed limit on the street dubbed the Boulevard of Death.

Mayor Bill de Blasio fueled the ire of some Island politicians and drivers when he announced that the speed limit will be lowered to 30 mph along the entire length of Hylan Boulevard, from Rosebank to Tottenville.

We are here because Hylan Boulevard, as you all know well, is the most dangerous street in Staten Island when it comes to traffic crashes and fatalities, said Rose Uscianowski, of Transportation Alternatives. It is also one of the most dangerous streets in New York City.

Participants held signs inspired by headlines for crashes that occurred on Hylan Boulevard over the past two years in what the Facebook page for Transportation Alernatives noted has earned its deadly nickname.

They are just a small number of the many crashes that have occurred here that have taken lives, she said, adding that when were looking at injury numbers, were talking about lives in many cases that have been changed from that moment forward.

On Hylan Boulevard while de Blasio has been mayor since 2014, there have been more than 1,800 injuries and 23 fatalities due to traffic accidents, she said. According to the Transportation Alternatives website, since 2014 a total of 248 pedestrians and cyclists combined have been injured in traffic crashes on Hylan Boulevard and a combined total of 14 cyclists and pedestrians have been killed.

A NECESSARY CHANGE

She described the reduction in speed limit as a necessary change, but said that many more traffic-calming measures are needed.

We know that when you reduce the speed at which vehicles travel, youre both reducing the chance that a crash will happen, and in the case that a crash does happen, youre reducing the chances of a fatality or a serious injury, Uscianowski said.

She added, This change was a long time coming, and it will save lives.

Her organization is calling on legislators in Albany to pass the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act.

Troy McGhie, a candidate for the North Shores City Council seat, speaks during the rally at Bay Street and Hylan Boulevard. (Staten Island Advance/Maura Grunlund)

On Hylan Boulevard, were looking to make sure that its safe for people to travel on bicycles, and its safe for pedestrians to use those roadways and every little bit helps, said Troy McGhie, a candidate for the North Shores City Council seat.

I understand that some people may not be happy with the reduction, but its a necessary situation to save lives.

McGhie described an accident where a man he knew was 70 years old when he was struck and injured while walking across the intersection of Bay and Hylan; the driver tried to beat the light while turning.

Annemarie Dowling-Castronovo speaks while standing next to Linda Cohen, of Transportation Alternatives, and Tonianne Beals.(Staten Island Advance/Maura Grunlund)

Participants also spoke about how traffic safety is an Islandwide issue.

Annemarie Dowling-Castronovo, an assistant professor of nursing at Wagner College, wore a T-shirt in honor of Ronald Tillman, 29, who died in a hit-and-run crash on Howard Avenue on Grymes Hill in 2012.

Here he was on a Sunday night, getting ready to take a test the next day, and he was tragically killed, Dowling-Castronovo said of the nursing student who was heading home on his bike from the college library when he was fatally struck.

We look for opportunities to collaborate [with Transportation Alternatives], and our nursing students learn that we dont want everybody going to the hospital, Dowling-Castronovo said.

Recently announced plans to lower the speed limit on Hylan Boulevard have been met with backlash by local elected officials, but city traffic data indicates that a high volume of crashes, including those involving injuries and deaths, have occurred along the roadway over the past decade.

Nearly one-third of all traffic fatalities on Staten Island since mid-2012 have occurred in crashes where Hylan Boulevard was listed as the primary or cross street, according to city data.

LOWER SPEED LIMITS ON 45 MILES IN NYC

On Monday, de Blasio announced that the city will lower speed limits on over 45 miles of major streets across the five boroughs where the most crashes have been reported, including Hylan Boulevard, the boroughs longest street, where the entire 14-mile roadway will soon have a speed limit of 30 miles per hour.

The new speed limits will go into effect as speed-limit signage is posted over the coming weeks, according to the city. Speed cameras located along any of these streets will be reprogrammed and drivers will be given a 60-day adjustment period after new signage is posted, the city said.

Currently, the speed limit on Hylan is 40 miles per hour on the southernmost stretch, from Massachusetts Street to Richmond Avenue, and 35 miles per hour from Richmond Avenue to New Dorp Lane.

The northernmost stretch of Hylan Boulevard, from New Dorp Lane to Bay Street, already has a 30 miles per hour speed limit.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Although Flour & Oak in Tompkinsville officially opens next week, reservations already are at a premium.

Co-owner Vincent Malerba said its handful of booths are booked out for the weekends through September. But there is room at the bar to sample a cocktail and food program curated for the restaurants distinct, nighttime vibe.

Malerba and business partner Douglas Dipasqua assumed Flour & Oak about two months ago when they picked it up from a former set of owners. The layout of the dining area and kitchens, including an open pizza work space, are similar to the prior rendition of the business.

Clinking glasses at the grand opening of Flour & Oak, Saturday May 15, 2021 (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Yet in this iteration of 12 Minthorne Street, the entrepreneurs injected the flair and bravado that is the signature je ne sais quoi of nighttime at Angelinas, the Malerba familys flagship restaurant in Tottenville. The North Shore venue, however, has a menu that riffs on classic Italian dishes and presents a solid bar-style pizza with gourmet toppings, like Buffalo mozzarella and smoked Scamorza cheeses.

Nicole Langone, left, and Jen Curci at the grand opening of Flour & Oak ala Angelina's (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

On this inaugural friends and family night, Malerba and Dipasqua greeted guests and, Vincents sister, Christina Malerba Tesoriero shuttled dishes to tables. The official first day is Tuesday; this fete doubled as a festive practice session and a grand opening party.

Guests gushed over the food.

Crudo might be tuna or "Un Salto end Piemonte" with hand-chopped seafood or prime beef tartare with capers, red onion radishes and yellow pepper aioli served with grissini, aka Italian breadsticks, on the side. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

That was the best tuna Ive ever had, declared West Brighton resident Janine Detore, who is the sister of the late Angela Big Ang Raiola, of Mob Wives fame. She sampled one of the restaurants Piatto Crudo del Giorno plates, carefully diced raw seafood composed by executive chef Vincenzo Galia and chef de cuisine Olivia Rose Tiedermann.

Malerba explained, The food is mostly Italian with French and Japanese influence.

Tomato confit and octopus over mashed potatoes. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

On the menu, vittles include grilled breads, an architectural Portuguese octopus with cherry tomato confit and the Chef Caesar Salad with a tussle of Boston lettuce, watermelon radish shaves and raw shiitake mushrooms. Pastas are house-made, including a spaghetti with smoked eggplant, cod and citrus-toasted breadcrumbs, plus tagliatelle in slow-cooked veal ragu with Parmigiano-Reggiano crisps.

From left to right, Ronnie, Dom and Janine Datore with their granddaughter. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

A terse entree list ranges from $22 to $48 with a tempura-ed cod fish burger at the low end of the price spectrum and, on the other end, prime filet mignon with roasted beets, mushrooms and truffled mashed potatoes. Other items on this roster are pistachio-coated chicken breast, an American Wagyu burger and pan seared halibut with Sicilian couscous.

Under the lights before serving to a guest: "A Memory of Eggplant Parmigiana." (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Of all the presentations, the piece de resistance at Flour & Oak might be A Memory of Eggplant Parmigiana, a deconstructed version of the ubiquitous Staten Island meal. Chef Galia dressed a single Fairytale eggplant in kataifi  shredded pastry squiggles normally found on baklava  and stuffed the nightshade with buffalo mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes. On its plate, he spooned sauces of fresh tomato and smoked cheese fondue topped with basil dust.

The Honeymoon Pie with Buffalo mozzarella, spicey Calabrese soppressata, honey and Parmigianao-Reggiano. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Drinks come with monikers like Dirty South Shore  Beluga vodka, olive brine, grilled olives with a lemon twist  and Hennything is Possible  Hennessy VSOP, Cointreau and citrus. For an extra charge, all cocktails can be upgraded with suggested luxurious spirits, like Beluga Gold Vodka, Moet Rose and Monkey 47 gin.

DJ Colin Memi from Eastway Productions who plays on Thursday, Friday and Sundays, going forward, at Flour & Oak by Angelina's in Tompkinsville. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

With a club-like ambiance, there is an underlying lavishness about the place, a free-spending, free-wheeling tone encouraged by pulsing dance music.

Malerba said that mood was all part of the Flour & Oak design. He said, We want people to have a great time, dance on the tables and dance on the chairs and be a kid again.

As champagne flowed and lights dimmed, guests clinked glasses and grooved to the music.

Just play one Biggie song! Only one! shouted a patron who jumped up from the bar and pressed a bill into DJ Colin Memis hand.

Memi shouted back, I got plenty!

One of the party attendees, Island-attorney Gary Angiuli reveled in the scene as he stood with wife, Annette, on the sidewalk outside. He smiled as he surveyed the crowd around him and filled tables at fellow eateries on Minthorne Street. Angiuli is the landlord at Flour & Oak and its adjoining properties and this celebratory night is a thrill, long-in-coming.

Gary Angiuli is the landlord of Minthorne Streets businesses. Here he is at the grand opening of Flour & Oak, Saturday May 15, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

He said, What we want is Minthorne Street to be Staten Islands meeting place for a diverse set of patrons who reflect what New York City really is. I think tonight shows that were on a good path to success and recovery from the pandemic.

Flour + Oak by Angelinas is located at 12 Minthorne St, 646-949-8988; Flourandoak.com.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance food critic and Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.

Gary Angiuli photobombs Emily Santangelo, left, and Annette Angiuli. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

One of the tamer Barbie and Ken art displays at Flour & Oak. These diaramas are built into the seat portion of each booth in the restaurant. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Dominick Ciccarelli, left, and Ron Anderson. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

The menu on the board in the kitchen on a practice night. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Behind the open kitchen line at the grand opening of Flour & Oak, Saturday May 15, 2021 (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Scenes from Flour & Oak's grand opening with Vincent Malerba, left. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Truffled pizza with a pleasantly blistered crust and creamy buratta with arugula and Italian ham. Grand opening of Flour & Oak, Saturday May 15, 2021 (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

At the entrance of Flour & Oak in Tompkinsville (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

In the kitchen with executive chef Vincenzo Galia, second from left. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

The artist behind the Barbie artwork at Flour & Oak. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Orlando Arroyo and, right, Rinor Okshe, as the front-of-the-house staff on opening night. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri

Nightlife returns to NYC with Staten Island's own Flour & Oak celebration of its inaugural days. (Staten Island Advance/Pamela Silvestri)Pamela Silvestri
Dear Annie: My husband and l have been married for 22 years. When we first married, it was young love. But throughout our marriage, he has been adulterous and abusive toward me, physically and verbally. I have a disability and have a hard time defending myself. He has choked me and held a knife to my throat and told me that one day hell kill me. I am 54 years old. I have nowhere to go. What should l do? -- Trapped

Dear Trapped: Im sorry that your husband has abused you so terribly for decades. Although it may seem like you have nowhere to go, I promise you that isnt true. Please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) to be connected with resources in your area and begin making a safe escape plan. You should not have to live in fear for your life another day.

Dear Annie: I lost a family member to brain cancer last year. He was only in his 30s, and an incredibly bright, kind human being. May is National Brain Cancer Awareness Month, so I wanted to ask your audience to please consider donating to the National Brain Tumor Society, whose mission is unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes, and unites our community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and care partners. You can learn more and donate at https://braintumor.org. -- For the Families

Dear For the Families: Im glad to print your letter. Roughly 700,000 Americans are living with a primary brain tumor, including more than 13,000 children and 31,299 adolescents and young adults.

While brain cancer might have no early symptoms, the following are some things to watch out for, courtesy of Cancer.net:

--Headaches, which may be severe and worsen with activity or in the early morning.

--Seizures (which can include change in sensation, vision, smell and/or hearing without losing consciousness).

--Personality or memory changes.

--Nausea or vomiting.

--Fatigue.

--Drowsiness.

--Sleep problems.

--Memory problems.

--Changes in ability to walk or perform daily activities.

--Pressure or headache near the tumor.

--Loss of balance and difficulty with fine motor skills.

--Changes in judgment, including loss of initiative, sluggishness, and muscle weakness.

Talk with your doctor if you are experiencing any of the above symptoms.

Dear Annie: This is in response to your reply to Regretful Mom, who has struggled with depression and regrets not being present for her now-adult children. Another choice she can look into for helping her with working with the emotional memories connected to her past is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, also known as EMDR. Although people think of post-traumatic stress disorder as being related to extremely severe accidents or traumas, psychology is now aware that for lifetime events over several years, sexual abuse, multiple or ongoing difficulties that cause extreme emotional and mental anguish can also put someone at risk for suffering from PTSD. By using EMDR with a qualified therapist, a patient can recall these past events without experiencing the anguish. It is constructive in combination with talk therapy, and, when necessary, medication, whether short term or for a longer duration.

Thank you for letting me share this information. -- Lorrie Finley

Dear Lorrie: Thank you for sharing it. Controlled and randomized clinical studies show that EMDR is efficient to treat PTSD. And although this is purely anecdotal, the treatment technique has helped friends of mine.

Ask Me Anything: A Year of Advice From Dear Annie is out now! Annie Lanes debut book -- featuring favorite columns on love, friendship, family and etiquette -- is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  A booster shot of Modernas Covid-19 vaccine generated a promising immune response against variants first identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively, the company announced citing early data from an ongoing clinical trial, according to CNBC.

When a virus has one or two new mutations, it becomes a variant of the original virus. A booster shot is an additional shot that would increase ones immunity to a particular virus.

Modernas vaccine is more than 90% effective against the coronavirus six months after the second shot, studies show. What remains unclear is how long immunity from the virus lasts, according to CBS News.

The booster shot would be a third dose distributed six to eight months after individuals have been fully vaccinated. It would increase the level of antibodies and immunity against variants. COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna will make a third booster shot for its two-dose vaccine available to Americans by the fall, CEO Stephane Bancel said this week.

Pfizer-BioNTech is working diligently to develop a variant booster shot. In April, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said some sort of booster shot would likely be needed in the next 12 months.

The CDC has not established a timeframe or need for booster shots for fully vaccinated individuals.

*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK***
Prevention best remedy, says State Minister By Kumudini Hettiarachchi and Ruqyyaha Deane This is the short, middle and long-term strategy, while vaccination and ramping up facilities also vital View(s): View(s):

Prevention, prevention and prevention. These are the surest short, middle and long-term measures to beat back and control COVID-19.

This is the specific answer from the State Minister of Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID-19 Prevention, Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle who knows what she is talking about as she is a Community Physician.

The short-term strategy is prevention because the public health safety measures have been proven to work. We need the unstinting cooperation of the people, otherwise it will be very difficult, said Dr. Fernandopulle in an interview sandwiched between many official meetings on Thursday afternoon.

Prevention comes with:

Hand-hygiene

Face-mask wearing

Keeping to physical distancing whenever in a public place and avoiding the Three Cs

The Three Cs to be avoided are:

Crowded places with many people close-by

Close-contact settings, especially where people have close-range conversations

Confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation

Pointing out that many are asking whether Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit (HDU) capacities are being increased, the State Minister stressed that while that needs to be done, there is an upper limit any country can go to. There is also the issue of trained healthcare staff to handle the skilled work in such facilities.

Dr. Fernandopulle, reiterating that public health safety measures are the key strategy, said that the answer to controlling COVID-19, bringing down the infections and minimizing deaths, is to get people to stay at home and avoid social gatherings. The law (Quarantine and Prevention of Diseases Ordinance) also has to be enforced properly. This is because in some cases, people only listen to the law and are only scared of the law.

Immunization is the medium-term answer, as it takes at least 10 to 12 weeks from the day of vaccination to give protection from COVID-19. Vaccines are hard to come by, she conceded, assuring that the government is doing everything possible to secure vaccine doses for the people, but until we get them, we are not sure.

Just because you are vaccinated, you cannot forget the health measures. Vaccination prevents severity of disease and mortality, but you can still get infected and you can transmit it. As variants are produced by the virus, people may have to get boosters every year and in the long term, the system needs to be prepared for this, she said.

Acknowledging that there is a problem in securing the AstraZeneca vaccine, Dr. Fernandopulle stressed we are trying very hard to get 600,000 doses to give the second jab to those who have already got the first one. We are looking to buy 10 million doses and Cabinet has approved the purchase of COVISHIELD at any amount. We are in discussion with Norway, Sweden, Dubai and the United States of America (USA). Everyone in the government is trying.

The State Minister added that the long-term strategy is also basically prevention, while improving and upgrading the facilities we have.

Algorithm for systematic testing An algorithm for both RT-PCR and rapid antigen testing is being prepared by a technical committee appointed by the Health Ministry, to prevent an overload on testing capacity, said Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle. Currently, the capacity is around 20,000-25,000 samples per day. Balancing of duties in hospitals important In these difficult times when hospitals are crowded, they have to balance their duties carefully and always adhere to the health precautions to prevent the staff from getting infected, said Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle. She said that those seeking hospital admission for other illnesses or procedures are being triaged for COVID-19. As the new strain (the UK variant) is highly infective, the vaccination of healthcare staff was advanced to April 29. It will take at least another two to three weeks for them to get full protection. Even though there is no guarantee that they will not catch the infection if they get exposed, they will get only mild disease. Normal services in hospitals are also being cut by 50%. While such reduction is to keep the capacity for COVID-19 patients, we must ensure that other patients are not compromised. Most hospitals are only gradually decreasing their normal services, not cutting them by 50% all at once. If there is a surge of COVID-19 and there are large numbers of cases, theres no option, she said, adding that the government is also increasing the number of Intermediate Care Centres (ICCs). Around 300 medical personnel following M.Sc and diploma courses have been mobilized to help healthcare personnel. Any plans for home-based care? We are still working on home-based care. Todays (Thursdays) Task Force meeting discussed home-based care at length, with different opinions being expressed. Some are for it, others are totally against it, said Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle. She said that the possibility of home-based care for asymptomatic (without symptoms) COVID-19 positive patients with strong monitoring through a hotline is being looked at closely. A decision may be made next week. General Practitioners (GPs) have volunteered to monitor patients if such home-based care is introduced. We may start with the Western Province. The system would be to call the asymptomatic patients day and night and check whether they need hospitalization at some point, added the State Minister. Dr. Fernandopulle requested support from international agencies for a major risk communication campaign.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  City Council legislation hopes to improve long-term urban planning in the five boroughs, but some Staten Islanders worry it could change their way of life.

Frank Morano, chairman of Community Board 3 on Staten Island, said he views the bill, introduced by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, as a real threat to our communities, particularly those that have maintained a more residential, suburban quality.

Until (the legislation) is dead and buried, its a threat, he said. Somebody whos very powerful in the city decided to put it out there, so its a threat.

Particularly, Morano and others against the legislation worry about up zoning and an end to single-family zoning that would change the character of their residential neighborhoods without those neighborhoods input.

Johnsons office pointed out that the legislation, Intro 2186, does not mandate any changes to zoning, and contends that it actually increases community input in the citys land use process.

In a December press release announcing the legislation, the speaker laid out a completely broken urban planning system that will hinder the citys recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19 pandemic).

We must adapt and grow Its time for a new approach. Comprehensive Planning will bring a cyclical and fully integrated framework for us to work with that balances citywide and community needs to take on our challenges together, Johnson said. This is how we get things done.

His office contends that misinformation has given people the wrong perception of the legislation and its effect of the citys approach to planning. Instead, they say it creates a system for comprehensive planning that would consider citywide needs in development strategy.

While the bill does not mandate changes to local zoning regulations, Dr. Tom Angotti, a professor of urban policy and planning at Hunter College, said he has long advocated for comprehensive planning in the city, but that this legislation gives to much control to those at the top of city government.

I appreciate the need for both bottom-up and top-down planning, and finding a way to have them meet in the middle is a challenge, he said. Its worth confronting that challenge and meeting it. The speakers proposal gives all of the initiative and power to citywide government.

By changing parts of the City Charter, the bill expands the authority and responsibility of the existing mayoral Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability, which launched in 2010 with a focus on climate change and the environment.

Those responsibilities would include a review of the citys zoning resolution that merit reconsideration, and proposals on how to change them.

Additionally, the legislation would create a 13-member long-term planning steering committee of four appointees from the mayor, four from the City Council speaker, and one from each borough president.

That committee would be responsible for convening an additional committee for each of the five boroughs starting September 1, 2022.

Along with those committees, the director of the Office of Long-term Planning, a mayoral appointee, would become responsible for identifying issues and goals for each of the citys 59 community districts, and creating three plans for each of those districts, three of which are on Staten Island.

Those plans would address things like housing and infrastructure prioritizing areas that have high access to opportunity and low risk for displacement, any priorities identified by the director after a lengthy public engagement process, and the investment needs of each community.

The City Council would be able to vote on any three of those plans along with plans Council members propose, borough presidents propose or community boards propose, according to Johnsons office.

City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) isnt buying it. He said he urged members of Community Board 3 to voice opposition to the legislation, because he feels it takes power away from the boards and individual City Council members.

We get filled with fancy words in this proposal like community input and stuff like that, he said. When you hear the word input that just means not having decision making ability.

Likewise, City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island) expressed opposition calling it a top-down approach to planning.

We have had experience with these types of broad proposals before and they never benefit our borough, Matteo said.

The office of City Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) did not respond to a request for comment about the bill.

Mayor Bill de Blasios office has expressed their own opposition to the bill. During City Council testimony given in February, Marisa Lago, director of the Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Commission, said the city opposed the legislation for three reasons  feasibility, cost, and the impact it would have in adding another layer of city bureaucracy.

De Blasio said May 6 that he believes the current land use approach gives community members a meaningful voice, but that he would open to ways of making the process quicker.

Id like to see ways of doing that, but what it does well is creates a true community voice and a real give-and-take where community needs are addressed, he said. I think we have to be smart about preserving the many good elements of it.

Borelli said that he doesnt think the bill will pass, because of its effect on local input. He sees a broader concern about progress toward more top-down city planning, and an end to member deference  an unofficial City Council practice in which members voting on land use proposals defer to their colleague whose district will be affected.

I dont think theres enough City Council members that are on board with that just as an institutional concept, he said. There wasnt really a proposal, a specific proposal, up until now.

Members of Community Board 3, which represents the predominantly residential South Shore, became hyper-aware of the bill in late April after a presentation from Paul Graziano, a consultant from Queens with a background in urban planning and historic preservation.

Hes been making the rounds at community board meetings across the five boroughs sounding the alarm about what the bill might mean for their neighborhoods. There are 59 community boards in the city, and Graziano, who testified against Johnson legislation, said the ones hes visited all have similar reactions.

Ive gone to, I dont know, two dozen community boards, and every single board that I present to they are voting unanimously against this, he said.

After he met with the North Shores Community Board 1, their chairman, Nicholas Siclari, penned a letter to members of the City Council calling for their opposition to the legislation.

Siclari, whose board represents the North Shore, took issue with Johnsons December 2020 report, Planning Together, which outlines a new comprehensive planning framework for New York City. Angotti, the Hunter College professor, had a 2008 report of his on the citys approach to sustainability cited in Planning Together

Community Board 1s letter accuses Johnson of using racist and divisive language in the context of single-family zoning elimination. That letter had the same phrase as a letter sent from Community Board 7 in Queens, according to a report from the Queens Chronicle.

(Speaker Johnsons) comments about eliminating single family zoning under the premise it represents the majority-white-middle income communities in whiter wealthier neighborhoods is simply racist and divisive and these words have no place in government, both letters read.

Despite the letters quoting Johnson, he hasnt used that specific language in relation to single-family zoning.

Johnsons Planning Together report only mentions single-family zoning when referencing the city of Minneapolis elimination of the practice last year.

It only contains the words whiter or wealthier in reference to what it characterizes as the Bloomberg administrations introduction of low density districts to areas with those demographics, like the work conducted by the Staten Island Growth Management Task Force in the early aughts.

The authors of the report do blame more than a century of piecemeal development strategy and capital planning that has not only disproportionately has a negative affect on Black and brown New Yorkers, but, with the looming effects of climate change, stands to significantly impact the citys coastal communities, including the South Shore of Staten Island.

These challenges are big and extremely complexbut we did not get here overnight, the reports executive summary reads. It has become increasingly clear that the process by which the City makes its land use, policy, and budget decisions is ill equipped to address the existential threats that face our City today and over the next several decades.

To address those shortcomings and similar concerns in cities around the country, theres a push nationwide for changes to urban planning, including drastic changes to zoning laws.

In addition to Minneapolis end to single-family zoning, Planning Together also points to precedents at the state and national level, and specifically to a comprehensive planning strategy in Seattle thats allowed the city to outpace New York City in terms of housing stock.

Adam Friedman  the director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, which has advocated for comprehensive planning  testified in support of Johnsons legislation, and believes it necessary to help the. city get ready for the future.

I think this is a vehicle for more communities to have input, he told the Advance/SILive.com. The city is growing and, frankly, climate change is occurring, and theres just like this fundamental

Friedman suspects that any zoning changes that may happen in the future would result from market forces, and not from comprehensive planning.

For Graziano, like many Staten Islanders, this hits close to home.

He comes from the part of Flushing that is one of the citys areas most similar to Staten Islands residential neighborhoods with detached single-family homes. Together, they make up a significant portion of the 15% of the city that is zoned for that purpose, as defined in a 2019 New York Times analysis.

That was the lowest percentage of single-family zoning identified in the analysis among major cities. For example, Minneapolis had 70% of its properties zoned for single-family residential use before last years elimination, and 81% of Seattle was zoned for the purpose.

Graziano said he hopes those neighborhoods and the people that call them home arent forgotten as the city plans for its future.

Theres room for all different types of housing in New York City. Thats sort of what the city has built itself on, Graziano said.
Hi Neighbor,

Poor Bill de Blasio. The guy just cant catch a break, especially here on The Rock.

The mayors latest Staten Island stick-his-foot-in-mouth gambit is two-fold: First, his Department of Transportation instituted a 30-mph speed limit on perhaps the longest and most-trafficked road on Staten Island  Hylan Boulevard. Second, his NYPD denied a parade permit for our 102-year-old Memorial Day Parade while devotees of the Giggle Weed staged their own parade down Broadway. (Thats cannabis, my friend ... marijuana ... Mary Jane. And it was Manhattans Broadway. Not ours.)

Add to that the governors promise to lift a lot of Covid restrictions on May 17  14 days before Memorial Day  and you had political and veteran outrage, not to mention SILive/Advance and citywide news coverage. City Hall miraculously changed course and granted the parade permit, the first in the city since the pandemic outbreak.

Frankly, I was unaware that a marijuana parade  they call it the New York City Cannabis Parade  has been an annual thing since the early 70s.

It began as a Smoke-In in Washington Square Park organized by the Yippies in 1973, a snazzy website tells us. Now, its a three-part celebration: A parade down Broadway, a rally in Union Square Park and an after-party, where Im guessing the hors doeuvres are rather unique. (In the event youre wondering  hippies were a 1960s phenom into sex, peace, drugs and dropping out of mainstream society. Yippies were into the same things but lived within the mainstream and added in a few political causes.)

None other than powerhouse U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and New York State Attorney General Letitia James showed up at the cannabis parade to trumpet the weed. As far as we know, neither were Yippies in their youth. Nor did they take home one of baby weed plants that parade organizers were distributing as party favors. As far as we know.

Sister events take place in cities worldwide on the same day and New York is the founding chapter of the Global Marijuana March, boasts the website.

Well, light up my joint! Thats news to me.

Anyway, enough about the Whacky Tabacky. We oughta be talking Memorial Day.

The Advance sponsored a Memorial Day Run every year, beginning in 1981 and ending in 2018. In the early days, thousands participated. At the end, maybe 800 runners showed up on a good Memorial Day morning. The run began at 9 a.m. and the walkers who brought up the rear finished about 10:30.

The Memorial Day Parade on Forest Avenue kicked off at noon.

Sadly, over the years, the number of spectators decreased at the parade too. Organizers blamed the drooping numbers on the Advance race, claiming it siphoned people from the parade.

If it did, which I doubt, it was only a handful. Sad fact is, many Staten Islanders are simply not engaged. Taking time away from whatever they deem precious in their lives is not something they do. And many others just dont value what the military has done for our country and our freedom.

Oh, they might tell a vet, Thank you for your service. That seems to be the catch phrase of the day. But put themselves out?

James Haynes, the president of the United Staten Island Veterans Organizations, is the guy who labored long and hard to change the citys mind. Army vet and veterans advocate Lee Covino is the guy who labors long and hard to make sure people dont forget.

Both are pretty happy the parade is back.

So, far, the newly restored Rescue 5 truck will be there, along with the K of C and the Elks, Lee reported to my colleague Tom Wrobleski and me. The BP is funding us for the Patriot Brass Ensemble, a marching band non-profit that plays for vets in nursing homes and hospitals, he said. The commissioner of Veterans Services is trying to get us the NYPD band and the silver [Department of Sanitation] garbage truck. Deputy BP Ed Burke is contacting the schools . . . the vet groups are on board.

And they have 18 more days to do even more.

What we need to do is get Staten Islanders on board. The vets ask all virus protocols be followed. Show up, especially if youre vaccinated. Wear a mask. The parade begins on Forest at Hart Boulevard and ends at Livermore Avenue. Thats plenty of room to social distance.

And if youre in the service or have served, ONeills Pub at 1614 Forest is throwing you a veterans barbecue afterward from 1 to 4.

Veterans gave a whole lot to us, some their lives. We can give them an hour or two to thank them for their service. Its about respect.

Brian

Oh by the way: Lets talk traffic and Hylan Boulevard in the next couple of weeks. Transportation reporter Erik Bascome is doing an experiment in the coming days to see how that 30-mph speed limit works out for him. Hell report on it and we can talk about it afterward.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang has been endorsed by Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Mid-Island).

Cusick made the announcement during a press conference on Sunday afternoon at Empire Outlets in St. George, joined by Yang, a Democrat running for mayor, members of his campaign, his supporters and Staten Island residents.

Being in office and serving the borough and the city that we love is an honor and endorsement events always seem political and people think theyre purely political, but for me this is not about politics, Cusick said. We are at a stage in this city that we need to move forward. Were coming out of a pandemic, we have businesses on the verge of closing, many have closed, many of our neighbors are sick, many of our neighbors are out of work, and crime has gone up.

He continued: So going forward we need energy, we need passion, we need to move forward in an energetic way and people are excited to be in New York and to move forward and to live in New York City. And I firmly believe that the person to lead us in that direction is Andrew Yang...

Yang speaks to Staten Islanders following Cusick's endorsement. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Cusick explained he is endorsing Yang because of his plans to move New York City forward during and after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by advocating for a safer city and supporting small businesses. The assemblyman also pointed to conversations he had with Yang about Staten Islands high cost of living and property taxes.

These and many other reasons are why I think Andrew Yang is a great leader and will be somebody who will lead New York forward with energy and passion, and will bring people back to this city. And thats what we need, Cusick added.

After Cusicks endorsement announcement, Yang said he met with Cusick to discuss problems that Staten Islanders and other New York City residents are facing, like public safety, reducing street homelessness, helping small business owners, and getting public schools back open.

When I first came to Staten Island and spent time with Mike, we walked around local businesses and we connected on the fact that people here in Staten Island and around New York City just want pragmatic solutions that will address the problems that we see are growing more serious around us every day, he said.

Yang greets Staten Islanders after getting off the Staten Island Ferry. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

I just want to make our city works better for us...We have to see to it that this federal money thats coming in is spent in a way that actually improves our way of life. ...Theres so many reasons I connected with Mike, and Im so thrilled with this endorsement. But one reasons I connected with Mike is hes been fighting for the people of Staten Island for years. ...And he said to me that the folks here in Staten Island often feel overlooked and neglected, added Yang.

Yang and Cusick talk to constituents following the endorsement announcement. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

An overriding principle of his administration, should he be elected mayor, would be fairness, Yang added.

That if something is happening in another part of the city that would be helpful, should be happening in Staten Island, and should be happening in every community. And thats one of the commitments Im very happy to make to Mike and the people of Staten Island -- that I intend to be a mayor for all five boroughs, Yang said.

Its not the first time Yang has visited Staten Island.

In February, he came to the rescue of a photojournalist who was attacked on the Staten Island Ferry. Yang was traveling on the 11 a.m. boat from Manhattan to Staten Island for a tour of the borough, accompanied by his press staff and a few members of the media, including Getty photographer Spencer Platt.

When a ferry passenger carrying what appeared to be a metal pole approached the photographer, shoved him, and threateningly raised the implement, Yang sprang into action. The man recognized Yang, who engaged and calmed him, speaking with him briefly and allowing the photographer to get away from the tense situation.

Yang spent the rest of the afternoon on Staten Island, meeting privately with Assemblyman Michael Cusick, visiting Moretti Bakery on Forest Avenue, and then heading for a tour of the Castleton Bus Depot.

During his visits to the borough, Yang said the three main topics of concern among residents are public safety, jobs and quality of life, or fighting poverty. After the press conference, Yang spoke with more residents about issues theyre facing and his plans as mayor.

Yang completed his trip to Staten Island on Sunday by talking to residents and voters with Cusick at the Forest Avenue Stroll, hosted by the Forest Avenue BID (Business Improvement District) on the strip between Hart Boulevard and Broadway.

You can see more photos from his visit down Forest Avenue below.

NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang talked to constituents during the Forest Avenue Stroll on Sunday. (Courtesy/Gal Ozana)

NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang talked to constituents during the Forest Avenue Stroll on Sunday. (Courtesy/Gal Ozana)

NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang talked to constituents during the Forest Avenue Stroll on Sunday. (Courtesy/Gal Ozana)

NYC mayoral candidate Andrew Yang talked to constituents during the Forest Avenue Stroll on Sunday. (Courtesy/Gal Ozana)

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Television networks are worried they will be unable to provide viewers with high definition quality and secondary channels such as 7mate, 9Gem and 10Bold if a proposal to buy back some of the spectrum they use is implemented, despite assurances from the federal government that the move would not significantly affect viewers.

Reforms proposed by the government in November suggest removing spectrum licence fees in exchange for reducing the amount of radiofrequency spectrum used by TV broadcasters by compressing it. The spectrum made available - known as the 600mHZ band - would be sold at a higher price to companies like telcos that can use it to rollout fast mobile networks.

The television networks are currently discussing a federal government proposal that would change the quality of services for the public. Credit:Phil Carrick

Television networks want the fees they pay to be abolished, but are concerned the technology the government is proposing to compress the spectrum will soon be outdated, according to multiple sources familiar with their stance.

If compression technology - known as MPEG-4 - is implemented, it will risk fewer multi-channels and reduce coverage quality, they say, making free-to-air networks less competitive against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Plugging in cars (C8) is not a new occurrence, depending on where you are living. Tim Ingall of Scottsville (USA) first learnt about plugging in cars when he was living in Minnesota in the mid-1980s, where the winters are brutally cold (down to -20 degrees at night), and if you park your car outside you are advised to purchase an electric engine block heater so the car can be started in the morning without damaging the engine.

Keith Appleton, now of Wolfville (Nova Scotia), states that if you are living in Manitoba in Canada, it is de rigueur to plug in your engine heater (C8) if the car is left outside in the middle of winter. However, some summer visitors from the US of A once wrote a letter of thanks to the local council for their thoughtfulness in having power points outside their offices so visitors with mobile homes could plug in their appliances, missing the real reason for the outlets.

Clearly no one saw this one coming. Coleen Box of Barton (ACT) writes that her nephew was hit in the chest by a drone while riding his eScooter home from work last week. A traffic accident? No. He spoke to the local police but they cant deal with it because drones come under federal civil aviation regulations.

Joy Paterson of Mount Annan confirms that her grandson was certainly obsessed with dinosaurs at that age of four (C8), resulting in my honed knowledge of the names of every known dinosaur to man. Also, as predicted, Joy has retained little of that knowledge 11 years later, except for one fact: the Cape Paterson Claw was the first dinosaur bone discovered in Australia.

Retired engineeer Terry OBrien of North Parramatta decided to throw a spanner in the works and say that Sara Holt, Elizabeth Morgan and grandson Hudson are all correct, depending from which perspective the truck (C8) is viewed. If the bowl was still turning on the mobile mixer it was mixing cement with other raw materials to produce a product named concrete. If the bowl was not turning it had delivered the concrete, and was simply a very big truck with an empty bowl. So it all comes down to bowl movements? Sounds about right.
A British national has been screened by immigration officials and placed into mandatory hotel quarantine in Sydney after his yacht, en route from Tahiti, started sinking off the NSW coast.

A 26-hour rescue operation began at midnight on Friday when NSW Polices Marine Area Command received reports a 50-foot Beneteau yacht was taking on water 95 nautical miles off the coast of Newcastle.

The skipper was processed by Australian Border Force officials and escorted to a Sydney quarantine hotel by police. Credit:NSW Police

The yacht was located 73 nautical miles off the coast by Port Stephens water police, assisted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority about 10am on Friday.

Police said the skipper  a 40-year-old British national  and his yacht were towed in rough seas to Newcastle Harbour, arriving about 1.30am on Saturday. He had been bound for Sydney from Tahiti.
Services have resumed at the Sydney Airport domestic and international train stations after police searched the area following a threat.

Passengers had earlier been evacuated from both platforms for the police operation, which resulted in nothing being found.

A NSW Police spokesperson said the search resulted from a threat being received, however, the nature of the threat was not outlined. Police had earlier said the operation was precautionary.

Flights at the airport were unaffected, however, travellers were told to seek other means of transport and allow extra time to get to and from the airport.

In response to the operation buses had replaced trains to Green Square, Mascot, Domestic Airport, International Airport or Wolli Creek stations.
Stephen Langfords day started with a defiant poem and ended with a conviction, after a Sydney court ruled a pro-refugee message the 62-year-old scrawled on a billboard in liquid chalk met the definition of an aggravated graffiti charge.

On a ground-level Darlinghurst billboard advertising Jaguar vehicles with the slogan sorry to appear aggressive, the retired nurse and long-time human rights activist had, at 9.15am on August 14, 2019, used a liquid chalk marker to add his two cents: Sorry to bully innocent people in concentration camps for six years. But thats Australia.

Stephen Langford was convicted and fined $400 for defacing the billboard.

He was caught in the act by two police officers, who attempted to rub off the writing with their hands but found it wouldnt budge and subsequently charged Mr Langford with aggravated graffiti offences.

Mr Langford, who is facing separate charges for glueing an A4 poster detailing the massacre of Aboriginal people at Appin in 1816 to a statue of Lachlan Macquarie in Hyde Park, was met with supporters as he arrived at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday. He recited a ditty before heading inside: Well go into court/The day will pass/If there is a penalty/They can stick it up their arse.
Tourism takes nosedive again as tourists left in quandary By Namini Wijedasa Some tourists rushing to leave, others caught between to stay or not to stay while future bookings are being cancelled Secretary, Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism says members once again facing dire financial difficulties View(s): View(s):

The latest wave of COVID-19 and inter-provincial travel restrictions have led to a spate of cancellations and departures by tourists.

Around 60 percent of the guests he brought in are leaving, said Yohan Perera, Managing Director of Claremont Travels, a ticketing agency. Future flight bookings were also cancelled.

Multiple other travel industry sources confirmed the outflow of tourists, including long-stay guests who had been intending to stay till June or July. They are afraid all flights will be banned and dont want to be stuck here because they know what happened last year, Mr Perera said. So they are rescheduling their flights and rushing to leave the country.

Those who wish to stay are also hampered by the inter-provincial travel plan which the authorities have warned could turn into an inter-district plan if the situation worsens. Even after completing the mandatory 14-day quarantine, they find they are stuck in one place.

Some are waiting to leave but dont know whether to do so or not, Mr Perera said. They cant make a proper decision. But if they cant travel freely, why would they stay here. Many who are supposed to come here also cancelled their future bookings.

Prebudda Jayasinghe, Secretary of the 150-member Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Tourism, said even inquiries from European countries dried up after Sri Lanka opened up to Indian arrivals. There were also cancellations, particularly after some countries, including Dubai, Italy and Singapore, banned arrivals from Sri Lanka.

Now, his members were again facing dire financial difficulties, Mr Jayasinghe said. The moratorium on debt repayment is ending in September. We need a credit line to pay loans, he said. All the companies will have to shut down by October if we dont get relief, such as if all our loans and leases can be converted into one loan to be repaid in the long-term or if the moratorium can be extended.

Most long-stay tourists are leaving because they dont want to be restricted to provinces, said Ajeet de Soyza, Chief Marketing Officer of Lanka Travel Mart. Airlines are cancelling flights to Colombo so some of whom have already planned are in a dilemma or are cancelling altogether. While guests cant come, hotels are not refunding.

He cited the case of a mother with two children who were on the way to the airport in their home country when they heard all wildlife parks were closed. They had booked three nights at a luxury safari camp in Yala and this was for the children, he said. Considering the escalation of the situation in the country, once they reached the airport, they decided to cancel since it was not worth it. Now the safari camp is refusing to refund even a part of the payment to the guest.

If tourism is important to Sri Lanka, the authorities should have a better mechanism in place to handle tourists in situations like this, Mr de Soyza said. Imagine if you go to another country and this sort of thing happens?
A man will face court on Monday morning charged with two counts of attempted murder after allegedly setting a Brisbane house on fire on Sunday.

Emergency services were called to an Eveleigh Street house in Wooloowin, on the citys northside, at 6.15am and police said officers found the home engulfed in flames upon arrival.

The fire at Wooloowin on Brisbanes northside on Sunday morning. Credit:Nine News Queensland

Two women were in the house at the time, but escaped the flames without injury.

Police said a 34-year-old local man handed himself in at Hendra Police Station about 11.30am.
The federal government has appointed a former News Corp executive who once proposed a back-office merger of Australias two public broadcasters as a new member of the ABC board.

Former News Corp and Foxtel boss Peter Tonagh, who led the governments 2018 ABC and SBS efficiency review, former Seven executive and Australia Post board member Mario DOrazio, and Fiona Balfour, a former chief information officer at Qantas and Telstra, will join the board.

The five-year appointments are effective immediately and put an end to a lengthy process that was scrutinised by the ABC for its delays.

ABC new board directors: Peter Tonagh, Fiona Balfour and Mario DOrazio.

I congratulate Mr DOrazio, Mr Tonagh and Ms Balfour on their appointment and look forward to the valuable contribution they will make to the ABC Board, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said.
COVID Zero is precious. We are now experiencing a quality of life that approximates pre-pandemic days and most Australians want to keep it that way. But while the objective of zero COVID-19 community transmission will be with us for some time, it should not mean Fortress Australia.

Reopening our international borders will have enormous benefits. Not only will Australians be able to reunite with overseas family and friends but we will again welcome skilled migrants, international students and tourists  all essential for full economic recovery.

Border closures have stopped people coming in and going out. Credit:Getty Images

We need to be ambitious about opening a pathway that lets people move freely into and out of Australia. But for the foreseeable future  most likely years  we cant think of our borders as steel doors that are either shut or open. A reopening of the border should be cautious and based on evolving circumstances, evidence and an agreed public health strategy.

Australia faces three substantial uncertainties when it comes to this endeavour: how much of our population has to be vaccinated to protect against severe disease and widespread circulation of the virus; how effective vaccines will be against emerging variants; and how long vaccine protection lasts.
The record gulf between the wealth and wellbeing of the oldest and youngest Australians is shrinking for the first time in seven years despite the coronavirus pandemic, but some of the improvement has been at the expense of retirees who are increasingly needing help for homelessness.

In the past 12 months there has been a reduction in inequality between age groups on the 2021 Australian Actuaries Intergenerational Equity Index. This is the second year the index has been produced but a back series shows this is the first decrease in the divide in financial, social and health outcomes between those 25 to 34 years old and 65 to 74 years old since 2013.

The gulf between the wealth and wellbeing of the oldest and youngest Australians has shrunk but the improvement has been at the expense of retirees. Credit:Louie Douvis

Older Australians typically outperform on financial measurements due to overall higher levels of wealth, including the value of their homes and savings, but changes in relative equality help policymakers determine whether additional government assistance is needed for some groups. Since 2013, the gap has been rising at a fast pace and remains at high levels.

The improvement in the index in 2020 was partly due to better outcomes for young people, including longer life expectancies, a lift in first home buyers getting into the property market and ramped up federal government assistance for workers.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has warned vaccine targets linked to the reopening of borders are crucial to reassuring the community and business that Australia will not be closed forever.

Mr Perrottet, who has been critical of the federal governments timeframe after last weeks budget assumed international borders will stay shut until mid-2022, said clear goals needed to be set.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet wants to see a clear link between vaccine takeup and borders reopening. Credit:Louise Kennerley

A vaccine target that we can work towards will give business and community confidence that we will not be closed off to the world indefinitely, Mr Perrottet told the Herald in comments likely to put further pressure on the federal government.

Mr Perrottets stance follows comments made by Nick Coatsworth, Australias former deputy chief medical officer, who said the false idol of COVID-19 eradication could not be maintained indefinitely and the nation must become prepared and comfortable for the virus to spread.
Despite Victorias success in quashing infections this year, many new university students have had more online lessons than they wanted, as universities manage COVID-19 density requirements and teach students who are unable to return to campus, including the huge numbers offshore. Loading La Trobe University said about 70 per cent of its domestically offered coursework subjects and classes were currently available on campus and that could increase to more than 80 per cent in semester two. All lectures currently remain online because of COVID-safety restrictions. However, we are looking at smaller-sized lectures being available on campus in semester two, as long as it is safe to do so, a university spokesperson said. We will continue to offer subjects online for those students unable to attend our campuses, such as international students.

Monash University said it expected lectures to be in-person in semester two, while the University of Melbourne is also aiming for a full return to on-campus teaching in the second half of the year. Deakin University started semester one study online and will move to more in-person classes throughout the year. It ran an online orientation week, similar to the virtual open day for prospective students it developed in 2020. An RMIT spokesperson said the university was actively reviewing our arrangements for semester two to have even more students studying on campus and expect to share more details with students and the RMIT University student union in coming weeks. Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has urged universities to bring all local students back on campus. Anika Luna has achieved her goal of studying media and communications at RMIT but is finding it hard to stay motivated doing online-only study.

When youre studying online, youre not getting that interaction with people. Youre still doing things but its not in its truest form, so I think you can feel a bit lost, she said. When you come out of school and go to uni, its just a massive change. I think everyones trying to adjust to this new way of life. Not all students are longing to set foot on campus. Anika Luna says online-only learning lacks a sense of interaction with others. Credit:Eddie Jim Wai Yan Moe had intended to study a bachelor of aviation at RMIT or Swinburne but after last years school shutdowns, he decided to enrol at CQUniversity in Queensland. The theory is online but the flight training is at Moorabbin Airport. I would not have considered doing a course remotely had I not gone through 2020, the 18-year-old said. He plans to move to Queensland for the final part of the course, but for now is happy studying in Melbourne with old friends.
Dubai: Despite Israeli air strikes on Gaza City killing dozens of people, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai on Sunday as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors.

Its an odd proposition at an odd time given that major airlines have suspended flights to Israel amid the deadly violence.

The Israel stand on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market exhibition in Dubai on Sunday. Credit:AP

However, at Dubais Arabian Travel Market, billed as the first travel and tourism event to happen in person since the global coronavirus outbreak, a small Israeli booth  tucked behind Slovenias  marketed the country as the Land of Creation. Promotional videos advertised Israels vegan culinary scene, its beaches and urged: Book Your Trip Now to Tel Aviv.

And the devastating air strikes on Gaza leading the worlds television news?
DEAR MISTER KNOPS

Whereas your ceremony this week - in the round - will be populated by a nepotistic circus of agreeable senior civil servants, please do not fall sick.

Mister Knops, if you do, let me describe what roundabouts sick Statians have to go round for medical treatment from your hopeless health insurance organization (ZVK).

For many years, ZVK has wasted millions of Antillean Guilders, US Dollars, Colombian Pesos, and therefore Euros through the false economy on travel costs, delayed medical treatment, and administrative inertia.

It seems your ZVK knows a lot more than you do when it comes to telling lies. But not saving lives...

Forget roundabouts and let me quote an example of administrative ZVK failure only last week from a patient who has waited a painful nine months for a hip replacement.

ZVK informed the patient that a hip operation was possible in Curacao even though the hospital concerned was not conducting such operations due to the Covid pandemic. They, therefore, refused medical referral to the Netherlands. Let's quote from a recent article in the Bone & Joint Journal: "It is not benign to delay or deny patients arthroplasty surgery; patients live with pain and disability that is more severe than many other chronic health conditions."

ZVK in Bonaire informed the patient that they do not want to talk to them but they should talk to Statia doctor. The only solution was to have the operation in the Netherlands. ZVK then said that the patient should organise it all themselves - which they did. The patient was told to pay all costs upfront and be reimbursed later. But confirmation that the entire medical costs would be reimbursed in full, only arrived at the very last moment so that the hospital operation and flights to Schiphol had to be canceled. Patient never received anything on paper.

At one point, a Bonaire ZVK official refused to discuss the situation on the phone. Imagine that from a health insurance organization? The result is that the patient is now taking expensive and addictive pain-relieving pills per day that cost more than a hip operation in the long run. False economy? You bet Mister Knops.

Dear Mister Knops, it is time to reorganize. Many ZVK complaints have been logged and nothing happens. In 2018, The Dutch Government took over local government on Statia in the belief that corruption and abuse diluted the principles of good and efficient governance. How ZVK operates does not seem the epitome of efficiency or care about patients, to say the least. Or: now that you have made your rare hospital bed, it is time to lie in it.

Please reorganize the ZVK or your reputation or both. We do not need local roundabouts but a central government turn-around. We need a ZVK that cares about individual healthcare not saving money. Privatize or revalitize!

Your ZVK is about saving money not caring for customers that have to go around thousands of useless roundabouts very much like the one you are opening this week.

Since your role already serves as a source of fortune, I wish you fortitude and clarity to do the right thing.

Please do not fall sick! You may be a caretaker Minister but your ZVK falls very short of caretaking.



E.B.

(I prefer using only my initials - Statia is a very small island ...)
Building an instrument that pulled at his heartstrings By Sashini Rodrigo Driven by a great desire to play the harp, but unable to buy one, Carllin Perera and his father came up with the next best option, to make one from scratch View(s): View(s):

When one considers the harp, the immediate connotation is a vision of heaven. An instrument with thousands of years of history behind it, it is often depicted in classical art in the arms of angels or as a rich addition to orchestral music, thanks to its unique tone.

Angelic it may seem, but for 25-year-old harpist Carllin Perera who has the distinction of not just being able to play the harp but also build it, it is certainly a lot of work to tune that many strings! And yet, ever since he first heard the instrument played on a classical record, he was enthralled by its calming natural reverb.

Proficient in the guitar, piano and drums, Carllin was drawn to the challenge of mastering the harp, one of the oldest known musical instruments in the world. The specialist nature of the harp also means it is a rare instrument to find, impossible to purchase in this country, and too expensive to import from abroad.

The solution came from Carllins father, Collin Perera, who Carllin proudly asserts can design and build anything, and always has a creative and practical solution for everything. In 2013, they began building a harp from scratch.

Their research into the subject showed that there was a huge variety and no proper standard for harps. Their search led them to a manual for a harp kit online with photographs of the wood pieces that gave them a general starting point. The discovery of the string chart that listed the resonating length of the string allowed Carllins dad to design the curve of the harp. After making a plan through computer-aided design software, they took it to his fathers cousin Rohitha Fernandos workshop to create the final frame.

The next hurdle was the stringing, as specialised strings were also expensive and this harp required 29 in five different gauges. In the end, the unlikely but brilliant solution was to use fishing line, as it is made of the same material and was available in all the necessary gauges. Honestly I didnt think itll sound this good. Even now, no one could tell the difference unless I tell them, Carllin says.

Carllins collection of unusual instruments doesnt stop there  it also includes a Washboard from New Orleans, Louisiana and a classical guitar that he personally converted to be fretless.

If I hear a unique instrument or if I see something new, Im inspired right away to learn about it and learn how to play it, Carllin tells us.

This curious and enterprising nature means that at just 25, Carllin is already a man of many talents. A proud alumnus of Maris Stella College in his hometown Negombo, Carllin graduated with a degree in Software Engineering, but his constant think outside the box approach to life has helped him expand his horizons even further. He has since successfully run his own photography and videography production house, as well as a laser engraving gallery that has grown into a full-fledged gift shop.

However, his greatest passion will always be music. Carllins earliest memories are of his mother and father doing amazing duets together as they sang him to sleep with lullabies. At his grandparents home, there was always music in the air from Mozart and Debussy to W.D. Amaradeva and Nanda Malini as well as Anthony Ventura and his mothers favourite Jim Reeves. This also gave him a lasting appreciation for a wide variety of genres.

His aunts constant piano practice added to the atmosphere and she eventually taught him how to read and play the notes, then encouraged him to sit the exams and obtain a qualification. The joyful sing-alongs at family gathering played a pivotal role in his passion for music.

Earning a seat in those family gatherings was a privilege back then, and as the youngest in the family I earned my way into the song with nothing but a five-gallon water bottle used to imitate a congo drum when turned upside down, he recalls fondly.

At school, Carllin seized every opportunity to take part in music related activities, and was even in a band called The Bricks which gave him valuable experience as a performer and professional musician.

Singing with the schools St. Marcellins Choir, and eventually its choir leader, Carllin developed a deep and lasting appreciation for choral music and direction under their choral director Francis DAlmeida. The school choir toured Rome in 2012 where they performed at a concert and also sang for Pope Benedict at a papal audience.

Still an active and enthusiastic member of the Old Maris Choir, every time Im there singing, conducting, arranging, it feels like home, he says. And between solo gigs with his guitar, performing at weddings, and collaborating with artists and choirs as a freelancer, Carllin also posts performances onto his Instagram and YouTube accounts, covers with his own unique twist to it, and more recently some originals as well.

Im now mostly focusing on making original music as I want my name to be out there as an original artist, he explains.

Yet pursuing music has its challenges especially maintaining financial stability, and Carllin admits that after building the harp back in 2013, he had put it aside thinking they had got it wrong, particularly because of the string gap. It was when he was contacted last year by musician Nishantha Warnakulasuriya who had heard rumours about a young harpist from Negombo that he was prompted to take it up again.

Nishantha, describing his own experiences, succeeded in motivating him and even laid out a plan for him. Inspired, Carllin began to look for more online tutorials and lessons, and found there was more content now online than when he had begun. He began afresh with the fingering techniques, scales and arpeggios, and hasnt stopped since.

Today, Carllin firmly believes that when it comes to music, everything can be an inspiration. He feels if you have the passion, dedication and willingness, you can do anything.

Despite the toll the pandemic lockdowns have taken on the industry, Carllin feels the days where there may be no gigs are also a blessing in disguise since it gives him plenty of time to revisit and hone his old skills. He has upgraded his harp meanwhile,with levers that were also homemade.

Presently working on a few harp covers of his own, also collaborating with Nishantha and other artists, Carllin looks forward to some exciting projects on the horizon.

Carllins work can be found on his music page on Instagram @__carllin__ and his YouTube channel at Carllin Perera. He also does a few live performances on Facebook when time permits.
Philipsburg, May 14th, 2021

Ref: finalization decolonization process

Honorable Prime Minister,

In keeping with the motion passed by Parliament on November 5th, 2020, I would hereby like to inform you as follows:

Before and after the passing of the motion and the establishment of Parliaments Permanent Committee for Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization (CCAD) a number of developments have taken place. Two of those are the following:

 The sentiments as expressed in the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) during the debate with the State Secretary of Kingdom Relations on April 6th, 2021,

 The motion presented by Senator Paul Rosenmoller on April 6th, 2021 and passed by the Dutch Senate on April 13th, 2021.

All these developments underscore the need to finalize the process and have created a solid basis for doing so expeditiously.

The core of that basis is the consensus between Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten, and the Netherlands that the current Kingdom Charter (Statuut) needs to be structurally amended.

In that light, the positions of a number of political parties in the Netherlands as outlined in their respective party manifestos where it relates to (the future) Kingdom relations, coupled with the aforementioned sentiments and motion of the Senate of the Netherlands and the subsequent follow-up offer a good opportunity to start deliberations within the Kingdom to finalize the decolonization process.

The Netherlands is an important, if not the main partner when it comes to finalizing the decolonization process. As such, the ongoing formation process in the Netherlands offers all partners involved a unique opportunity to jointly establish the structure for finalizing the decolonization process in place.

In doing so, a simplified structure of the process for the dismantling of the former Netherlands Antilles which took place between 2005 and 2010 can be used as a point of departure, supported by the documentation and research gathered since then.

Please allow me to (re-)emphasize that this process is a deliberative one. It should and will therefore not interfere with the current ongoing negotiations between the Government of Sint Maarten and that of the Netherlands regarding financial support and governmental reform.

I hereby kindly suggest that you send a proposal to the Kingdom Council of Ministers, in your capacity as Minister charged with General Affairs, to initiate the finalization of the decolonization process based on, among other things, the relevant motions of the Parliament and Senate of the Netherlands and the Parliament of Sint Maarten.

The proposed objective is to organize at least one initial Kingdom Conference/Round Table Conference with the six islands in the Dutch Caribbean in the latter part of this year, and one or more subsequent formal rounds of political consultations in order to finalize the process, with a joint technical support team preparing these consultations.

The Parliament of Sint Maarten, in its capacity of legislator, will of course support and facilitate this process and play its part in close communication and cooperation with all involved where and when required and possible.

As such, a copy of this letter will also be sent to both the Dutch Parliament and Senate, in order to inform them accordingly and initiate a joint discussion on the legislative actions required to support and finalize the process.

I thank you in advance for your kind cooperation and look forward to moving the process forward in a constructive and inclusive manner with all involved.



Sincerely,

On behalf of the Parliament of Sint Maarten,

Rolando Brison

President

Cc.: Mr. Garrick Richardson, Secretary General of Parliament;

The Chair of CCAD;

De Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal;

De Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal

The Parliament of Aruba

The Parliament Curacao

The Island Council of Bonaire

The Island Council Saba

The Island Council Sint Eustatius
PHILIPSBURG:--- Ti Koko and Kush Kush by Patricia G. Turnbull is now on the School Reading List for Grade 4 students, said Janice George Harris, Education Officer for Language Arts and Theatre in the Ministry of Education, Tortola, Virgin Islands.

The progress of this excellent storybook published in the Caribbean has landed it in the curriculum of the Virgin Islands, said Jacqueline Sample of House of Nehesi (HNP), the books publisher in St. Martin.

Ti Koko and Kush Kush, which was issued in 2018, are also under consideration for a Teachers Workshop for the next school year, said Dr. Turnbull.

The workshop would explore and position the illustrated book as a cross-curricular resource, linking language arts, literature, social and cultural studies, history, environmental and plant science, said Dr. Turnbull, who is also an educator.

Leading environmentalist Tadzio Bervoets has called Ti Koko and Kush Kush magical for its bayside and nature-focus storyline and artwork. HNP childrens books like Claudes Adventure by Wendy-Ann Diaz (St. Thomas), Lizzy Lizard by Robin Boasman (St. Martin), and Ti Koko are creatively multipurpose, said Sample.

Our childrens books, like Ti Koko, are for the joy of reading at home. And so far they are all potential cross-curricular resource titles, with richly illustrated stories set in our region, for Caribbean classrooms, said Sample on Sunday.

The writing quality, and the book design and production of these books also make for a competitive fit for classrooms around the world that are seeking original stories and fascinating Caribbean experiences, said Sample.
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Client: Clara, a young woman trapped in France

A young woman and her boyfriend are pulled over by the police in rural France. When the boyfriend steps out of the car to talk to them, he's shot.The young woman, Clara, calls a number her father gave her and Robyn answers.We spent much of the episode in Harrys lair watching giant monitors, and I was fully engaged.Its not easy to get that much tension from a scene where the the characters are pretty static and staring at a screen.Thanks to Harry, they watch the action over a Soviet satellite and quickly realize that Clara is being chased by pros, and theres a big picture they are unaware of need to clarify quickly.This, of course, means calling Bishop and Dante.I was expecting a little more of a reaction from Dante, but he immediately agreed to get Robyn the information she needed. I know she saiid there was a life on the line, but he didnt even play the cop card.Robyn asked Dante to talk with a prisoner, waiting to be extradited to England, hoping that he had information on a friend's job in France.I would think discretion is a job requirement for a mercenary, especially commanding the money these guys seemed to be working with. Why would the guy in Rikers know anything about his friend's job in France or tell them, if it he did?(Yes, I know....not that important, but it kicked me out of the story for a moment.)At any rate, Dante reports back that the guys answer was pretty creepy. (Note to Dante, it should also be a hint as to the fact that Robyn aint some bored housewife from suburbia. LOL)Turns out the person behind it all is a bad guy we will surely be seeing again.Bishop also steps up when Robyn calls. He gets an extraction team in place for Clara, and later a plane to get Robyn, and what looked like a more tactical team, into France.I have moments where I think Bishop was a peer of Robyns when she was active. Then there are other moments, like this episode, where it feels more like hes a mentor (or handler?) with a special place in his heart for Robyn.We didnt a lot of fight sequences for Robin. I wasnt overly enamored with the fight choreography later in the episode, but it was cool seeing Robyn in charge of an armed unit.

Family Life: Delilah does some snooping.

The family plus Niki, Delilahs friend, are prepping for a girls night when Robyn gets an alert about a call on her satellite phone.Personally, I think a better lie would have prevented those girls feeling the need to go searching for clues as to what Robyn really does for a living. (How badass must her CIA nest egg be that she doesnt need a day job now?)Robyn didnt use an a friend at work had a family emergency and needs my help, lie so Niki had questions. Which led Delilah to mount a search to prove that he mother works where she says she works.Real life aside: searching my mothers things would have been a sure way to guarantee I didnt get to see 15. LOLI loved Vis handling of the situation. Imagination meet simple logic.One of the trends thats beginning to appear in the show is Robyn picking up tidbits, on the job, that help her learn to better manage her work/life balance.Last week it was Dante giving her tips on how to shake off the workday and be fully present when she got home.This week it was Clara sharing her reaction to finding out about her father's secret life.Those scenes also gave Robyn an opportunity to express some of the things she would like to say to Delilah, if she could.Clara's reaction, I believe, helped Robyn decide to tell Vi what she does. Although, I really wanted to know what Vi's theories were.Despite spending a half of the episode staring at people staring at a screen, this episode is among the top episodes for me so far. I also enjoyed Delilah and Niki searching the bedroom as visions of spy movies floated through their heads.And, of course, in the 21st Century, the gun safe is print activated.What did you guys think of the episode?
Gaborone (Botswana), 15 May 2021 (SPS) - Saharawi Ambassador to Botswana, Mr. Malainin Mohamed, called on Botswana Trade Unions, political parties and civil society actor to firmly support the legitimate struggle of the people of Western Sahara and Palestine for freedom and dignity, in a speech he gave today during the Launch by BOFEPUSU of its Workers Charter at Oasis Hotel, in Gaborone, Botswana.



The event was opened by a welcome remarks and briefing by the President of Botswana Federation of Public Private and Parastatal Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU), Mr. Johannes Tshukudu, and a presentation of the Strategic objectives of BOFEPUSU initiative, presented by its Secretary general.



The Saharawi Ambassador was given the floor as the Guest of Honour on invitation from BOFEPUSU leadership, to brief the participating representatives of political parties, trade Unions and civil society organisations, on the Saharawi issue.



In his speech, the Saharawi Ambassador emphasized the gratitude of the Saharawi people and government to Botswana President, Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi, to Botswana government and to the people and civil society of Botswana for the honourable and principled position on the Saharawi legitimate struggle for freedom and independence. (SPS)



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Human connection is the essence of life Shyam Selvadurai looks at the 20-year journey of the Sunera Foundation, now showcased in the recently released coffee table book, Wings View(s): View(s):

Wings, the new book celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Sunera Foundation, is the affecting story of the organizations history and the work they have done with the disabled community in Sri Lanka. Founded in 2000 by Sunethra Bandaranaike, the organization has produced theatrical performances, showcasing the talents of differently-abled Sri Lankans, and runs 38 weekly workshops for people living with disabilities across the country. They use the performance arts as a therapeutic tool and aim to create a space where participants are free to express themselves without judgment.

In affecting story after affecting story, we see how these weekly workshops are so looked forward to by these differently- abled people, some of whom live in situations of isolation and stigma in their own communities. For these people, the workshops represent a chance to feel seen and to express their creativity. To feel fully alive. Affecting too are the stories of how the workshops have changed these people and also their families, allowed them to see their self worth in their own terms.

In Wings, Sunethra Bandaranaike, discusses how entering this line of work challenged her every preconception about people with disabilities. She admits she was used to thinking of people with disabilities as being in need of care. Yet through her work at the Foundation, she came to recognize the immense value they themselves offer to their loved ones and the larger community. The people with disabilities who have worked with the Sunera Foundation are, in the words of Bandaranaike, uninhibited with near electric grace and full of joy.

Reading of the love families have for their disabled members, the efforts they go through to protect and enrich their livesand how in turn these differently-abled family members enrich their familiesmade me think of how these stories challenge the late-stage capitalist world we live in. The current system and ideology insist that a persons value is determined by how much they contribute to GDP, offset by the money required to care for and sustain them; wealth-generating activity is considered the wellspring of human value. But, as the philosopher Martha Nussbaum put it so well: Thinking about (human) contribution in (economic terms) is much too narrow There are different kinds of contribution life experience, understanding being objects of love in families that enrich all of our lives. The stories of these individuals and their families ring true to her words and remind us of what makes life truly meaningful: the rewards of caring for and the comfort of being cared for; the pleasure of running with a creative impulse; the glow of shared laughter; the moments where we recognize our interdependence and do not shrink from it, but rather, are grateful for it; the gift of knowing unselfish love.

In the midst of my isolated pandemic anxiety I felt grateful to encounter this over and over again in the book; felt both soothed and energized by how the book reminded me of that most essential aspect of a good life: human connection.

Wings also offers the reader a sense of hope with regard to broader political conditions in Sri Lanka. Sunethra Bandaranaike discusses how she worried that there would be serious problems making performers from both sides of the ethnic divide engage with each other. Yet she found that over the course of their ardent, tireless preparations for productions, members of the cast who had struggled to relate to each other, began to find they had more in common after all. And in the process a family was forged. Being in each others presence, working towards a shared goal, the performers came to care for each other, despite the political climate demanding they do not. There was something so hopeful about this story: a signal that it is possible to put our differences aside in service of larger aims.

The relationships in this book show that what we give and take from each other is not fully determined by the larger systems at work around us. People are more than their disabilities as well as their politics; and our lives are given their truest value and meaning in our ability to relate to, care for, and connect with each other.
Awsard (Refugee Camps), 16 May 2021 (SPS) - Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of South Africa in Algeria and the SADR, Dr Sello Patrick Rankhumise, on Sunday embarked on a working visit to the Sahrawi Republic, during which he visits Sahrawi state institutions and meets with Sahrawi officials.



At the beginning of his visit, Mr. Rankhumise was received by the authorities of the wilaya of Awsard represented by the wali, Mrs. Maryam Salek Ahmada, accompanied by the Secretary-General of the wilaya, Mr. Bakai Hamdi Ismail, as well as the people of the wilaya, where he made a tour of some local and regional facilities and institutions.



the working visit is expected to continue Monday, through visits to some institutions, before Mr. Rankhumise is received at the end of his visit by the Prime Minister, Mr. Buchraya Hamoudi bayoun. (SPS)



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STAMFORD  During the past few years, the University of Connecticuts Stamford campus has grown at a striking rate  as seen in its rising enrollment, residence hall openings and expanding list of academic programs.

Now, UConn is further building its presence in the city through the expansion of its Technology Incubation Program (TIP), its longstanding initiative to support startups in the state. The new Stamford incubator focuses on firms working in data science and aims to leverage the expertise and experience of UConn students and faculty, who are playing an increasingly prominent role in fueling the areas economic development and innovation.

The TIP is a very nurturing environment for early-stage companies. It brings the full support of the university ecosystem, Vijay Jayachandran, co-founder and CEO of ACW Analytics, one of the companies participating in the Stamford incubator, said in an interview. It makes us feel good about the support we will get as we build out our company.

Supporting startups

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The Stamford hub will complement the Technology Incubation Programs bioscience-focused sites at the main UConn campus in Storrs and at the UConn Health complex in Farmington, which have respectively operated since 2003 and 2010.

Across the three sites, the TIP covers about 35,000 square feet of office and lab space  making it the largest incubator of its kind in the state, according to UConn officials.

In 2020, 51 companies took part in the TIP. Since 2003, 132 companies have participated.

Last year, the TIP companies raised nearly $463 million in total funding. At the end of the past fiscal year, those firms cumulatively had 208 full-time and part-time positions on their payrolls.

The incubators are important spaces that can help regional economic development, said Radenka Maric, UConns vice president for research, innovation and entrepreneurship. Its not only by launching companies around the universitys intellectual property, but also providing startups with access to institutional resources like infrastructure and access to people that can accelerate their success.

Companies accepted into any of the TIP sites can be based on technology developed at UConn or can be external ventures that would benefit from access to UConns research resources.

To start, five startups are joining the Stamford incubator. The cohort includes ACW Analytics, which uses its expertise in earth and data sciences to predict the impact of severe weather on infrastructure such as electrical utilities assets.

There is Boston and New York, where a lot of stuff is happening, but this new incubator really shows the intent to grow that capability in Connecticut, said Jayachandran, who previously worked for more than 20 years at United Technologies.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

ACW has deep connections to the university. Its other founders are Manos Anagnostou, the Eversource Energy endowed chairman in environmental engineering at UConn; Diego Cerrai, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UConn, and Peter Watson, who holds a UConn masters degree in environmental engineering.

Incubator amenities in Stamford will include office space and shared work areas in a 5,685-square-foot center that UConn has leased at 9 W. Broad St., a building that stands a block from the universitys main academic building in the downtown and across the street from Mill River Park.

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

All TIP companies pay rent except for those started by UConn students, who can use the space for free as long as they are enrolled. The Stamford-based companies will be signing two-year lease agreements, according to university officials.

The broader UConn Stamford Data Science Initiative, which includes the incubator, is receiving a total of $4.2 million in funding, with equal allocations provided by the university and CTNext, an entrepreneurship-focused subsidiary of the state-chartered venture capital organization Connecticut Innovations.

Our mission at CTNext is to create jobs for the Connecticut economy through the formation of new businesses. We do this by supporting local startups and identifying opportunities to seed new entrepreneurial activity around existing areas of innovation and economic strength, said CTNext Executive Director Glendowlyn Thames. At UConn Stamford, we saw an excellent graduate program in applied data analytics. Data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence are rapidly growing technologies with broad applications in a whole host of local industries. Data analytics talent and business solutions are in high demand.

Several years of planning preceded the Stamford incubators launch, with a number of local agencies supporting the effort. City officials and the nonprofit Stamford Partnership helped to recruit the incubator, according to Thomas Madden, Stamfords director of economic development.

The Stamford TIP will provide the missing piece of any innovation district  a research university within the city, Madden said. When you look at the first five companies that will locate in the TIP, you will notice that these companies all benefit in their Stamford location as the city provides a great testing ground for the product and the ability to access capital once they start to grow.

Legislators such as state Rep. Caroline Simmons, D-Stamford, who is co-chairwoman of the General Assemblys Commerce Committee, also lauded the new incubator. Last month, Simmons announced she would challenge incumbent David Martin for the Democratic nomination in this years Stamford mayoral race.

UConn's Technology Incubation Program is a terrific program matching students with startups, and Stamford is uniquely situated to provide these robust workforce-development initiatives for students with our diverse and talented business community, Simmons said. UConn Stamford has been a vital asset to our community... There are excellent professors and an amazing and talented student body that not only add to the vibrancy of our community, but also are leading innovative initiatives and creating startups.

Growing in Stamford

The incubator comprises the first stage of a three-part initiative to expand UConns Stamford programming.

UConn will hire five junior faculty members specializing in data science. In addition, it will launch an experiential learning co-op program led by its Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.

The goal is also to provide workforce development, and thats why we are recruiting five faculty members with data-science expertise and (launching) the entrepreneurial co-op program for undergraduates, Maric said. We really have to create the ecosystem to support those startups in order for them to thrive in Stamford.

Contributed photo /University of Connecticut

Companies in the Stamford incubator will have access to an ever-growing student population. The Stamford campus combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment last fall totaled 2,941, surging 40 percent from 2016.

The new UConn data science unit and technology incubator in Stamford is an enormous stride forward for our campus and the university, said Terrence Cheng, UConns Stamford campus director. It shows that we continue to be responsive to the needs of our city and our region by expanding the innovation ecosystem of Fairfield County. This work will support research, help new companies and impact our students by providing experiential learning opportunities they would not find elsewhere.

Jayachandran is bullish about the potential for ACW to help the city fulfill its economic potential.

Stamford could be the next Austin, Texas, Jayachandran said. We see it as a potential next big hub for economic development and in the area of data science. We want to work with other companies to build a thriving ecosystem, so we never have to think of going elsewhere. Wed love to stay there and build out our company.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
STAMFORD  Ahead of Novembers municipal election season, the citys most prominent advocates for transit-oriented development have turned the spotlight to the Board of Representatives current term.

People Friendly Stamford, an advocacy group dedicated to reducing car dependency, recently released a scorecard that ranks city legislators on how their votes stack up against the groups vision for a more walkable and bikable community.

People Friendly Stamford hopes this Scorecard will help inform Stamford residents and hold our elected officials accountable, the group wrote upon the scorecards release. Remember, your representatives represent YOU regardless of your political party, whether you rent or own your home, or whether you have lived in Stamford for two weeks or twenty years.

Over the last year, People Friendly Stamford has grown its profile in the local political scene. Some members have become fixtures of public hearings before the zoning board or Board of Representatives. On top of that, the group has statewide efforts for zoning reform  namely the Senate bill put forth by Desegregate CT  and has thrown its support behind building more affordable housing in Stamford.

At the outset, three representatives have emerged from completely unscathed by People Friendly Stamfords assessment. Reps. Matt Quinones, D-16, Benjamin Lee, D-15, and Gloria DePina, D-5, received perfect scores based on the 11 votes used on the scorecard.

Lee, who joined the Board after a November 2017 election, called transportation infrastructure a necessary engine for economic development in the city. According to him, getting cars off the street would help ease Stamfords infamous traffic problem, making it more appealing for new residents and creating a robust tax base to improve local amenities.

We have to solve the traffic problem to get the reasonable amount of growth that is necessary to unlock the money thats necessary and put it into the schools, he said. As a simple matter of public policy, we should want to do it anyways. And as an existential matter, we have to do it for the city in order to secure the next 20 to 30 years of Stamfords history.

Quinones, who heads the Board of Representatives, pointed out that transportation is one of the issues he hears about most from his constituents, either directly or indirectly. But he refused to take full credit for the transit-oriented development in Stamford. Instead, he deferred to former Transportation Bureau Chief Jim Travers, who left the Government Center in February to lead Norwalks transportation department.

I think the option to support these initiatives was brought about, in many cases, by his contributions and his leadership, Quinones said. In the final two years of his tenure, Travers completed more than 40 traffic developments for the city.

In stark comparison, Reps. Nina Sherwood, D-8, John Zelinsky, D-11, and Alice Liebson, D-21, ranked lowest in the groups assessment. Sherwood and Zelinsky both contested the groups methodology. Liebson did not respond to a request for comment.

Their analysis is based on whether people are voting for things that make pedestrian/biker life easier around the city accessible, but none of the issues that they described are purely pedestrian issues, Sherwood said. She cited the widening of Washington Boulevard as an example. Though the city included a bike lane in the proposal, the representative argued that, at its heart, the vote was on eminent domain.

Similarly, Sherwood contended that vying for budget cuts is about saving taxpayers money, not about striking against infrastructure.

The operating budget literally contains everything in the city, she added. To say that I decided to cut the budget because Im anti-pedestrian is just fundamentally dishonest.

Zelinsky defended his record in a similar vein.

This small group attempting to impose their will and thinking on all the residents of Stanford is inappropriate, misguided. I understand their objective is less reliance on all cars in Stamford street design and is to reduce car dependency, (but) how many people attend their meetings? he said.

One of the groups leaders, Will Wright, acknowledged that some of the votes touch issues aside from transit-oriented development by the very nature of municipal government but stood fast behind the methodology.

We dont think that thats the way to govern, and we think that that has a pretty clear and direct line, so you know hurting the things that we think are important and should be getting funded, he said.

People Friendly Stamford divided the 11 votes in question into three distinct categories: policy, infrastructure, and funding. On the policy front, they highlighted the Board of Representatives support for shared mobility principles like ride-share services and a resolution passed by the board to oppose tolls in Connecticut. The four infrastructure-related votes touched on everything from widening Washington Boulevard to authorizing a design for the often-debated Merritt Parkway Trail (ultimately, the board vetoed the decision).

The majority of scorecard items, 6 of 11, focused on funding issues. People Friendly Stamford homed in on proposed cuts to Stamfords operating budgets and specific projects or departments, like the Mill River Park Collaborative or the city Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Department.

Stamford representatives largely voted in line with People Friendly Stamfords pedestrian-friendly priorities. The organizations opinion aligned with the Board of Representatives action on 8 of 11 votes, earning the city 72 percent overall. By that same metric, the group would characterize Stamford as a Safe Streets Supporter  one of the two designations used to shout out high-performers on the board.

Wright also pointed out that good performance transcended partisan lines. Democrats make up most of the Board of Representatives, but Reps. David Watkins and Bradley Michelson, two Republicans from the first municipal district, were both among the higher scorers on the list.

We think that shows there is broad support for our mission, he concluded. You can also see that a majority of the board  22 members of the 40  voted with us at least 50 percent of the time. ... These are generally popular things that were trying to do.

The entire People Friendly Stamford 2021 Safe Streets Scorecard is posted on the groups website.

Editors note: This story has been updated to correct the name of a member of the Board of Representatives. Bradley Michelson was among the higher scorers on the list.

veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
BRIDGEPORT  A shooting that killed two men in what police described as an illegal night club was met Sunday morning with swift calls from state and city leaders to end the gun violence.

Police officials said officers responded to reports of shots fired on 1023 Main St. around 1:56 a.m. When they arrived, they found two men with gunshot wounds.

The first victim, Charles Dimples Barnes, 38, of Bloomfield, died at the scene. A second victim, Norman Charles Peter, 40, of Stamford, was still alive when officers arrived, police said. Peter was rushed to St. Vincents Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

During the shooting investigation, police officials determined that the scene of the shooting was an illegal after-hours club being run out of 1023 Main St.

As investigators chased leads involving the deadly shooting, city and state officials gathered Sunday to voice their commitment to stopping gun violence in the city.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim said the word outrage isnt strong enough for the violence that has happened. He said shootings are not going to be accepted or tolerated anywhere in Bridgeport.

I havent done enough, and I dare to say our state hasnt done enough, and we in the community havent done enough. But we are trying, but weve got to do better, and we will do better. Thats my commitment to you, Ganim said in the press conference streamed online by Fox 61.

As of 7 a.m. Sunday, officers continue to process a large crime scene along Main Street in downtown Bridgeport. Police officials said drivers should expect road closures on Main Street between Fairfield Avenue and John Street throughout the morning.

Joining Ganim Sunday, Gov. Ned Lamont said the city and state are making progress against the COVID-19 pandemic, but theres another scourge out there. The scourge of violence. The scourge of gun violence. s

When he first got elected, Lamont said he went to visit the family of Clinton Howell, a 12-year-old who was shot and killed on Dec. 18, 2018. He said he remembered how devastating that was not just for the family but also for the community.

Thank you for standing up and reminding us every day weve got to get these guns off the street, Lamont told those who gathered Sunday at Newfield Park.

Lamont said they were going to do everything they can to support the community, such as making sure police have the social support they need, making sure social workers are present and supporting the local government of Bridgeport.

Talking about resources, Ganim said it doesnt matter how much resources the city receives from the federal or state governments if they cant get it into the hands of the programs that can help people.

Police are asking anyone with information about this crime to call Det. Martin Heanue at 203-581-5242 or the Bridgeport Police Tips line 203-576-TIPS.
ATHENS, Greece (AP)  Ioannis Lagos, a Greek far-right member of the European Parliament, was extradited to Greece Saturday to begin serving a 13-year prison sentence.

Authorities said Lagos was to spend his first night in isolation in the high-security prison of Domokos, in central Greece, before being assigned to a regular cell on Sunday.

Lagos request that he be held at a prison in Athens, ostensibly to keep up with his work in the European Parliament, was rejected by authorities.

Lagos had been living in Brussels since a Greek court in October convicted him and 17 other former Greek lawmakers from the extreme-right Golden Dawn party of leading a criminal organization, or being members in it.

Lagos was taken into custody last month after the European Parliament voted to remove his immunity, paving the way for him to be sent to Athens on a European arrest warrant.

Golden Dawn was founded as a Nazi-inspired group in the 1980s. It saw a surge in popularity during Greeces 2010-2018 financial crisis, gaining parliamentary representation between 2012 and 2019. Lagos was a member of Greeces Parliament throughout this period, before being elected to the European Parliament in 2019. He, like other former lawmakers, has now left Golden Dawn.

The five-year trial in Athens was launched following the 2013 murder of rapper and left-wing activist Pavlos Fyssas, who was stabbed to death by a Golden Dawn supporter.

The other convicted Golden Dawn members are already in jail, except for one who escaped arrest and is officially a fugitive.
NEW HARTFORD  About a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic hit full force, Olivia Carlson felt a deep sense of concern for children who would be affected by having to quarantine or sequester from their schoolmates, friends and, in some instances, even their extended families.

The 23-year-old New Hartford woman hit upon a idea, to create a way for children feel safer and at the same time explain why the world had changed overnight. Perhaps it would lessen their fear and confusion, she thought.

So, Carlson, who graduated from Central Connecticut State University in October 2020 with a degree in dance education (she teaches at Torringtons Doncin School of Dance), and a specialization in entrepreneurship, launched what she came to call QuaranTine Bears, or QT Bears for short. QT Bears are 11-inch plush teddy bears that wear a face mask and come with a matching mask for the child.

I began the effort in April of 2020 and I created these when the COVID-19 pandemic first started as a way to comfort children during the time that they were adapting to wearing masks in their everyday lives, Carlson said. My dad, who passed away in August 2018 of pancreatic cancer, was my inspiration behind this idea. Before he passed, he and I got matching teddy bears; his is now buried with him, but I still have mine and it brings me comfort when Im missing my dad. This is what inspired me to use teddy bears to comfort children that may be struggling in this tough time.

With the help of friends and family using Facebook and sharing Carlsons initial post about the new endeavor, QT Bears took off literally overnight she said. She was not prepared for the volume of orders she received.

Im so thankful for my first customers a year ago  I believe if it wasnt for my friends and family sharing my post and helping it to go viral, I wouldnt be where I am today with QT Bear LLC.

Carlson only had six bears to start her business, and quickly had to order more once requests started flooding in on Facebook.

As of now, one year later, I have provided over 2,000 QT Bears to children across the nation, she said. I have both sold and donated them to children struggling with COVID-19, as quarantine gifts, donated them to children in hospitals, family members in nursing homes, and elsewhere.

For the first eight months, she was personally sewing all of the masks for the bears and children. My family also was a big help with production  my mom did the fabric cutting, my aunt helped with sewing, and my grandma helped with tags and packaging, Carlson said.

She now has a manufacturer that makes both the bears and masks. This was essential, she said, to being able to continue the business.

At one point in the very beginning, I was sitting at the sewing machine for 10 hours a day, every day. Now that I have a manufacturer, Im able to produce more bears and focus more on the marketing and building of my brand, and also put energy into where I want to take my business next, Carlson said.

The reaction from those that have ordered the QT Bears has been wonderful, she said. Mostly, people say QT Bears provide smiles to children during a tough time.

Here are a few reviews from customers:

We have a 5-year-old kiddo with autism and mask wearing has been a transition for us with the sensory obstacles. This bear made the transition easier!

Its a great memory for the time the kids were stuck inside, and Jordan has been holding onto it all day, he says it helps him with his emotions.

Thank you for making mask wearing a fun thing for our preschoolers. We ordered one for each teacher to show the students how to properly wear masks.

Even though the pandemic is lessening its grip, and many children are back at school (albeit it with masks on their little faces), QT Bears is still going strong.

Lets be real, by now, mask wearing has gotten old, but having a bear to match yourself with will never not be fun, Carlson quipped. As long as people are still wearing masks, I will continue to sell QT bears to spread positivity. Who doesnt love teddy bears?

Carlson said the message she is spreading is changing this year.

As the pandemic is ... coming to an end, I have thought deeply about where I want to take my focus next, she said. I do not want to stop spreading positivity, and Ive seen firsthand how much joy something as simple as a teddy bear can bring. I will now be shifting my focus to children who are truly struggling and need love the most.

With the help of the QT Bear community and her friends and family, Carlson has been able to provide teddy bears to the children at Tufts Childrens Hospital in Boston, Mass. She is now on to her second fundraiser, to provide QT Bears to children at Emerson Hospital.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from my fundraiser will go towards creating bears for the children in the Emergency Department at Emerson Hospital, she said.

Carlson will also be transitioning QT Bear LLC into a nonprofit. Ive decided to do this so I can truly continue to make a difference in childrens lives that need it most, she said. I believe having a nonprofit will give my company unlimited opportunities to be of service to others. I will be launching a new kind of bear to help children and families who are battling cancer.

Carlson believes he QT Bears have taught her much about herself and enriched her life.

The experience has changed me in many ways, she said. First, it has opened up my eyes to an entirely new world of business that I didnt know existed. Ive realized that I have a true love and passion for the world of entrepreneurship and it has led me to a lot of research of other successful women entrepreneurs that are making a difference in the world.

She added that by creating her business, she learned that as long as you are truly doing something good and being authentic, you will be successful.

Mostly though, it has made her realize true happiness comes from helping others.

The feeling I get knowing I made someones day is priceless, Carlson said. Although I dont know exactly whats in store for me next, I know I want to continue to spread smiles in all that I do, and with faith, anything is possible.

Find Carlsons current fundraiser at www.spotfund.com/story/62c52568-d275-4aae-ab9d-b22973a45585. Also, visit www.QTBears.com.
NEW DELHI (AP)  A severe cyclone is roaring in the Arabian Sea off southwestern India with winds of up to 140 kph (87 mph), already causing heavy rains and flooding that have killed at least six people, officials said Sunday.

Cyclone Tauktae, the seasons first major storm, is expected to make landfall early Tuesday in Gujarat state, a statement by the India Meteorological Department said.

The massive storm will likely hamper Indias fight against a coronavirus surge that's sweeping the country with devastating death tolls, as virus lockdown measures may slow relief work and damage from the storm could potentially destroy roads and cut vital supply lines.

In areas along the Arabian Sea coast, four people were killed and 73 villages badly damaged on Sunday, according to the southwestern Karnataka state's disaster management authority.

A woman was killed when a coconut tree fell on her and a man riding a scooter was hit by an uprooted electric pole in the western state of Goa lashed by stormy winds and heavy rains, said Pramod Sawant, the state's top elected official.

Nearly 2,500 government rescuer workers have been deployed in six states on Cyclone Tauktae's path  Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa  equipped with wireless radios, satellite phones, cutters and tools needed for post-cyclone operations.

The storm, moving at a speed of 11 kph (7 mph), was currently 660 kilometers (410 miles) south-southeast of Veraval in Gujarat state, the India Meteorological Department said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reviewed with officials the preparedness of states to deal with the cyclone, a government statement said.

The region is no stranger to devastating cyclones, but changing climate patterns have caused them to become more intense, rather than more frequent.

Last cyclone season, K.J. Ramesh, the former chief of Indias weather agency, said the increased ferocity of the storms is caused by the temperature of the seas surface. Warm ocean water is where storms get their energy, and the amount of heat trapped in the top 700 meters (2,300 feet) of the seas has increased.
Learning from my father, five years after his passing By Aparna Halpe View(s): View(s):

I was mingling with the audience at a poetry reading in Toronto, where I had been reading some of my new poems, when I was approached by an audience member. He asked me a question that Ive encountered before in some form or another throughout my entire artistic and professional career Excuse me, are you by any chance related to Professor Ashley Halpe? When I answered that I was his youngest daughter, the gentleman proceeded to tell me this story.

In 1970, he was a young student at Peradeniya, and had been in a literature course taught by my father. He had no intention of studying literature seriously, and when my father asked his students to memorize poems, he found the exercise tedious. One day, he brought this up with my father, asking him what earthly use a poem could ever have in the real world. My father answered that once a poem was folded into ones deep memory, it could never be taken away. Our memory is always our freedom; it cannot be stolen by governments, nor ideologues. It is the last bastion of the self in circumstances when one is forced into otherness, robbed of will and agency.

This young student would remember those words as the insurgency unfolded, and his friends disappeared into jail cells; he would remember them again as a young Tamil refugee, when he was forced to abandon his home and live in exile in Europe and then Canada. He had travelled an hour to come to my poetry reading to tell me this story, to remind me that, for my father, poetry was a quiet and yet wholly radical form of resistance that could never be stripped away.

I believe that my father found his politics in poetry. Not the kind of politics that toes party lines, but the kind of politics that persistently fights for social justice (before it was even called that). My fathers politics made him determined to give his students the access and power of the word, even when governments and systems would deny them that, even when he was forced to give his lectures in a takarang shed. Its not surprising that among the many generations of his students, those who made it through the reorganization of the 70s became the fiercest intellectuals and activists, making their mark all over the world as scholars of literature, as artists and writers, as poets in their own right.

And even if his legacy is associated with the kaduwa, and the privilege that the English language affords the educated middle class, he was able to provoke and probe the hegemonies of his time through this colonizers language, whether it was through supporting writers like Lakdhas Wikkramasinha or Carl Muller as they emerged, or through staging subversive theatre productions that ended with him and his students being detained by censorship authorities. Perhaps as important to me, was his unflagging commitment to the Wala festival at Peradeniya, which brought luminaries like Sarachchandra and Henry Jayasena to an audience of thousands of hungry youngsters, who were as ready to hoot as they were to brave the rain and the leeches to sit in rapt silence as a child was pulled between two mothers in Hunu Wataye Kathawa. I was eight years old when I saw that production, and even as a child, I understood the difference between the force of greed and the radical, sacrificial power of love. This was my fathers legacy: one that was intimately tied to a time and a place, and to the kind of human being he strived to be.

As I pen these words in the midst of a pandemic that has shut down our world and forced us to pace the length and breadth of our homes like caged animals, I linger over the poems that are folded into my memory like a well-loved aerogramme from a father to a daughter. His voice returns to me:

[...]

I am knit into your tala, make

My words supple as Surambas bones,

Forged in a hunger for exactitude,

Bright as hill water, still as your lake,

Full in the mouth as ela-rounded stones,

Intense as sages in beatitude

Ashley Halpe, from Fall Poem, Looking Homeward Homing and Other Poems (1993)


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GENEVA [emdash] A Memorial Service for Janet "Betty" Elizabeth Woodworth, 92, of Geneva, who died July 11, 2020, will be 2:30 pm Friday June 18, 2021 at Madison Seventh Day Adventist Church, 725 East Main St. in Madison followed by a reception. Final resting place will be at Alexander Harper
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 52F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.
Letters to the Editor View(s):

Need of the hour, prioritise COVID-19 vaccinations under Public Health

COVID is here to stay with us, not for months but years. We cannot control this with curfews or quarantines alone. Those measures are temporary patch-ups executed by sensible nations to prevent their health services from being overwhelmed. This lack of understanding or purposeful denial has resulted in some countries facing desperate situations. Some ran out of oxygen in hospitals and poor healthcare staff trying to help with whatever the facilities, have got infected and died or been abused by the public.

Health is the wealth of the nation. This is why most developed countries fought tooth and nail to control the pandemic in their own nations before thinking about others. This was because the vaccination of the nation to enhance herd immunity was the only solution to return to normality controlling the pandemic. Politicians who prioritised political interests before the health of the nation eventually failed with a huge national cost of lost lives (Trump in the USA, Bolsanaro in Brazil, Modi in India etc).

Our GDP is now considered to be approximately USD 4000/ person per annum and this comes in to the Government as foreign and local currency. The primary duty of the Government is to utilise this national income for public gain with minimal wastage. A single vaccination dose costs USD 3 and this amounts to 0.1% of our GDP. Without engaging in useless criticisms of the need to share the patents etc, I am surprised why our Government cannot use 0.1% of the GDP to vaccinate our whole population. After all, on average, each one of us earns USD 4000 per year for the Government.

Sensible politicians in the world engaged in aggressive vaccination campaigns in their nations to control this pandemic. President Biden of the USA managed to vaccinate 200 million people within the first 100 days of his term of office and that was more than 50% of the population. We in Sri Lanka have only 21 million people. If we are to vaccinate 10 million people over 100 days we need only to vaccinate 100,000 people a day.

The successful vaccination programmes in the world (USA, UK, Israel) were achieved not by politicians but by health service staff who were given full responsibility and support to execute the programme. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka, we do not know who is at the steering wheel. It could be a local politician overriding the government, a government minister who does not care or understand the urgency or a retired military official prioritising lockdowns and punishment of the public.

A successful vaccination programme can result only by handing it over to the Public Health Department. The government should extend full support without interference as done by other countries. They will do the job in 100 days by establishing vaccination centres led by health officials and volunteers. Establishing gyms and exercise centres at the expense of our foreign reserves is not the priority.

Remember dengue time  we brought in laws and imprisoned people if they had dengue friendly flower pots in their homes. This affected even old people who could not even attend to themselves. Did we control Dengue? No. We punished innocent people by a non-evidenced based criminalisation of an infection. What we need instead is more local research to identify the causes and resolutions.

COVID is no different. Now we have criminalised not wearing masks outdoors. Pathetic. Crowds and gatherings are known to be super-spreaders of COVID-19, but political rallies, meetings, political funerals and even weddings seem to be excluded. This reflects our weird political fairness and equality. Sad.

Chula Goonasekera Via email

Terrible state of lawyers office complex and apathy of UDA

I have written many letters to the Urban Development Authority dated 05/09/2007, 01/09/2007, 07/10/2020 in respect of the lawyers office complex at 51/59 Dias Place, Goonesinghepura, Colombo 12 and regret that no steps have been taken to remedy our grievances.

We have been occupants of this complex for the last 20-30 years.

As lawyers we are compelled to face a sad situation with various nefarious activities at these premises causing hindrance to our day-to-day professional duties towards our clients.

I am ashamed to state that the corridor of this complex is used by strangers, unauthorized persons, prostitutes, during all hours causing hindrance and annoyance to flat dwellers and their families with small children who are unable to air their grievances to any persons or authority out of fear. During the day, there are men and women who bring their mattress, pillow and bed sheets to sleep on the corridor. This is the time when clients come to meet the lawyers. They feel embarrassed to walk into the offices of the lawyers.

These people have meals in the day time as well as at night and leave the remnants of the food parcels on the corridor, leaving us to clean our doorsteps.

Even vendors on push cycles carry on their business selling bangles and fancy items in the corridor through which we enter daily to the office rooms. The adjoining drain of the complex smells of urine -obviously made use of by these unauthorized occupants.

I have this week lodged a complaint with the Keselwatta Police who advised me to take action against the UDA for not providing security to the premises of which they are the sole authority and owner.

Female attorneys-at-law feel bad to walk in daily given all these activities and the state of the premises.

I am writing this letter as a final resort hoping for early relief for lawyers who are occupying office rooms in this complex.

K. Kaneshayogan Via email
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Romania will receive, on Monday, a new vaccine tranche, of 697,320 doses, from the Pfizer BioNTech company, announced the National Coordinating Committee on COVID-19 immunisation activities.

The vaccines will be delivered by air and will reach the airports of Otopeni, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara.

Transport to storage centers is provided by the manufacturing company, including by land. Vaccines are transported safely in special containers with dry ice and sealed foil.

The vaccine doses will be distributed as follows:

* Bucharest National Storage Centre: 241,020 doses;

* Brasov Regional Storage Centre: 81,900 doses;

* Cluj Regional Storage Centre: 81,900 doses;

* Constanta Regional Storage Centre: 81,900 doses;

* Craiova Regional Storage Centre: 70,200 doses;

* Iasi Regional Storage Centre: 70,200 doses;

* Timisoara Regional Storage Centere: 70,200 doses.

So far, Romania has received 6,517,349 doses of vaccine produced by Pfizer, and 5,353,710 have already been used to immunise the population, according to CNCAV.

The vaccination centres will use both doses received by Romania in the current tranche and in the previous tranches, based on the requests sent to the national centre and the regional storage centres, through the county and Bucharest public health directorates.

The allocation of vaccine doses is made according to the delivery schedule provided by the manufacturing company.

AGERPRES .
Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Saturday evening that a decision on whether or not to wear a protective mask at work, where there are only vaccinated people, would be taken from June 1, reports agerpres.

The Prime Minister also said that from June 1, the Government would amend the normative acts necessary for the safe conduct of cultural events.

Asked if all Romanians would have access to performances after June 1, Prime Minister Citu said: "For all Romanians... it depends on whether they are vaccinated or not. You have seen that every event, indoors or outdoors, has certain criteria on the number of people inside, if the people are vaccinated, if the organisers assume that the people are vaccinated, then we talk about another number of people," said the prime minister.Regarding a possible falsification of the documents attesting vaccination, Florin Citu pointed out that at TNB "it was verified very easily" and that "we can discuss solutions" as "we are in the year 2021.""I entered here today based on an ID," the prime minister said.Moreover, Citu mentioned that "Romania has taken the decision, perhaps unique in the European Union, to allow citizens coming from the green zone to enter Romania, tourists, without any documents proving whether or not they are vaccinated, only with the necessary documents to enter Romania."Prime Minister Florin Citu on Saturday night attended the pilot show with the play "Dinner with fools" by Francis Veber, at the Bucharest National Theatre.
So is this: Schmitt, or his deputy, who, by the way, used to work for former Gov. Eric Greitens, whom Schmitt is running against in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, forgot to sign the process papers. That means Page was never served with the lawsuit. It is as though it never existed.

Maybe this was Schmitts intention. After all, within days of the lawsuit, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new nationwide mask guidelines, suggesting that those of us who have been vaccinated dont have to wear masks anymore in most circumstances. After the CDC action, Page and his counterpart in the city, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, issued new orders getting rid of most of the previous restrictions. Curiously, Schmitt hadnt sued Jones, or any other public officials in the state, who had all continued to issue health orders with various levels of restrictions.

Page and Jones were following the same path as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who rescinded his citys health orders following the CDC advice, and leaders all over the country who did the same thing. Schmitt didnt pretend-sue any of those other officials.
ST. LOUIS  The news on May 16, 1979, was grim for a venerable summertime tradition: A Coast Guard inspector's hammer had gone right through the thin, corroded hull of the S.S. Admiral. Its owners announced cruises would end that year.

They promised that she'd be riverworthy again. Tom Dunn, with Streckfus Steamers Inc., said the company would have to send the Admiral to New Orleans, the nearest place with a drydock big enough.

"We'll certainly be able to get her repaired because we'll have all winter to do it," Dunn said.

But the Admiral would never cruise the Mississippi River again, and the tale would have more twists than the winding river itself.

The hull dates to 1907, when it was built for a railroad ferry that shuttled traffic across the river at Vicksburg, Miss. Streckfus bought the steamboat, known as the Albatross, and built the streamlined five-deck steel structure for day excursions. The first cruise from the St. Louis levee was on June 12, 1940.

Remember the Admiral? Take this quiz Back in 'the day' summers in St. Louis meant a cruise on the Admiral. Those ended in 1979, but how much do you remember about the riverboat?
Blinken said he personally has not seen any Israeli evidence of Hamas operating in the building and has asked Israel for justification for the strike.

Shortly after the strike we did request additional details regarding the justification for it, Blinken said from Copenhagen, Denmark. He declined to discuss specific intelligence, saying he will leave it to others to characterize if any information has been shared and our assessment that information.

But he said, I have not seen any information provided.

On Sunday, Conricus, the Israeli military spokesman said, "Were in the middle of fighting. Thats in process and Im sure in due time that information will be presented.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would share any evidence of Hamas presence in the targeted building through intelligence channels. But neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any American official had seen it.

Buzbee said the AP has had offices in al-Jalaa tower for 15 years and never was informed or had any indication that Hamas might be in the building. She said the facts must be laid out.
NEW YORK (AP)  Organizers of New York Citys Pride events said Saturday they are banning police and other law enforcement from marching in their huge annual parade until at least 2025 and will also seek to keep on-duty officers a block away from the celebration of LGBTQ people and history.

In their statement, NYC Pride urged members of law enforcement to acknowledge their harm and to correct course moving forward.

The sense of safety that law enforcement is meant to provide can instead be threatening, and at times dangerous, to those in our community who are most often targeted with excessive force and/or without reason, the group said.

It will also increase the event's security budget to boost the presence of community-based security and first responders while reducing the police department's presence.

Police will provide first response and security only when absolutely necessary as mandated by city officials, the group said, adding it hoped to keep police officers at least one city block away from event perimeter areas where possible.

Word of the ban came out Friday when the Gay Officers Action League said in a release it was disheartened by the decision.
Even after the babies were more used to being handled, Overberg said they would try to jump away.

They kind of just wanted to escape and they didnt really want you to hold them, Tracey added. So they really just wanted to run around, and they werent really calm. They were kind of wild and just didnt want to be held.

Since the schools closed before the Chick It Out program last spring, fourth-grade classrooms were able to hatch eggs this year at Grove, too.

The kids were super bummed about it because its a highlight of third grade, Williams said. The teachers wanted to make sure the fourth-graders who missed out had the opportunity to experience it because its definitely one of our highlight moments, and its a way to bring agriculture into the classroom, too. It gives the kids firsthand experience.

Buckley said for many students, this is their only glimpse into the agriculture world.

Even though I would consider McLean County pretty rural, though we have urban areas, this is it for them to see this process, she said.

A few days after the eggs hatch, most of the chicks went to Above Normal Eggs, a local farm where students can schedule a visit to see them as they grow up, Williams said.
A commander is only as good as. View(s):

In military parlance, a General Staff consists of a group of officers who assist the commander by formulating and disseminating the commanders policies, transmitting his orders, and overseeing their implementation. These staff officers are tasked with providing the commander with accurate and timely information as well as situational appreciations on which the commander can base his decisions. It is significant that staff officers do not themselves command  their role is to exercise control on behalf of their commander.

Such a General Staff is organised along functional lines, having separate Cells or Sections for subjects such as administration, operations, logistics and intelligence.

I suppose a Commander and his General Staff are analogous to a President and his Cabinet  with one major exception. A military commander provides himself with a staff made up of trained military officers  men and women who have had years of training and experience to do their job, whether it is in administration, logistics, personnel management, intelligence or security. They have been trained to problem solve under duress.

When a political leader has to select his cabinet, however, he has to select from a short list of politicians  folk who have been successful in motivating an electorate of gullible voters to elect them into office, but who may have had neither training nor experience in managing an administrative or logistical organisation.

In appointing functionaries like ministers, deputy ministers and state ministers, the criterion for selection is not the appointees capability for the subject which he or she is given to manage. It is to what political faction he or she belongs to, from what religion, ethnicity, caste or family he or she comes  and whether he or she brings to the table the ability to bring in votes when the next election comes round. In a military staff, there are nine cells for example, G2 looks after intelligence and security, G4 looks after logistics, G9 handles Civilian and Military Co-operation (known as CIMIC). These numbers do not denote priority or who is more important than whom. G1 for example is not senior to G2 or G3. The numbers are just to denote different Cells.

The great Chinese statesman Zhou En Lai once described the Chinese Nationalist leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek as not a bad man  but he drifts between factions and is surrounded by stupid men who do not give him good advice.

Reading Zhou En Lais words, I could not help musing that our own president  strong leader and efficient military man though he may be, has surrounded himself during this COVID pandemic with subordinates not like those one would expect to find in a professional and trained General Staff, but with men and women like Chiang Kai Sheks stupid men.

Those entrusted with providing the President with information and analysis about our economy, so he can make the correct policy decisions, have been using innovative accounting techniques to doctor the figures. To make the 2020 deficit appear lower, these economic advisers deftly use expenditure figures from 2019 to make the 2020 estimates appear lower. Who is fooling whom?

Who can forget Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi posing with our first COVID patient (who came here, like the virus, from China) and then planting a kiss on her forehead? What better photo opportunity than that? Instead of entrusting experienced diplomats and logisticians to obtain a plentiful supply of vaccines from overseas, instead of seeking advice from our knowledgeable medical epidemiologists and virologists, the presidents Politician in Charge of Health encouraged a quack called Dhammika to market a magic potion to cure COVID and was even happy to taste a swig of this impotent potion (again in front of the cameras).

These antics were in addition to her pouring an enchanted pot of holy water into the river to bring about a cure for COVID!

When I think of the Presidents Man in Charge of Tourism  a man with neither academic nor military capability whose education ceased at the rural Orara High school in Australia  and his much publicised travel bubble with India, I shudder.

At a time when our northern neighbour is reeking with COVID, this man glibly advised the President that we should bring COVID-carrying Indians to Sri Lanka to sustain our tourist industry. People like him seem to value the tourist rupee higher than the lives of our own people.

It was the American General Douglas MacArthur who made that famous observation about leadership: A general is just as good or just as bad as the troops under his command make him.

In other words, A Commander is only as good as the Staff Officers under his command.

And in these days of COVID, when the government is not governing but just muddling through, I have to ask  is the commander still willing to be guided and be beholden to incompetent subordinates?
Australia has been shut off to foreign visitors for nearly 14 months amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but it's looking more and more unlikely that international travelers will be able to visit Down Under by the end of 2021.

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan admitted that it's "very hard to determine" when borders could reopen but recently told Sky News that his "best guess would be in the middle to the second half of next year."

The country's Finance Minister Simon Birmingham echoed Tehan's gloomy prediction.

"The ferocity of recent COVID outbreaks, the uncertainty in many countries around vaccine rollouts, all create an environment in which, although Australias enjoying very high levels of business and consumer confidence, theres a fragility that underpins all of that," Birmingham told The Australian. "These are all considerations that mean we wont be seeing borders flung open at the start of next year with great ease."

Australia extended its international travel ban through June 17 earlier this year.
In April 2021 Israel presented Oron, which appears to be a new version of its air force AWACs (Airborne Early Warning Aircraft) aircraft, but is equipped to detect and locate ground targets instead of manage air combat like an AWACS. Israel did not release many details on Oron, as in how many or an equipment list, but did describe it as meant to be used over combat zones where there was a lot of enemy activity to locate and identify so it could be quickly attacked. Oron uses much more powerful software to quickly analyze what is being detected down below and determine what targets are there and whether they are stationary or moving. This is similar to the system pioneered for submarines where a large library of previously identified sounds are stored in fast access hard drives or memory. Current systems use SSD (Solid State Drives) that access the data almost as fast as it does when data is stored in system memory. Oron uses this as well as machine learning (neural networks) that learn from current experience. The Israelis claim that Oron sensors and processing systems can locate and identify targets faster and more accurately, in any weather or light conditions, that any similar targeting system.

Oron appears to incorporate some of the features of the American E-8 JSTARS battlefield surveillance aircraft, which proved surprisingly valuable after their first combat use in 1991. JSTARS used an AESA (solid state) ground radar that could track friendly and enemy forces from the air as well as monitor electronic activity below and send that data, in real time, to ground commanders. This was a key element in defeating the Iraqi forces in 1991 and 2003, and later proved invaluable in locating Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan who were planting roadside bombs. JSTARS could track the enemy vehicles as they returned to their base after planting a bomb or carrying out some other form of nighttime mischief.

While the JSTARS uses a four-engine B-707 jet transport to carry its equipment, the air force has been seeking money to replace the 17 elderly (entered service in 1991) JSTARS aircraft with a new model based on a smaller aircraft. The main problem is that while JSTAS was very popular with the ground forces, the air force puts priority on aircraft needed to maintain control of the air and deliver attacks on surface targets. The Israeli Oron may change their minds because Oron is equipped to detect all sorts of ground targets and instantly pass that data on to airborne or surface-based units that can launch a guided missile at the targets.

AWACS aircraft have been around since World War II but the one that set the standard for performance was the American E-3, which entered service in 1977 and is still in service. E-3 is a modified B-707 transport. After 2000 it was realized that AWACS equipment could be carried in a smaller, twin-engine business jet. Israel pioneered this concept when they introduced their CAEW (Conformal Airborne Early Warning) AWACS on a business jet in 2008. This aircraft carried a Phalcon conformal (it is built into the lower fuselage) phased array radar plus SIGINT equipment to capture and analyze enemy electronic transmissions, and a communications system that can handle satellite signals as well as a wide array of other transmissions. There are six personnel on board to handle all this gear, plus the flight crew. The Gulfstream G550 used for this can stay in the air for nine hours per sortie and can fly at up to 13,200 meters (41,000 feet).

The Israeli Air Force operates two CAEW AWACs and three similar ELINT (electronic intelligence) aircraft based on the slightly smaller G500 aircraft. The CAEW AWACS has also been sold to Italy, Singapore and the United States. Tweaks for improved performance or new capabilities (finding UAVs) are frequent for Israeli military systems because Israel is constantly under attack (or threat of attack), so gear it makes for itself is constantly being used and improved. This is very attractive to many potential foreign buyers.

The G550 is a larger version of the Gulfstream G400, which the U.S. Army uses as the C-20H transport. The U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, and Navy also use militarized Gulfstreams (usually as C-37Vs). The 30 meter (96 foot) long aircraft has two engines and was built for long flights (over 11,000 kilometers). Current Gulfstream G550s cost about $50 million each.

The Phalcon radar is, in some respects, superior to the one used in the American AWACS. For example, Phalcon uses a solid-state phased array radar (thousands of small radar transmitters are fitted underneath the aircraft). The phased array radar, in combination with the latest, most powerful computers and other antennas for picking up a variety of signals, enables Phalcon to be more aware of what electronic equipment (airborne or on the ground) is operating up to 400 kilometers away. The phased array radar allows positions of aircraft on operator screens to be updated every 2-4 seconds, rather than every 20-40 seconds as is the case on the United States AWACS (which uses a rotating radar in a radome atop the aircraft). The first Phalcon system was fitted on a Boeing 707, although somewhat limited versions could be put onto a C-130. On a larger aircraft you can have more computers, and other electronics, as well as more human operators. But the major advantage of the Phalcon is that it is a more modern design. The U.S. AWACS dates to the 1970s and has undergone upgrades to the original equipment. The Israeli air force first installed Phalcon radar systems in an old Boeing 707 but the G550 replaced it.

The new Oron is another evolutionary step for these surveillance and control aircraft, which continue to become smaller, cheaper, lighter and more effective.
Over the last four years China has introduced modern infantry equipment that was their version of an American concept pioneered in the 1980s ("Land Warrior"), and resulted in the introduction of new body armor, personal communications/navigation gear, knee and elbow pads, wearable computers, night vision devices, and personal medical equipment for American troops. Several European countries followed, especially the German Infanterist der Zukunft (Infantryman Of The Future) and by 2020 most NATO nations had all or most of this equipment.

Russia had its Ratnik (warrior) ensemble, which was originally scheduled (in the 1980s) to appear in the 1990s. That was delayed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and severe budget problems throughout the 1990s. In the meantime, Russia and China studied the American system, which was completed after 2001 largely because new items were introduced for troops already in combat who asked for specific improvements. That meant the American ensemble was modified by combat experience before and after introduction. The American gear came be seen as the benchmark other nations would follow.

Ratnik was declared complete in 2013, except for the new assault rifles (AK-12) that finally arrived in 2020. Unlike the United States, Russia included a new rifle design (AK-12) as part of its Ratnik gear. There was a lot of opposition to the AK-12 within the Russian high command, but at the troop level, there was an even more vigorous and louder call for something to replace the Cold War era AK-74, which was an unpopular AK-47 type weapon firing an M-16 type round.

In 2020 Russia also revealed that it was working on a new generation of infantry equipment called Sotnik (Centurion) to replace the current Ratnik. Russia plans to have the first Sotnik equipment delivered to special operations troops by 2025 and to everyone else five years after that. That may be overly ambitious because Sotnik consists of a lot of high-tech items that may not be ready for combat troops in time. Some of the new items already exist, like anti-mine boots and special cloth that will reduce the thermal (heat) that identifies troops to thermal sensors. There are similar types of cloth that reduce radar effectiveness. Because of sanctions Russia may have problems importing finished items or components for locally made versions. Sotnik will include more powerful digital communications gear for individual troops and tighter integration with what nearby small UAVs can see. This information will be presented on a special visor or goggle display similar to what many fighter pilots currently use. Israel already has such goggles that enable tank crews to switch on outside view and show what is outside the tank via a system of small vidcams on the tank exterior. Sotnik will also emphasize lighter versions of existing Ratnik gear, especially heavy protective items (vest and helmet) that will also become more effective. All items in the Sotnik ensemble will be lighter so that the entire Sotnik ensemble will be, at 20 kg (44 pounds) 20 percent lighter than Ratnik equivalents.

The final list of Sotnik items wont be completed until 2023, but it was revealed that Sotnik will include new weapons and ammunition as well as using AI (Artificial Intelligence) in electronic components. Some of the items being developed for Ratnik 3 will end up being part of the initial version of Sotnik. The proposed Sotnik items are not science fiction, but the Russian capability to manufacture these items for combat soldiers is questionable. It would not be the first time that Russian press releases got too far ahead of capabilities.

China is more cautious in such matters and pays a lot of attention to how new foreign concepts work in combat. That was why the new Chinese ensemble included a new QBZ-191 assault rifle. This weapon, which is based on the German HK416, has been around since 2017. The QBZ-191 replaced the 1990s era QBZ-95 in many combat units, especially those receiving the new infantry ensemble. The older QBZ-95 is a more compact bullpup (the magazine is behind the trigger) design that continues to be used by vehicle crews and other troops who do not use their assault rifle a lot.

The QBZ-191 is a traditional design and it also uses the unique Chinese 5.8x42mm round, but with a new variant of that round that has better medium and long-range performance. Like the HK416, the QBZ-191 looks like the original AR-15/M-16, including a buffer tube with a fixed telescopic adjustable buttstock. Most importantly the 191 uses short-stroke gas piston operating system that distinguishes HK416 from the M-16. Other nations had already abandoned their bullpup type assault rifles for the more traditional design, like the M16.

Chinese firms have, for years, been producing their own versions of most Western, and Russian assault rifles. These are usually for the civilian markets which means no automatic fire option. Military versions with auto-fire are also made available if enough military customers ask for it. The 191 includes a full-length Picatinny rail on top so the rifle can use a wide array of sights and other accessories so popular with Western assault rifles. There are also flip-up iron sights. The 191 has traditional polymer handguards but variants with MLOK handguards have also been seen. The rifle uses polymer magazines similar to these used by the QBZ-95.

When the QBZ-95 (or Type 95) first appeared, its bullpup design was complemented by the use of Chinas proprietary 5.8x42mm cartridge. The round is a little wider than the 5.56 NATO, but shorter in overall length. The QBZ-95 as described as revolutionary. Since Chinese forces were not seeing any combat, it was not until some QBZ-95s were exported to Burma in 2009 that the new rifle got a lot of combat experience and the flaws became apparent. The Burmese were fighting, and still are, a large number of tribal rebels.

The QBZ-95 replaced the Type 81 (improved AK-47) rifles. The QBZ-95 was about ten percent lighter than the AK-47 clone and was well received by the troops until they had to use it in combat.

China is slow to adopt new combat equipment, but when they do it is done quickly and competently. For example, in 2007 China spent over a billion dollars to buy new combat uniforms for its troops. The modern looking Type 7 camo uniforms appeared similar to the camouflage uniforms American soldiers and marines adopted in 2003. China has already adopted the American-style Kevlar helmet and with the Type 7 uniforms from a distance Western and Chinese troops look alike in terms of uniforms, protective gear and weapons. That convergence continues.
To develop and commercialize cell therapy to potentially replace corneal endothelial keratoplasty in Greater China and South Korea

Arctic Vision to partner with ActualEyes to introduce novel approach of using cultured corneal endothelial cells to treat corneal endothelial dysfunction and potentially replace corneal endothelial keratoplasty.

Under the terms of the agreement, the deal is worth up to more than USD 35 million, including upfront, regulatory milestone payments, and tiered royalties.

SHANGHAI, May 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Arctic Vision, a clinical stage biotech company focused on innovative ophthalmology therapies for pan-ocular diseases, and ActualEyes, a clinical stage Japanese biotech company committed to the research and development of cell therapy for corneal endothelial diseases, today jointly announced an exclusive licensing agreement for Arctic Vision to develop and commercialize ActualEyes' lead product candidate, AE-101, for the treatment of corneal endothelial dysfunction in Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and South Korea.

Under the terms of the agreement, ActualEyes may receive up to more than USD 35 million payments, including upfront payment, future regulatory milestones, and tiered royalties on net sales.

Corneal endothelial dysfunction is the result of severe endothelium damage caused by different pathologies, including Fuchs' endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), pseudophakic bullous keratopathy, trauma, glaucoma, and endothelial keratitis, etc. It is estimated that over one million patients suffer from corneal endothelial dysfunction in China, and in the most severe cases, the most effective treatment is corneal keratoplasty (penetrating keratoplasty and endothelial keratoplasty). However, due to a severe shortage of donor corneas, less than ten percent of these patients in China may receive a keratoplasty. At the same time, keratoplasty may have associated problems, such as potential graft failure, infection, implant drop and unpredictable refractive state. Moreover, the keratoplasty operation itself is demanding and technically challenging for surgeons.

AE-101 is a novel cell-injection therapy developed using cultured human corneal endothelial cells (hCECs) combined with a Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) inhibitor. Studies[i],[ii] have demonstrated that the injection of hCECs supplemented with a ROCK inhibitor has positive efficacy and safety profiles in patients with corneal endothelial dysfunction. The ground-breaking clinical research findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Ophthalmology led by ActualEyes' scientific founders, Dr. Noriko Koizumi and Dr. Naoki Okumura, have shown that AE-101 can restore corneal endothelial function as well as vision, with no major treatment-relevant adverse reactions for up to 5-years post-operation, which represents a paradigm shift in corneal regenerative medicine.

Dr. Eddy (Hoi Ti) Wu, Founder and CEO, Board Director of Arctic Vision, commented, "We are excited to enter into this partnership with ActualEyes to further develop AE-101, a potent cell-therapy solution for the treatment of corneal endothelial dysfunction. China is a market with high prevalence of corneal diseases as well as huge unmet clinical need due to the shortage of donor corneas. The market potential is tremendous for more accessible therapies with greater safety and efficacy. The licensing of AE-101 represents not only a corporate milestone of incorporating the first cell therapy in our pipeline, but also our commitment to an overall portfolio strategy aimed to discover and deliver breakthrough therapies for patients in China and Asia."

Iku Sugioka, President and Chief Executive Officer of ActualEyes, said, "We look forward to collaborating with Arctic Vision to develop our lead clinical candidate AE-101. The potential benefits of cell therapy are significant for patients suffering from vison impairment or loss caused by corneal endothelial dysfunction. From our previous research, AE-101 has great potential to provide a less invasive and more effective therapeutic modality compared to conventional surgical therapies. With the compelling track records of Arctic Vision's management team in research and commercial fronts, we are confident that this partnership is the start of a long-term relationship to bring our novel AE-101 therapy to broader markets in Asia."

[i] Kinoshita, Shigeru & Koizumi, Noriko et al. (2018). Injection of Cultured Cells with a ROCK Inhibitor for Bullous Keratopathy. The New England journal of medicine. 378. 995-1003. 10.1056/NEJMoa1712770. [ii] Numa, Kohsaku & Imai, Kojiro et al. (2020). Five-Year Follow-up of First Eleven Cases Undergoing Injection of Cultured Corneal Endothelial Cells for Corneal Endothelial Failure. Ophthalmology. 128. 10.1016/j.ophtha.2020.09.002.

About ActualEyes

Founded based on the research of Professors Noriko Koizumi and Naoki Okumura at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, ActualEyes is a Japan-based clinical stage biotech company committed to the research and development of both cell therapy and pharmacological treatments for corneal endothelial dysfunction, including Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) and bullous keratopathy. For more information, please visit www.actualeyes.co.jp.

About Arctic Vision

Arctic Vision is a China-based clinical stage specialty ophthalmology company with a leading portfolio of breakthrough technologies. The company's vision is to address ophthalmology's unmet needs through innovative therapies in China, Asia and globally. Arctic Vision was established by top-tier life sciences investors and is led by an elite team of ophthalmic industry veterans with substantial and compelling China and global experiences in both R&D and the commercialization of eye care products. For more information, please visit www.arcticvision.com.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/arctic-vision-announces-exclusive-licensing-agreement-with-actualeyes-301290983.html

SOURCE Arctic Vision
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
NZTech is launching Tech21, a programme of activity and events in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to help inspire young learners into tech careers.

Graeme Muller, chief executive of NZTech, says recent research published in the digital skills report found a decreasing number of students taking courses that will prepare them for an opportunity to work in the many new and exciting tech careers within the burgeoning tech sector.

The Tech21 initiative will help expose some of the many exciting opportunities available for the next generation in tech roles across the economy, says Graeme.

The students will hear from young successful role models so that hopefully they will see themselves as a tech entrepreneur or working in a cool tech job when they leave school.

Tech21 will begin with a summit in Auckland on May 24 featuring high profile New Zealand tech leaders including Aucklands digital disruptor, Augmented Reality Applications  ARA - founder Amber Taylor, social entrepreneur Shay Wright and @girlbossnz founder and NZ tech businesswoman Alexia Hilbertidou.

Alexia's GirlBossNZ group has become New Zealands largest organisation for young women. In just five years, GirlBoss has grown to 13,500 members and programmes have been implemented in more than 100 schools across New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands.

Its mission is to get young women to the tech boardroom table. Alexia has spoken at some of the world's largest conferences such as the UN Commission on the Status of Women and One Young World; sharing stages with speakers such as Richard Branson, Meghan Markle and JK Rowling.

She has already received over 30 awards for her work including being named the Prime Ministers Pacific Youth Award winner.

Megan Markle with Alexia Hilbertidou at Buckingham Palace before being presented a Queen's Young Leaders Award. Photo: Supplied.

Alexia has been named in the Forbes magazine 30 under 30 Asia list. Forbes released the list in April which started with 2500 nominations.

Criteria for making the list includes demonstration of leadership, impact, potential of success and the embodiment of the entrepreneurial spirit synonymous with Forbes.

Other factors such as innovation, disruption as well as size and growth of their ventures in some categories  play a role in making the final decision.

GirlBoss NZ runs workshops at secondary schools to encourage young girls to work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Alexia was inspired to start the organisation in 2015, when she was 16 years old, because she was the only girl in her digital technology class at school.

Alexia Hilbertidou. Photo: Supplied.

So far, GirlBoss New Zealand has presented at more than 100 schools across New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands.

In 2018, Alexia received a Queen's Young Leaders Award for her work encouraging young women in New Zealand to become leaders in STEM. She also received the Business and Entrepreneurship Award at the 2019 Prime Minister's Pacific Youth Awards.

The Tech21 event will showcase tech innovation, creativity and the opportunities for technology career pathways leading into New Zealands fastest growing and highest paid sector.



Tech21 will focus on:

Why is digital tech so important?

What will the tech future be like?

How to understand why a tech career is right for a young person?

What is a tech career really like?

What career pathways are available?

Securing a great future with a tech career

The Tech21 summit will also launch the opening of Techweek2021, a week-long nationwide festival of innovation.

There is a real interest and passion within the tech sector to help students find pathways into the growing tech sector, says Graeme.

The recent digital skills survey found that New Zealands tech leaders backed the creation of a digital apprenticeship programme.

This sort of scheme could open a door into a tech career for those that are less likely to do an IT degree.

The survey found that there was strong support for internships to help students develop work experience and the skills that employers say are lacking in many graduates.

There is a once in a generation opportunity here to find ways to encourage young people into a large variety of well paid, future proof jobs, says Graeme.
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One of New Zealands scallop populations is in dire straits, a survey off the coast of eastern Coromandel reveals, verifying what locals have long feared.

A snapshot survey commissioned by the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council near Opito Bay has discovered its seabeds are unlikely to recover from their depleted state.

Swimming metre by metre towards the shore, divers discovered they would have to swim on average the length of a swimming pool before finding one legal-sized scallop.

Its an alarming result that action group Legasea says could see the Coromandel in a similar position to Marlborough Sounds, a once abundant ecosystem now on to another rahui after its fourth unsuccessful year.

We have found that you have to swim 26 square metres to find a single legal scallop, Legasea spokesman Sam Woolford told Stuff.

To put that in context, Im a free diver and on a reasonably healthy seabed I can pick up 10 scallops in a single breath but I am not swimming 250 metres to find 10 scallops. Thats how bad it actually is.

Weve got the Marlborough Sounds, Tasman Bay, Kaipara Harbour and all these areas have been closed to scallop fishing for a long time. Marlborough has been closed again for the fifth year because of the way weve mismanaged our scallop beds.

These scallop populations have been decimated. Theyve been overharvested and the commercial dredging has smashed up sea floor.

Divers counted 1571 scallops inside the commercial and recreational areas of Opito Bay.

Of the 1571 scallops, 561 were of legal recreational size (over 100mm) and 1010 under the legal limit.

Woolford says Legasea has put the number of legal-sized scallops down to people respecting the voluntary rahui over summer.

While 1010 undersized scallops seems like a lot, he said, for the size of the bay, its not good news.

As well as the distance between scallops, divers noted visible dredge tow-lines that had damaged the sea floor and a lack of other shellfish.

This indicates things will probably get worse before they get better, he says.

The way in which scallops are reproduced is they spit the eggs out that gets mixed by the current, and it becomes fertilised spat.

That only happens if youve got a sufficient biomass to have cross-fertilisation, so youve got to have a significant number of scallops in one area for that to work.

The dive survey was led by the Coromandel Scallop Restoration Team and Dive Zone Whitianga. Qualified divers conducted the data collection and marine scientists completed the report.

It began in April after frustrations around a lack of action from Government on declining scallop numbers, prompting Ngati Hei to put a voluntary rahui in Opito Bay waters over the summer period.

The Opito Bay Ratepayers Association raised more than $25,000 to contribute to the projects costs.

Prompted by a large backing from the community, Ngati Hei has since requested the Ministry for the Environment impose an official rahui on scallop harvesting for all of eastern Coromandel waters.

To complete the survey, divers swam across the sea floor in segments. They would put a line in the ground, do a rotation around it and metre by metre make their way back to the centre point.

Divers measured every scallop they found and observe its surroundings for signs of dredging and other invertebrates, crustaceans and molluscs.

Ngati Hei kaumatua Joe Davis said the survey is a baseline to justify the two-year rahui.

This data backs up what weve been saying for years, Davis said.

If you go back 30 years ago, there used to be tonnes of scallops with regular natural wash-ups which gave us a nice feed, as well as our birdlife.

The signs are there that we have a declining fishery, and we need to do something about it sooner rather than later.

He said the results are also a sign that more needs to be done than just a two-year rahui.

With harmful fishing techniques and dredging still allowed, he said, a two-year ban is unlikely to see results with the lifecycle of a scallop usually around five to six years.

Scallop spat can drift around the sea for up to six months before it finds a home, so the fact that were still dredging outside of this rahui area may well still have a really negative impact onits resilience or growth opportunities, Woolford said.

If the rahui is accepted, Davis said they will do another survey towards the end of the two-year mark to see if theres progress.

If theres not we will try to extend it, but for matauranga Maori the true sign of a healthy seabed will come when we have our next storm event and have a wash-up.

Thats when we will know things are coming right again.

A map showing the area of the proposed closure for eastern Coromandel.

In Coromandel, fishery companies are legally allowed to dredge 50 tonnes of scallops yearly.

For the 2019-2020 season, however, they caught only 13 tonnes  26 per cent of their total allowable commercial catch  due to scallop population decline.

MPI has not surveyed the scallop beds off Coromandel since 2012, which the quota management is based on.

This year it has contracted Niwa to carry out a thorough scallop survey of Coromandel and Northland recreational scallop areas.

People wanting to make a submission on the proposed two-year closure of scallop harvesting in the eastern Coromandel have until May 17, 5pm.

It would cover waters around Anarake Point, Repanga/Cuvier Island, Ahuahu/Great Mercury Island, Ohinau Island, Alderman Islands, Ruahiwihiwi Point and Whakahau/Slipper Island.

-Stuff/Sharnae Hope.
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US protects a client state: 45 vetoes  and counting By Thalif Deen View(s): View(s):

UNITED NATIONS (IPS)  The UN Security Council (UNSC), the most powerful political body at the United Nations, has largely remained silent or ineffective in resolving one of the longstanding military conflicts in the Middle East, involving Israelis and Palestinians.

But, at the same time, several attempts to condemn Israel for its excesses have been thwarted by successive US administrations, which have exercised the veto power in the Security Council to protect a client state whose survival has depended largely on billions of dollars in US economic and military aid, state-of-the-art weapons systems and outright military grants doled out gratis.

Stephen Zunes, professor of Politics and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco and who has written extensively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS the US has vetoed no less than 45 resolutions critical of Israel, thereby rendering the Security Council effectively impotent.

Asked if any other UN member state has been protected by so many vetoes, he said: Not even close.

In January 2017, he pointed out, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress passed a resolution opposing United Nations involvement on the question of Israel and Palestine, insisting all matters should be resolved only through direct talks between the Palestinians and their Israeli occupiers, a position which thus far appears to have been upheld by the administration of President Joe Biden.

Still, said Dr Zunes, it is unlikely the Biden administration will allow the passage of any resolution that is critical of Israeli attacks in East Jerusalem or Gaza, even if balanced by criticism of Palestinian actions, since in the view of Washington, every military action by Israel is by definition self-defence.

Early this week, a State Department spokesperson defended the Israeli air strikes in a crowded urban area in the Gaza Strip on the grounds that every state has a right to self-defence.

However, when pressed, he was unwilling to acknowledge  even theoretically  that Palestinians also have a right to self-defence, said Dr Zunes, a columnist and senior analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus.

As US Presidents go, Biden was no exception when he told reporters early this week that his expectation was that tensions would be closing down sooner rather than later but pointed out that Israel has a right to defend itself, when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.

But he ignored the lethal Israeli airstrikes with US-supplied fighter planes that have so far killed 67 Palestinians, including women and children, while turning houses and buildings into rubble, including a 12-storeyed office building.

In the US, the Israeli lobby has remained so powerful that few Americans politicians dare challenge the Jewish state or its violations of Security Council resolutions.

Pat Buchanan, a senior advisor to three US Presidents and twice candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, once infamously described the United States Congress as Israeli-occupied territory  apparently because of its unrelentingly blind support for Israel.

Meanwhile, according to Cable News Network (CNN), riots and violent clashes between Arab and Jewish citizens have swept through several Israeli cities after days of deadly airstrikes and rocket attacks.

Militants in Gaza have fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel since the latest round of violence began Monday afternoon, and Israel has responded with devastating airstrikes in Gaza.

At the same time, residents have reacted with fury, and there have been reports of attacks and raids at places of worship, said CNN.

Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), told IPS the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has been left to fester and rot for a generation.

In the past, he said, the United States routinely used its veto to provide political cover for Israel, making the UN Security Council irrelevant.

The new Biden administration should make it clear that the US will no longer provide diplomatic excuses for Israels violations of international law, its collective punishment of civilian populations or its apartheid-like policies, he said.

Otherwise, the UN Security Council will be left on the sidelines watching as yet another senseless war kills both Israeli and Palestinian civilians, declared Dr Adams, a former member of the international anti-apartheid movement and of the African National Congress in South Africa.

Zunes said since the United Nations and virtually the entire international community recognises East Jerusalem as territory under foreign belligerent occupation, responding to the escalating violence is very much within the purview of the Security Council.

Since 1993, however, the United States has blocked  either by a veto threat or an outright veto  every UN Security Council resolution which has included criticisms of Israeli actions in Jerusalem in its operational clause.

It was under the Clinton administration when the United States began to informally recognise occupied East Jerusalem as part of Israel and blocking UN Security Council resolutions that confirmed greater East Jerusalem as occupied territory. https://fpif.org/us_policy_toward_jerusalem_clintons_shift_to_the_right/

Meanwhile, an Atrocity Alert issued by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said Israel has controlled East Jerusalem since the 1967 war, but Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its civilian population into occupied territory.

Jahaan Pittalwala, Research Analyst at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said that, forced evictions of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem are rooted in the Israeli governments apartheid policies. The illegal transfer of Israeli settlers into occupied territory may amount to a war crime.

On May 11, two UN Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement asserting that, the recent scenes of Israeli police and security forces attacking large crowds of Palestinian residents and worshipers is only intensifying a deeply inflammatory atmosphere in the City. A militarised response to civilian protests against discriminatory practices only deepens social divisions.

(Thalif Deen is the author of a newly-released book on the United Nations titled No Comment  and Dont Quote Me on That. Published by Amazon, the book is peppered with scores of anecdotes from the sublime to the hilarious. The link to Amazon via the authors website follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/

no-comment-by-thalif-deen/)
Lawton, OK (73501)

Today

Mainly clear skies. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
Lawton artist Justin Hackney, the newest artist among local muralists, has been painting up a storm and is featured on the cover of the Tour of Lawton Murals 2021 guide, now available.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Two Jefferson County men were arrested Saturday for possessing an illegally modified short-barreled rifle, and could face decades in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

Adam Cook, 30, of Clayton, was charged with manufacturing, possessing and transferring the illegal rifle, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York. He was also charged with possession with intent to distribute and distributing cocaine, as well as possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, prosecutors said.

Cook could face up to 10 years in federal prison for the gun charges and up to 20 years in prison for the drug charges, prosecutors said. He could also face up to a $1 million fine, and at least three years to life of supervised release for the drug charges, they said.

Richard Desormeau, 22, of Watertown, was charged with possessing and transferring the rifle, prosecutors said. He could face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and up to three years of supervised release, they said.

Both men were arraigned in Syracuse on Saturday while appearing before United States Magistrate Judge Andrew T. Baxter, prosecutors said. They are being held until their bail hearing at a later date.

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.
Syracuse, N.Y.  A blaze ripped through an empty home early Sunday on Syracuses South Side, leaving the house badly damaged.

Firefighters rushed to 217 May Ave. at 3:58 a.m. after a caller reported the house was on fire. When they arrived 2 minutes later, the entire second floor was engulfed in flames, the Syracuse Fire Department said in a news release.

The blaze marked the third major fire the department responded to in 24 hours, firefighters said. One of the fires  a blaze at the 615 West Onondaga St. apartment building early Saturday  left at least two people injured.

At the May Avenue fire, firefighters entered the burning home to fight the fire and search for anyone trapped inside. But the flames grew, quickly becoming too intense for firefighters to remain inside the building, firefighters said.

Crews went outside to battle the fire, using master stream devices capable of spraying over 1,000 gallons of water a minute onto the flames, firefighters said. Once the fire was dampened, firefighters reentered the home and finished putting out the blaze.

The fire wreaked significant damage on the long-vacant house, firefighters said.

The blaze did not spread to neighboring homes. No injuries were reported.

Along with firefighters, the Syracuse Police Department, American Medical Response and National Grid responded to the scene.

The May Avenue home is a one-family, two-story home, according to Onondaga County property records. It was built in 1895.

Staff writer Samantha House covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach her at shouse@syracuse.com.
Rome, N.Y.  An Oneida County man was arrested Saturday in Rome after deputies say he threatened a woman with a gun during a domestic dispute in Whitesboro, according to a news release issued by the sheriffs office.

Shai A. McBride, 28, of Utica, was accused of threatening the woman early Saturday morning inside a home in Whitesboro, deputies said. After responding to the call, deputies issued a BOLO (be on the look out) for the vehicle McBride was driving, according to the release

McBride was later found in the vehicle by deputies on John Street in Rome, according to the release. Another man also was in the vehicle when deputies stopped it, according to the release.

Deputies found an unregistered Hi-Point C9 9mm luger handgun on McBride while they were arresting him, according to the release.

The other man fled from the car on foot, according to the release.

Deputies later found another unregistered handgun in the vehicle, according to the release. It was a Diamondback DB9 9mm pistol, deputies said.

McBride was taken to the Oneida County Jail for arraignment, deputies said. He is being charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a Class C felony, three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, Class D felonies, one count of aggravated family offense, a Class E felony, and one count of second-degree menacing, a Class A misdemeanor.

Police are still searching for the second man, but say they have no reason to believe the public is in danger, according to the release.

Deputies ask anyone with information to call the Oneida County Sheriffs Office at 315-765-2226.

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.
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 
if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi...
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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Re: Rumour: Mahindra Marazzo & KUV100 to be discontinued Both the freak launches were as a result of M&M's insecurity in the marketplace. The oldies portfolio viz. the Bolero and Scorpio were and still are their bread and butter. The new Thar has taken over now, but only to a very limited extent.



So when the marketplace has a Creta, a Brezza (Venue, Hector and Seltos were yet to arrive) becoming a top 10 best seller, the M&M boardroom approves a competitor to get a slice of the small SUV space. Moreover, they have just got a new R&D lab near Chennai. And the Pininfarina take over talks are fructifying. The company designers come out with a KUV 100 (not a 100cc like the Ind Suzuki AX 100 or Hero Honda CD 100 and so on). The appearence especially the front facade frown, is a disaster from Day 1. Some buyers go for it, while it later lands in sporadic numbers with the Ola and Uber aggregators. And now seeing that there are no takers, the dismal sales and the disaster they themselves created, they themselves write down its obituary. RIP !



The non entry for M&M in the coveted MPV space has been an eyesore for them, eversince the launch and the grand success of the Innova. Till the Toyota Qualis came and went away (1999-2004) , M&M feathers were not ruffled as they were showing off their new portfolio with the Bolero and the Scorpio. But come the Innova, around August 2004 and soon its runaway success, M&M took notice, but only after three or more years had passed. They thought over and launched the Xylo in early 2009, as a Innova beater. USP banked upon was local make, local spares, affordable, rugged with M&M DNA and so on. After the initial euphoria in 2009 and for a few initial months of 2010, the Xylo sales moved southward from about 4000 units a month (the peak) to 500-600 by 2013-14 and it very soon came down to 200-300 units per month. In fact, just after its launch, Xylo's sales were rivalling that of the Scorpio. But then, it was all through using the just discarded 2.6 L CRdi (old Scorpio engine) badged as the MEagle in the Xylo, whereas the Scorpios had got the peppier, 2190 cc/ 120 bhp, MHawk diesel around the time the Xylo was launched in 2009. Xylo got the MHawk engine by 2012, but in the higher end models. Very soon, Xylos became common in the taxi space and were also sold to government departments as a clearence sale and by 2019 its production was stopped.



Now again the small SUV space in the market bug, bit M&M and armed with the Mahindra Research Valley, Chennai and Pininfarina, Italy in its portfolio, the Marazzo was launched in 2018, to take on the Ertiga, Nexon and also the other smaller SUV's from the East, that were now hits in the market. Poor marketing, lack of contemporary features, greater options to compete with peers caused it to fail. Now again their strategy has bombed !



So ultimately, Scorpio and Bolero and to some extent the XUV 500, still remain M&M's bread and butter. They earn from the sales of these two ageing models and also from tractor sales to spend money on R&D and launch of such still born products. And also to squander money on brands like Ssangyong. Its too early to comment about the second generation Thar also becoming their bread and butter as of now ! Last edited by anjan_c2007 : 13th May 2021 at 19:00 .
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Re: The TV / Streaming shows thread (no spoilers please) Person of Interest [Amazon Prime: 2011 - 2016]



I feel a few TV series which ran before the growth of streaming platforms never got their due. Jonathan Nolan's Person of Interest is one such. The series deals with AI, government surveillance, privacy, and the ethics or philosophy around all these in a brilliant manner.



I liked the way they didn't anthropomorphize the AI system; there are no humanoids or robots running wild. The AI-gone-rogue tries to achieve its objectives via human agents. In a particularly interesting sequence in season 5, the AI gets the blissfully ignorant humans to relocate itself to multiple locations so the AI can't be physically shutdown. I would imagine that if (when??) AI goes rogue, that's how humans would be enslaved without us even realizing it, and not by Westworld (another superb Jonathan Nolan creation) type conscious hosts.



Season 1 and 2 are not so impressive as the episodes are fairly straight-forward police/crime drama, but hang on till season for season 4 and 5 for really exhilarating sci-fi drama.



Jonathan Nolan delivers.



4/5
Right now, it is hard to achieve a hacker-proof business since many online attackers and cybercriminals can find more efficient hacking methods that can breach your company's system.

Since most businesses and companies are now conducting remote works, they are now becoming the top priorities of many hackers and cyber attackers. Because of this, various organizations are now finding efficient ways on how to improve their systems' security features.

Back in March 2020, hackers have increased their attacks by 500% with a 2,000% increase in phishing attacks. If you want to avoid these malicious actors, here are the methods you need to try.

Making a Hacker-Proof Business

According to Security Magazine's latest report, many companies are now partnering with popular security firms so that they can efficiently protect their systems, which contain some sensitive data of their employees and products.

Also Read: TikTok Banned from US Government Devices Due to Bill Deeming it 'an Immediate Security Threat'

On the other hand, Triangle Business Journal reported that it is also highly advised that companies and other businesses request a cybersecurity assessment from security experts.

This method is a great start if you want to have a hacker-proof company system since the assessment will allow you to identify the flaws and vulnerabilities in your software. It will also provide your organization with a current snapshot of the security posture of the physical, technical controls, and personnel in your environment.

Aside from this, the security assessment will also focus on various areas. These include cloud services, websites, software, mobile apps, and remote access.

Efficient Anti-Hacking Methods to Try

Aside from working with security firms and experts, there are also other efficient methods you can try to make a hacker-proof company system. Here are some of them that you need to know:

Use different essential tools that can watch your network and system.

Conduct security awareness and training for all staff.

Request an information security program assessment from subject matter experts

Always check if your company's system is up to date with new privacy laws and security trends.

If you want to know the exact details of these efficient anti-hacking methods, all you need to do is click this link.

For more news updates about hacker-proof company system guide and other related stories, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Apple's Find My Network is Vulnerable to Hackers, According to a Cybersecurity Firm

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Various rumors and speculations believed that Twitter is working on a subscription service since last summer. And now, one of the most popular app feature leakers, Jane Manchun Wong, released some screenshots together with some explanations about the possible paid features it could offer.

"Twitter is calling their upcoming Subscription Service 'Twitter Blue,' priced at $2.99/month for now," said Wong.

"Twitter is also working on a tiered subscription pricing model, with one tier having more paid features than the other," she added.

Her latest tweet was able to generate more than 400 comments, 8,800 retweets, and 2,100 likes. Wong's post excited some users and made some Twitter fans worried.

One of the commentators curiously asked if the paid accounts will get preferential treatment by the algorithm. She added that if this will happen, the social media platform will get a bit messy.

To give you more idea about the Twitter Blue subscription service, here are other details you need to know.

Twitter Blue Subscription's Possible Features

According to MacRumors' latest report, the upcoming $2.99 Twitter Blue monthly subscription will offer the most-awaited Undo Retweet option. Based on its name, this feature will allow you to edit your tweets if there are some typographical errors.

Also Read: Twitter Introduces 'Tip Jar,' Allows Users to Donate and Receive Money Without Leaving the App -- How Does It Work?

The alleged Undo Retweet option will offer editing features for replies, tweetstorms, quote tweets, and original tweets.

Aside from this, it is also expected to release a new feature called Tweet Collections, which is a section that allows the users to save and organize their favorite tweets.

This new Twitter section could also make it easier for users to find their favorite tweets at a later date.

Twitter is calling their upcoming Subscription Service Twitter Blue, priced at $2.99/month for now, including paid features like:



Undo Tweets: https://t.co/CrqnzIPcOH



Collections: https://t.co/qfFfAXHp1o pic.twitter.com/yyMStpCkpr  Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 15, 2021

On the other hand, Wong also claimed that the new Twitter Blue subscription will have various tiers. This means that there will be more than one type of subscription service. However, the social media giant hasn't released any confirmation regarding the other monthly prices.

As of the moment, the best thing you can do is wait for Twitter's official announcements before making any conclusion.

Other Plans of Twitter

Aside from the Blue subscription service, The Verge also reported that the giant social media platform could soon temporarily censor tweets of its users.

The issue was first spotted in a Palestinian-American journalist's account after it was banned. Twitter claimed that the account was temporarily banned because it violates the Twitter Media Policy.

You can click this link to see more details.

For more news updates about Twitter and its upcoming features, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Twitter Asks iOS Users to Enable Ad Tracking in Latest Update

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Facebook is currently having some trouble stopping the current anti-vaccine profile frame trend. On Friday, May 14, the social media giant company said that it released a new policy banning anti-vaccine messaging on the giant platform.

Although this is the case, it seems like Facebook is still supporting any kind of customized frame, even if it promotes anti-vaccine.

One of the anti-vaccine profile frames has the message "MY IMMUNE SYSTEM WORKS BETTER THAN THE." This profile border also has some graphic syringes.

This information was specifically confirmed by a Facebook spokesperson. He added that this photo border violates the social media giant's policies and needs to be removed.

On the other hand, the Facebook spokesperson also confirmed that the social media company is now working on the issue to prevent further COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Are the Facebook Anti-Vaccine Profile Frames Still Posted?

According to CNBC's latest report, although Facebook already did some actions to remove the anti-vaccine profile frames, there are still some borders that are posted by some user accounts on the giant social media platform.

Also Read: Facebook 'Tuned', a Couple-Centered App is Now Accessible on Android--a Sneak Peek on the Dating App

Some of them currently have messages such as "#NOTASHOT," "I TRUST MY IMMUNE SYSTEM!" and more.

"In countries where vaccines are available to most of the population, like the US and the UK," said Facebook.

"We ramped up our efforts to show people when their friends and neighbors share their support for vaccines through profile frames and stickers," added the social media giant.

As of the moment, the viral COVID-19 virus is still affecting some countries across the globe. If you are one of those who are not happy with the action of the anti-vaccine believers, there's also something you can do to help Facebook completely stop it.

How to Make Your Own Facebook Profile Frame

If you want to help Facebook with its fight against anti-vaccine profile borders, all you need to do is create a custom pro-vaccine photo frame. To do this, just follow these easy steps provided by Facebook for Developers:

Go to the Frame Studio. After that, choose a profile photo under the 'Create a Frame For' section. Upload your art with a transparent background as separate ".PNG Files," which are less than 1MB in size. Adjust your image and click the Next button. Create a name, choose location availability, and schedule. After that, you can select the profile or page you want to publish your profile frame. You can find this option in the upper right corner of your screen.

For more news updates about Facebook and its upcoming issues, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Facebook Loses 30% Downloads as TikTok Numbers Go Up!

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Microsoft is working on resolving high-pitched noise problems caused due to Windows 10 KB5000842 update.

For those unaware, Microsoft had released the optional Windows 10 KB5000842 update on March 29, 2021, as part of the March 2021 update cycle for PCs running v20H2 and 2004.

This optional update was released to address several issues with the operating systems including problems with dark screens and other monitor glitches, video playback, as well as system crashes due to deletion of files and folders that OneDrive syncs.

Ever since KB5000842 has been released for Windows 10 users, it has caused problems like game performance. Not only this, it is now causing high-pitched noise issues.

According to Microsoft, Windows 10 KB5000842 update is causing high-pitched squeaking noise for Windows 10 users while using some 5.1 Dolby Digital audio configurations.

After installing KB5000842 or later updates, 5.1 Dolby Digital audio may play containing a high-pitched noise or squeak in certain apps when using certain audio devices and Windows settings, Microsoft explains on the Windows 10 Health Dashboard.

The company has acknowledged the issue and clarified that it is only occurring on 5.1 surround sound. The problem does not occur on systems where stereo audio is used.

The affected client platforms due to the high-pitched noise issue are Windows 10 version 20H2 and Windows 10 version 2004.

Meanwhile, the company has recommended the following workarounds to users to mitigate the issue until a fix is released:

Streaming the video or audio in a web browser or different app instead of the app affected by this issue.

Enable Spatial sound settings by right-clicking or long-pressing on the volume icon in the notification area, selecting Spatial sound (Off), and select any available options.

Microsoft is working on a resolution and will provide an update in an upcoming release.

Source: Microsoft
On Canal Street, Saturday, May 15, 2021.

Inside the, Destroy-It-to-Save-It Plan for East River Park. A lengthy piece originally published in New York Magazine about the controversial resiliency scheme along the East River. [Curbed]

The team behind a plan for a floating pool in the East River, near Pier 35, announces it finally has city approval. [6sqft]

During the pandemic, advocates with the #HomelessCantStayHome campaign, raised money to put up homeless New Yorkers in hotels, including some on the Lower East Side. They talk about what a difference it made in getting their lives back on track. [The City]

Madison Realty Capital snaps up Raphael Toledanos East Village portfolio. Madison was Toledanos lender and owed the firm around $140 million. [The Real Deal]

The issue of crime takes center stage in the mayoral campaign, with candidate Maya Wiley visiting the Lower East Side to advocate for more social services for people struggling with mental problems, as opposed to more cops. [The New York Times]

A look at how Museum of Chinese in America is coping after a devastating fire and the pandemic. [Artnews]

A new group exhibition pays tribute to the Lower East Side anti-establishment gtoup, A Gathering of the Tribes. [Hyperallergic]

Chanel Miller creates a mural on Bayard Street as part of Think!Chinatowns Assembly for Chinatown initiative. [Time]

The private art dealers, Steven S. Powers and Joshua Lowenfels, are opening a small public space at 53 Stanton St. Says Powers, We are excited and love the vibrancy of the Lower East Side  it seems to be one of the only parts of the city that has some life to it. [Antiques & The Arts]

Remembering Bill McCreary, one of the first high profile Black tv journalists in New York, McCreary grew up on the Lower East Side and attended Seward Park High School. [The New York Times]
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Bahrains Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) and Etihad Energy Services Company (Etihad Esco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), will collaborate towards achieving sustainability goals.

Both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during a virtual ceremony, in the presence of Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa and Dr Abdul Hussain Bin Ali Mirza - President of SEA, a WAM report said.

Through the MoU, both parties will exchange and share the best global experiences and practices in energy efficiency, renewable energy, to support sustainability efforts in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The MoU aims to support both parties in the implementation of sustainable energy initiatives to achieve the common goals. It also aims to enhance cooperation to address energy-related areas in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

These include Energy Performance Contracting (Esco) Projects, Solar On-Grid and Off-Grid Installations, Facility Management and Electromechanical Services, IT Solutions and Technologies Including Command and Control Centres, IoT, Smart Automation and Network Operations, in addition to Capacity Building Training Services.

Al Tayer said: " It is a pleasure to sign this strategic MoU between Etihad Esco and Sustainable Energy Authority. This collaborative work represents a unique opportunity to exchange expertise regionally and globally in the field of sustainability and energy efficiency. We look forward to strengthening cooperation and exchanging the best international experiences of energy efficiency and sustainability to achieve our common goals and to continue this sustainable development journey, for a better future."

Dr Mirza said: "The Sustainable Energy Authority is committed towards a more sustainable future and will ensure rapid progress towards the Kingdoms National Renewable Energy Targets and National Energy Efficiency targets. SEA believes that collaboration with Etihad Esco will surely boost the energy efficiency and sustainable development process." -- TradeArabia News Service
Advocate readers may submit stories of about 500 words to The Human Condition at features@theadvocate.com. There is no payment, and stories will be edited. Authors should include their city of residence, and, if writing about yourself, a photo.
A vacant house at 551 East Washington Street was intentionally set on fire early Sunday morning for the second time, Baton Rouge Fire Department investigators said.

The fire was reported around 3 a.m. It was started and contained in the middle of the building, investigators say. The same house caught fire in April, and investigators believe both incidents were arsons.

1 killed, 1 injured in overnight drive-by shooting on Andrea Drive, Baton Rouge police say A teenager was killed and another was injured during a shooting reported on Andrea Drive early Saturday, according to the Baton Rouge Police D

No injuries were reported.

Officials estimate damages to the building to be around $10,000.

BRFD asks anyone with information to contact Crimestoppers or the Fire Investigations Division at (225)354-1419.

No further information was released.
When one of Australias most influential women in property switched jobs last year, it made headlines for two reasons.

It was July and Carmel Hourigan had resigned from AMP after missing out on a promotion. Rainmaker Boe Pahari was given the job, after the board determined docking his bonus by 25 per cent was sufficient punishment after settling a sexual harassment complaint from a former colleague.

The 172-year-old company was in chaos, with investors demanding answers and politicians calling for scalps during what was dubbed corporate Australias #MeToo moment.

Carmel Hourigans new job made headlines for two reasons last year. Credit:Jason South

It was also the same month Melbourne entered its second lockdown as new cases exceeded 100 per day. There was no vaccine, no end in sight and city streets were dead quiet. Hourigan had accepted a job at rival firm Charter Hall to head up the office division  managing $21 billion in funds and 74 properties.
Social media network Snapchat is using advertising sales to drive growth, booking a maiden $6.8 million profit as it battles TikTok, Instagram and Facebook for market share.

Documents published by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission show Snap Aus, as the local arm is registered, was in the black last year after previously booking a loss of $980,000 in 2019.

The social media platform  on which users exchange pictures and messages that then disappear  recorded $78.2 million in revenue for the year that ended 31 December, 2020, on the back of $56 million in advertising sales in Australia.

Kathryn Carter, managing director of Snapchat in Australia, said the pandemic had boosted the social media platforms growth. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Snapchats revenue was up from $50.8 million the previous year when it sold $36 million of advertising.
The Australian sharemarket surrendered a strong early lead to close narrowly higher on Monday, with a new record for Commonwealth Bank and gains for the gold miners preventing the session from ending in the red.

The ASX 200 finished 9.4 points higher on Monday at 7023.6.

A strong Wall Street lead helped the local benchmark rise by as much as 0.7 per cent in morning trade before the momentum evaporated.

The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 per cent on Monday, having gained by as much as 0.7 per cent at the open. Credit:Louie Douvis

OANDAs Asia-Pacific senior markets analyst Jeffrey Halley said the buy everything exuberance that rounded out the week in New York failed to flow through to the Asian sector.

Instead, he said surging COVID cases across Asia grabbed the headlines.

Regional virus nerves, and an easing of commodity prices slightly, are tempering the usual slavish tracking of Wall Street, Mr Halley wrote in a note to clients.

Singapore introduced strict social restrictions over the weekend, as did Taiwan, with Singapore moving schools back online from mid-week.

Malaysia, which Mr Halley noted was already under an aggressive nationwide restriction regime, faces spiralling cases, as does Thailand, while Japan enlarged the number of prefectures in states of emergency.

Plunging Iron ore prices initially weighed on mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto at Mondays open, though the pair recovered to end 0.1 per cent and 0.5 per cent ahead as Dalian futures moved higher. Fortescue Metals climbed 1.4 per cent to $23.10.

Gold miners glittered as the US dollar came under pressure from weak retail data, pushing the yellow metal to near four-month highs.

Newcrest Mining added 2.6 per cent, Northern Star 6.6 per cent, and Evolution 5.4 per cent.

Commonwealth Bank closed 1.3 per cent higher at a new record close $97.79, and moved as high as $98.40 during the session. The rest of the Big Four banks were down. The ex-dividend Macquarie Group lost 4.9 per cent to $150.59.

Under-fire tech firm Nuix was a heavy loser, dropping 9.5 per cent to close at a new low of $3.14 as it fought to reassure investors its long-term prospects remained bright.

Accounting software firm Xero helped the technology sector outperform the wider ASX 200 index when it bounced 5.6 per cent off a two-month low to close at $118.75.

US futures were subdued, pointing to an early decline on Wall Street tonight. The S&P500, Nasdaq, and Dow mini were 0.2 per cent lower
Not that there is a screen to be seen. The only element of stage design is a bright white circle of light behind the performers, an intrusive presence alongside Steve Hendys golden lighting of the two dancers.

Anton and Brianna Kell perform short sections that range from peering at your face in an imaginary mirror to an exhibitionist solo by director and choreographer Anton. Credit:Heidrun Lohr

The multiple screens of the digital age play the villain, inviting people to focus on the way they look and how they might think others see them.

This is a curious offering. The title sets the theme: narcissism and the prospect of a nasty fate awaiting you if you get caught up in your virtual identity.

The theme is illustrated by short sections that range from peering at your face in an imaginary mirror to an exhibitionist solo by director and choreographer Anton. In real life, he only uses a single name as a performer and this quirky solo is the liveliest sequence of the piece.

He and his companion choreographer and performer, Brianna Kell, have obviously worked very hard to make a presentation in which the movement is neat and polished, yet it lacks creative interest.

A helpful program lists their inspiration points. These include wardrobe check, body pose and dont take a photo. There is a lot of look-at-me posturing thats just an empty shell  which is, of course, what it is all about.

Loading

So where does that leave the audience? A mention in the program of NARCIFIXION being shared with 200 students across NSW might be the clue. It could strike a chord with younger viewers who recognise themselves in this virtual world. Lets hope they also note the way the performers fade away into the wings at the end when real life takes over and fake identities are left behind.
Turkmenistan has established a Center for Management of Recreation Activities at the Avaza National Tourist Zone on the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea with the view of creating conducive conditions for summer holidays. To this effect, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov signed a decree approving the composition of the Center.

The decree instructs the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan to prepare and register the Regulation on the Center in accordance with the established procedure. The administration of the Balkan province jointly with relevant ministries and departments was instructed to ensure the organization of recreation activities at the Avaza National Tourist Zone from June 1 to September 1, 2021.

 TURKMENISTAN.RU, 2021
Mara Korper at Theatre Works. Credit:Stu Brown

Feminist science fiction hits Melbourne stages this week with two striking glimpses of the future. Poona has a democratic vision, as audiences help to get Australias first cyborg president over the line in an election, while Mara Korper immerses viewers in a ghoulish lampoon of totalitarianism  a genderless dystopia where bodily autonomy has been surrendered to The Mother.

Performed in a conference room above the Chinese Museum, Poona was originally scheduled to appear as part of the Next Wave Festival and creates a form of participatory theatre that will appeal to fans of backroom political drama from The West Wing to Borgen.

Audience members are assigned roles on the campaign team of Poona Li Hung (Elsa Tuet-Rosenberg)  a cyborg with Chinese-Indian heritage whose career in politics was inspired by her robot father, a trailblazing activist assassinated in the struggle against robophobia.

Poona aspires to become the first cyborg president of Australia with the assistance of her telegenic mother Zi Wen (Cecilia Low), her proud robot partner (Emina Ashman), relentless human campaign manager (Cheryl Ho) and the audience.
The budget headline caught a lot of attention: an extra $17.7 billion over five years for aged care. As the royal commission into the sector had made clear, the system needed every one of those extra dollars and, in future years, will need much more.

The demographics tell the story. As the royal commission reported, the number of Australians aged 85 years and over is projected to increase from 515,700 in 2018-19 (2 per cent of the population) to more than 1.5 million by 2058 (3.7 per cent of the population).

The budget included more funding for aged care, but there is much more to be done. Credit:Virginia Star

And to make the challenge greater, while there were 4.2 working-age people for every person aged over 65 years in 2019, by 2058 that number is expected to drop to 3.1. The bottom line is that in the decades ahead there will be many more people to care for with fewer people to pay for it. It puts the extra billions into perspective  this is really just the beginning of the sectors need for extra resources.

While that is sure to give future treasurers a headache, the royal commission was also clear that a shortfall in funds was just the beginning. The final report contained 148 recommendations for a complete top-to-bottom overhaul, including more transparency, greater and stronger independent oversight and a stronger focus on the human rights of the elderly.
An investigation is under way for the whereabouts of a Sydney mother and her two-year-old daughter who have not been seen since Tuesday.

Police are appealing for public assistance after Linda Lieu, 36, and Thera Lieu disappeared from a family members house on Truman Avenue in Riverwood, in Sydneys south.

Missing: Linda Lieu, 36.

They were reported missing to Campsie police on Friday and there are concerns for their welfare.

Ms Lieu frequents Bairnsdale in Victorias east, as well as the Sydney suburbs of Burwood, Newtown, Riverwood and Campbelltown.
Homicide detectives are investigating the suspicious deaths of two women in separate incidents in Melbourne on Saturday.

Police found a 63-year-old womans body inside an apartment block on Surrey Road in South Yarra around 9pm on Saturday.

A 41-year-old South Yarra man was arrested in relation to the death on Sunday and was assisting investigators. He was released on Sunday night, pending further inquiries.

Police say they are not looking for anyone else in relation to the incident.

Homicide squad detectives are also probing the discovery of a womans body in her Chelsea home, 30 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD.
Public servants could be given greater flexibility to work closer to home, as a business lobby group calls for an overhaul of workplaces to allow more people to work at home and in suburban co-working spaces.

Cutting the number of days people go to work in the Sydney CBD could boost western Sydneys economy by $450 million a year and enhance the quality of life of residents, a report commissioned by Business Western Sydney has found.

Julie Yagki, a paralegal from Merrylands West, said working from home had boosted her quality of life. Credit:Jacky Ghossein

Remote workers are also more productive, according to the Closer to Home report, which calls for a continuation of work habits developed during the pandemic even when a vaccine allows us to resume life as normal.

Office space in locations such as Penrith, Campbelltown or Liverpool would allow western Sydney residents to hold meetings or access office equipment without a long commute, the report said.
Medical experts say Australias public hospitals got nothing in the federal budget, despite state health ministers urging the federal government to increase funding for the overrun system.

Ministers from both sides of the political divide have also called on the Commonwealth to fix assessment delays for aged care and the National Disability Insurance Scheme that regularly leave the elderly and people with disabilities stuck in hospitals for too long.

Hospitals around the country are overrun. Experts say the government has not provided enough money in the federal budget for the sector. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said issues including ambulances stuck in hospital emergency queues waiting to offload patients were rife throughout the country.

There was nothing in Scott Morrisons budget for our public hospitals, he said.
Washington: The county clerk immediately knew something strange was going on. A mail ballot had arrived from Suzanne Morphew, a woman missing since May  more than five months earlier.

Theres posters all over our town, said Lori Mitchell, the clerk and recorder in Chaffee County, a Colorado community of about 20,000 rocked by Morphews disappearance last Mothers Day. Constant things in the news about her. Theres people at the grocery store passing out fliers.

The ballot didnt have Morphews signature as required, Mitchell said. But someone had signed on the witness line: The womans husband, Barry Morphew.

I was stunned, Mitchell recalled. I couldnt believe it. I was like, what in the world is going on?

For a long time, she said, it was just something fishy that her office reported to law enforcement. Then Barry Morphew was charged this month with murdering his wife. This week, things got stranger still: Barry was also accused of casting his wifes ballot in a fraudulent vote for President Donald Trump.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday chaired a review meeting through videoconferencing with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra and Administrator of Daman & Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli, to assess the preparedness of States, UT,Central Ministries and agencies concerned.

During the meeting, he specifically reviewed the preparedness of all health facilities in the areas likely to be impacted by the cyclone wherein he directed the State administration, district collectors to make adequate power backup arrangements in all COVID hospitals, labs, vaccine cold chain and other medical facilities, officials said.

Further, Mr Shah advised them to ensure adequate stocks of all essential medicines and supplies in hospitals, keeping in view likely disruption of movement of vehicles and directed them to make adequate arrangements for securing them from losses and for evacuation of patients of those facilities falling on the path of the cyclone.

They were also told to ensure safety of temporary hospitals set up near the oxygen generating plants and if needed, their patients may be shifted to other hospitals, they said.

While reviewing the cyclone impact on the oxygen generation plants located in the States of Maharashtra and Gujarat, Mr Shah directed to make advance planning for keeping a buffer stock of oxygen for at least two days, so that in case of any disruption, supply to allocated States is not impacted.

The Home Minister also directed to make necessary arrangements for safety of power plants to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the hospitals and health facilities. He said that likely cyclone affected areas in Gujarat consists of industrial cluster so their safety must be ensured and industry should also remain alert.

Assuring all cooperation of the Central Government and its agencies to all states likely to be affected, he asked District collectors to coordinate with the private industries and ensure that their disaster management wing are totally geared up. DCs were also asked to closely engage with organisations and volunteers working for social cause at the local level.

Mr Amit Shah further said that a 24x7 control room has been functioning in MHA, which can be contacted at any time for any assistance by the States and for any exigencies the Indian Coast Guard, the Navy, Army and Air Force units have also been put on standby and surveillance aircraft and helicopters are carrying out aerial sorties.

MHA is in continuous touch with the State Governments/UT and the Central Agencies concerned. NDRF has pre-positioned 50 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment and 15 additional teams are being airlifted for deployment in Gujarat, the Minister said.

Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Maharashtra assured to take all necessary measures, as advised by the Union Home Minister, for uninterrupted functioning of oxygen generating plants and safety of all health facilities.

The meeting was also attended by the Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Central Ministries of Home, Health & Family Welfare, Power, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Member, NDMA, Directors General of IMD and NDRF; Chief Secretaries of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Advisor to Administrator of Daman & Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli, Disaster Management Secretaries and District Collectors concerned of Gujarat and Maharashtra and senior officers of MHA.

UNI AKS PS1715
A high school classroom with empty desks and no students is seen June 2, 2020, in West Lislip, New York during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
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2 Dead, Over 150 Injured in Israeli Synagogue Bleacher Collapse

JERUSALEMIsraeli medics said at least two people were killed and more than 150 injured after a bleacher collapsed at an uncompleted West Bank synagogue on Sunday, the eve of a major Jewish holiday.

The bleacher was packed with Orthodox worshippers and collapsed during prayers at the beginning of Shavuot. A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.

Rescue workers were on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it dispatched medics and other search and rescue troops to assist at the scene. Army helicopters were airlifting the injured. The collapse comes weeks after 45 Orthodox Jews were killed in a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel.

Israeli rescue workers carry a body outside a synagogue in Givat Zeev, outside Jerusalem, on May 16, 2021. (Sebastian Scheiner/AP Photo)

Amateur footage showed the collapse Sunday during evening prayers in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement just north of Jerusalem. The Orthodox synagogue was packed with hundreds of people.

Shavuot is a spring harvest festival that also marks the day in the Jewish calendar on which the Torah was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is traditionally marked with all-night Torah study and the consumption of dairy.

Israeli authorities traded blame.

The mayor of Givat Zeev said the building was unfinished and dangerous, and that the police had ignored previous calls to take action. Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman said the disaster was a case of negligence and that there would likely be arrests.

Deddi Simhi, head of the Israel Fire and Rescue service, told Israels Channel 12 that this building is not finished. It doesnt even have a permit for occupancy, and therefore let alone holding events in it.

Israeli police officers walk inside an empty synagogue is seen in Givat Zeev, outside Jerusalem, on May 16, 2021. (Sebastian Scheiner/AP Photo)

Television footage from the scene showed the five-story building was incomplete, with exposed concrete, rebar, and wooden boards, and plastic sheeting as windows. A sign in Hebrew pasted to a wall of the building warned that for safety reasons entrance to the site is forbidden.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter that my heart is with the victims of the disaster in Givat Zeev.
WEST HARTFORD  Conards Gavin Sherry and Chloe Scrimgeour took home individual titles at the CCC Division A championships while the Simsbury girls team completed its revenge tour and the Hall boys battled to a team title Wednesday.
A banner encouraging workers to vote in labor balloting is shown at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., on March 30, 2021. (Jay Reeves/AP Photo)

Amazon Security Guards Accessed Mailbox During Union Election, Worker Says

Two Amazon security guards unlocked a mailbox that was used to hold mail-in ballots for a unionization election, a worker told a hearing on May 14.

Kevin Jackson, who works at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, said he witnessed the guards go to the mailbox and use keys to open one of its doors, Bloomberg reported.

Jackson was speaking during ongoing hearings on post-election objections. The attempt to unionize workers at the warehouse failed last month, but the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union asked the National Labor Relations Board to hold hearings to address what it described as a tainted election.

The board ordered the election to take place via mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A mailbox was installed on Amazon property by the U.S. Postal Service at the request of the companywhich opposed the unionization effortfor workers to mail the ballots to the board.

The union alleged in a motion that it is highly prejudicial for the Board to allow a process that creates the impression that the Employer, not the Board, controls the mechanics of the election, and argues that the installation of the mailbox was objectional because it created such an impression, according to a board document.

The union said that employees were asked if and how they had voted, and were told to use the mailbox, which was in front of the building, to cast their ballots.

Jackson testified that he was departing work one day when he saw the guards go to the mailbox and one of them use a key to open a part on the bottom.

What he was getting out or looking for, Im not sure, he said.

Amazon told news outlets in a statement that its access was restricted to the portion of the box where incoming mail was held.

Similar to any other mailbox that serves businesses, we had access only to the incoming mailbox where we received mail addressed to the building, a spokesperson said. The facts will become clear when we have a chance to present them next week.

Amazon told the board that the union failed to specify how a USPS mailbox is objectionable in a mail-ballot election.

Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.), who supported the unionization effort, said that the testimony showed Amazon was caught red-handed interfering with the vote.

This damning eyewitness testimony comes as no surprise. But the workers riveting account of a supervisor asking him off the record (right!) whether he was for the union is just as important, he said in a social media statement.

Wilma Liebman, chair of the labor relations board during the Obama administration, told Bloomberg that Jacksons testimony, if found credible, would likely be enough on its own to overturn the election result.

What legitimate purpose could there possibly be for Amazon security guards to be opening the box? she said.

The post-election hearings started on May 7. Theyre being held every dayincluding weekendsuntil May 28, a board spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
A photograph shows rockets launched towards Israel from the northern Gaza Strip in Gaza City, Gaza, on May 14, 2021. (Fatima Shbair/Getty Images)

Biden Reiterates Support for Israels Right to Defend Itself From Hamas Missile Attacks

Raises concerns for journalists as alleged Hamas base and media offices bombed in Gaza

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday as the conflict between Israel and Islamist terrorist group Hamas continued into its seventh day.

Biden during the call reiterated his strong support for Israels right to defend itself against missile attacks from Hamas, for whom Tehran voiced support, and other terrorist groups. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other militant groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel since Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday. It said about 1,000 rockets were intercepted by its missile defences but that 380 were misfired and into the Gaza Strip, adding to the death and injury of civilians in Gaza.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 precision air and artillery strikes aimed at Hamas and other militant targets that are often built close to civilian landmarks in the densely populated coastal strip.

The exchange of fire has killed at least 149 people killed in Gaza, including 41 children, and 10 people in Israel, including two children.

According to a readout of the call, Biden condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the terrorist groups on Israel and expressed concerns about intercommunal violence reported in Israels Jewish-Arab communities.

The President voiced his concern about violent confrontations in the West Bank. He expressed his support for steps to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy the dignity, security, freedom, and economic opportunity that they deserve and affirmed his support for a two-state solution, the White House statement said.

He also raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists covering the situation in the area. The comment follows the targeted destruction of a 12-story building in Gaza City on Saturday that Israel said contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization.

The building also housed civilian operations, including the U.S. Associated Press, Qatar-based Al Jazeera, as other offices and apartments. All were able to evacuate after the owner received advanced warning of the strike from Israel. The IDF said they notified civilians by phone, SMS, and by dropping roof knocker bombs to warn them about the operation.

In a series of statements, the Israel Defense Forces said the operation was conducted on the civilian building that had been transformed into a military stronghold by Hamas. They said the building was used for military purposes such as intelligence gathering, planning attacks, command and control, and communications.

5/ Well say it again: When Hamas places military assets inside such a building, it becomes a lawful military target. This is clear international law.  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

The building contained civilian media offices, which Hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields, the IDF said in their statement.

The AP has condemned the attack, demanding that Israel put forward its intelligence as evidence that Hamas was operating in the building.

APs bureau has been in this building for 15 years, Lauren Easton, APs Director of Media Relations, said in a statement. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

Commentators have since pointed to a 2014 article by former AP report Matti Friedman, who wrote that Hamas fighters had previously burst into the APs Gaza bureau which AP wouldnt report on due to threats. AP staff had also witnessed Hamas rocket launches from right beside their [Gaza] office.

Hamas said its rocket assault on Monday was in response to weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for Israeli police responding to Palestinian rioters who Netanyahus office said planned the unrest near the citys Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site, on May 10 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Netanyahu in a press conference on Saturday vowed to respond forcefully against Hamas attacks on Israel, which he said were unprovoked.

Several Israelis have been killed. Many more have been wounded. You know and I know, no country would tolerate this. Israel will not tolerate this, he said. We will continue to respond forcefully until the security of our people is reinstated, restored.

Israel and Hamas have waged multiple conflicts since the terrorist group took control of Gaza in 2007. Israeli airstrikes in retaliation to rockets attacks from terrorist groups in Gaza are not rare.

Biden also spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to convey the U.S. commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Palestinian partnership, according to the White House.

The president discussed the current tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank and expressed their shared desire for Jerusalem to be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds, according to a readout of the call. He also stressed the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday to discuss the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.

Mimi Nguyen-Ly and Reuters contributed to this report.
A file photo of Mamalitia, a California-based community group that empowers women to be self-reliant. (Courtesy of Mamalitia)

California Womens Group Promotes Survival Skills, Self-Reliance

Mamalitia, a California-based group dedicated to promoting self-protection and self-sufficiency, has a message for women.

I want women to know they are fully capable of teaching their children, theyre fully capable of engaging in self-sustainability, and they do not need permission from anybody to do that, Denise Aguilar, the groups founder, told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview.

Youre capable of creating the community and the environment that you want for your family without interruption or overreach from government entities.

Mamalitiawhich has 19 communities in California and a dozen more in Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, and Washingtonteaches its members how to guard against food shortages, teach their children from home, administer first aid, learn natural healing techniques, and safely use firearms.

As advocates for firearm safety training, the group has been criticizedand borderline slanderously attacked, according to Aguilaras extremists.

Do We Support Womens Rights or Not?

Critics point to a photo on Mamalitias homepagewhich shows members of the group posing with an assortment of firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, a 9mm handgun, a Mossberg 500 shotgun, and a Kriss Vector submachine gunas evidence of extremism.

When youre showing pictures of you with weapons, you are advertising services to train people in firearms. Theres no reason whatsoever to think theyre not pushing some extremist view, Richard Carpiano, a professor of public policy and sociology at the University of CaliforniaRiverside, recently told Sacramentos CBS13.

Thornton begs to differ.

Mothers protecting and taking responsibility for their children and ensuring their health and well-being and education isnt extremism. Its actually the most noble and ancient primal human drive, she said.

Theres nothing wrong with firearms, and theres nothing wrong with learning the safety of it, so accidents do not happen. And there is nothing wrong with encouraging women to protect themselves. Its extreme to think that women holding a firearm is dangerous. Do we support womens rights or not?

In her view, the homepage photo represents powerful women exercising their Second Amendment rights. More importantly, she noted, many women have experienced abuse and have been attacked. A survivor of sexual assault, Aguilar fully supports a womans right to own a firearm and protect herself.

Like Ive said many times, an armed society is a polite society, she said. I want my daughter to know if she can legally CCW [Carry a Concealed Weapon]. I want her to have that with her, because I do not want her to experience the trauma that I did.

Aguilar said there are women in Mamalitia who dont have firearms and dont want firearms. She explained that firearm safety and training is only one small aspect within the greater scope of what their communities aim to accomplish.

Members of Mamalitia, a womens group that promotes self-reliance and survival skills, point to a map in California. (Courtesy of Mamalitia)

A member of Mamalitia learns to use a bow. (Courtesy of Mamalitia)

Little House on the Prairie Meets Girl Scouts

Aguilar, a mother of three from Stockton, formed Mamalitia in 2019 with her partner, Tara Thornton, after recognizing a need for women to be prepared during times of uncertainty.

Weve come together originally as friends and moms fighting on issues of inalienable human rights and civil rights, Thornton told The Epoch Times. And through that process, over the years, weve been a part of a broad network of moms and women whove been fighting for their children.

Aguilar said the pandemic reiterated the need for women to be ready to face anything.

None of us should have been in the situation that we were in during 2020, she said. Nobody was really prepared. My children werent prepared. I wanted to make sure that if anything like this happened again, my childrens healththeir mental and emotional well-beingwas not going to be put in jeopardy anymore.

Aguilar and Thornton said they became more aware of a need for personal sovereignty and self-reliance. They spoke with countless mothers around the nation who started to radically reevaluate what their lives were versus what they could be.

Mamalitia offers a natural space for all of us mothers to create a world that we want for our children, said Thornton.

With Thorntons guidance, Aguilar said she wanted to create a community that she describes as Little House on the Prairie meets Girl Scouts for adults.

Added Thornton: Its going back to what our great-grandmothers had as skill sets. Listen, were pioneering, but were also not reinventing the wheel solo for everyone. Lets figure it out together.

Helping Families Homeschool

One major need the group is seeing among mothers is the desire for alternatives to public education.

We have a lot of women who want to homeschool, because the public school system just completely destroyed the mental and emotional health of our children, said Aguilar. My main priority right now is to create the help for these families who do want to homeschool [and] be fully engaged in their childrens education.

For women who find the prospect of teaching at home daunting, Mamalitia provides guidance. They connect mothers with a member who specializes in creating homeschool curriculums, and reassure them that teaching at home doesnt have to replicate traditional schooling.

The biggest concern is socialization, so one of the things that we do is create these homeschool co-ops that do field trips [and] park dates that have that type of social interaction, Aguilar said.

What the state of California did in locking our children out was really damaging to a lot of these kids.  The children that were seeing are disconnected and mentally drained  from not being able to talk with other kids.

Interest in homeschooling was especially prominent in Mamalitias community in Orange County, California, she said. While they dont provide membership numbers for specific communities, Mamalitia estimates to have about 150 members in California.

Skills for Self-Reliance

Aguilar stressed that Mamalitiaadmittedly a tongue-in-cheek nameisnt an actual militia at all.

Under the California Constitution, we do not fall under the structure of a militia. We are not out there to be on the front lines; we do not want to be called by the governor if he were to call on the militia, she said.

Aguilar also dispelled the widespread claim that Mamalitia is anti-vax.

We dont even talk about vaccines in our community. Its something thats not my business, she said.

Vaccines are viewed as a personal decision that has nothing to do with Mamalitia, she said, adding that there are community members who do vaccinate.

Aguilar, a second-generation Mexican-American, said the group is a nonpartisan, apolitical community that includes members from a vast array of racial and ethnic backgrounds.

We are simply here for our mission statement of creating a different way, because the old way just is not working for us, she said. Our main goal is to give these women the skills  to be able to not rely on outside agencies to help with their lives.

Thornton said: Were already capable. We already have everything within us to live a meaningful life and build the world we want. Were working on doing that with our mama bears and sisters all over the world, and well help guide our families that way.
Delta Air Lines planes are seen at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on March 25, 2020. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)

Delta Air Lines to Force New Employees to Get COVID-19 Vaccines

Delta Air Lines is requiring all new employees to get vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19, becoming one of the first U.S. companies to mandate the shots.

Delta will require all new hires in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they qualify for an accommodation, the company said in a statement.

The requirement will protect Deltas employees and customers, ensuring the airline can safely operate as the number of fliers increases, the company stated.

Im not going to mandate and force people if they have some specific reason why they dont want to get vaccinated, but Im going to strongly encourage them and make sure they understand the risks to not getting vaccinated, CEO Ed Bastian told CNN in a recent interview at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, which is being used as a vaccination center.

One caveat to that, though. Any person joining Delta in the futurefuture employeeswere going to mandate they be vaccinated before they can sign up with the company.

More than 60 percent of Delta workers have received at least one vaccine dose, and Bastian believes the final number will approach 80 percent.

But Bastian said it wouldnt be fair to current employees to make vaccination a requirement to stay in their job, if theres some philosophical issue they have.

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, is seen during a meeting in Dublin, on June 2, 2016. (Paulo Nunes dos Santos/AFP via Getty Images)

Workers who choose not to get a jab against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19, may need to continue getting tested once a week for the illness and will likely be prohibited from working on international flights.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced in late 2020 that mandating vaccinations for employees wouldnt violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, although some employees could claim a disability or a religious objection.

For instance, if a worker signals they are unable to get a COVID-19 jab because of a sincerely held religious practice or belief, an employer must provide a reasonable accommodation for the religious belief, practice, or observance unless it would pose an undue hardship under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the commission stated.

Most U.S.-based companies have chosen not to mandate vaccines, at least for now. No other airlines have announced vaccine requirements.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby reportedly told workers in January that he thought it would be the right thing to do for the company to require vaccination, but the airline hasnt yet ordered workers or customers to show proof of a shot.

Some destinations force travelers to be vaccinated, the airline noted last month.
ESG Investing: Politics by Other Means

Commentary

Before Joe Bidens election, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing was sweeping all before it. Wall Street was coming to the planets rescue and saving capitalism at the same time. It was a self-serving myth. As I show in my new report, Capitalism, Socialism and ESG, published May 13, doing well by doing good is no more than Wall Street sales patter.

But since the election, financial regulators have been falling over themselves playing catchup.

In early December, Fed governors voted unanimously to join the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for the Greening of the Financial System, a club of central bankers and financial regulators established by the Banque de France to implement the Paris climate agreement. Acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Allison Herren Lee has put climate and ESG front and center of the SECs work.

No single issue has been more pressing for me than ensuring that the SEC is fully engaged in confronting the risks and opportunities that climate and ESG pose for investors, our financial system, and our economy, she said.

At the Department of Labor (DOL), it was widely expected that the new administration would use the Congressional Review Act to scrub out two late-term Trump administration ESG rules governing corporate retiree-savings plans under the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Instead, the DOL announced that it merely intends to revisit the rules. Pending that process, it would not be enforcing them.

Why?

The DOLs position is unconventional, to say the least. The first constitutional duty of the executive is to enforce the law. A trio of Republican senatorsRichard Burr, Mike Crapo, and Pat Toomeyhave criticized the DOLs decision to abdicate its legal responsibility to enforce ERISA and the rules that operationalize its provisions to protect retiree incomes.

The DOL finds itself between a rock and a hard place. The hard place is Bidens first executive order instructing federal agencies to suspend, revise, or rescind (not revisit) Trump administration regulations that conflict with, to use shorthand, the ESG, and climate policies of the Biden administration. The rock is the letter of the law. ERISA imposes tightly defined duties on plan managers and fiduciaries to act solely in the interests of plan beneficiaries and must set out to maximize the risk-adjusted financial value of plan assets, considering only so-called pecuniary factors when making investment decisions.

The essence of the DOLs financial factors rule is to clarify the legal duty of plan managers not to subordinate the financial interests of plan participants to other objectives or promote non-pecuniary goals. The weight given to any pecuniary factor by a fiduciary should appropriately reflect a prudent assessment of its impact on risk-return, the rule states.

In a tie-break, where the pecuniary factors are indistinguishable between two alternatives, the rule requires plan managers to document why the pecuniary attributes of the two alternatives cannot meaningfully be distinguished.

ESG advocates would have us believe that incorporating ESG factors boosts financial returnsor, as the ESG sales patter has it, doing well by doing good. Were the superiority of ESG investing strategies clear-cut and supported by generally accepted investment theories, the rule would present little difficulty to a competent investment manager. Yet, according to the Biden DOL, the new rule is having a chilling effect on integrating ESG factors into investment decisions.

This isnt surprising. Modern investment theory emphasizes the importance of portfolio diversification. The MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, used by BlackRocks iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social Index, constitutes less than one-fifth of the MSCI USA IMI Index. No investment theory says that shrinking the universe of potential investment options by 80 percent is conducive to producing higher returns. The 2000 decision by CalPERS, the nations largest state pension fund, to divest itself of tobacco stocks is reckoned to have cost it $3 billion in lost returns.

Insofar as material ESG factors boost corporate profits, ESG investment strategies must assume that the market fails to incorporate this into higher valuations, because once the market has priced in those factors, investors must be satisfied with lower expected returns. As Eugene Fama, a founder of modern portfolio theory, puts it, virtue is its own reward since investors get lower expected returns from the shares of virtuous firms. In terms of compliance with ERISA, virtue is a non-pecuniary benefit.

Ostensibly, much of the planned regulatory action is about more disclosure enabling investors to make better investment decisions, especially on climate change. But the notion of climate risk requiring additional disclosure is deeply suspect. Was Februarys energy whiteout in Texas a climate change physical riskor a climate change regulatory risk, arising from overinvestment in wind and underinvestment in coal and nuclear, making the Texas grid less resilient? These are questions for climate risk theologians but of little real-world relevance to investors.

Much climate disclosure required by ESG standard-setters is systematically misleading because it treats the world as a homogenous regulatory space. Climate regulations are made by nation-states; its highly unlikely that a corporations global footprint is coterminous with the borders of a state.

In reality, climate risk disclosure is about facilitating and encouraging non-state actors to regulate corporations and thereby society. As BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says, it isnt transparency for transparencys sake: Disclosure should be a means to achieving a more sustainable and inclusive capitalism. The SEC is giving activist investors the green light to table shareholder motions to force ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum to set out detailed plans for cutting Scope 3 emissionsthose emitted by their customers.

BlackRock, the worlds largest fund manager, is pressuring companies to formulate business plans consistent with achieving net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

ESG investing thus turns out to be politics continued by other means. Far from a vision of inclusive capitalism, its the culmination of a trend away from democratically accountable law-making. In 2009, despite large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, cap-and-trade was passed only narrowly by the House and died in the Senate. After the 2010 midterm elections, such efforts became the purview of the administrative state and the Obama administrations Clean Power Planuntil the Supreme Court ordered a stay on its implementation. Now, society is apparently to be regulated by the top executives of multitrillion-dollar index funds and a handful of activist shareholders.

Inclusive it is not. Americans savings are to be deployed for wider societal ends, ones determined not by them or by elected politicians but by Wall Street oligarchs. The endpoint is the socialization of American capital. Rather than being inclusive, ESG is pure insider capitalism: It excludes the many from power exercised by the few.

Rupert Darwall is a senior fellow of the RealClear Foundation and author of Green Tyranny: Exposing the Totalitarian Roots of the Climate Industrial Complex and the report The Climate Noose: Business, Net Zero, and the IPCCs Anti-Capitalism.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A mud puddle located on the farm of Arlen and Cindy Foster in Miner County, S.D., on March 25, 2021. (Courtesy of Arlen and Cindy Foster)

Farmers Sue Over Federal Regulation of Mud Puddle on Their Land

A farming family is suing the federal government over its demand that they leave what the family argues is a mud puddle in the middle of their farm intact because it considers the ground to be a federally protected wetland.

The legal complaint in the case, Foster v. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in South Dakota. The lawsuit was filed by the Sacramento, California-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national public interest law firm.

The puddle is about 0.8 acres in size and roughly eight inches deep.

The familys rights are being violated by being subjected to federal micromanagement of how they farm in order to protect a mud puddle, Tony Francois, a senior PLF attorney, told The Epoch Times. The suit when it is successful will allow them the freedom to use their property as they see best.

The government has no power to regulate how you use mud puddles on your property, but because they provide things like crop insurance assistance the government has power over them, Francois said.

Arlen and Cindy Foster, third-generation farmers in Miner County, South Dakota, argue that the U.S. Constitutions Commerce Clause doesnt give Congress the authority to regulate an isolated farm field depression that neither collects nor discharges water as a wetland. They also contend that the government cant condition the distribution of benefitssuch as federal crop insuranceon recipients waiving their constitutional rights.

Along with their daughter, son-in-law, and six grandchildren, the Fosters raise cattle, corn, soybeans, and hay on land Arlens grandfather bought back in 1900 with a $1,000 loan.

The family is also proud of its conservation practices on the farm. These practices include no-till farming and preserving tree belts, according to a PLF summary.

One of the familys conservation efforts has led to a present-day legal problem.

Arlens father planted a tree belt on the south side of the farm in 1936 to prevent erosion. That tree belt is much taller today and collects deep snowdrifts in the winter. As the weather warms, the melting snow collects in a low spot in the middle of a farm field before soaking into the ground or evaporating.

In 1985, Congress established the Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation and Reserve Program, the so-called Swampbuster Act, which restricts the use of wetlands in farm fields owned by recipients of USDA agricultural benefits. The Swampbuster Act defines wetlands as land that combines wetland hydrology, hydric soils, and the ordinary production of plants that grow well in wet conditions.

The statute disqualifies any person who drains a designated wetland and produces an agricultural commodity on it from eligibility for a wide variety of federally authorized agricultural benefit programs.

But the Fosters point out in their legal complaint that the disqualification from federal benefits isnt supposed to apply to artificial wetlandswetlands that are temporarily or incidentally created as a result of adjacent development activity.

Final wetland certifications remain valid and in effect  until such time as the person affected by the certification requests review of the certification by the Secretary, the complaint states, quoting the law.

The act places no limits or conditions on the affected persons right to request review of a final certification, and once an affected person requests review of a prior certification, that certification is no longer valid, the complaint states.

The Swampbuster Act is not to be confused with the Clean Water Act, which gives the government authority to regulate interstate commerce by prohibiting discharges into the nations navigable waters, forbidding any addition of pollutants from any point source to such waters without a permit.

Property owners have long resented what they characterize as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys excessive prosecutorial zeal as italong with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineershave treated mere puddles on private land as navigable waters.

The USDA press office said in an email, We dont comment on pending litigation.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) speaks to members of the press after an election for House Republican Conference chair as House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), and the newly elected House Republican Conference Vice-Chair Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on May 14, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

GOP Chair Elise Stefanik: Justice Department Is Trying to Block Maricopa County Audit

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who was recently elected as the House Republican Conference chair, said the Department of Justices questions about the Maricopa County, Arizona, audit of the 2020 election may be unconstitutional.

On May 5, the Justice Department sent a letter to Arizona Senate leader Karen Fann, a Republican, inquiring about the custody of the ballots under review by a group of private contractors, alleging that the groups other processesincluding the canvassing of addressescould be considered voter intimidation.

I support that audit, Stefanik said after being asked about it in a Fox Business interview on May 16. Transparency is good for the American people. And again, this should be a nonpartisan issue, whether you are Republican, Democrat, independent, or conservative, transparency is important, and the audit was passed by the Arizona state Senate.

Stefanik later said that the Biden Department of Justice is trying to block that audit, which, she said, is unconstitutional from my perspective.

Our states, constitutionally, are responsible for writing states constitution law, she said.

Pamela Karlan, principal deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, wrote to Fann that the proposed work of the audit raises concerns regarding potential intimidation of voters.

Fann replied that the plan by election auditors to verify the validity of certain voters had been placed on hold.

If and to the extent the Senate subsequently decides that canvassing is necessary to the successful completion of the audit, its vendor will implement detailed requirements to ensure that the canvassing is conducted in a manner that complies fully with the commands of the United States Constitution and federal and state civil rights laws, Fann wrote earlier this month.

Stefaniks comments on May 16 came just days after Dominion Voting Systems and Maricopa County officials said they wouldnt provide passwords for election machines in Maricopa County. Dominion said it would comply with the audit, but that Cyber Ninjasthe company hired by the Arizona state Senateisnt accredited by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The Department of Justice didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.

Stefanik was approved last week in a vote by House Republicans to become the Republican Conference chairthe partys No. 3 position in the House. She took over after GOP lawmakers voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, from the position.

Stefanik received support from Trump as well as other House GOP leaders.
In an aerial view, a fuel holding tank is seen at Colonial Pipeline's Dorsey Junction Station in Woodbine, Md., on May 13, 2021. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

How to Prevent Another Colonial Pipeline

Commentary

Some small-minded sages in America are chortling that people with electric cars dont have to worry about the Colonial Pipelinerecently shut down due to a cyberattackbecause they can get their gas from the electric company. They go on to argue for more electric cars.

Of course, if it was the power company that was knocked out, the electric cars wouldnt run. And power companies have been knocked out. The Russians killed one in Ukraine, putting it offline for some time.

There is, unfortunately, a related argument in Washington, in the CIA and the Pentagon. The idea? To put everything in the cloud. In other words, create a single point of failure, ripe for attack by both state and non-state actors.

The CIA has already taken the plunge; the Pentagon tried in a $10 billion project, but its tied up in litigation.

The Department of Defense (DoD) and CIA cloud ventures illustrate, better than anything else, just how dumb government officials are when it comes to security. And those working in the Pentagon are specialists in creating monstrosities and single points of failure, such as the F-35, which is supposed to replace just about everything tactical in the Air Force, even though the plane has never been in combat. Crazy.

When it comes to cybersecurity and dealing with cyberattacks, the U.S. governmenteven though it has spent hundreds of billions of dollars since 1988is worse off today than ever. So is the critical infrastructure associated with it, which includes energy, transportation, water supplies, food supply, communications, chemicals, critical manufacturingmost of which today is offshorefinancial servicesincluding the U.S. Treasury, banks, stock marketshealth care and more.

In the United States, most of the critical infrastructure, other than government and the military, is handled by private firms. The U.S. Congress decided in 1988, when the first Computer Security Act was passed, not to require that the private sector meet certain network and computer standards, leaving it free to decide on its own what the right amount of protection might be.

To be fair, no one knows what the right amount of protection is in this modern age, because no one actually knows how to protect any computer system with any degree of certainty.

Virtually all the computers used in the United States are made abroad, other than highly specialized supercomputers and certain processors made for defense applications. This includes not only machines that perform information processing, but specialized controllers used in manufacturing and operating power grids and pipelines.

These are known as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The same SCADA boxes that help run power plants and pipelines, control water supplies, and manage transportation and critical manufacturing are commercial devices produced mostly abroad.

One of the most famous SCADA systems is made by Siemens in Germany. Its the same one that runs Irans uranium centrifuges and will help assure Iran can have nuclear weapons.

While its possible to build some security walls around computer networks and SCADA systems, most of them have been penetrated in one way or another. For example, most computer networks are open and store data without any protection. Operating systems, likewise, are commercialoff the shelfand are not encrypted. Network protocols and the internet all rest on standards that are shared globally and easily hacked.

Even much of the Defense Departments intellectual property is stored without encryption protection because of the obsolete rules followed by the Pentagon. These rules say that if an item isnt classified, it isnt supposed to be stored in an encrypted format. The National Security Agency (NSA) controls encryption in the U.S. government, and the strict separation of classified from non-classified information is their mantra.

While the Pentagon has begun characterizing some information as sensitive, but unclassified, its not entitled to NSA-sponsored encryption. Whether sensitive, but unclassified information can be protected by law from disclosure appears highly questionable, because DoD says it isnt national security information.

Unfortunately, this is complete nonsense. Probably 8090 percent of DoD information is unclassified and much of it relates to technology and weapons systems information. Its ridiculous to say it isnt vital to national security.

A key example: China stole almost all the plans and data for the stealthy F-35 fighter plane, mostif not allof it unclassified and unencrypted, thereby seriously compromising a front-line defense program that will cost taxpayers in excess of $1.5 trillion over its life cycle. If this information is not related to national security, what is?

When it comes to cyberattacks, DoD and the FBI are on a little firmer ground in the sense that they understand the magnitude of the threat. But does the U.S. response reflect the danger to U.S. national security?

DoD, the military departments, and other government agencies continue to buy computer and network equipment from China while attempting to put in place security measures. Virtually all of that equipment is commercial.

Despite buying billions in computers, laptops, modems, tablets, cell phones, routers, hard drives, and tons of other equipment, such as GPS and internet-enabled security cameraswith a free backdoor to connect Beijing to U.S. military basesDoD has no hardware or software vetting system. In other words, they buy equipment without knowing if its compromised or full of malware.

If DoD is sloppy, you can imagine what the rest of the government is like, or just how protected their critical infrastructure is.

The Colonial Pipeline case raises another big red flag, since ransomware is a major threat in three ways. The first is that ransomware disables computer networks, including SCADA systems, from working by encrypting everything with an unbreakable code that you have to pay to get lifted.

The second is that ransomware often includes the theft of information before the ransom encryption kills the network. The stolen information is used partly as a threat to force the network operators to pay the bribe.

And the third matter is that even if you payand Colonial has paid $5 million in cryptocurrency that cant be tracedthere is no assurance that the unlock key will work or work effectively. Colonial apparently paid the bribe early onwithout telling anybodybut the decryption key they got was working very slowly, if at all. In other words, Colonial got the shaft from the ransomware perpetrators.

Suppose that next time, the U.S. Strategic Air Command is shut down?

Its clear that commercial networks including hardware and softwaremuch of it from foreign sourcesisnt the right way to protect critical infrastructure to safeguard national security.

Adversary nations have set up elaborate and well-trained teams who focus on specific targets and work full time to take them down. And disciplined semi-independent teams of hackers, like the ones who have hit Colonial, are criminal operations. Yet we tolerate both.

Here are a few suggestions before the next disaster happens:

Put in place a national program to create secure networks that use hardware built by secure vendors. Require all critical infrastructure networks to be vetted by in a third-party audit for security under the aegis of NSA or any other security agency capable of doing it. Vet all hardware before it is used by the U.S. Government or critical infrastructure components. Go after malefactors, domestic or foreign, and impose stiff penalties on perpetrators. Make it clear to foreign governments that if they sponsor or shelter criminal operations they will find their networks destroyed.

So far, our government has always promised to make things betterthough that never seems to happenand doesnt act as if our national security was at stake. It isnt clear if this will continue, but if it does itll have a devastating impact on the United States.

Stephen Bryen is regarded as a thought leader on technology security policy, twice being awarded the Defense Departments highest civilian honor, the Distinguished Public Service Medal. His most recent book is Technology Security and National Power: Winners and Losers.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Family members and relatives of a person who died pray next to his shallow sand grave on the banks of river Ganges in Prayagraj, India, on May 16, 2021. (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Hundreds of Bodies Found Buried Along Indian Riverbanks

PRAYAGRAJ, IndiaPolice are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washed up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that theyre the remains of COVID-19 victims.

In jeeps and boats, police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of bodies in rivers. We are here to help you perform the last rites, police said.

On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on a wide, flat riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state. While officials say the riverside burials have taken place for decades, the sheer numbers in the shadow of the pandemic are focusing more attention on the practice.

Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19, he said.

He said some villagers did not cremate their dead as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance, and instead disposed of them in rivers or by digging graves on riverbanks.

Bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims are seen in shallow graves buried in the sand near a cremation ground on the banks of Ganges River in Prayagraj, India, on May 15, 2021. (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organization that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and a shortage of wood. The cost of cremation has tripled up to 15,000 rupees ($210).

On Saturday, an Associated Press photojournalist estimated there were at least 300 shallow riverside graves on a sand bar near Prayagraj. Each grave was covered by an orange, yellow or reddish cloth and appeared laid out in the same direction. Several policemen were at the scene, but allowed a family who arrived in a small truck to bury a 75-year-old woman at the site.

K.P. Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground on the Prayagraj riverbank for those who died of COVID-19, and police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront. Authorities in Sehgal state have found a small number of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but didnt give a figure.

However, on Sunday, a 30-year-old Buddhist came to the same riverbank in Prayagraj with other family members and buried his mother, who he said had died of a heart attack.

She was not infected with COVID-19, Vijay Kumar told the AP, adding that his religion allows both cremation and burial, but I chose burial.

Health authorities last week retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on a Ganges River bank in neighboring Bihar state.

Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj, India, on May 15, 2021. (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.

A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of death.

Indias two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the virus surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls. Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of Indias crumbling health care.

After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilizing, said Dr. V.K. Paul, a government health expert.

The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday.

It also reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.

By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Biswajeet Banerjee
Health workers and relatives carry the body of a COVID-19 victim for cremation in Jammu, India, on April 26, 2021. (Channi Anand/AP Photo)

Indian COVID-19 Variant May Be 50 Percent More Transmissible Than UK Strain

A CCP virus variant first detected in India is likely to be 50 percent more transmissible than the COVID-19 strain that is currently dominant in the UK, British medical experts have warned.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), a panel of experts who advise the UK government, said it is highly likely that the Indian variant of concern, known as B.1.617.2, is more transmissible than the UK variant, which was first detected in Kent and is now dominant in the UK.

It is a realistic possibility that it is as much as 50 percent more transmissible, the experts claimed, according to minutes released on Friday from their meeting a day earlier.

Professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said current COVID-19 vaccines could be less effective at reducing transmission of the Indian variant.

The vaccines may be less effective against mild disease but we dont think theyre less effective against severe disease. But in combination with being less effective against mild disease, theyre almost certainly less effective against transmission, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme on Saturday.

Professor Chris Whitty, Englands chief medical officer, said on Friday that the variant was quite widely seeded in a number of parts of England and indeed elsewhere in parts of the four nations of the United Kingdom, and could overtake the Kent strain to become dominant in the UK.

Public Health England data show a rise in cases of the Indian variant of concern from 520 to 1,313 this week in the UK.

Whitty warned that if the variant proves to be more transmissible than other variants, the UK could see a really significant surge in CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus cases, adding: Thats a really critical question to which we do not yet have the answer.

Whitty told a Downing Street briefing that the UK might be seeing a delay in the impact of the new variant or that vaccines were holding it at bay.

He said: It could be that it is initially circulating in younger ages, because thats what has always happened previously. Younger people mix more and the initial circulation is in younger ages, and then it moves up the age rangeso maybe its just a delay because of that.

Or maybe its a delay because the vaccine is actually providing a firebreak, a barrier to reduce the transmission up the ages, into those who are most vulnerable.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the briefing that the Indian variant could pose a serious disruption to plans to end all lockdown restrictions in June.

But he said that step three of the governments roadmap out of lockdown will go ahead as planned on May 17, which will allow indoor hospitality venues to reopen and the resumption of international travel.

PA contributed to this report.
Woodville, AL (35768)

Today

Rain showers this evening with numerous thunderstorms developing overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with numerous thunderstorms developing overnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
MSU Reinvents Educational Travel with New Courses

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MURRAY - As it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to have a long-term impact on Murray State students ability to travel, Melanie McCallon Seib, Murray State University Education Abroad Office Director, began brainstorming how to provide students with opportunities to expand their intercultural competency.She also wanted to open the minds of students to the wonders of the shared human experience across the globe. Her answer to this question was the proposal of a series of intercultural experience courses. These courses would be able to offer students located on the Murray campus the chance to do a deep dive into another culture.The pandemic altered student experiences quickly. Our team rallied to provide experience-rich opportunities through technology, said McCallon Seib. Intercultural competence starts right where you are. The ability to see outside yourself and understand how another system works can happen at home if we structure courses that push students just enough out of their cultural comfort zones.The courses serve another more practical purpose as well. With many travel restrictions still in place due to the pandemic, students face achallenge to study abroad in order to fulfill their graduation requirements. These Intercultural Experience courses have been approved as a substitute for studying abroad by the Universitys Honors College, for example, because some students who are graduating now or very soon have been prevented by the pandemic from completing their study abroad requirement.I was scheduled to go on three study abroad programs, two of which were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, said Emily Davis, a Murray State nursing student. Since these programs were cancelled, as a nursing student, I do not have another opportune time to take a study abroad course. When the INT 203 class was offered, the class description seemed like the best way to explore another country without actually being able to visit.Currently, as a second-half-spring semester course, INT 203 Appreciation of Intercultural Experiences: An Exploration of France, is underway. Education Abroad Advisor, Christy DAmbrosio, is the instructor for the course. A lifelong Francophile, DAmbrosio studied abroad in France and continues to practice speaking French whenever possible. Through readings, guest lectures, and virtual visits of cultural landmarks, students are learning much about France. A highlight of the course is what DAmbrosio calls a modern-day version of a penpal. Murray State students in INT 203 are partnered with a student from l'Universite de Bourgogne, a Murray State exchange partner in Dijon, France. The students meet up over Zoom, Skype or Whatsapp to have conversations (in English) about topics related to French or American culture. DAmbrosio offers the students suggestions for conversation topics, but ultimately the students are self-guided in their interactions with their French virtual pals.This is by far the most exciting element of the course, both for me and the students, said DAmbrosio. My students have written in their journals about their positive reactions to the experience of conversing with this person. Of course, they were nervous about it at first, but Im hopeful that they are embarking on the adventure of a new friendship.Davis added, I have loved being in INT 203 and being able to explore French culture and even speak with an individual from France; it's not quite the study abroad experience that I expected but it has been a rewarding experience!Its this type of experience, one that broadens a students understanding of another culture and upon reflection brings moreself-awareness, that the Education Abroad Office hopes to provide through the Intercultural Experience courses in the future as well. Steven Guns, Senior Education Abroad Advisor, is offering INT 204 Appreciation of Intercultural Experiences: An Exploration of Food online during the five-week summer session.The only thing better than talking about food is eating it, said Guns. Students will be encouraged to prepare international andcultural dishes at home or order take-out to eat during class meetings. Im looking forward to diving into discussion topics such as fusion foods and universal spices, and answering important questions like: why is Kikkoman soy sauce brewed in Wisconsin?Much like INT 203, this course will utilize readings, guest lectures and virtual visits to explore food culture, cuisines around the world, food access and ask students to dive into the history behind their treasured family recipes passed down through generations.McCallon Seib will be offering INT 202 Appreciation of Intercultural Experiences: An Exploration of Britain during the second half of the fall 2021 semester. We are a country obsessed with the British royals. Nothing showed us that more than the Meghan and Harry interview, said McCallon Seib.Beyond the royals, students will study the Premier League, race and immigration in relation to Brexit, and of course food. Amisconception Im looking forward to exploring with students is our cultural assumption that the English are just like us. I cant take students to Britain right now, but I can still open the doors tointercultural knowledge.Students can sign up for the summer and fall INT classes through myGate.Since 1922, Murray State University has provided a collaborative, opportunity-rich living and learning community that fosters personal growth and professional success through a high-quality college experience. Students receive support from inspiring faculty and staff and will join a distinctive campus community  the Racer Family. With nearly 10,000 students, Murray State prepares the next generation of leaders to join more than 75,000 successful alumni who make a difference in their community, across the country and around the world. We are Racers. The Universitys main campus is located in Murray and includes five regional campuses in Ft. Campbell, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Madisonville and Paducah. To learn more about Murray State University, please visit murraystate.edu.
Smoke rises amid a flare-up of IsraeliPalestinian conflict, in Gaza, on May 15, 2021. (Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

Israel Bombs Hamas Gaza Chiefs Home

Israel bombed the home of the Hamas chief in Gaza early on May 16, and the Hamas terrorist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with no sign of abating.

According to Hamas television, Yahiyeh Sinwars home was targeted.

Sinwar has led the military and political wings of Hamas in Gaza since 2017.

The Israeli military said on May 16 that it struck Sinwars home and that of his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On May 15, it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamass political branch.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed the strike on Sinwars house in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis to army radio.

Streaks of light are seen from Ashkelon as Israels Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, on May 15, 2021. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Meanwhile, Israelis in Tel Aviv and Beersheba dashed for bomb shelters as sirens blared, warning of incoming rocket fire.

Israel has recorded 10 deaths, while health officials in Gaza have reported at least 148 people killed since the violence began last week.

Both Israel and Hamas have insisted they would continue their cross-border fire, a day after Israel destroyed a 12-story media building in Gaza City, which housed an Associated Press and Al Jazeera bureau.

Israel gave advance warning of the strike so it could be evacuated. The Israeli military said later the building was a legitimate military target because it contained military assets of Hamas.

The building contained civilian media offices, which Hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields, the Israeli Defense Forces said in their statement.

The Associated Press has condemned the attack, demanding that Israel put forward its intelligence as evidence that Hamas was operating in the building.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on May 15 that their offensive will continue for as long as necessary.

We will continue to act with full force. We are hitting the terrorist organization with crushing blows. Whoever lit the fire will receive fire.

The United Nations Security Council is due to meet later on May 16 to discuss ways to restore calm.

The Associated Press and Epoch Times reporter Janita Kan contributed to this report
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks at a press conference about the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at Downing Street on May 14, 2021. (Matt Dunham-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

4 Arrested After Anti-Semitic Abuses Shouted in London Street

London police have arrested four men after a video circulated online showed anti-Semitic abuses were shouted in a street.

The Metropolitan Police said they were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences and were taken into custody at a west London police station where they would remain.

The incident occurred as the conflict between Israel and Islamic terrorist group Hamas continued into its eighth day.

A video posted on Twitter on Sunday showed cars moving on a street with Palestinian flags on them, Slogans such as [Expletive] the Jews, [expletive] their mothers, [expletive] their daughters and Rape their daughters were heard through a loudspeaker.

The Met traced one of the cars after receiving reports of the incident. A police helicopter was deployed and officers stopped the car at around 6:30 p.m.

Superintendent Jo Edwards, who was in charge of the policing operation, said the mens behaviour was utterly shocking and will not be tolerated.

I understand that this would have caused considerable concern within the community and we have arranged extra patrols in the St Johns Wood and Golders Green areas this evening, he said in a statement.

Edwards said another protest in the afternoon passed peacefully and concluded without any arrests.

Britains Housing, Communities, and Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick arrives at 10 Downing Street in central London, UK, on March 17, 2020, (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier in the day, Housing Minister Robert Jenrick reacted to the video on Twitter, saying their behaviour was vile.

This, on the streets of London is deeply disturbing. Vile, criminal hatred like this must not be tolerated, Jenrick wrote.

In a separate tweet on Sunday morning, Jenrick said such racist rhetoric must stop, and be addressed if not.

Whatever your view of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, theres no justification for inciting anti-Jewish or Muslim hatred, Jenrick wrote.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel had also spoken against the shameful racism.

There is no place for antisemitism in our society. Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britains Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today. Prime Minister wrote on Twitter on Sunday afternoon.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer also condemned the behaviour.

Utterly disgusting. Antisemitism, misogyny, and hate have no place on our streets or in our society. There must be consequences, Starmer wrote on Twitter.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks after being re-elected in the London mayoral election, at the City Hall in London on May 8, 2021. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

London Mayor Sadiq Khan thanked the Met for their swift action after the four mean were arrested.

Grateful to our hardworking Met Police officers for their swift action in response to this appalling incident today, the Muslim Mayor said on Twitter.

Here in London we have a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime. If you commit a hate crime, you will face arrest, he added.

In a separate tweet earlier, Khan wrote that Reports of hateful, intimidating & racist language used on marches & social media this weekend are deeply concerning.

On Saturday, nine police officers were injured amid efforts to disperse crowds outside the Israeli Embassy in London.

Protesters burn an Israeli flag outside the Israeli Embassy in London, on May 15, 2021. (Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

Nine people were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in London, the Met said.

A further four were arrested on suspicion of breaching health regulations, the force added.

The Met said small pockets of disorder had followed a largely peaceful demonstration.

Demonstrators chanted free, free Palestine, and held banners calling for an end to the bombing of Hamas targets in Gaza by Israeli forces.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared alongside the Palestinian ambassador to the UK at a rally in support of the Palestinians, as the conflict with Israel continues.

Corbyn was suspended from The Labour Party in October last year Thursday for seeking to deflect blame away from himself after a report found antisemitism in the party while he was the leader.

He was reinstated a few weeks later, but kept out of the Parliamentary Labour Party, meaning he has to vote in Parliament as an independent MP.

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to the crowd during a demonstration outside the Israeli Embassy in central London on May 15, 2021. (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reiterate his strong support for Israels right to defend itself against missile attacks from Hamas, for whom Iran has voiced support, and other terrorist groups.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel since Monday, according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which said about 1,000 rockets were intercepted by its missile defences and 380 were misfired, adding to the death and injury of civilians in Gaza.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 precision air and artillery strikes aimed at Hamas and other terrorist targets that are often built close to civilian landmarks in the densely populated coastal strip.

The exchange of fire has killed at least 149 people killed in Gaza, including 41 children, and 10 people in Israel, including two children.

Janita Kan and PA contributed to this report.
Justice Delayed: Orange Countys Backlogged Court System

The constitutional rights of defendants are in jeopardy because of a backlogged court system and mask mandates in Orange County, a Southern California criminal attorney says.

Karren Kenney of Kenney Legal Defense told The Epoch Times that the Orange County court system is backed up to such an extent that the notion of getting a timely trial and an impartial jury have become a joke.

There are no speedy trials right now, especially if youre out of custody, she said.

Court officials and the district attorneys office have stated that theyre doing the best they can to cope with obstacles presented during the COVID-19 pandemic and that justice is still being served. But backlogged courts, mask mandates, and limited access to prosecutors are all getting in the way of justice and the right to a fair trial, according to Kenney.

Cases are being pushed back without advance notice, and dealing with juries has become problematic, according to the defense attorney. Most DUI cases are not being heard at all, and clients are faced with much longer automatic drivers license suspensions because their respective days in court have been delayed.

Kenney said one of her cases was continueda common term for postponement within the court systemwithout her knowledge in Fullertons North Court.

They werent even telling me. They were just doing it on their own  and they would cite COVID, she said. Each court has its own procedures, but West Court was kind of doing the same thing. The clerks were told to just continue out-of-custody arraignments, even if there was an attorney that had already made themselves known.

Kenney said miscommunication throughout the system has left her frustrated. They were kicking the can, and our poor clients are just wanting to resolve their cases. Its just delaying somebody being put on probation and getting on with their lives. They were just continuing themand didnt care.

Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorneys Office, agreed that the courts are not hearing many out-of-custody criminal cases and that civil cases are backed up.

But claims that DAs are kicking the can down the proverbial roadthats just flat-out false, Edds said. The DA cannot unilaterally continue cases  so the judges are the ones that are determining that.

Californias Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who leads the Judicial Council, empowered the states 58 Superior Courts to decide individually whether to suspend jury trials, prioritize criminal cases over civil cases, and use video conferencing in place of in-person court appearances during the pandemic more than a year ago.

But Kenney said that some in-person requirements, including mask mandates and social distancing of jurors, have been unfair to her clients.

Reading the Jury

Kenney said mask mandates in courtrooms have been detrimental to jury selection, noting that though some federal courtrooms allow clear face shields instead of cloth masks, Orange County courts have resisted such a policy.

The attorney said the masks prevented her from reading the facial expressions and behavior of potential jurors to help determine if they were going to be fair and impartial, which is the defendants right.

I had to do a jury trial in an attempted murder case during COVID in Orange County, she said, adding that it was unfair to the defendant, just the way the court was making us do it. I dont intend to do another one until we dont have to wear masks.

During jury selection, the courts would socially distance all the candidates throughout the courtroom, Kenney said, making the process much more difficult and time-consuming.

They could only bring in so many, because theres only so many seats in that courtroom. So the judge would have to do the initial voir dire for just that group, she said. And then wed have to go through peremptory challenges, and as soon as we had empty seats, they would bring in more potential jurors. And wed have to go through the process again, which took a long time.

Kenney filed a motion against wearing the masks, arguing the jury selection process was unfair. The motion was denied, and the case is now on appeal. She did get permission to wear a face shield personally, however.

I cant talk in a face mask and cross-examine a witness, she said. I got permission to wear a shield if I was standing and not moving around, questioning a witness.

However, she couldnt approach the jury, which she found frustrating.

Im a very dramatic person. Ill walk around, and I couldnt. I was told to stay seated or stay put at the podium that was right next to me.

After the jury was selected, four jurors were seated in the jury box, but the other eight were spread out in the courtroom, where they listened to testimony throughout the entire trial.

As an attorney, youve always got to be able to see what the jury is doing, to be able to read whats going on and who may be on your side, or if theres somebody thats basically notor theyre smirking, she said. You cant get a flavor of their personality when half their face is masked, or if theyre sitting so far back in the courtroom; you cant see if theyre on their phones, or what theyre doing back there, or if theyre even paying attention.

The Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Calif., on Oct. 22, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer speaks at a news conference in Santa Ana, Calif., on Jan. 25, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Judicial Councils Decision

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer didnt personally respond to requests for comment by The Epoch Times.

But Edds, on behalf of the district attorneys office, told The Epoch Times its up to each courtnot the district attorneys officeto decide whether to allow clear face shields in place of cloth face masks.

Thats not anything that we have any say over. Thats a determination by the presiding judge, as well as individual judges in their own courtrooms, Edds said.

Attorneys were encouraged to appear on Zoom to keep as many people out of the courtrooms as possible, according to Edds.

That was actually either a requirement or very strong urging by the chief justice of the Judicial Council, she said. Look, the entire world has been operating virtually for a long time to protect peoples health and safety, and thats for everybody. Thats for the defendants; thats for the judges; thats for the jurors; thats for absolutely everyone.

Of course there is a backlog of cases, Edds said, but compared to other counties, Orange County courts are faring better than most, as far as the number of trials that have been held during the pandemic. She pointed out that the Orange County court system had handled 100 trials before Los Angeles County handled its first.

Orange County Courts

Kostas Kalaitzidis, spokesman for the Orange County Superior Court, told The Epoch Times its difficult to quantify the magnitude of the backlog, including how many cases have been delayed and for how long.

He said criminal cases are being handled before civil cases because of the constitutional mandate that stipulates anyone who is arrested cant be held or jailed for more than 48 hoursor 72 hours in some casesbefore they are arraigned.

In all this time, we managed to not let go of anybody just because we couldnt arraign them, he said. That took a lot of work. That took away resources from other areas such as civil cases.

In order to have a jury trial, you need a certain number of people in the courtroom, Kalaitzidis said. Thats 1214 jurors, defense attorneys, [and] clerks, with six feet of distancing.

Holding jury trials presents another problem: There are only a few courtrooms in our system that can handle it, he said. For example, our biggest courtroom can take 200 people. With social distancing, thats down to 45.

Most courtrooms can only accommodate a couple of dozen people even without social distancing requirements.

So, those become useless for jury trials, Kalaitzidis said.

In 2020, the courts were closed under the statewide stay-at-home orders, but reopened for trials on May 26, 2020.

Between May 26 and right now, we are close to exceeding 300 jury trials, and its going to be a year pretty soon. In a regular year, we do between 900 and 1,000 jury trials. So indirectly you can see a backlog, he said, though he was unable to provide specific statistics.

Statute of Limitations

Kenney said the backlog has had real-life impacts on her clients.

She said many pending cases might have been dropped due to delays causing the statute of limitations to run out, judging how slowly district attorneys offices have been operating during the pandemic.

Im sure statutes of limitations have been blown, but I dont have any proof of that, Kenney said. It was happening before COVID, but it got much worse once COVID started. The statute of limitations is the statute of limitations. They havent been able to extend the filing deadlines.

District attorneys have three years to file charges for a felony and one year for a misdemeanor. So if youve got some lazy DA thats got a stack of police reports  they can literally sit on those as long as they file before the deadline, Kenney said.

Edds denied that district attorneys are sitting on cases and letting statutes of limitation expire.

Thats not true. There has been no indication that there was any impact on the timeliness of our filings of new cases with the court, Edds said, suggesting that the opposite was more likely. With reduced court operations, we actually were able to redirect our resources to file cases quicker and reduce our backlog.

Weve really, really worked hard to keep as many people out of jail as possible, to do early release without jeopardizing public safety, and to get those cases moving, because the defendant has a right to speedy trial, and we take that very seriously, she said.

Edds said that even before the Judicial Council adopted a no-bail policy a year ago, we established our own bail review process that would minimize pretrial incarceration, to keep as many people out of jail as possible as long as they werent a danger to the public safety.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes attends the graduation of two Young Adult Court program participants as they have their felony charges dismissed at the Orange County Central Justice Center in Santa Ana, Calif., on Sept. 18, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Zamire Kimball and an associate exit the Orange County Central Justice Center after his charges were dismissed, in Santa Ana, Calif., on Sept. 18, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Restraining Orders

Kenney said that prosecution delaysbecause of district attorneys working from homehave made it more difficult to deal with domestic violence cases.

I had a couple clients that got arrested [and] were released on bond. Theyre supposed to go to court within five days, according to the statute for domestic violence. And the DAs office was taking monthsmonthsto file it, she said.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline has reported an increased number of contacts during the pandemic, prompting U.S. Attorneys throughout California to launch an outreach campaign to help victims.

Kalaitzidis said he doesnt have enough current data to substantiate claims of an uptick in domestic violence since the beginning of the pandemic.

At this time, I do not have comparative numbers to give you an accurate picture of whether there was an increase or not during the pandemic, he said.

But Kalaitzidis did note that the issuance of temporary restraining orders has remained a priority of the courts.

The court did not stop the issuance of temporary restraining orders through the pandemic, he said. These types of hearings and other constitutionally mandated functions took precedence, and they were our main focus throughout even the early days of the closure of our courts. Any resident of Orange County who came to us with such needs was not turned away.

The courts never truly closed, said Kalaitzidis.

We just minimized our work to help with containing the pandemic, but we continued to provide services as best we could.

But according to Kenney, in one case, a district attorney waited nearly a year to request a restraining order which would require her client to move out of his house. Since then, the couple has reconciledbut the district attorneys office is still insisting a protective order needs to be issued.

There is a delay in the DAs prosecuting because everybodys working from home, Kenney said. Theyre sitting on their couches in their pajamas.

To speed up the court process, Kenney said prosecutors are making plea deal offers that are more attractive than they normally would be to defense lawyers and their clients, including no-custody offers.

Plea deals have gotten better, she said. So in that respect, I think its benefiting the people charged.

Justice via Video

Though Kenney agreed that its difficult to get an accurate picture of how badly the courts are backlogged, she said it was bad enough before the pandemic startedand has most likely only gotten worse.

I would think it would have had to have gotten worse because theyre not even allowing people into the courts, she said.

Kenney also stated that, in the misdemeanor courts, some district attorneys were just appearing over the phone from home.

Ive been told they didnt have to actually come back to work until just this past week, so nothing could even get resolved, she said. The defense attorneys are showing up trying to negotiate cases and the DAs arent even theretheyre on video.

Last year, the courts were continuing cases for up to eight months, with the hope that the pandemic would end, Kenney said. She also said that district attorneys temporarily assigned to cases were more apt to delay them.

They have calendar DAs that arent necessarily assigned to a specific case for the entire case, so they just kick the can. You have like a DA for the day, so theyre appearing on Zoom and have no specific interest to get it off their caseload, she said. They dont seem to be in any hurry to try to solve things in the long term. They just finish their caseloads for that particular day so everybody can just go home.

Kenney also said that if the district attorneys were more available to defense attorneys, it would speed up the process significantly.

DAs need to be in the courtroom, because theyre the ones prosecuting; theyre the ones with the burden of proof. They shouldnt be working at home, because then they would be physically in their assigned courtroomso things could be negotiated, whether its over the phone with a defense attorney or in person if a defense attorney wants to show up, she said.

Edds said the district attorneys office has worked continuously with defense attorneys to prioritize cases during the pandemic.

We worked with the defense bar to figure out which matters were time sensitive; we handled those as priority matters. So we work in conjunction with the defense bar, and that includes the public defender and private defense attorneys, Edds said. I can tell you unequivocally that our prosecutors were available all through the pandemic. Theyre completely available.

Returning to Normal

Its too soon to say how long it will take for the courts to return to normal, according to Kalaitzidis. But schedule adjustments are continually being made to reduce the backlog.

Well know more once the pandemic is over, and then we can go to normal operations, he said. The courts schedules and calendars have been under constant revision and refinement to respond to this crisis as best as possible with existing resources and limitations.

Kalaitzidis said the court system has furloughed some employees, adding to the strain.

Every employee is taking a day off per month because of our budget rules, he said. Were not complaining about that. Were not unique. The whole economy is in trouble because of the pandemic, but it is a reality.

Silver Lining

Prior to the pandemic, the Orange County court system upgraded to more secure databases and increased bandwidth, making it easier for the courts to function remotely, Kalaitzidis said.

We were working towards a technological future already, he said, giving as an example that law firms handling civil cases can now file electronically. They dont have to come to the court.

But whether or not other changessuch as bench trials held via video conferencingwill continue when the pandemic fades remains unknown.

It is impossible to predict at this time. That will be determined once the pandemic is over, Kalaitzidis said. However, the silver lining of this otherwise difficult time is that new technology was tested and was adopted in several areas of the court.

Kenney agreed that some court procedures can be done more efficiently via video conferences, such as pretrial meetings. If an attorney has multiple court appearances scheduled for several different courtrooms, its much faster to appear on video than for the lawyer to drive from courthouse to courthouse.

A lot of lawyers want the option to appear remotely if they can, Kenney said. I dont think they should take the remote appearances away. They should keep the video hearings.

Overall, despite delays, justice is still being served and the court system is still operating fairly, according to Kenney.

Its functioning. I dont think its in shambles, its just slow, she said. The wheels of justice have slowed down tremendously.
Man Arrested in Connection to 4-Year-Old Boys Death in Dallas: Police

Dallas Police officials are investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy who was found on a street on Saturday, authorities said. A suspect has since been arrested in connection to the case.

Officials described a disturbing scene.

A child was murdered through a violent act. We believe an edged weapon was used, Dallas police Executive Assistant Chief Albert Martinez said, according to CNN. Even us as police officers, we are shocked. Were very angry about what has happened to the small child.

Martinez said someone called 911 at around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday to report the child, who was discovered in The Woods neighborhood of Dallas.

We will pursue justice, whoever did this, and bring some sort of closurenot only to his family, but to our community, Martinez said, adding that the FBI and other agencies are assisting in the investigation.

A suspect was arrested in connection to the case on Saturday night, officials said. The suspects name was not released to the public, said a news release.

Through the hard work of the men and women of the Dallas Police Department, this criminal was brought to justice, and it would not have been possible without the Dallas FBI Evidence Response Team and the publics assistance, the news release read.

Investigators told CBS Dallas that they believed the boy lived in the neighborhood, while the woman who called 911 said that it was very traumatizing.

Anyone who may have information should call 911 or the departments child abuse unit at 214-275-1300.

Other details about the incident, including the identity of the victim, were not revealed.
Matt Hancock Defends Forwarding Former Torys PPE Offer

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has defended sending on a former Conservative ministers offer, which resulted in a multi-million-pound personal protective equipment (PPE) deal last year.

After being accused of cronyism, Hancock said that he didnt have anything to do with awarding the contract and that it was perfectly reasonable for him to forward the message.

British newspaper The Sunday Times reported on May 16 that former Civil Society Minister Brooks Newmark directly lobbied Hancock to propose the PPE deal two months after the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus epidemic in China had become a global pandemic.

Paramedic Kate Donne (R) is guided through the safe removal of her PPE3-level clothing in the ambulance bay of Southampton General hospital after treating a patient with possible COVID-19 symptoms in England on May 6, 2020. (Leon Neal/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Newmark emailed Hancock on May 27, with a proposal attached saying he had links to a well connected and powerful person in China but needed government help in accelerating deals, The Sunday Times reported.

According to the report, Hancock reportedly replied within hours, saying: Thanks. Definitely one for the PPE team who are firing on all cylinders now.

The Sunday Times said the information was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The report said Hancocks aide subsequently forwarded the proposal to Lord Paul Deighton, who was in charge of producing PPE, after Newmark asked if someone internally could please lead the charge in trying to seriously explore this option.

In the email to Deighton, Hancocks aide called the proposal excellent and said the health secretary and him/her would be very grateful if Lord Deighton could look into [it] urgently.

The newspaper said the Department of Health awarded a 178 million ($250 million) contract for protective goggles to the firm on June 1, with emergency powers enabling contracts to be directly awarded rather than through tenders.

Brooks Newmark, Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office, departs Downing Street in London on July 15, 2014. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, Hancock said it was absolutely appropriate for Newmark to lobby him, and perfectly reasonable for him to send it on.

It was absolutely appropriate for people to get in contact with anybody at the Department of Health when the country desperately needed PPE, Hancock said.

Of course when somebody approaches the Health Secretary in the middle of a pandemic when youre desperately short of PPE, its perfectly reasonable for the Health Secretary to send on the email and say can we have a look at this, and then I didnt have anything to do with the signing of any of these contracts, he added.

Questioned if Newmark received special treatment, Hancock replied: No, I just pinged it on.

Hancock said the process was open to everybody to get high quality offers quickly.

By the way, 90 million goggles later, Im glad that I did, the health secretary told the BBC.

On March 17, Hancock said the CCP virus pandemic had exposed weaknesses in the UKs supply chain model, as every country around the world queued up for PPE and other vital goods from China and a small number of other mass-producing countries.

Before the CCP virus epidemic become a pandemic, PPE had been sent in bulk to China from different countries.

Peter Navarro, White House trade adviser during the Trump administration, had accused the Chinese regime of hoarding PPE to profit from the pandemic, on top of covering up the CCP virus outbreak in China, resulting in a global pandemic.

PA, Alexander Zhang, and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
Mother Facing Murder Charges After 2 Children Found Dead in Arizona Apartment

An Arizona woman is facing first-degree murder charges after her children were found deceased at their home in Tempe on Saturday.

Yui Inoue, 40, flagged down police at 7 a.m. who said that she was hearing voices telling her to kill her two children and primarily spoke Japanese, officials told ABC15.

Police said that officers went to an apartment near U.S. Route 60 and Mill Ave. to investigate. They found two children, aged 9 and 7, deceased in the home.

It is with a very heavy heart that we share that we are investigating a homicide in the 4100 block of S. Mill Ave. Officers located a deceased 9-year-old and 7 years old inside the apartment. The mother of the children has been detained and is being interviewed, the Tempe Police Department tweeted.

It is with a very heavy heart that we share that we are investigating a homicide in the 4100 block of S. Mill Ave. Officers located a deceased 9 year old and 7 year old inside the apartment. The mother of the children has been detained and is being interviewed. pic.twitter.com/hCEymjjHoZ  Tempe Police (@TempePolice) May 15, 2021

Sgt. Steve Carbajal with Tempe Police Department told AZFamily that the woman was previously involved in a fight with her husband. At the time, no one was arrested and the children were safe.

At that time everything seemed to be OK. There was no immediate information that something like this would happen, said Carbajal, adding that father was never a suspect in the murders.

Officials said that Inoue said she didnt think she killed her children but couldnt remember, ABC15 reported. Inoue was arrested and is being held at Tempe City Jail for two counts of first-degree murder.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for the Israeli parliamentary elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem on March 24, 2021. (Ariel Schalit/AP Photo)

Netanyahu: Palestinian Terrorist Organization Was in Building Used by Associated Press, Al Jazeera

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 16 that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are trying to degrade Hamass terrorist abilities amid escalating fighting during the past week, which saw Hamas and related groups fire numerous rockets into Israeli civilian areas and prompted Israel to respond with numerous airstrikes.

Netanyahu told CBS News that any country has to defend itself and has a natural right of self-defense.

Well do whatever it takes to restore order and quiet, and on the security of our people in deterrence. Were trying to degrade Hamass terrorist abilities, and to degrade their will to do this again, the longtime prime minister said, adding that he hopes the conflict doesnt last long.

On May 15, the IDF confirmed it carried out an airstrike on a building that was used by Hamas in Gaza City, which was also used by Qatar-owned Al Jazeera and The Associated Press newswire service, according to those news outlets. The IDF wrote on Twitter that Hamas had placed military assets within the building for intelligence gathering and other purposes.

Hamas, the IDF said, also uses a tactic of intentionally locating its military assets in the hearts of civil populations in the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu, in the interview on May 16, said there was intelligence that Hamaswhich was designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department in the 1990swas using the same office for organizing terror attacks against Israelis. He added that the building was a perfectly legitimate target.

AP CEO Gary Pruitt denied that the organization knew that Hamas or other terror groups were using the office building.

The newswire service is shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organizations in Gaza, Pruitt said, adding that the IDF has long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there and that AP received a warning that the building would be hit.

All AP employees and freelancers were evacuated before the airstrike, AP confirmed.

Al Jazeera, which is operated by the Qatari government, similarly condemned the airstrike in a statement and called for an investigation.

An AP editor, Matti Freidman, notably wrote in 2014 about how Hamas tries to manipulate international news organizations into giving the group positive press.

In previous rounds of Gaza fighting, Hamas learned that international coverage from the territory could be molded to its needs, a lesson it would implement in this summers war, the editor wrote. Most of the press work in Gaza is done by local fixers, translators, and reporters, people who would understandably not dare cross Hamas, making it only rarely necessary for the group to threaten a Westerner.
Nunes Urges Biden to Order Probe of CCP Virus Origin

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) urged President Joe Biden to order a whole-of-government investigation into the origins of the CCP virus on May 16.

According to a letter from Nunes to the commander-in-chief (pdf), Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee are concerned by circumstantial evidence that the virus could have leaked from a research lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that had received millions in funding from the U.S. government.

During the course of our investigation, which is ongoing, we have identified substantial circumstantial evidence supporting the theory that a laboratory leak could have been responsible for the origination of COVID-19, Nunes wrote.

It is critical that this possibility be thoroughly examined, particularly in light of the Chinese governments obstruction of multilateral bio-forensic investigations and its destruction of important evidence.

In explaining why an investigation is necessary, Nunes pointed to the words of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who said, We need to understand what happened if we are going to have the best possible opportunity to prevent it from happening again, and to make sure we can put in place an even stronger global health security system, to make sure that we can prevent, detect, [and] mitigate future pandemics.

Nunes also sent a separate and different letter (pdf) to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, flagging shortcomings related to U.S. intelligence regarding the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. The California congressman said hes aware of allegations that the intelligence community (IC) suppressed dissenting views on the topic of the CCP viruss origin and that the community relied upon outside experts with concerning yet undisclosed entanglements.

As Members of Congress responsible for overseeing U.S. intelligence agencies, we believe the IC failed to properly support policymakers with timely products and analysis, Nunes wrote, speaking on behalf of the Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.

Further, the IC has not been forthcoming about what processes it undertook to make seemingly authoritative statements early in the pandemic about the origins of the virusconclusions that are now in question. This casts doubt on the validity of early judgments as well as the analytic integrity of COVID-19-related intelligence reporting.

COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP virus.

In his letter to Hainescopies of which were sent to the heads of 11 intelligence agenciesNunes made an extensive list of questions and document requests, including for copies of intelligence reports on the origins of the pandemic that had not yet been provided to the committee.

On April 15, Haines said that the IC considers a lab accident to be one of two plausible scenarios for the release of the virus.
Kyle Rittenhouse, left, with backwards cap, walks along Sheridan Road in Kenosha, Wis., with another armed civilian, on Aug. 25, 2020. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP)

Police Lieutenant Who Was Fired for Donating to Kyle Rittenhouse Files Grievance

A former Norfolk, Virginia, police lieutenant who was fired by the department after donating to an anonymous fundraiser for Kyle Rittenhouse said that he was fired just days after he made the donation and is now seeking due process.

Norfolk Police Lt. William Kelly said he was fired from the Norfolk Police Department in April and was left with a number of penalties, including no health insurance for his wife, who is sick with cancer, and their three children. Rittenhouse, meanwhile, faces several charges including murder and being in possession of a firearm after he was accused of fatally shooting two and injuring a third person during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year. The teen maintains he was defending himself.

I thought I was a free man in America expressing his personal opinion to somebody, giving some words of encouragement and making a simple donation, Kelly told Fox News in a May 14 interview.

The 42-year-old told the network that he donated to GiveSendGo to help Rittenhouse and used his official police department email to do so. However, the donation was anonymous, he said.

Months later, Kelly said, he was fired.

I was getting ready for work one morning and I got a phone call from a fellow police officer who was working at the central desk, Kelly said in the interview, coming after The Guardian reported on a data breach that showed he had donated to Rittenhouse.

I only read the portion that was in relation to me, and I immediately called my boss, let him know what had happened, Kelly said, adding that, at the time, I didnt think it was going to be that big of a deal.

I didnt think that anything I said was egregious. I didnt think that my opinion was outside the realm of normal public discourse. So, I honestly did not think it was going to be a big deal.

Kelly said he now knows he shouldnt have used his police email address.

Later that day, Kelly was interviewed by other police department officials and was transferred to another division.

Then, according to Kelly, he met Norfolk Police Chief Larry Boone, who put his hands on my shoulders and didnt say anything for a while. After that, Kelly said, the chief kind of patted my shoulder with his hand and said, Bad. Well talk later.'

Kelly said he emailed and sent text messages to Boone, who didnt respond. Days later, he was fired.

Chip Filer, city manager of Norfolk, said in an April 20 news release that Kelly had made egregious comments that erode the trust between the Norfolk Police Department and those they are sworn to serve.

Kelly had written on Rittenhouses defense fund: God Bless. Thank you for your courage. Keep your head up. Youve done nothing wrong. Every rank-and-file police officer supports you. Dont be discouraged by actions of the political class of law enforcement leadership.

Kelly, who worked in the internal affairs department, stated that the process to fire an officer typically is long and drawn out.

Being in internal affairs for so long as a sergeant and then again coming back as lieutenant, I knew that Internal Affairs investigations take months and months and months, sometimes over a year, he said. I know that it takes months and months to go through the administrative process of scrutiny by different departments.

Kelly said that he has hired several lawyers, who have filed a grievance with the city of Norfolk over his termination and is seeking back pay, benefits, and reinstatement. The grievance, as reported by Fox News, includes a photo of Boone holding a Black Lives Matter banner during a protest last year.

I engaged in speech which was private and anonymous but became public through no fault of my own, and which, when made public, upset a small number of vocal people for a very short time, Kelly wrote in the grievance. The Chief of Police of Norfolk Police Department, in contract, has been permitted to parade through the streets of Norfolk, wearing his Norfolk Police Department uniform, holding a Black Lives Matter sign while [marching] with a crowd protesting against police and law enforcement.

The police department didnt respond to a request for comment by press time.
Pope Francis bids farewell to then-Secretary of State John Kerry as he departs from Washington en route to New York City in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on Sept. 24, 2015. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Pope Francis Meets With John Kerry, Marking Change in Post-Trump Vatican-US Relations

VATICANPope Francis met with John Kerry, climate envoy for the Biden administration, on May 14 after a closed-door conference on Dreaming of a Better Restart for the global economy.

Kerry is one of the first U.S. officials to meet with Pope Francis since the COVID-19 pandemic began and the first among members of the Biden administration.

Pope Francis had reportedly refused to meet with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in September 2020, after Pompeo issued a scathing critique of the Vaticans China policies prior to his attending a conference on religious freedom sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.

The Vaticans recent human rights record in China may be related to its negotiations with Beijing about the status of the Catholic Church. Reports regarding the ongoing and secretive SinoVatican dealincluding statements from leading experts on the matter, such as Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Konginclude allegations that the agreement includes Vatican silence on Chinese religious and socio-political persecution.

Recent testimony by Kerry before the House Foreign Relations Committee contrasts strongly with the position of the Trump administration. For instance, Kerry said that while the Biden administration acknowledged concerning links between the manufacture of solar panels and Chinese slave labor from persecuted groupssuch as the Uyghursits policy was that climate is existential and China has got to be part of the solution.

In an interview with Vatican News following his meeting with Pope Francis, Kerry explained why it was important for him to meet with the papal head, saying: The pope is one of the great voices of reason and compelling moral authority on the subject of the climate crisis.

Hes been extraordinary in the eloquence of his call on people to step up and be reasonable and to live out our responsibility as human beings in caring for Gods creation. Because he is above politics and outside of the hurly-burly of day-to-day, national conflict, etc. I think he can sort of shake people a little bit and bring them to the table with a better sense of our common obligation.

The conference that Kerry attended included high-level world economic leaders, but was closed to the public and the press.

Topics of discussion, according to a booklet released by the sponsoring Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, included Debt Relief for Developing Countries and International and Fiscal Architecture and Climate Change and Sustainable and Fair Energy and Food System Transformation.
Highway 45 Crash Leaves Paducah Man Hospitalized

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MCCRACKEN COUNTY - A two-vehicle collision Saturday night in McCracken County left one person hospitalized.The crash happened just before 10:00 pm at the intersection of US Highway 45 and Krebs Station Road. The McCracken County Sheriff's Office said a car driven by Marco Arreaza of Paducah was traveling west on Krebs Station Road when it collided with a pickup truck traveling north on 45 driven by 44-year-old Joseph Lee of Mayfield.Arreaza was flown by Air Evac to an out of state hospital for treatment of what deputies called serious injuries. Neither Lee nor his passenger, 16-year-old Aiden Madden of Mayfield, were injured in the collision.
Space Force Officer Removed After Denouncing Marxism, Critical Race Theory in Military

A U.S. Space Force commanding officer was removed from his post after publishing a book that warned of the spread of Marxism and critical race theory in the military.

The Space Force confirmed that it relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier, a former instructor and fighter pilot, as commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead, the Space Force said in a statement to various news outlets over the weekend.

This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity, according to the statement.

The public comments that he made in a podcast were likely in reference to the spread of Marxist ideology within the military, which was detailed in Lohmeiers recently self-published book, Irresistible Revolution: Marxisms Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military.

Lohmeier had appeared on the podcast Information Operation to promote his book, and during the show, he criticized Defense Secretary Lloyd Austins agenda. After Austins confirmation, he ordered a stand down to deal with alleged extremism within the ranks of the U.S. military coming after the Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

I dont demonize the man, but I want to make it clear to both him and every service member this agendait will divide us. It will not unify us, Lohmeier said, adding that Austin is promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity, which he and others have said are rooted in critical race theory, which is rooted in Marxism.

Critical race theory, which draws heavily upon Marxist and postmodernist theories, denounces U.S. and Western culture as a form of oppression. Critics have said its proponents apply the Marxist tactic of class struggle to divide people along lines of race, gender, and ethnicity to label them oppressors and the oppressed.

In recent days, a number of GOP-led states have barred schools from using curriculum based on critical race theory or The New York Times 1619 Project, which critics have denounced as ahistorical and inaccurate. Recently, White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended both the 1619 Project and critical race theory.

What you see happening in the U.S. military at the moment is that if youre a conservative, then youre lumped into a group of people who are labeled extremists, if youre willing to voice your views. And if youre aligned with the left, then its OK to be an activist online because no ones going to hold you accountable, Lohmeier said in the podcast.

Space Force officials didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
Students Play Catch-Up as New School Year Approaches

Inside a South Orange County tutoring center one recent afternoon, about 10 students were focused on math tasks as they worked to keep pace amid the most unconventional school year on record.

Its no secret that the 2020-21 school year was a challenge for Orange County, California, students, many of whom participated in the bulk of their studies learning remotely, as well as forgoing their usual extracurricular activities.

Now, as the current curricular year wraps up, parents and educators are working to ensure learners are prepared for the year ahead.

According to a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California in April, out of 1,602 Californians surveyed, more than eight in 10 believe K-12 students are falling behind academically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Likewise, of those surveyed, 86 percent of public school parents said that their children are falling behind academically during the pandemic.

Some students are turning to tutoring centers such as Mathnasium in Laguna Niguel to obtain in-person instruction that allows for more dynamic lessons and connections with instructors, said center director Robert Whiteside.

Theres been a lot of students that have been struggling with understanding the material because of online learning, Whiteside told The Epoch Times.

Mathnasium works to customize its tutoring service to fit the needs of each student with services to those who are struggling and need foundational review and support. Due to virtual learning factors, Whiteside said he has needed to lower grade level expectations to account for the students falling behind.

Ive worked here close to seven years now, and compared to previous years, theres a lot more students where I have to adjust that expectation of whether they know everything that they would normally know by the end of that grade level, Whiteside said. I would say a majority of students are slightly behind where they would have been normally maybe by three to six months.

The tutoring service also offers a virtual option for students that prefer to not be in-person.

The Semester Ahead

As many schools prepare to return to in-person instruction next fall, the demand for learning recovery services is rising to ensure that students are academically ready for the next grade level, academic leaders say.

Since state-mandated shutdowns began last spring, 151,000 California students failed to enroll in school while others are failing to meet math and English proficiency levels, said Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute.

What weve seen is huge learning losses amongst all kids but especially amongst minority students, Izumi told The Epoch Times. Were seeing kids failing their classes and thats all across the country.  and the reason is because they are not getting the instruction and education that they should be getting to allow for them to pass these classes.

Instructor Arthur Weimholt helps a student perform a math assignment at Mathnasium, in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on May 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

With Gov. Gavin Newsom now encouraging the reopening of public schools, the current services offered in the traditional public educational space might not be enough to get students fully caught up to their grade level, said County Supervisor Don Wagner.

One of the first things I said when the governor was talking about reopening the schools was, he ought to be looking at summer school. We got to do something to make up for these lost educational opportunities, Wagner told The Epoch Times. We got to look for remedial classes for catching up.

Ongoing Demand

To help students bridge the academic gap, the Laguna Beach and Irvine Unified School districts are launching summer enrichment and learning recovery programs intended to advance students in a multitude of subjects.

Our program is designed to provide enrichment and readiness prior to the upcoming school year, Laguna Beach Unified School District spokesperson Shelley Spessard told The Epoch Times. Were focusing on choosing topics that our students are passionate about related to college career and community readiness. Were also offering courses to students that are pre-identified that might need extra support skills at their grade level.

The program will consist of two operating strategies with one focusing on student readiness for the next grade level while the other focuses on student enrichment.

Courses offered for extra support are identified for students that meet the criteria of needing more support and reading literacy, she said.

Student Nikolas Hoaen performs a math assignment at Mathnasium, in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on May 12, 2021.(John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Students that are referred to the program by teachers to receive extra support or to repeat a course are placed into the program to prepare them for the next grade level.

The enrichment and readiness K-12 program is open to all students that would like to enhance their knowledge and skills in a variety of topics such as foreign language, handwriting, and music.

Those courses are definitely designed to get our kids in class and socializing with one another, and to get them ready for their upcoming grade level, Spessard said.

The Irvine Unified School District is offering a similar program to assist in learning recovery for students that need more academic support, and to those that wish to get ahead.

We have designed these programs so that students will be able to transition from a learning recovery in-person course to a virtual advancement or enrichment option, IUSD learning recovery academy principal Jeffery Hernandez said.

Courses offered will be hybrid with some courses being offered in person and others fully online.
Taiwan Official on China Invasion Threat: Because of Democracy  We Are Not Alone

Despite Chinas intensifying military threats against Taiwan, the democratic island is not alone, as it shares common values with many nations, a Taiwanese official said earlier this week.

During an interview in Taipei with The Epoch Times, Dr. Shiing Jer Twu, chairman of Taiwans Development Center for Biotechnology, spoke about Beijings ongoing threats to invade and subjugate free and democratic Taiwan.

This threat was highlighted recently by The Economist, which called Taiwan the most dangerous place on Earth on its front cover, due to concerns that communist China may attempt a military takeover of Taiwan in the near future, perhaps within the next six years, according to Admiral Phil Davidson, who was Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command until April.

But Twu pushed back on The Economists characterization.

The Economist says that Taiwan is the most dangerous [place on Earth]I dont think thats right, he told The Epoch Times. He said that The Economists headline is helpful, however, in informing readers that Taiwan needs increased support to defend itself against Chinas intensifying military build-up and aggression. If this [news] is out, [people realize] We must help Taiwan more than now, otherwise it looks very dangerous, Twu stated.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, has in recent months been dialing up military aggression toward the island, which some analysts say is a test of the Biden administration to see whether it will take concrete action to respond. This year, the Chinese military has sent multiple aircraft into Taiwans air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on a near-daily basis.

If mainland China tries to attack Taiwan, of course we Taiwanese people must say that Taiwan is an independent country. We dont belong to you. You must not invade Taiwan. This is not right, said Twu, who is also Taiwans former health minister, a lawmaker, and mayor of Chiayi, one of Taiwans largest cities. We must protect ourselves.

Two navy soldiers raise Taiwans national flag during an official ceremony at a shipyard in Suao, a township in eastern Taiwans Yilan County, on Dec. 15, 2020. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

He cited Taiwans key strategic location at the midpoint of the first island chainstretching from the Kuril Islands and Japan to the island of Borneo in Indonesiawhich separates mainland Asia from the open waters of the Pacific Ocean, as a key reason for communist Chinas continuing desire to invade and control Taiwan.

The location of Taiwan, it is a very important place, especially for the United States, because the United States tries to make a first island chain to stop or block communist China from coming out to invade other countries, Twu said. If Taiwan is taken by communist China, then they can make this like a military base and attack other countries from here.

Twu also stated that the CCP sees Taiwan as a threat because of its success as a Mandarin-speaking democratic nation. Taiwan is a democratic country and a showcase for the whole world, he said. I think that communist China doesnt like this very much. Because we can show that democracy can be well practiced and well set up here in Taiwan.

Twu noted that the Chinese government, since its founding in 1949, has never controlled Taiwan despite its aspirational claim that Taiwan is part of its territory.

China says [to Taiwan] You belong to us, Twu said. He then questioned, How come Taiwan belongs to you? You were only set up in 1949, and you have never ruled Taiwan or set up anything in Taiwan. We have never paid any tax to you. In Taiwan, we have our army, we have our military, we have our parliament, we have our president, we have everything, he added.

Dr. Shiing Jer Twu. (Courtesy of The Development Center for Biotechnology)

The CCP, which has been steadily building up its military, has rapidly escalated tensions in recent years, with increasing incursions by Chinas air force into Taiwans ADIZ and military drills designed to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan.

Of this threat, Twu stated, If communist China wants to invade Taiwan  it depends on the ability or capability: can [the Peoples Republic of China] take Taiwan?

Twu acknowledged that Chinas military force is larger than Taiwans but expressed skepticism about the CCPs ability to follow through on its threat, citing support for Taiwan from the United States and other allies.

Because of democracy and the island chain, we are not alone, he said. Taiwan does not only depend on the military force. Taiwan has friends, has good friends. We have the same democratic values, we have the same island chain values, this is very important.
Jimmy Lai, Apple Daily founder, arrives at the Court of Final Appeal ahead a bail hearing in Hong Kong, China, on Feb. 9, 2021. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Taiwan Says Hong Kong Tycoon Asset Freeze a Warning to Global Investors

TAIPEIOn May 15, representatives of Taiwan warned that Hong Kongs decision to freeze assets belonging to jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai was a sign to the international community that doing business in the Chinese-controlled city was becoming increasingly risky.

The asset freeze, announced one day earlier on May 14, includes all shares in Lais company, Next Digitalthe first time a listed firm has been target by Beijings national security law in the financial hub.

Shortly before the announcement, the Taiwan arm of Lais popular Apple Daily said it would stop publishing its print version, blaming declining advertising revenue and more difficult business conditions in Hong Kong linked to politics.

In a statement sent to Reuters, Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council said the asset seizure highlighted the threat Hong Kongs national security law posed to the property of the citys people.

Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai (C) is led into a police van as he heads to court to be charged under the territorys controversial new national security law, in Hong Kong, China, on Dec. 12, 2020. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

It is equivalent to announcing to the international community that Hong Kongs business risks are increasing, the council said. We also once again call on relevant parties to stop suppressing Hong Kong democrats, otherwise they will drift away from popular sentiment.

The former British colony of Hong Kong has been rocked by protests against its Beijing-backed government in recent years, and the Chinese communist regime imposed a tough new national security law on the city last year.

The Chinese regime sees Taiwan as a part of its territory and has threatened war to bring the island into its fold. The self-ruled island is a de facto independent country with its own democratically elected government, military, constitution, and currency. Taiwans government has been strongly critical of the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong.

Lai was sentenced to 14 months in prison for taking part in unauthorized assemblies during pro-democracy protests in 2019.

By Ben Blanchard

The Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Texas Elementary School Principal Killed by Husband in Murder-Suicide: Police

A Texas mother of two young children, who works as a school principal, was shot and killed by her husband in an alleged murder-suicide incident.

Investigators said that 40-year-old Nicholas Allen shot and killed his wife, Erica Rene Allen, in a neighbors home in League City, Texas, last week.

The investigation determined that the initial call of a home invasion was untruthful, and the incident stemmed from a domestic problem, said a statement from the League City Police Department.

The department added that on May 12, officers responded to an alleged home invasion, and when they arrived, they found Erica Allen dead in the front yard of a home.

Witnesses told the department that they saw Nicholas Allen shoot her and then go back into his home.

When officers were not able to establish contact with Nicholas Allen, they deployed the tactical team. At around 1:30 a.m., the team made entry into the home and located the Allens two children, ages seven and two, unharmed, according to the police department.

They discovered the husband dead with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The superintendent of Texas City Independent School District, Melissa Duarte, confirmed that Erica Allen was the principal of the district.

Its important that we help support each other in the coming days, Duarte wrote in a statement. Please keep Mrs. Allens family and friends in your thoughts.

Meanwhile, reports said that Nicholas Allen was an assistant principal at the Spring Independent School District.

The school district told Newsweek: Our entire Spring ISD community is devastated and shocked to hear about the passing of Nicholas Allen, who had served as an assistant principal at Wells Middle School since joining the district in July 2020. Our thoughts are with the couples children and extended family as they face overwhelming grief and sorrow in the days ahead.
An 11-story building housing the AP office and other media in Gaza City, moments after Israeli warplanes demolished it, on May 15, 2021. (Hatem Moussa/AP Photo).

Associated Press Denies Any Knowledge Gaza Office Building Was Shared With Hamas After Israeli Airstrike

The Associated Press denied any knowledge that the Jala Towerwhich was destroyed in an Israeli airstrikewas also being shared by Hamas, a designated terror group, as claimed by top Israeli leaders.

AP CEO Gary Pruitt issued a statement over the weekend denying that the newswire service knew Hamas terrorists were operating in the building, located in the Gaza Strip. The Jala Tower also hosted Qatar-backed media outlet Al Jazeera and other news organizations.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), however, told local media that the Jala Tower hid military assets belonging to Hamas and accused the group of using AP, Al Jazeera, and other news outlets in the building as human shields. The IDF said that the Hamas terror group intentionally locates its military assets in the hearts of civil populations in the Gaza Strip.

After providing advance warning to civilians & time to evacuate, IDF fighter jets struck a multi-story building containing Hamas military intelligence assets. The building contained civilian media offices, which Hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields. pic.twitter.com/zeDjEquePD  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 15, 2021

Pruitt said in a statement that he was shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organizations in Gaza, alleging: They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.

According to AP, all employees and freelancers were evacuated before the building was struck.

The Israeli government says the building contained Hamas military intelligence assets, Pruitt said. We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence. APs bureau has been in this building for 15 years.

AP had no knowledge of Hamas being in the building, he said, and its something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

The IDF said that the Jala Tower was used as an important base for Hamas and fellow terror group Islamic Jihads operations in Gaza.

In 2014, AP Jerusalem editor Matti Friedman had written about how Hamas manipulates media outlets operating within Gaza.

According to Friedman: In previous rounds of Gaza fighting, Hamas learned that international coverage from the territory could be molded to its needs, a lesson it would implement in this summers war. Most of the press work in Gaza is done by local fixers, translators, and reporters, people who would understandably not dare cross Hamas, making it only rarely necessary for the group to threaten a Westerner.

The article then continued to suggest that regarding international news outlets, theyve historically portrayed Israel as the aggressors in prior conflicts with Palestinians.

Its easier to leave the other photographers out of the frame and let the picture tell the story: Here are dead people, and Israel killed them, Friedman said.

Amid the flare-up in fighting, Israel has said that its defending itself after Hamas and other groups fired numerous rockets into civilian areas in recent days.

The Epoch Times has contacted the IDF for comment regarding Pruitts claims.
Police officers investigate the scene of a shooting in Chicago, Ill., in a file photo (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

2 Chicago Police Officers Shot by Suspect in Alley: Officials

Two Chicago Police officers were shot on the West Side and were hospitalized on Sunday morning, officials said.

The shooting happened at 7:30 a.m. local time on the 1500 block of South Lawndale Avenue, according to the Chicago Police Department. One of the officers is in critical but stable condition, and the other officer was shot in the hand and in good condition, said police spokesman Tom Ahern to CBS Chicago.

The suspect who fired shots at the officers was struck by gunfire, Ahern told the Chicago Sun-Times. The persons condition is unknown.

Police spokesman David Brown said that the incident occurred when officers responded to an alert of shots being fired. When they arrived, they saw an armed individual in an alley who opened fire at the officers, who were in uniform, according to CBS Chicago.

The suspects gun was found at the scene of the crime, Ahern said.

Brown said that the two officers had been on the police force for three or four years.

Police said that so far in 2021, 29 Chicago Police Department officers have been shot, and in the past 15 months, 108 officers have been shot. Six officers died due to shootings in 2021.

In the past two months alone, according to the Sun-Times, six officers have been shot in the city. On March 25, an alleged shoplifter fired on a security guard at a Home Depot before shooting a Chicago officer in the shoulder. The suspect later died in a shootout with police.

Five days before that, an officer was shot in her hand during a SWAT standoff in the Austin area by a man who was believed to have been trying to lure police there, the paper reported.

Over the past weekend from Friday night to Sunday morning, 29 people were shot and five were killed across Chicago, officials told ABC7. That included an incident at a large party being held on the citys South Side that left two people dead and several others wounded.

A website that compiles shootings and murders in Chicago shows that in 2021, there have been 227 total homicides and more than 1,200 people have been shot.
Flames and smoke rise during air strikes amid a flare-up of violence, in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 11, 2021. (Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/TPX Images of the Day/Reuters)

UAE Foreign Minister Urges Ceasefire in Israel and Gaza, Points to Abraham Accords

The United Arab Emirates has expressed grave concerns over the conflict between Islamist terrorist group Hamas and Israel, and is urging for both sides to immediately cease the violence.

The UAE is alarmed by the escalating spiral of violence in Israel and Palestine. We express our condolences to all victims of the recent fighting, and join others in calling for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities. The UAE calls on all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate a political dialogue, and exercise maximum restraint, UAEs Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a statement on Friday.

He added that the UAE remained confident in the opportunity for shared prosperity and peace presented by the Abraham Accordsthe landmark policy of the Trump administration in its efforts to reassess pathways to lasting Arab-Israeli peace.

The events of the past week have been a somber reminder of the urgent need for peaceful dialogue and reconciliation. We reflect on the promise that the Abraham Accords hold for current and future generations, to live with their neighbors in peace, dignity and prosperity, he added.

He also expressed that the UAE stands ready to support any efforts to de-escalate tensions in the area.

It is the true mark of leadership in this moment of crisis to refrain from provocations and reprisals, and to instead work towards a de-escalation of tensions, he said.

The UAEs statement comes as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other Islamist terrorist groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza into Israel since Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday.

It said about 1,000 rockets were intercepted by its missile defences but that 380 were misfired and into the Gaza Strip, adding to the death and injury of civilians in Gaza.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 precision air and artillery strikes aimed at Hamas and other Islamist terrorist targets that are often built close to civilian landmarks in the densely populated coastal strip.

The exchange of fire has killed at least 149 people killed in Gaza, including 41 children, and 10 people in Israel, including two children.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden said he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reiterate his strong support for Israels right to defend itself against missile attacks. The U.S. president also condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the terrorist groups on Israel and expressed concerns about intercommunal violence reported in Israels Jewish-Arab communities.

Hamas said its rocket assault on Monday was in response to weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for Israeli police responding to Palestinian rioters who Netanyahus office said planned the unrest near the citys Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site, on May 10 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Netanyahu in a press conference on Saturday vowed to respond forcefully against Hamas attacks on Israel, which he said were unprovoked.

Several Israelis have been killed. Many more have been wounded. You know and I know, no country would tolerate this. Israel will not tolerate this, he said. We will continue to respond forcefully until the security of our people is reinstated, restored.

The IDF said on Saturday that it had carried out targeted destruction of a 12-story building in Gaza City on Saturday it said contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization.

The building also housed civilian operations, including the U.S. Associated Press, Qatar-based Al Jazeera, as other offices and apartments. All were able to evacuate after the owner received advanced warning of the strike from Israel. The IDF said they notified civilians by phone, SMS, and by dropping roof knocker bombs to warn them about the operation.

In a series of statements, the Israel Defense Forces said the operation was conducted on the civilian building that had been transformed into a military stronghold by Hamas. They said the building was used for military purposes such as intelligence gathering, planning attacks, command and control, and communications.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to the media at a socially distanced briefing in New York City on March 1, 2021. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

US Ready to Help Israel, Palestinians If They Seek a Ceasefire

The United States told the United Nations Security Council on Sunday it has made clear to Israel, the Palestinians and others that it is ready to offer support should the parties seek a ceasefire to end the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.

The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council. Because we believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security.

As the U.N. Security Council convened to discuss the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israels campaign in Gaza was continuing at full force.

Netanyahu also defended an Israeli air strike on Saturday that destroyed a 12-story building where the Associated Press and the Al Jazeera TV network had offices. He said the structure also housed a terrorist groups intelligence office and was thus a legitimate target.

We are acting now, (and) for as long as necessary, to restore calm and quiet to you, Israels citizens. It will take time, Netanyahu said in a televised address after meeting with his security cabinet.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire and called on them to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed.

The truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have so far offered no sign of progress. The United States sent an envoy to the region and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.

In all these engagements with Israeli officials, the Palestinian Authority, and all regional partners, the United States has made clear that we are prepared to lend our support and good offices should the parties seek a ceasefire, Thomas-Greenfield said.

The death toll in Gaza jumped to 192, including 58 children, its health ministry said, amid an intensive Israeli air and artillery barrage since the fighting erupted last Monday. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, in thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Israels U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israels response to indiscriminate attacks by Hamas strictly adhered to international law and that the country was taking unparalleled steps to prevent civilian casualties.

Israel uses its missiles to protect its children. Hamas uses children to protect its missiles, Erdan said.

Beyond the current flare up in the conflict, the 22-member Cairo-based Arab League called on Bidens administration to engage in a more active and influential and deeper way in the Middle East peace process, Arab League U.N. envoy Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the Security Council.

The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with east Jerusalem as its capital, all territory captured by Israel in 1967.

Epoch Times staff contributed to this report
WKCTC Gives Help With Financial Aid Forms Thursday

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - On Thursday, West Kentucky Community and Technical College will host experts who can help current and prospective students fill out forms for financial aid or scholarships.Representatives of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority will be on hand between 3-6 pm to help students apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship (WRKS).The event will be held in the Anderson Technical Building, Room 126. To avoid overcrowding, visitors are asked to sign up for the event in 30-minute sessions with a maximum of 15 individuals in each session. The link to register is below.The WRKS is a program that offers free tuition up to 60 credit hours for Kentuckians in five high wage, high demand careers - healthcare, advanced manufacturing, construction/trades, IT/business, and logistics. Students can earn certificates in these fields in four months or less.For more information about the FAFSA, visit westkentucky.kctcs.edu, click on "Affording College." More details about the Work Ready Kentucky Scholarship can be found on the college website, search for WRKS.On the Net:
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Nigeria is one of the many Nations of the world where Capital Punishment still holds sway. Despite calls by many proponents for the abolition of Capital Punishment across the globe, Capital Punishment is still in vogue in Nigeria. By capital punishment, we mean death sentence passed by a court of law on an offender who has been found guilty of a capital offence. Capital punishment or death sentence is constitutionally recognized in Nigeria. Section 33 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides that, Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria " (Emphasis mine).

For an offender to be sentenced to death, the law creating the offence must have specified death as the punishment thereof as contemplated under section 36 (12) of the Constitution. Under the Nigerian Criminal Jurisprudence, the following offences attract death penalty to wit: Murder/Culpable homicide punishable with death, Treason, presiding over a trial by ordeal resulting death, and Armed Robbery. It is interesting to note that some States in Nigeria have also enacted laws which make the offence of kidnapping punishable with death. Thus, where a defendant or an accused person as the case may be, is found guilty of any of these listed offences, such a defendant or an accused person must be sentenced to death by the court, as no degree of allocutus plea can change the verdict of being condemned to death.

On how death sentence should be passed and/or pronounced by a trial court, we shall consider the Supreme Court decision on the issue as well as the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (which is in pari materia with that of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kogi State, 2017), the Criminal Procedure Act, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Armed Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act CAP. R11, LFN, 2004. The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (hereinafter simply referred to as ACJA, 2015) applies to criminal trials in all federal-established courts as well as all the courts in the FCT. The Criminal Procedure Act (hereinafter referred to as the CPA) and the Criminal Procedure Code (hereinafter referred to as the CPC) apply to criminal proceedings in all the courts in the South and North respectively, especially in the States that are yet to enact their own Administration of Criminal Justice Law as was commendably done by Kogi State in 2017.

Now, for the South, section 367(1) of the CPA provides: The punishment of death is inflicted by hanging the offender by the neck till he be dead.

Section 367 (2) of the CPA further provides that, Sentence of death shall be pronounced in the following form  The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may the Lord have mercy on your soul (Emphasis mine).

For the North, section 273 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides that, When a person is sentenced to death, the sentence shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead (Emphasis mine).

Though not a procedural law, section 1(3) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act CAP. R11, LFN 2004, provides that, The sentence of death imposed under this section may be executed by hanging the offender by the neck till he be dead or by causing such offender to suffer death by firing squad as the Governor may direct.

Now, coming to the ACJA, 2015, section 402 (1) of the Act provides: "Punishment of death is inflicted by hanging the convict by the neck till he is dead or by lethal injection.

Section 402 (2) of the said ACJA, 2015 further provides that, Sentence of death shall be pronounced by the court in the following form: The sentence of the court upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you are dead or by lethal injection (Emphasis mine).

The above cited provisions of the ACJA, 2015 are in pari materia with the provisions of section 400 (1) (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kogi State, 2017.

From the provisions of all the laws cited above, it is very clear that the following means or modes of execution of death sentence are legally recognized in Nigeria:

(a) By hanging in the neck (as provided in the CPA, CPC, Armed Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act, the ACJA, 2015, and the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017);

(b) By Lethal Injection (as provided for by the ACJA, 2015, and the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017); and

(c) By Firing Squad (as provided for by the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act)..

The above means of executing death sentence having been stated, the next crucial question is whether it is mandatory for a trial court to pronounce the particular means or manner by which a convict who has been found guilty of a capital offence must die or executed? In other words, if a trial court finds a defendant guilty of a capital offence, is the trial court bound to follow strictly the provisions of the above cited laws (whichever is applicable) when passing or pronouncing death sentence on the defendant? Put in another way: What is the effect of non-compliance with the provisions of the above cited laws on a death sentence passed on a convict by a trial court? The Supreme Court of Nigeria was faced with this question or issue for determination in the case of Gano v. The State (1968) 1 ALL NLR 353; (1968) NSCC 285. In the said case, the Appellant was found guilty of the offence of culpable homicide punishable with death contrary to section 221 of the Penal Code. The trial judge in sentencing the Appellant to death simply stated thus, "Sentence of death passed". On appeal to the Supreme Court, it was contended for the Appellant that the trial judge violated the provision of section 273 of the Criminal Procedure Code which requires that a judge while pronouncing death sentence on a convict "shall direct that he be hanged by the neck till he is dead". Based on this, the Appellant urged the Supreme Court to hold that the death sentence pronounced on him by the trial court cannot be carried out, and that the said sentence is incurably bad as the trial judge had become functus officio on the matter. In its judgment, the Supreme Court held as follows:

"It is clear that the learned judge has failed to incorporate in his judgment the statutory direction. We have been asked to say that as the judge gave no direction as to what manner the sentence of death was to be carried out, as he was obliged to do by law, the sentence could not be carried out, and the learned judge is functus officio. We are in agreement with counsel that it is the duty of the judge, under the law, to pronounce the manner in which the sentence was to be carried out, and failure to do so might raise an apprehension that the execution could be carried out by any other means, as for example by poisoning, drowning or any other means; but as it is clear that the only mode of execution known to our law is by hanging by the neck till the convict is dead, we are unable to accept that any other mode of execution was contemplated by the judge" (Emphasis mine).

Going further, the Supreme Court held thus: "We are, however, not unmindful of the fact that after passing sentence of death on a convict, the judge after the sentence passed by him has been confirmed, issues a warrant in the prescribed form and the Superintendent of Prisons who has had no advantage of reading the judgment has no choice but to execute the sentence in the manner laid down in the form, namely hang the convict by the neck till he is dead, and there can be no objection taken by the Superintendent that the warrant is not consistent with the judgment. Thus, the omission in practice makes very little difference to the carrying out of the order of execution".

Having held as quoted above, the Supreme Court concluded that the omission by the trial judge to pronounce the manner in which the sentence of death was to be carried out was a mere accidental slip or clerical error which is within the competence of the trial judge himself to correct. The Supreme Court accordingly, dismissed the appeal and directed that the matter be brought to the attention of the trial Judge (Hague A.J.) "to add to his judgment of 14th June, 1968, in this matter the words 'The accused shall be hanged by the neck till he is dead' ". The case was therefore, referred to the trial judge to incorporate in his judgment the statutory direction contained in section 273 of the CPC.

It must be borne in mind that the above case was decided in the light of the provision of section 273 of the CPC. As held by the Supreme Court in the case, only one means of execution (i.e. by hanging in the neck) was provided for under the said section. Thus, the Supreme Court was of the view that since it is only one means of execution that was provided for under section 273 of the CPC, even when the trial judge was silent on the means of carrying out the death sentence passed on the Appellant, there is a presumption that it must be by hanging in the neck as the trial judge couldnt have contemplated otherwise outside what the law (CPC) provided. Secondly, the Supreme Court was also of the opinion that even where a trial judge in its judgment omits to direct the manner in which death sentence would be carried out, a warrant in the prescribed form issued by the trial judge after the death sentence has been confirmed would specify that the death sentence shall be executed by hanging in the neck, and this therefore, supplies the missing statutory direction as to how the death sentence shall be carried out.

The question now is: Should the Supreme Court still apply its decision in Gano v. The State (supra) to subsequent cases on the same point especially under the ACJA 2015 and/or the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017? My humble answer to this question is in the negative. This is because, unlike the provision of section 273 of the CPC which provides for hanging in the neck as the only means or mode of execution of death sentence, section 402 (1) (2) of the ACJA, 2015 (which is in pari materia with section 400 (1) (2) of the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017) provides for two modes of execution of death sentence, to wit: by hanging in the neck and by lethal injection. Thus, where a trial judge is silent on the means of execution of a convict in a capital offence, which of the two means of execution provided under the said section would the Appellate court presume to have been contemplated by the trial judge? Again, is a trial judge at liberty to choose the mode of execution of death sentence at the point of issuing warrant in the prescribed form when he did not specify any particular one in his judgment? I do not think so! Issuance of a warrant in a prescribed form cannot cure the fundamental defect of not pronouncing the mode of execution of death sentence by a trial judge as reasoned by the Supreme Court in Gano's case (supra).

I am of the firm view therefore, that a trial judge must strictly comply with the provisions of sections 402 (2) of the ACJA, 2015 or any other applicable legislation as the case may be, by pronouncing the specific manner in which a convict found guilty of a capital offence must die. Anything short of that, in my humble opinion, must render the entire sentencing void. This is more so because, the word "shall" was used in the said section, which by avalanche of judicial authorities, connotes mandatoriness, leaving no room for discretion. Thus, the use of the word "shall" in section 402 (2) of the ACJA, 2015 denotes an obligation and same therefore, does not permit a trial judge to be silent on the manner in which a convict in a capital offence should die; and neither does the provision permit a trial judge to leave the manner in which an accused person should be executed at the discretion of the Executioner. In Rufus Femi Amokeodo v. Inspector General of Police & Ors. (1999) LPELR-SC.168/96, at pages 24-25, paras. E-A, the Supreme Court per Ejiwunmi, J.S.C opined as follows: "The principle governing the use of "shall" in a legislative sentence is that it is generally imperative or mandatory and in its ordinary meaning, "shall" is a word of command which is normally given a compulsory meaning because it is intended to denote obligation..." (Also cited as Amokaodo v. I.G.P. (1999) 6 NWLR (Pt. 607) p. 467). Again, the Supreme Court of Nigeria inGeneral Muhammadu Buhari v. Independent National Electoral Commission (2008) LPELR  814 (SC), held thus; When the word shall is used in a statute it connotes the intendment of the legislator that what is contained therein must be done or complied with. It does not give room for manoeuvre of some sort, or evasiveness. Whatever the provision requires to be done must be done, and it is not at all negotiable (Per MUKHTAR, JSC (as he then was, at pages 276-277, PARAS. E-D). On the mandatory connotation of the word "shall" in a statute, the Court of Appeal per Owoade, JCA in Mr. Udak Etim Okon v. Mr. Ekaette Udak Okon (2016) LPELR 42056 (CA) at page 9, paras. D-F, held thus: As a general rule the use of the word shall connotes and conveys a mandatory message in a statute. See Melaye v. Tajudeen (2012) 15 NWLR (Pt. 1323) 315; Fidelity Bank Plc v. Monye (2012) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1307) 1; Adeosun v. Governor Ekiti State (2012) 4 NWLR (Pt. 1291) 581; Dantata v. Mohammed (2012) 8 NWLR (Pt. 1302) 366.

In my humble view, it will amount to promotion of judicial laziness if a trial judge fails to comply with the provisions of section 402 (2) of the ACJA or any other applicable statute as the case may be, while passing death sentence on a convict and the Appellate Courts do not see anything wrong with that to annul the sentence. Instances abound where a trial court even after the enactment of the ACJA, 2015 and the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017, found a defendant guilty of a capital offence and simply stated that the "Convict is hereby sentenced to death" without specifying if it will be death by hanging, or by lethal injection as provided by the said laws. Such sentence, in my view, is fundamentally defective and same should not be allowed to stand.

Silence by a trial judge on the means by which death sentence shall be carried out leaves a condemned convict at the discretion of the Executioner who would then have the prerogative of adopting any of the means that pleases him to execute the convict. That is not the intendment of our procedural laws. Section 403 of ACJA, 2015 (which is in pari materia with section 401 of the ACJL of Kogi State, 2017), provides that, Where sentence of death has been passed, the sentence shall only be carried out in accordance with the provisions of this Part (Emphasis mine). See similar provision in section 368 of the CPA. The purport of this provision is that the Executioner can only carry out death sentence by any of the means provided for under the applicable statute and specifically ordered by the court. The Executioner has no discretion to exercise where a trial court complies with the provisions of the applicable statute relating to pronouncement on the manner in which death sentence shall be carried out. On the other hand, where there is non-compliance with the provisions of the applicable statute, a trial court indirectly ascribes power of discretion to the Executioner as to which of the means to adopt in executing the condemned convict. At the risk of repetition, I say, this is not the intendment of the law. Although a convict of a capital offence may deserve to die, he should be made to know the means or manner by which he would die. Leaving the convict at the discretion of the Executioner to adopt any manner that pleases him in executing the convict is most likely to place the condemned convict under serious apprehension and/or cruel mental torture.

It is obvious from the decision of the Supreme Court in Gano's case above that the Supreme Court treated the omission to specify the manner of carrying out the death sentence passed on the Appellant by the trial judge as a mere accidental slip or clerical error which can be corrected by the trial judge himself. The Supreme Court in the said case, considered the option of invoking or exercising its powers under section 26(3) of the Supreme Court Act to supply the part of the sentence which the trial judge inadvertently left out but after citing a number of foreign decisions on accidental slips or clerical errors in judgments such as the cases of Milton v. Carter (1893) A.C. 638, and Hattan v. Harris (1892) A.C. 547, the apex Court concluded that the omission of the statutory direction in the judgment of the trial court in which death sentence was passed, was an accidental slip of which the trial judge still had jurisdiction to correct.

Without prejudice to the infallibility of the Supreme Court, I do not, with the greatest respect, agree with its decision in Gano's case (supra) that failure by a trial judge to pronounce on the specific manner by which death sentence passed on a convict is to be carried out is a mere accidental slip or clerical error that is within the jurisdiction of the same trial judge to correct or rectify. Maintaining the said position as held by the apex Court, would open a floodgate for judicial dullness.

Furthermore, as sound as the decision of the Supreme Court in the above case may seem, a lot of factors render same out of tune with the realities of the current judicial system in Nigeria. I note the fact that the trial judge in Gano's case delivered his judgment on the 14th of June, 1968. The Supreme Court delivered its own judgment on 29th November, 1968; just less than 6 months interval. Surely, it can only take a miracle for this to happen under the present judicial dispensation in Nigeria! In Nigeria today, appeal cases usually take several years before they are heard or determined. In some cases, before the appeal is even determined by the Court of Appeal let alone the Supreme Court, the trial judge who presided over the case would have been elevated to the Court of Appeal, and even further to the Supreme Court. Thus, where a trial judge has been elevated and the appellate court finds that the statutory direction is missing in the judgment of the trial court in which death sentence was passed, can the judge who had been so elevated return back to his former court and assume the status of a trial judge once more in order to supply the missing statutory direction as to the means by which death sentence shall be carried out? Relying on the recent Supreme Court decision in Ude Jones Udeogu v. FRN & 2 Ors. (famously referred to as Orji Uzor Kalu's case; delivered by the Supreme Court on 8th of May, 2020, in SC.622c/2019), I would answer this poser in the negative. The Supreme Court per Ejembi Eko, JSC, in the said case, had inter alia, held thus: "I have no doubt, whatever, that the Honourable, M.B. Idris, JCA, having been elevated to the Court of Appeal, had ceased to be a Judge of the Federal High Court. Accordingly, he had been deprived of whatever jurisdiction he had as a Judge of the Federal High Court..."

Thus, it is my humble view that the path toed by the Supreme Court in Gano's case as far back as 1968, cannot be tenable in view of the prevailing realities in the Nigerian judicial system of today. It is therefore, humbly recommended here that instead of referring a case back to a trial judge to incorporate the missing statutory direction in his judgment as was done by the Supreme Court in Gano's case (supra), the Supreme Court should either void the sentence on ground of non-compliance with the provision of the applicable statute or remedy same by invoking its powers under the Supreme Court Act to supply the missing statutory direction which the trial judge omitted to incorporate in his judgment. The Court of Appeal should also follow this line of recommendation if faced with similar issue.

Apart from the Supreme Court decision in Gano's case (supra), it appears that there is no other judicial pronouncement on the issue under discourse. The reason for this is not far-fetched: Defence attorneys in capital offences in Nigeria majorly appeal against the conviction of their clients and not the sentence. This approach of appealing against convictions and not the sentence in capital offences by defence attorneys is justified on the altar of the fact that when the verdict of a trial court convicting an offender of a capital offence is annulled on appeal, the sentence also falls like a pack of wood, but when the conviction is sustained or affirmed on appeal, annulment of the sentence alone may not earn the convict total freedom from the Hangman's Den!

On the whole, I am of the strong opinion that even though the Supreme Court in Gano's case (supra) did not expressly state that a trial judge must pronounce the manner in which death sentence shall be carried out, its decision to refer the case back to the trial judge to incorporate the missing statutory direction in his judgment implies that it is mandatory for a trial judge to comply with the statutory stipulation in that regard. If compliance with the provision of the statute in this regard is not mandatory, the Supreme Court wouldn't have referred Gano's case back to the trial Judge to supply the missing statutory direction on the manner in which the death sentence passed on the convict should be carried out!

In the final analysis, I hold the firm view that the answer to the poser raised in the title of this article is: Yes, a trial judge is bound to pronounce the specific manner in which the sentence of death passed on a convict shall be executed or carried out in line with the provision(s) of the applicable statute in Nigeria.

(S.O. Akobe, Esq. can be reached via [email protected])
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It is not an overstatement to say that Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom in his description of the removal of history as a subject from secondary and primary school curriculum by the federal government as evil, has aptly and unmistakably hit the bullseye.

The governor described the removal of the subject as such while speaking on Friday, May 14, 2021, in Makurdi, the state capital, and assured that Benue State will legislate a solution for the teaching of history even if it is for internal consumption of knowledge about how the people of the state came to occupy what is today called Benue.

He said, Removing history from our curriculum is an evil agenda. So, in our schools here even if we do it and it is not accepted for examinations to be conducted at the level of SSCE, lets do Mock Exams, this will be within us. Because we must know our history, we must know how we came here.

He added, We must know when we sojourned here and know people that came to join us. We must know what happened in 1800. All these are very important. If we dont do it, we have failed as a generation and posterity will not forgive us, and in the same vein instructed that vernacular should be taught in Benue schools beginning from next academic session  September 2021 along with History as core subjects.

He explained that the removal of history studies from primary and secondary schools curriculum became effective from the 2009/2010 academic session with the Federal Government launching a new curriculum known as the New Basic Education Curriculum for primary and junior secondary schools.

As gathered, Ortoms call did not go down well with some spectrum of his critics who described the reasons given by the governor for the need to reintroduce the subject as mere excuses.

To those that are opposed to his view, one cannot blame them as their challenge with history cannot be farfetched. As commonly known, history is a subject that many find boring to study as it requires a lot of reading and cramming to pass in examination. Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not in any way a surprise that most people see the subject as a waste of time. But there is more to studying history than meets the eye.

It is not an exaggeration to say that there is no auspicious time for the subject to be reintroduced in secondary and primary school curriculums than now that some ethnic groups do not know their relationships with other tribes any longer. Some ethnic groups do not even know their boundaries with others any longer so much so that they now herd their cows into the farmlands of others; ignorantly or erroneously thinking that ethnic composition of Nigeria is identical.

History is important to study because it is essential for all of us in understanding ourselves and the world around us. There is a history of community across the country as no one fell from the sky. There is no denying the fact that to know and understand history is absolutely necessary, even though the results of historical study in some cases are interpreted from different perspectives by historians.

History gives us a very clear picture of how the various aspects of society, such as technology, governmental systems, and even society as a whole, worked in the past so we understand how it came to work the way it is now.

We all are no doubt living in the present and we plan for the future, but how do we understand where we are going and what progress looks like? To know exactly where we are going, there is an urgent need to understand where we have variously come from to congregate as Nigerians.

Through history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed. It is not an exaggeration to say that the rich history of Nigeria will help us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today.

Developing knowledge of history means developing ones knowledge of all different aspects of life even as children can learn about the pillars upon which different civilizations were built, including cultures and people different from their own. There is no denying the fact that all this knowledge will make them more rounded people who will be better prepared to learn in all their academic subjects.

In all modesty, permit me to sound personal at this juncture by recalling that throughout my secondary school days at Oghada Grammar School, and later Uhi Grammar School in the defunct Bendel State that I was taught topics in West African History that cut across Oyo Empire, Ghana Empire, Songhai Empire and Mali Empire among other notable empire in West Africa. Further study of the subject in secondary school exposed me to historiography and historical skills, trans-Saharan trade, including origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa. Islam in West Africa was taught with emphasis on its introduction, spread and effects. Other topics were European contact with West Africa, trans-Atlantic slave trade, Christian missionary activities in West Africa and scramble for and partition of West Africa. In the same vein, topics such as colonial rule in West Africa, problems of Independent West African States, West Africa and International Organizations, women and authority in West African history and the environment in West African history were studied. The study of history back in the secondary school unarguably inspired some us that we resorted to bearing pseudonyms like Mansa Musa, Marijata, Osei Tutu among other names.

Without recourse to self-adulation in this context, it is expedient to share my experience that history as a subject helped me to become a better informed citizen that I am today. History has continued to show me who we are as a collective group of people that congregate in a geographical expanse of land called Nigeria, and being informed of this has been a key element to the development of my political worldview, and has in no small measure been of help to me in my job as a Journalist. The knowledge has no doubt been of help to me in taking active role in political forum through educated debates and by refining my core beliefs.

It is expedient to note at this juncture that the need to reintroduce history as a subject to the curriculum of both primary and secondary schools cannot be farfetched as through the knowledge that is inherent in it, most Nigerians can change their old belief systems, particularly about tribes or ethnic groups.
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Biafra Nations League, BNL, has directed it's members and supporters in the Gulf of Guinea to defend themselves if attacked by Forces from Cameroon or Nigeria, a statement jointly signed by the National Leader of BNL, Princewill Chimezie Richard, Deputy National Leader, Ebuta Akor Takon, the Chief of General Staff, Linus Essien and Chief Head of Operations, Henry Edet BNL said their activities especially in Bakassi Peninsula will be tough compared to what is happening in other Biafra towns.

They said President Mohammadu Buhari and his counterpart in Cameroon, Paul Biya both of whom are half dead are two old men who believes in the use of military might to clamp down on peaceful movement despite being close to their graves, BNL however have warned Cameroon to stay clear of their activities and cease from attacking their members or the militia loyalists of BNL will invade Douala, a French speaking town should BIR attack it's members again.

The group also displayed video some masked men suspected to be Militias in Bakassi Peninsula under their control. They have placed ban on all foreign vessel from entering Nigeria including Cameroon from May 30.
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Until the philosophy which hold one race superior

And another inferior

Is finally and permanently

Discredited and abandoned

Everywhere is war

Me say war

That until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation

Until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes

Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all

Without regard to race

Dis a war

That until that day, dream of lasting peace, world citizenship

Rule of international morality

Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained

Now everywhere is war

War

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola

In Mozambique, South Africa

Sub-human bondage have been toppled, utterly destroyed

Well, everywhere is war

Me say war

War in the east

War in the west

War up north

War down south

War, war

Rumours of war

And until that day the African continent will not know peace

We Africans will fight, we find it necessary

And we know we shall win, as we are confident

In the victory

Of good over evil

Good over evil, yeah

Good over evil

Good over evil, yeah

Good over evil

Good over evil, yeah

Bob Marley's 'WAR'

It is one of those stories, that just comes and goes, but in reality it is a reflection of this nation, no one in authority takes note, huffs and puffs, it all goes the way of many a Nigerian episode, so after many days, the Nigerian Army finally broke their silence that an investigation has been opened into the 'alleged' killing of a watermelon seller in Zamfara State by one of its personnel.

It was gathered that trouble started after the soldier refused to pay for the goods he bought from the fruit seller which were worth N300. The fruit seller, identified as Abdulkadir Musa, was shot dead after demanding the soldier make payment for the fruit he bought.

Narrating the incident, the father of the deceased, Alhaji Mustafa Musa said two soldiers visited his sons stand and bought a bunch of bananas but wanted to take another one for free which was rejected by his now-dead son.

He narrated that it was during the squabble that ensued that one of the soldiers shot his son.

They bought a bunch of bananas for N300 and instead of taking the one they paid for, they also took another one and wanted to go with it, but my son did not allow them to do so.

When they insisted that they must go with the bunches of bananas, the fruit vendor rushed to the police station, which was very close to the scene of the incident, and reported the case and the two soldiers were arrested, but they were released shortly after.

Mustafa added that immediately the soldiers were released, one of them went home, fetched a gun and returned to the scene and shot the fruit vendor.

My son was shot in the back and we took him to the Yariman Bakura Specialist Hospital, but unfortunately, he lost his life, Mustafa narrated.

Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Army in a statement on Tuesday by its spokesperson, Brigadier-General Mohammed Yerima said the killing of the fruit seller was regrettable.

Though he didnt reveal the identity of the soldier involved in the saga, Yerima commiserated with the family of the dead fruit seller. The above is most likely the end of the story, however below are two paragraphs that helps one understand that there are unseen hands in almost all matters concerning Nigeria; the village people!

The matter almost closed, becomes all but funny when the General Officer Commanding 8 Division, Maj Gen Usman Yusuf, commissions an investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to the altercations which eventually claimed Musa's life with a rider that "as efforts are ongoing to arrest the perpetrator".

The army wishes to state clearly that, the alleged perpetrator, once identified will be subjected to a thorough investigation and if found wanting, will be made to face the full wrath of the law in accordance with extant provisions.

There will be war, war as long as we allow such tragic mishaps go unpunished, as our leaders and those that should know and do better, act like there is an unseen force that often than not insists that we refuse to do the right thing.

Moving forward, the arson, killing, maiming all targeted at police stations, check points, security personnel and lately electoral offices in the South East and South South has intensified, the two suspects are the Independent Peoples Of Biafra led Eastern Security Network, and Unknown Gunmen, yet a truck loaded with live ammunition fell in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra state Sunday morning last week

The lorry, a Mercedes 911 brand, fell somewhere along Awka Road area of the commercial town and spilled its contents all over the area and parts of ShopRite area. The truck was moving the goods out of Onitsha to a yet-to-be identified location when the driver lost control, skidded off the road and fell into a gutter.

The driver and his conductor after sustaining minor injuries tried to evacuate and conceal the content of the truck but they could not do much before daybreak when some police operatives arrived at the scene and discovered the truck was laden with live bullets. The police called for backup and arrested the truck driver while the conductor escaped.

When contacted, the state police public relations officer, Ikenga Tochukwu said, I can confirm that a truck fell somewhere at Awka Road in Onitsha. But I dont know what it is carrying.

Village people everywhere, they make it impossible for anything to make sense, nothing really makes sense, with all the tension in that part of the country, the police PRO does not know what the truck is carrying, weeks after the story would be tales by moonlight, truck, driver, bullets all would be forgotten.

In Akwa Ibom state alone the police have lost 21 officers due to gun attacks in the state, lost 11 vehicles and seven firearms and trucks are laden with bullets, the stories are no different in the other side of the hood called Nigeria.

So finally armed robbers attacked the home of the President's Chief of Staff, situated in what is supposedly the safest place in Nigeria today, they packed monies and other valuable assets that we will never be told how valuable they are, it was not long ago that family members were at war over who was in charge, and gunshots were heard in the same villa, that happened after rats had also been part of the party at the villa too. No one is held accountable or responsible; hallmarks of leadership in Nigeriavillage people are at it.

So, the First Lady had also inundated us about the state of affairs of the Villa clinic, and this is one place that gets several billions in budget, when it is not buying new computer laptops, it gets millions for feeding, or millions for diesel to power the villa...yet according to Femi Adesina evil forces (aiye) are at fault for the misfortunes plaguing President Muhammadu Buharis regime and Nigeria at large.

Village people get hand for our matter, these are no ordinary times, after all it was former presidential spokesperson Rueben Abati that alleged there were spiritual forces at war in the villa, but really when has anything been ordinary in Nigeria, children wan write JAMB, register for NIN two months no number, after all the registration and tracking lies, kidnappers negotiate with victims daily, it has to be village people, awon aiye in the village that has made sure no political leader has been kidnapped, the village people that occupy our leadership spaces and torment our followership, are bent on sending us the wrong road, is Nigeria ready to set sail and chart a great future or will the village people have their wayonly time will tell
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Uganda is volatile now in terms of its future. We are faced with the unknown. So, this is my small talk about the future. However, its only men with guns who are likely to make peace or decide transition.

Mr. Frank Gashumba reckons that Museveni will not relinquish power to anyone, and that he will die president of Uganda. He believes in the saying of an old Irish political philosopher, Edmund Burke, who once said, those who have been intoxicated with power and benefitted from it, even if its for a year or a term, never willingly abandon it.

Personally, I beg to differ  I believe that Museveni will let someone else take over, and his next cabinet, or the one after, will reveal a lot in terms of his successor. Museveni is now an old man and age teaches one to do things when the timing is right. He has been up for a long time, now it is time to step down. St. Augustine stated, to build a tower that will piece the clouds, lay first the foundations of humility.

I pray that there is a transition to someone else soon because it will be quite catastrophic if Museveni dies in power -- A power vacuum is always a bad thing. A lot of people do not want to talk about death, but death is a must for all living things. Death is a great leveler. Funerals are just there to remind us that we will not live forever.

AMAMA MBABAZI

Museveni has built a Roman Empire in Uganda such that it is difficult for an outsider to take over from him. Constitutionally, in the event of an incumbents incapacitation, the vice president (VP) assumes office. So, whoever is going to be the next VP will most likely determine a lot about Ugandas future. Here is my theory: Amaama Mbabazi will be made either VP or Prime Minister, Museveni will resign as NRM chairman around 2025 and hand it over to him. Mbabazi will then stand as NRM 2026 candidate, win as they usually do, he will lead for one term (5 years), and then Muhoozi Kainerugaba will take over after him.

Mbabazi cannot be president for so long because he carries some dead weighthe was, for instance, the architect of the Public Management Bill that is making everyone cry now.

Here is the wrinkle: Mbabazi is not a minionhe doesnt just follow orders, and he may want to create his own base again. However, it will be a calculated risk to have him take over from Museveni before Muhoozi, but what if he enjoys the chair and tries to hang on.

I can also see a few NRM insiders opposing the new changes but Im sure they will be dealt with. The worst is yet to come, and those who will oppose the new changes will get the short end of the stick. The bleeding will stop when all factions in the first family agree to one future candidate.

MUHOOZI

Win over the military and you are practically halfway to the presidency. Muhoozi is strategically halfway there. Nevertheless, he is not really a chip off the old bloke  he is allegedly not a good listener, he loves the bottle, he has a temper and is very revengeful. Nevertheless, whether we like it or not, all signs are that his name is not Muhoozi anymore  hes the future of Uganda.

SALIM SALEH

Gen. Salim Saleh has slid into his job as a wealth creation boss, as a new glove. He is another possibility to take over from the brother, though he doesnt look so interested in the presidency.

GEN. KAYIHURA

I can see Gen. Kayihura bouncing back in some role either in cabinet or something else. Im sure he still feels that he has a role to play in Ugandas politics. Julius Caesar used to forgive traitors, because he believed that an enemy could be useful if he could be pressured or blackmailed. So, I can see Museveni forgiving Kayihura as requested by voters of Kisoro during the campaigns.

GEN. KATUMBA WAMALA

He is loyal and respected across the political divide. Loyalty, like respect, is earned. I can see him retained in the next cabinet in preparation for something bigger, in case the Mbabazi arrangement does not work out.

NUP OFFICIALS

Museveni played the opposition, the threw a bait at them in form of Bobi Wine, and they took it  hook, line, and sinker. To eat a pig, you need to feed it with something. As a result, the opposition is at its weakest, and this is the time to recruit more from them. Therefore, he is so likely to give a few posts to some in oppositions, particularly in NUP, on the account of reaching out to the opposition. Sometimes in politics, you have to make unpalatable comprises. Secondly, Musevenis reputation has hit rock-bottom. So, having a few oppositionists in his cabinet gets him better optics.

He will also try to reach out to those in FDC, if he hasnt already done so, but I cant see many accepting to work with him. Those guys have stone walled hearts aka emitima gyakaluba.

If Besigye was a normal politician, he would consider rejoining the government again, but I believe he wont  he is uncorrupted and incorruptible. However, his name was so soiled by Bobis camp such that it will be difficult for him to rebuild the support base he had before. Negative publicity makes any politician vulnerable and desperate, but I can see Besigye soldiering on, even if it means standing alone against Museveni.
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Similar to Chinua Achebe who in his booklet entitled; the Trouble With Nigeria, noted that the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership, Raymond Anoliefo, Priest and Director, Justice Development and Peace Commission,(JDPC), Lagos, a social justice arm of the Catholic church that monitors social, economic, political and public leadership-related activities in the country, seemed to have made a comparable but prophetic statement on Saturday October 22, 2018, in Maryland, Lagos, during the celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace, when he remarked that the greatest tragedy of our time without a shadow of the doubt is the fact that ours is a nation which is regrettably laden by poor leadership.

He also stated that our country Nigeria is a awash with captivating development visions, policies and plans, but impoverished leadership and corruption-induced failure of implementation of development projects on the part of the political leaders is responsible for the under-development in the country; noting that no nation best typifies a country in dire need of peace and social cohesion among her various sociopolitical groups than Nigeria as myriads of sociopolitical contradictions have conspired directly and indirectly to give the unenviable tag of a country in constant search of social harmony, justice, equity, equality, and peace.

looking at the happenings/occurrences in the country at the very moment orchestrated by leadership challenge he complained about four years ago, coupled with elite failure to speak up the truth and tell the truth to their communities, Anoliefoworries have become not just a word made flesh but a prophesy of foreknowledge and of denunciation. As we know, while prophecy of foreknowledge foretells what is certain to come, that of denunciation tells what is to come if the present situation is not changed; both acting as information and warning respectively.

Aside from the fact that his warnings was supported with mountains of evidence about how seriously off track the present administration in the country was taking the nation with their deformed policies, ill-conceived reforms and strategies, this piece believes that for reason, there is urgent need to further subject such thought shared by the cleric on that day, at that time and in that place, to a holistic analysis as it is laced with valid solutions that if implemented, holds the keys to re-engineering sustainable peace and development in the country.

Lets begin with concern on insecurity in the country.

He captured it this way; The greatest and immediate danger to the survival of the Nigerian state today is the unwarranted, senseless, premeditate, well organized and orchestrated killings across the country-from Benue to the Plateau, Taraba to Zamfara, Enugu to Ebonyi, Kogi to Edo, Ekiti to Ondo, where Nigerians are cut down at will, babies ripped from their mothers wombs, houses destroyed and burnt down, particularly when all the time the killers are never apprehended, even when they make self implicating statements about such killings.

The countrys economy he added has shown its inability to sustain any kind of meaningful growth that promotes the social welfare of the people. The result can be seen in the grinding poverty in the land (eighty percent of Nigerians are living on less than two dollars per day - according) to the African Development Bank (AFDB) 2018 Nigeria Economic Outlook. Nigeria is ranked among the poorest countries in the world. Sadly, according to a report from Brookings Institute, Nigeria has already overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extremely poor in early 2018 in the world. At the end of May 2018, Brookings institutes trajectories suggest that Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty, compared with Indias 73 million. What is more, extreme poverty in Nigeria is growing by six people every minute.

In Education, 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, the highest in the world. Our industries continue to bear the brunt of a negative economic environment. As a result, job losses and unemployment continue to skyrocket, creating a serious case of social dislocation for the vast majority of our people.

The running of our countrys economy continues to go against the provisions of our constitution which stipulates forcefully that the commanding heights of the economy must not be concentrated in the hands of few people. The continous takeover of national assets through dubious (privatization) programs by politicians and their collaborators is deplorable and clearly against the people of Nigeria. The attempt to disengage governance from public sector control of the economy has only played into the hands of private profiteers of goods and services to the detriment of the Nigerian people.

On social issues, lets listen to him; Life in Nigeria, quoting Thomas hobbs, has become nasty, brutish, and short. Nigerians have never had it so bad. Indeed, while Nigerians diminish socially and economically, the privileged political class continues to flourish in obscene splendor as they pillage and ravage the resources of our country at will. This malfeasance at all levels of governance has led to the destruction of social infrastructure relevant to a meaningful and acceptable level of social existence for our people. Adequate investment in this area, it has been shown, is clearly not the priority of those in power.

As a result, our hospitals whether state owned or federal owned have become veritable death centers where people go to die rather than to be healed. The absence of basic items such as hand gloves and masks are indicative of the level of decadence and rot in the countrys health National Budget recommended by the United Nations.

With regards to the criminal justice system, our people, especially the poor and vulnerable continue to suffer unprecedented acts of intimidation and violation of rights at the hands of security agencies across the country. Extra judicial killings, lack of scientific based investigation of crimes and corruption in the judiciary contribute to acts of injustice against the innocent. Our prisons have become places where prisoners are hardened rather than places of reformation of prisoners for reintegration back into the society

Also, Nigerian workers have faced unprecedented hardship over the years as governments across the nation continue to deprive them of legitimately earned salaries and pensions. It is quite unfortunate that as a Nation we are still debating minimum wage, and not even living wage, especially in a country where every commodity has skyrocketed save the monthly take home of workers. And we supposedly have leaders who claim to have the interest of the masses at heart. Tell me another lie!!!

As to solution to these challenges, the cleric succulently puts it this way; surely, leadership holds the key to unlocking the transformation question in Nigeria, but to sustain these drive leaders must carry certain genes and attributes that are representative of this order. The JDPC therefore believes that only a sincere and selfless leader and a politically and economically restructured polity brought about by national consensus can unleash the social and economic forces that can ensure the total transformation of the country and propel her to true greatness. This will help to ensure that there is provision of adequate social infrastructure such as genuine poverty alleviation programmes and policies, healthcare, education, job provision, massive industrialization, electricity provision to mention a few. It is critical to jettison this present socio-economic system that has bred corruption, inefficiency, primitive capital accumulation and socially excluded the vast majority of our people. The only way this can be done is to work to build a new social and political order that can mobilize the people around common interests, with visionary leadership to drive this venture. Only then can we truly begin to resolve some of the socio-economic contradictions afflicting the nation. This is the pathway to true, genuine and lasting peace.

For me as the author of this piece, I have nothing new to add as the man of God has said it all!!!
Hickory Man Wanted on Warrants Arrested

By West Kentucky Star Staff

MAYFIELD - A Hickory man wanted on several warrants was arrested in Mayfield Saturday.The Mayfield Police Department said 33-year-old Christopher Evans was arrested after a traffic stop. Police said Evans had three active bench warrants out of Warren County, KY.Two of the warrants were for failure to appear on juvenile cases. The third warrant was for failure to appear on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and hitchhiking on limited access facilities.Evans was lodged in the Marshall County Detention Center.
Sam Hana said it's a great idea.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and all flavored cigars. The agency says that the proposed ban "is based on clear science and evidence establishing the addictiveness and harm of these products and builds on important, previous actions that banned other flavored cigarettes in 2009."

The 2009 Tobacco Control Act (TCA) did not include menthol in its ban on characterizing flavors in cigarettes, leaving menthol cigarettes as the only flavored combusted cigarettes still marketed in the U.S. The law instructed the FDA to further consider the issue of menthol in cigarettes.

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Hana, who has owned S&M Party and Smoke Shop in Waterford and Shelby townships for 25 years, said the ban on menthol cigarettes would have little impact on his business. He pays $7,000 to $8,000 wholesale each week for cigarettes making about $250 in profit.

"As a retailer, we only make 8% profit on weekly cigarette sales, which is about 60 cents per pack" he said. "I'm sure that when (the FDA) bans menthol, people will just move to vaping or something else. As a smoke shop owner, I'd rather sell vapes and other tobacco products that are more profitable than cigarettes. We don't sell a lot of flavored cigars either. The majority of our sales are from vaping products."

Youth Cigarette Use Rate Cigarette Use Rate Among Youth (Grades 9-12) By State (2018)

La Casa Plymouth Cigar and Lounge Christina Vega, general manager at La Casa Plymouth Cigars and Lounge, 470 Forest Ave., in Plymouth, holding a box of flavored cigars on Wedne

He added, "If I sell cigarettes all day, I'll have to close my business." He also believes that as the state and federal government seek to further eliminate certain tobacco products from the market, smokers will just find something else to smoke.

"There is always a replacement," he said. "That's how the market works."

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during 2019-2020 use tobacco products decreased among middle and high school students. That included use of cigarettes, vaping products, and cigars. The declines resulted in about 1.7 million fewer current youth tobacco users, from 6.2 million in 2019 to 4.47 million in 2020.

In 2017, the last year of data available for overall tobacco use among youth, 22.8% of Michigan high school students were using a tobacco product. As of 2019, 20.8% of Michigan youth smokers used e-cigarettes, 4.5% used cigarettes, and 5.2% used cigars.

Enforcement will focus on manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers. The FDA cannot enforce the ban against individual consumers possessing or using menthol cigarettes.

La Casa Plymouth Cigar and Lounge Shelves stocked with boxes of cigars at La Casa Plymouth Cigars and Lounge, 470 Forest Ave., in Plymouth, on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Last mon

Menthol increases addictiveness

So, why is the focus on banning menthol cigarettes?

Amanda Holm, project manager at the Henry Ford Health System Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, said menthol produces a cooling effect in the throat, making it more pleasant for users to inhale tobacco smoke deeply. She added that the menthol additive is not harmful, but promotes smoking due to its cooling effect.

"It seems to really kind of help people get over that initial feeling of not wanting to inhale," she said. "The presence of menthol helps keep that nicotine addiction going and keeps people smoking because it feels less unpleasant to inhale. Its one of those things that has really assisted the tobacco industry in keeping people hooked on cigarettes and other tobacco."

Holm added that a large percentage of Michigan youth start smoking with menthol, even if they move onto different products over time. She said menthol helps to hook young people on smoking and keeps older people smoking.

Lynn Sutfin, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), added that while cigarette smoking by youth has decreased overall, there has been an explosive rise in the use of e-cigarettes, including menthol flavored e-cigarettes.

"When the FDA removed non-menthol flavored cartridge based e-cigarettes in January 2020, menthol e-cigarette sales increased by $59.5 million to an all time high of 58% of market share," she said.

Lack of tobacco prevention and control funding

When it comes to annually allocating and receiving dollars involving the prevention and control of tobacco use, Michigan ranks near the bottom.

Although the state's youth cigarette smoking rate is 12th highest in the nation, the state spends the fifth fewest annually (0.50 per capita or about $5 million) on tobacco use prevention and control programs, which is 4.5 percent of the CDC's recommended spending level of 110.6 million.

Elaine Lyon, public health consultant with the Michigan Department of Human Services (MDHHS) Tobacco Control Program, said the amount of funding allocated to tobacco prevention and control programs has always been a major part of helping to further reduce the state's overall youth smoking rate.

"This is absolutely a concern," she said. "In Fiscal Year 2020, Michigan received $1.8 million for tobacco prevention and control programs. It's extremely, extremely low. We are getting under 2 percent of the annual CDC recommended amount. We are one of the least funded states in this area."

State Spending on Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Programs As Percentage of CDC Recommended Annual Level The percentage of the CDC recommended level ($110.6 million) that states spend annually on tobacco use prevention and control programs (2008-2016).

Despite receiving nearly $27 billion from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, the states continue to severely underfund tobacco prevention and control programs. In the current budget year, Fiscal Year 2021, the states will collect $26.9 billion from the settlement and taxes. But they will spend just 2.4% of it  $656 million  on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

In fiscal year 2020, Michigan revenue from tobacco sales was $278.39 million, according to the CDC. Michigan received an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue from the tobacco settlement payments and taxes, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Of this, the state allocated only $1.6 million, third-lowest in the nation, to tobacco prevention and control programs, 1.5% of the CDC's annual spending target.

Lyon said that by increasing funding in this area, combined with more action at the state and federal level, the state is better able to enhance the work being done by its community partners to prevent and control tobacco use.

La Casa Plymouth Cigar and Lounge Shelves stocked with boxes of cigars at La Casa Plymouth Cigars and Lounge, 470 Forest Ave., in Plymouth, on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Last mon

She added that although Michigan is working well with the tobacco prevention and control dollars it receives, it's very difficult to counteract the millions poured into advertising by tobacco companies.

Tobacco companies spend $9.1 billion a year  $1 million every hour  to market their products. This means tobacco companies spend over $13 to market their products for every $1 the states spend to reduce tobacco use.

The lack of state and federal dollars invested annually into smoking prevention and control programs statewide also reflects upon the Michigan Tobacco Quitline call rate.

As of 2018, the quitline invested about 43 cents per smoker, compared to the national average of $2.14, according to the American Lung Association. That year, call rates for the state quit line were 4.9 calls per 10,000 residents, which was third lowest in the country, according to the CDC.

Impact on minority populations

Nationally, there are an estimated 18.6 million current smokers of menthol cigarettes, according to the FDA. But use of menthol cigarettes among smokers is not uniform: Nearly 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to 30% of White smokers. Of Michigan cigarette smokers, 38.4% are American Indian/Alaska Native, 29.2% are multiracial, 24.7% are Hispanic, 21.9% are Black,, and 17.8% are White.

According to a recent Oxford University study, from 2011 to 2018 declines in youth menthol cigarette use were observed among non-Hispanic White youth but not among Black or Hispanic youth.

Holm said menthol cigarette and cigar smoking among minority populations is a big problem in Michigan as well. As of 2017, 36% of all youth smokers were Black or Hispanic.

"One of things that I want to highlight is the flavor prohibition that extends to cigars," said Holm. "That is an underemphasized part of this. That's a real good step as far as reducing tobacco use among African Americans. Menthol has been heavily marketed to African Americans and other oppressed and marginalized groups. Removing that component I think will give people a better shot at quitting tobacco."

Sutfin said the Black community, especially, has also been targeted with menthol cigarette and flavored cigar tobacco industry marketing for decades.

"In the 1950s, less than 10% of Black smokers used menthol cigarettes; today, that number is just under 90%," she said. "Menthol cigarettes continue to be heavily advertised, widely available and priced cheaper in Black communities. This same strategy has been used to target Black youth with marketing for cheap, flavored cigars and, as of 2020, cigars were the most commonly used tobacco product among Black high school students."

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, some factors that may affect smoking prevalence among American Indian/Alaska Native populations includes sacred tobaccos ceremonial, religious, and medicinal roles in Native culture, which may affect attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors toward commercial tobacco use. Also, tobacco sold on tribal lands is typically not subject to state and national taxes, which reduces costs. Lower prices are connected with increased smoking rates.

For Hispanics, research shows that acculturation plays a role in smoking prevalence and that it's actually higher among Hispanics who were born in the United States.

"The same is true for Hispanic youth where tobacco advertising infiltrates the community," she said. "Cigarette brand names such as Rio and Dorado have been heavily advertised and marketed in the community including advertisements in Hispanic publications; the tobacco industry has contributed to Hispanic political organizations, cultural events, arts and education in the community."

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDAs Center for Tobacco Products, said even though progress has been made in getting people to stop smoking over the past 55 years, that progress hasnt been experienced by everyone equally.

The agency says that this ruling will "especially benefit groups that are far more likely to use such products such as young people, Black communities, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

These flavor standards would reduce cigarette and cigar initiation and use, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity by addressing a significant and disparate source of harm," he said. "Taken together, these policies will help save lives and improve the public health of our country as we confront the leading cause of preventable disease and death.

Following the rule-making process, Holm is wondering whether the FDA will decide to ban menthol in all tobacco products, not just in cigarettes that are marketed as having menthol.

"Menthol is in tobacco products that aren't specifically marketed as menthol," said Lyon. "It will be great if menthol really has to come out of all the tobacco products, not just cigarettes. I hope that this will be considered. This will all play out in the rule-making product."
WASHINGTON (AP)  Jill Biden says finally going mask-free feels like "we're moving forward." A Republican senator says going unmasked "certainly helps the flow of conversation."

But the conversation on the House floor on Friday approached sniping as lawmakers objected to being required to keep masking up until all 435 of them get their COVID-19 shots.

Across Washington, the government is adjusting to new federal guidance easing up on when masks should be worn.

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"So much for following the science," Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., a urologist, said after complaining that he'd have to put his mask back on after his House floor speech despite being fully vaccinated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that fully vaccinated people  those who are two weeks past their last required dose of a COVID-19 vaccine  can stop wearing masks outdoors in crowds and in most indoor settings. Partially vaccinated or unvaccinated people should keep wearing masks, the guidance says.

But on Capitol Hill, lawmakers have to keep wearing masks on the House floor, according to a memo from the Office of the Attending Physician, Dr. Brian Monahan.

"The present mask requirement and other guidelines remain unchanged until all Members and Floor staff are fully vaccinated," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a memo to her Democratic colleagues. "Returning the Capitol to the welcoming and safe venue that it has been requires us to not only secure it physically but to make it safe from the virus."

Recent surveys suggest that about 1 in 4 House lawmakers are not fully vaccinated.

Lawmakers can remove their masks while on the House floor to make speeches, but must mask up after they finish. They are, however, free to resume "pre-pandemic activities" elsewhere in the House complex of office buildings and public spaces.

In the Senate, Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Joni Ernst of Iowa were among senators who didn't hesitate to remove their masks as soon as they heard the news. They were seen entering the Senate chamber Thursday marveling at being mask-free and calling out, "Freedom!"

Senate leadership has not commented on the updated mask guidance, which came down as Biden and a group of Republican senators discussed infrastructure in the Oval Office.

"So we all looked at each other ... we took all of our masks off," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told Fox News on Friday. "It felt very freeing, and we had a great discussion after that. We all felt good about it, and it certainly helps the flow of conversation."

It was a much different scene Friday at the White House.

Reporters caught up with President Joe Biden as he made an unannounced appearance on the White House driveway to pose for photos with a departing staff member. Asked if he was enjoying his first workday without a mask, Biden replied "yes" as he reentered the West Wing.

For the first time in about a year, reporters went barefaced as they questioned White House press secretary Jen Psaki at the daily briefing.

After the CDC guidance went out, Psaki said, staff were immediately notified by email that they could stop wearing masks, including in meetings with Biden. Similar guidance was issued to the White House Correspondents' Association, which dropped its mask requirement for journalists on the premises.

Psaki said it may take a few days to put the new guidelines in place across government and figure out whether it means additional staff  many of whom have been working remotely  will be allowed onto the White House campus.

"We're eager to get back to a version of normal, but we need a little bit of time to implement it and also to review additional steps," Psaki said.

Some government departments didn't need any time figuring it out.

The Pentagon announced Friday that fully vaccinated Defense Department personnel no longer need to wear masks indoors or outdoors at DOD facilities.

Updated guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services said "fully vaccinated federal employees, fully vaccinated onsite contractors and fully vaccinated visitors to federal buildings are no longer required to wear masks."

Mask-wearing remained in force at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture as it reopened Friday. Jill Biden stopped in to greet the staff and said the relaxed mask guidance feels as though "inch by inch we're moving forward" against the pandemic.

The Smithsonian said it would keep mask requirements in place for anyone over age 2 while it reviews the new guidance.

During a House Republican caucus leadership vote, most members didn't wear masks, and several reporters removed them as well following guidance from the Capitol physician that said vaccinated people don't have to wear them in the hallways.

Some Republicans addressed the issue from the House floor.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, criticized Democrats for having argued that Republicans weren't following the science. He said it's Democrats who now are guilty of that.

"The House of Representatives has leadership who are claiming that we need to follow the science, refuses to do so," Gohmert said, seeming to refer to Pelosi. "But we're hoping we'll eventually get people here, at least the majority, to follow the science."

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Kevin Freking and Brian Slodysko contributed to this report.

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Michigan mask mandates lifted for fully vaccinated indoors and outdoors Michiganders who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be required to wear masks indoors or outdoors. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made the annou

+2 CDC: Fully vaccinated people can largely ditch masks indoors WASHINGTON (AP)  In a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eased mask-wearing gui
As Dartmouth College sophomore Nicholas Sugiarto flipped through the course catalog last semester, two words caught his eye: "Asian American."

The 19-year-old Chinese Indonesian American didn't know Asian American-focused classes were even an option at the Hanover, New Hampshire, campus. The biomedical-engineering major ended up enrolling in "Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature" and now wishes he could minor in Asian American Studies.

"I never realized how long and storied the history of Asians in America has been," Sugiarto said. "You also hear about stories that just never made the news or never made it into the standard AP U.S. history textbooks."

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That feeling of being seen resonates now more than ever for Asian American and Pacific Islander students and faculty at college campuses around the country. For all the "Stop AAPI Hate" hashtagging, accounts keep emerging of new incidents of Asian Americans being coronavirus scapegoats or made to feel like foreigners in their own country.

Ongoing anti-Asian attacks along with the March massage business shootings in Georgia that left six Asian women dead have provoked national conversations about visibility.

The debate has renewed an appetite at some colleges for Asian American Studies programs. As student diversity grows, so does the desire for representation in the syllabus. But qualified professors of color say such programs won't last if they aren't being offered permanent decision-making power.

Inspired by his literature class, Sugiarto added his signature to the nearly 1,000 on a petition calling on Dartmouth to establish an Asian American Studies major, a challenge that's been brought to the Ivy League school on and off for four decades.

Sugiarto and his classmates hope this time will be different given recent events.

Eng-Beng Lim, the Dartmouth professor who taught Sugiarto's class, said the petition gained momentum after the massage business killings, and even fueled discussions with administrators.

Those talks recently stalled, though Lim still described it as a "promising and critical impasse."

"When U.S. universities refuse to support Asian American Studies that are framed in a way that we have framed it, it's really a missed opportunity to think about how we might have a more nuanced understanding of American racism beyond binary terms of Black and white," Lim said.

Pawan Dhingra, a professor at Amherst College and the incoming president of the Association for Asian American Studies, said he is aware of a few other East Coast schools either considering Asian American Studies or renewing their commitment to it.

"A lot of ethnic studies programs grew out of student demand during key inflection points in American history," Dhingra said. "This is an inflection point. The push for ethnic studies  in this case Asian American Studies  fits the tradition of how these programs come to be. It's rarely the brainchild of administrators or faculty."

The concept of ethnic studies is believed to have started in California, where it became state law in August that California State University students take one ethnic studies course to graduate.

In 1968, students of color at San Francisco State University, which was named San Francisco State College at the time, joined Black classmates demanding a curriculum that wasn't just Euro-centric. What followed was five months of protests  the longest student strike in U.S. history  and hundreds of arrests.

In March 1969, after intense negotiations, the university officially launched a College of Ethnic Studies. Other schools also devised similar programs.

Alumni who were on strike 53 years ago see parallels with today's "Stop Asian Hate" rallies, said Mai-Nhung Le, chair of San Francisco State University's Asian American Studies program. Young Asian Americans are again demanding classes relevant to them  not just history but everything from popular culture to environmental justice.

But while the backdrop in the '60s was the Vietnam War, today it's "two concurrent pandemics": COVID-19 and structural racism, Le said.

Establishing an Asian American Studies department is one thing  nurturing it is another. Ethnic studies programs are on shaky ground if schools don't recruit instructors who can plan courses and mentor students.

Of more than 428,000 faculty who were tenured or on tenure-track at degree-granting institutions nationwide in 2019, 70% were white, 11% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 5% were Black, and 5% were Latino. Native Americans and Alaska Natives comprised just 0.4%, according to data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics.

A furor erupted at Dartmouth in 2016 when Aimee Bahng, an assistant English professor, was denied tenure. She had unanimous support from a departmental committee but not with higher-ranking campus officials. The rejection came as students were making another push for Asian American Studies. Bahng had even started planning potential classes.

She recalls receiving hundreds of sympathetic messages from female academics in the U.S. and abroad.

"I had an electronic folder of just women or women of color who had been denied tenure," said Bahng, who now teaches at Pomona College. "It was amazing but also depressing. ... I always know when it's tenure-denial season because I still get a handful of emails."

Dartmouth freshman Anais Zhang, 18, never gave Asian American Studies much thought until she was assigned to write about it for the school newspaper after the Atlanta-area massage business shootings. In her research, Zhang learned of all the attempts to start a program that ultimately went nowhere. It left her frustrated.

"I talked to a lot of my friends about the article and my shock at how we really don't have an institutionalized program and just my reaction learning about how previous students had put so much effort in petitioning the college and hiring professors ... only to have this support trickle away and have all this progress undone in the subsequent years," Zhang said.

A lot of times fledgling ethnic studies programs decline because junior professors who aren't full time or permanent have to carry them, according to Dhingra.

"It's just creating extra labor for faculty that burns people out and it isn't able to grow because it wasn't created with enough infrastructure in the first place," Dhingra said.

At the University of Arizona in Tucson, an Asian Pacific American Studies minor launched last month. While it is an "example of the way the university is combating anti-Asian hate and ignorance," it was a culmination of efforts that started several years before the pandemic, said Brett Esaki, an assistant professor who helped come up with the coursework.

"The short- and long-term goals are definitely about stability," said Esaki, who is not tenured. "We can't just hope for another disaster to get people to say, 'You're important.'"

___

Tang reported from Phoenix and is a member of The Associated Press' Race and Ethnicity team.

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+2 DIA offers full slate of Asian Pacific American Heritage events online The Detroit Institute of Arts hosts a full weekend of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month events planned, including:
Two men were fraudulently charged a combined total of over $23,000, according to Troy police, one man from his credit card and another from his bank account.

It's unclear whether both men were able to recover the money and/or stop the charges.

In the first instance, Troy police said a man living at the 2000 block of John R. Road was fraudulently charged nearly $19,907.56 on his credit card between Monday, October 19, 2020 and Wednesday, May 5, 2021.

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The allegedly fraudulent charges mainly consisted of purchases at a Meijer's store in Royal Oak, Door Dash and to pay an AT&T bill.

The victim believes a 39-year-old Troy woman gained access to his account when he was briefly using her address when he lost his apartment in Troy.

In the second instance, a man living at the 6000 block of Tutbury Lane in Troy was contacted by his bank, informing him someone had removed $3,000 from his account in Whitmore Lake.

He immediately closed the account but the person or persons were still able to withdraw another $489 from it.

The man did not give anyone permission to access the account and is unsure how the person or persons got access to it.

+2 Police investigate theft of $13K French bulldog A Royal Oak man called police Thursday after an unknown man stole his $13,000 French bulldog from his yard.

+2 Rochester police reunite mother duck with ducklings Police officers and firefighters in Rochester worked with city Department of Public Works staffers to help some ducks that found themselves in
Cabinet allows tax break on software-related expenses

BANGKOK: The Cabinet has approved a measure to allow small- and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to use their software or computer program-related expenses as a deductible against corporate income tax due, at the rate of two times the expense in some cases.

COVID-19Coronaviruseconomics

By National News Bureau of Thailand

Sunday 16 May 2021, 10:00AM

In addition to the computing tax break, Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin has confirmed that employees of event organisation businesses, forced to suspend their operations because of the COVID-19 crisis, are allowed to claim compensation from the Social Security Fund. Photo: NNT

Revenue Department Director-General Dr Ekniti Nitithanprapas said the approval is aimed at encouraging SMEs to deploy digital technology to upgrade their operations, reports state news agency NNT.

This new tax measure will be applied to SME accounting periods for 2021 and 2022, the report added.

The three eligible expenses include the purchase of software or computer programs from software firms, payment for the hiring of developers to create software or fees paid to software service providers. All these software firms, developers or software service providers must be registered with the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA).

The new tax measure means that, besides depreciation, SMEs can also use the cost of a new computer for a tax deduction, not exceeding B100,000. When hiring software developers or using software services, SMEs can book the tax deduction at the rate of two times the cost, not exceeding B100,000.

The tax break follows the Labour Ministry confirming that the law does allow employees of event organisation businesses, forced to suspend their operations because of the COVID-19 crisis, to claim compensation from the Social Security Fund (SSF), noted NNT in a separate report.

Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin said operators of such firms are desperate, as conferences and functions have been cancelled and the firms activities have ground to a halt, due to bans on large gatherings, and they can no longer shoulder the expenses.

He explained that the prime minister earlier ordered the Social Security Office to review the law and find out if these employees qualify for compensatory assistance. Now, the Labor Ministry can confirm that employees of event organizers are eligible for compensation from the fund.

Last week, the Event Management Association urged relevant agencies to implement measures, including the governments 50% co-payment subsidy, for the monthly salaries of their employees for the next 4-6 months, or until their businesses return to normal, and for the deferment of social security contributions from employers and workers for six months.
From Paris with love at LArome by the sea

Fans of contemporary French cuisine are in for a treat with the recent opening of LArome by the sea in Patong.

Dining

By Ben Tirebuck

Sunday 16 May 2021, 11:54AM

The three-storey restaurant and bar sits on the beach overlooking the stunning Andaman sea and affords gorgeous views of Patong Bay. Its location, formerly that of popular Italian restaurant White Box, is ideal and offers a semblance of calm; close enough to the hustle and bustle of Patong without being overwhelmed.

The international LArome stable has six restaurants throughout China and two in Paris, one of which, FANFAN PARIS, is Michelin-listed. Their website states restaurant concepts based on originality, culinary authenticity, quality service and passion.

This mantra is more than apparent from the outset of my visit as my partner and I are warmly and professionally welcomed by host Micheline and led to the roof-top bar on level three of the property for pre-sunset drinks.

There the spectacular sea views and stunning sunset are complemented by a choice of deliciously refreshing mocktails as we eagerly survey our menu for the evening.

Alcoholic beverages are off the menu in the current COVID-19 climate yet this does nothing to detract from the ambience or experience as we select our dishes and head down a level to the main dining area.

Tables are immaculately presented and fully respect social distancing rules. There are a total of 40 covers on this level, the perfect number and layout to enjoy the atmosphere without feeling overcrowded.

Shortly after being seated we are offered a small delectable treat of watermelon infused with sun-dried fish, perfect for cleansing the palate for the culinary delights ahead.

For starter the tuna tartare flavoured with lime and sesame oil and served with hand-crafted flowers of beetroot and radish with an avocado puree is simply a delight; the combination of flavours come together perfectly for a light, refreshing taste explosion.

Likewise the scallop carpaccio which offers thinly sliced Hokkaido scallops with mango, alfalfa sprouts and citrus puree. It is divine and my only quibble is I want more of it!

Fear not though as the main courses are on their way. We order the dijon crusted lamb rack with red wine sauce and the 250g Tajima Wagyu Ribeye steak.

The lamb is delicious and perfectly cooked, accompanied by creamy mash potato and a selection of seasonal vegetables chosen by the chef.

The steak, however, is the showstopper for both my partner and I. Considering ourselves somewhat as steak aficionados, we have consumed our fair share over the years with the pick coming in a small Japanese steakhouse in Tokyo several years ago.

LAromes steak at least equals if not betters that offering. It really is that good. Cooked to perfection, it literally melts in ones mouth. It is so perfectly seasoned that it did not require the additional side sauces. The fact it is served on a slab of hardened Himalayan rock salt only added to the visual allure  they say you eat with your eyes and I had close on gobbled this down before it even hit the table!

Dessert managed to maintain the incredibly high standards with the rich dark chocolate mousse, miroir glaze and praline Le Trianon a true delight. As a self-confessed chocoholic, this was genuinely one of the finest of its kind I have ever had the pleasure to consume.

On speaking with Micheline afterwards, we learn that all the chefs at LArome are internationally-experienced Thais who take the concept of contemporary culinary trends in Paris, specifically from FANFAN, and combine their own ideas.

We have kept our menu small, choosing to pay attention to cooking techniques and plating design for each of our dishes, she says.

The dishes that currently feature on our menu are based on the bestselling flagship recipes from our Michelin-listed restaurant in Paris, FANFAN PARIS. Hence you can be sure to receive authentic French flavours, Micheline adds.

LArome only opened on April 19th yet clearly word has already travelled fast as it is busy on the evening we visit and there is a vibrant atmosphere in the air. The fact they have taken the plunge to open during such an exceptionally challenging time is brave and deserves huge kudos. It also suggests they are supremely confident in their offering, and justifiably so. The staff are attentive and knowledgeable and an appropriate pacing between courses is adhered to throughout.

Ongoing promotions include the sunset pinto set (selection of 4 bar food plus 2 mocktails) for B680, the 3-Course Menu Decouverte for B999 and the 4-Course Menu Degustation for B1499.

I genuinely believe the future is bright for LArome and would highly recommend a visit. Its only a matter of time before I return!

More information on LArome by the sea can be found at their website here and also their Facebook page.
Thai worker injured in Gaza Strip

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed the Ministry of Labour to provide help to a Thai labourer in Israel who was injured in an explosion in the Gaza Strip.

Sunday 16 May 2021, 10:37AM

A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, housing Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television and the Associated Press news agency. Photo Mahmud Hams / AFP

His instruction came a day after Thailand raised concerns over violence in the area.

"Thailand is deeply concerned by the violence in Israel and Palestine and strongly urges all parties concerned to exercise utmost restraint and refrain from any provocative actions that could escalate the situation and cause further casualties of innocent civilians and damages to heritage sites," the government said.

"Thailand also expresses its condolences and sympathies to those who have been affected by the violence."

Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin on Saturday said Gen Prayut voiced concerns over the conflict in the Gaza Strip between the Israeli army and Palestinian militants as it had affected Thai labourers in Israel.

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem amid a dispute over evening gatherings at Damascus Gate after iftar, the breaking of the daytime fast during the Muslim holy month.

The conflict has boiled over into other areas in Israel. Between May 9 and 10, scores of rockets and balloon bombs were launched into Israel from the Gaza Strip and the clash in Jerusalem is ongoing.

The Labour Ministry was informed by the Royal Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv that a 24-year-old Thai labourer, Sitthichok Nanam, a native of Udon Thani province, was injured from an the explosion caused by the Hamas militant group on Tuesday.

Mr Suchart said Mr Sitthichok had worked in Israel since June 25, 2017. He has been treated by using his health insurance coverage at Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva. It is unclear what injuries he has suffered.

Initially, the ministry asked the Labour Office over there to take care of Mr Sitthichok by handing out funds provided for helping Thai labourers in foreign countries, which amount to 30,000 baht per case.

It also asked state agencies to explain the situation to his family in Udon Thani.

Thailand has been allocated a quota to send Thai labourers to work in the agricultural sector in Israel.

It comes to 5,099 workers, of whom 3,100 have already been sent. A charter flight headed to Israel will pick up about 250 workers each week.
Thais, foreigners arrested for drinking at Patong Beach

PHUKET: Patong Police have arrested a group of 12 people, including Thais and foreigners, for sitting and drinking together on the Patong beachfront on Friday night (May 14).

COVID-19Coronaviruspatongalcoholcrimepolice

By The Phuket News

Sunday 16 May 2021, 09:00AM

Phuket Vice Governors Piyapong Choowong (centre) and Vikrom Jakthee (right) oversee the swab test procedure at Phuket City Police Station yesterday (May 15). Photo: PR Phuket

Medical staff from Vachira Phuket Hospital conduct swab tests on the 12 suspects at Phuket City Police Station yesterday (May 15). Photo: PR Phuket

Officers arrested the dozen perpetrators for illegally gathering in contravention of the provincial order issued to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the island, and for drinking alcohol in a public area.

Police reported that three Thai ladyboys were arrested, along with five Thai women and three foreign men.

In making the arrests, police seized two bottles of Thai liquor, two items of foreign brands of beer, two bottles and eight cans of Thai beer, four bottles of wine coolers and four bottles of soda water.

The group were sitting and drinking together along the footpath of Thaweewong Rd, better known as the Patong beachfront road.

The group were taken to Phuket City Police Station in Phuket Town, where they underwent testing for COVID-19.

Present to oversee the swab sample collection procedure performed by medical staff from Vachira Phuket Hospital were Phuket Vice Governors Vikrom Jakthee and Piyapong Choowong.

Vice Governor Vikrom explained that the provincial government had set the number of people allowed to sit together drinking alcohol to just two.

Do not have a group and drink together comp[comprising more than two people. This is because before there was a cluster before among a group of people involving alcohol that caused infections among more than 20 people, he said.

The provincial government has asked for all officers to tighten enforcement [of the COVID regulations in place] and arrest those who are really violating them, V/Gov Vikrom said.

And we ask for cooperation from the people with this particular rule to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Phuket. If any member of the public sees an offense, please notify the police so they can investigate and strictly enforce the law, he added.

Phuket City Police Chief Col Theerawat Liamsuwan said that the Phuket Provincial Police had emphasised that all police officers on the island are to strictly enforce anti-COVID measures to help reduce the number of infections in Phuket.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
RIDGEFIELD  Firefighters rescued several animals from a house fire on North Salem Road Friday morning.

Officials said in a post on their Facebook page that a 911 caller reported smoke rising from a neighbors house. Crews dispatched to the home found a kitchen fire burning, the post said. While some firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, others searched the home because it was unclear if anyone was inside, according to officials.

Several dogs were trapped inside the smoke-filled house, according to the post.

They [the dogs] were unresponsive and were removed from the house by firefighters. Once they were out, they were given oxygen and began to respond positively to the life safety measures taken by firefighters, the post read. The dogs were taken to nearby animal hospitals for medical treatment.

Tara Mercado, the homes tenant, said the firefighters saved their [her dogs] lives, but her rescued pigeon, Wilbert, died in the fire. Mercado was driving toward New York City when she received the call about the fire, but no one was able to tell her if her dogs had gotten out safely.

I was panicking, I wanted to know how the dogs were, she said, so she quickly turned around and start racing back to Ridgefield.

Three of the five dogs rescued from the fire suffered carbon monoxide poisoning but were released to Mercado, however, the other two dogs  Goldie and Drake  remain in an intensive care unit at the Cornell animal hospital getting oxygen treatments.

Goldie, a 14-year-old greyhound rescued from a Florida race track, is the most critical. Mercado said she is having trouble getting enough blood flow to her heart and there is evidence of smoke damage in her lungs.

Were hoping that she pulls through in the next couple of hours but its really unsure for the next 24 probably, she said.

Drake, the 8-year-old Saint Bernard is doing slightly better today and Mercado hopes that if he keeps improving, he too will be released to her. Mercado works at a rescue and has medical training, which is why the veterinarians released the animals to her.

Mercado is currently staying with friends and waiting to hear back about when she can pick up some belongings from the home or permanently return to it. Fire Chief Jerry Myers said the fire marshals office is investigating what caused the fire and although the structural damage was limited to the kitchen, the home will need to be restored to a livable condition.

Caitlin Duggan, Mercados friend, created a GoFundMe for Mercado because she said the vet bills, Cornell specialist care and damage to the home, will be a mountain of expenses, that would be difficult for anyone. So far community members and people who know Mercado have raised $8,845 of the $25,000 goal.

Tara would rather die than have something happen to her dogs. Theyre her everything, she said. Tara has never ever given up on an animal.
Sheriff Cooperating with Shooting Investigation

By West Kentucky Star Staff

CADIZ - The Trigg County Sheriff says they are continuing to cooperate with Kentucky State Police during the investigation into an officer-involved shooting on Thursday.Sheriff Aaron Acree told WKDZ his office will address the community after the facts of the case are released.A deputy came to the home on Gold Dust Trail about 12:30 am to serve an arrest warrant, but the suspect resisted and reportedly started swinging a piece of 2x4 lumber.The deputy fired his weapon and the man was struck several times. He was taken to Trigg County Hospital and then flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. State Police said the suspect's injuries were serious, but his current condition is not known.No officers were injured, and identities of the people involved have not yet been released.On the Net:
NEW HAVEN  Cathy Foster-Mendez, the mom of fallen firefighter Ricardo Torres Jr., gave thanks to the community Saturday at an intimate, powerful prayer vigil, telling the group, If anyone would lay their life on the line for anyone, it was Ricardo.

He was a good boy, he was a good man. He loved and cared about everyone, and a great dad, Foster-Mendez said of her son who always wanted to be a firefighter and paid the ultimate price.

The vigil was held outside Pitts Chapel Unified Free Will Church, to honor Torres and pray for his family, pray for the recovery of critically injured firefighter Lt. Samod Nuke Rankins, who is making progress in the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital and to honor another firefighter, William McMillian, 27, who died unexpectedly May 6. McMillian leaves a daughter, 5. Torres died and Rankins was injured fighting the same fire on Valley Street Wednesday during the wee hours of the morning.

Torres young widow, Erica Torres, was escorted to the prayer vigil in a black SUV driven by a fire captain, who conveyed the message that she didnt want to be photographed or interviewed by any of the numerous newspaper and television reporters present.

A composed Erica Torres, who is pregnant, stood off to the side, chatting with a stream of people and got minutes-long embraces. The couple also has a toddler.

Erica Torres could be heard thanking people for the prayers, the vigil, and inquiring warmly about Rankins condition, as he was a close friend.

Pitts Chapel is the church of Rankins mother and several of their family members. His mom, Novella Guiont, couldnt attend because shes staying in the hospital by her youngest childs side, but sent her thanks.

The small, yet mightily spiritual group of about 25 people, held hands and heard brief, healing words of church pastor, Bishop Elijah Davis and others.

Church member Lorise Brown, who organized the vigil, said she got the vigil idea because the Bible states that when two or three are gathered together for one purpose, God will be in the midst and in this case, God will go to Bridgeport Hospital and bless Rankins.

Hes off the vent and God is working miracles, Brown said.

Rankins, 28, a popular figure in the community because of his work on behalf of the less fortunate, the school children and the marginalized in society, was pulled unconscious from the burning house on Valley Street after issuing a mayday call, as did Torres.

It looked at first as if Rankins might not pull through as he suffered severe smoke inhalation  but like the fighting, determined man hes known as  turned a corner Wednesday and began breathing on his own when they removed the ventilator. Although hes being directed not to talk as his throat heals, Rankins mind is clear, those close to him say, and in a really telling sign that Nuke was back, he started writing orders for his mom on a note pad .

Retired firefighter Gary Tinney, vice president of the International Association of Black Firefighters said in another milestone Saturday that Rankins sat up for the first time. Tinney said Rankins sent a thank you for all the community prayers.

The Flaming Knights Motorcycle Club did a drive by at the church on residential Brewster Street, then joined the sidewalk vigil.

Rankins great uncle, Joe J. Davis, a retired state police captain, said his great nephew is coming along, but he has a long way to go, to full recovery.

Davis said Nuke has always been the kind of kid who doesnt mind obstacles and has the determination and skill to get around them.

Davis said Rankins philosophy has always been to aim high, dont give up and you can achieve your dream.

Another vigil attendee, Donna Santiago, said shes known the Rankins for years, and that Nuke Rankins pinned her nephew when he joined the fire service.

Santiago said helping others is Rankins calling.

Gods got a bigger plan for him, I believe, she said.

Mendez, Torres mom, thanked all for coming to the vigil, and for the comforting prayers and support from the firefighters and the community.

The support system has been amazing, she said. They say its a brotherhood and it really is.

Mendez said shes enjoyed hearing stories about her son.

Its a lot of sadness, but God is awesome to lift us, said Rankins cousin Sean Hardy, a member of the church.

Toward the end of the event, a small, spontaneous prayer huddle formed to include Torres wife and mom.

Teach us to love one another, was part of the prayer said by Sharyn L. Grant. Bring us together  Black, white, purple.

Donations are pouring in to help the family of Torres, McMillian and Rankins. As of Saturday afternoon, GoFundMe campaigns had raised $241,482 for the Torres family, $7,681 for McMillians daughter and $11,655 for Rankins in less than two days.

Tinney said the three are all part of a tight-knit group of young firefighters who studied together and worked hard to become firefighters.
Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP)  Public health authorities say a broadband call center in Vancouver, Washington has been temporarily closed because of a COVID-19 outbreak that has resulted in 29 confirmed and two possible cases.

Public Health spokeswoman Marissa Armstrong said in an email late Friday that the first case at the Spectrum Communications office was reported in mid-April, with the most recent case reported Friday, The Columbian reported.
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. (AP)  The former manager of Princess Anne, a town on Marylands Eastern Shore, has been found guilty of stealing from the community.

After a two-day trial this week, jurors found Deborah Hrusko guilty of theft of more than $100,000 and involvement in a theft scheme of more than $100,000, The Daily Times of Salisbury reported.
NEW YORK (AP)  News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gazas Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a war crime and a clear act to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.

The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms, Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged a highly advanced technological tool that the militant group used in the fighting was within or on the building."

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without compromising intelligence efforts. He added, however: I think its a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.

Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.

"We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence," he said. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel provide a detailed and documented justification for the strike.

This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza, the groups executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations" and also questioned whether the assaults seek to impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict.

We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press, the National Press Club said. "Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job.

The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap. Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it an honest mistake.

The AP, based on its analysis of the armys statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks, Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. Its really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that youve had.

APs top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agencys camera offered 24-hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt somewhat safe.

The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so its less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down, Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone." the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
LIMA, Peru (AP)  After Joel Bautista died of a heart attack last month in Peru, his family tried unsuccessfully to find an available grave at four different cemeteries. After four days, they resorted to digging a hole in his garden.

The excavation in a poor neighborhood in the capital city of Lima was broadcast live on television, attracting the attention of authorities and prompting them to offer the family a space on the rocky slopes of a cemetery.

If there is no solution, then there will be a space here, Yeni Bautista told The Associated Press, explaining the familys decision to dig at the foot of a tropical hibiscus tree after her brothers body began to decompose.

The same plight is shared by other families across Peru. After struggling to control the coronavirus pandemic for more than a year, the country now faces a parallel crisis: a lack of cemetery space. The problem affects everyone, not just relatives of COVID-19 victims, and some families have acted on their own, digging clandestine graves in areas surrounding some of Limas 65 cemeteries.

The desperate lack of options comes as the country endures its deadliest period of the pandemic yet. More than 64,300 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in Peru, according to the Health Ministry, but that figure is almost certainly an undercount. A vital records agency estimates that the true figure is more than 174,900, counting those whose possible infection was not confirmed by a test.

As recently as April, an infected person died every four minutes at home or in a hospital, and hospital space has been so scarce that Peruvians have read on social media about families offering kidneys, cars or land in exchange for one of the country's 2,785 intensive care beds.

Even when cemetery space can be found, burials pose a huge financial burden, especially for families who have fallen into poverty because of COVID-19. The cost of a burial in a cemetery on the edge of Lima is nearly $1,200, almost five times the monthly minimum wage of $244.

Retired merchant Victor Coba took matters into his own hands, building graves for himself, his wife and four other relatives in a narrow space in a cemetery at the foot of a treeless hill in the north of Lima.

Coba, 72, carried bricks, sand and cement to the site, where with help from a friend he began constructing his eternal home. He and his wife decided to act after watching the news and learning that two dozen neighbors died of COVID-19.

You feel quite worried when there is nowhere to take them, and there are no pennies with which to bury them, Coba said.

Many of Perus sprawling cemeteries have grown with no development plans or government approval. They lack walls or fences and are adjacent to irregular settlements, making it nearly impossible at times to determine where they end and where the impoverished communities begin. Graves are now encroaching on the settlements.

Of Limas 65 cemeteries, only 20 have a health license. One on a hidden hill has been operating for 24 years and does not require any paperwork for burials, which cost $361.

Many cemeteries are in a state of collapse, said Martin Anampa, an official from Carabayllo, the oldest municipality in Lima. We are living the outcome of a bad planning process that they have had throughout history.

Juan Banez, 51, the father of two children, died of COVID-19 after waiting for an ICU bed. His cousin, Felix Albornoz, and other friends recently carried his coffin through a graveyard on a dusty hill to bury him in a recently expanded area of the cemetery.

In the outskirts of Lima, in the poor areas, people come to bury themselves in the hills," Albornoz said. "There is no support. The government has abandoned us.

Back in the Virgen de Fatima neighborhood, in the far east end of Lima, Joel Bautista died May 1 at the age of 45. He lost his eyesight by the time he finished middle school because of a congenital condition. He was unemployed but helped his sister and nieces around the house, which they all shared.

He was a fan of Mexican rock band Mana. Their song Corazon Espinado was played constantly during the wake, which lasted longer than expected because of the struggle to find a place to bury him.

Everything is at critical point because of this pandemic that we are going through, said Yeni Bautista, 52. Cemeteries are collapsing due to deaths from COVID, but it does not mean that they are going to deny us a space. I am not asking for a huge area, but a tiny space to bury him.
LONDON (AP)  British health workers, aided by the army, distributed coronavirus tests door-to-door Saturday in two towns in northern England, seeking to contain a fast-spreading variant that threatens plans to lift all lockdown restrictions next month.

Cases of a variant first identified in India have more than doubled in a week, defying a sharp nationwide downward trend in infections won by months of restrictions and a rapid vaccination campaign. Government scientific advisers say this variant is likely more transmissible than even the U.K.s dominant strain, though its unclear by how much.

If the virus is significantly more transmissible, we are likely to face some hard choices, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a news conference on Friday. I have to level with you that this could be a serious disruption to our progress.

He said the next stage of lockdown-easing measures would take place as planned on Monday, but warned the variant might delay plans to lift all restrictions, including social distancing and face-covering rules, on June 21.

Johnson said soldiers would help carry out surge testing in Bolton and Blackburn in northwest England, where pop-up vaccination sites were also being set up to speed the inoculation drive.

The governments scientific advisory committee says there is no evidence so far that the variant causes more severe disease or that existing vaccines wont work against it. More than two-thirds of British adults have received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 37% have had both doses.

The government is shortening the gap between doses for people over 50 from 12 to eight weeks in a bid to give them more protection.

The governments Scientific Group for Emergencies says the Indian-identified variant, formally known as B.1.617.2, could be up to 50% more transmissible than one first recorded in southeast England last year that is now the U.K.s dominant strain. But they say there is a high level of uncertainty about the exact figure.

Mark Walport, a member of the advisory group, said the new variant had intensified the race between the virus and vaccines.

The knife edge on which the race sits has just sharpened, he said.

Britain has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest reported toll in Europe. But new infections have plummeted to an average of around 2,000 a day, compared with nearly 70,000 a day during the winter peak, and deaths have fallen to single figures a day.

Restrictions that have curbed travel, commerce and daily life for months are gradually being lifted. Starting Monday, restaurants and pubs in England can open indoors, museums, theaters, cinemas and hotels can reopen, and people can once again hug friends and family members they dont live with.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following similar but slightly different paths. The Scottish government is keeping the city of Glasgow and the northern area of Moray under restrictions because of rising case numbers there.

Critics said the government should have acted sooner to ban travelers from India, which has been gripped by a devastating coronavirus outbreak.

Labour Party lawmaker Yvette Cooper said the government had not barred visitors arriving from India until April 23, a decision that let in many hundreds of new variant cases.

This was predictable but it was not inevitable, she said.

___

Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine.
Today

Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening. Scattered thunderstorms developing after midnight. Low 72F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.

Tomorrow

Isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then skies turning partly cloudy late. High 91F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
As I stated in an article a few weeks ago something needs to be done about gun violence. I suggested that we need to have more police officers in our neighborhoods especially in those high crime areas. I also said that we need more highway patrolmen or women on our highways. This is still true, but we need to do more in preventing these types and all types of violent crimes from happening in the first place.

There are some who call for defunding the police but to do so would be a big mistake. Instead of having fewer police officers, we need more to deal with the prevention of violent crime. The more police are on the street or are visible in police cars, the less likely individuals will engage in shootings on the streets or into cars, this would be the case due to the fear of being seen and caught.

Police departments need to focus more on the prevention of crime rather than just responding to crimes that have already been committed. Of course, the more officers they have the more they would be able to do this.

Based upon the drastic increase in gun violence throughout the country recently including large cities, small towns, suburban areas, rural areas, etc., it is time that something else be done to deal with this terrible situation. The increase in gun violence is occurring all the way from New York to Utah, Colorado, and states in between.

For example, within the last few weeks mass shootings have occurred in New York Times Square where four individuals and one four-year-old child were injured from a shooting. Further, a sixth-grade female student shot two students and a custodian at Rigby Middle school in Rigby. Utah. She would have shot more if a teacher had not restrained her until the police arrived.

These types of crimes are taking place in many areas across the country.

It has been reported that there has been an increase in shootings due to an increase in gun sales. This might be true to some extent but there are other causes for the increase in gun violence as well. For example, many of these crimes are committed by teenagers and young adults who are not legally able to buy guns.

Unfortunately, many of our young people are not being taught values that enable them to have a concern for welfare of others. In many of the reports on violent crimes, it is reported that some of our young people are on the streets late at night and early in the morning including some 12-17 years of age often with older teenagers. Therefore, they are being taught values by older teenagers rather than by parents and schools.

As a result, they are not taught values that they need to focus on being successful in a legitimate manner. Instead, they are learning values that tell them to get what you can when you can because tomorrow may never come. This is especially true in largely black cities where many of our young people develop a fatalistic attitude or a feeling of hopelessness for a better future, because they tend not to see a legitimate means of becoming successful.

For some, mass shootings tend to be the way of gaining attention and notoriety, because they do not to see another way of gaining attention. The more notoriety they gain from these shootings, the more others in similar circumstances tend to follow their examples.

It is a difficult situation for the television news media because they must report these crimes and the details surrounding them. However, reporting every detail all day and night tend to impress others in similar circumstances and encourage them to do likewise to gain attention. This is especially true when they report the names of the shooters and all the details about their lives.

The Center for Public Education recently reported that the black population in the United States is 13 percent, but the violent gun crime rate among this racial group is 32 percent. Therefore, based upon the percentage of African-Americans in the United States one would expect their violent crime rate to be no more than 9 percent.

Some of these values are also being learn in small towns and suburban areas as well as young people are becoming somewhat fatalistic. That is, they are not learning the values of being concerned about the welfare of others and the hope for a better future.

Therefore, parents and schools as well as churches need to be more involved in teaching our youth values that will give them hope for a better future. Churches could organize youth ministries and reach out to the community to work with youth. Of course, communities could be more supportive of organizations that are currently working with youth to help them acquire the values that they need to be more hopeful and law abiding.

Dr. Rance Thomas is a professor emeritus of Sociology/Criminal Justice, who taught Sociology for 30 years at Lewis & Clark Community College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Woman Hurt, Gas Line Ruptured in Wingo Wreck

By West Kentucky Star Staff

WINGO - A Farmington woman was injured and a natural gas line was ruptured during a Friday night crash near Wingo.The Graves County Sheriff's Department was dispatched to KY 339 near Pritchard Road about 9:30 pm.Deputies said the only person in the vehicle was 33-year-old Ashley Fletcher. She was flown to an area hospital by Air Evac.Atmos Energy was called to the scene to repair the gas leak.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Texas man was charged with a Class X methamphetamine charge Thursday by the Madison County States Attorneys Office, one of a number of drug-related charges filed that day.

Marlon H. VanHook, 43, of Austin, Texas, was charged May 13 with unlawful possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, a Class X felony.

The case was presented by the Highland Police Department.

According to court documents, on May 5 VanHook allegedly was found to be in possession of between 15-100 grams of methamphetamine, with intent to deliver.

Bail was set at $150,000.

Other drug-related charges filed May 13 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Matthew E. Bandy, 41, and Kelsey L. Henke, 30, both of the 7400 block of Old Moro Road, Moro, were charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, both Class 2 felonies. The cases were presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On May 12 the two allegedly were found to be in possession of between 5-15 grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $50,000 each.

 Michael S. Kaufman, 40, of Trenton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony; and two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class 4 felonies. The case was presented by the Highland Police Department. On April 9 Kaufman allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine; and less than 15 grams each of alprazolam and lorazepam. Bail was set at $25,000.

 Emily J. Cunningham, 42, of Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony; and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. On May 12 Cunningham allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine, and less than 15 grams of fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Janis Y. Burkhardt, 55, of East Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Madison County Sheriffs Department. On May 12 Burkhardt allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Mark E. Cameron, 49, of Highland, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the Highland Police Department. On April 27 Cameron allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Tyler M. Cunningham, 19, of East Alton, was charged with unlawful possession of methamphetamine, a Class 3 felony. The case was presented by the East Alton Police Department. On May 12 Cunningham allegedly was found to be in possession of less than five grams of methamphetamine. Bail was set at $15,000.

 Gideon T. Livingston, 35, with a last known address in Wood River, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Wood River Police Department. On May 12 Livingston allegedly was found to be in possession of less than 15 grams of Fentanyl. Bail was set at $15,000.
I was at the end of yet another fried-out-of-my-mind pandemic week when it came to me: except for a trip to the grocery store, I hadnt been outside the entire time.

I was cranky. I was claustrophobic. I needed some fresh air.

There was no time like the present to keep the pre-COVID promise I made to myself: Start visiting waterfalls. The hike. The clean air. The sound of crashing rapids. I was sure a day in nature would make my blue mood brighter. This trip would be an excellent way to spend a day indulging in some much-needed self-care.

Hopping on a meandering trail that ends in a majestic waterfall is the perfect day trip this spring and summer as experts continue to urge us to continue socializing and exercising outside. Here are some of the most regal falls around Pennsylvania.

Bushkill Falls

The private Bushwick Falls trails connects to eight waterfalls in the Pocono Mountains. After paying the $18 entrance fee (these are the only falls on the list where admission is charged), it took about a 10-minute walk to catch my first glimpse of the 100-foot Main Falls. But that quick look inspired me to embark on a two-hour hike along streams and over rocky terrain. Along the way, I enjoyed the regal although smaller Bridal Veil and Pennell Falls. Just being so close to the rushing water slowed the pitter-patter of my heartbeat.

Where: Bushkill Falls Road, Bushkill

Hours: Opens at 9 a.m. and closes between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. depending on the time of year; closed December through March

Accessibility: Descending into the falls is a lovely experience, but once you go down, the only way out is to climb the steep steps. And they are no joke.

Details: 570-588-6682 or visitbushkillfalls.com

Lukes Falls/ Buttermilk Falls

These two waterfalls are nestled in Lehigh Gorge State Park in Weatherly. Once you arrive at the Rockport Access, along the popular Delaware and Lehigh Valley Rail Trail, the hike to both waterfalls is within a mile. And the views are spectacular: Both soar about 100 feet in height, giving off rugged yet luxe outdoor shower vibes.

Where: Lehigh Gorge State Park D & L Trail, Weatherly

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: These waterfalls are both wheelchair accessible, especially when there is no snow on the trails, according to Jim Cheney, author of Waterfalls of Pennsylvania.

Details: 570-443-0400 or dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/LehighGorge StatePark

Raymondskill Falls

The tallest waterfall in the state, Raymondskill stretches 178 feet and is part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area of Pike County. Visit Raymondskill in the spring when the water levels are high. The higher the water levels, the more impressive this three-tiered falls look, Cheney said. Late spring/early summer is the best time of the year to visit all waterfalls.

Where: 917 Raymondskill Road, Milford

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: The trail is not too long, but it is steep and rocky in places, so you want to make sure you have on the right shoes.

Details: 570-426-2452 or nps.gov/dewa/planyourvisit/ray mondskill-creek-trail.htm

Dingmans Falls

Dingmans Falls is also a part of the Delaware Water Gap. Its the second-tallest waterfall in the state  gushing over 130 feet  and is just a 20-minute drive from Raymondskill Falls. Although theres a large pool of natural water at the waterfall, Cheney said, there is no swimming in the falls. But the falls meander through quite the scenic hemlock ravine. And along this blessedly short trail is the smaller, but equally as cool, Silverhead Falls. Can we say two-fer?

Where: 224 Dingmans Falls Road, Delaware Twp.

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: Less than a mile of paved trail takes you to the base of the falls, making it easy to get to. (Yet another wheelchair-accessible falls.)

Details: 570 828-2253 or poconomountains.com/list ings/dingmans-falls/1676

Ricketts Glen State Park

With 7.2 miles of trail and 21 named waterfalls in this state park, Ricketts Glen is on the must-see list. Most of the falls are visible from a shorter 3.2-mile inner loop. The good news, Cheney said, is the waterfalls are so close to each other that you will stop along the trail every few minutes to see another. As soon as you start to get tired, there is another falls to see, Cheney said. The plentiful falls may make this worthy of an overnight trip to Benton, so you can also visit the Braces Stables and Lopez Winery and Vineyard.

Where: 695 Route 487, Benton

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: This hike is not an easy one. The elevation is steep.

Details: 570-477-5675 or dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/RickettsGlenStatePark

Ohiopyle Falls

Located in the center of Ohioypyle State Park is Ohiopyle Falls, a low yet wide waterfall on the Youghiogheny River. The Ohiopyle Falls are one of six falls in the park. If you only have a short time to explore, dont leave the park without checking out the other cascading attraction, Cucumber Falls. Less than a mile away, its a gem at the end of an easy walking trail. Along the trail youll likely run into birdwatchers taking in a variety of species that include opsrey, kingfishers, and the occasional bald eagle. Experts agree, its the states most photogenic falls.

Where: 124 Main St, Ohiopyle

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: Ohiopyle falls is a short trek from the parking area, and its wheelchair accessible. Cucumber Falls also is easy to get to, but beware: The rocks are slippery.

Details: 724-329-8591 or gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/ohiopyle.shtml

High Falls

At a modest 15-feet tall, High Falls, located in Ringing Rocks County Park, has the good fortune of being the tallest waterfall in Bucks County. And its also surrounded by Bridgeton Boulder Field, 7 acres of boulders that ring like a bell when you strike them with a hammer (hence the cool name). High Falls is located down the trail, about five minutes from the rocks. The flow of this fall is fast, furious and memorable.

Where: Ringing Rocks Road, Upper Black Eddy

Hours: Open daily from sunrise to sunset

Accessibility: High Falls is an easy five-minute walk past Bridgeton Boulder Field and is accessible by a path.

Details: 215-757-0571 or buckscounty.org/government/ParksandRecreation/Parks/RingingRocks
It doesnt take much searching to find a solid hoagie in Philly: corner stores, buzzy bars and standby delis have served the goods for generations. At hoagie shops throughout the area, options range from classic Italians on seeded rolls to vegan-friendly hoagies on baked-that-day bread.

Heres a list of some of our favorite hoagies in Philadelphia:

Mi-Pals Deli

Everyone covets a hoagie secret, that corner deli that locals know but never mention because they want it for themselves. Well, brothers Tommy and Mike Palestino made it 35 years before their South Philly corner, and particularly the fiery Inferno (an imported-meat Italian hoagie laced with fat-marbled gabagool and the extra kick of a long hot), came to our attention. As for where they get their rolls, that is still a secret.

Where: 2300 S. 16th St.

Hours: Mondays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Ordering options: Grubhub and Postmates

Details: mipalsdeli.com

Liberty Kitchen

Those who miss Salumeria from the Reading Terminal can find the elusive taste of its signature balsamic dressing once again at this artisan deli in South Kensington, launched by former Salumeria employee Matt Budenstein and P.J. Hopkins of Brine Street Picklery. The must-order here, though, is the Mortabella, a moradella, burrata, pistachio pesto creation that began as a collaboration with the citys own Hoagie Dom and turned into a menu staple.

Where: 1244 N. Front St.

Hours: Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Ordering options: Caviar and Grubhub

Details: libertykitchenphl.com

Pastificio Deli

Veteran delis like South Phillys Pastificio Deli have been mentioned many times, but if you want to taste the art of the hoagie in its purest, most earnest form, you cant go wrong with a standby. Here, imported meats are carefully layered with sharp provolone and just the right amount of shredded veggies for a zesty signature with balance and bite.

Where: 1528 Packer Ave.

Hours: Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ordering options: Grubhub

Details: pastificiophilly.com

Martha

This fun-loving Kensington gastropub has always been on the avant-hoagie-garde, its vegan jawn sparked by a brilliant coppa terrine of fermented carrots, the sweet smoke of Lancaster bologna tangling with pineapple mustard for Da Dutchie. There are plenty of options for vegetarians, vegans and meat-eaters, and theres lots of wine and draft beer to wash it all down, too.

Where: 2113 E. York St.

Hours: Wednesdays through Saturdays, noon to 11 p.m.; Sundays, noon to 9 p.m.

Ordering options: Through its website and Grubhub

Details: marthakensing ton.com

Angelos Pizzeria South Philly

Yet another hot pizzeria to raise the hoagie standard by baking its own rolls, Angelos makes tasty sandwiches that are as much a draw as its pies. The shop serves prosciutto-forward options in addition to an olive oil-drizzled tuna hoagie and a three-cheese sandwich ideal for those who arent down with meat. The ordering rules are strict: call to order, pickup and cash only.

Where: 736 S. Ninth St.

Hours: Tuesdays through Sundays, 11 a.m. until sold out

Ordering options: Pickup only

Details: angelospizzeria southphiladelphia.com

Cosmis Deli

Cosmis fan base is wide, hitting high on many best-of lists, and includes Roots drummer Amir Questlove Thompson, who admitted to the Hollywood Reporter a few years ago that a stop at the deli for a honey-roasted turkey hoagie was his guilty pleasure. The shop makes both meat-driven and vegetarian hoagies with options including the Italian hoagie and chicken cutlet hoagie being very popular.

Where: 1501 S. Eighth St.

Hours: Sundays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Ordering options: Through its website

Details: cosmisdeli.com

Dattilos Deli

Dattilos Deli is a mainstay source in the Rhawnhurst neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia for hoagies, in-house mozzarella and fresh-made sausages  and its classic Italian hoagie is one of the citys best. Or, go for the delis Main Event with marinated artichokes and peppers that Craig LaBan described as practically an antipasto platter on a roll.

Where: 8000 Horrocks St.

Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Ordering options: Pickup only

Details: dattilosdeli.com

Castellinos Italian Market

We literally slice every item on a hoagie to order, so it also takes time  at least five minutes  to make one, said Cara Jo Castellino, whose self-named corner store in Fishtown is one of the high practitioners of mindful hoagie art. Castellinos hoagies are essentially still old-soul sandwiches but with smart updated twists. The Adronos, named for the Sicilian god of fire, embodies spice in a combo of hot capicola and soppressata, peppercorn asiago and cherry peppers. The Fig Pig plays sweet on salty with fig jam and prosciutto. No option, though, reflects the meticulously crafted anatomy of a Castellinos hoagie quite like the classic Italian.

Where: 1255 E. Palmer St.

Hours: Tuesdays through Fridays., noon to 5 p.m.

Ordering options: Through its website and Mercato

Details: castellinos.square.site

Sister Muhammads Kitchen

Philadelphia has a long tradition of great fried seafood sandwiches, especially in North Philly, where standbys like the Muslim fish hoagie at Sister Muhammads Kitchen in Germantown rank among the citys most popular sandwiches.

Where: 4441 Germantown Ave.

Hours: Sundays through Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Ordering options: Doordash, Grubhub, Postmates and Uber Eats

Details: sismuhammads kitchen.com

Antonios Deli

The space that now houses Antonios Deli has deep hoagie roots  its the former spot of Chickies Italian Deli, a South Philly sandwich shop that had a two-decade-long run. Antonios uses fresh Sarcones bread for its sandwiches, including its star eggplant-rich veggie hoagie.

Where: 1014 Federal St.

Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Ordering options: Grubhub and Uber Eats

Details: antoniosdeliphilly.com
A proposal from President Joe Bidens administration and the Food and Drug Administration to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars would hurt Anthracite Newsstand in downtown Wilkes-Barre, co-owner Ann Marie Bossard said.

Flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes are a big part of her sales, and she believes the proposed ban is government overreach.

I think the government has too much to do with our lives, Bossard said. I think its out of hand. It used to be a free country. Its not a free country anymore.

Several customers came into Anthracite Newsstand last week to purchase menthol cigarettes, including Wilkes-Barre couple Christopher and Tiffany Miller who oppose the proposed ban.

Youre still going to keep other cigarettes out there so its a bunch of bull, Christopher Miller said. Why are they just choosing menthol? I think a lot of people are going to lose money. Tobacco companies are going to lose a lot of money and I just dont see how the tobacco companies are just going to lay down and let this happen.

The FDAs reason for the proposed prohibition is to help save lives, stating a menthol ban would deter a new generation of smokers and help habitual users to quit.

Officials from the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also have said the ban is designed to improve African Americans health. About 85% of Black smokers choose menthol cigarettes, including Newports and Kools, according to the FDA.

The FDA made a similar proposal to ban menthol cigarettes in 2018 during the Trump administration, but it did not pass.

Pointing out there are surgeon general warnings printed on cigarette packages that smoking is dangerous to peoples health, Miller said he doesnt believe its the governments role to safeguard people and make their choices for them.

Meanwhile, the nearby City Market and Cafe on Public Square stopped selling all cigarettes and tobacco products and empty shelves remain where they used to be.

Christian Switzer, who operates City Market and Cafe, stopped selling cigarettes and tobacco because of a lack of sales with many office employees still working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and a decline in foot traffic.

Switzer continues to sell cigarettes at his City Market and Cafe location in Dallas.

If they cut menthol cigarettes, people are going to find something else. If they want to smoke, theyre going to smoke, he said. It will definitely be a major revenue loss for stores that rely on selling a lot of cigarettes.

Chris Gilchrist, who owns 39 City Market and Cafes, Convenient Food Mart convenience stores and G&G Express Marts in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna, Carbon and Monroe counties, said cigarettes and tobacco products are a large part of sales at his stores and menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars are a small part but banning them would impact revenue.

On the other hand, he said he also understands the health risks associated with smoking menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

As the owner of a chain of convenience stores, we are obviously looking for ways to replace the revenue that will be affected, Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist said he is working with Hanover Twp.-based Nardone Bros. to add pizza to sell at his stores. Most stores already started selling Nardone Bros. pizza and he said he plans to add it in every location.

Were looking for healthy ways to promote food sales as the convenience store industry shifts almost toward a quick-serve restaurant, he said. Were continuing to add food service into all of our locations as well as beer and wine sales. More than 30 of our locations currently have beer and wine.

Boars Head meats and cheese also have been added at most of his delis and he said he continues to grow food service and the amount of beverages offered, as well as selling health and beauty items.

Menthol cigarettes have been banned in some states, including California and Massachusetts.

The proposal to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars has been supported by anti-smoking advocates and groups such as the American Lung Association, the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids as well as local legislators like Sen. John Yudichak, I-14, Swoyersville.

I am supportive of policies that help to reduce the detrimental effects that smoking can have, especially on our younger population, Yudichak said. While the process to ban these products could take years, I applaud the FDA for taking these initial steps to help save lives and improve our countrys health.

Aamra Ahmad, senior legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, however, highlighted concerns that a ban on menthol cigarettes would disproportionately impact Black and brown communities.

There are serious concerns that the ban implemented by the Biden administration will eventually foster an underground market that is sure to trigger criminal penalties which will disproportionately impact people of color and prioritize criminalization over public health and harm reduction, Ahmad said.
SCRANTON  Calling Tuesdays election a critical moment for the Scranton School District, the national president of the American Federation of Teachers visited the city on Saturday to campaign for the union-endorsed candidates.

The unprecedented visit by Randi Weingarten comes amid the Scranton Federation of Teachers push to elect candidates who say they will question the financial recovery plan, restore the preschool program, settle the teachers contract and hold the line on taxes.

Nearly two years into the recovery plan, the progress and the process of obtaining solvency has led to the highly contentious primary campaign. More than 100 people gathered behind the SFT Wyoming Avenue headquarters to hear Weingarten, who called the recovery plan immoral. Using the slogan from President Joe Bidens economic recovery proposal, she challenged attendees to spend the next few days encouraging neighbors to vote for the endorsed candidates.

You build back better by building a better school board, she said. When you want to help a community thrive, you dont take away anchors and foundations.

With four four-year seats available, incumbent President Katie Gilmartin, Director Sean McAndrew, former Director Tom Borthwick and newcomers Danielle Chesek and Tyrone Holmes seek both Democratic and Republican nominations. Newcomers Chris Gaidos and Tucker J. Hottes seek Democratic nominations.

Former Director Greg Popil and Gilmartin seek both Democratic and Republican nominations for one two-year seat. Hottes and Gaidos also seek a Democratic nomination for the two-year seat.

The union has endorsed Borthwick, Chesek, Holmes, McAndrew and Popil. In remarks Saturday, the five candidates vowed to ask questions of the administration and chief recovery officer and push for fair funding from the state.

As teachers complete their fourth year of working under an expired contract, the AFT considers Scranton a local in crisis. Local union President Rosemary Boland said she asked the national office for help, which came in the way of campaign mailers, phone calls to city voters and the visit by Weingarten  a regular guest on national news networks and the representative of 1.7 million members in more than 3,000 local affiliates nationwide.

Weingarten questioned how the districts recovery plan can actually lead to recovery, as it calls for tax increases, no guaranteed raises and closing schools. The leader, who visited the citys preschool classrooms last year before the district eliminated the program, also called for the district to restore it.

The state placed the district in financial recovery two years ago as an easy out for not providing the district with adequate and equitable funding, she said. If the entire basic education funding subsidy went through the fair funding formula, instead of just new state money, the district would receive an additional $40 million next year.

Reached after the rally by The Sunday Times, candidates not endorsed by the union said the current financial condition of the school district necessitates the tough decisions.

March projections from state-appointed consultants PFM show that if the district does nothing to increase revenue and decrease expenses, the district would face a negative fund balance of $22.5 million in five years. Those projections include no raises for employees. Meanwhile, more than 40 teachers have resigned from the district in the last 11 months, many of them for jobs in other districts. Scranton has struggled to find teachers for open positions.

Gilmartin  a subject of most union campaign ads  said that while she agrees with the need to preserve the foundation of the school district, there are different avenues to that goal.

How do we maintain the district without solvency and sustainability? she asked. If were not able to keep our doors open, its game over. ... We have to keep working toward the goal of more equitable funding.

Hottes said that other candidates may have good intentions but do not provide a realistic picture of what the district faces.

I worry about the message were getting, that somehow there is an alternative to the plan, he said. To pretend we can roll the clock back and change things we agreed to years ago feels disingenuous to me.

Gaidos questioned whether the national union understands the true financial challenges of the district.

No matter who is elected to the school board, they have to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract for everyone involved that we can afford, he said.
Part 1 of 2

A teacher turned Civil War correspondent made her mark on Northeast Pennsylvania, even though she was born 100 miles away.

Susan E. Dickinson used her pen to spotlight the reality of war, the coal mining industry and other topics in her long career as a journalist. The Quaker was born just outside Reading in 1832 and moved with her family to Philadelphia when she was only a girl, according to a Scranton Republican obituary published in 1915. She attended the well-known Friends school in the city, run by the Quakers, and began teaching there when she was just a teenager, after completing her education at Westtown Boarding School in West Chester.

By the time she decided to pursue a career as a journalist, shed already had poetry and other work published in newspapers and periodicals, according to the obituary in the Republican. Both her father, an impassioned advocate of freedom for slaves, and her sister, Anna Dickinson, affected her religious and moral beliefs. As Anna Dickinson rose to prominence as a speaker who supported the abolition of slavery, temperance and womens suffrage, Susan Dickinson began finding success as a reporter.

She became a Civil War correspondent for The New York Tribune, according to a 1915 Scranton Times story about her life. She used several pen names at the time, including Violet May and Effie Evergreen. She became friends with Horace Greeley, the famed newspaper publisher.

She continued working for New York newspapers after the war ended and, by the 1870s, Dickinson came to Northeast Pennsylvania to write about the coal mines. She ended up settling in West Pittston, bringing her mother along, and wrote about labor issues for several newspapers and other periodicals. In 1894, she joined the staff of the Scranton Truth at the invitation of then-editor John E. Barrett. She also wrote articles for The Scranton Republican, Times and Tribune, as well as the Wilkes-Barre Record and the Pittston Gazette, according to information in several obituaries.

Miss Dickinson had the dauntless courage of her convictions upon almost every subject, a Nov. 17, 1915, obituary in The Scranton Republican read. She was a born womans suffragist ... and a passionate partisan of the movements for womens advancement.

She eventually curtailed her work as a reporter to care for her ailing mother. After her mothers death, Dickinson moved to Scranton and continued to focus on the needy and the disenfranchised, including advocating for Scranton teachers.

Scranton has no better known, more accomplished or respected resident, The Scranton Times wrote in a Nov. 16, 1915, obituary. Notwithstanding her more than 80 years, Miss Dickinson, up until the time she was stricken ill, was a leader among organizations of the city and in various advancements tending to make the city brighter and better.

She developed pneumonia in mid-November 1915 and died at Dr. Reed Burns private hospital, according to The Scranton Times. She was 83. Although she was raised as a Quaker, she found a home in the Episcopalian church as an adult and attended St. Lukes in Scranton for many years. Her funeral was held there, with flowers and mourners filling the church for the service led by her good friend, the Rev. John D. Skilton, The Scranton Republican reported on Nov. 19, 1915. She was buried in a Quaker gray casket in Glen Dyberry Cemetery in Honesdale.

In addition to her mother, Dickinsons father and two brothers preceded her in death. Her sister, Anna, was the only family member who outlived her, though their relationship was strained as they grew older. Next week, Local History will examine Anna Dickinsons life and ties to Northeast Pennsylvania.
A Black Brant XII carrying the KiNET-X mission launched at 8:36 pm ET. The mission is releasing vapor tracers 9-10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops, just north of Bermuda.

Due to rain and cloud cover most of NEPA could not see the launch.

LIFTOFF A Black Brant XII carrying the KiNET-X mission launched at 8:36 pm ET. The mission is releasing vapor tracers 9-10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops, just north of Bermuda.  NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) May 17, 2021

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Update, Sunday 5/15, 10:20 a.m. After six scrubbed launch attempts NASA has one more chance to launch its Black Brant XII rocket tonight. The launch window opens at 8:04 p.m.

If NASA fails to launch tonight the mission will be moved to later this year.

While weather in Virginia and Bermuda may cooperate, weather in NEPA is more questionable. AccuWeather is predicting cloudy skies with 91% cloud cover and a chance of rain.

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LAUNCH SCRUBBED! Tonight's launch of the Black Brant XII rocket for the KiNET-X mission has been scrubbed due to cloudy skies in Bermuda. The next launch opportunity will be no earlier than May 16, at 8:04 p.m. EDT. This will be the last launch opportunity for our mission.

After five scrubbed launch attempts NASA will try again tonight to launch a rocket that may be visible in NEPA and much of the east coast.

LAUNCH UPDATE Saturday, 5/15, 4:15 p.m. The Black Brant XII launch carrying the KiNET-X payload is a GO for tonight. Weather is looking great for Wallops, but we'll still be keeping an eye on those pesky clouds in Bermuda. Our window opens at 8:03 pm ET. Live coverage will begin at 7:40 pm.

AccuWeather predicts Intermittent clouds with 26% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility. Get their latest update here.

If clouds spoil our view, you can watch the launch on this NASA video feed. The feed will go live a7 7:40 p.m.

LAUNCH UPDATE 7:10 p.m. The Black Brant XII launch scheduled for May 12 has been postponed to provide time for inspection of the rocket after the vehicle came in contact with a launcher support during todays preparations. The next launch opportunity is NET 8:02 pm ET, Friday, May 14.

LAUNCH UPDATE 4:15 p.m. We're extending tonight's launch window, which now opens at 7:59 pm ET and runs through 8:53 pm. Clouds in Bermuda are a concern, but we're hoping for a break in the weather for our vapor tracer experiment. Live stream begins at 7:40 pm.

Clear skies in NEPA are expected in NEPA for tonight's 8:06 launch of the KiNET-X sounding rocket, which should be visible by looking east/southeast.

This will be the fifth night in a row NASA will attempt to treat the eastern United States from the coast to the Mississippi River and Bermuda to a light show.

Update 8:50 p.m. LAUNCH SCRUBBED: Tonight's launch of the KiNET-X sounding rocket has been scrubbed due to cloudy skies in Bermuda and Wallops. The next launch opportunity will be no earlier than May 12, at 8:06 p.m. EDT. Backup days run through May 16.

UPDATE 5/11: After a string of scrubbed launches over the past three days, NASAs rocket launch has been rescheduled to tonight from the Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia and could be visible along the East Coast - including NEPA, as long as clouds dont get in the way.

AccuWeather predicts less-than-ideal viewing conditions during tonight's launch window with 70% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility. Get their latest update here.

If clouds spoil our view, you can watch the launch on this NASA video feed. The feed will go live about 20 minutes before the scheduled launch time.

For most people, the rocket is going to look like a small dot moving quickly through the sky, similar to the International Space Station passing over, but much faster, NASA noted on its Wallops Flight Facility Twitter page.

UPDATE 8:23 p.m. :Tonight's Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than Tuesday, May 11, at 8:05 p.m. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.

UPDATE 5/10: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:04 p.m., tonight (Monday), May 10. The launch has been postponed twice due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.

Cloudy skies in the region could continue to hamper the view from NEPA. AccuWeather predicts 11% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility for the launch window.

If NASA does launch Black Brant XII and the skies are clear space-geeks will want to look east/southeast.

UPDATE 5/9: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:03 p.m., Sunday, May 9. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch. The launch window for Sunday runs until 8:43 p.m.

Weather remains a concern with rain expected by this afternoon.

Earlier we reported:

A mission to explore energy transport in space using a NASA suborbital sounding rocket launching May 8, 2021, from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia may provide a brief light show for residents of the eastern United States and Bermuda.

The mission is scheduled for no earlier than 8:02 p.m. EDT with a 40-minute launch window, Saturday, May 8. Backup launch days run through May 16. The launch may be visible, weather permitting, in much of the eastern United States from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

A four-stage Black Brant XII rocket will be used for the mission that includes the release of barium vapor that will form two green-violet clouds that may be visible for about 30 seconds. The barium vapor is not harmful to the environment or public health

The mission, called the KiNETic-scale energy and momentum transport eXperiment, or 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?

The vapor will be released approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds to around 10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.

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. After exposure to sunlight the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.

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.

Live coverage of the mission will be available on the Wallops IBM video site (previously Ustream) beginning at 7:40 p.m. on launch day. Launch status updates can be found on the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for launch viewing.

Header image: KiNet-X Visibility Map.

Keith Koehler

NASAs Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia

757-894-4152

keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov
Tall Ship Pinta Ready for Tours in Grand Rivers

By West Kentucky Star Staff

GRAND RIVERS - A replica of Christopher Columbus famous ship, will open for public tours in Grand Rivers.The tall ship Pinta will be docked at Green Turtle Bay Resort until her departure on June 1st.The original Pinta was the first ship to sight land on Columbus' voyage to the New World in 1492. Historians consider the caravel the Space Shuttle of the fifteenth century.The Pinta replica is on tour as a sailing museum. The public is invited to visit the ship for a self- guided tour. The ship will be open every day from 10 am to 5 pm through May 31. No reservations are necessary.Admission charges are $6.50 for adults, $6 for seniors, and $5.50 for students ages 5-16 years-old. Children 4 and under are free.Teachers or organizations wishing to schedule a 30-minute guided tour with a crew member can call 1-850-686-3612 or visit: ninapinta.org and click take a tour. Minimum of 15 for group rate at $4.50 per person.
Editor: The gasoline crisis created by the recent Colonial Pipeline interruption affects critical infrastructure and this cyberattack is a perfect example of why the government needs to invest in and regulate the private sector.

First, consider Texas, with its failed grid exposed during the deadly February deep freeze. Now, the Colonial Pipeline failed for several days due to a cyberattack. The Texas grid never had a decent reputation for performance but Colonial has had a good one. I dealt with Colonial for numerous years and it almost always was reliable.

However, a private-sector company cannot on its own economically harden and establish the resiliency needed to maintain national security. This is why we need regulation and government to provide the wherewithal to protect the nations security.

For national defense, if for no other reason, the United States needs to completely modernize its physical and social infrastructure. The nation lags well behind a world-class standard and is vulnerable in many ways.

HAL DONAHUE

GREAT FALLS, VIRGINIA

Editor: Climate change is a major threat to our health and Pennsylvanians already feel its impacts.

We know that carbon pollution is the main driver of climate change and Pennsylvanians are ready to cut carbon pollution now.

Thats why we must join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. This bipartisan, multistate program already has reduced carbon pollution from power plants in 11 states. We know it works, but unfortunately, some state senators want to block Pennsylvanias ability to join the initiative through Senate Bill 119. Perhaps they dont understand the impact the initiative would have on our lives.

Reduction in carbon pollution would save lives and improve overall health. Analyses conducted for the state Department of Environmental Protection estimate that Pennsylvanias carbon pollution would be cut by 21%, or 180 million tons, from 2022 to 2030 if participation in the initiative moves forward. That is equal to taking more than 4 million cars off the road. The resulting health benefits would include fewer heat-related deaths, fewer cases of bronchitis, fewer asthma attacks, a reduction in insect-related illness and improved cardiovascular health. It is expected to generate $6.3 billion in health care savings and 30,000 fewer hospital visits for respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, among children and adults.

State senators must vote no on SB 119. Our lives are at stake.

JOHN HAHN

SHOHOLA, PIKE COUNTY

Editor: In his April 17 column (Yes on referendums), businessman Chris Hackett urges Pennsylvanians to vote yes on two proposed changes to the Pennsylvania Constitution. They would give the Legislature power to rescind emergency declarations after just 21 days, with a simple majority vote.

Currently, the Legislature has that power, but it requires a veto-proof, two-thirds majority. Admittedly Pennsylvania legislators are good at many things:

 Gerrymandering their districts into shapes resembling alien microscopic life forms, all but guaranteeing their reelection.

 Maintaining their bloated membership. Pennsylvania has the largest full-time legislature in the country (253), followed by California (120), and the second-largest overall behind only New Hampshires part-time legislature (426) whose members receive annual salaries of $100.

 Accepting automatic, annual cost-of-living pay increases on top of their base salary of $90,335.

 Receiving compensation for their per diem expenses ranging from $178 to $200 without having to submit any receipts to justify those expenses.

 Keeping their pensions even if convicted of a felony, except when that felony involves executing their legislative duties, a restriction only added in 2019.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed an emergency declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic on March 6, 2020. If these proposed constitutional changes had been in effect, legislators could have rescinded that declaration on March 27, 2020, with a simple majority vote, a truly horrifying thought.

People might disagree with specific decisions Wolf made during the emergency and future governors might make different ones, but the proposed constitutional changes would create longer-term concern for Pennsylvanians than, potentially, the actual pandemic.

Thanks to the scientific and health care communities, we have vaccines to protect us from COVID-19. We never will have a vaccine to protect us from the political machinations of the state Legislature.

On Tuesday, vote no on amendments 1 and 2.

JOE HANNON

SCRANTON

Editor: The term labor shortage has been used of late by some to describe the struggles of businesses to hire workers. But it is a misnomer.

It more properly should be called a wage shortage. Most restaurants and many other businesses in the hospitality sector seem to offer wages that simply dont create a living wage for employees. People now face a variety of challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including potentially having to deal with members of the public who resist getting vaccinated or refuse to follow public health guidelines.

Rather than raise the minimum wage to something realistic many Republican-dominated states, including lawmakers in Pennsylvania, want to force people to accept those positions and wages by severing unemployment benefits or enacting job-search requirements. I bet that the legislators doing that wouldnt take one of those jobs, or even last a week at one of those positions.

But of course, thats why many of them got elected in the first place, in order to avoid that type of work.

TOM MIELCZAREK

MADISONVILLE
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
MARISSA BERGEL, Wheeler softball, senior: Bergel hit a two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning to lift Wheeler past Holy Cross, 9-7, in the Class S state tournament. The hit was part of a five-run rally in the inning.

JOEY GUARNIERI, Westerly track & field, senior: Guarnieri placed first in two sprints at the Southern Division championships. He won the 100 (11.19) and the 200 (22.73).

JOSH MOONEY, Stonington track & field, sophomore: Mooney placed first in the 110 hurdles at the Class M state meet in 14.65. He also finished second in the 300 hurdles (39.87) and second in the javelin (160-0).

MARGARET WEEDEN, Chariho track & field, junior: Weeden finished first in the high jump at the Southern Division championships. Weeden cleared 5-1 and also placed sixth in the triple jump at 31-5.

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Two members of a huge criminal network that sold near-worthless carbon credits as investments have been convicted of fraudulent trading after being exposed by The Mail on Sunday's consumer champion Tony Hetherington.

The convictions follow an investigation by police in the City of London and Hampshire which spanned eight years, followed by a three-month trial that included evidence from The Mail on Sunday.

Paul Seakens, 60, from Enfield, North London, and Luke Ryan, 33, from Eastleigh, Hampshire, were found guilty last week.

Southwark Crown Court heard they had used high-pressure sales tactics and false claims to fool victims into trading in voluntary emission credits  certificates said to allow industries to issue carbon into the atmosphere.

Going green: False claims were made to fool victims into trading in voluntary emission credits  certificates said to allow industries to issue carbon into the atmosphere

The certificate prices had been marked up by up to 1,000 per cent and they could not be cashed in.

In March 2013, Hetherington warned in his column that Seakens headed Carbon Neutral Investments Limited, which was at the centre of a network of firms marketing carbon credits. The newspaper report was produced in court as part of the evidence against Seakens. Hetherington was called as a prosecution witness.

Ryan ran one of the carbon credit sales firms, Enviro Associates, with Seakens as co-director. Enviro netted at least 368,428 from victims.

Seakens was also linked to 73 other sales firms and police say well over 30million passed through his bank accounts. He was convicted of fraudulent trading and money laundering.

Detective Inspector Paul Curtis, of the City of London Police, described Seakens and Ryan as 'greedy and malicious individuals'. Detective Inspector Andrew Symes, of Hampshire Constabulary, said 'they caused immeasurable loss', preying upon the most vulnerable.

Carbon Neutral Investments was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, giving investors a false sense of security. The FCA did not remove their authorisation until four years after Hetherington's alert.

Seakens still appears on the FCA's public register of financial advisers. He and Ryan will be sentenced on May 28.
Welsh Ambulance Service commends militarys contribution to Covid-19 effort

The Welsh Ambulance Service has extended a thanks to the Armed Forces for its support through the Coronavirus pandemic.

More than 200 British Army soldiers assisted the Trusts Covid-19 effort by driving and decontaminating ambulance vehicles as part of Operation Rescript.

Among them were 90 soldiers from 9 Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, who were enlisted on Christmas Eve at the height of the second wave of the pandemic.

Today, the Trust presented a commemorative plaque to Brigadier Andrew Dawes CBE, the commander for military support in Wales, as a token of its appreciation.





Lee Brooks, Director of Operations, said: The Covid-19 pandemic has been the most challenging period in our history, but having the military on board put us in the best possible position to face the task ahead.

We were very fortunate to have enlisted their support, and the presence of military colleagues was well received by staff, volunteers and our patients alike.

Weve enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the military, which has been further strengthened as a result of their support through Covid-19.

We were thrilled to present Brigadier Dawes with a token of our appreciation today.

Chief Executive Jason Killens added: Were extremely proud and grateful to have had the military working alongside our staff in the collective effort against Covid-19.

Their support has not only strengthened our existing relationships with the Armed Forces community but has opened up new opportunities for collaboration in future.

We hope that their glimpse into the world of the ambulance service has been as rewarding an experience for them as it has been for us.

More than 20,000 military personnel were tasked with supporting public services across the UK during the pandemic as part of a Covid Support Force.

Their support of the Welsh Ambulance Service, under what is known as Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA), has now drawn to a close.

Brigadier Andrew Dawes CBE said: Over the last 12 months, we have all faced challenges beyond our imagination.

Our resilience has been pushed to a point none of us could have anticipated.

Throughout I have been struck by the unwavering commitment of our health care providers across Wales and the selfless way each and every one of them has faced setback, loss, trauma and exhaustion  yet carried on.

We in the military are humbled and extremely proud to have been able to step up and support NHS Wales when it was needed.

It has been a genuine privilege to work side by side with our partners in the Welsh Ambulance Services during the past year.

Men and women from across the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force have been supporting the Welsh Governments response to Covid-19 for more than a year.

In April 2020, our first military teams deployed to the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust after an intensive training package in Sennybridge.

More teams followed in the summer and again on Christmas Eve and have only now recently concluded their work.

At the height of our support to the Welsh Ambulance Service, more than 100 of our people from across a range of Army units were deployed as ambulance crews, supporting more than 12,000 callouts across Wales.

I have heard some extraordinary stories from those service personnel involved.

They have all been humbled by the professionalism and commitment of the ambulance crews who deal with the unexpected and traumatic with empathy and patience on a daily basis.

We have forged a lasting relationship with the ambulance service, an organisation with whom we share very similar values, a work ethic and a sense of duty.

It has been a real honour to work alongside them.
Britain's markets watchdog is investigating allegations that Facebook defrauded hundreds of thousands of UK firms who paid for adverts on the social media site.

The Competition and Markets Authority is looking into claims the tech giant provided inaccurate figures on how many consumers an advert on Facebook could reach.

Officials have been put on alert after a lawsuit in the US claiming Facebook inflated its 'potential reach' figures by up to 400 per cent.

Probe: The Competition and Markets Authority is looking into claims the tech giant provided inaccurate figures on how many consumers an advert on Facebook could reach

The CMA's new digital unit will use its research to create new rules forcing tech giants to be accurate and transparent with information given to advertisers

Labour MP Stella Creasy has raised concerns about Facebook's advertising tactics  and has asked the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy if the UK authorities will investigate Facebook's behaviour.

Documents filed in the US case revealed that the UK's Advertising Standards Authority complained to Facebook that its 'potential reach' figure was misleading in December 2016.

In a letter to Business Minister Paul Scully, Creasy said: 'The documents reveal a worrying discussion within Facebook about internal knowledge of inaccuracy of its own data on 'potential reach'  data that is shown to potential buyers that those companies will use to inform spending decisions on their campaigns.

'I am concerned that the matters being raised...might also have affected hundreds of thousands of British businesses, including MPs, buying advertising on Facebook.'

She also asked if the Serious Fraud Office would probe 'apparently widespread fraud issues' in digital advertising.

The US legal action has been spearheaded by legal firm Cohen Milstein which in its claim says: 'Facebook employees acknowledged in internal documents that complaints about the potential reach being misleading have been made since approximately September 2015.'

The lawyers state that US marketing analyst the Video Advertising Bureau published a report on the issue in 2017, alleging the potential reach figure was inflated and even exceeded census numbers.

The legal documents say that Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in 2017: 'I thought we knew about this but we also recognised that when the self-reporting data was so different than the census, we knew we had to address it. I believe we still do.'

Facebook said of the US lawsuit: 'The allegations are without merit. Potential reach is a helpful campaign planning tool that advertisers are never billed on. It's an estimate. We make clear how it's calculated in our ads interface and Help Centre.'
British Airways is working on an extensive blueprint to move upmarket again after the pandemic, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Executives are planning 'exciting changes' from June onwards as part of a 'major evolution' for the airline.

They revealed that over the next 12 months there will be significant upgrades to catering, airport lounges, cabin crew uniforms and check-in and boarding systems.

Highlights include new digital ordering systems for in-flight meals that will reduce the number of trolleys delivering hot meals and duty-free goods on short-haul economy flights to Europe.

Cabin fever: The shift upmarket will include a revamp of business class

Long-haul passengers in premium cabins will be served food from gourmet menus prepared by chefs in new kitchens next to the runways at Heathrow.

Cabin crew will get new uniforms designed by Savile Row tailor Ozwald Boateng. And new flat-bed seats, with a door to the aisle, are being installed in business class.

It marks a huge shift for BA under new boss Sean Doyle, whose predecessor Alex Cruz was accused by investors and passengers of trying to take BA downmarket and compete with budget airlines such as Ryanair. BA said the change in strategy had begun under Cruz but the airline is now able to accelerate its plans.

Doyle told the MoS: 'Over the course of the pandemic, we are innovating and we are doing everything we can to make sure that when the customers come back to us, we are ready and they will have a great experience.'

Tom Stevens, BA's director of brand and customer experience, said: 'From booking until landing, BA needs to feel like a premium experience. Our strategy is to be a premium experience across the board.'

BA has pledged to spend 6.5billion on upgrades in a five-year investment plan launched in 2018.

Stevens, who was promoted to his new role last month, said: 'What you are seeing now is that [investment] coming out. Now we just need to keep building on it. And now we have this momentum to deliver it. Exciting things will start coming from June onwards.'

BA is in talks with a range of potential partners  including interior designers, furniture designers, chefs, drinks-makers and musicians  to upgrade its airport lounges. From this week, First Class passengers flying from Heathrow will be able to recharge before their flights in 'Sleep Pods', which are also being installed at JFK airport in New York.

Meanwhile, under BA's 'Buy Before You Fly' scheme, economy passengers flying to Europe can order food and drink from home up to five days before their flights. They can also order duty free and other online shopping in advance. The changes mean there will be fewer trolleys on short-haul economy flights because the pre-ordering system means the aircraft will carry fewer meals and duty-free goods. Stevens said: 'The idea is that you are not flying around trolley-loads of perfumes and everything else. We are moving away from the traditional image of hostesses with their trolleys.'

He added: 'The main thing for us is you can offer a broader range. People can choose at home and then we are not carrying around lots of weight and burning fuel that we don't need to.'

Critics accused former boss Cruz of damaging the airline's brand through cost-cutting, with customer complaints soaring in 2017 when BA axed free food and drinks on short-haul economy flights. Doyle replaced him as chief executive last October. He has since permanently reinstated free water and snacks for economy European flights and brought chef Tom Kerridge on board to replace M&S as the catering brand for short-haul economy trips.

The menus for BA's premium cabins on its long-haul flights are designed by catering firm Do & Co, which has built a multi-million-pound kitchen near the runway at Heathrow to cook food fresh on site. Doyle said BA is now looking at a range of ways to use technology to make passengers' experience as convenient as possible.

They include virtual queuing to reduce congestion at check-in and boarding gates so that each passenger gets a specific time to arrive at the gate. It has also set up partnership with a company called AirPortr that allows customers to pay 150 to have their bags collected from their home and checked in.

Doyle said: 'We are using digital applications to give customers a lot more convenience  such as order before you fly, order from your seat in the lounge, be ready to fly before you get to the airport.

'All of that is what we are working busily on, making sure that we are doing everything we can to look after our customers.'

BA is upgrading business-class cabins with the new 'Club Suite' seats, which have flat-bed seats and a door to the aisle for privacy. To date, 28 of BA's 250 planes have been upgraded.

BA appointed renowned tailor Boateng to draw up designs for new uniforms for its staff in 2018 but the project was pushed back over the pandemic. Stevens hinted the project could be revived as soon as the summer.

He said: 'Right now, the focus is on restarting travel again, and getting our people back to work. Then we will revisit the uniforms and look at what we can do with that.

'It is still a pretty timeless uniform but if we did move to something else it would be entirely locked in British heritage.' Doyle added: 'For over 100 years we have been connecting Britain with the world  it's our purpose and our vision. We always set high standards and we are very committed to that.'
A consortium led by Rolls-Royce is on the hunt for orders for its 2billion nuclear reactors after a redesign that means each will power 100,000 more homes.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the UK Small Modular Reactor (SMR) project has revamped the proposed mini reactors to increase their output. The factory-built reactors will now generate 470 megawatts, enough to provide electricity to a million homes.

The project, launched in 2015, aims to bring ten mini nuclear reactors into use by 2035, with the first due to enter service around 2030.

Redesign: The factory-built reactors will now generate 470 megawatts, enough to provide electricity to a million homes

Tom Samson, chief executive of the UK SMR Consortium, said negotiations had begun with potential investors to fund the creation of the mini reactors  signalling that the project may move more rapidly than previously thought.

He said it was looking for customers, which could include energy, industrial or technology companies, to operate the sites. He added: 'We're ready to take this technology to market. We're going to be pursuing orders. We're hoping to get orders soon.'

The UK's nuclear power industry has had a chequered recent past with the future of some huge plants thrown into doubt. Rolls-Royce hopes to create a nimbler solution to complement big power stations.

Rolls-Royce is the major share holder in the venture, which has been developed through a consortium that includes Atkins, Jacobs and Laing O'Rourke. The Government has so far invested 18million to support its design and 215million has been earmarked for the SMR programme as part of a 'Green Industrial Revolution'.

Samson said a further 300million of private capital is now being sought to develop the reactors, which it hopes will be located both in the UK and overseas.

The initial 'two to three' units are likely to require Government support, but Samson hopes to move to 'traditional debt and equity' to fund following orders. Last week, the Government updated its nuclear policy to open its Generic Design Assessment to new nuclear technologies. UK SMR hopes to be the first to submit a proposal to Government and regulators.

Decision: The switch from an 'armadillo'-shaped building to one with a 'faceted' top allowing the roof to wrap around the inner workings made it more efficient

Samson said 220 engineering decisions had been made in the latest designs. He said the switch from an 'armadillo'-shaped building to one with a 'faceted' top allowing the roof to wrap around the inner workings made it more efficient.

The Prime Minister's former chief adviser Dominic Cummings was a champion of the UK SMR programme, but Samson said No10 remained behind the project and it chimed with current policy.

He added: 'We unashamedly wrap ourselves in the Union Jack. This is a really proud UK innovation that we've developed here at low cost. And that's what consumers need.

'We're contributing to the Government's levelling-up agenda. We're also contributing to its post-Brexit global Britain agenda.'

Samson is running the rule over sites for factories to build the mini reactors, and said they were most likely to be in the North of England and the East Midlands, where Rolls-Royce is based. He is also studying potential locations for the reactors, which could include former nuclear sites in West Cumbria and Anglesey, where Japanese giant Hitachi pulled the plug on plans for a 20billion plant last year.

Samson described renewable energies such as solar and wind power as 'weather dependent', adding: 'We're not intermittent. These plants will run for 60 years. They will operate 24/7.'
Vodafone has hailed an early triumph in the race to supply 5G to businesses after its technology was used in pioneering NHS surgery last week.

Surgeons at Cardiff's Vale hospital in Wales performed an operation to remove colon cancer from a patient using technology that allows surgeons to assist each other remotely - even if they are in different countries.

The so-called augmented reality technology, which was powered by Vodafone's super-fast 5G internet connection, allows the remote surgeon to draw on a live image of the patient on their screen.

Innovation: The so-called augmented reality technology allows the remote surgeon to draw on a live image of the patient on their screen

The surgeon performing the operation can see these guide lines almost in real time on a screen in the operating theatre - enabling the two surgeons to assist each other with complex procedures.

The remote software was developed by British start-up Proximie.

Vodafone head of innovation Danny Kelly told MoS: '5G is a transformative technology in terms of bandwidth, capacity, speed, but it does not deliver transformation into just one industry. We're now looking at every industry.'

Vodafone already has 5G link-ups with blue chip firms including Ford, Lufthansa and Bosch.

The FTSE 100 telecoms giant is targeting healthcare, manufacturing and transport clients as it pushes into offering 5G for businesses - a market forecast to be worth just under 1billion by 2025.

Healthcare is predicted to be the biggest sector, worth 205 million, and is a sector also prized by rival BT.

Vodafone shares remain 9 per cent below their pre-pandemic price after the collapse of travel hit roaming revenues. It is this week expected to post a slight fall in annual underlying profits to 14.4 billion. Analysts expect the dividend to be left unchanged, at 9 euro cents a share.

Telecoms operators began launching 5G services in Britain in 2019 but conspiracy theories claiming it was linked to contracting Covid-19, and lockdowns reducing mobile data usage, have partially overshadowed its rollout.

Kelly said: 'Telecoms companies are migrating to become tech companies. In the past, telcos have been very, very guilty of simply selling products and services into the market, tech companies have to deliver business outcomes.

'[With Proximie] it's the start of our journey and transformation of healthcare in the UK and then we'll look to take this as a model to transform other industries. It's the first area where we're really investing and scaling.'

Vodafone hopes to turn hospitals into 'smart cities' where connected devices communicate with each other.

Earlier this year, car-maker Ford begun a pilot of Vodafone's 5G connectivity at its 'factory of the future' in Essex, using the rapid connectivity to improve the precision and efficiency of its welding.

Kelly said Vodafone had received interest in its 5G services from small firms and local councils as well as blue chip corporates.

He added that its business services would not be reliant on the speed of the rollout of 5G to the public as the connections would be established within a company's premises.

Vodafone shares remain 9 per cent below their pre-pandemic price of 154p after the collapse of travel hit roaming revenues. However, it recently raised 2.3 billion through the float of its Vantage Towers phone masts arm.

The Cardiff trial was backed by a grant from the state-funded UK Research and Innovation body.

Proximie chief executive Dr Nadine Hachach-Haram said: 'Connectivity can make a difference, it can truly save lives. Bringing together a partnership like this means you're transcending geography, time and space and bringing this together for human impact.'

Hachach-Haram said Proximie works in 'low bandwidth' environments  like operations on naval ships  but 5G connections meant detailed images could be reliably relayed.

Hachach-Haram said the pandemic had underscored the effectiveness of remote assisted surgery. 'We were able to bring experts from around the world into an operating room  for example a cardiac case in east London connected to an expert in Washington.

'It was a very stressful time, being in an operating room, isolated, in full PPE, it was difficult being on the front line. Knowing there was the ability to have a colleague who could dial in with you was really important.'

London-based Proximie, founded in 2016, last month raised $38 million from a group of investors including firms in the US and Dubai to aid its expansion in Europe and America.
Steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta boasted that he had been 'inundated' with refinancing offers just hours before a fraud probe into his ailing metals empire was launched.

The Liberty Steel owner is battling to repair the damage wrought on his GFG Alliance by the collapse of its main lender, Greensill Capital.

On Friday the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering, as well as GFG's dealings with Greensill, which employed David Cameron.

Boast: Sanjeev Gupta is battling to repair the damage wrought on his GFG Alliance by the collapse of its main lender, Greensill Capital

Gupta had told an internal company podcast before the probe: 'We have been inundated by offers to help and to finance because people recognise that markets are good, our businesses are good.'

He said 'working capital has been offered' to aid the UK business.

The SFO probe prompted a proposed lender, White Oak Global Advisers, to pull out of GFG's Australian and UK refinancing.

Gupta had planned to stabilise the business Down Under first before turning to Europe but that strategy has been thrown into doubt by the probe.


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Teachers struggle to care for turtles, tortoises and other class pets during pandemic
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-15 19:50:14|Editor: huaxia

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People queue up to receive COVID-19 vaccines outside a vaccination center in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on May 15, 2021. The total number of infected COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka reached 138,085 on Saturday after 2,269 new patients were reported the previous day, official statistics from the Health Ministry showed here. (Xinhua/Tang Lu)

COLOMBO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The total number of infected COVID-19 patients in Sri Lanka reached 138,085 on Saturday after 2,269 new patients were reported the previous day, official statistics from the Health Ministry showed here.

Out of the total number reported since the first local patient was detected in March last year, 110,108 patients had recovered and been discharged from hospitals.

A total of 923 deaths have been reported from the virus.

Sri Lanka is presently in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic after a new variant of the coronavirus was detected and is spreading rapidly across the country, infecting a younger population who require critical care and oxygen.

In the month of May alone, over 20,000 patients have been recorded.

In order to stop the spread, authorities on Thursday declared an islandwide travel restriction requiring everyone to stay at home and allowing only essential services to operate. The travel restriction will be lifted on Monday at 4:00 a.m. local time.

Health authorities said hospitals and intensive care units have been filled to the maximum with the rising number of patients. The army is putting up temporary structures next to hospitals and equip them with beds and medical facilities to treat the incoming patients.

The Health Ministry has made it mandatory to wear masks and maintain social distance.

Anyone caught defying these guidelines could be arrested and fined, the police said. Enditem
Sara Buchanan, candidate for alderman, says a desire to help others guided her life and career path. Now, she wants to use knowledge and experience shes gained to address the issues concerning the citizens of her hometown.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-15 22:52:20|Editor: huaxia

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A truck carrying oxygen cylinders moves along a flooded road in Gampaha, Sri Lanka, May 15, 2021. At least four people had died and over 42,000 others had been affected by days of strong winds and heavy rains which lashed the country due to the formation of a super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) said in its latest weather report Saturday. (Photo by Gayan Sameera/Xinhua)

COLOMBO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- At least four people had died and over 42,000 others had been affected by days of strong winds and heavy rains which lashed the country due to the formation of a super cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) said in its latest weather report Saturday.

According to the DMC, the deaths had been a result of severe flooding.

Over 200 houses had been fully or partially damaged, while 175 people belonging to 42 affected families were housed in temporary shelters.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) also issued a landslide warning for several districts in the country including the capital Colombo and the south. The NBRO requested people living in high-risk areas to move to safer grounds.

The army has dispatched rescue teams in several districts affected by the floods and has rescued several people who were trapped by the rising water levels.

The Disaster Management Center officials were also deployed in the worst affected districts, setting up facilities to accommodate those displaced by the adverse weather conditions.

According to weather reports, the powerful cyclone that formed in the Bay of Bengal is now headed directly for the India-Bangladesh border, bringing with it the potential for major destruction and upheaval.

Sri Lanka's Meteorology Department, in its latest weather update, said that more rains were expected over the country in the coming days and urged everyone to be cautious. Enditem
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  A jury in a North Carolina federal civil rights case has awarded $75 million to two Black, intellectually disabled half brothers who spent decades behind bars after being wrongfully convicted in the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

The eight-person jury on Friday decided Henry McCollum and Leon Brown should received $31 million each in compensatory damages, $1 million for every year spent in prison, The News & Observer reported. The jury also awarded them $13 million in punitive damages.

The first jury to hear all of the evidence  including the wrongly suppressed evidence  found Henry and Leon to be innocent, found them to have been demonstrably and excruciatingly wronged, and has done what the law can do to make it right at this late date, Raleigh attorney Elliot Abrams said after the trial.

Abrams was part of the brothers legal team, which issued a statement saying the decades-long wait for recognition of the grave injustice" inflicted on the two by law enforcement was over. It added that a jury ... has finally given Henry and Leon the ability to close this horrific chapter of their lives. They look forward to a brighter future surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones.

McCollum and Brown have pursued the civil case against law enforcement members since 2015, arguing that their civil rights were violated during the interrogations that led to their convictions.

The two were released from prison in 2014 after DNA evidence that pointed to a convicted murderer exonerated them. They were teenagers when they were accused of the crime, which happened in Red Springs in Robeson County.

Attorneys for the men have said they were scared teenagers who had low IQs when they were questioned by police and coerced into confessing. McCollum was then 19, and Brown was 15. Both were convicted and sentenced to death.

McCollum spent most of his 31 years in prison on death row, becoming North Carolinas longest-serving death row inmate. Brown -- who the newspaper reported suffers from mental health conditions related to his time in prison and requires full-time care -- had his sentence later changed to life in prison.

On Friday, the Robeson County Sheriffs Office, one of the defendants, settled its part of the case for $9 million. The town of Red Springs, originally named in the civil suit, settled in 2017 for $1 million.

Friday's judgement came against former SBI agents Leroy Allen and Kenneth Snead, who were part of the original investigation.

Scott MacLatchie, the lead defense attorney for the SBI agents, attempted during his closing argument to cast doubt on the brothers innocence, the newspaper reported, despite the fact that they had received full pardons of innocence.

Ive got my freedom, McCollum said. Theres still a lot of innocent people in prison today. And they dont deserve to be there.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Just weeks ago, the Gaza Strips feeble health system was struggling with a runaway surge of coronavirus cases. Authorities cleared out hospital operating rooms, suspended nonessential care and redeployed doctors to patients having difficulty breathing.

Then, the bombs began to fall.

This week's violence between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers has killed 103 Palestinians, including 27 children, and wounded 530 people in the impoverished territory. Israeli airstrikes have pounded apartments, blown up cars and toppled buildings.

Doctors across the crowded coastal enclave are now reallocating intensive care unit beds and scrambling to keep up with a very different health crisis: treating blast and shrapnel wounds, bandaging cuts and performing amputations.

Distraught relatives didn't wait for ambulances, rushing the wounded by car or on foot to Shifa Hospital, the territorys largest. Exhausted doctors hurried from patient to patient, frantically bandaging shrapnel wounds to stop the bleeding. Others gathered at the hospital morgue, waiting with stretchers to remove the bodies for burial.

At the Indonesia Hospital in the northern town of Jabaliya, the clinic overflowed after bombs fell nearby. Blood was everywhere, with victims lying on the floors of hallways. Relatives crowded the ER, crying out for loved ones and cursing Israel.

Before the military attacks, we had major shortages and could barely manage with the second (virus) wave, said Gaza Health Ministry official Abdelatif al-Hajj by phone as bombs thundered in the background. Now casualties are coming from all directions, really critical casualties. I fear a total collapse."

Gutted by years of conflict, the impoverished health care system in the territory of more than 2 million people has always been vulnerable. Bitter division between Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and a nearly 14-year blockade imposed by Israel with Egypt's help also has strangled the infrastructure. There are shortages of equipment and supplies such as blood bags, surgical lamps, anesthesia and antibiotics. Personal protection gear, breathing machines and oxygen tanks remain even scarcer.

Last month, Gaza's daily coronavirus cases and deaths hit record highs, fueled by the spread of a variant that first appeared in Britain, relaxation of movement restrictions during Ramadan, and deepening public apathy and intransigence.

In the bomb-scarred territory where the unemployment rate is 50%, the need for personal survival often trumps the pleas of public health experts. While virus testing remains limited, the outbreak has infected more than 105,700 people, according to health authorities, and killed 976.

As cases climbed last year, stirring fears of a health care catastrophe, authorities set aside clinics just for COVID-19 patients. But that changed as airstrikes pummeled the territory.

Nurses at the European Hospital in the town of Khan Younis, frantically needing room for the wounded, moved dozens of virus patients in the middle of the night to a different building, said hospital director Yousef al-Akkad. Its surgeons and specialists, who had deployed elsewhere for the virus, rushed back to treat head injuries, fractures and abdominal wounds.

If the conflict intensifies, the hospital won't be able to care for the virus patients, al-Akkad said.

We have only 15 intensive care beds, and all I can do is pray, he said, adding that because the hospital lacks surgical supplies and expertise, hes already arranged to send one child to Egypt for reconstructive shoulder surgery. I pray these airstrikes will stop soon.

At Shifa, authorities also moved the wounded into its 30 beds that had been set aside for virus patients. Thursday night was the quietest this week for the ICU, as bombs had largely fallen elsewhere in Gaza. Patients with broken bones and other wounds lay amid the din of beeping monitors, intercoms and occasional shouts by doctors. A few relatives huddled around them, recounting the chaotic barrage.

About 12 people down in one airstrike. It was 6 p.m. in the street. Some were killed, including my two cousins and young sister. Its like this every day, said 22-year-old Atallah al-Masri, sitting beside his wounded brother, Ghassan.

Hospital director Mohammed Abu Selmia lamented the latest series of blows to Gaza's health system.

The Gaza Strip is under siege for 14 years, and the health sector is exhausted. Then comes the coronavirus pandemic, he said, adding that most of the equipment is as old as the blockade and can't be sent out for repairs.

Now, his teams already strained by virus cases are treating bombing victims, more than half of whom are critical cases needing surgery.

They work relentlessly, he added

To make matters worse, Israeli airstrikes hit two health clinics north of Gaza City on Tuesday. The strikes wreaked havoc on Hala al-Shawa Health Center, forcing employees to evacuate, and damaged the Indonesian Hospital, according to the World Health Organization. Israel, already under pressure from an International Criminal court investigation into possible war crimes during the 2014 war, reiterated this week that it warns people living in targeted areas to flee. The airstrikes nonetheless have killed civilians and inflicted damage on Gaza's infrastructure.

The violence also has closed a few dozen health centers conducting coronavirus tests, said Sacha Bootsma, director of WHO's Gaza office. This week, authorities conducted some 300 tests a day, compared with 3,000 before the fighting began.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, ordered staff to stay home from its 22 clinics for their safety. Those now-closed centers had also administered coronavirus vaccines, a precious resource in a place that waited months to receive a limited shipment from the U.N.-backed COVAX program. Those doses will expire in just a few weeks and get thrown away, with huge implications for authorities' ability to mobilize additional vaccines in the future," Bootsma said.

For the newly wounded, however, the virus remains an afterthought.

The last thing that Mohammad Nassar remembers before an airstrike hit was walking home with a friend on a street. When he came to, he said, we found ourselves lying on the ground.

Now the 31-year-old is hooked up to a tangle of tubes and monitors in the Shifa Hospital surgical ward, with a broken right arm and a shrapnel wound in his stomach.

-

DeBre reported from Dubai, Untied Arab Emirates.
ALBANY  Despite the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week updating its guidance suggesting that vaccinated people need not wear masks indoors except in the most crowded areas, you are still required to wear a mask inside businesses in New York  at least for now.

But, with the governor's office reviewing the rule, that could soon change, leaving instead a morass of different and conflicting city, county and business mask policies that could mean you are required to wear one at Target, but not at Walmart.

The CDC rule change, made Thursday, was some of the biggest news since the pandemic began. The new guidance from the nation's chief health experts said that social distancing and mask-wearing are only necessary in areas like public transit, airports, homeless shelters or other crowded areas with lots of people. It elicited excitement, but also anxiety from a public considering the prospects of a return to something close to pre-COVID-19 normalcy, especially as more than half of the eligible population of New York is now fully vaccinated.

But the CDC's guidance is just that  guidance  as opposed to an order with the force of law.

It leaves open the possibility for states, cities, counties, businesses or other entities to have their own rules. And they do. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has said the state has consistently followed the science throughout the pandemic and is reviewing the mask mandate. A spokesman for the governor reiterated that message Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, New York Republicans are pushing for Cuomo to act quickly to rescind the mandate. The Assembly GOP was first to act, introducing resolutions to change the mask order by legislative action.

"The Legislature should take this step to align New Yorks requirements with the federal governments and put an end to Gov. Cuomos attempt to create unnecessary mask-confusion," Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay said in a Thursday statement. This is just another example of the governor insisting he knows more than everyone else. As we continue to reopen our state, it is critical we do so using the best available scientific and data-driven guidance. With his recent decision to shirk the CDC, it is clear the governor is not interested in that."

Cuomo's senior advisor Rich Azzopardi responded to the Republicans on Friday: "The press release isn't worth the paper it's printed on. We're reviewing the CDC guidance and will act like adults, not craven politicians, Azzopardi wrote.

The Assembly GOP's call was echoed later by six county executives Sunday afternoon asking for the mask mandate to end and calling on New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

I would say that the emergency is over. The virus is still a crisis but its time for us to resume a sense of normalcy," said Assemblyman Robert Smullen, a Johnstown Republican. "I want to make sure that we fully address all of the effects of this virus. Its been very dangerous and its still dangerous and we need to take appropriate measures. The mask mandate is not one of them.

On Sunday, the state announced that the COVID-19 single-day positivity rate was 1 percent, the lowest since Oct. 10. Still, 33 people died of the disease on Saturday.

So with Cuomo's rule remaining in place, masks are still required across New York. Next door New Jersey is also weighing whether the mask mandate will remain, while Connecticut announced it would remove its mask mandate starting next week. In April, when the CDC removed its guidance suggesting mask-wearing for vaccinated people outdoors, Cuomo rescinded New York's outdoor mask mandate within 24 hours.

If the state-level mandate were to be lifted, the rules would fall upon localities and individual businesses.

Starbucks, Walmart and Trader Joe's were among the national chains that announced they would lift their mask mandates, while others, including Target and Home Depot, said theirs would remain. A spokeswoman for Price Chopper said their mask requirement will remain in place so long as New York waits to implement the CDC guidance. In other states the grocery store chain has adopted the CDC guidance, and recommended mask-wearing as opposed to requiring it.

So, if you are wondering: Will I have to wear a mask to go into this store? The answer: It depends.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp  most of them children  and pulverizing a high-rise that housed The Associated Press and other media.

The Hamas militant group continued a stream of rocket volleys into Israel, including a late-night barrage on Tel Aviv. One man was killed Saturday when a rocket hit his home in a suburb of the seaside metropolis.

With a U.S. envoy on the ground, calls increased for a cease-fire after five days of mayhem that have left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza  including 41 children and 23 women  and eight dead on the Israeli side, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old. President Joe Biden, who has called for a de-escalation but has backed Israels campaign, spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Still, Israel stepped up its assault, vowing to shatter the capabilities of Gazas Hamas rulers. The week of deadly violence, set off by a Hamas rocket Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in contested Jerusalem.

Early Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City. Photos circulated by residents and journalists showed the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

On Saturday, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch, saying the building served as part of the groups terrorist infrastructure. There was no immediate report on al-Hayehs fate or on any casualties.

The bombing of al-Hayeh's home showed Israel was expanding its campaign beyond just the groups military commanders. Israel says it has killed dozens in Hamas military branch, though Hamas and the smaller group Islamic Jihad have only acknowledged 20 dead members.

Since the conflict began, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they house elements of the Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, it turned to the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the offices of the AP, the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets are located, along with several floors of apartments.

The campaign will continue as long as it is required, Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday evening. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building. Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.

The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas, without being targeted directly. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agencys cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the buildings owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely .

Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, Pruitt said. We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.

This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life, he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later spoke by phone with Pruitt, offering his unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world and noted the indispensability of their reporting in conflict zones, according to a statement.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a war crime aiming to silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza.

Later in the day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted that the U.S. had communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.

In the early hours Saturday, another airstrike hit an apartment building in Gaza Citys densely populated Shati refugee camp, killing two women and eight children.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters that his wife and her brothers wife had gathered at the house with their children to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The only survivor was Hadidis 5-month-old son, Omar.

The blast left the childrens bedroom covered in rubble and smashed the salon. Amid the wreckage were childrens toys, a Monopoly board game and, sitting on the kitchen counter, unfinished plates of food from the holiday gathering.

There was no warning ... You filmed people eating and then you bombed them? a neighbor, Jamal Al-Naji, said, referring to Israels surveillance over the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his call with Netanyahu, Biden expressed his strong support for Israels campaign but raised concern about civilian casualties and protection of journalists, the White House said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin tweeted Saturday that he had spoken again with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and reaffirmed Israels right to defend itself and condemned Hamas deliberate targeting of Israeli citizens. Austin added: I also expressed my hope that calm can be restored soon.

The bombings took place a day after U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived in Israel as part of Washingtons efforts to de-escalate the conflict. Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian intelligence official said Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

Mediators from Egypt, which works closely with Israel on security issues and shares a border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, appeared to be growing alarmed. The intelligence official said Egypt hopes the U.S. intervention could halt the Israeli assault. The U.N. Security Council was set to meet Sunday.

The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza. Since then, Hamas has fired more than 2,000 rockets, though most have either fallen short or been intercepted by anti-missile defenses. Israels warplanes and artillery have struck hundreds of targets around blockaded Gaza, where some 2 million Palestinians live.

The turmoil has also spilled over elsewhere, fueling protests in the occupied West Bank and stoking violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

Palestinians on Saturday marked the Day of al-Nakba, or the Catastrophe, commemorating the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. Thousands of Arab Israelis marched in a Nakba rally in the northern Israeli city of Sukhnin, and scattered protests took place in the West Bank.

Palestinian health officials reported the deaths of two Palestinians by Israeli fire in the West Bank on Saturday. One of the shootings occurred when the army said it thwarted an alleged car ramming.

___

Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina Republicans on Saturday selected Drew McKissick to lead them for a third term as chairman, turning back a challenge from a recent transplant to the state who portrayed himself, over the current chairman, as the candidate most closely aligned with former President Donald Trump.

The vote came during a statewide gathering of delegates.

The contest to lead the states Republican Party in the state  where Trumps 2016 primary victory marked a turning point in solidifying his nomination, and where support for him remained high throughout his term  had devolved into a debate over whose support for the former president was highest.

On one side was McKissick, seeking to continue leading a party that last year further strengthened its power, expanding control in the Legislature, winning back a congressional seat and securing a fourth term for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. McKissick successfully call ed off the states 2020 Republican primary in favor of throwing support behind the incumbent, with McKissick saying Trump faced no legitimate primary challenger and had a record of results there.

McKissick faced three challengers, the most vocal of whom was Lin Wood, a Georgia attorney who has falsely insisted Trump actually won the 2020 election. Trump has praised Wood as doing a good job filing legal challenges, though Trumps campaign has at times distanced itself from him. Dozens of lawsuits making such allegations were rejected by the courts.

Wood didn't show up to Saturday's confab. New to South Carolina, he has recently purchased three plantations totaling more than $16 million in Beaufort County, a coastal area south of Charleston.

During a call earlier this year with South Carolina Republicans, Wood said he sensed dissatisfaction with McKissicks leadership during conversations with activists affiliated with tea party groups, saying McKissick had been described to him as a RINO  Republican In Name Only  and that he felt such a person was the wrong fit for the state party.

McKissick secured Trumps endorsement early on, with the former president saying in February that McKissick had done a great job leading the party in the state, which, as home of the first-in-the-South presidential primaries, plays a crucial role in the nominating process.

Trump doubled down after reports of Woods interest in the position surfaced, again praising McKissick but making no reference to Wood. The day before Saturday's vote, Trump issued a third endorsement, again praising McKissick's party leadership.

Wood's supporters have repeatedly questioned the authenticity of Trumps endorsements, offering no evidence of them being fake.

I still love Donald Trump, Wood said last month, asked about Trumps support of McKissick. Nothings going to change my mind about a man who I believe is doing Gods will for this country.

McKissick, who has laughed off the allegation he wasn't a strong Trump supporter, said the former president asked about Wood, though didnt name him on a phone call related to the endorsement.

(Trump) was like, Whos this attorney guy who is running against you? Does he even live in South Carolina?" McKissick told The Associated Press. "Then he said, Thats weird, or something like that. It was kind of comical.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Nine people were wounded Thursday evening in Rhode Island's capital in what police there believe to be the largest shooting in city history.

Of the nine, three had serious injuries and were maybe critical," Providence Police Chief Col. Hugh T. Clements told reporters at the scene.

He said multiple guns were used and it involved an ongoing feud involving two groups known to authorities. He said the shooting began with gunfire emanating from a vehicle, targeting a home. A person or people inside the home then returned fire. He described the participants as young men."

The shooting took place just before 7 p.m. in the southeastern neighborhood of Washington Park, which Clements described as a typically quiet neighborhood.

Clements said an estimated several dozen shots were fired. Evidence markers showing where more than a dozen shell casings littered the ground could be seen in the distance. Police sealed off the area.

No arrests have been made. Clements stressed the investigation was in its early stages. Detectives were at the hospital interviewing the victims, who are between the ages of 19 and 25. Further details about their identities were not released.

He said police have made strides to get guns off the streets and thus called the shooting very disappointing. The suspects and the victims might be one and the same, he said, without providing further details.

There'll be names you may recognize; we certainly know from police work, Clements told reporters.

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza also addressed media at the scene, fielding questions in both English and Spanish.

I've spoken with a number of the neighbors, and everyone is shaken, he said, adding that he's promised extra patrols and security in the neighborhood for the coming days.

Prior to this shooting, Providence had seen 19 gunshot victims and seven homicide victims by gunfire in 2021, Clements said.

Elorza also exhorted city residents to stop using gun violence to settle feuds, and criticized the ready availability of guns.

This has to stop, Elorza said. "The young people involved, believing that the way to solve their disputes is with a handgun  I mean, that can't be the way."
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  Nearly 60 years ago, dozens of soldiers assembled for a top secret mission to Vietnam, three years before President Lyndon Johnson officially sent U.S. combat troops to the country.

They never made it. Their airplane disappeared between Guam and the Philippines, leaving behind no trace.

Ever since, their families have been fighting to get answers about the mission from the Pentagon. They also want their loved ones to be recognized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

For the families, it's been heart-wrenching that the soldiers were not properly memorialized like others who died in the war.

I do feel frustrated. Its almost as if they never existed as soldiers. Its almost like they dont matter, that their deaths dont matter, said Dianna Taylor Crumpler, of Olive Branch, Mississippi, whose brother, James Henry Taylor, an Army chaplain, died on the flight.

On Saturday, families of more than 20 of the fallen soldiers were on hand for the unveiling of a memorial in Columbia Falls, Maine, to honor those who perished when the plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. Columbia Falls is about 190 miles (305 kilometers) east of Portland, Maine.

Its incredible, said Donna Ellis, of Haslett, Michigan, who was 5 when her father, Melvin Lewis Hatt, died in the crash.

The mission, early in the Vietnam war, is shrouded in mystery.

Soldiers from across the country assembled at Travis Air Force Base in California before boarding a propeller-powered Lockheed Super Constellation operated by the Flying Tiger Line, which chartered flights for the U.S. military.

The 93 U.S. soldiers, three South Vietnamese and 11 crew members aboard Flight 739 never made it to Saigon. It departed from California and made refueling stops in Hawaii, Wake Island and Guam before vanishing on the next leg of the flight to the Philippines on March 16, 1962.

There was a report of a midair explosion witnessed by sailors on a tanker in the area, but no debris from the aircraft was recovered.

The families have spent years seeking answers to no avail. Freedom of Information Act requests by Ellis and others yielded redacted documents with little useful information about the clandestine mission.

It turns into a rat maze, Ellis said.

Because their deaths were not in the combat zone, their names were not allowed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Sen. Gary Peters, a Democrat from Michigan, took up the cause and introduced legislation in 2019 to allow the names to be etched on the memorial, but it never made it to the Senate floor.

It is past time that we properly honor those lost. Thats why I will continue to work with my colleagues and the families of those lives lost on ways we can honor the servicemembers," Peters said.

In Maine, the founder of Wreaths Across America, which places wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery and at veteran gravesites around the world, was moved by the story and decided to create a monument. The granite stone has a marble marker with the names on it.

The unveiling Saturday featured a reading of the names, a rifle salute, the playing of taps and the laying of a wreath.

Phil Waite from the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration told the group he believes the memorial represents a first step to greater recognition. I think there's more to come, he said.

The event provided an opportunity for families to get together and share stories.

This will be closure for a lot of families, said Susie Linale, of Omaha, Nebraska, part of a contingent of six family members, including her sister and brother. They wore buttons with an image of their father, Albert Francis Williams Jr., who died in the crash.
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
Update: 16-05-2021 | 19:36:44

Vietnam received the second shipment of 1.682 million AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses through COVAX Facility  the global vaccine access mechanism on May 16 afternoon, according to the Ministry of Health.

The vaccine will be preserved at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for examination before distribution to localities for the third phase of vaccination

The batch will be preserved at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for examination before distribution to localities for the third phase of vaccination.

The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrived the country on April 1.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that the ministry has spared no efforts to seek vaccine sources for the nation, and around 110 million doses will be supplied for Vietnam this year, 38.9 million doses of which are from COVAX Facility, 30 million from AstraZeneca, and 31 million from Pfizer/BioNTech.

Furthermore, the ministry has registered to buy additional 10 million doses through COVAX under the cost share mechanism.

Negotiations are underway to purchase more vaccines from Moderna, Johnson&Johnson, CureVac, Spunik V and Sinopharm, helping diversify vaccine source to serve the locals, he added.

Currently, four Vietnamese vaccines are under development, produced by Nagogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology JSC, the Institute of Vaccines and Medical Biologicals (IVAC), Vaccine and Biological Production Company No. 1 (Vabiotech) and the Center for Research and Production of Vaccines and Biologicals (Polyvac).

Vietnam begun its inoculation campaign on March 8. As of May 15, as many as 977,032 frontline medical workers and members of the community-based anti-COVID-19 groups received COVID-19 vaccine shots./.

VNA
Press Release

May 16, 2021 Bong Go urges fellow lawmakers to support passage of DOFil as Senate resumes session Measures that can improve the bureaucracy and further protect the welfare of Filipinos wherever they are in the world are primordial concerns amid the ongoing pandemic. The government must adapt to the changing times in order to become more efficient and responsive to the needs of Filipinos. Senator Christopher "Bong" Go emphasized this as he renewed his appeal to fellow lawmakers to support the passage of his proposed Senate Bill No. 1949, otherwise known as the Department of Overseas Filipinos (DOFil) Act of 2020, which seeks to safeguard the rights and promote the welfare and interests of overseas Filipinos. "Ako po ay nakikiusap din po sa mga kasamahan ko sa Senado. Pasado naman ito sa Lower House. Sa Senado, nakatatlong hearings na tayo at agreeable naman ang Executive, payag na sila sa version na ito," said Go in a radio interview on Saturday, May 15. "'Wag natin ipagkait sa mga kababayan natin ang departamentong ito. Mahigit 10 million ang mga kababayan natin sa kabilang ibayo. Mahigit 500,000 OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) natin ang umuwi at nawalan ng trabaho. Tinatawag natin silang modern-day heroes. Bigyan natin sila ng departamentong nakatutok sa kanila," Go urged. SBN 1949 is the third version of a measure Go first filed in July of 2019. The bill creating DOFil is one of the priority measures of the present administration as mentioned numerous times by President Rodrigo Duterte, including in his last two State of the Nation Addresses. The President also certified this most recent version filed by Go as urgent. The proposed department will be primarily mandated to formulate, recommend and implement national policies, plans, programs and guidelines that protect overseas Filipinos, including OFWs, as well as promote their interests and resolve issues concerning them in a timely and effective manner. The DOFil will be responsible for providing all relevant social and welfare services, including insurance, social work assistance and legal assistance, as well as administer reintegration and social service programs to overseas Filipinos. It shall also provide Assistance to Nationals services, especially during times of national emergencies, such as pandemic or war. "Importante mabigyan na natin sila ng departamento. Isipin mo, ten million OFWs ang nasa ibang bansa. Ibig sabihin, 10% ng population 'yan tapos wala silang departamento," explained Go. "Ako naman po ay makikiusap sa mga kasamahan ko sa Senado na suportahan naman po dahil priority po ito ng mahal na Pangulo, priority po ng mga kababayan natin sa ibang bansa at ang ating mga OFW na nagsasakripisyo," he added. Earlier, Go expressed concern over the inconveniences that occur should the bureaucracy continue to remain in its current state which affects the ability of the whole government to respond appropriately and deliver in a timely manner the assistance needed by Filipinos abroad and their families in the Philippines with regard to OFW concerns, especially amid the ongoing global health crisis. Go emphasized the need to streamline all related responsibilities concerning Filipinos overseas into one department so that decisions and actions can be made in the most expedient, most efficient, and most responsive mechanism possible. Previously, Go has also successfully appealed on behalf of OFWs bound for deployment abroad to be considered as part of essential sectors to be vaccinated under the A4 category. He also supported the appeal of seafarers and other OFWs to consider the requirements needed for them to resume their work abroad, such as the need to be inoculated with vaccines that are acceptable in their countries of destination, as well as the necessary documentation to prove that they have been vaccinated. "Huwag natin ipagkait sa mga kababayan nating nasa abroad ang serbisyong dapat nilang makuha sa panahong pinaka-nangangailangan sila. Gawin natin ang dapat upang maisaayos ang ating burokrasya. Unahin natin ang buhay at kapakanan ng mga Pilipino, kahit asan man silang sulok ng mundo," Go emphasized.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-15 23:00:33|Editor: huaxia

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A researcher from the United Nations Children's Fund visited rural families in Huachuan County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and checked the air purifier and air pollution levels on Nov. 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Xie Jianfei)

by Xinhua writer Huang Xinxin

HARBIN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Sun Meiying, 62, now opens the windows and door every time her family cooks or heats with solid fuels at home.

Living in a village in Huachuan County, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Sun was unaware how air pollution might affect her 11-year-old grandchild until one and a half years ago.

"Now whenever the kid is at home, his grandpa is not allowed to smoke inside," she said.

She revised her house rules to include more ventilation and a smoking ban in late 2019, when China's National Health Commission and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) jointly launched a pilot project to reduce the impacts of indoor air pollution on rural children.

In Huachuan and Anzhou District of Mianyang City, southwestern Sichuan Province, researchers have analyzed indoor pollution levels and conducted health education activities to promote habit changes among children, their caregivers and teachers.

While residents of big Chinese cities like Beijing and Tianjin have developed the habit of checking the Air Quality Index (AQI) and wearing masks when necessary, those living in the countryside still pay little attention to the air pollution issue.

Experts said the heavy use of solid fuels for cooking and heating is the main source of indoor air pollution in many rural areas, especially in northern China with a long winter heating season. Children in low-income families have been identified as the biggest victims.

Children exposed to air pollution at home are more susceptible to respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma, and even damage to their physical and cognitive development, according to a report released by UNICEF in 2016.

A survey by the Chinese government in 2016 showed that 32 percent of children in rural areas are exposed to indoor air pollution caused by solid fuels for cooking and heating.

In Huachuan, researchers installed real-time monitors for air quality (PM2.5) and air purifiers in 107 rural households, covering 121 children, and remotely monitor the air pollution data collected by the devices.

In a follow-up visit to Huachuan in November 2020, researchers found pollution levels in some houses had reached an extremely toxic level.

But it is not easy to change parents' habits and lifestyles. Quite a few parents still used plastic for lighting the fire and smoke of tobacco kept swirling in homes even after several educational activities.

In the last two years, researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF visited homes and held online lectures in Huachuan to promote health awareness. They also sent messages to inform families of the real-time pollutant levels and remind them to open windows.

Wang Qiang, professor at the National Institute of Environmental Health, China CDC, said after their visits and health education, parents showed great improvement in knowledge and awareness related to air pollution.

"A noticeable change is that villagers are more enthusiastic about our visits, knowing that we are there to help them," said Wang.

Meanwhile, the local CDCs, health centers and women's federations also joined the project to help with health education and regular checking of monitoring devices.

Gao Hongcai, deputy head of Huachuan County, said the local government has introduced compulsory health education in primary and secondary schools and is promoting the use of sustainable energy solutions, such as wind power.

Zheng Yaxin, a mother of a 9-year-old boy, participated in the project and saw an air quality monitor and an air purifier installed in the adobe house her family has lived in for over 50 years.

"I had never thought that burning coal would threaten the health of my child," said Zheng. "I've learned to open the door as a daily routine for better ventilation and burn less coal." 
Israel has escalated its attacks on the Gaza Strip, bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp and destroying a high-rise that housed The Associated Press and other media
A Connecticut prosecutor says the search for a Connecticut toddler who went missing in December 2019 and whose father is accused of killing her mother is still continuing
Nearly a dozen federal lawsuits alleging racist and abusive tactics by police officers in Louisiana have been filed in recent weeks as part of an initiative by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana
[May 16, 2021] Job seekers put off hospitality as a career with a majority claiming they believe there is a stigma attached to working in the hospitality industry Placed App survey reveals

As we unlock, experts claim British workers should fall back in love with hospitality jobs to get the economy back on track. LONDON, May 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new survey by recruitment app, Placed, shows that nearly 60% of job hunters believe that there is a stigma attached to working in hospitality and only 33.4% of the people surveyed said they would be very attracted to working in the hospitality sector full time. When asked what would put you off working in hospitality: 48.1% quoted pay as an issue

42.2% claimed hours are a problem

38.2% quoted career prospects As restrictions are lifted today and it is hoped that the hospitality sector will help to reboot the economy, experts are calling for Brits to fall back in love with the sector. Jennifer Johansson, Founder and CEO of Placed App says, "The hospitality sector should be the cornerstone of the UK's economic recovery, but attitudes towards the sector need to change. To echo the sentiment of our survey respondents, the industry has a huge marketing problem. There are great career prospects and opportunities despite the apparent stigma towards these jobs in the UK. It does not suffer the same bias in other countries as it does here in the UK. We need to rebrand the sector, stop relying on foreign workers and get Brits into these jobs." "We feel that the government has to make more of an effort to encourage formal education around the hospitality trade. Amore holistic approach is required to encourage long term change. Job seekers need the skills and confidence to excel in their roles. There are plenty of applicants out there, but when they apply for a job they are told they need experience. Government has to invest in this area and the need for innovation to drive employment has never been as important as it is now."



Many employers say they are struggling to recruit enough staff in the hospitality sector. With large numbers of foreign workers returning to Europe due to COVID-19 lockdown and not returning because of Brexit. There are a lot of vacancies. But, as the Placed App survey shows, UK adults don't regard hospitality as a career due to what they perceive as low pay, long/unstable hours and a lack of career prospects.

57.7% said there was a stigma associated with working in hospitality Only 33.4% said they would be very attracted to working in hospitality full time Only 41.2% said they would be very attracted to working in hospitality part time 30.5% said they would be very likely to consider hospitality work as a long-term career Only 21% said nothing is off-putting about the industry Quotes from responses (approved to use): "Generally, I believe people who have not experienced employment in hospitality under appreciate the skills & stamina required to make that cocktail taste outstanding, to ensure that meal has the freshest of ingredients, to guarantee your orders and bookings remain on time, to ensure a venue is staffed and trained to the highest levels and so much more only when someone is immersed in that environment can they understand what it truly means to be a skilled hospitality professional!" - James P "Some cultures regard working for a hotel or restaurant as inferior, whereas actually it can be glamorous, prosperous and enriching. Hospitality has a huge marketing problem: Employment opportunities in the industry aren't being presented in the best possible ways." - Qualsuma B Survey carried out between 05/05/21 and 14/05/21 with Placed-App users, 752 responses.

Full survey is available upon request. Interviews with Jennifer Johansson + case studies on request https://placed-app.com/

https://www.buzzleadmedia.com/ Contact: Siobhan Lipnick, slipnicki@buzzleadmedia.com, +44 7748 634489; Nick Purnell, npurnell@buzzleadmedia.com, +44 7711 448882

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
IoT platform and solution provider Ayla recently announced a new collaboration with artificial intelligence company Digica to improve customer experiences. By combining resources, the two companies hope to prevent subscriber equipment failures and reduce high customer support costs.

Both companies have recognized the growing costs of customer service support, as well as the problem of service providers being held responsible for service issues that are caused by peripheral devices. Ayla and Digica plan to significantly reduce these customer issues by offering a new solution that uses machine learning to detect and recognize unusual data patterns, which ultimately lead to common device and service failures.

The surge of people working and learning from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the influx of smart devices that people have deployed on their home networks, has greatly complicated CSPs operations, said Prashanth Shetty, VP of Marketing for Ayla Networks. By augmenting Aylas AI platform engineering team with Digicas experienced data science implementation services, were able to scale up our teams to quickly train and deploy Aylas pre-built predictive maintenance models for CSPs, helping them to address their service and support problems.

The joint solution will leverage Aylas vast understanding of CSP (News - Alert) networks and device behavior, as well as Digicas technical services and machine learning models. Both companies believe that the combination of talent could ultimately reduce user-initiated device restarts by as much as 30%.

Digicas team of AI and software experts help companies across the globe to address real problems using advanced AI and machine learning services expertise, said Rafal Janczyk, CEO of Digica. We are excited about working with Ayla to extend their data science teams, because they are well positioned to enable telecommunications carriers to reduce operational costs and improve the connected experience for millions of subscribers with Aylas robust AI platform.

A proof of concept for the solution has been completed, and the two companies are currently in talks with multiple Tier 1 carriers to deliver it to customers in the near future.

Edited by Maurice Nagle
Everton 'make contact' with winger Diaby

| Sunday, 16 May 2021



Foot Mercato suggest that the Blues have made contact with representatives of the 21-year-old who has scored 10 goals in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen this season.

Together with his team-mate Leon Bailey, Diaby is likely to attract a good deal of attention from England this summer and neither will come cheap.

Bailey, 23, has nine goals in 25 league starts this term and has also been mentioned in connection with Everton, although nothing more than idle gossip at this stage.

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-15 23:34:54|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The seventh internship and job fair for Taiwan youths was held simultaneously on Saturday in Beijing and east China's Wenzhou.

Held both online and offline, the event attracted 52 employers with 1,500 jobs and over 300 internship positions to offer.

Initiated in 2015, the internship and job fair has seen participants from more than 300 enterprises and public institutions in Wenzhou, providing over 2,000 employment opportunities to Taiwan students. Enditem
The Kansas City metro is home to one of the strongest Jewish communities in the Midwest.

Our clueless friends don't know this but the roots of KC's Jewish community go back to the foundation of what many Americans know as modern day Israel.



Perspective from these community leaders might be newsworthy.

However, our local media outlets are far too scared to ask.

On a personal level, we've talked to a couple of friends on the topic but the observations aren't anything worth blogging. Real talk and a stupid comparison: TKC always smirks when I get asked for Mexican food suggestions given that the majority of what this blogger consumes comes from gas stations . . . So I listen but haven't really asked any Jewish friends or denizens of this community about their feelings . . . Local media silence on the topic makes me feel better about that minor decision.



Accordingly . . .



What's more important to understand is that, just like any community, there is no monolithic viewpoint or "official" statement from any ethnic group on any given topic. This fact of life is often lost on "journalists" who thrive on easy answers and stereotypes.



Meanwhile, tonights news will feature images of locals rallying in support of Palestinians who are newer arrivals to the metro and marching through the Country Club Plaza tonight.

And so, we'll start any subsequent conversation with a valuable, local community resource and then move to a smaller sampling of diverse viewpoints which offer just a hint at the complexity of a region and its people who have confronted conflict for about the past 5 thousand years.

Survey Seyz . . .

The Pew study cheat sheet: key conclusions from the new survey of American Jews The new edition asks many of the same questions, and adds a few new ones based on the events and conversation of the past few years. For example, the survey delves much deeper into antisemitism, as well as racial and ethnic diversity among American Jews.

TV Shares Alternative Holy Land Hot Take

KC pro-Palestinian rally attracts nearly 300 people, turns to march KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Roughly 300 people gathered near the Country Club Plaza Saturday evening for a pro-Palestinian rally that turned into a march. The rally started at 5 p.m. at Mill Creek Park, but as crowds grew, the group moved around the edge of the Plaza. Ahmad Haha attended the protest.

Progressives Equivocate

Velshi: The right to exist goes both ways Israel has a right to exist and to defend itself. That's a fact. The same is true for Palestinians - that point seems to get missed. Palestinians are, at best, third class citizens in the nation of their birth.

Right Wing Reports Destruction Of Shared Spaces

Associated Press Laments Loss Of Gaza Bureau, Which Shared Office Space With Terrorist Organization Hamas The Associated Press is lamenting the loss of its Gaza bureau, which was housed in a high-rise building in Gaza City that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday. The AP noted that all of its employees and freelancers were able to evacuate the building safely, thanks to the Israeli military calling ahead to warn them of the strike, as it does when targeting civilian buildings.

Prez Puts Israel On Notice

Biden calls Netanyahu and Abbas amid anger at Israeli airstrike on journalists' tower President Joe Biden telephoned Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after another day of bloodshed on Saturday - and anger at the Israeli bombing of a tower housing media organisations including Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.

Bernie Doesnt Back Bombing

Democrats embrace a tougher tack toward Israel as violence flares "We think that this is becoming the center of the Democratic Party," Ben-Ami added. Over the past week, the Palestinian militant group Hamas has launched a new round of rocket attacks targeting civilian areas in Israel, prompting lawmakers from both parties to forcefully condemn the aggression and assert Israel's right to defend itself from an enemy that believes it should not exist.

Super-Lawyer Makes His Case

Alan Dershowitz called Bernie Sanders a 'self-hating Jew' over his stance on Israel-Palestine violence High-profile lawyer Alan Dershowitz called Sen. Bernie Sanders a "self-hating Jew." He was responding to the senator's stance on Israel-Palestine violence, which escalated this week. Sanders called for a ceasefire and said both Israel and Palestinians have a "right to live in peace and security." See more stories on Insider's business page.

Yang Gang Stands With Israel

Yang's tweet in support of Israel draws praise from conservatives New York City mayoral candidate (D) drew praise from several prominent conservatives after voicing support for Israel and condemning attacks from the Hamas militant group. Yang condemned the attacks in a tweet Monday, saying New York City "will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel who face down terrorism and persevere."

Targeting Opposition

Israel bombs Hamas Gaza chief's home as fighting enters seventh day Israel bombed the home of Hamas's chief in Gaza early on Sunday and the Islamist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with no sign of abating. At least three Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes across the coastal enclave, health officials said, and many were injured as the sounds of heavy bombardment roared through the night.

Holy Land Violence Worsens

Casualties mount as Israeli forces and Hamas continue to exchange attacks Violence between Israeli and Palestinian forces continues to escalate, with a building containing foreign media getting destroyed by an Israeli airstrike early Saturday. After six days of fighting, over 140 Palestinians and 10 Israelis are dead. Imtiaz Tyab reports.

Political Perception & Reality

Israel is winning battles, Hamas is winning the war - analysis As Israel battles its way through one of the most intense conflicts the country has experienced in recent years, the IDF is pushing how strongly it is striking Gaza and how far back it's setting Hamas in Operation Guardians of the Walls.

You decide . . .
Johnstown, PA (15901)

Today

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 62F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 62F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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Canton, GA (30114)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-15 23:36:47|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Saturday held a high-level forum on Party building as a major part of a series of academic events held by the school to mark the CPC's centenary.

As the very first edition of the forum, this year's event was focused on the historical experience of building the century-old Party.

Xie Chuntao, vice president of the school, said when addressing the forum that it is an important task of scholars in this field to summarize the great achievements and successful experience of the Party over the past 100 years, especially the period since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

Experts and scholars attending the forum exchanged views on Party-building experience in various aspects and the development of Party building-related disciplines.

The high-level forum on Party building will be held annually. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 00:18:18|Editor: huaxia

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Palestinians check rubbles of Jala Tower, which housed offices of Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press as well as residential apartments, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on May 15, 2021. Israel said Saturday it struck the high-rise building in Gaza City housing offices of international media outlets because it contained assets of Hamas intelligence agency. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM/GAZA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Israel said Saturday it struck a high-rise building in Gaza City housing offices of international media outlets because it contained assets of Hamas intelligence agency.

Israeli war jets bombed and demolished Jala Tower, which housed offices of Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press as well as residential apartments.

The building "contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of Hamas," said an Israeli military spokesperson in a statement.

No evidence for the claim has been provided.

The spokesperson said that Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian movement that runs Gaza, hides behind civilian media offices and used them as "human shields," alleging that Hamas "deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip."

Eyewitnesses said Israeli military drones fired the first two rockets at the high-rise, and then Israeli fighter jets fired four bombs at the building and leveled it to the ground.

No injury was reported. Prior to the strike, the Israeli army said it "provided warnings in advance to civilians in the building and gave sufficient time for them to evacuate from the site."

Following the destruction of the building, Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement that it will soon strike Tel Aviv with more rockets in retaliation.

The assault came amid the worst violence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave since 2014.

Militant groups in Gaza continued firing barrages of rockets targeting cities in northern, central and southern Israel. A spokesperson of the Israeli army said in a statement that more than 200 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel in the last 12 hours.

It is reported that rockets fired by militant groups in Gaza have killed 10 people, including a 5-year-old boy, a soldier, and two women. Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza said since Monday more than 140 Palestinians have been killed, including 40 children and 20 women, and about 1,000 others injured. Enditem
In all newspaper reports and news online very little attention seems to be given to the different entry requirements for Madeira which are very significant and important for travellers in the immediate future.

Mainland Portugal requires a PCR test before travel for everyone.

But Madeira only requires proof of full vaccination , the second 15 days before travel.

As nearly a 3rd of UK citizens have been fully vaccinated this is very important to any of them who would like a holiday in Madeira.

I hope this will be more clearly publicised in the coming days and weeks.
Hello everyone,

I noticed the other day someone asked a similar question but can't find it anymore so thought I'd try myself.

I'll be flying from Romania to the US the next week and will have a 12 hour layover in Chicago. Naturally, I'll be flying out with a Covid test done but this bit I found on usembassy.gov has me truly confused -

"If your connecting flight to the US was booked separately or a layover in your itinerary lasts longer than 24 hours or your travel is disrupted and you leave the airport, you will need to get tested within the 3 days before your flight that arrives in the US."

The next day basically my flight from Chicago to my final destination was booked separately with a different airline. While my layover does not last more than 24 hours I do leave the airport and check in a hotel to get some rest. Does that really mean that I have to redo a test while I'm there as it's stated? It doesn't make sense as it says that if I leave the airport I need to get tested within the 3 days before my next flight, but for my case there are no 3 days, not even 1 really.

I'm sorry for the long post, I've been having a bit of hard time with this and couldn't find any piece of advice. If by any chance you understand more clearly what I have or don't have to do, your piece of advice would be appreciated tremendously. Thanks a million!
The Ministry of Health's attempt to better manage the volume of persons seeking vaccination by introducing an alphabetical system did not go over as expected... as hundreds of persons were still turned away on Thursday
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 02:51:19|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese Ambassador to Botswana Wang Xuefeng(5th R), Botswana's Minister of Transport and Comminutions Thulaganyo Segokgo (2nd R), the Chinese Charity Care Centre chairman Miles Nan(3rd R) pose for a group photo during a donation ceremony in Gaborone, Botswana on May 14, 2021. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

The Chinese Charity Care Center, together with the Chinese Embassy in Gaborone, has donated goods valued at 60,000 pula (about 5,575 U.S. dollars) to the less privileged at SOS Children's Villages of Botswana to assist them during the cold winter season.



GABORONE, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Charity Care Center (CCCC), together with the Chinese Embassy in Gaborone, has donated goods valued at 60,000 pula (about 5,575 U.S. dollars) to the less privileged at SOS Children's Villages of Botswana to assist them during the cold winter season.



Speaking at a ceremony held in Gaborone Friday to hand over the goods, including blankets, food hampers, wheelchairs, Chinese Ambassador to Botswana Wang Xuefeng thanked and praised CCCC for its effort in caring for the SOS Children's Villages.

"Caring for the vulnerable has always been a deeply held virtue of the Chinese nation, I am very glad to see that over years, the Chinese community in Botswana, especially the CCCC, has been adhering to this virtue and extensively engaged in the charity work in local communities," said Wang. "For our children to embrace a brighter tomorrow, China and Botswana have been combating the virus shoulder to shoulder like brothers and sisters. China have provided Botswana with material and technical assistance to the best of our capacity."

Miles Nan, chairman of Charity Association of Chinese in Botswana, one of the founders for CCCC, said that the cold season is here and everybody need to be warm especially during the time of COVID-19.

"In future, we will not be only donating money, blankets or food hampers to our community, we will be happy if we can have some volunteers who will be working with us, more especially the youth," he said.

The Chinese Charity Care Centre in Gaborone donate blankets, food hampers, books, beef, sanitisers and wheelchairs on May 14, 2021 to the needy in an effort to keep them warm this winter.(Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Botswanan Minister of Transport and Communications Thulaganyo Segokgo expressed delight and gratitude for the donation. He said Botswana and China friendship has brought Chinese scholarship to Botswana students, the donation of Mmopane primary school and last month a donation of 200,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines.

Speaking at the same occasion, Motshwari Kitso, the national director of SOS Children's Villages, also expressed gratitude and said the CCCC has been very loyal to them by donating food hampers, blankets especially since it now is difficult to find sponsorship because of COVID-19.

Currently, the SOS Children's Village in Tlokweng, Gaborone, alone has about 93 children and the donations will be distributed among the three SOS Children's centers in Tlokweng, Serowe and Francistown.
One Opposition MP says this country has become the Covid capital of the Caribbean.

A Government Minister says if Covid had a face it would be that of the UNC.
This year, the Ukrainian Navy will receive the first set of Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which will be used in both the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Rear Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa said this during the All-Ukrainian Forum Ukraine 30. National Security on May 12, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Navy, like other types/branches of the Armed Forces, like the entire civilized world, is switching to unmanned technologies. This is a step forward. This year, the Navy will receive the first set of the Bayraktar unmanned complex, which will be used both in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov by surface forces and the marines. In the future, we plan to purchase unmanned countermine systems for the Navy, which are very optimal in terms of price and efficiency of use," Neizhpapa said.

He stressed that in the future more attention will be paid to the capabilities of unmanned technologies of the Ukrainian Navy.

As reported, the Bayraktar TB2 is a Turkish medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is designed and manufactured by Turkeys Baykar company.

ish
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 04:45:11|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday expressed concerns about the escalating conflict in separate phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Biden voiced concerns about violent confrontations in the West Bank and "shared his grave concern about the intercommunal violence across Israel," according to a White House readout of Biden's call with Netanyahu.

He also raised concerns about "the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection," likely referring to an airstrike carried out by the Israeli military earlier in the day that destroyed a building housing international news organizations in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Biden "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza," said the readout.

Biden also held his first phone conversation with Abbas since he took office, in which he conveyed "the U.S. commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Palestinian partnership."

The two leaders discussed current tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank and expressed their shared concern about the loss of civilian life in the ongoing violence, the White House said in a separate readout. Biden emphasized to Abbas the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel.

Biden voiced his support for the two-state solution in speaking with both leaders.

The phone calls came amid escalating violence between the Israeli security forces and Palestinian militants.

Israeli fighter jets on Saturday bombed and demolished Jala Tower, a high-rise building in Gaza City housing Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press (AP) offices as well as residential apartments.

The building "contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of Hamas," said an Israeli military spokesperson in a statement.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement that "we are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza."

"We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life," he said. "A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time."

The ongoing conflict was the worst violence between Israel and the besieged Palestinian enclave since 2014.

Militant groups in Gaza continued firing barrages of rockets targeting cities in northern, central and southern Israel. A spokesperson of the Israeli army said that more than 200 rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel in the last 12 hours.

It is reported that rockets fired by militant groups in Gaza have killed 10 people, including a five-year-old boy, a soldier, and two women. Meanwhile, the health ministry in Gaza said that since Monday more than 140 Palestinians have been killed, including 40 children and 20 women, and about 1,000 others injured. Enditem
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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.
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
Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2021 ) :The US aviation regulator is ordering Boeing to inspect older generation 737 jets, after the January crash of an aircraft off Indonesia that killed 62 people.

All Boeing 737-300, -400 and -500 planes will need to be examined, a total of 143 aircraft, according to a document from the Federal Aviation Administration seen by AFP on Saturday.

A failure of the "flap synchro wire" missed by the autothrottle computer -- which manages the plane's thrust -- "could result in loss of control of the airplane," the document said.

An interim report from Indonesian investigators in February said the doomed jet's throttles showed an "anomaly," though it said the cause of the crash was unclear.

"The preliminary data of the ongoing accident investigation shows that it is highly unlikely that the accident resulted from the latent failure of the flap synchro wire," the FAA said.

But it said the inspection is "necessary to address the identified unsafe condition" that could be found in the planes, which were built in the 1980s and '90s.

More modern iterations of the Boeing 737 -- including the 737 MAX that was grounded for 20 months after two deadly crashes -- were not impacted by the inspection order.

"Boeing works to ensure that our airplanes are safe and meet all requirements. We are in constant communication with our customers and the FAA, and engaged in ongoing efforts to introduce safety and performance improvements across the fleet," the company said in a statement to AFP.

A Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 plunged about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) in less than a minute before slamming into the Java Sea on January 9, minutes after taking off from Jakarta.

All 62 people aboard were killed.
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2021 ) :Israeli strikes killed at least 42 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Sunday, the worst daily death toll yet in the almost week-long clashes, as the UN Security Council met amid global alarm at the escalating conflict.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded for an immediate end to the deadly violence, warning that the fighting could plunge the region into an "uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis".

"Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately," Guterres said as he opened a Security Council session delayed by Israel's ally the United States, calling the violence over the past week "utterly appalling".

The heaviest fighting in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, saw the rivals again trade heavy fire, with the death toll rising to 192 in the crowded coastal enclave of Gaza since Monday and at 10 in Israel, according to authorities on either side.

"Hamas misjudged the strength of our response" to its rocket barrage, said Aviv Kochavi, the army's chief of general staff, saying Gaza had since been enduring an aerial bombardment of unprecedented "intensity".

Israel said Sunday morning its "continuing wave of strikes" had in the past 24 hours struck over 90 targets across Gaza, where the destruction of a building housing news media organisations sparked an international outcry.

In Gaza, the death toll kept rising as emergency teams worked to pull out bodies from vast piles of smoking rubble and toppled buildings, as relatives wailed in horror and grief.

"We were sleeping and then all of a sudden there were rockets raining down on us," said Lamia Al-Koulak, 43, who lost siblings and their children in the dawn bombardment.

"The children were screaming. For half an hour we were bombarded without previous warning. We came out to find the building next door flattened. All the people under the rubble were simple people."
New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2021 ) :Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip as the worst violence in years flared between the Jewish state and Islamist militants.

Gatherings to show solidarity with Palestinians took place in cities including Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan.

Several hundred people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York, chanting "Free, free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read "End Israeli Apartheid" and "Freedom for Gaza." Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said "Not in my name" and "Solidarity with Palestine" as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

A few dozen police officers looked on and the protest was peaceful in its early stages.

"I'm here because I want a Palestinian life to equal an Israeli life and today it doesn't," said 35-year-old Emraan Khan, a corporate strategist from Manhattan, as he waved a Palestinian flag.

"When you have a nuclear-armed state and another state of villagers with rocks it is clear who is to blame," he added.

Alison Zambrano, a 20-year-old student, travelled from neighboring Connecticut for the demo.

"Palestinians have the right to live freely and children in Gaza should not be being killed," she said.

Mashhour Ahmad, a 73-year-old Palestinian who has lived in New York for 50 years, said "don't blame the victim for the aggression." "I'm telling Mr. Biden and his cabinet to stop supporting the killing. Support the victims, stop the oppression.

"The violence committed by the Israeli army recently is genocide," he added, raising a poster above his head that said "Free Palestine, End the occupation."President Joe Biden spoke separately Saturday with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, expressing his "grave concern" over the last six days of violence that has left scores dead or wounded.

He expressed Washington's "strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution as the best path to reach a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the White House said.
UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2021 ) :United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Sunday made a passionate appeal for an immediate end to the escalating clashes between Israeli troops and the Palestinians fighters, warning a UN Security Council meeting that the fighting could plunge the region into an "uncontainable" crisis.

"It (the crisis) has the potential to unleash an uncontainable security and humanitarian crisis and to further foster extremism, not only in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, but in the region as a whole, potentially creating a new locus of dangerous instability," Guterres said, as he opened a virtual meeting of the 15-member Council to address the hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians.

"Fighting must stop. It must stop immediately," Guterres said. More that 125 Palestinians have been killed by the relentless Israeli artillery and airstrikes, while Israel says 7 of its citizens lost lives, Guterres said.

The UN chief called the killings "utterly appalling." Guterres condemned the fresh violence on Sunday which killed 40 Palestinians, the worst death toll since the unrest broke out.

"This senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction must stop immediately," Guterres said.

He also reiterated criticism of an Israeli strike on Saturday that destroyed the Gaza offices of two major news outlets, Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press.

"Journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment. The destruction of media offices in Gaza is extremely concerning," he said.

"Rockets and mortars on one side and aerial and artillery bombardments on the other must stop. I appeal to all parties to heed this call," Guterres said.

He also voiced alarm at the rise of extremist Jewish movements whose push to expel Palestinians out of Jerusalem triggered the crisis.

"In Israel, violence by vigilante-style groups and mobs has added a further horrendous dimension to an already deteriorating crisis," Guterres said.

"Leaders on all sides have a responsibility to curb inflammatory rhetoric and calm the rising tensions." Guterres reiterated that the United Nations remains deeply committed to working with Israelis and Palestinians and with its international and regional partners, including the middle East Quartet, to realize a lasting and just peace.

"We are in contact with many relevant interlocuters and I again call on the parties to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed," he said.

"The only way forward is to return to negotiations with the goal of a two-States solution, with two States living side-by-side in peace, security and mutual recognition, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states, based on relevant UN resolutions, international law and prior agreements." Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Sunday accused Israel of "war crimes" in its nearly week-long offensive as called for international pressure to end the Israeli aggression.

"Some may not want to use these words -- war crimes and crimes against humanity -- but they know they are true," Maliki told the virtual session on the crisis.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 09:12:32|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

HAVANA -- Cuba reported on Saturday 1,383 new cases and 11 deaths from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, a new record for daily cases.

According to the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, at total of 123,221 cases and 796 deaths have been registered so far.

- - - -

SAO PAULO -- Brazil on Saturday reported 2,087 more deaths from COVID-19, raising the national count to 434,715, the Ministry of Health said.

Meanwhile, 67,009 more infections were detected, raising the nationwide tally to 15,586,534.

- - - -

PARIS -- France has administered the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 20 million people, reaching its target days ahead of the reopening of catering businesses and cultural venues, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Saturday.

Castex announced on Twitter the hitting of the 20-million mark, a number that represents some 30 percent of the population.

- - - -

WASHINGTON -- Eighteen states in the United States and some big-label businesses have announced plans as of Saturday to drop public mask mandates either immediately or in the weeks to come, but other states such as California, New York and New Jersey are moving forward with caution.

Many Americans went maskless in public on Friday for the first time in months -- a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its guidelines on face coverings for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

- - - -

ROME -- Coronavirus infections across all age groups in Italy fell by 80 percent after the first five weeks of vaccine rollout, the country's National Institute of Health and the Ministry of Health reported Saturday.

The time covered by the comprehensive national report on the real-world effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines runs from Dec. 27, 2020, when the national vaccination campaign started, through May 3.

- - - -

ACCRA -- United Airlines on Saturday relaunched its passenger flight operation from Washington, D.C. to Accra, the capital of Ghana, after a hiatus of about a decade.

A speech read on behalf of the Minister of Transport Kweku Ofori Asiamah at a press briefing held at the forecourt of the Kotoka International Airport commended United Airlines for its decision to relaunch the Washington, D.C. route on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and hoped it to quickly grow to daily flights. Enditem
UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th May, 2021 ) :United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply disturbed" by the Israeli airstrike Saturday that destroyed a 12-storey Gaza City building, his spokesman has said.

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric's comments came in response to reporters' questions as Israel unleashed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, killing 10 members of an extended family and demolishing the high-rise building housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera and The Associated Press (AP), an American news agency, as well as residential apartments The owner of the building that was demolished said he had received a call from the Israeli military warning that the building would be targeted, after which he said he had about an hour to order everyone to evacuate.

The strike was part of the ongoing Israeli aggressive actions against the Palestinians protesting evictions from East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah that has escalated over the past week between Israel and Hamas.

Dujarric, the UN secretary-general's spokesman, said that Guterres was also " deeply dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza.

" "The Secretary-General reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs," Dujarric added.

The statement come ahead of a planned UN Security Council meeting Sunday where diplomats will address the escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians, The violence marks some of the worst fighting in the region since Israel's 2014 war with Hamas, which rules Gaza.

AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement following the building's collapse that the news outlet was "shocked and horrified" that the Israeli military would target the building.

Al Jazeera also issued a statement condemning the bombing "in the strongest possible terms," adding it viewed the attack as a "clear act to stop journalists from conducting their sacred duty to inform the world and report events on the ground." US President Joe Biden in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- his close ally -- on Saturday "raised concerns" about the safety of journalists following the day's attack, while he also "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza."
MINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2021) Belarus will submit evidence to an international judicial authority in the nearest future to begin the procedure for recognizing as genocide the atrocities committed against local population during the Great Patriotic War, the 1941-1945 segment of World War 2, Belarusian Prosecutor General Andrei Shved said on Sunday.

"In the near future, we ... plan to submit to the international tribunal a sufficient amount of evidence in order to start, in accordance with the established order, the procedure for the official recognition of the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War," Shved told the state-owned Belarus-1 tv channel.

Minsk has information about still living Nazi criminals who took part in the activities of punitive squadrons, the official said, adding that the authorities know even the place of residence of these people. They include members of the Lithuanian SS battalions, which are recognized as a criminal organization by the decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal.

The official added that Minsk would also seek extradition of some of the criminals in line with international agreements. Belarus may seek assistance from Lithuania and Poland, among other countries, the prosecutor general added.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2021) The military wing of Palestine's Hamas, Qassam Brigades, announced on Saturday that the movement would stop airstrikes against Israel's Tel Aviv for two hours starting from 10 p.m. local time on Saturday.

"Qassam Brigades give the residents of Tel Aviv a truce for two hours, from 10 p.m. to midnight," the military wing's representative, Abu Obeida, said in a statement.
TEL AVIV/GAZA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2021) Air raid sirens were heard in Israel's Tel Aviv late on Saturday night, around midnight, a Sputnik correspondent reports.

The sirens were followed by the sound of explosions (likely due to the the Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepting rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip).

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said shortly after midnight that multiple rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

"After threatening to fire rockets at Tel Aviv, Hamas has fired a heavy barrage of rockets from Gaza into central & southern Israel.

Men, women, children, and the elderly are currently in shelters, protecting themselves from rockets aimed at them," the IDF said on Twitter.

According to the Sputnik correspondent, rockets started to be launched towards Israel from Gaza on the night from Saturday to Sunday, around midnight (21:00 GMT on Saturday).

On Saturday evening, the military wing of Palestine's Hamas, Qassam Brigades, announced that the movement was going to stop airstrikes against Israel's Tel Aviv for two hours starting from 10 p. m. local time on Saturday (19:00 GMT).
Pope Francis sends a message to participants at an ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals in Italy, encouraging them to serve together in fraternity.

By Vatican News staff writer

Pope Francis has expressed his closeness to the participants at a meeting for a fraternal dialogue held on Saturday under the theme: Fraternity in Christ.

During this time you will be holding the Italian charismatic consultation. I would like to be closer to you, to be with you, the Pope said in a video message. Thank you very much for this work that you have been doing for years - since the celebration in 1992 in Bari.

The virtual meeting, promoted by the Italian Charismatic Consultation (made up of Catholics and Pentecostals in Italy), will see the presence of several speakers, including Prof. Matteo Calisi, the founder and president of the Community of Jesus, who began the dialogue in Bari.

In 1992, Matteo Calisi, together with the Pentecostal Pastor Rev. Dr. Giovanni Traettino (Bishop-Chairman of the Evangelical Church of the Reconciliation), founded the Italian Charismatic Consultation - a joint committee of Catholic Charismatics and Pentecostal Evangelicals, which started a dialogue between Catholics and Pentecostals in Italy.

Fraternity

Holding up the theme of the online meeting, Pope Francis highlighted that it is a fraternal dialogue, and invited them to be guided by the Word of the Lord: Go to my brethren and say to them: 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (Jn 20:17).

Jesus sends us to proclaim that He is with us, the Pope said. He is before the Father, He accompanies us; and as Christians, without exposing the divisions that still exist but that do not prevent us from working together, walking together, and washing each other's feet,

He then urged the meetings participants to remember Bari and to serve together in brotherhood.

Concluding his message, Pope Francis joined himself spiritually to the meeting, praying for and with the participants. He also expressed gratitude to them for this sign of brotherhood.
Rescue workers assist victims amid the rubble left by an Israeli air strike on Gaza City

Pope Francis appeals for calm in the Holy Land as escalating violence threatens to degenerate into a spiral of death and destruction.

By Christopher Wells

Pope Francis appealed in the name of God for calm in the Holy Land, after seven days of fighting that has left scores of people dead and hundreds more wounded.

The deaths of dozens of children among them are particularly terrible and unacceptable," the Pope said. Their death is a sign that people do not want to build the future, but to destroy it.



He warned that the ongoing violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip risks degenerating into a spiral of death and destruction, with wounds to fraternity and peaceful coexistence that will be difficult to heal without an immediate return to dialogue.

The Pope urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to stop the clamour of arms and to walk the path of peace, with the help of the international community."

He called for unceasing prayer for Israelis and Palestinians to find the path of dialogue and forgiveness, to be patient builders of peace and justice, opening up, step-by-step, to a common hope, to coexistence between brothers.

Pope Francis then asked the faithful to pray for the victims of the conflict, especially the children.

Let us pray for peace to the Queen of Peace, he said, before leading them in the recitation of a Hail Mary.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 09:17:17|Editor: huaxia

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A voter casts his ballot at a voting center in Santiago, Chile, on May 15, 2021. Chile on Saturday began historic elections, in which, for the first time, a Constitution Convention comprised of 155 members will be elected to draft the country's new constitution. The 14.9 million Chilean voters will also choose mayors, councilors and other officials in the elections. (Photo by Jorge Villegas/Xinhua)

SANTIAGO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Chile on Saturday began historic elections, in which, for the first time, a Constitution Convention comprised of 155 members will be elected to draft the country's new constitution.

The process "is totally unique in Chile," Lucia Dammert, a political scientist and sociologist at the University of Santiago, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"One of the most important decisions in political terms will be made, which is the formation of the constituent convention within the context of the pandemic," she said.

On Oct. 18, 2019, Chileans took to the streets to protest a subway fare increase in Santiago. The movement morphed into one that protested against inequality and the neoliberal economic model installed during the administration of Augusto Pinochet, when the current constitution was enacted.

The social movement resulted in a national referendum that called for the drafting of a new constitution.

The 14.9 million Chilean voters will also choose mayors, councilors and other officials in the elections.

"Local elections in Chile in general have lower participation, but by adding the constitutional constituents, there is a lot of expectation and that strongly increases participation," President of Electoral Service Board of Directors Andres Tagle said this week in a meeting with correspondents.

To avoid crowding, a two-day election process was arranged and 15,000 electoral facilitators have been installed with the aim of ensuring an orderly, closely monitored electoral process complete with biosecurity protocols, said Tagle. Enditem
US President Joe Biden removes his mask as he and First Lady Jill Biden walk to Marine One as they depart the White House on May 15, 2021.(ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Speaking on the sixth day of a paroxysm of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has left scores dead or wounded, Biden expressed his "strong support" for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks by "Hamas and other terrorist groups," in his call with Netanyahu, while also emphasizing his clear concern over the deadly flare-up and casualties on both sides.

"He condemned these indiscriminate attacks against towns and cities across Israel," the White House statement said.

But Biden also raised concerns about the safety of journalists after Israeli air strikes on Saturday flattened a building in Gaza housing The Associated Press and other international media outlets.

In a phone call with AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt, Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered "unwavering support for independent journalists and media organizations around the world," noting the "indispensability" of reporting in conflict zones, according to State Department spokesman Ned Price.

Biden, who up to now has said little publicly about the heightened violence, voiced US support for a negotiated two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He made the same point in a separate phone call with president Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, the White House said, highlighting "strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution as the best path to reach a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

The US leader, in his first call with Abbas since taking office, also "stressed the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself," in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Gantz, according to a readout.

Austin "strongly condemned the continued onslaught of attacks by Hamas and other terrorists groups targeting Israeli civilians," it said, adding that the secretary had "shared his view on the need to restore calm."

Israel pummeled the Gaza Strip with air strikes on Saturday, killing 10 members of an extended family, as Palestinian militants fired back barrages of rockets.

Clashes also swept the occupied West Bank.
The Facebook Journalism Project is partnered with an entity who sponsors Chinas Tsinghua University, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) training ground for the regimes propaganda organs that openly teaches what it calls Marxist Journalism. Facebook itself also sent a Vice President to lecture at the University, according to research.

The Facebook Journalism Project describes itself as an entity which works with publishers around the world to strengthen the connection between journalists and the communities they serve.

The Project does this through visiting newsrooms and offer online courses to train journalists on how to leverage social tools to tell stories that matter, and by partnerships with news publishers and nonprofits to combat misinformation, promote news literacy, fund new initiatives, share best practices, and improve journalism on our platforms.

One of Facebooks partners, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), was found to be a corporate sponsor for Tsinghuas Master of Arts Global Business Journalism Program in an investigation by National Pulse, along with Bloomberg, Merrill Lynch, and an entity which funds Facebooks phalanx of demagogue fact checkers, Knight Group.

On Tsinghua Universitys China-located website, in the Deans Address, the schools leader advocates openly for applying Marxisms theory of struggle to mutate journalism away from its traditional standard as a factually accurate public estate and towards a propaganda machine, We should be committed to a firm and correct political orientation. Our School has been actively exploring the theory and practices of Marxist Journalism.

The dean says the so-called Marxist Journalism should be used for applying the Marxist theory in observing the world, selecting and handling news production.

The Networking page of the Universitys website also shows Facebooks Vice President of Human Resources and Recruiting, Lori Goler, was a guest lecturer in 2017 alongside names such as CNNs Fareed Zakaria.

Students graduate during a ceremony held for 3,768 masters and 898 doctorates being given out at the Tsinghua University on July 18, 2007 in Beijing. Tsinghua admits of its own accord to be a training ground for Marxist propagandists who go on to work both in the regimes demagoguery machine and global blue chip corporations. (Image: China Photos/Getty Images)

A 2013 post on the ICFJs website is gushing in its praise for Tsinghua over placement of graduates both at high level CCP propaganda mouthpieces and big multinational corporations, Graduates are working at media such as China Daily, South China Morning Post, Peoples Daily, Economic Observer, Bloomberg News, China Securities Journal, Korean Broadcasting System, Xinhua News Agency, China Central Television, Global Times, Radio Beijing and China Radio International, as well as multinationals such as Deloitte, Ogilvy & Mather, Saatchi & Saatchi, Shell, Sony Ericsson and IBM.

An unfortunate east-west connection

The post focuses on collaboration between the ICFJ and the East-West Institute (EWI). On Page 47 of the EWIs 2011 Annual Report, the Institute thanks CCP United Front Work Department (UFWD) organ the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) for providing funding, The ChinaUnited States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) is a generous supporter of EWIs Strategic TrustBuilding Initiative, particularly in the area of U.S.China relations.

EWI also says on its Strategic Trust Building page the organization received the generous support of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) and other private donors and was organized in close partnership with the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) to participate in the U.S.-China Sanya Initiative Dialogue in Beijing in 2018.

The connection to the CUSEF is especially significant after a January investigation discovered through Foreign Agents Registration Act filings that U.S. public relations firm BLJ Worldwide had been representing the Foundation for many years in its efforts to co opt many of the biggest names in journalism, such as New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, CNN, and the Associated Press with perks such as luxury trips to mainland China.

The CCP is a top Facebook client

In early April, Facebook came under fire when it was found to be publishing whitewash ads paid for by Communist Party propaganda outlets in an attempt to discredit and deflect pressure away from fallout over the mounting scandal resulting from the regimes genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

In one case, Xinhua paid $100 to air an ad that was displayed to 200,000 people before it was removed. In another, CGTN paid $400 for an ad that targeted India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. It was viewed over a million times in four days before being removed, research found.

Analysis by DataReportal uncovered Facebook is a bustling hub for Beijings community organization and social influencing schemes.

Four of the regimes propaganda outlets, CGTN, Peoples Daily, China Daily, and Xinhua sit in the top 20 largest Facebook pages in existence. India is the platforms largest advertising audience, eclipsing the United States by a nearly 2:1 ratio, while the most active city on Facebook in the world is Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, a member of the independent Facebook Oversight Board, which recently upheld the platforms ban on Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, also has a connection to the Communist Partys United Front.

Thorning-Schmidt gave a speech in 2017 at the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in Beijing, where her charity, Save the Children, was praised by the CCP for working together with related government and institutions for years, to bring the most advanced medical technologies to China.
Sina San is the first Cambodian American to win an EMMY award for outstanding visual effects. From a child of immigrants drawing on the walls of the familys house to a successful visual effects artist drawing for Hollywood, the 39-year-old Los Angeles talent represents a classic success story of the American dream. Now, she hopes to bring the dream to her motherland. VOA Khmers Chetra Chap talked with Sina San right before the Covid-19 pandemic about her journey in the creative industry, and her plan to help nurture the creative arts in Cambodia.
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BRAINERD, Minn. (AP)  With the opening of Minnesota's fishing season marked by the 73rd annual Minnesota Governors Fishing Opener on Otter Tail Lake, some aspects will look a lot like past years: Lots of media, visits by dignitaries and a chance for the local community to promote tourism.

But anglers wont have to make the drive to Otter Tail County to join this years festivities. They wont even have to own a boat. All they need is a fishing rod and a smart phone.

Anyone can compete in a virtual fishing derby this year: They catch a walleye from any public water body in Minnesota, use an app on their phone to submit a photo, then let the fish go.

The idea was in the works last year, before the Governors Fishing Opener event was postponed due to COVID-19. This year, it made sense to have a statewide event that anyone can participate in, said Erik Osberg, chair of the local planning committee.

Its safer for everybody involved, Osberg said. Its safer for the angler. Its safer for the fish. Its safer for the fisheries. You spread that pressure out.

The virtual derby is part of a trend of fishing tournaments shifting toward a new format known as immediate release, or catch-photo-release. It began about a decade ago, but grew more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, as organizers tried to find ways to host pandemic-safe events, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.

The approach is gaining advocates, who say fish that are caught and quickly released are less likely to die afterward. And the virtual nature can ease crowding on heavily fished lakes and open up tournaments to a wider group of anglers.

Its an alternative to the traditional catch-hold-release tournament, in which anglers would race to shore with their catch and crowd around a weigh-in station to see how it stacked up against competitors.

There were photos and bragging rights before the fish was finally returned to the water, but not in the same location where it was caught.

Its no surprise that what we call delayed mortality was happening from the lack of oxygen, said Vern Wagner, an avid bass angler who co-founded a conservation nonprofit called Anglers for Habitat.

Wagner helped develop best practices for fishing tournaments in the state, including keeping fish in plenty of fresh, oxygenated water during the weigh-in process.

That really cut down on mortality, but its still redistributed the fish, he said. And you still are going to have some mortality associated with holding them in a live well, putting them in a bag, weighing them on a scale.

Then, about 10 years ago, smartphones entered the scene, and with them, the catch-photo-release tournament.

Instead of taking their fish to shore, anglers in these contests download an app on their phones. They lay the fish on a measuring stick, take a photo, and submit it using the app.

Then they release the fish right back into the water. The whole process typically takes less than a minute.

Theres no question that from an individual fish level, thats a better outcome, and it certainly has a higher likelihood of surviving, said Jon Hansen, fisheries program consultant with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Hansen said catch-photo-release tournaments reduce the stress on the fish and improve their chances of survival.

The reality is at the end of the day, some of these fish are in live wells for hours at a time, he said. Even with the best fish-handling procedures and fanciest live wells and really well-run weigh-ins, theres going to be some fish that die.

In 2017, the Minnesota DNR issued 36 permits for catch-photo-release contests  less than 10 percent of the total number of fishing tournaments that year, Hansen said. Last year during COVID-19, that number grew to 56  about 20 percent, he said.

Despite the fact that many pandemic restrictions are beginning to lift, the trend doesnt seem to be slowing. About a quarter of permits the DNR has issued this year so far have been for catch-photo-release tournaments, Hansen said.

And one of the states largest fishing contests  the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza, which typically draws more than 10,000 anglers to Gull Lake every winter  was virtual, with participants able to fish on any frozen Minnesota lake.

One of the apps commonly used in tournaments, including this years Governors Opener, is FishDonkey.

Darren Amundson, co-founder of the Minnesota-based company, said many people ask whether cheating is possible when anglers record the size of their fish themselves. But he said the app has built-in anti-cheating software that makes it tough to be dishonest.

We know the date and time stamp, he said.  We know the location, but we dont ever share the location with anyone.

Amundson said having anglers measure the length of the fish actually cuts down on cheating thats been a problem in past tournaments, such as anglers putting weights in a fishs mouth to make it heavier. FishDonkey also requires every angler to submit a video of the fish being released.

Amundson said catch-photo-release tournaments offer other advantages, such as not being limited to a few hours on a certain lake.

We get a lot of people who are shore fishermen who dont even have boats, he said. They fish from their own docks, or they fish just on their local lakes that they know. And so they can enjoy it at their own time, in their own location.

One of the first groups to seize on the new model were student fishing leagues, whose young anglers are usually tech-savvy, but dont always have big boats with live wells or weighing equipment.

Jimmy Bell is president of the Student Angler Tournament Trail, a volunteer nonprofit that works to increase fishing opportunities for youth. The group organized about a dozen events last year, all catch-photo-release.

Bell said the format is a good fit for student anglers, who grew up and are comfortable with using cell phones and computers.

Technology isnt exciting to the kids anymore, he said. What we find is new and exciting to the students is getting outdoors.

Bell said he thinks eventually, all Minnesota fishing tournaments will involve anglers documenting their fishs size and letting it go. He thinks that would be a good thing.

But not all tournaments have made the switch. Peter Perovich, president of Minnesota BASS Nation, said his organization currently doesnt hold any catch-photo-release bass fishing contests, although some of its 36 member clubs do.

Perovich said the organizations members are conservation-minded and conscious of hooking mortality, which he said is relatively low. With youth fishing contests, theres a teaching moment during the weigh-in process that is lost with catch-photo-release, he said.

With a virtual tournament, I think were missing another aspect of education here with these kids, and learning how to handle these fish and wildlife, the proper way to make sure that they arent damaged or hurt, he said.

And Perovich laments the loss of a camaraderie around the weigh-in station that doesnt exist in a virtual tournament. With an app-based tournament, fishing becomes a more singular sport, he said.

Everybody just kind of does their thing, he said. They send it in on their app, they take their boat out of the water, they go home.

The DNR supports the move toward catch-record-release tournaments. Hansen said the agency may offer incentives, such as reduced permit fees, to encourage the shift.
Stowe, VT (05672)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low 53F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Alabama lawmakers return Monday for the final day of the legislative session with several large and controversial issues before them. The legislative session by law is limited to 30 meeting days and must conclude Monday.

Here is a look at where some key issues stand:

GENERAL FUND

One of the most pressing issues is to give final approval for the general fund budget for next fiscal year. The bill is in conference committee to work out differences between the House of Representatives and Alabama Senate. The $2.4 billion spending plan is up a modest 3.6% over this year. The budget includes a 2% pay raise for state employees.

CURBSIDE VOTING BAN

The bill by Republican Rep. Wes Allen of Troy would explicitly forbid election workers from setting up curbside areas for people to vote as well as forbid the setting up of voting machines outside a polling place. Curbside voting is a voting method that civil rights organizations had sought during the COVID-19 pandemic and have argued that it would make it easier for people to vote, particularly the elderly, disabled and parents with young children. The House approved the bill and it is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

GAMBLING

House leaders are doubtful a gambling bill will return for a House of Representatives vote on the last day. The Senate-passed proposal would allow a state lottery and nine casinos in the state. However, negotiations in the House of Representatives fell apart. Republican Rep. Chris Blackshear, who handled the bill in the House, said he doesnt expect either the gambling bill to make a return in any form. Blackshear said if lawmakers can come to an agreement, he is hopeful Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey will call a special session on the issue later this year.

TRANSGENDER TREATMENT

The bill would make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison for a doctor to prescribe puberty-blockers or hormones or perform surgery to aid in the gender transition of people 18 or younger. The Alabama Senate approved the bill in March, and it awaits a vote in the House. Opponents, including parents and trans youth, say such measures interfere with medical decisions and target trans individuals for the sake of politics. Sponsors counter that they are trying to protect children from decisions that should wait until adulthood. Arkansas earlier this year became the first state to enact such a measure.

OPPOSING FEDERAL GUN LAWS

The Alabama Senate approved legislation to make it a crime for local police officers to enforce any new federal gun restrictions, part of a wave of GOP nullification proposals to try to resist any new gun control measures. Senators voted 21-5 for the bill by Republican Sen. Gerald Allen of Tuscaloosa. The bill is awaiting a vote in the House. Republicans in several states are pushing such measures. Opponents of the bill argued that the U.S. Constitution already protects gun rights and that Republican lawmakers are going to get the state embroiled in a costly lawsuit that they will ultimately lose.

THIRD GRADE READING PROMOTION REQUIREMENT

After COVID-19 disrupted two school years, Alabama lawmakers are weighing a pause in an upcoming state requirement for third graders to pass a reading test before moving up to the fourth grade. The Senate-passed bill by Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, would delay the promotion requirement now set to take effect next year. Smitherman and others said it would be unfair to force the requirement on students who were out of the traditional classroom for long stretches during the pandemic. Rep. Terri Collins, who sponsored the original law creating the requirement, said she would prefer to wait until after spring test scores are in before deciding if a delay is needed.

YOGA BAN

The bill by Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray of Opelika would allow public schools to teach yoga. He says he is weighing whether to accept the changes or go to conference committee and risk running out of time to pass the bill on the busy final legislative day. Gray says he thought some of the Senate changes showed phobias or blatant disrespect to the Hindu culture. Gray is attempting to void a decades-old ban on yoga in public schools. The Alabama Board of Education voted in 1993 to prohibit yoga, hypnosis and meditation in public school classrooms.
An Israeli airstrike on Saturday targeted and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets. Hours later, Israel bombed the home of a top leader of Gazas ruling militant Hamas group.

The Israeli military said the home of Khalil al-Hayeh served as part of what it said was the militant groups terrorist infrastructure. Al-Hayeh is a senior figure in the Hamas political leadership in Gaza, and the attack marked a further escalation, signaling that Israel is going after Hamas top leadership, and not just military commanders. His fate after the strike was not immediately known.

Earlier, AP staffers and other tenants safely evacuated their office building after the military telephoned a warning that the strike was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles struck the 12-story building, collapsing it in a giant cloud of dust.

For 15 years, the APs top-floor office and roof terrace were a prime location for covering Israels conflicts with Gazas Hamas rulers, including wars in 2009 and 2014. The news agencys camera offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surrounding area this week.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing APs bureau and other news organizations in Gaza.

This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life, he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

The building that was targeted also housed the offices of Qatari-run Al-Jazeera TV, as well as residential apartments. The Israeli military said Hamas was operating inside it, a standard explanation, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

It also was not clear why the military took down an entire building filled with media offices and residential apartments. The military has carried out scores of pinpoint airstrikes, including in the current round of fighting, that targeted single floors and even single apartments.

Hours earlier, another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, the deadliest single strike of the current conflict.

In response to the strike against the building that housed media outlets, The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel provide a detailed and documented justification.

This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza, the groups executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 145 people have been killed, including 41 children and 23 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, on Saturday.

The latest outburst of violence started in Jerusalem and spread across the region over the past week, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.

The spiraling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, when peace talks have not taken place in years. Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest.

U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived Friday as part of Washingtons efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the U.N. Security Council was set to meet Sunday. But Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official said Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

As the hostilities continued, an Israeli bombardment struck a three-story house in Gaza Citys Shati refugee camp on Saturday morning, killing eight children aged 14 and under and two women from an extended family.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with her brothers wife and three of their children. All were killed instantly, he said. The only known survivor from Hadidis family was his 5-month-old son Omar; another son, 11-year-old Yahya, was missing, he said.

Childrens toys and a Monopoly board game could be seen among the rubble, as well as plates of uneaten food from the holiday gathering.

There was no warning, Jamal Al-Naji, a neighbor living in the same building, said. You filmed people eating and then you bombed them? he said, addressing Israel. Why are you confronting us? Go and confront the strong people!

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the airstrike.

The strike on the building housing media offices came in the afternoon, after the owner received a call from the Israeli military warning that the building would be hit within the hour. A video broadcast by Al-Jazeera showed the buildings owner, Jawwad Mahdi, pleading over the phone with an Israeli intelligence officer to wait 10 minutes to allow journalists to go inside the building to retrieve valuable equipment before it is bombed.

All Im asking is to let four people ... to go inside and get their cameras, he says. We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you dont allow it, but give us 10 minutes. When the officer rejected the request, Mahdi said, You have destroyed our lifes work, memories, life. I will hang up, do what you want. There is a God.

Al-Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatars government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.

This channel will not be silenced. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced, Halla Mohieddeen. on-air anchorperson for Al-Jazeera English said, her voice thick with emotion. We can guarantee you that right now.

Later in the day, the White House responded by saying Israel had a paramount responsibility to ensure the safety of journalists covering the spiraling conflict.

U.S. President Joe Biden has urged a deescalation in the 5-day conflict between Hamas and Israel, but has publicly backed Israels right to self-defense from Hamas rockets fired from Gaza. On Saturday, he spoke with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A furious Israeli barrage early Friday killed a family of six in their house and sent thousands fleeing to U.N.-run shelters. The military said the operation involved 160 warplanes dropping some 80 tons of explosives over the course of 40 minutes and succeeded in destroying a vast tunnel network used by Hamas.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the military aims to minimize collateral damage in striking military targets. But measures it takes in other strikes, such as warning shots to get civilians to leave, were not feasible this time.

Israeli media said the military believed dozens of militants were killed inside the tunnels. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, but the military said the real number is far higher.

Gazas infrastructure, already in widespread disrepair because of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007, showed signs of breaking down further, compounding residents misery. The territorys sole power plant is at risk of running out of fuel in the coming days.

The U.N. said Gazans already are experiencing daily power cuts of 8-12 hours and at least 230,000 have limited access to tap water. The impoverished and densely populated territory is home to 2 million Palestinians, most of them the descendants of refugees from what is now Israel.

The conflict has reverberated widely. Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen nightly violence, with mobs from each community fighting in the streets and trashing each others property.

The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, with Palestinian protests against attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 09:25:27|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China's index of export container transport went up in the past week ending Friday, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

The average China Containerized Freight Index (CCFI) stood at 2,134.37, up 2.9 percent from a week earlier, according to the exchange.

The sub-reading for the E/C America service led the growth with a week-on-week gain of 6.8 percent.

The CCFI tracks spot and contractual freight rates from Chinese container ports for 12 shipping routes across the globe, based on data from 22 international carriers.

The index was set at 1,000 on Jan. 1, 1998. Enditem
North Alabama was certainly treated to a perfect Spring day for your Saturday! And the rest of the weekend looks just as great too! Overnight lows stay comfortable in the mid 50s with partly cloudy skies. The warming trend continues Sunday with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 80s.

The high pressure that has been keeping our weather quiet over the last few days will slide eastward towards the Carolina coast early next week. As a result, we will see what we call "return flow" from the Gulf of Mexico. Simply put, return flow means warmer temperatures and slightly more humidity. With the increased humidity, the chance for "summertime" pop up showers and storms will return to the forecast next week. However, the high pressure centered along the coast will stay pretty strong and looks to have a bigger influence on our weather pattern, keeping rain chances low. The best chance for any showers and storms will be Monday night and Tuesday.

Overall, the humidity will also stay in check. But the temperatures will continue to heat up for the second half of May. Highs approach the mid 80s by Wednesday and perhaps near 90 degrees for the first time this year next weekend. While it definitely won't feel like the typical summertime heat late next week, it will certainly be a reminder that summer is right around the corner!
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Mostly clear. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Delta launches flights to Italy to American leisure travellers from 16 May.

Delta Air Lines is offering covid-tested flights to Italy to "all customers" from 16 May as the Italian government lifts "entry restrictions enabling American leisure travelers to visit the country for the first time in more than a year."

The news, announced on the US airline's website, will allow non-essential travel to Italy from the US, with Delta's customers obliged to undergo coronavirus testing before departure and on arrival, regardless of their vaccination status.

On testing negative, passengers will not be required to quarantine in Italy.

The direct, covid-tested Delta flight options, operated in conjunction with Italian airline Alitalia, include five-times-a-week between Atlanta and Rome (increasing to daily from 26 May); a daily service between New York-JFK and Milan; and three-times-a-week from New York-JFK to Rome (increasing to daily from 1 July).

Later this summer Delta will offer additional routes: New York-JFK to Venice starting on 2 July, as well as Atlanta to Venice and Boston to Rome from 5 August.

The move by Delta followed an announcement by Italy's foreign affairs minister Luigi Di Maio who stated that tourists from the USA, Canada and Japan will be allowed to travel to Italy on board covid-free flights.

Describing it as "safe travel without quarantine," Di Maio said: "We are opening up to safe tourism from all G7 states after more than a year. Until now, with covid free flights, it was not possible to come to Italy for tourism from non-EU countries."

The travel update comes as Italy announced it will drop quarantine restrictions for travellers arriving from European and Schengen zone countries, Israel and the UK, from 16 May.

Previously people travelling to Italy from these areas were obliged to quarantine for five days on arrival and undergo obligatory covid tests both before arrival and at the end of their isolation period.

Under the new travel rules, a negative covid-19 test result before travelling will still be required, the Italian health ministry has confirmed.

The move comes a week after Italian prime minister Mario Draghi said that Italy would reopen to vaccinated, recovered or covid-negative tourists this summer.

"The time has come to book your holidays in Italy" - Draghi said - Our mountains, our beaches, our cities are reopening.

For official information relating to the covid-19 situation in Italy - in English - see the health ministry website.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It was Saturday and the prisoner in protective custody had a familiar visitor. Dr Anthony Dante Castagna, a former finance professor, was one year into his four-year sentence for tax fraud and money laundering. In four days time, his crucial appeal against his conviction would be heard. But on that Saturday, March 30, 2019, an old friend wanted to catch up. Macquarie Group executive Dan Phillips was about to fly to London for a board meeting of Nuix, the secretive forensic data analytics firm into which the investment bank had tipped more than $100 million. Macquarie had plans to reap big returns from its investment through a float or sale to a new owner. Codenamed internally as Project Truth, the process would make Macquarie millions. But before he jetted off, Phillips wanted to talk to the person who knew more about the inner workings of the business than almost anyone else: Castagna. Tony Castagna arrives at Nuix headquarters in Sydney late last month. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Fast forward two years and the 73-year-old Castagna is in clover. His conviction was quashed and an acquittal was entered. Last December an unusual options agreement resulted in him turning a $3000 investment into an $80 million windfall when Nuix listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Meanwhile, after orchestrating what is widely believed to be Macquaries most successful investment ever, Phillips has been lauded as one of the stars of Australias biggest investment bank.

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At the time of the float, Nuix was heralded as Australias next great technology company. It makes software platforms that international regulators, tax officials and law enforcement agencies, such as the US Department of Justice and Britains Serious Fraud Office, use to run sensitive probes into malfeasance and misconduct. But a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review paints a different picture. The investigation, based on interviews with current and former staff and investors, who asked to remain anonymous, as well as confidential internal documents, raises questions about Nuixs governance and financial accounts years before it floated. The internal concerns even led to an attempted coup of Nuix chief executive Rod Vawdrey which was ultimately thwarted by Phillips and the board. Nuix chief executive Rod Vawdrey at the companys ASX listing in December. Credit:Ben Rushton Since the heavily hyped float that made Castagna and Macquarie millions, Nuix shares have fallen from a peak of almost $12 to close at just $3.47 last week. The coming of Castagna Castagna has a background in finance and appears to have focused on technology after working in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, advising on tech start-ups before the dotcom boom. On his return to Australia, Phillips signed him up as a full-time consultant to Macquarie Bank in April 1998. About seven years later he was asked to turn around what was then a struggling technology business called Nuix. The business seemed to do well and by 2011 Macquarie was a significant shareholder. At the same time, Castagnas friends from Macquarie, Phillips and David Standen, were appointed to the board.

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About a decade into his involvement with Macquarie and Nuix, Castagnas office at the bank was raided as part of a major federal tax probe. Macquarie executives were concerned and made a voluntary statement to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). But they were not concerned enough to cut ties with the venture capitalist. Castagna had come to the attention of Project Wickenby investigators via his Vanuatu-based cousin Robert Agius, who was suspected of running multiple tax-avoidance schemes. Agiuss phone calls  which were intercepted by the ATO  led them to Castagna. The Crown case against Castagna and his cousin revolved around how Macquarie Bank had been paying Castagnas consultancy agreements for the decade since Phillips signed him on in 1998. In April 2018, a Supreme Court jury found Castagna and his cousin guilty of money laundering and tax evasion. Castagna was profoundly shocked when he received a seven-year sentence, four of it non-parole. He always thought he was smarter than everyone else and that he would win, said one of those close to him who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were describing private conversations. Castagna leaves a Sydney court in April 2018 where a jury found him guilty of money laundering and tax evasion. He served time in jail before he was acquitted and his conviction quashed. Credit:Janie Barrett While he no longer had a choice about staying on as a director of Nuix because he was in prison, he still had a key shareholding in the company and the ongoing support of Phillips, Standen and the rest of the board. Following his jailing, a string of Nuix and Macquarie executives, including Phillips and Standen, beat a regular path to see the former chairman as he languished in jail cells in Parklea, Kariong and Long Bay, according to multiple Nuix and Corrective Services sources. On June 5, 2019, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his conviction and he was acquitted. The Crown case was that he had avoided tax by channelling his consultancy fees from Macquarie to Vanuatu via a New Zealand bank account operated by a UK company called Billbury. But the Court of Appeal found that the contractual arrangement between Macquarie and his private company Billbury was genuine, therefore the assessable income derived by Dr Castagna was the money he received from Billbury, not the money received by Billbury from Macquarie.

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Unless it could be said that the agreement was a sham ... it follows that the income was derived by Billbury, the judgment said. Even if it was assumed the Crown case was strong, said the appeal court judges, a fresh trial was not appropriate in part because of Castagnas age, he was then 72, and hed already been in jail for more than a year. Macquaries long-term ambition was for Nuix to become a public company listed on the ASX. On December 4, 2020, that ambition was realised when Nuix listed in what was described as the hottest float in years. It listed at $5.31, soaring 50 per cent on the first day, valuing the business at $2.5 billion. In the lead up to the float, Phillips and Standen were the subject of a positive write-up in the Financial Review, which featured a photo of Phillips posing with Chinese orphans. The float looms as one of the biggest moments of their careers, said the article. Macquarie Group executive Dan Phillips. He has been involved in a charity looking after Chinese orphans. Credit: The float scored a billion-dollar payday for Macquarie, with handsome bonuses for the executives involved. It also made Castagna seriously wealthy as he cashed in his options for the $80 million windfall. But few retail investors in the business would have even known of his involvement in the forensic data company. On the same day the float prospectus was launched, Castagna quietly exited the companys board. The prospectus, which provides potential investors with details of the business, didnt include Castagnas role as a founder.

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Two footnotes in the 320-page prospectus detailing Castagnas companys shareholding were the only record of his role in the company. Trouble brewing When Phillips visited Castagna in jail on March 30, 2019, trouble was brewing at Nuix. Macquarie was itching to start the sale process, but much of the golden payday it was seeking would depend on the companys then incarcerated rainmaker: Castagna. Just days later in London, six senior executives told Phillips and Standen at an offsite meeting the company had lost its way. The six executives demanded that Rod Vawdrey, the CEO, be sacked, along with his confidant, human resources manager Megan Farrell. Castagna described Vawdrey, above at the ASX listing, as his bulldog. Credit:Ben Rushton In a presentation titled Nuix 2.0, they said, Nuix has lost focus, lost customer-centricity and stopped innovating and cited key issues as a toxic, no-trust culture where acting in the interests of the greater good of Nuix has been lost and accountability [was] always shifting.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 10:11:29|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday voiced concern over civilian casualties and the destruction of media offices in Gaza by Israel, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The secretary-general is dismayed by the increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of 10 members of the same family, as a result of an Israeli airstrike on Friday night in the al-Shati camp in Gaza, said Dujarric in a statement.

The secretary-general is also deeply disturbed by the destruction by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of several international media organizations as well as residential apartments, said the statement.

Guterres reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilians and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs, it said.

The 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the offices of the Associated Press, Al-Jazeera and other media outlets are located, was leveled in an Israeli airstrike. Israel claimed the building housed Hamas military intelligence elements. Enditem
Last weeks federal budget calculations assumed the vaccine rollout would be completed by the end of the year and that borders would reopen by mid-2022. But the government has not committed to those targets. The indefinite border ban, first introduced in March 2020, has prompted her and her ex-husband, a British-Australian, to both quit the country. Cristina Williams, third from left, with her blended family in Arizona earlier this year. Hes finally said to me lets get out, the UK is going to open up a lot sooner than Australia, the world will be back to a new normal and Australia will be still trying to figure out what a post-pandemic plan looks like, she says, speaking from hotel quarantine via Zoom after returning from a three-month visit to the US with her boys. The trip cost them $50,000 in cancelled and rebooked flights and quarantine. We didnt do the trip because we felt like a change of scenery, we did it because were desperate, she said.

When it was one month or two months, well OK, maybe it wasnt urgent for you to see your husband, when its two months and your kids havent seen their brothers - suck it up. When its going on its second year, now its a crisis. She says not going would have meant a total of three years with the brothers not seeing each other and out of her marriage: Thats a prison term. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video She says she regularly writes to Health Minister Greg Hunt asking for a plan for when the borders will reopen but receives a proforma response saying how well Australia has managed the pandemic. There isnt a plan for this to end for Australia, if they actually said when everyone is vaccinated well reopen the border and it will be in stages - if they actually just showed some kind of a plan then we could plan our life and wed make an assessment about whether that year they said is manageable or not.

Adding to the sense of alienation from her home country is the lack of empathy from many Australians for her need to travel. She likens the abuse shes received  accusing her of being irresponsible and spreading coronavirus  to a toxic relationship. (She was fully vaccinated in the US.) It feels like a break-up with Australia and it feels like [Australia] is the arsehole but everybody else thinks [its] the hero. Williams is not alone in feeling this way. Molly Fleck and her husband came to work in Australia four years ago, she at a leading university in Sydney and he in finance for a US-based firm. They are booked on a flight to Chicago next week. Taking flight: Molly Fleck with 14-month-old son TJ in Surry Hills on Saturday. The family will relocate to the US because of Australias travel ban. Credit:Sam Mooy The 34-year-old gave birth to their first child  TJ  in March last year and has not been able to introduce him to his grandparents.

Loading She is frustrated that travel during the pandemic has been equated with holidays, rather than the urgent need to reconnect with loved ones. The uncertainty of not knowing when the borders are even potentially going to reopen [has] been really challenging for us to make any sort of plan for our life, Fleck says. The federal budget predicts the loss of 174,000 people by mid-2022 as a result of the border bans, a dramatic increase from the 93,200 it estimated just six months ago. Employers say the border closures are contributing to a serious labour shortage.

Loading Fleck says the governments ongoing bans have shown professional migrants like her that Australia is no longer just a flight away. While shell greatly miss her job, her friends and Sydneys beauty, she says the country can be an unwelcoming place for migrants  something that has been amplified by the pandemic. I definitely feel that it has grown in the pandemic and that its given people permission to voice things that they previously would have kept silent about. She hesitates when asked if shed recommend Australia as a place to relocate to when she returns home to the US.

Loading Its a hard question because I love Australia. Im very sad to be leaving but the Australian government has a short-term mindset when it comes to excluding migrants, she says. The damage thats being done with particularly keeping out international students is something thats going to haunt Australia for a decade. She says Australia is depriving itself of global talent in its continued pursuit of COVID-19 elimination because it is unsustainable, even if popular with the public. I dont much agree with ScoMo [Prime Minister Scott Morrison] but he was right at the very beginning when he said we will have to learn to live what his virus.
Houston: A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen wandering around a Houston suburb has been found and appears to be unharmed, police have announced.

In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Commander Ron Borza can be seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal and saying it has been a long week searching for it.

But we got him and hes healthy, Borza said as the wife of the man police allege is the animals owner sat next to him and fed the tiger with a baby bottle. The tiger was being held at BARC, the city of Houstons animal shelter, but was expected to be taken Sunday morning to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located south-east of Dallas.

Authorities had been searching for the tiger, a 9-month-old male named India, since it was spotted Sunday in a west Houston neighbourhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner.
With person of interest ID'd, family of Shively shooting victim ask witnesses to come forward
Last year, for the first time in more than a quarter-century, Democrats in Virginia took control of the statehouse and the governor's mansion. Since then, one priority has become clear: expanding voting rights.

Once home to the capital of the Confederacy, Virginia has made Election Day a state holiday, repealed a voter identification law and allowed no-excuse absentee voting. Earlier this year, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam approved a sweeping voting rights act, reinstating election rules once required by federal law to prevent racial discrimination.

Other Democratic states also are acting to remove restrictions to the ballot  in marked contrast to many Republican-controlled states that are moving in the opposite direction. Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Iowa have already passed restrictive voting laws; Ohio and Texas are considering their own.

It was kind of surreal to know that we had the power to change something in 2021 that we had been working on for my entire lifetime, said Del. Marcia Price, a Virginia Democrat who sponsored the Voting Rights Act of Virginia. I think the contrast is becoming so clear of what democracy looks like and what impeding democracy looks like.

More than 800 bills have been filed in 47 states this year with provisions that would expand voting rights, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy group that advocates for voting access. A majority of the proposals focus on absentee voting, while others are meant to make it easier to register to vote or restore voting rights for those with prior criminal convictions.

At the same time, congressional Democrats in Washington are pushing an overhaul of elections through a proposal that would compel states to offer no-excuse absentee voting, require 15 days of early voting, mandate greater disclosure from political donors and more.

The Voting Rights Act of Virginia requires local election officials to get public feedback or approval from the attorney general before making changes to voting procedures. It also empowers voters and the state to sue in cases of voter suppression at the local level and forbids discrimination in election administration.

The law mirrors parts of the federal Voting Rights Act, in which states and counties with a history of discrimination in voting, including Virginia and some other Southern states, had to receive federal approval before making changes to election law. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 threw out that requirement, known as preclearance, effectively gutting the Voting Rights Act.

Democratic states also are introducing legislation to make permanent or build upon procedures that were expanded in 2020, when officials relaxed rules to make voting easier and safer during the pandemic. Elections officials of both parties have said the election ran smoothly, and former President Donald Trump's attorney general said the Justice Department found no evidence of widespread fraud that would have altered the results.

Similar to Virginia, Connecticut is considering a proposal to create its own voting rights act. A separate bill would make ballot drop boxes a permanent fixture of elections. In Colorado, Democrats are pushing numerous elections bills, including measures to expand ranked-choice voting, encourage colleges and universities to inform students about registering to vote, and put polling centers in low-turnout areas.

The Vermont Legislature is moving a bill that would send general election ballots to all active voters, making permanent a policy used last year during the pandemic. Nevada Democrats are trying to do the same for all elections, with state Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson saying mailed ballots made voting more convenient and accessible.

The more options that we give our voters, the better off we are as states and the more were advancing democracy, he said.

Democrats in Maryland have passed several bills aimed at making voting easier this year. One wide-ranging bill created a permanent list that any voter can join to automatically get an absentee ballot before each election. It also requires election officials to send absentee ballot applications to all eligible voters before the states primary elections in 2022 and 2024 and approve ballot drop box locations.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan did not act on the bill, instead letting it become law without his signature. He said it would result in ballots being incorrectly mailed to ineligible voters.

I think the 2020 election was really a game-changer, said Del. Jheanelle Wilkins, a Democrat who sponsored the bill. We had vote-by-mail in unprecedented numbers in 2020, and I think also the climate of the 2020 election really showed us how important it is to expand this fundamental aspect of our democracy and to protect the right to vote and reduce any barriers that might be present in terms of freedom to vote.

Dale Ho, who oversees voting rights for the American Civil Liberties Union, said states should be trying to come up with ways to facilitate voting, not diminish it.

A lot of the analysis and conversation is, Is this going to help Republicans, is this going to help Democrats?' Why arent we talking about whats going to help voters? Whats better for voters?" he said. Thats what we should be talking about as a country. Thats what these politicians should be talking about.

____

Izaguirre reported from Lindenhurst, New York. Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Carson City, Nevada; Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia; and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.

____

Associated Press coverage of voting rights receives support in part from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Press Release

May 16, 2021 Less than 1% of funds allocated for displaced PUV workers used in Bayanihan 2: Pangilinan AS the Senate resumes its sessions Monday, Senator Francis Pangilinan wants to extend the validity of funds under the Bayanihan 2 Law from June 2021 to December 31, 2021 following reports of low utilization of money appropriated to assist transport sector workers displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic. "May perang nilaan ang Kongreso para sa ating mga jeepney drivers tapos nakikita natin silang namamalimos sa kalye. Mali yan. Gamitin na ang pondong nilaan para sa kanila," said Pangilinan, who introduced the budget for the Service Contracting Program in Bayanihan 2. A progress report by the Department of Transportation reveals that only 40 million pesos has been utilized out of the 5.58 billion pesos, or less than one percent of the total budget set aside for the Service Contracting Program, which aims to provide income to public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers who lost livelihood due to the lockdown. Republic Act 11519, which extended the availability of appropriations under Bayanihan 2, provides that the budget for programs, projects, and activities, including Service Contracting, shall be available for release, obligation, and disbursement until 30 June 2021 or in less than two months. The Service Contracting Program was designed to hire PUV operators and drivers who lost their routes after transportation was limited due to the lockdown. Under LTFRB Memorandum Circular (MC) No. 2020-079, drivers of modern jeepneys should be paid 800 pesos a day, while bus drivers should get 1,200 pesos, if the threshold for kilometers traveled were met. If not, the kilometer rate -- which was amended in April -- is at 45.50 pesos for bus drivers and 27 pesos for modern and traditional jeepney drivers. For inter-regional routes nationwide, the LTFRB simplified the payment scheme based on kilometers traveled. In LTFRB MC 2021-029, the payout for bus drivers is at 82.50 pesos per kilometer, while the payout for jeepney drivers is at 52.50 pesos per kilometer. Pangilinan said PUV drivers are now bearing the brunt of the inefficiencies of government agencies tasked to implement the program. "Para sa kanila ang pera, kailangang makaabot sa kanila nang may makain at pang-tustos ang pamilya," he said. Pangilinan said the proposed extension of the funds validity until December 31, 2021 will give the Department of Transportation and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to systematize and speed up the processes of rolling out the program. Earlier, transport coalition Move As One raised its concern to Pangilinan and proposed several measures to make the implementation of the program faster. In its letter to Pangilinan, Move As One coalition proposed that the backlogs and discrepancies in the payouts must be fixed. It also said that the coverage of the program should be expanded to areas without regular routes of jeepneys or buses to cover more beneficiaries and service more commuters.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 11:08:35|Editor: huaxia

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Rescuers help a man trapped in rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of rockets were fired from Gaza towards central and southern Israel on Saturday night, as violence between Hamas and Israel showed no signs of stopping.

The rockets were targeted at Israel's financial capital Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport, and other major cities throughout central and southern Israel, police said in a statement.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Earlier on Saturday, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, warned it will soon fire rockets to "avenge" Israel's devastating strike on a high-rise building in Gaza City housing offices of Al-Jazeera TV and Associated Press.

Since Monday, Israel has pounded Gaza with hundreds of air strikes and shells, killing at least 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women. Meanwhile, rockets fired by militant groups in Gaza have killed 10 people, including a 5-year-old boy, a soldier, and two women. Enditem
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Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that people have to be honest with themselves when deciding whether to wear a mask after the agency lifted masking requirements for vaccinated people.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 11:45:22|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with representatives attending a ceremony commending role models with disabilities and people who have made outstanding contributions in helping the disabled, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Du Chengcheng, a community worker in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, did not expect a thank you from President Xi Jinping.

Xi said this to Du during his visit to the community in April 2018 after he learned that this young woman in a wheelchair had been interpreting movies for the visually impaired since 2010.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has always borne people with disabilities in mind.

He said people with disabilities are equal members of the whole community and pushed for society-wide efforts to support them.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, shakes hands with delegates to the seventh national congress of the China Disabled Persons' Federation in Beijing, capital of China, on Sept. 14, 2018. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Xi himself talks with people with disabilities whenever seeing them during meetings or local inspections, and his words bring them warmth and encouragement.

While the country marks the 31st National Day for Helping the Disabled on Sunday, here is a recollection of Xi's interactions with the disabled in the past years.

PAT ON THE SHOULDER

In May 2019, at a ceremony to commend role models with disabilities, a young man in military uniform stood straight and firm, but his eyes were covered with gauze. His arms were amputated.

The young man's name is Du Fuguo. He lost his eyes and arms in 2018 when trying to protect others during a border-area mine clearance operation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, meets with representatives attending a ceremony commending role models with disabilities and people who have made outstanding contributions in helping the disabled, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

As Xi stopped in front of him, Du saluted with his residual arm and shouted a greeting. Xi gently held his elbow with one hand and patted him on the shoulder with the other in encouragement.

Images of the "special salute" and the pat on the shoulder soon became trending scenes on the Internet. Support and messages of solidarity poured in for Du. And he became an icon for self-strengthening.

In July 2019, Xi met Du again in Beijing, conferring the title "Heroic Demining Soldier" on him. Xi hung a medal around Du's neck, presented him with a certificate, and posed for a photo.





SIGN LANGUAGE

"'Thumb ups' is 'good' and bending it is 'thank you'." Xi was learning sign language with a hearing-impaired girl, Wang Yani, in her dormitory at a welfare home for orphans and disabled children.

He was delighted to see that these children have a happy life in this home during his visit to the northern Chinese city of Hohhot before the Spring Festival of 2014.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) learns the sign language for "thanks" from Wang Yani (C) and Yan Zhijing at the Children Welfare House of Hohhot City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Jan. 28, 2014. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

"I'm four, a boy." "I'm five."

A group of children who were rehearsing for a Spring Festival gala gathered around the president. Xi smiled, crouched down, and cuddled one of them.

He then called for kindheartedness and love for children, especially orphans and the disabled, from across society for their healthy growth.

EXEMPLIFYING TENACITY

Yang Yufang and his wife Gao Zhihong became paraplegic after the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, in 1976.

Xi met the couple when he visited a paraplegic rehabilitation center in Tangshan in 2016 when the city marked the 40th year of its reconstruction after the earthquake.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd R front), who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), visits paraplegic patients at the city's paraplegic rehabilitation center in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, July 28, 2016. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Xi talked with them and was glad to learn that the couple had been able to work as much as their strength would permit, blend into society, and live independently.

They were excited to meet the president and presented Xi with the poems they wrote as a gift.

Their story exemplified the tenacity and charm of life, Xi said. He told other residents that if people with a sound physical condition can have a brilliant life, people with disabilities can do likewise. 




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Don Lemon is getting his name above the title on his late-night program on CNN.

The WarnerMedia cable-news outlet will rename the two late-evening hours he has hosted for the past several years Don Lemon Tonight, replacing CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. CNN spokespersons did not respond immediately to queries seeking comment, but the new show moniker reflects something that has been evident for months  the anchors personality and emotional reactions to news events have become a bigger draw.

Lemon caused a stir late Friday at the end of his program when he suggested to viewers that the appearance marked the end of an era for his show. He later took to social media to tell followers he wasnt leaving the network.

In a schedule posted online, CNN bills the revamped show as Don Lemon brings you the biggest stories, newsmakers and spirited conversations of the day. Thats not much different from the job he has been doing since he took the reins at 10 p.m. in April of 2014. Since that time, however, Lemon has steadily injected more of his personal take on issues into the program. The anchor recently appeared to scold colleague Chris Cuomo, for example, for giving air time to former Republican Senator Rick Santorum on his 9 p.m. show, who has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for remarks he made about Native Americans. In 2018, in the midst of a heavy news cycle dominated by former President Donald Trump, Lemon once opened a broadcast by saying. This is CNN Tonight. Im Don Lemon. The president of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that.

Lemon has long harbored ambitions of bringing a program to CNN that isnt as bound by traditional news norms. I would like it to be a little bit looser. I would love it to be like HBO. I would love to be able to say those things you never say on basic cable. I would love to be able to have those conversations the way Bill Maher does, Lemon said during an interview with Variety in 2016. He even wondered at the time if putting a mature-audiences label on his program might give him more leeway to spur more freewheeling discussion.

CNN executives may have reason to indulge the anchors ideas. In the first quarter of 2021, CNN Tonight was the most-watched program at 10 p.m. among viewers between 25 and 54, the audience most coveted by advertisers in news programming. The performance marked the first time the show maintained that audience level for a full quarter. The program also notched its best average of total viewers  1.89 million  as well as average among viewers between 25 and 54  556,000  in the period.

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For Dr. Rob Fogerty, the pandemic became real at 11:47 p.m. on March 16, 2020.

Fogerty is director of bed resources for Yale New Haven Hospital. Hes the guy who keeps track of how many of which kinds of beds are available in the largest hospital in the state, and one of the largest in the nation.

Its a weird job, he said. A lot of people even here dont really know what I do. And Im OK with that. If Im invisible, that means that they were able to provide the care that they wanted to provide for their patient.

By mid-March last year, physicians and administrators at Yale New Haven Hospital had been talking about the coronavirus for a while, and Fogerty is used to late-night phone calls. He usually wouldnt bat an eye if his phone rang at midnight.

As a doctor, youre used to getting woken up in the middle of night, he said.

But when Fogertys phone rang and he saw that it was Steve Choi, Yales chief quality officer, he woke up and took notice.

A call from him is weird, he said. I sat bolt upright, like an ice cube went down my spine.

Doctors in Connecticut all have friends in New York, and Choi had just gotten off the phone with some colleagues. Choi told Fogerty: Theyre about to be totally overrun.

That was when COVID really started for me, he said.

A year later, and Fogerty is still in the weeds. Yes, hospitalizations have declined considerably since then (and then up, and then down again), but he cant seem to let go.

The boundary between personal and professional is gone, he said. I was hiking the other day, there was this beautiful bluff. It looks out, and I saw some houses and it was beautiful. I was there with my kids and I looked out and I said, Someones waking up in one of those houses with a cough and we have to provide care for that.

The real weight of how much our community depends on us is a privilege, he said. But, boy, it got scary sometimes.

Fogerty sees the white coat he wears as a solemn responsibility. He is a cancer survivor, and he knows firsthand what it means to be a patient.

I was a patient before I was a doctor. I very much appreciate those folks for saving my life. And this is how I pay it forward, he said. Im very proud of what weve done and what we do. Theres a lot of grief in the world. If I can play a part in just preventing a little bit of that, its all worth it.

Preparing for a pandemic

When the COVID pandemic was at its peak in Connecticut, Fogerty said there were 451 people in his hospital suffering from the disease. That sheer number wasnt the problem. What gave Fogerty pause, he said, was not knowing how high it would go.

Even over the summer, when it was relatively quiet, there was still a sword of Damocles, it was still there, he said. In my professional circle at work, we knew it was going to come back. This wasnt over because nothing had changed the equation. And then it came back and it was living the same thing except this time, everybody was sicker from the care that got delayed over the summer.

The hospital was, Fogerty said, as prepared as they could have been before the pandemic struck.

Surge planning is a big part of his job, as is working with the various teams within the hospital. Fogerty routinely works with the bed management group about how to move patients into and out of isolation. He often works with the hospitals infection prevention team.

A few years ago, Fogerty helped build a data-driven bed management technique that he said allows administrators to know what resources are available in real time.

With that software in place, Fogerty established what he called the hospitals capacity coordination center.

We built it where we put the bed managers and the nursing staffing office and patient transport and the ambulance company, were all in the same room, he said. Were all talking about how to move patients through their hospital stay.

When two record flu seasons hit, they used that information and practiced coordination to their advantage. It had been a useful education, Fogerty said.

We published a paper on how to turn a conference room into an inpatient unit, he said.

All of that was years before COVID. When the pandemic struck, Fogerty said they were prepared for the complications inherent in managing hundreds of patients with an unknown disease.

For example, the initial guidance from the CDC suggested that all COVID patients needed to be segregated. That presents a set of challenges all its own.

Its one of those things that operationally is much more challenging than it sounds, he said. You need to get the housekeepers involved, environmental services, food and nutrition. The nurses need to have the right PPE, which means you need to have materials and remember, PPE was hard to come by.

But because all that work had been done in the years prior to the pandemic, when that call came in from Choi near midnight one day after the ides of March, Fogerty had plans and processes already in place.

The next day was when I called the director of nursing for oncology and I said, We need your floor. Its time to move all your inpatients to St. Raphaels, he said. They emptied three 28-bed units in about two days. And they could do it because we had the ambulance company in the room and everybody had worked with each other, and they knew that this was coming.

Mistakes and lessons

That doesnt mean they didnt learn anything in the ensuing year. Quite the opposite, Fogerty said the hospitals ability to manage COVID patients has improved considerably as they learned about the disease.

We know a lot more about this disease than we did this time last year, he said. Initially, in the first wave of the pandemic, we spent a lot of time and effort on air circulation patterns and what level the filtration is. I learned more about HVAC than I ever thought I would.

Now they know that every breath of air does not need to be siphoned through a HIPAA filter. They have better cohorting strategies for patients and staff. They know how to keep staff safe when they move between COVID patients and non-COVID patients.

Now we realize that some things are safe that we did not even consider this time last year, he said. The fundamental fear around airborne transmission of an unknown disease, its been an interesting sociological experiment. Someones going to write a book on that someday, its gonna be fascinating.

When asked what mistakes he made during the pandemic, Fogerty replied, a lot, with a self-effacing laugh.

The mistake that came first to his mind was how he managed the capacity of staff, particularly during the summer lull period, when COVID cases went down before what would be a post-holiday peak.

We probably could have reallocated things in a way that could have given more units a break, he said. There are particular nursing units that had COVID patients every day for a year. ... I think if I were going to go back and do it again, I would probably figure out a way to give those staff a break.
Myra King is surrounded by her granddaughters, from front left, Zeyanie King and Milan Keith, both age 10, and, rear from left, Kimyrie King, 13, and Maleah King, 11, as they sit by containers of lemonade made to sell at the lemonade stand they built at right, Wednesday, April 28, 2021, in Richmond, Va. Local officials told the girls that they had to obtain a business license, and to file any excise taxes from the revenue they made. Turns out, selling food requires a health permit, and selling anything for nearly a year requires a business license  and tax payments.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 12:50:47|Editor: huaxia

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JINAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China has released the Analects of Confucius -- a collection of ideas and sayings from the ancient Chinese philosopher -- in five languages for Belt and Road countries.

The Nishan World Center for Confucian Studies in Qufu, east China's Shandong Province, on Saturday unveiled the collection in the Arabic, Mongolian, Czech, Portuguese and Spanish languages to serve the building of the Belt and Road.

Born near the present-day town of Qufu, Confucius (551-479 BC) founded a school of thought that influenced later generations and became known as Confucianism. He is believed to be the first person to set up private schools in China and enroll students from all walks of life.

The Analects of Confucius is a collection of his famous sayings reflecting his political views, moral principles and educational ideas. "How happy we are to have friends from afar" and "Do not do to others what you don't want to be done to you" are among his classic sayings.

The collection has already been translated into English, Japanese, Russian, Korean, French and German.

Guo Chengyan, deputy director of the center, said the center will continue to be engaged in the translation and promotion project of the Analects of Confucius for the Belt and Road countries and play a positive role in promoting exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations and building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, aiming to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient Silk Road trade routes. Enditem
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on.

Palestinians attend the funeral of two women and eight children of the Abu Hatab family in Gaza City, who were killed after an Israeli air strike, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gaza's Hamas rulers would rage on.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed  the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.

The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday.

Local media reports said the main coastal road west of the city, security compounds and open spaces were hit in the latest raids. The power distribution company said airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large parts of southern Gaza City.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel's attacks were continuing at full-force and would take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

A woman surveys the damage in her home after it was struck by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit),

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.

An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in the Gaza Strip, at the Israel-Gaza border, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war."

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.

Haya Abdelal, 21, who lives in a building next to one that was destroyed, said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to leave before launching such an attack.

A woman reacts while standing near the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday that housed The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure."

As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the civilian houses' foundations above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties, it said.

Mourners carry the the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes that hit their homes, during their funeral in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospital's coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

A injured Palestinian man mourns over the body of his young son, who was killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes, in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Sanad Latifa)

Israel's airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest buildings, which Israel alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press Gaza office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the AP's executive editor, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office on Saturday.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building and said Sunday any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels. Neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any had been seen.

Mourners pray over the bodies of 17 Palestinians who were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Sanad Latifa)

Its a perfectly legitimate target, Netanyahu told CBSs Face the Nation."

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said: We pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out. We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

Palestinian mourners carry the body of Yassin Hamad, who was killed in clashes with Israeli forces, during his funeral in the Village of Seida, near the West Bank city of Tulkarm, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court on Sunday to investigate Israels bombing of the AP building and others housing media organizations as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based group said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

The AP had operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militant rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

Israelis take cover as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine)

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians clashed with police in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focus of the clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a hilltop compound revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas began firing rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in the Gaza Strip, at the Israeli-Gaza border, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Heidi Levine)

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed in some of the 3,100 rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed in the fighting. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

The assault has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes, U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where eight foreign ministers spoke about the conflict.

A Palestinian protester uses a slingshot behind the smoke of burning tires during clashes with Israeli army soldiers at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the U.N. body to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities, have been blocked by the United States, which, according to diplomats, is concerned it could interfere with diplomatic efforts to stop the violence.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki urged the Security Council to take action to end Israeli attacks. Israels U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, urged the council to condemn Hamas' indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks.

The turmoil has also fueled protests in the occupied West Bank and stoked violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families have been threatened with eviction , injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

Nessman reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Joseph Krauss and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Edie Lederer at the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
HOUSTON (AP)  A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood has been found after a nearly week-long search and appears to be unharmed, police announced Saturday evening.

Waller County Sheriff's Office Deputy Wes Manion talks about his encounter with a tiger the night before on the 1100 block of Ivy Wall Drive, Monday, May 10, 2021, in Houston. Manion, who was off-duty at the time, arrived shortly after seeing posts by neighbors. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)

HOUSTON (AP)  A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood has been found after a nearly week-long search and appears to be unharmed, police announced Saturday evening.

In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Cmdr. Ron Borza can be seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal and saying it has been a long week searching for it.

But we got him, and hes healthy, Borza said as the wife of the man police allege is the animal's owner sat next to him and fed the tiger with a baby bottle. The tiger was being held at BARC, the city of Houstons animal shelter, but was expected to be taken Sunday morning to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located southeast of Dallas.

Authorities had been searching for the tiger, a 9-month-old male named India, since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner.

At a news conference later Saturday evening, Borza said that Cuevas' wife, Giorgiana, turned over the tiger to police on Saturday after a friend of hers reached out to officials at BARC.

It is Victors tiger. Thats what I was told by (Giorgiana Cuevas) ... She says theyve had that animal for nine months," Borza said. He alleged that the tiger was passed around to different people but that Cuevas' wife knew where the tiger was at all times this week as authorities searched for it.

Police are still trying to determine where exactly the tiger was held this week and if any charges related to having the tiger will be filed. Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits under a city ordinance unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals.

But Cuevas attorney, Michael W. Elliott, on Saturday night continued to insist his client doesnt own the tiger, saying, I am not sure it makes any difference who technically owns India as he does not have a birth certificate or title."

Victor was not the primary owner of India nor did India stay with him the majority of the time," Elliott told The Associated Press. Victor was however involved in the caretaking of India often. Victor loves India as anyone else would love a favorite pet ... He treated India with love and fantastic treatment in all respects."

Cuevas was arrested Monday by Houston police and charged with evading arrest for allegedly fleeing his home with the tiger after officers had responded to a call about a dangerous animal.

At the time of his arrest by Houston police, Cuevas was already out on bond for a murder charge in a 2017 fatal shooting in neighboring Fort Bend County. Cuevas has maintained the shooting was self-defense, Elliott said.

Cuevas was released on a separate bond for the evading arrest charge on Wednesday. But prosecutors in Fort Bend County then sought to have him held with no bond on the murder charge. After an all-day hearing on Friday, a judge revoked Cuevas current $125,000 bond on the murder charge and issued a new bond for $300,000. He remains jailed.

During Fridays court hearing, Waller County Sheriffs Office Deputy Wes Manion, who lives in the Houston neighborhood where the tiger was seen, testified he interacted with the animal for about 10 minutes to make sure it didnt go after someone else. He said Cuevas came out of his house yelling, Dont kill it, grabbed the tiger by the collar and kissed its head before leading it back inside his home. Various videos of the tiger's encounter with Manion were posted on social media.

Elliott has said Cuevas did nothing illegal because Texas has no statewide law forbidding private ownership of tigers and other exotic animals.

Borza said that an exotic animal like a tiger should never be kept in a home. While India seemed domesticated, the tiger already weighs 175 pounds (79 kg), it can do a lot of damage" and will only get bigger, he said.

He will be going to a sanctuary ... where hopefully hell live the rest of his life in a very safe environment," Borza said.

__

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
I can tell by the pained expressions on your faces that you are in desperate need of a little bit of good news this morning.

Opinion

I can tell by the pained expressions on your faces that you are in desperate need of a little bit of good news this morning.

Well, guess what, Winnipeg? I have just what the doctor ordered in the sense I am poised to share some surprising news that should get your juices flowing.

Theres no point beating around the proverbial bush, so Im just going to blurt it out  you live in the fifth-sexiest city in Canada!

Yes, Winnipeg, prepare to become extremely excited, because among Canadas major cities, you rank No. 5 on the sexiness scale for 2020.

For the record, this is not just my opinion. No, this is the opinion of the crackerjack researchers at Ontario-based PinkCherry, "Canadas largest online retailer of adult novelty products for sexual health and wellness."

For the past nine years, this online firm has produced a spicy list of the sexiest big Canadian cities based on per capita sales of its risque merchandise. On your behalf, I examined some of these products online and, to my untrained eye, they tend to resemble fancy TV remote-control devices.

The point is, according to their list of the Top 20 sexy Canadian cities with populations over 300,000, Winnipeg is No. 5 when it comes to online adult toy sales, putting us just behind Calgary (No. 1), Surrey, B.C. (No. 2), Edmonton (No. 3) and Ottawa (No. 4).

"The results were very interesting and tell quite a bit about the people who reside there. For example, people in Calgary were focused on couples gifts for playtime together, but people in Winnipeg seemed more interested in self-pleasure," is what PinkCherry gushed in a news release that I do not wish to delve into any further.

For the record, I have no idea why Calgary would be No. 1, other than to assume it has something to do with the fact they can likely hide a lot of adult novelty products under those gigantic cowboy hats they all wear.

But the local news gets even more, um, arousing in the sense that our sexiness score has skyrocketed since the pandemic began, because on the previous years sales list, Winnipeg ranked a lowly No. 18, which (for those of you who remember Grade 3 math) means we have just jumped 13 spots on the annual sexiness scale.

On behalf of all of us increasingly sexy Winnipeggers, allow me to issue the following statement: "Woo-hoo!"

As if that werent enough to put a smile on your seriously sexy faces, consider the fact that we are now officially hotter than the smug cities of Vancouver (No. 16, way down from No. 1 in 2019) and Toronto (No. 11, down from No. 8).

After thinking about these numbers for several minutes, I realized they mean Winnipeg is now one of the sexiest Canadian cities during what has arguably been the least-sexy year in human history.

According to a national survey by researchers at the University of British Columbia, the naked truth is Canadians are having less sex, not more, amid the pandemic. Thats likely because of higher stress levels, not to mention too much time together for couples and too much time alone for singles.

Being a proud Winnipegger, however, I also want to stress that people in this humble Prairie city do not expend a great deal of their mental bandwidth worrying about how sexy other people think we are.

No, we focus on the things that really matter, such as: Worrying about whats wrong with the Jets; worrying about how big our mosquitoes will be this summer; and worrying about whether we can convince our teenagers to shovel our driveways when winter rolls back into town.

Its safe to say unassuming Winnipeggers will not be parading down Portage Avenue to celebrate the fact that they are now No. 5 on the national sexiness scale. We come from hardy pioneering stock and we are not the type of immodest people to throw our obvious sexiness in anyone elses face.

Consider the following sexy conversation between two Winnipeggers that I just made up:

Guy No. 1: Hey, thats a nice parka!

Guy No. 2: Thanks, eh.

Guy No. 1: Youre welcome, eh.

Now contrast that subtle Prairie sex appeal with the over-the-top assault on your senses on display in this fictitious but extremely realistic encounter between two typical Torontonians:

Guy No. 1: How about those Leafs?

Guy No. 2: OH YEAH, I AM SOOOOO SEXY!

Guy No. 1: OK?!

What I think Im trying to say today is that its OK for us to take a reasonable amount of pride in the fact we have finally cracked the Top 5 among Canadas sexiest cities, even though we dont need anyone else to validate the obvious fact we are one smokin hot metropolis.

So just sit back and enjoy the positive vibrations, Winnipeg. We couldnt care less what people in other cities think about our smooth, understated style. Especially those poor folks in Laval, Que., because theyre dead last at No. 20.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  As violence flares within Israel and on a day in which Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors.

Israeli exhibitors receive visitors at their stand on the opening day of the Arabian Travel Market exhibition, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, May 16, 2021. As violence flares within Israel and on a day in which Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people Sunday, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  As violence flares within Israel and on a day in which Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people, it was business as usual for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai as she promoted the country as a must-see destination for Muslim visitors.

It might seem an odd proposition at an odd time given that major airlines have suspended flights to Israel amid the flare-up in violence and while the spread of coronavirus remains a threat.

But at Dubai's Arabian Travel Market on Sunday, billed as the first travel and tourism event to happen in person since the global coronavirus outbreak, a small Israeli booth  tucked behind Slovenia's  marketed the country as the Land of Creation. Promotional videos advertised Israel's vegan culinary scene, its beaches and urged: Book Your Trip Now to Tel Aviv.

And the devastating airstrikes on Gaza leading the world's television news?

"We were not talking about it. We are talking about the future. We are talking about what we can do to bring tourism to Israel, said Ksenia Kobiakov, director of new markets development at the Israeli Tourism Ministry.

The presence of Israel at the travel and tourism event in Dubai highlights the United Arab Emirates business-first approach and demonstrates how rapidly ties with Israel have developed since the UAE and Israel signed an accord to formalize ties in September. It also signals how even the most brutal conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians are no longer viewed by some Gulf Arab leaders through a prism of Muslim or Arab solidarity, but as part of a wider calculation in a region gripped by multiple threats.

Israel's tourism minister was scheduled to attend a panel at the conference on Gulf-Israeli tourism, but the panel was quietly renamed and her visit to Dubai did not transpire. Israeli tourism officials say the minister's visit was never approved by the prime minister and the cancellation had nothing to do with the current fighting.

The first plane of Israeli tourists to the UAE landed in November. Since then, the UAE has welcomed tens of thousands of Israelis to its sandy beaches and marbled malls, with most flocking to Dubai.

Kobiakov said the hope is that Emirati citizens and foreign residents of the UAE will visit Israel in return and help its tourism sector rebound when the country is open again to tourists.

We came here to show Israel as a new destination for the UAE and Gulf countries, as a very colorful, exciting destination that is open, Kobiakov said.

In all her discussions with tour operators, airlines and others in Dubai on Sunday, the focus was on tourism and not politics, she said. There was no discussion of the current flare-up in violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

A plan to open visa-free travel between the two countries was delayed due to Israeli quarantine rules. The UAE and Israel, which have had some of the world's most successful vaccination drives against the coronavirus, are on track to sign the visa-exemption agreement July 1, Kobiakov said.

The current round of violence could impact Israel's plans to lure back tourists, particularly its effort to appeal to Emirati and Bahraini citizens and not just potential investors or officials from these countries. Violence around the Al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem drew rare rebuke of Israel by both countries, which signed accords recognizing Israel last year.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded since long-simmering tensions erupted on Monday. Eight people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier. Violence has also roiled across Israeli cities between Jews and the countrys Palestinian Arab citizens, as well as in the occupied West Bank.

In its airstrikes, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press office and those of other media outlets.

The UAE's foreign minister stopped short of directly criticizing Israel in the most recent statement issued Friday. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed instead called on all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate a political dialogue, and exercise maximum restraint.

On the sprawling premises of Dubai's tourism event, Kobiakov's schedule of back-to-back meetings affirmed the long-view approach to bilateral ties the UAE and Israel have taken.

People dont feel safe to travel now to Israel. Its understandable. But this escalation, it will finish one day, she said. We know that all the conflicts are coming and they are going. Tourism is staying forever, she added.
OTTAWA - Ron Liepert says these days, the phone calls and emails from people wanting to talk about his party's climate plan have slowed.

Conservative MP Ron Liepert rises during Question Period on Parliament Hill, Friday, March 10, 2017 in Ottawa. Ron Liepert says these days, the phone calls and emails from people wanting to talk about his party's climate plan have slowed. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA - Ron Liepert says these days, the phone calls and emails from people wanting to talk about his party's climate plan have slowed.

One month ago, the Conservative MP for Calgary Signal Hill was answering at least a dozen or more emails a day, and another half a dozen calls.

"Theres no question Ive had a number of constituents, and I think Im not talking out of turn when I say so probably have every other western Conservative MP  a number of constituents say, Why the flip-flop?' Liepert told The Canadian Press.

"'(You) said no carbon tax, now theres a carbon tax.'"

Explaining the Titanic-sized shift in the Conservative heartland  particularly on a policy championed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose Liberals hold no seats in Saskatchewan and Alberta  has been something those representing the region's resource-rich farmlands and cities have had to figure out.

Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta, along with Ontario, waged a years-long battle against the federal Liberal government's charging of a federal carbon price on consumer goods in provinces that do not already have one. It went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in March that Ottawa's backstop was constitutional.

The Canadian Press contacted each of Saskatchewan's Conservative MPs and most of those in Alberta to discuss reception to the Conservative party's own carbon-pricing plan. The majority declined to comment, or didn't respond.

In fact, any mention of the climate policy  unveiled by Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole as a major plank in an eventual election platform  is absent from many of their social media.

For Liepert, a veteran of Alberta politics, it's obvious the party needs more wins in Ontario to form government and felt it was time to shed its anti-carbon price stance.

If you start from that premise, that Canadians have grudgingly accepted a carbon tax, then how do we pivot away from having a position where we will cancel the carbon tax?

Pitching the Conservatives' fuel price comes down to persuading people it's not a tax, he says. It's also what O'Toole, who ran as the "true blue" candidate in the party's leadership race, has rigorously maintained.

Let me give you this analogy: When you go to the liquor store and you pick up a 24 case of Pilsner, there's a 10 cent per can levy attached to that, correct?," said Liepert, describing how he sells the plan.

"And theyll all agree with that, and I say, You dont consider that a tax do you?' And they say, Well no, because I get it back when I take my cans back.'

And I say, Well bingo. Same thing with this.'"

Liepert says most people tend to "grudgingly agree," with his answer, but there are always those who will feel "a tax, is a tax is a tax."

Besides what to call it, Conservatives say what distinguishes their party's proposed carbon price from the Liberals' is when people pay it, their money will be sent to a savings account that is like a rewards card. They'll then be able to use the money in that fund to make government-approved environmentally friendly purchases.

O'Toole says people should imagine being able to use these carbon bucks to buy anything from a bike and transit pass to an electric vehicle and, according to one op-ed he penned, even locally grown produce.

"It's certainly a creative policy," said Michael Bernstein, executive director of Clean Prosperity, a group that has been advocating for the Tories to adopt carbon pricing since its 2019 election loss.

It is very difficult to understand how its going to actually work."

Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall also evokes the bottle levy to pitch the Conservatives' new carbon-pricing policy in her rural riding, a policy she didn't necessarily see coming.

Everybody was somewhat surprised, sure, but at the same time, once I read through it, and I did take a great deal of time first just to get my own head around the whole plan, so that I could understand it," she said.

Wagantall feels assured provincial decisions around climate will be respected, which she says is something that caucus stressed. And like Liepert, she's had many talks with upset or confused constituents.

I have the conversation around what the prime minister of the day is doing and it brings them to a realization that were in an environment where that is an expectation, its true, but what we are doing is very, very different.

The longer we talk, the more understanding they are and they simply want to have that conversation. I havent had a circumstance where I felt I wasnt heard.

But not all conversations appear to be as cordial.

During an exchange with a critic about the party's carbon price on Regina MP Michael Kram's Facebook page, user Amos Dowler wrote: "Even Premier (Scott) Moe agrees that O'Toole's plan is far better than the current plan. Maybe read it or get someone to read it to you."

A person answering the phone at Kram's constituency office said Dowler was Kram's chief of staff. His personal LinkedIn page also lists him in that role. An assistant for Kram declined to respond to his comments.

Liepert says he can't tell whether he risks losing voters, even as several emails a day land in his inbox from those voicing disgust with the Conservatives and teasing their support for the fledgling Maverick Party, led by former Tory MP Jay Hill.

It brands itself as offering "true western representation" by only running candidates in the Prairies and criticizes O'Toole for having a "phoney carbon levy."

But the Conservatives' primary foe remains a Liberal government that is ratcheting up its promises to reduce carbon emissions.

Trudeau has pledged to further cut Canada's emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases by up to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. He has also committed the country to reach net-zero carbon pollution by 2050.

O'Toole's plan is designed to reach the country's current targets under the Paris Agreement of a 30 per cent reduction by 2030. He has dissed the Liberals' tougher goal.

His MPs also voted against the government's net-zero legislation, citing the possible influence "climate activists" on a net-zero advisory panel could have on the oil and gas industry.

But despite what progress has been made, O'Toole's attempt to straddle the climate fence may cost him with the new voters he's hoping to attract.

Expectations of voters, although well have to probe this in polling, are likely to continue to evolve as well in terms of what they expect from a credible plan," said Bernstein.

"There is a chance that OToole is out of step with that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2021.
Today marks the 102nd anniversary of when telephone operators, almost entirely women, walked away from their switchboards and rang up the beginning of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919.

Today marks the 102nd anniversary of when telephone operators, almost entirely women, walked away from their switchboards and rang up the beginning of the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919.

More than a century later, Stand!, the movie-musical representation of the 41-day labour dispute and its violent repercussions, will commemorate the historic moment by giving Canadians an opportunity to view the film at home via digital video on demand.

Stand!  which was shot locally and stars Winnipeg-born Marshall Williams (Glee), Laura Slade Wiggins (Shameless) and Gregg Henry (Guardians of the Galaxy)  was released for digital video on-demand in the United States on May 1 in conjunction with International Workers Day. The movies distributors in Canada, Toronto-based Vortex Media, decided the digital release north of the border should coincide with anniversary of the films reason for being.

That means on Tuesday, Canadian viewers will get their chance to see the story of young immigrants Stefan Sokolowski (Williams) and Rebecca Almazoff (Wiggins) and the strike that roiled around them that led to 30,000 people walking off the job and a violent climax on Bloody Saturday, June 21, 1919.

"Its going to live its biggest life nearest the anniversary of the general strike, which is kind of sweet," says Danny Schur, a producer of Stand!, who, along with fellow Winnipegger Rick Chafe, also wrote the script.

Rob Harrison, Vortex Medias executive vice-president, has close relatives in Winnipeg, Schur says, and Harrison suggested the later release date for Stand! would be fitting.

"He said we should put it in Canada closer to (the anniversary) because it is the Winnipeg General Strike. Lets denote that with its release date. I thought that was just so appropriate," Schur says.

Schur, who is a writer and composer, spent years researching the general strikes history, as well as the union members and business owners on both sides of the dispute. He led walking and bike tours to strike sites that remain in the Exchange District and the citys downtown.

But his main goal was a stage production about the event, and that led to the creation of Strike! The Musical, which debuted at Rainbow Stage in 2005.

Stand! was adapted from the stage production and was released in Canada in Nov. 29, 2019. Plans for a wide distribution in the U.S. in the spring of 2020 were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to cinema closures across North America for much of 2020.

"This sort-of tale of COVID woe is that this should have been happening at least a year ago," Schur says.

"We thought May Day 2020 it would come out in theatres in the United States... Well, then came COVID, and then we said, Labour Day, thatll be perfect, COVID will be gone! And then we got close to Labour Day and theatres were closing and closing."

Eventually, a deal that would have got Stand! into about 1,200 theatres across the U.S. on May 1, 2020, became a release to just 47 theatres on Dec. 1.

Co-ordinating the films digital release has been almost as much of a headache, as the pandemic has prevented face-to-face meetings with digital platforms that offer the film for rent or purchase.

"It takes a long time to get a movie ready to go to digital because its Apple, Google, Amazon, Fandango, all the individual cable broadcasters, so in Canada thats Bell, Telus and Shaw. The technical aspects, the graphics, its a lot of work," Schur says.

"This feels like the really big commercial release. This release represents the ability for the most people to see it ever, and in a super-convenient way."

For those hoping to see Stand! on a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, Schur says theyll have to wait.

"Netflix is subscription streaming. Thats the last window, after this," he says.

DVDs of Stand! will eventually be sent to schools in Canada and the United States by labour unions across North America. Schur and Stand! associate producer Cal Harrison made a pitch in the middle of an Ottawa blizzard in 2017 to Hassan Yussuf, the Canadian Labour Congress president, and his contacts within the labour movement built interest in the film project and its potential educational aspects.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 14:10:31|Editor: huaxia

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Raed Fahmi, secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, receives an interview with Xinhua in Baghdad, Iraq, April 1, 2021. (Xinhua)



BAGHDAD, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China's miraculous development, achieved essentially by practising socialism with Chinese characteristics, has greatly promoted global economic growth, and should be seen as an opportunity rather than a threat, an Iraqi party leader has said.

"They start to see it as a challenge, as a threat which it shouldn't be... We think the development of China should not be perceived as a threat. Rather, it's an opportunity," said Raed Fahmi, secretary of the Central Committee of the Iraqi Communist Party, rejecting the depiction of China by some Western media outlets.

China has made tremendous strides in various fields under the leadership of the CPC, Fahmi told Xinhua in a recent interview on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

"China has become the second largest economy in the world. With its own potentials, I think nobody can ignore that China is a major economic power in the world, and it can determine the growth of the world economy," Fahmi said, adding that the Chinese people's living conditions have also been continuously improved.

China provides a new path for other countries that wish to accelerate development, Fahmi said.

Socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said, is a huge historical experience, which his party is keen to study and follow up.

As for China's success in eradicating absolute poverty, Fahmi said for a country with a population of more than 1.4 billion, "this is a historical achievement."

"For us and other countries, we look at this experience with extreme interest," he said, adding that the CPC's people-centered philosophy has also been a factor behind China's effective containment of COVID-19.

Fahmi noted that humanity is now facing huge challenges, not only the pandemic, but also hunger, unemployment and a gap between developed and under-developed countries.

In the face of the challenges, China has been actively advancing global multilateral cooperation and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, which has "put together the capacities and energies" of like-minded countries. Enditem
Columbus Area Historical Society

1971

Miss Mildred Summerton who taught English and history at Wisconsin Academy, Columbus, was honored by her alma mater, Andrews University, for her 30 years of dedicated teaching. She began teaching at Wisconsin Academy after her graduation in 1941. Since 1954, she also served as vice-principal and registrar.

The Columbus Fire Department installed a new fire alarm system composed of a Master unit and 38 individual portable paging units.

1981

The Columbus City Council considered a proposal to burn down what is left of the Udey Dam Mill building. The owner, Robert Tramburg of Vita Plus, sent a letter to the city agreeing to clean up any remaining debris.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Columbus Fire Chief Jim Boness was pleased with the 200 or more citizens who attended the fire department open house. The hit of the open house was a demonstration of the newly purchased Jaws of Life, a hydraulic prying and cutting device that can be used to remove people trapped in car wrecks.

1991
Biden did not want to promise something he wasn't sure was possible, Blinken said.

So we needed to take some time to make sure that the resources were in place, the people were in place, the programs were in place to actually receive refugees coming in, he said.

The Trump administration had cut U.S. staff overseas who interview refugees by 117 officers. As a result, the number of interviews that were conducted fell by one-third in 2019 compared with those done in 2016 under the Obama administration. That number fell off almost entirely in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Due to travel restrictions in and out of refugee processing sites worldwide, the U.S. suspended refugee arrivals from March 19 to July 29 of last year except for emergency cases. Only 11,800 refugees were admitted in the 2020 fiscal year, the lowest number in the history of the program.

The administration is working on rehiring that staff and addressing the backlog, including by making it possible to conduct interviews by video teleconferencing instead of doing them in person, deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

But it can take months to train new officers.
A report from supporters of the Faurecia Saline Rank-and-File Safety Committee of yet another death from COVID-19 at the huge auto parts factory in Saline, Michigan is an indictment of the United Auto Workers and the administration of Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who have abandoned any serious efforts to halt the spread of the deadly virus.

According to the story being pushed by the governors office, the trade unions and the big business media conditions in the state are improving and mask mandates and social distancing can be safely dropped. But the brutal truth is quite different.

On May 13, the Michigan health department confirmed another 2,057 new cases of COVID-19 and 112 more deaths in the state. If the current pace of infection and death were to continue for another year, it will more than double the accumulated death toll in the state for the past twelve months. The states official COVID-19 death toll currently stands at 18,467, more than the 14,522 Michiganders who lost their lives in the Civil War, the nations bloodiest conflict.

Faurecia plant, Saline Michigan

An older Faurecia Saline worker known as Will, who worked in the 702 department making glove boxes and other interior parts for the Ford F-150 pickups assembled at the Dearborn Truck Plant, died last week of COVID-19. As reported in the World Socialist Web Site, Jackie Pennington (55) died in April and Alex, a Process Tech on the Jeep line, also died several weeks ago. In the cases of Jackie and Alex the cause of death has not been publicly reported, although COVID-19 cannot be ruled out.

These deaths are only the latest in a series of tragedies over the last year at the plant. Another worker, John Stamper, died of a COVID-19-related heart attack last December. Lamont Newton, a whistleblower and critic of the UAW, was assaulted and forced out of the plant with a life-threatening medical condition last fall.

In July of 2020, Damien Jones died of a seizure in the midst of a grueling work schedule at the plant. Workers reported that at the time some people were working up to 84 hours a week to fulfill production goals.

Supporters of the rank-and-file safety committee say they have no way of knowing if a co-worker laboring next to them is carrying the infection.

We could be at Ford, said a supporter of the rank-and-file committee as they discussed the recent rash of deaths in the plant. The girl who died a couple of years ago on the job, they just taped her up and left her there and told everybody to step around her and get back to work.

Her colleague added, Im not very happy about the way that they are working and the way they are mistreating the employees. They only care about their parts. If somebody falls out, they expect you to walk over them and keep working. Just get them parts out. They dont care.

Both spoke with contempt of the recently installed union shop committee. They are absent more than they are there. They speak up for nothing. In the recent union election approximately one out of four workers in the plant even bothered to vote.

The union could try and do something, one added. They know about these cases. The union could try and inform us. If the big dogs [plant management] dont tell us, they could at least tell us. They dont.

The word on the floor is that Alex died of a heart attack. But the full implications of his exposure to COVID-19 in the factory are unknown. Because the virus is prone to attack the heart muscle, those who have a heart condition, which includes a large portion of the population of working age, are more susceptible.

They are exposed to extremely dangerous chemicals throughout the plant, such as, for example, hexavalent chromium and isocyanide. After inhaling those chemicals for so many years, they say that you may catch cancer from it, a committee member added.

Flowing from these conditions, workers feel that a determined struggle is needed. I cant believe there is all this going on at Faurecia with people dying, a worker concluded. It is terrible, she added. Something needs to happen. We need to do it. And we have got to do it fast.

The Dearborn Truck Plant at Fords flagship Rouge complex has been idled for two weeks because of the chaos in the supply lines for electronic parts. Car lots throughout the country are gaping empty while every lot around Detroit is packed with assembled vehicles which cannot be shipped because they are missing chips.

While plants are idled due to lack of computer chips, there is no halt of production due to the continued spread of COVID-19, expressing the subordinating of all considerations of health and safety to the pursuit of production and profit. The continuing toll of deaths at Faurecia Saline underscores the urgency of expanding the network of rank-and-file safety committees to oppose the reckless endangerment of human life for corporate profits. These committees, independent of the pro-management UAW, will forge links between workers in different plants and industries to provide workers with truthful information and develop a fight back. Autoworkers interested in helping set up a committee at your own workplace, contact the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter at autoworkers@wsws.org.
WABASH VALLEY (WTHI) - Low temperatures this past week reached down into the lower 30s. And many areas experienced frost.

The Storm Team reached out to local farmers to see how this cooler weather has impacted them. Most farmers have already planted their crops. But seed growth has really slowed down since we have had cooler than average temperatures.

Dwight Ludwig is a Farmer near Cory, Indiana. And he says that hes not too worried about the crops right now especially since warmer conditions are coming.

Once the plants germinate it's taken two to three weeks for them just to get above ground and get going. And then once they do get above ground their met with pretty cold temperatures and rain again and its just been a really slow spring.

Ludwig mentions that many of his crops will begin to really sprout within the next couple of weeks.
TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) - On Friday, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned a Medical Marijuana initiative that voters approved last fall.

Now, local CBD stores that planned on selling medical marijuana will have to reevaluate their plans.

"Reading up on it, it kind of makes sense why they had to overturn it," Morgan Bickford said. "But it's still an unfair thing to do to people that voted on it."

Friday, six justices ruled that the Medical Marijuana initiative is void because the state's initiative process is outdated. This means that a ballot initiative process cannot work in Mississippi because the state has fewer than five representatives in congress, but Morgan Bickford of 1810 Vapors believes that should be an easy fix.

"You know if we don't have enough people in the Senate, let's see if we can get more people in the senate," Bickford said. "Let's educate the masses more on it."

1810 Vapors isn't the only CBD store that had to sit down and think about what this means for its business.

"We anticipated that this was going to be a long road," said Kelly Riley.

REV of Tupelo also sells CBD products. They initially planned on being able to sell medical marijuana but after hearing the announcement, they are hoping this is only a small holdup.

"We are going to continue focusing on what 7/10 Mississippians were looking forward to with the medical marijuana bill," Riley said. "As you know we already have a dispensary set up. We have a ton of premium flowers, a ton of CBD products and a ton of alternatives so basically, we are going to spend this time focusing on our end, making sure we are doing everything compliant and bringing Mississippi a transparent program."

In November, Mississippi voters approved Initiative 65, which required the State Health Department to establish a medical marijuana program by the middle of this year.

Now, CBD store employees are focused on what they can do to contribute to the legal aspect of it.

"I think the next step is to educate people more on it and see if we can contribute to the legal aspect of it as well," Bickford said.




Charleston, WV (25301)

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Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

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Mostly cloudy this evening with showers developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 14:17:40|Editor: huaxia

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NANCHANG, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Some 19,000 residents have been affected since extreme weather hit east China's Jiangxi Province, authorities said Sunday.

From Friday, gales and hail were seen in 11 counties, cities or districts, including Yongxiu County in the city of Jiujiang and Changjiang District in the city of Jingdezhen.

As of 9 p.m. Saturday, houses of more than 340 households had been damaged, according to the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters.

The direct economic losses reached 13.97 million yuan (about 2.17 million U.S. dollars), while further calculations of the damage are underway.

The headquarters organized the timely evacuation of residents to minimize the potential casualties, and to date, no casualties have been reported. Enditem
'I know that judgment will come one day': Veterans Affairs hospital serial killer gets life in prison
Clarksburg, WV (26301)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

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Cloudy with occasional rain showers. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 AM MDT FRIDAY... * WHAT...West to northwest winds 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 65 mph expected. * 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 this evening 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. 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. &&
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT MDT TONIGHT... * WHAT...West to southwest winds 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 65 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...Until Midnight MDT tonight. * IMPACTS...Mainly to transportation. Strong crosswinds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles, including campers and tractor trailers. In addition, strong winds combined with very warm and dry conditions will lead to extreme fire danger. 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| 2021-05-16 18:30:27|Editor: huaxia

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Villagers walk in Jiabang terraced fields in Congjiang County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, May 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

"Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development," Xi told the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in May 2019.

by Wu Xia, Sun Ping

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed the unique and important role of the world civilizations in his address at the 2019 Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.

"To meet our common challenges and create a better future for all, we look to culture and civilization to play their role, which is as important as the role played by economy, science and technology," Xi told the audience.

Over the past two years, China's culture and civilization has played an important part in contributing to the world afflicted with COVID-19 and conflicts.

As the pandemic still rages and new challenges arise, people across the world need to come together to promote interaction among civilizations and make joint efforts to build a community with a shared future for mankind.





PROMOTING PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT

As the international landscape undergoes profound changes, Xi's remarks on multiple international occasions, which demonstrate China's view on world civilizations, offer an insight.

File photo shows an Asian culture carnival being held during the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) at the National Stadium, or the Bird's Nest, in Beijing, capital of China, May 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

"Diversity spurs interaction among civilizations, which in turn promotes mutual learning and their further development," Xi told the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations in May 2019.

"No two leaves in the world are identical, and no histories, cultures or social systems are the same," Xi told the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda in January 2021.

"Diversity is what defines our world and makes human civilization fascinating," Xi told the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in April 2021.

Russian sinologist Yuri Tavrovsky said he was impressed by Xi's remarks at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations two years ago.

"The meaning of the speech goes far beyond the cultural scope. President Xi hopes that different civilizations will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning to promote world peace and development," he said.

As humanity has been battling COVID-19 over the past two years, regrettably, the debate of "clash of civilizations" resurges, with some countries forming values-based alliances to provoke ideological confrontation.

At this critical time, Xi's remarks may shed light upon how to understand and handle cultural and civilizational differences.

"The moderate tea drinker and the passionate beer lover represent two ways of understanding life and knowing the world, and I find them equally rewarding," Xi said, using a comparison of tea and beer to explain the diversity and inclusiveness of human civilization.

China's view of world civilizations is rooted in its traditional values of peace, harmony without uniformity, and harmonious coexistence, which have not only shaped its own action model but also added impetus to global efforts to promote world peace and development.

China's view of world civilizations is characterized by equality, mutual learning, dialogue and mutual accommodation. It calls for replacing mistrust with exchange, clashes with mutual learning, and a false sense of superiority with coexistence in order to safeguard world peace and development.





FACILITATING DIALOGUE AND COOPERATION

In March, significant discoveries were made at China's legendary Sanxingdui ruins, which show that the region's ancient Shu state civilization may bear similarities with the Maya in their perception of the universe.

People take a photo of an exhibit at the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province on April 3, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Mengqi)

"At the end of the day, man is still man independent of time and space, and what we have is that, at this latitude, both that culture and the Maya looked at the same sky, they had the same stars on the horizon," said director of the Chichen Itza archaeological site, Marco Antonio Santos.

Cultural exchange and dialogue prompt the evolution of human civilization. The ancient Chinese Silk Road, for instance, has played a big role in connecting peoples and cultures over centuries. In this day and age, China's exchanges with other countries in culture, arts, archeology and education go far beyond the past.

As the president of a country with an ancient civilization, Xi has made personal efforts to promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

Xi has been fascinated by the diversity of civilizations during his overseas trips, including those to the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Luxor Temple in Egypt, the ancient city of Bukhara in Uzbekistan and India's Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.

His respect and admiration for other civilizations were also manifest in his frequent reference to foreign culture, ranging from world-famous classics to well-told stories and arts and crafts symbolizing intermingled cultures.

The COVID-19 outbreak, though dramatically reduced international travels, has not stopped cultural exchange. Chinese music, TV dramas and books continue to be staged and read on foreign soil, not to mention abundant resources of Chinese culture online.





WORKING FOR BETTER WORLD

On a nine-story Basantapur complex in Kathmandu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was badly damaged during the 2015 earthquake, Chinese conservation engineers are putting finishing touches on their meticulous restoration work.

The exquisite and sophisticated wood and brick structures damaged in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake were brought back to life by the Chinese team, who stayed in Nepal and worked around the clock despite difficulties imposed by the pandemic.

Wu Xianyan and college student Liang Qiongying promote local tourism via live streaming at Jiache Village, Jiabang Township in Congjiang County of southwest China's Guizhou Province, April 19, 2020. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

Apart from cultural heritage conservation, China is also working with other countries in poverty reduction, environmental protection and other fields as part of its efforts to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, the vision of building such a community is China's contribution to human civilization. Beijing has applied and enriched such a vision in developing bilateral and multilateral relations, and practised it in such areas as ocean, health and environment.

As a key platform for building a community with a shared future for mankind, the Belt and Road cooperation has won increasing popularity, eyeing further development in health, environment, digital growth and other areas.

In addition, China's anti-poverty cooperation continued despite the pandemic, with new pilot projects announced in Southeast Asian countries, and training programs expanding to help African farmers.

Civilization has a soft yet powerful influence. Learning from a different civilization can and should help build friendship between peoples, promote progress of human society and safeguard world peace for a better world for all. 
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WARNING WILL EXPIRE AT 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING... Wind gusts have generally decreased below 45 mph across southwest Wyoming this evening. Therefore, the High Wind Warning will be allowed to expire at 9 PM. A few ridgetop locations may still see gusts around 50 mph until 11 PM. Peak speeds earlier today reached 45 to 55 mph at many locations.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 18:50:54|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at a grand gathering marking the country's accomplishments in poverty alleviation and honoring its model poverty fighters has been published in English by the Central Compilation and Translation Press.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered the speech in February, announcing that China had secured a complete victory against poverty.

In his speech, Xi urged efforts to comprehensively advance rural vitalization and consolidate and escalate the gains in poverty alleviation.

The English version was translated by the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee. Enditem
President Joe Biden participates in a conference phone call with governors affected by a snowstorm in the Midwest and southwest Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, in the Oval Office of the White House. White House/Lawrence Jackson

Aides to Joe Biden say he has little patience for advisors who can't answer his many questions.

According to the New York Times, Biden has hung up on people if he thinks they're wasting time.

But he never bursts into rage the way Trump did and often displays "unexpected warmth", they say.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

President Joe Biden is "obsessed with detail" and will "often snap" if advisors don't answer his many questions, the New York Times reported Friday.

In an in-depth new portrait by Times, more than a dozen former and current staffers paint a picture of a president who takes his time with the decision-making process, making sure he gets opinions from all sides before coming to a conclusion.

"He has a kind of mantra: 'You can never give me too much detail,''' Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told the Times.

But Biden is also gripped by a sense of urgency, which leaves him prone to "flares of impatience," the Times reported.

According to numerous people who regularly interact with him, the president has a "short fuse" and will often cut people off if they don't come prepared with as much detail as possible. Three advisors who work closely with the president have cited several instances where Biden hung up the phone on people he thought were wasting his time.

Read more: Biden's menthol cigarette prohibition is so obviously stupid and wrong it boggles the mind

"You become so hyper prepared," said Dylan Loewe, a former speechwriter for Mr. Biden. "'I've got to answer every conceivable question he can come up with.'"

But most advisors said Biden's "flares of impatience" are nothing like the fits of rage, Former President Donald Trump, was known for, the Times reported.

Some aides said the president frequently displays bouts of "unexpected warmth" and is a caring family man at heart. He often calls or leaves voice notes for his grandchildren and is back in the White House residential wing by 7 p.m. each night to eat dinner with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

Story continues

The Times piece also outlines Biden's eating routine and food and drink preferences.

Christopher Freeman, a caterer who used to work for Biden when he was vice president, told the Times that the foodstuffs staff had been asked not to serve leafy greens at public events because Biden doesn't want to be photographed with green bits in his teeth.

Read the original article on Business Insider
WASHINGTON (AP)  Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed to Europe and North Atlantic islands next week to put the Biden administrations stamp on climate change policy in the Arctic and warn Russia against interference in the United States, Ukraine and elsewhere, the State Department said Friday.

Blinken will visit Denmark, Iceland and Greenland starting on Sunday to stress the U.S. commitment to green technology and preserving environmental stability in the Arctic, the department said. His message to a meeting of the Arctic Council in Iceland will be a marked change from the Trump administration, which had urged the group to take commercial advantage of global warming.

While in Reykjavik, Blinken will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the first high-level face-to-face talks between Moscow and Washington since President Joe Biden took office. That meeting, which comes amid heightened tensions over Ukraine and cyberattacks from Russia on the United States, will largely focus on preparing for a planned summit next month between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Despite the focus on Russia, Blinken plans to make climate change a main priority of his participation in the Arctic Council foreign ministers' meeting. At the last such meeting in Finland in 2019, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the U.S. delegation raised eyebrows and concerns from other members by embracing the loss of sea ice as a way to boost maritime commerce.

Blinken, the State Department said, will use his participation to advance efforts to sustain the Arctic as a region of peace, free of conflict, where Arctic Council members collaborate on shared priorities to protect the wellbeing of Arctic communities and address the ever-growing threat and impacts of the climate crisis.
Tyler Luong, a residential adviser for the LGBTQ home known as Fran's House, said that around 20 former members of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity tried to break into the home. Wikimedia Commons, Getty Images

Around 20 former frat boys harassed the residents of an on-campus LGBTQ house at Bucknell University.

The men yelled, urinated on the porch, and exposed themselves to residents, according to an open letter.

The university is investigating the incident and the "lacking" response by public safety officials.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Pennsylvania's Bucknell University is investigating a mob of former frat boys after students living at an on-campus LGBTQ house complained about being harassed, BuzzFeed News reported.

Tyler Luong, a residential adviser for the LGBTQ home known as Fran's House, said that around 20 former Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity members tried to break into the housing on May 13.

The male students shouted, "let us in," "this isn't your home," and "this is our home" as they banged against the building's windows and doors, exposed themselves to a resident, and urinated on the front porch, according to a letter sent to the university's president John Bravman.

The former fraternity members are also accused of "swinging a metal bar at our flag pole that displays our pride flag," the letter said.

Read more: Here's how Biden is reshaping gender and reproductive rights with policies that are even more progressive than past Democratic presidents

Fran's House is "LGBT-friendly, gender-neutral housing" on Bucknell's campus and is described as being a "safe place for any LGBT individuals and allies at all times," according to a Facebook page.

It was previously the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity home until it was derecognized by the university two years ago following allegations of brutal hazing rituals.

Luong alleges that the harassment was not initially taken seriously by campus public safety officials.

"When Public Safety arrived, they laughed at the situation," the student wrote. "President Bravman, the officers bonded with our offenders, reminiscing their college days and calling them handsome young men. President Bravman, the two officers didn't even speak to me," Luong added.

Story continues

Bravman and other university officials condemned the "horrific incident" and said that it "will not be tolerated in an official response to the incident."

The letter recognized a "lacking" response by Brucknell's public safety officials. This will be investigated in an investigation by an external firm, it said.

An outside firm will also conduct an immediate investigation into the incident and consequent punishments for the former frat boys.

"We cannot erase the ugliness and subsequent trauma of last night's transgression against the students of Fran's House and, implicitly, many others, but we can commit to addressing it in a way that protects LGBTQ Bucknellians and better ensures their safety in the future," the letter concluded.

Read the original article on Insider
The pitched criticism by conservatives over progressive outrage about the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians overshadows a larger silence by the vast majority of Congress.

Why it matters: In the largely permissive environment, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ratcheting up its military engagement in Gaza. The death toll is rising, and a spectacular weekend attack leveled a building housing the Associated Press and other outside media.

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The House and Senate returned from recesses last week but made no move to pass a symbolic, bipartisan resolution urging each side to halt the fighting. Sources tell Axios the relevant foreign relations committees haven't even talked about something that would have previously been an automatic topic.

On Saturday, though, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a dramatic statement that surprised Israelis: "I am deeply troubled by reports of Israeli military actions that resulted in the death of innocent civilians in Gaza, as well as Israeli targeting of buildings housing international media outlets.

Additionally, a group of Jewish lawmakers wrote to President Biden to criticize evictions in East Jerusalem, writing "the Palestinians should know that the American people value their lives as we do Israeli lives."

While most other lawmakers did little to take on Israel, its retaliation after Hamas launched rocket attacks from there sparked universal outrage by The Squad.

What they're saying: "We can't stand idly by when the United States government sends $3.8 billion of military aid to Israel that is used to demolish Palestinian homes, imprison Palestinian children and displace Palestinian families," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a tweet.

Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also posted critical tweets.

The progressive statements  including a New York Times op-ed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)  reflect that old-school Democratic leaders such as Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may be out of step with their younger, more vocal members when it comes to blind support for Israel.

Such statements triggered their own backlash from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Story continues

"There is no moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas," he tweeted.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) chased after Ocasio-Cortez last week, accusing her of supporting Hamas  which governs Gaza  because of her pro-Palestinian statements.

The backdrop: The relative quiet has obscured a subtle move to the left by more Democrats when it comes to Israel.

Lawmakers beyond progressives have become more critical of Israel and defensive of the Palestinians rights.

As a result, sources tell Axios, a resolution supporting Israel hasn't even been offered because progressives made clear they would lead a charge against it.

Between the lines: Netanyahu was on the verge of being ousted from the office he's held for 12 years when talks over a rival coalition government collapsed after the Gaza fighting broke out.

And Netanyahu has to court extreme right-wing groups within Israel if he hopes to maintain his narrow coalition.

For his part, Biden has called for a peaceful resolution but has abstained from any public criticism of Israel, maintaining longstanding U.S. policy.

The president spoke Saturday with both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The White House has heard from many progressives who believe that Israel is not acting proportionately, Axios has learned.

There have been a number of staff-level phone calls between Congress and the NSC, as well as with members themselves calling the White House to speak up on the issue.

Be smart: During a press conference Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel has the backing of the U.S. for its operation in Gaza and thanked Biden for his support, Axios from Tel Aviv author Barak Ravid reported.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with news of the Jewish lawmakers' letter to President Biden.

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May 16For 26 years and ticking, Vancouver resident Richard Moody has been living on borrowed time. He'll mark the anniversary of his heart transplant on Monday.

Like other transplant recipients, Moody knows that his gift of life came at the expense of another family's loss. Unlike most transplant recipients, however, Moody has developed a long and healing friendship with the family of the woman whose untimely death extended his years.

"I remember him asking me what he should call me," Jackie Schulze said. "I told him I was the mother of his heart."

----Moody is among 2,353 patients who received heart transplants nationwide in 1995, according to the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the U.S. organ transplant system under contract with the federal government. A slender fraction of them  one-fifth  survived longer than 20 years.

Moody, 75, scrupulously maintains a healthy lifestyle. He walks every day with his husband, Carl Caspersen, through their Fairway Village neighborhood. He takes pills to lower his blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as three different medications to keep his body from rejecting his transplanted heart even after all these years.

Becoming an organ donor

As of last week, 1,850 Washington residents were awaiting transplants, 87 of whom need a heart, according to United Network for Organ Sharing (unos.org). UNOS is the private, nonprofit organization that manages the nation's organ transplant system under contract with the federal government.

LifeCenter Northwest (lcnw.org) is the federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization that serves Washington, while Donate Life NW (donatelifenw.org) maintains the donor registry for Oregon.

In Washington, you can register as an organ, eye and tissue donor three ways:

 In person when you apply for your driver's license, instruction permit or ID card. The donor symbol will be placed on your card and your name will be sent to the organ donor registry.

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 Online. Visit www.lcnw.org and add your name to the registry.

 By mail. Send a letter with your name and address to LifeCenter Northwest, 3650 131st Ave. S.E. Suite 200, Bellevue, WA 98006

He's careful about what he eats, opting for lots of vegetables, with some poultry and fish  rarely any red meat. He doesn't drink alcohol.

"He's very careful about doing what he should do, but basically doesn't let it be a big deal," said Caspersen, a retired teacher like his husband.

Moody keeps busy with watercolor painting and quilting, but he recently joined an online support group for heart-transplant patients.

"I don't really feel like I need that kind of support because it's been so long," Moody said. "But I don't mind being involved in the group so they can see what it looks like to be 25, 26 years out and alive."

----When Moody was 40, he started having mysterious, nagging pain in his left shoulder.

"It was finally diagnosed as something going on with my heart," he said.

He had suffered two silent heart attacks. He underwent a double bypass surgery, which was initially successful. Then one of the bypass arteries collapsed.

"The surgeon told me that he would give me five years on that heart," Moody said. "I lasted 10 years. Then I got up one Saturday morning having chest pain. The cardiologist said, 'Meet me at the hospital.' He did an angiogram and decided I really needed a transplant."

After his doctor debated with the transplant team about whether Moody was sick enough to merit a new heart, he was added to the list to await a donor.

Moody received a pager to carry with him everywhere. He had to stick close to home in Portland, where he lived at the time, and be ready at a moment's notice to head to the hospital.

He taught second and third grade at Durham Elementary in Tigard, Ore., so he let his principal know he would have to take time off. He asked a friend to stay on alert to drive him to the hospital.

After a false alarm when his garage door opener somehow set off the pager, the call finally came.

His sisters and other family members were jubilant. Moody reminded them, "This is really happy for us but it's not for somebody else."

----Jennifer Schulze traveled home to Aloha, Ore., during her first year at Colorado State University to visit her parents and her sister, Kim, for Mother's Day 1995.

"We hadn't seen her in four months," her mother, Jackie Schulze, recalled. "It was wonderful to see her."

Jennifer and a group of friends decided to visit Multnomah Falls.

That afternoon, the Schulzes received a call that Jennifer had been in a wreck. A car carrying Jennifer and three others hit a guardrail and flipped on Interstate 84.

Someone had died at the scene, but the Schulzes didn't know if it was Jennifer or one of her friends.

They later learned Jennifer was still alive and in surgery at Legacy Emanuel hospital in Portland. Jackie Schulze and her husband, Pete, rushed over. But Jennifer, who was in a coma and on life support, would not survive her injuries.

When Jennifer first got her driver's license, she told her parents that she wanted to donate her organs if she died unexpectedly. "Good to know," Jackie Schulze recalled thinking at the time. "But what could possibly happen to her?"

When a nurse asked about harvesting Jennifer's organs for donation, the Schulzes knew the answer.

"We said, yes, we wanted to donate," Jackie Schulze said. "That was like being able to give her last wish."

----Surgeons at Oregon Health & Science University sawed through Moody's breastbone, cut out his damaged heart, sewed in the new one and wired his ribs back together.

Recovery was grueling, he said.

"I had the hiccups for more than 24 hours after surgery," he recalled.

Pain wracked his body with each hiccup. To stop the hiccups, doctors gave him the heavy-duty drug Thorazine, just one of many medications he received.

Several drugs combined kept his body from rejecting the heart, including the steroid prednisone. Moody said he recently found an old journal from that time.

"Parts of it are very depressing to read," he said. "The prednisone can make you feel really depressed  and I was. But, you know, you work through all of it."

In physical pain and emotional turmoil, Moody was in no condition to think about who had died to give him life.

Parents of his students combed through The Oregonian to find the likely source of his heart in the obituary section: 19-year-old Jennifer Renee Schulze, a 1994 graduate of Hillsboro High School who "died May 16 of injuries suffered in an auto accident."

"I really did not want to know," Moody said. "It was way too early in the game to know that."

----A few weeks after Jennifer died, the Schulzes learned more about who was helped by pieces of their daughter  her kidneys, pancreas, liver, rib cartilage, corneas and heart. Transplant recipients are encouraged to write letters, kept anonymous, to donors' families. Jennifer's heart, the Schulzes learned, went to a teacher who enjoyed baking.

The Schulzes took solace in news of the lives saved. Less than a year after Jennifer's death, Jackie Schulze had already enrolled in training to give talks about organ donation, beginning decades of volunteer work for the National Kidney Foundation.

Jackie Schulze helped with the Oregon Donor Program's "Threads of Life" commemorative quilt. At a 1996 event, transplant recipients and donors' families presented their quilt squares.

That's where Schulze encountered her daughter's heart again, pumping inside Richard Moody's chest.

----Moody attended the event with Carl Caspersen and a friend who had cross-stitched a heart on a square of fabric for him to contribute to the quilt.

They sat and listened as transplant recipients and donors' families presented their squares.

"A woman got up and started talking, and I knew that was the mother. After she finished, I went up and looked at her quilt square and it was a picture of her daughter," Moody recalled. "I said to Carl, 'I think I should just go back and meet her.' "

Jackie Schulze remembers the moment well.

"Richard came up and said, 'I think I'm one of your recipients,' " Schulze said. "I don't know why  we had gotten the letters  but I said, 'Are you the teacher?' I knew: There was her heart recipient."

----Schulze and Moody have remained friends since, getting together for the occasional walk or to celebrate milestones together.

They have the sense that their friendship is rare. A UNOS spokeswoman said there's no way to know for sure because the nonprofit doesn't track how often transplant recipients meet donors' families.

Schulze attended Moody's wedding to Caspersen, as well as his 70th birthday party.

"You know how you meet someone by accident, and you're really happy you met? That's how I feel about Richard," Schulze said. "I wouldn't have been smart enough to pick Richard. He got Jennifer's heart and it started beating right away. He's kind and compassionate and talented  someone Jennifer would have really liked."

Over the years, Schulze and Moody gave many presentations together about the importance of organ donation.

"His friendship has meant the world to me," said Schulze, now 77 and a widow.

She said the benefits of organ donation are obvious for recipients but are also profound for donors' families.

"It's strange for some people to think about it, but I'm thankful every day. I'm not thankful Jennifer died, but I'm thankful for all the good things that came out of it," Schulze said. "If we hadn't donated Jennifer's organs, she would have died, but Richard would have died too. Look at all the people he is affecting because he's still living."
Former Wisconsin Badger running back and Super Bowl hero Corey Clement signed with the New York Giants yesterday, that after working out for the team on Friday.

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The four-year veteran found success during his rookie year in Philadelphia in 2017, most notably tallying 100 receiving yards during the Eagles Super Bowl 52 victory over the New England Patriots.

But since then its been a tough go for the New Jersey native, as hes played in a total of 30 games since 2017 and has carried the football only 89 times for 334 yards.

The former Wisconsin star will now drive two hours north to the division rival Giants as looks to continue his NFL career.

Contact/Follow us @TheBadgersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin news, notes, opinion and analysis.

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May 15More than a dozen people turned out Saturday to hear Brandon Flood, secretary of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, talk at the Shear Magic Barber Shop.

"I just want to speak to people  meet people where they are," he said.

Visitors piled into the business along Market Street to hear about the pardoning process and have one-on-one conversations with Flood after he was finished interacting with the group.

Andres Taylor, a 42-year-old Johnstown resident, stopped by because of a criminal record he has from when he was 18 years old.

"I just came here to see what's going on," Taylor said.

The Greater Johnstown graduate received marijuana-related charges while still in school and served time because of it.

He said he was supposed to go to Pennsylvania State University to play football but instead spent time in jail.

Taylor has tried to not let the mistake affect his life and for the most part he said it hasn't.

However his past has recently caused trouble with his business, Knockout Construction.

Taylor said he bid on a job and a background check was done that resulted in him not getting the work.

Carmina Taylor  no relation  organized Saturday's event for people just like the local businessman.

The founder of "We Can't Wait Pennsylvania Statewide Coalition" contacted Flood after visiting the area and hearing residents' stories.

The event was then connected to Shear Magic through Carmina Taylor's friendship with barber shop owner Calvin Berkins.

"My philosophy in life is 'If you know better, do better,' " Carmina Taylor said.

She and Flood have traveled throughout the more rural parts of the state spreading awareness of the commonwealth's pardoning system.

Flood, a former convict, shared the finer details of how the application process works with the attendees and also covered other avenues that might suit them, such as expunging or sealing a record.

"There's a lot we don't know," one guest stated.

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Flood also covered the changes he's made since serving as the secretary of the pardons board, including waiving the application fee, streamlining the process and rewording the application itself.

There have also been improvements to the administrative side of the board and Flood said the application will be available online at the end of the year.

One of the questions the secretary fielded during the group conversation was about the length of the process.

Typically, the traditional route takes three years, he said, but the expedited version is about half that time.

"Slowly but surely this process is going to speed up," Flood said.

Additionally, he advised the visitors that the more time that's passed since they've been charged the better.

Berkins said it meant a lot to him to hold the event in his barber shop and to have Flood make the trip to Johnstown to speak to the residents.

"I think it's a really big deal," he said.

Carmina Taylor had the visitors write their names and contact information on a piece of paper and told them she'd be in contact to help start their pardoning journey.
BALTIMORE  Two weeks ago, Medina Spirit could not be caught after jumping out to the front of the pack at the Kentucky Derby.

That was not the case at Saturday's 146th Preakness Stakes.

Rombauer blew past the controversial Kentucky Derby winner and Midnight Bourbon, whose odds had dropped to 5-2  the same as Medina Spirit  prior to post time, to win the Preakness. Medina Spirit ran out of gas to finish third, two lengths behind second-place Midnight Bourbon, who could not hold off an electric finish from the No. 6 colt.

The epic homestretch dash gave Rombauer, who went off at 11-1 odds, a 3-length victory over the 10-horse field with an unofficial 1:53.62 in the 1 3/16-mile race.

Rombauer's first two career victories  including one at the El Camino Real Derby in February that earned him an automatic Preakness berth  saw him come from behind, too.

It was the first Triple Crown race victory for trainer Michael McCarthy, who was visibly emotional after the win.

"I'm stunned, (but) not totally surprised," he said. "Not sure if that makes any sense."

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McCarthy, a disciple of famous trainer Todd Pletcher, said he'd pushed for Rombauer to run in the Kentucky Derby and that his last two work sessions at Pimlico had gone well.

Rombauer owner John Fradkin said Saturday he and McCarthy shared heated debate over whether to run Rombauer at Churchill Downs. Fradkin thought his horses running style, plus a more crowded field compared to the other Triple Crown legs, made for tougher competition.

I believe in running the easiest spots as possible, he said.

Opinion: Horse racing can breath a sigh of relief as Medina Spirit's Triple Crown bid ends

Flavien Prat, the jockey who rode Rombauer on Saturday, had been aboard longshot 2019 Kentucky Derby winner Country House; they were ruled the winners after Maximum Security was disqualified for impeding other horses' paths.

Theres so much history behind these races, Prat said Saturday. To win one is amazing. To win the Preakness is even better.

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Jockey Flavien Prat and Rombauer celebrate in the Winners Circle after winning the 146th Preakness Stakes.

After serving as the final leg of last year's pandemic-altered Triple Crown, the Preakness resumed its middle-race place in the order. Pimlico welcomed 10,000 fans to the grandstand area on what was a gorgeous Spring Saturday. The Preakness' famously rowdy infield scene was once again subdued because of the pandemic, but groups could listen to musical acts perform in designated pods to create a familiar feeling of a giant party at the track.

Pimlico also reported a record handle of $112,504,509 over the 14 races on Preakness Saturday. The previous record was $99,852,693 in 2019.

The Belmont Stakes, set for June 5, will not have Triple Crown potential  controversial or not.

Horse racing has been rocked by another scandal involving legendary trainer Bob Baffert. Sunday, it was revealed Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit had an illegal amount of the anti-inflammatory substance Betamethasone on race day, putting his victory in doubt for the time being. The horse was permitted to race the Preakness since it tested negative on multiple drug tests, along with Bafferts other horse in the race, Concert Tour, who finished second to last after being considered equal to Medina Spirit.

Baffert chose not to be in attendance Saturday, saying he wanted to keep the focus on Medina Spirit and not him.

I have been deeply saddened to see this case portrayed as a doping scandal or betamethasone labeled as a banned substance. Neither is remotely true," Baffert said in a statement through NBC about two hours before post time. "Betamethasone is an allowable and commonly used medication in horse racing. Further, 21 picograms would have zero pharmacology in a horse. All I ask is that everyone not rush to judgment and allow all of the facts, evidence and science to come to light."

Had Rombauer finished a strong third at Pimlico, the chances of him continuing on to Belmont would be greater. The victory, though, will cause Fradkin and McCarthy to have additional conversations.

Well have to see how (Rombauer)s doing, Fradkin said. "We're not going to make that decision tonight."

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2021 Preakness Stakes results: Rombauer wins at Pimlico Race Course
Tyson Fury has confirmed his all-British showdown with Anthony Joshua will take place in Saudi Arabia on August 14.

The pair will contest all four world heavyweight titles for the first time in the sports history.

In a video posted to Twitter, 32-year-old Fury said: I have got some massive news. I have just got off the phone with Prince Khalid of Saudi Arabia and he told me this fight is 100 per cent on, August 14.

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Fury, the WBC champion, added: All eyes of the world will be on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I cannot wait, I repeat, cannot wait to smash Anthony Joshua on the biggest stage of all-time.

This is going to be the biggest sporting event ever to grace the planet Earth. Do not miss it.

Joshua, a year younger than Fury, holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts.

Anthony Joshua holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts (Nick Potts/PA)

Plans for a fight between the pair were set in motion when Fury defeated Deontay Wilder to capture the WBC title in February last year, just a couple of months after Joshua avenged his only career loss to Andy Ruiz Jr, a fight which was also staged in Saudi Arabia, at the Diriyah Arena.

Joshua retained his three belts last December with a ninth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev, but the unbeaten Furys planned trilogy fight against Wilder has failed to materialise.

A proposed homecoming against Agit Kabayel in December was scotched, meaning Fury, who proclaims himself as the lineal champion in the division, has not fought in more than 14 months since stopping Wilder in Las Vegas.

Anthony Joshuas rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr was also staged in Saudi Arabia (Nick Potts/PA)

Saudi Arabias hosting of Joshuas rematch with Ruiz attracted plenty of condemnation from campaigners, who accused the Middle East country of trying to sportswash its human rights record, and the criticism will continue ahead of Augusts fight.

Last week, in response to promoter Eddie Hearns revelation that the bout was on course to take place in Saudi Arabia, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said in a statement to the PA news agency: It comes as no surprise that Saudi Arabia is once again set to use a major sporting event as a means to sportswash its atrocious human rights record.

She urged Fury and Joshua to speak out on the issue in the build-up to the fight, saying: A few well-chosen words about human rights from Joshua and Fury would mean a lot to Saudi Arabias beleaguered human rights defenders, helping to counteract the intended sportswashing effect of this boxing match.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 19:16:49|Editor: huaxia

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SOFIA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Bulgarian national qualification contest of the 20th "Chinese Bridge", a major international Chinese proficiency competition for foreign university students, was held here on Sunday.

The event, organized by the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria and the Confucius Institute in Sofia, was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with seven students from three universities participating.

Radina Yanuzova, a 23-year-old student from Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", won the competition with 95.71 points out of 100. She will represent Bulgaria at the finals in China.

"I think that the 'Chinese Bridge' Competition not only provides a platform for learners of Chinese language in Bulgaria to show their Chinese proficiency, but also creates opportunities for the Chinese people to learn about Bulgaria," Prof. Liu Xiuming, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, said in his closing remarks.

The Chinese language learning program in Bulgaria was launched in 1953. Last year, the Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria officially introduced curricula for teaching the Chinese language in schools. Many universities, including Sofia University, also have specialties related to the Chinese language and China.

The "Chinese Bridge" competition is organized annually to inspire foreign students to learn Chinese and enhance their understanding of the Chinese culture. Enditem
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Yankton, SD (57078)

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Partly cloudy skies early then heavy thunderstorms late. A few storms may be severe. Low around 70F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Greensboro, NC (27407)

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Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

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Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low around 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
News

Las Vegas, Nevada - A fourth defendant has pleaded guilty to causing damage to the Foley Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou for the District of Nevada, Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the FBI, and U.S. Marshal Gary Schofield.

According to court documents, Alejandro Avalos, 28, of Las Vegas, participated in a protest on the evening of May 30, 2020  in front of the federal buildings in downtown Las Vegas  following the May 25th death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. During the protest, fireworks were set off, walls were spray painted with obscenities and graffiti, and small bushes were lit on fire. Avalos and others went to the east entrance of the Foley Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, threw paint on the windows, and kicked and struck the windows with objects. Video surveillance footage at the courthouse, as well as social media videos, showed Avalos striking the buildings windows with a metal bar and breaking at least one window.

Avalos pleaded guilty to one count of depredation against property of the United States. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey on August 9, 2021. Avalos faces a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In addition to Avalos, three other individuals - Reginald Lewis, 20; Kelton K. Simon, 35; and Alexander Kostan, 22; all of Las Vegas - have pleaded guilty to one count of depredation against property of the United States and await sentencing. A fifth individual, Keion Joe'l Cherry, 25, has been charged with one count of depredation against property of the United States and awaits a preliminary hearing in June 2021. A sixth individual, Jeanette R. Wallace, 35, of Las Vegas, is charged with one count of depredation against property of the United States and awaits a jury trial scheduled for August 2021.

A complaint or an indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

These cases are the product of an investigation by the FBIs Las Vegas Violent Crimes Task Force and LVMPD. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lisa Cartier-Giroux and Kimberly Sokolich are prosecuting the cases.
News

Las Vegas, Nevada - A federal jury convicted a Texas woman Monday for her role in a child sex trafficking conspiracy to recruit and exploit a child in multiple states, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Christopher Chiou for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse of the FBI.

Sex trafficking  especially when it involves preying on children and forcing them into commercial sexual exploitation  subjects victims to appalling cruelty, said Acting U.S. Attorney Chiou. Combatting human trafficking remains one of our offices top priorities. Working closely with our law enforcement and community partners, our dedicated prosecutors are focused on bringing traffickers to justice and off the streets, away from victims.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from August 2018 to September 2018, Demecia Shontres Washington, 42, of Dallas, Texas conspired with co-defendant Jimmy David Washington Jr., 35, of Lubbock, Texas, to recruit and coerce a child  who had not yet reached 18 years old  to engage in commercial sex acts and to produce child pornography. Demecia Washington and Jimmy Washington Jr. transported the child from Texas to New Mexico and Nevada with the intent that she engage in prostitution.

After a six-day trial, Washington was found guilty of one count each of: conspiracy to commit sex trafficking; sex trafficking; conspiracy to transport for prostitution or other criminal sexual activity; transportation for prostitution or other criminal sexual activity; conspiracy to sexually exploit children; sexual exploitation of children; and distribution of child pornography. U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon presided over the trial and scheduled a sentencing hearing for September 1, 2021.

The statutory maximum penalty for sex trafficking, transportation for purposes of prostitution, and conspiracy to commit those offenses is life in prison, with mandatory minimum penalties of 10 years for each offense. The statutory maximum penalty for sexual exploitation of children and conspiracy to commit that offense is 30 years in prison, with mandatory minimum penalties of 15 years for both offenses. The statutory maximum penalty for distribution of child pornography is 20 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum penalty of five years for that offense.

Co-defendant Jimmy Washington Jr. previously pleaded guilty to transportation of a minor for purposes of prostitution. He was sentenced to 10 years and 10 months in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Burton and Bianca Pucci are prosecuting the case.
News

Yuma, Arizona - A Yuma Sector canine working at the immigration checkpoint on Highway 78 near Blythe, California, sniffed out a sandwich bag containing fentanyl pills hidden in a suitcase Thursday morning.

At approximately 8 a.m., Border Patrol agents referred a Toyota Prius to the checkpoints secondary inspection area following a canine alert.

Agents determined that the four vehicle occupants were U.S. citizens from Kingman, Arizona. Three of them drove to Calexico, California, to pick up the fourth and they were in the process of heading back to Kingman when they drove through the checkpoint.

During a search of the vehicle, agents found a plastic bag containing 77 grams of fentanyl pills, worth $1,800. The pills were found in a suitcase that belonged to the 32-year-old female who was picked up in Calexico.

The female was arrested and the fentanyl was seized.

Fentanyl is an extremely powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. Only two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal. The amount of fentanyl this individual had is equivalent to 77,000 milligrams.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 19:56:41|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The international work of the Communist Party of China (CPC) should enhance cooperation on comprehensive opening-up, defend national sovereignty, security and development interests, and promote global governance reform, senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi said in an article published Sunday in the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee.

Yang, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee was the fundamental guarantee for victories in the CPC's work on foreign affairs in weathering hardships.

This year marks the centenary of the CPC. In light of this, Yang reviewed the CPC's international work in different periods of the Party's history.

Over the 100 years, the CPC's international work staunchly defended national interests and dignity and made significant contributions to the CPC's development, the country's prosperity, and the national rejuvenation, Yang said.

Yang noted under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee, the CPC's international work has scored significant achievements, winning global recognition. With its international status and influence at unprecedentedly high levels, China is marching toward the center of the world stage, making continuous and better contributions to humanity's progress, Yang added.

Expounding on inspiration drawn from historical experience, Yang said the fundamental task for the CPC's international work has always been to create a favorable global environment for China's peaceful development. Based on the new development stage, the CPC's international work should serve to promote deeper-level opening-up on a bigger scale and wider range to foster modern advantages of international cooperation and competition.

He also pledged China's long-term efforts in jointly working with developing countries to strive for common development and prosperity.

Yang said the CPC's international work is to go all out to create favorable conditions for comprehensively building a modern socialist country.

On giving better play to the leading strategic role of head-of-state diplomacy, Yang said the CPC would make painstaking efforts to prepare for major multilateral meetings, including the leaders' meeting of the Group of 20. China will ensure the success of major international events such as the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15).

When talking about improving the layout of China's diplomacy, Yang said the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era would be strengthened. He also urged the United States to work with China to carry out cooperation on climate change and other areas, and promote the stable and sound development of bilateral ties based on the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation.

Regarding reforms and construction of the global governance system, Yang voiced China's firm opposition to forming "cliques" based on ideologies, adding that the CPC would firmly uphold the multilateral trading regime and promote the building of a global community of health for all. It would also actively take part in global governance in cyberspace, the deep sea, and outer space, among others. Enditem
Yuma News

Yuma, Arizona - Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Wellton station intercepted a smuggling attempt along Interstate 8 Thursday morning.

At approximately 9 a.m., agents conducted a vehicle stop on a suspicious vehicle along the interstate east of Yuma.

Agents determined that the driver of the vehicle, a 19-year-old male U.S. citizen, was attempting to smuggle three migrants into the interior of the country. Agents arrested the driver, who is from Merced, California, and seized the vehicle.

The migrants, a 22-year-old female and a 32- and 34-year-old male, will be returned to Mexico under Title 42.

Agents stopped a vehicle with three

undocumented migrants inside
Yuma Library

Yuma, Arizona -

Join Justin Case of America Newscape as he presents Yuma County Library Happenings with Book Wrangler Sarah Wisdom May 15th, 2021.

2021 Summer Reading Program From May 29th  July 10th, the Yuma County Library District invites readers to explore the animal kingdom during the 2021 Virtual Summer Reading Program, Tails & Tales! Visit https://yumareads.azsummerreading.org/ or download the free READsquared app from Google Play or the App Store to your mobile device to get started. READsquared is an online platform and app that tracks your progress toward your reading goals. Earn badges and stickers, play games, complete missions, and more!

In collaboration with the Humane Society of Yuma, pet-themed programs will be posted on YCLDs Facebook page throughout the summer. Other virtual activities include storytimes, crafts, art projects, science and engineering experiments, and more.

For more information, call (928) 373-6468. Check out a WiFi Hotspot Did you know that you can check WiFi Hotspots out from the Wellton & Somerton libraries? This is a free service that allows library cardholders who are 18 and older to check out a hotspot device and connect to the internet from almost anywhere. Hotspot lending programs are essential to bridging the digital divide, and provide internet access to families and households that lack these services. A hotspot is a small device you can use to connect a wireless enabled device, such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet, to the internet. Hotspots are portable, so you can connect your device to the internet almost anywhere you are!

The Wellton Library WiFi Hotspot Lending Program was supported with funds granted by the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records, a division of the Arizona Secretary of State, under the Library Services and Technology Act, which is administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For more information, visit the Wellton Library at 28790 San Jose Avenue or call (928) 785-9575.

The Somerton Library WiFi Hotspot are part of Community Connect: Digital Access at Home, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) and Capital One that offers cash grants to help rural libraries offer internet access and financial education for their patrons. For more information, visit the Somerton Library at 240 Canal Street or call (928) 373-6481.
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One sign read, We cant breathe since 1948  a nod to the racial injustice and police brutality protests in the U.S. during the past year in the wake of George Floyds death in police custody after he couldnt breathe, the newspaper reported.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled Palestine will be free as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park.

A similar scene played out in Boston as protesters walked a short distance from Copley Square to the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

Footage on social media shows protesters unfurl a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words Free Palestine while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters streamed from the Washington Monument and to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demonstrators filled Rittenhouse Square to decry U.S. support for Israel.

At a protest in Pittsburgh, one speaker called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how Israel can spend aid from the United States.
New Delhi: Actor Salman Khans Eid release Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai has been leaked on piracy websites and the actor has a strong message against people watching his latest film on them.

The Dabangg actor took to Instagram stories on Saturday (May 15) to share a strong note against those indulging in piracy.

We offered you to watch our film Radhe at a reasonable price of INR 249 Per View. Inspite of that Pirated sites are streaming Radhe illegally which is a serious crime. Cyber Cell is taking action against all these illegal pirated sites. Please dont participate in piracy or the Cyber Cell will take action against you as well. He added, Please understand you will get into a lot of trouble with the Cyber cell, read the 55-years-old actor's note.

Salman had also earlier shared a video of himself asking fans to say no to piracy. Check it out below.

Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai released on May 13 on ZEE5 with ZEE's pay-per-view service ZEEPlex at Rs 249 (per view) and on all leading DTH operators.

The movie is directed by Prabhudeva and also features actors Disha Patani, Jackie Shroff and Randeep Hooda.
New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Westlife Development, which operates McDonald's restaurants in southern and western region in India, plans to invest Rs 100 crore to open up to 30 outlets of the quick service restaurant brand in the current financial year.

The company, which now witnesses more than half of its sales from convenience channels such as delivery, takeaways and drive-thru, is bullish about growth in FY'22, leaving out the next 2-3 months.

"The intention is to open 20-30 McDonald's outlets in the current fiscal year. We will invest Rs 100 crore for opening these outlets," Westlife Development Vice-Chairman Amit Jatia told PTI.

In the last financial year, the company had opened five McDonald's outlets.

Jatia said COVID-19 has accelerated the shift towards convenience channels and the company is bullish about growth in the current fiscal.

"The business has pivoted towards becoming a convenience brand. Having brought all digital channels in place, we have entered this second wave with a lot of strength. Stark difference from the first COVID-19 wave and now is customers ordering outside food, which did not happen last year. I am quite bullish about FY'22, obviously leaving out next 2-3 months," he explained.

In the last quarter of the 2020-21, 55-60 per cent of the company's sales came from convenience channels and 40-45 per cent from in-store business.

Westlife Development reported narrowing of loss to Rs 6.45 crore for March quarter 2020-21, helped by higher income. It had posted a net loss of Rs 25.26 crore in January-March period a year ago.

Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 357.58 crore, up 6.31 per cent from Rs 336.35 crore in March quarter 2019-20.

At present, Westlife Development's arm Hardcastle Restaurants operates 305 McDonald's restaurants across 42 cities in the states of Telangana, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Union Territory of Puducherry.

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New Delhi: The Delhi Police has registered 25 FIRs and arrested as many people for allegedly pasting posters critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in connection with the vaccination drive against COVID-19, officials said on Saturday.

The posters reading "Modiji humare bachon ki vaccine videsh kyu bhej diya (PM Modi why did you send vaccines of our children to foreign countries?)" were plastered in several parts of the city, they said.

On Thursday, police received information about the posters following which senior officers of the districts were alerted.

Based on further complaints, 25 FIRs were registered under sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections, including section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, across various districts of the Delhi Police, officials said.

A senior police officer said, "More FIRs are likely to be registered if further complaints are received in this regard. As of now, the investigation is underway to ascertain on whose behalf these posters were being put up at various places across the city and accordingly further action will be taken."

Elaborating further about the FIRs and arrests, the police said three FIRs were registered in northeast Delhi and two people were arrested from there.

Three FIRs were registered in the west and five people were arrested while another three FIRs were registered in outer Delhi and three more people were nabbed from there. In the northwest part of the national capital, four FIRs were registered after which two were arrested, police said.

They said two FIRs were registered in the central part of the city and four people were arrested while two FIRs were registered in Rohini and another two FIRs in the south were also registered.

The police said one FIR was registered in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri and four people were nabbed while another FIR was registered in New Friends Colony police station of the southeast district, police said.

Police officials said one FIR was registered in Dwarka from where two people were arrested while another FIR was registered in north Delhi and one person was arrested from there. The person claimed that he had been given Rs 500 to paste these posters, police said.

Police said one more FIR was registered in southwest Delhi from two people were held.

Another case was registered in Shahadra. The police have recovered the CCTV footage of the act and are trying to nab the person involved in it, officials added.


Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 20:45:44|Editor: huaxia

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Rescuers help a man trapped in rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

GAZA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Tension between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip continued on Sunday for the seventh day in a row as death toll in the coastal enclave climbed to 181 and 1,225 others were injured, officials said.

The health ministry in Gaza said in a press statement that since Monday, 181 Palestinians have been killed, including 52 children and 31 women, and 1,225 others had different injuries.

Militant groups, led by the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), fired barrages of rockets from the Gaza Strip at cities and towns in central and southern Israel.

Israeli fighter jets intensified its airstrikes on buildings, military posts and facilities affiliated with the militants all over the strip, according to security sources.

The sources said that the houses of Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip Yehya Sinwar and his brother were destroyed in the intensive Israeli airstrikes waged on the southern city of Khan Younis, adding that no injuries were reported as the two houses had been evacuated.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza, said in a text message sent to reporters that during overnight and on Sunday morning, 23 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in the airstrikes on Gaza.

An Israeli army spokesman said that in the last 24 hours, Israeli fighter jets struck 90 targets that belong to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, including the houses of Sinwar and his brother Mohammed.

The spokesman said that Gaza militants fired more than 120 rockets towards Israel, adding that the Iron Dome Air Defense System has intercepted most of them.

Palestinian sources said there are regional and international efforts to reach a humanitarian cease-fire between the two sides.

The sources told Xinhua that Egypt has been trying to pressure the two sides to declare a temporary humanitarian cease-fire to alleviate the suffering in Gaza until a permanent truce is reached.

The sources added that the Egyptian proposal "is under discussion by the Palestinian factions and will be on the table of Israeli cabinet for discussion on Sunday." Enditem
New Delhi: The Centre issued directions to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments to prevent dumping of dead bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims in Ganga and its tributaries seen floating in the waters following a rise in the number of coronavirus cases calling it "most undesirable and alarming".

At a review meeting which was conducted on May 15-16, the Centre said dumping of dead bodies and partially burnt or decomposed corpses in the Ganga and its tributaries should be prevented and insisted that the focus should be on the safe, dignified cremation of corpses.

"Namami Gange directs states to prevent dumping of dead bodies in the Ganga and focus on their safe disposal and providing support for ensuring dignified cremation," the Jal Shakti Ministry said.

Further more, the state pollution control boards were directed to monitor the water quality more frequently in consultations with the health departments. While, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was assigned the task of overall monitoring, providing guidance to the state pollution control boards and taking up advanced analysis in the matter.

The ministry said that support for cremation needs to be given top priority and effective implementation of government orders needs to be ensured with losing any time.

On May 10 several unidentified bodies were found floating in Ganga in UP and Bihar. On Wednesday, all the bodies recovered in Ghazipur and Ballia districts were cremated and investigations were initiated to find out where the bodies had been immersed in the river.

On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh spokesman Navneet Sehgal denied media reports that as many as 2,000 corpses of possible virus victims had been pulled from rivers in the state and neighbouring Bihar in recent days. "We keep recovering 10 to 20 bodies every now and then," Sehgal told Reuters.

An advisory was issued by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, to the district magistrates, who are also the chairpersons of the district Ganga committees, on May 11.
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again slammed the Centre over the recent arrests of several people on the allegation of putting up posters critical of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Vaccine Maitri mission.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Gandhi wrote "Arrest me too" with a picture of the poster and also changed his Twitter profile picture to that of the poster questioning the Prime Minister's policy decision on COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

Several other leaders too condemned Centre's action for curtailing the freedom of speech. The posters were put up in Delhi and at least 17 people have been arrested by the Delhi police.

"Modiji humare bachon ki vaccine videsh kyu bhej diya (Modiji why did you send vaccines of our children to foreign countries?)" the posters read.

As many as 25 FIRs under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections, including Section 3 of the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act was registered for putting up the posters.

The backlash for the Centre comes as India struggles against a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 that has overwhelmed the healthcare infrastructure of the country.

Meanwhile, there were 3,11,170 new COVID-19 cases and 4,077 deaths in the last 24 hours. India has recorded a total of 2,46,84,077 coronavirus infections, of which, 2,07,95,335 people have recovered, while 2,70,284 have died of the fatal virus. There are still 36,18,458 active cases in the country.
New Delhi: India at the United Nations security council session expressed its deep concern over violence in Jerusalem and the escalating situation in Israel-Palestine and called for "an immediate de-escalation as the need of the hour".

India's Ambassador to United Nation T S Tirumurti said, "We urge both sides to show extreme restraint, desist from actions that exacerbate tensions and refrain from attempts to unilaterally change the existing status quo, including East Jerusalem and its neighbourhood."

The violence started in Jerusalem at the Haram Al-Sharif, also known as Temple Mount during Ramzan, with the key reason being the possible eviction of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighbourhood in East Jerusalem. The area is a holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The violence later spread to both West Bank and Gaza.

Tirumurti condemned the indiscriminate rocket firing from Gaza targeting the civilian population in Israel which caused immense suffering and resulted in deaths. He paid tributes to the Indian national, Soumya Santhosh who died in the rocket firing in the city of Ashkelon.

He said, "India has lost one of her nationals living in Israel.. we deeply mourn her demise along with all other civilians who have lost their lives in the current cycle of violence." Tirumurti reiterated: "Strong condemnation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement and destruction."

Soumya Santhosh hailing from Kerala was a caregiver living in the country for many years. She died in the Hamas rocket strike and is survived by her 9-year-old son and her husband.

India's minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and Israel's Deputy Envoy Rony Yedidia Clein were present at the Delhi airport when her mortal remains reached India.

Ambassador Tirumurti listed New Delhi's strong support to the just Palestinian cause and its unwavering commitment to the to state solution and highlighted that the current situation underscored the need for immediate resumption of dialogue between Israel and Palestinian authorities.

In fact, the envoy pointed out, that the absence of direct and meaningful negotiations between the parties is widening the trust deficit between the parties and this will increase the chances for similar escalation in future.

Importantly, India at UNSC also explained how Jerusalem has a "special place in hearts of millions of Indians", with the city housing an Indian hospice--Al Zawiyya Al Hindiyya.

The Hospice has been restored by the Indian government and according to legend Indian Sufi saint Baba Farid had visited the site in AD 1200, meditating at the location.
New Delhi: In a recent development, a study conducted by Clinical Infectious Diseases in collaboration with National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has revealed that the 'made in India' COVID-19 vaccine, which is Bharat Biotechs Covaxin, produces neutralising titres against all new key variants of COVID-19 including the double mutant strain B.1.617 and B.1.1.7.

The peer-review publication, Clinical Infectious Diseases, on Sunday (May 16, 2021) revealed the findings of the new study. The publication wrote, Vaccination with Covaxin produced neutralising titres against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first identified in India and the UK, respectively.

The study also found no difference in neutralisation between the UK variant and the vaccine strain (D614G).

A modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was observed against the B.1.617 variant compared to vaccine variant (D614G), the manuscript said.

No difference in neutralisation between B.1.1.7 (first isolated in the UK) and vaccine strain (D614G) was observed, the manuscript added.

Earlier, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan had also explained that Covaxin is more likely to work against newer variants like the UK variant and the double mutation (Indian variant, B.1.617).

About Covaxin

India-based Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine, which is made up of killed coronaviruses. Bharat Biotech used a sample of the coronavirus, isolated by Indias National Institute of Virology, to develop this vaccine. When administered, Covaxin immune cells can still recognise the dead virus, prompting the immune system to make antibodies against the pandemic virus.

This vaccine works by teaching the immune system to make antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

Bharat Biotech to share Covaxin formula with other manufacturers

The leading drug maker Bharat Biotech is ready to share the formula of its anti-COVID vaccine Covaxin with other manufacturers. NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul informed that 'Bharat Biotech has welcomed this decision' on Thursday (May 13, 2021).

Dr. VK Paul reportedly said, "People say that Covaxin be given to other companies for manufacturing. I am happy to say that Covaxin manufacturing company (Bharat Biotech) has welcomed this when we discussed it with them. Under this vaccine, live virus is inactivated & this is done only in BSL3 labs."

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New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government has set up a 12-member team to monitor and deal with the challenges posed by Mucormycosis, colloquially termed black fungus infection.

"The team will be responsible for forming rapid response teams (RRTs), making treatment protocol, ensuring availability of medicines and database of cases, sensitisation of healthcare workers for early diagnosis and management of cases as per the ICMR guidelines," PTI quoted the government statement as saying.

The team will comprise experts from Sanjay Gandhi Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow.

Meanwhile, the UP government has issued an advisory on black fungus infection, including symptoms, precautions and treatment.

Who is susceptible to black fungus infection:

1. Those on steroid medication given during Covid - Dexamethasone, Methylprednisolone etc.

2. COVID-19 patients that had to be put on oxygen or kept in ICU.

3. People with diabetes issues

4. People taking medication for cancer, kidney transplant etc.

1. Fever, headache, cough, breathlessness.

2. Nasal congestion, bleeding in the nose with mucus.

3. There is pain eyes, it becomes swollen, two is visible or stops appearing.

4. There is pain, swelling or numbness on one side of the face (do not feel touched when touched).

5. Toothache, teeth begin to move. Chewing is a pain.

6. Mucus bleeds in vomit or coughing.

Precautions

1. Do not start steroid medicine at the behest of yourself or a non-specialist doctor, friend, friend or relative. Steroid medicines like - Dexona, Medrol etc.

2. Delivering steroids in the first 5 to 7 days of symptoms has adverse effects. Do not start steroids as soon as the disease starts, this increases the disease.

3. Expert doctors give steroids for only 5-10 days to some patients, that too 5-7 days after the onset of the disease, only serious patients need a lot of investigation before that.

4. Stay in regular contact with a specialist doctor when steroids are introduced.

If you have any of the above symptoms, then immediately go to a government hospital or any other specialist doctor. Visit a nose, ear, throat, eye, medicine, chest or plastic surgery specialist immediately and start treatment.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday issued a new set of guidelines to check the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus in peri-urban, rural and tribal areas of the country. The rules also suggests surveillance, screening, home and community based isolation and planning for health infrastructure for managing the COVID-19 infection at the rural level.

Taking to Twitter, the health ministry informed about the issuance of the SOPs for COVID-19 management in peri-urban, rural and tribal areas.

The health ministry guidelines said that in every village, active surveillance should be done for influenza-like illness/severe acute respiratory infections(ILI/SARI) periodically by ASHA with help of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHSNC).

The ministry also says that identified suspected COVID cases should link for testing to the health facilities either through rapid antigen testing or by referral of samples to nearest testing laboratory, in accordance with ICMR guidelines.

The guidelines states that COVID patients should also be counselled to isolate themselves till test results are available. "Those asymptomatic but having history of high-risk exposure to COVID patients (exposure of more than 15 mins without a mask within 6 feet distance) should be advised quarantine and tested as per ICMR protocol," the report says.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the COVID-19 situation and directed government officials to make a distribution plan for supply of oxygen to rural areas and scale up health infrastructure.

The second wave of COVID-19 has taken the rural areas in its grip. With reports suggesting that cases of infections in rural areas are much higher as most of the patients are not even reaching hospital due to various concerns.
New Delhi: The 'corona curfew' in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal and Berasia towns on Sunday was extended till May 24 and only essential services and emergency travel are exempted from the ambit of the curfew.

The curfew was first imposed on April 12 has been extended multiple times in afforts to curb the spread of the deadly infection. The curfew was supposed to end at 6am on May 17.

The order was passed by Collector Avinash Lavaniya, an official told PTI.

Lavania has issued the order using the powers conferred under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The order states that the curfew has been extended within the Bhopal Municipal Corporation area and Berasia municipality area.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday claimed that the COVID-19 positivity rate in Madhya Pradesh has come down from 24 per cent earlier to 10.68 per cent now, with some districts showing less than five detections per 100 tests.

In a video clip released to media outlets, the CM claimed "we have been successful in containing the pandemic" as the positivity rate was "falling day by day". Chouhan said that treatment is being offered in the state for free of cost, especially to the poor and the middle class, under the Mukhyamantri COVID Upchar Yojana.

The COVID-19 caseload in Bhopal, as on Saturday, was 1,12,226, including 838 deaths.
New Delhi: Delhi on Sunday extended its lockdown till May 24 as did the adjoining state of Haryana while strict restrictions remained in force in many parts of India with several states reporting signs of improvement in the COVID-19 situation.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the extension of the lockdown for the fourth time as the scheduled restrictions was about to end at 5 am on May 17. The first time the lockdown was imposed in the national capital on April 19.

Among states Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Haryana have reported some improvement in terms of daily COVID-19 cases, though the death toll remains a cause of concern.

Here's a list of states and union territories who have imposed lockdown-like restrictions:

*Delhi is under lockdown from April 19 till May 24.

*Haryana, which was under lockdown from May 3, has extended it till May 24.

*Chandigarh administration has extended night and weekend curfew restrictions till May 18.

*Punjab has extended all existing COVID restrictions in the state till May 31, including night curfew.

*Uttar Pradesh had extended the partial coronavirus curfew till 7 AM on May 24.

*Bihar on May 4 imposed a lockdown till May 15 which has now been extended till May 25.

*Jharkhand had extended lockdown-like restrictions with stricter provisions till May 27.

*Odisha is under a 14-day lockdown from May 5 till May 19.

* West Bengal government announced a complete lockdown from May 16 till May 30.

*Rajasthan has imposed a strict lockdown in the state from May 10 to 24.

*Madhya Pradesh had imposed 'Janta curfew' till May 17 with only essential services allowed. It has now been extended for varying periods in various districts.

*Chhattisgarh government has asked authorities in all the 28 districts to extend the COVID-19 lockdown till May 31.

*Goa government has imposed a curfew from May 9 to May 24. *Gujarat on May 11 extended the night curfew and other day-time restrictions in 36 cities till May 18.

*Maharashtra has extended the lockdown-like restrictions till June 1.

*Assam on May 12 ordered shutting down of all offices, religious places and weekly markets for 15 days in urban and semi-urban areas of the state, besides banning the movement of people from 2 PM to 5 AM.

*Nagaland has imposed a week-long total lockdown from May 14 till May 21.

*Mizoram has extended the lockdown imposed in Aizawl and other district headquarters from May 10 till May 24.

* Arunachal Pradesh on May 15 extended the lockdown in the state capital for another two weeks and enforced strict measures including, curfew throughout the state to contain the spread of the virus.

*Manipur government has imposed curfew in seven districts from May 8 till May 17.

* Meghalaya extended lockdown in the worst-affected East Khasi Hills district till May 24.

* Sikkim government decided to clamp a complete lockdown across the tiny Himalayan state from May 17 to May 24.

*Jammu and Kashmir administration has extended curfew till May 24.

*Ladakh has extended COVID curfew by another week till May 24.

*Uttarakhand has imposed a strict COVID curfew from May 11 to May 18.

*Himachal Pradesh has extended the coronavirus-induced curfew in the state till May 26.

*Kerala has extended the total lockdown being enforced in the state from May 8 to May 23.

*Tamil Nadu is under lockdown from May 10 to May 24.

*Puducherry has extended lockdown from May 10 to May 24.

*Karnataka is under complete lockdown till May 24.

*Telangana has imposed a 10-day lockdown from May 12.

* Andhra Pradesh has imposed curfew from 12 noon to 6 AM till May 18.

With 3.11 lakh fresh coronavirus infections, it was the lowest spike in daily cases in past 25 days, while the death toll rose to 2,70,284 with 4,077 new fatalities, as per data by the Union Health Ministry. The active cases have reduced to 36,18,458 comprising 14.66 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 84.25 per cent.

(With input from PTI)
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to take a final decision on the extension of the COVID-19 lockdown in the national capital on Sunday (May 16, 2021).

CM Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced that the national capital has recorded 8,506 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, which is the first time this month when the city has recorded less than 10,000 COVID-19 infections.

The sharp decline in the number of infections has resulted in lower positivity rate, owing it to the complete COVID-19 lockdown in the city. The positivity rate of the COVID-19 infections in the city has dipped to 11 percent now.

However, the AAP leader also hinted upon the extension of this complete lockdown, which is scheduled to end on the morning of May 17, during his press briefing on Saturday. The Chief Minister in his Saturday as well as Friday address stressed upon the importance and the vital role of this lockdown in stabilizing the COVID-19 situation in the national capital, stressing that Delhiites should continue taking all necessary precautions to ensure that cases do not rise.

Earlier, last Sunday (May 9, 2021), the Kejriwal government had extended the lockdown by another week till May 17 with intensified restrictions.

"We used the lockdown period to boost our medical infrastructure and to increase oxygen beds at various locations," Kejriwal had said, adding that even the metro services in the national capital will remain suspended during this period.

We imposed a very strict lockdown in Delhi, but the people of Delhi offered their complete support in the same. Everyone adhered to the lockdown completely, the chief minister had said.

Therefore by no means, we can let loose. The lockdown has to be adhered to strictly and should employ all the ways to ensure protection from the coronavirus. The Delhi government is also not leaving any scope in its arrangements, CM had said in his address.

The Chief Minister also emphasised that this seven-day extension is meant to ensure that the city does not let its guard down even though the Covid numbers have dropped marginally.

Meanwhile, the National Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) on Friday (May 14) wrote a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, requesting him to lift the complete COVID-19 lockdown in the national capital.

NDTA, in their letter, urged the Delhi Chief Minister to open markets in a phased manner with strict enforcement of laws.

Lockdown is not a permanent solution, and the Delhi government should now think of opening markets in a phased manner with strict enforcement of laws, National Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) president Atul Bhargava wrote in a letter to Kejriwal.

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New Delhi: As the lockdown has been extended in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, people will need an e-pass for intra-state travel. However, those travelling for essential or emergency services will be exempted from the rule.

The Uttar Pradesh government has said that those looking for medicines and oxygen will not be stopped. While for others, an e-pass system has been made operational, PTI reported. UP has extended the partial corona curfew in the state till May 24. The deadly coronavirus infection has reached the rural parts of the state, which is becoming a major concern for the Yogi Adityanath-led government.

In Delhi, the police have been allowing the movement of people for medical services without an e-pass. Those in search of medical supplies or patients travelling for a doctors appointment have to produce a doctor's prescription in order to travel in the UT.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday (April 16) extended the lockdown by another week in order to tackle the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

We are extending the lockdown by one more week in Delhi, CM Kejriwal said.

People who are employed in essential services are exempted from the lockdown curbs in Delhi. Meanwhile, it is to be noted that those who already hold a night or weekend curfew e-Pass, need not apply for an e-pass.

On Saturday, Delhi recorded 6500 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, CM Kejriwal. The positivity rate in the national capital has also come down to 11 per cent, while there are 72000 active infection cases.
The second batch of the emergency humanitarian aid, sent by Morocco following the High Instructions of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, arrived Sunday at Ammans airport aboard an airplane of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).

The reception of this aid, which includes basic foodstuffs, emergency medicine and blankets, took place in the presence of the Moroccan ambassador to Jordan, Khalid Naciri, a representative of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization (JHCO), as well as a representative of the Palestinian embassy in Jordan.

A FAR airplane carrying the first batch of this aid had landed earlier in the day at the same airport, while two others will take off from Kenitra towards Cairo.

HM King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, has kindly given his High Instructions to send emergency humanitarian aid for the benefit of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This humanitarian aid, consisting of 40 tons, is made up of basic food products, emergency medicine and blankets.

The decision of HM King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, is part of the Kingdoms continued support for the just Palestinian cause and its permanent solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 21:05:11|Editor: huaxia

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HANOI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported 63 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time Sunday, including 60 locally transmitted and three imported ones, raising the total tally to 4,175.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health said the community infections were all detected in lockdown areas and quarantine facilities in northern and central localities, including 24 in the northern Bac Ninh province, 12 in the central Da Nang city and eight in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Most of them were found to be contacts of previously confirmed cases or linked to the clusters of infections in the localities.

The imported cases were all Vietnamese citizens who recently entered the country from abroad and were quarantined upon arrival.

A total of 187 new community cases were confirmed in the Southeast Asian country on Sunday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic hit Vietnam early last year, showed the official data.

As many as 2,668 patients have so far recovered in Vietnam, and nearly 104,100 people are being quarantined and monitored over the coronavirus epidemic, the health ministry said.

As of Sunday, Vietnam had recorded a total of 2,709 domestically transmitted cases, including 1,139 detected since the start of the latest outbreak of COVID-19 in late April, according to the ministry. Enditem
Shopian: A low intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was triggered by unknown terrorists in Turkawangam village of shopian district of South Kashmir on Sunday (May 16).

Authorities explained that the device was of low intensity and did not cause any damage.

There were security forces present at the area to detect and defuse the IED and efforts are underway to secure the area and make sure there arent any more explosive devices in the area.

A police officer said  Acting on a reliable input regarding an IED (Improvised Explosive Device ) was planted on Turkwangam-Sugan road, security forces rushed to the area to detect and defuse it. Unidentified terrorists, however, detonated the IED from a distance. Blast was of low intensity IED failed to cause any damage. The area has been taken into Cordon and search operation is going on.

Its the second IED spotted in two days in south kashmir yesterday a 10 Kg IED was recovered in Pulwama the timely action averted Major tragedy.

Meanwhile, twenty-one people were arrested in Jammu and Kashmir for staging pro-Palestine demonstrations in violation of the curfew imposed to combat the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Saturday (May 15).

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New Delhi: Kedarnath Temple is all set to reopen its portals on May 17, Monday, though, devotees will not allowed and arrangements have been made for online 'darshan'. Even the local residents of the district are not allowed to visit the temples.

The famous 'Char Dham' yatra has been suspended in view of the pandemic. The authorities of the Char Dham Devasthanam Board have made necessary preparations for a virtual 'visit'.

With this millions of devotees from all across the country can get a 'darshan' of the Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri Dhams shrines, through virtual means.

Garhwal Commissioner and Uttarakhand Chardham Devasthanam Board Chief Executive Officer, Ravinath Raman, said a website and other mediums are being updated to allow the devotees to visit the temples through virtual means.

While, on people associated with the temple will be allowed inside and COVID-19 protocols will be followed.

The media in-charge of Devasthanam Board, Dr. Harish Gaur told that the Devasthanam Board in Badrinath and Kedarnath Dham has completed the preparations for opening of the doors. Sanitisation, electricity and water supply, accommodation for priests, Vedpathis have been arranged. Wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, and thermal screening are mandatory.

The portal to Kedarnath Temple will open at 5 am tomorrow morning while the doors of Badrinath Temple is set to open on May 18 at 4.15 am. To the doors of Yamunotri Dham and Gangotri Dham were opened on May 14 and May 15, respectively.
New Delhi: The West Bengal government on Saturday (May 15) postponed the state board examinations for Class 10 and 12 for an indefinite period in view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

The board exams, earlier slated to be held in June, have now been postponed indefinitely.

No secondary and higher secondary examinations will be held in June," Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay told reporters at the state secretariat, 'Nabanna'.

He added that a revised schedule for the state board examinations will be announced later. The education department will hold meetings with the authorities of the state boards to decide on a revised schedule for both the exams, PTI quoted the Chief Secretary as saying.

The Madhyamik (secondary) exams 2021 were set to begin on June 1, while Higher Secondary exams were to commence on June 15.

Earlier on Saturday, the state government announced a two weeks complete lockdown commencing from Sunday (May 16) onwards. The lockdown will remain in place till May 30 in order to break the chain of transmission of coronavirus infection. Among other restrictions, all schools, colleges, educational and academic institutions will remain shut during the lockdown period.

The announcement came on a day when the state reported 19,511 fresh infections, which pushed the tally to 11,14,313. With 144 fatalities due to COVID-19, the highest so far in a single day, the toll stood at 13,137 on Saturday, as per the state health department.

(With PTI inputs)

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Nagpur: A case of rape has been registered against an Income Tax commissioner by the Nagpur district police after a woman doctor alleged that he raped her under the pretext of marriage and forced her to abort, an official said on Sunday (May 16).

The accused, 35, is a resident of Puducherry. The accused came in contact with the doctor who was then working with a government hospital in Nagpur. He was staying in the city for training at the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) in 2019, the official said.

The accused became friends with the victim when the former had gone to the hospital for treatment, he added.

The accused had given his mobile phone number to the victim when she told him that she was preparing for UPSC examinations, the official said quoting the FIR.

Later, the accused entered into a physical relationship with the woman under the pretext of marrying her. He allegedly raped her multiple times and also clicked her obscene photos, the official said. When the woman became pregnant, he asked her to abort, he said.

The accused threatened the victim to release her pictures on social media when she insisted on marriage, the official said.

A case of rape has been registered under sections 376 (2) of the Indian Penal Code.

The accused is posted in Bengaluru, the official said. No arrest is made and further investigation is underway.

(inputs from PTI)

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New Delhi: Noted journalist Sunil Jain died on Saturday (May 15, 2021) due to post-COVID-19 complications, the PTI news agency reported. Jain had tested positive for coronavirus and was admitted to Delhi's AIIMS.

Jain was the Managing Editor of the business newspaper Financial Express.

Thank you everyone for all the help

I don't even know whom.all to thank

Am in AIIMS emergency now

So I'm safe hands

 Sunil Jain (@thesuniljain) May 3, 2021

President Ram Nath Kovind mourned the death and said, "Sunil Jain was an editor known for his candour and forthright views. It was a treat to read his columns. After his untimely demise, his absence will be deeply felt in the world of journalism."

Sunil Jain was an editor known for his candour and forthright views. It was a treat to read his columns. After his untimely demise, his absence will be deeply felt in the world of journalism. My condolences to his family and friends.  President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) May 15, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep grief over the demise of Jain and said that he 'will miss reading his columns'.

"You left us too soon, Sunil Jain. I will miss reading your columns and hearing your frank as well as insightful views on diverse matters. You leave behind an inspiring range of work. Journalism is poorer today, with your sad demise. Condolences to family and friends. Om Shanti," PM tweeted.

You left us too soon, Sunil Jain. I will miss reading your columns and hearing your frank as well as insightful views on diverse matters. You leave behind an inspiring range of work. Journalism is poorer today, with your sad demise. Condolences to family and friends. Om Shanti.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 15, 2021

Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman also expressed shock at Jain's death.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (May 16) spoke to chief ministers of three states and one union territory including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Puducherry to discuss the COVID-19 situation there.

The Uttar Pradesh CMO informed that PM Modi held a detailed review on various issues including oxygen supply, free vaccination to every person and vaccine wastage.

During the discussion, received guidance from the PM on issues including oxygen supply, free vaccination to every person and on how to stop vaccine wastage in the State, the UP CMO tweeted.

In his discussion with Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, the latter said that coronavirus testing has been increased in the state. The positivity rate is steadily declining, attention is being paid to rural areas of the State, Baghel was quoted as saying by ANI. He added that additional teams have been deployed in the areas where the infections are still on the rise.

Baghel also urged the PM to ensure an adequate amount of coronavirus vaccines to the state.

Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are among the ten states that reported 74.7 per cent of the new cases in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry. While Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh are among the ten states that cumulatively account for 74.69 per cent of India`s total active cases.

UP and Rajasthan are among the ten states that account for 75.55 per cent of the new COVID deaths in the last 24 hours, the health ministry stated.

On May 8, PM Modi had dialled Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Himachal Pradesh CM Jairam Thakur and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the states.

(With inputs from wires)

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New Delhi: Russia is planning to introduce the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine 'Sputnik Lite' in India soon, its ambassador to the country, Nikolay Kudashev, said on Sunday (May 16, 2021).

Kudashev was speaking to ANI after the delivery of the second batch of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines in Hyderabad.

On the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, Kudashev said Russia expects that its production in India will be gradually increased by 850 million doses per year.

That is indeed a brilliant example of the special and privileged strategic partnership and an effective model of international anti-pandemic cooperation that does not know any unnecessary obstacles.@DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia @mfa_russia @IndEmbMoscow https://t.co/Cz2FlGUX6U  Nikolay Kudashev (@NKudashev) May 16, 2021

"Looking forward to further expanding our bilateral and multilateral cooperation with India to stop the pandemic," he said.

He added that the efficacy of Sputnik V is well-known in the world and back in Russia, it is being successfully used to vaccinate citizens starting in the second half of 2020.

We interact closely in the field of medical science, including w/ regard to new #COVID19 strains, maintain active, non-politicized dialogue in the framework of WHO, G20, BRICS. Life-saving humanitarian assistance delivered last month by the Russian side is being successfully used https://t.co/GmmprZvLdO  Nikolay Kudashev (@NKudashev) May 16, 2021

"Russian specialists declared that it is also effective against the new strains of COVID-19," Kudashev stated.

Given the recent launch of the Russian vaccine in the Indian vaccination campaign, this second delivery has become very timely. The efficacy of the #SputnikV is well-known in the world. https://t.co/AcqoxHERBc  Nikolay Kudashev (@NKudashev) May 16, 2021

Sputnik V was approved for use in India on April 12, 2021, and granted an emergency use authorisation. Sputnik V has joined Covaxin and Covishield in the COVID-19 immunisation drive in India.
Bengaluru: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Sunday said it has been decided to start treatment for "black fungus" at Bowring Hospital here on a pilot basis, and later extend the treatment to medical colleges and district hospitals.

Noting that the treatment for black fungus infection is a bit costly, the Minister said he would discuss with the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa regarding free treatment as he has also said a committee of experts would be set up to prepare a roadmap for treatment of those infected and how to curb the infection.

"Mucormycosis or black fungus is commonly seen among those who have less immunity or because of use of steroids. Those who have diabetes and are infected by COVID 10-15 days after they take steroids, the infection begins through the nose and spreads to the eyes and its parts like optic nerves and optic chiasm," Sudhakar said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said there is danger of losing vision because of this and if timely treatment is not taken there are chances of death.

"After the infection was noticed in Maharashtra, we held discussions with eye specialists and experts (ophthalmologists) and from Monday at Bowring hospital, we are starting treatment for it," he said adding: "We are starting on a pilot basis, and will later continue in all medical colleges and some district hospitals."

Noting that Amphotericin B, the drug for black fungus infection is a bit costly, the Minister said a patient would require seven weeks of continued treatment to be cured and treatment may cost Rs 2-3 lakh per person.

"I will discuss with the Chief Minister and will suggest free treatment. Ultimately, he will decide," the Minister said adding those with black fungus issues should immediately consult doctors.

The Centre is rationing the Amphotericin B drug and would be distributed to the State also, Sudhakar said adding that it was decided at the COVID task force meeting on Saturday to request the Centre to provide 20,000 vials of the drug.

He said he was in constant touch with Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadanada Gowda and his Ministry in this regard and would also talk to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"There is no need for people to worry, but those with diabetes or other secondary infections, those who are immuno-compromised, with TB, HIV, cancer, with kidney or any other organ transplant, I advise all of them to exercise caution and not to use steroids without the doctor's consent," he said.

Also, he advised doctors to exercise caution while administering steroids to such patients.

In response to a question, the Minister said it was difficult for now to say exactly as to how many are affected by black fungus or died of it, as people with such issues may have gone to private eye doctors.

He said he was constituting by Monday a committee consisting of eye specialists (ophthalmologist), endocrinologists, diabetologists on how to bring black fungus infections under control and how to treat patients with such infections.

Also, the Minister cautioned the people about dengue caused due to mosquito bite, especially during day time.

About 15,000-20,000 people get infected with dengue every year in the State, he said while asking people to take preventive measures like cleanliness particularly with the onset of monsoon in days.
Noida: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (May 16) said the state government is alive to the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19 and the spread of black fungus infection among cured patients and is readying itself to tackle them.

He said the state government is focusing on ensuring awareness and treatment of the black fungus infection, which has emerged as a "challenge" for the people who have recovered from Covid-19.

Apprehensions have been expressed about a possible third wave of the coronavirus in the state, Adityanath said, adding "the government is already preparing an action plan to effectively check the third wave."

The chief minister made these remarks while addressing reporters during his visit to Noida to review the Covid-19 situation.

Mentioning the "new challenge" of black fungus infection among cured Covid patients, the chief minister said the state government has issued an advisory regarding it besides conducting virtual meetings with health officials and medical colleges in every district.

The chief minister talked of the black fungus infection or mucormycosis a day after AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria attributed the new malady to the misuse of steroids in the treatment of Covid-19 patients and asked hospitals to follow the infection control protocols.

"It has been seen that secondary infections -- whether fungal or bacterial -- are causing more mortality. This disease, mucormycosis, can affect the face, infecting the nose, the orbit of the eye or the brain which can even cause vision loss. It can also spread to the lung," Guleria had said on Saturday.

Talking of his government preparedness to tackle the possible third wave of Covid-19, which, he said, is feared to be affecting children more, the chief minister said, "Every district administration has been asked to prepare a dedicated hospital for women and children."

"We have 2,220 ambulances of 102 service which are dedicated for women and children and for their emergency services besides providing them telephonic consultation from these hospitals," he said.

The chief minister said arrangements are also being made to set up paediatric intensive care units (ICU) in every district and every medical college amid the apprehensions of an impending third wave.

"In the case of Covid-19, we have been able to keep the CFR (case fatality rate) lower than one per cent. Similarly, for black fungus, there should not be any problem if its timely treatment is ensured," the chief minister said.

"The government's advisory also calls for a comprehensive awareness campaign to inform people about the cause, symptoms and treatment of black fungus," Adityanath said.

The government is quickly working on ensuring treatment of black fungus in all districts of the state, he added.

Uttar Pradesh has fought encephalitis and reduced mortality rate by 95 per cent from 2017 to 2020, hence the state has over these years improved medical resources in districts of its eastern region, he said.

(inputs from PTI)

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Lucknow: In the view of rising COVID-19 infections in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday (May 15, 2021) decided to extend the partial corona curfew in the state till May 24.

Earlier, the UP authorities had imposed a corona curfew in the state on April 29, which was later extended on May 10 and 17 respectively.

The decision was taken a day after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a virtual meeting with top officials of the state to review the COVID-19 situation.

As per the reports, the deadly coronavirus infection has reached the rural parts of the state, which has now become a major concern for the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government.

To bring some relief to the local retailers, shopkeepers and street vendors, the UP government announced Rs 1,000 as an allowance, along with ration for the next three months.

"The partial corona curfew has helped in controlling the COVID-19 spread in the state. Keeping this in mind, the duration is being increased," Adityanath said in a statement.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also added that the state government is already providing free testing, treatment and vaccination for COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday reported as many as 12,547 cases and 281 death in the last 24 hours, taking the state toll reached 17,238.

One of the worst-hit districts in the state, Lucknow, saw a considerable fall new cases at 617 on Saturday.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 21:07:55|Editor: huaxia

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HEFEI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- East China's Anhui Province reported two new confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the first 12 hours of Sunday, the provincial health commission said.

Both cases emerged in the Yu'an District of Lu'an City. As of Sunday noon, the province had seven confirmed COVID-19 cases, five in Lu'an and two in the provincial capital of Hefei. It also had seven asymptomatic cases, all in Lu'an.

Dong Mingpei, the commission's deputy head, said all the cases reported in Anhui's latest COVID-19 resurgence are related to a training session at a photo studio in Lu'an. The infections reported so far were either from session participants, studio employees, customers, or their close contacts. Enditem
New Delhi: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday (May 15) visited Nandigram in East Midnapore district to meet people allegedly affected by post-poll violence.

Attacking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Dhankhar alleged that the state is virtually sitting on a volcano while asking the TMC chief if she has heard the cries and screams of the children and women in Nandigram where lakhs of people are homeless.

West Bengal Governor questioned, "You described the Sitalkuchi incident as cold-blooded murder and genocide. Have you heard the cries and screams of the children and women in Nandigram, where lakhs of people are homeless?

"We feel bad to see the situation of West Bengal. India has never seen such a situation previously. The state is virtually sitting on a volcano," Dhankhar added.

He met the people affected by post-poll violence who have taken shelters at camps in Kendemari, Bankim More, Chilagram, Nandigram Bazar and Town Club in Nandigram, PTI reported.

Nandigram was one of the most high-profile assembly constituencies where chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari were pitched against each other. In a close contest, Adhikari beat the CM by over 1900 votes.

Talking to the media, Dhankar described the post-poll violence as the most dangerous since independence. People told me that they are ready to convert, but want assurance if they will be protected after that. Their words broke me. It's the most dangerous post-poll violence since independence as lakhs of people have fled their homes, ANI quoted him as saying.

West Bengal: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visits post-poll violence affected areas of Nandigram village in Purba Medinipur district. pic.twitter.com/acD9mtp1MM  ANI (@ANI) May 15, 2021

"The TMC supremo termed the incident of firing by the central force in Cooch Behar's Sitalkuchi in which four persons were killed as "genocide" but she is "silent over the situation in Nandigram", West Bengal Governor stated.

On Thursday, he visited various places in Cooch Behar where Dhankar was shown black flags at Sitalkuchi, while "go back" slogans were raised at Dinhata during his visit to the district. He also visited a camp in Assam's Ranpagli, where several families claiming to be BJP supporters have taken shelter, as per PTI report.

Hitting back at Dhankar, TMC said that the Governor is becoming a laughing stock and has brought down his own importance before the people of the state.

"The governor has brought down his own importance before the people of state, before the parties by his conduct. He is becoming a laughing stock," TMC MP Sougata Roy said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi: In a shocking turn of events, Bollywood actor Saahil Chadha, popular for his role in Amitabh Bachchan's 'Baghban', and his wife Promila met with a freak accident during which they were hit by an ambulance from the back.

On Wednesday, (May 12) the couple attended a meeting near Mumbai's Xavier's College, after which they were walking towards their vehicle when an ambulance unsuspectingly struck them from behind.

According to reports, Saahil's wife Promila suffered from two leg fractures and Chadha was left with injuries on his stomach and thigh due to being dragged by the ambulance for approximately two feet.

In an interview with the Times Of India, Sahil spoke about the incident saying, "The police have nabbed the driver. I practise Buddhism and feel that a big undesirable and much worse incident has been averted in my life. I am under observation for the next few days no doubt, but God has been kind. Whatever happened was extremely shocking and scary"

The actor also told the leading daily that the couple was lucky that the ambulance driver was driving slowly.

Sahil has also starred in films such as 'Section 375' in 2019, directed by Ajay Bahl, and the 2008 film 'Thoda Life Thoda Magic' directed by Aanand L. Rai, co-starring Jackie Shroff, and Meera Vasudevan.
New Delhi: Renowned film director Ram Gopal Varma recently launched his OTT platform 'Spark OTT' and released his digital film 'D Company' on Saturday (May 15). The film is based on how the controversial gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his sidekick Chhota Rajan ruled the city of Mumbai in the 80s. Varma has often been a part of controversies and the audience is divided on the dark, grim gangster genre that he chooses to indulge in commonly.

Despite all criticism, he has stayed true to himself and never minced his sentences in order to please others. On the occasion of the release of his new film and OTT platform, Varma spoke about his latest film, inspiration behind the platform and views on social media in an interview with DNA.

Why did you decide to create a separate OTT platform for your upcoming outings?

See, the whole point is, today we have a certain technology available, where I, as a filmmaker can exactly do what I feel, what I believe, maybe in exactly the target audience to be interested in that kind of film. So when you go through another OTT, you're probably when the theatre is lost in translation, because there are so many things that come in between.

Like in a theatre, you have a certain group experience, probably on a one-to-one level, what you would like to enjoy will be very different compared to sitting in front of 200 people. Then the other OTTs will also have their own sensibilities, their own policies, what kind of audience they want to keep. Today, we have a technology available where we can continuously make films, we can have our own outlet, like having your own restaurant.

When did this plan come about of starting your own OTT platform?

I've been thinking about this for quite some time, actually, even much before the pandemic hit us. But I was looking for a lot of subject matters because you need to have enough material to start something like this. So I've been collecting and gathering that for quite some time. And finally, I thought this was the right time to come out.

During the pandemic, many people rediscovered your earlier projects namely 'Rangeela', 'Satya', 'Company' and other films. What do you have to say about the impact your films have created over these years?

I would like to think, something which has made an impact at some point in time in real life, for example, a classic case, probably the upper limit example, I would think is a Godfather, which is made nearly 50 years back. Generations keep on watching it again and again. I met a young girl around 20 years old and she said she loves 'Raat'. Now, I don't think she was born when 'Raat' was made. So I think, anything which made an impact is bound to stay. This is what happens with everyday life actually, for that matter.

You have been the pioneer of bringing the underworld and more of the gangster genre into movies. What is it that you like about the genre which you have been exploring for nearly three decades now?

For me, I don't use the word the 'so-called' gangster genre. I don't think I ever thought of that word when I was making 'Satya', for example. For me, it's about people who have extreme situations and the decisions they make, what they do, makes them extreme people. It's like a chain reaction, it's like a cycle.

All of them are ordinary people, but then they involve themselves in something, it changes. So it is a study of people, the study of people's conflicts and the compulsions or the circumstances to make a study of that is how I look at the movie like 'Satya' or 'Company'. I don't label it as a so-called gangster film.

It's more of a human drama. So for example, D Company's fascinating thing about Dawood Ibrahim for me is like, in every business, whenever an entrepreneur comes, he looks at it in a vision which probably no one has ever done before. There were cheap gans in Bombay in the 1980s but Dawood had the vision to make his gang into a company which is why it's called D Company.

I don't think that is any less equal than a Bill Gates, Dhirubhai Ambani, though they are legal companies, this is an illegal company. But what it can't take away is about one man's vision can change something. I'm fascinated with people, whether they're criminals or normal people or politicians or anything that doesn't make a difference to me. I am now actually studying the breed of exotic animals.

In these many years, you have been a game-changer for many people including Manoj Bajpayee, Vivek Oberoi, Anurag Kashyap, and more. Where does your equation stand with all of them now?

No, I mean, once a while we are in touch because we're not working together, there is no reason for any of us to get in touch with each other. Probably, something Anurag sees and he messages me and I also text him. Beyond that, there's no regular aspect of meeting each other and talking, that doesn't happen at all.

Do you talk about collaborating again?

Not really, because the reason is very strong-minded and individualistic people, I don't connect to the sensibilities of Anurag to mine. During 'Satya', he was just writing, he had no choice but to write what I asked him to write because of his position at that time. Now, he has made a name for himself and he's making films. Why would he want to do that? No two strongly independent-minded people can actually collaborate and do one project, that cannot ever happen.

What about the actors?

Yeah, because I'm a director managing an actor, there won't be any conflict of interest in that case. I'm in touch with Manoj and we'll be working together.

Among your most frequent collaborators is Amitabh Bachchan, did you discuss any project with him after 'Sarkar 3'? I'm planning to do something with him. But this pandemic can completely change all plans. So unless I see a certain angle to it, at a certain time, I won't be able to revive the idea.

You are very much active on social media especially Twitter. How important has it come as a tool especially during the pandemic?

I honestly think it just makes a lot of noise and doesn't really lead anywhere. Eventually, what happens will happen, I don't think social media by itself will ever really make a point. They made such a huge hue and cry about the Sushant Singh Rajput issue. Similarly, the whole drug racket of Bollywood then again died down. I think they just like to make a noise without even really expecting anything to happen.

When it comes to giving opinions, you call a spade a spade. There's another artist Kangana Ranaut who was recently suspended from Twitter for her tweets. What do you have to say about her posts and Twitter's decision of suspending her?

I would like to think the context and the whole point is to voice an opinion and Twitter is a private company, it has its policies and whatever it is, it also has its right. I think that happens all the time, just because it is something like Twitter has become a recent phenomenon and we are seeing it for the first time. It amounts to fast track action, that's how it seems. Like if Donald Trump can be suspended, then it can happen to anyone.
New Delhi: Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal turns 33 years old this Sunday (May 16) and will be celebrating another birthday amid the pandemic. The actor started off as an engineering student assisting Anurag Kashyap in the crime drama Gangs of Wasseypur in 2012 and is now the recipient of the National Film Award for best actor. Kaushal has surely come a long way and has displayed his acting prowess to the mainstream.

He has carved his place among the A-listers of Bollywood and fans are excited to see a lot more of the actor on-screen. While we can clearly witness his reel life presence, let's take a deeper look into the 'Sanju' actor's real life.

On the celebratory occasion of his 33rd birthday, let's take a look at lesser-known facts about the actor.

1. He is stuntman and action director Sham Kaushal's son. He also has a younger brother named Sunny who is also an actor.

2. Vicky Kaushal made his debut with the indie drama 'Masaan' directed by Neeraj Ghaywan. Incidentally, both, Kaushal and Ghaywan were assistants on Anurag Kashyap's 'Gangs of Wasseypur'.

3. Kaushal stole the show with his acting debut as he won the IFA and Screen Awards for Best Male Debut and a nomination for the Asian Film Award for Best Newcomer.

4. Vicky received his big breakthrough in 2018 when he bagged the lead role in the romantic comedy Love per Square Foot - India's first Netflix original film.

5. The actor will next portray the freedom fighter Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O'Dwyer, in his next film. He is also shooting for Vijay Krishna Acharya's family comedy-drama, 'The Great Indian Family' and Shashank Khaitan's comical spy film 'Mr. Lele' co-starring Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani.

Happy Birthday, Vicky Kaushal!
New Delhi: On Saturday (May 16), veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan took to his blog to explain to his fans why he feels hesitant to start a fundraiser for COVID-19, despite actively contributing towards COVID relief activities.

The actor has recently become very vocal about his contributions to India's battle against COVID-19 after facing flak from detractors who called out celebrities on social media for not helping people amid the grave health crisis in the country.

After his COVID relief efforts came into the limelight, a few fans wondered why Big B hadn't started a fundraiser as other Bollywood stars have.

In his recent blog post, the veteran actor reveals that he has stayed away from fundraisers as he feels embarrassed about asking someone for funds.

He wrote, "I have not made any effort to collect them through campaigns or donations to a cause that I may have instituted. I just feel asking someone for funds is embarrassing for me .. yes there have been events in the past where the voice is for contributing, but I feel uncomfortable to ask, to contribute.

"I may have partaken in the event as a voice-over, but never directly asked to give or contribute .. and if there have been such unseen or unknown incidents then I seek forgiveness," he continued.

He also expressed that most times, his individual donations are at par with the fundraiser-collected money.

He divulged, "There have been many such campaigns and events where the organisers have collected funds for most worthy causes .. and that is most laudable .. but with all due respect and modesty, at times the amount that I have personally individually donated, matches the funds collected out of the campaign."

The 'Wazir' actor concluded his blog post by saying that the only reason he's listing out his COVID relief work is to inform and not seek praise.

"I have, not out of seeking praise, given descriptions of the work done this time, but just to assure all, of the delivery and the visuals of where the funds have been used and to what avail .. that they are not just blank promises. I did not ask, I gave," he concluded.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Amitabh Bachchan was recently cast for the Indian adaptation of The Intern opposite Deepika Padukone. Apart from that, he has films like Jhund, Brahmastra, Goodbye, May Day and several others in the pipeline.
The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry is looking forward to the release of a project he is passionate about titled 'The Me You Can't See' on Apple TV plus later this month.

He has a lot of good things in the pipeline: An addition to the family, his second daughter with Meghan Markle is expected in summer, and his Apple TV plus series 'The Me You Can't See' will release on May 21.

Talking about the upcoming series, Harry has produced with Oprah Winfrey to address issues on mental health while opening up about their own mental health journeys and struggles, a source revealed to US Weekly that the docu-series is Harry's 'one of the passionate projects.'

"Mental health is something he has struggled with, and Harry's work on his new show has given him great satisfaction. Harry may be travelling to L.A. and to San Francisco for work in the coming weeks but in a safe and responsible way [amid the coronavirus pandemic]," the source told.

Earlier, the 36-year-old royal also talked about the series and said that "We are born into different lives, brought up in different environments, and as a result are exposed to different experiences. But our shared experience is that we are all human."

Referring to the show, he added, "The majority of us carry some form of unresolved trauma, loss or grief, which feels -- and is -- very personal. Yet the last year has shown us that we are all in this together, and my hope is that this series will show there is power in vulnerability, connection in empathy and strength in honesty."

'The Me You Can't See' series announcement came after Harry and Meghan stepped away from their roles within the royal family and relocated to California in 2020. Since then the couple, have pursued many of their ventures jointly, like accepting positions at BetterUp and Aspen Institute.

In a March interview, Harry explained that he and Meghan had made deals with Netflix and Spotify to afford security for their family.

"My family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us, I was cut off in the first quarter of 2020. But I've got what my mom, [Princess Diana], left me and without that, we would not have been able to do this," Harry who is the father of 2-year-old son Archie told at that time.
\Washington, May 15 (PTI) Google is leading a determined effort by US tech giants to support a programme that gives work authorisation for spouses of those possessing H-1B foreign work visas, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals.

Goggle is joined by 30 other companies to support the H-4 EAD ((Employment Authorisation Document) programme.

An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

"Google is proud to support our nation's immigrants. We joined 30 other companies to protect the H-4 EAD programme which spurs innovation, creates jobs and opportunities, and helps families," Google CEO Sundar Pichai tweeted.

Google on Friday filed a legal brief in a lawsuit called Save Jobs USA vs US Department of Homeland Security.

Tech companies that signed onto the amicus brief include Adobe, Amazon, Apple, eBay, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, PayPal and Twitter.

"To support this important programme, we are leading an amicus brief with over 40 companies and organisations to preserve and protect the H-4 EAD programme," Catherine Lacavera, Vice President, Legal, Google, said in a blog post.

"This builds on an amicus brief we recently joined in support of a lawsuit filed by the American Immigration Lawyers Association to expedite the delayed processing time of H-4 work authorisations," she said.

Kent Walker, Senior Vice President, Global Affairs, Google, said H-4 EAD authorisations for the spouses of high-skilled workers help American companies recruit and retain the world's best talent.

"Today we led a business coalition filing on behalf of 30 companies to preserve and protect the programme," Walker said.

"H-4 EADs provide work authorisation to more than 90,000 H-4 visa-holders--more than 90 per cent women. COVID has disproportionately affected women. Ending this programme would make things worse, disrupting careers and reducing wages," he said.

"It doesn't make sense to welcome a person to the US to work but to make it harder for their spouse to work. That hurts their family and hurts our economy now and in the future," he added.

The plaintiff is Save Jobs USA, a group of computer workers formerly employed by Southern California Edison and ?replaced by foreign workers imported on H-1B guest worker visas.

Save Jobs USA filed the lawsuit in 2015. It was delayed as former president Donald Trump's administration considered rescinding the H-4 work rule.

A week after his inauguration on January 20, US President Joe Biden withdrew a Trump-era rule rescinding work authorisation for H-4 visa holders. Now, both the plaintiffs and the Biden administration are seeking summary judgment.

In the amicus brief, Google said: "The regulation at issue here the H-4 Rule, US Department of Homeland Security, Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses, 80 Fed. Reg. 10,284 (Feb. 25, 2015)?provides work authorization to more than 90,000 H-4 visa holders (spouses of certain H-1B visa holders), more than 90 per cent of whom are women.

"Invalidation of this rule would result in these talented individuals being barred from the workplace, forcibly severing tens of thousands of employment relationships across the country," it said.

The results would be utterly destructive for the families impacted; by just one measure, about 87 per cent of these families have made crucial life decisions on the promise of H-4 employment, including whether to have a child and whether to buy a house, it said.
As WhatsApp's privacy policy came into effect on May 15, there were a lot of questions that were raised about what will be the forward course of action from the messaging platform on the new privacy policy and terms.

The Facebook-owned messaging platform has tweeted assuring users that it cant see your personal messages, and that it wont delete your account. It further added that users can accept the new privacy policy at any time.

WhatsApp has said that after giving everyone time to review the privacy policy from May 15, after a period of several weeks, the reminder people receive will eventually become persistent.

After persistent reminders, the users will encounter limited functionality on WhatsApp until they accept the updates.

This limited functionality means that first users will only lose access to the chat list but they would be able to answer incoming calls and can reply to messages also. But after a few weeks, WhatsApp will stop sending messages further making more restrictions. Technically speaking, this still doesnt mean that WhatsApp will delete a user account. However, it does make it inactive.

Besides, if we look at the privacy policy of WhatsApp, it has clearly mentioned that messages or calls sent will be encrypted and it will neither listen nor share any of them with any other apps.

However, the scenario with the WhatsApp Business account is different as any communication we do with that account will be shared with the company and it can be further used for targeting ads on other Facebook-owned platforms, which is self-explanatory that the privacy is compromised. Even, your activity with WhatsApp Shops might get shared on other platforms.

The updates related to optional business features are a part of our broader efforts to make communicating with a business secure, better and easier for everyone, the company had said in a statement.

Challenging the new privacy policies by WhatsApp in High Court, Dr. Seema Singh, Meghan, and Vikram Singh had filed a Public Interest Litigation( PIL) that further asked for the messaging app to either roll back the new policy or give an option to opt-out of it.

WhatsApp, in response to the PIL reportedly said that the companys privacy policy is no different from others as many companies in India share similar terms of service. These companies include Microsoft, Google, Zoom, Big Basket, Truecaller, Koo, and Republic World. Other public entities like IRCTC, Aarogya Setu, BHIM, and others have similar policies.

The government responded to the PIL and claimed that WhatsApps new privacy policy clearly violates Information Technology Rules of 2011 and the company should stop the policy application until the court comes up with a concrete decision. The next hearing on the PIL is scheduled for May 17, 2021.

A senior Ministry of Electronics and IT official said during an Assocham event that the government is pro-actively looking at the best possible action over the new WhatsApp privacy policy.

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Gaza/Jerusalem: Israel bombed the home of Hamas's chief in Gaza early on Sunday (May 16) and the Islamist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with no sign of abating.

At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes across the coastal enclave, health officials said, and many were injured as the sounds of heavy bombardment roared through the night.

Israelis dashed for bomb shelters as sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Tel Aviv and the southern city of Beersheba. Around 10 people were injured while running for shelters, medics said.

At least 149 have been killed in Gaza since the violence began on Monday (May 10), including 41 children, health officials said. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

Envoys from the United States, United Nations and Egypt were working to restore calm but have yet to show any signs of progress. The U.N. Security Council was due to meet later on Sunday (May 16) to discuss the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.

Both Israel and Hamas have insisted they would continue their cross-border fire, a day after Israel destroyed a 12-storey building in Gaza City that had housed the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations.

The Israel military said the al-Jala building was a legitimate military target, containing Hamas military offices, and that it had given warnings to civilians to get out of the building before the attack.

The AP condemned the attack, and asked Israel to put forward evidence. "We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building," the news organisation said in a statement.

In what it called a reprisal for Israel`s destruction of the al-Jala building, Hamas fired rockets at Tel Aviv and towns in southern Israel early on Sunday (May 16).

(Image credits: Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late on Saturday that Israel was "still in the midst of this operation, it is still not over and this operation will continue as long as necessary."

In a burst of air strikes early on Sunday, Israel targeted the home of Yehya Al-Sinwar, who since 2017 has headed the political and military wings of Hamas in Gaza, the group`s TV station said.

Another air strike killed a Gaza neurologist and wounded his wife and daughter, Palestinian medics and relatives said.

AL-AQSA

Hamas began its rocket assault on Monday (May 10) after weeks of tensions over a court case to evict several Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and in retaliation for

Israeli police clashes with Palestinians near the city`s Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam`s third holiest site, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Speaking to crowds of protesters in the Qatari capital of Doha, Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said late on Saturday that the underlying cause of the hostilities was Jerusalem.

"The Zionists thought ... they could demolish Al-Aqsa mosque. They thought they could displace our people in Sheikh Jarrah," said Haniyeh.

"I say to Netanyahu: do not play with fire," he continued, amid cheers from the crowd. "The title of this battle today, the title of the war, and the title of the intifada, is Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem," using the Arabic word for `uprising`.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups have fired around 2,300 rockets from Gaza since Monday (May 10), the Israeli military said on Saturday (May 15).

It said about 1,000 were intercepted by missile defences and 380 fell into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has launched more than 1,000 air and artillery strikes into the densely populated coastal strip, saying they were aimed at Hamas and other militant targets.

WAR CRIMES

(Image credits: Reuters)

Earlier this week, the International Criminal Court`s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, told Reuters the court was "monitoring very closely" the latest escalation of hostilities, amid an investigation now under way into alleged war crimes in earlier bouts of the conflict.

Netanyahu accused Hamas of "committing a double war crime" by targeting civilians, and using Palestinian civilians as "human shields."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reminded "all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Saturday (May 15).

There has been a flurry of U.S. diplomacy in recent days to try to quell the violence.

President Joe Biden`s envoy, Hady Amr, arrived in Israel on Friday (May 14) for talks. Biden spoke with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas late on Saturday( May 15), and updated them on U.S. diplomatic efforts, the White House said.

But any mediation is complicated by the fact that the United States and most western powers do not talk to Hamas, which they regard as a terrorist organisation. And

Abbas, whose power base is in the occupied West Bank, exerts little influence over Hamas in Gaza.

In Israel, the conflict has been accompanied by violence amongst the country`s mixed communities of Jews and Arabs, with synagogues attacked and Arab-owned shops vandalised.

There has also been an upsurge in deadly clashes in the occupied West Bank. At least 12 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank since Friday (May 14), most of them during clashes.

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New Delhi: Amid the ongoing violence over the control of Jerusalem, Joe Biden on Saturday (May 15, 2021) spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu and reaffirmed United States' strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against the rocket attacks.

Biden condemned the indiscriminate attacks against towns and cities across Israel as the fighting continued for the seventh day.

"The President reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza," the White House release stated.

Today the President spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, reaffirmed his strong support for Israels right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza, and condemned these indiscriminate attacks against Israel. pic.twitter.com/baHWh1b6Q2  The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 15, 2021

Biden also shared his grave concern about the intercommunal violence across Israel and welcomed the statements by the Prime Minister and other leaders opposing such hateful acts.

The US President encouraged continued steps to hold violent extremists accountable and to establish calm.

Biden and Netanyahu also discussed the current tensions in Jerusalem and expressed their shared desire for Jerusalem to be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds.

"The President voiced his concern about violent confrontations in the West Bank. He expressed his support for steps to enable the Palestinian people to enjoy the dignity, security, freedom, and economic opportunity that they deserve and affirmed his support for a two-state solution," the White House said.

The US President also noted that the current period of conflict has tragically claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children.

He also raised concerns about the safety and security of journalists and reinforced the need to ensure their protection.

The two leaders agreed to continue the close consultation between their teams and to remain in touch in the days ahead.

Biden also spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to convey the commitment to strengthening the US-Palestinian partnership. Both discussed the current tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank and expressed their shared desire for Jerusalem to be a place of peaceful coexistence for people of all faiths and backgrounds.

Biden stressed the need for Hamas to cease firing rockets into Israel and the two leaders expressed their shared concern that innocent civilians, including children, have tragically lost their lives amidst the ongoing violence.

Biden also underscored his strong commitment to a negotiated two-state solution as the best path to reach a just and lasting resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is to be noted that the conflict between Israel-Palestine escalated after Israeli forces raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem amid eviction protests, which left scores of Palestinians and police officers wounded.

Over 140 people, including 39 children and 22 women, have been killed so far and 950 injured in the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

(With agency inputs)


Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 21:15:25|Editor: huaxia

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A Palestinian man reacts as he inspects the rubble of a house destroyed by Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

Death toll in Gaza Strip has climbed to 181 and 1,225 others were injured. Palestinian sources said a temporary cease-fire proposed by Egypt "is under discussion by the Palestinian factions and will be on the table of Israeli cabinet for discussion on Sunday."

GAZA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Tension between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip continued on Sunday for the seventh day in a row as death toll in the coastal enclave climbed to 181 and 1,225 others were injured, officials said.

The health ministry in Gaza said in a press statement that since Monday, 181 Palestinians have been killed, including 52 children and 31 women, and 1,225 others had different injuries.

Rescuers help a man trapped in rubble of a house destroyed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Militant groups, led by the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), fired barrages of rockets from the Gaza Strip at cities and towns in central and southern Israel.

Israeli fighter jets intensified its airstrikes on buildings, military posts and facilities affiliated with the militants all over the strip, according to security sources.

The sources said that the houses of Hamas chief in the Gaza Strip Yehya Sinwar and his brother were destroyed in the intensive Israeli airstrikes waged on the southern city of Khan Younis, adding that no injuries were reported as the two houses had been evacuated.

A firefighter attempts to extinguish flames after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua)

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza, said in a text message sent to reporters that during overnight and on Sunday morning, 23 Palestinians were killed and over 50 wounded in the airstrikes on Gaza.

An Israeli army spokesman said that in the last 24 hours, Israeli fighter jets struck 90 targets that belong to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza, including the houses of Sinwar and his brother Mohammed.

The spokesman said that Gaza militants fired more than 120 rockets towards Israel, adding that the Iron Dome Air Defense System has intercepted most of them.

Palestinians inspect the rubble of a house destroyed by Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, May 16, 2021. (Photo by Khaled Omar/Xinhua)

Palestinian sources said there are regional and international efforts to reach a humanitarian cease-fire between the two sides.

The sources told Xinhua that Egypt has been trying to pressure the two sides to declare a temporary humanitarian cease-fire to alleviate the suffering in Gaza until a permanent truce is reached.

The sources added that the Egyptian proposal "is under discussion by the Palestinian factions and will be on the table of Israeli cabinet for discussion on Sunday." 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 21:32:48|Editor: huaxia

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Posters of Syrian presidential candidates are seen in Damascus, Syria, May 16, 2021. The Syrian presidential campaigns have officially started on Sunday as posters of President Bashar al-Assad and the two other candidates filled the squares and streets in the capital Damascus. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua)

DAMASCUS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian presidential campaigns have officially started on Sunday as posters of President Bashar al-Assad and the two other candidates filled the squares and streets in the capital Damascus.

Under the theme "Hope is in Work," Assad has started his campaign where his posters, most of which were presented by Syrian businessmen and celebrities, filled the main streets in Damascus and other provinces.

His two competitors, Mahmoud Muri and Abdullah Saloum Abdullah, have got fewer posters in comparison due to the popularity of Assad.

Muri, a lawyer and a member of the Syria-based opposition, has started his campaign under the banner "Together" with a prominent slogan speaking about the need to "release all political detainees."

For Abdullah, the third candidate who was also a member of the Syrian parliament and a former state minister, his campaign features slogans about investments.

The election day is slated for May 20 for Syrians abroad and May 26 for Syrians inside the country amid street banners urging people to take part in the vote for the "future of Syria." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 22:01:15|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong, also director of State Council Working Committee on Disability, attends a series of activities marking China's 31st National Day for Helping the Disabled in Beijing, capital of China, May 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong on Sunday called for improving the quality of life of the disabled and enhancing the protection of their livelihood.

Wang, director of State Council Working Committee on Disability, made the remarks when attending a series of activities marking China's 31st National Day for Helping the Disabled in Beijing.

Wang talked with disabled entrepreneurs, visited a rehabilitation center, and learned about its work.

Noting that some disabled people are facing difficulties due to low income, Wang called for improving the employment situation and earnings of the disabled by providing better skills training and aid in job-seeking.

Wang also emphasized improving relevant public services such as rehabilitation and further developing disabled-friendly infrastructure. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 23:03:01|Editor: huaxia

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BEIRUT, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) announced on Sunday that it has deployed peacekeepers on the border between Lebanon and Israel, Elnashra local news website reported.

The UNIFIL has been continuously cooperating with Lebanese Armed Forces and Israeli army to maintain peace on the border, the report said.

"We are working since the beginning of the border protests to guarantee security in this area and prevent further escalation," the UNIFIL said.

It added that it has opened an investigation into the latest incident, during which one Lebanese man was shot and killed by Israeli army when demonstrators in support of Palestinians tried to break through the border fence. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 23:32:51|Editor: huaxia

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JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian carried out a car-ramming attack in East Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon, injuring seven police officers, Israel's authorities said.

The incident took place in Nablus Road, near Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem, where the planned eviction of Palestinians from their homes has sparked weeks-long violent clashes. (Palestine-Jerusalem-Car-ramming Attack)

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DAMASCUS -- The Syrian presidential campaigns have officially started on Sunday as posters of President Bashar al-Assad and the two other candidates filled the squares and streets in the capital Damascus.

Under the theme "Hope is in Work," Assad has started his campaign where his posters, most of which were presented by Syrian businessmen and celebrities, filled the main streets in Damascus and other provinces. (Syria-Presidential Campaign-al-Assad)

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MOSCOW -- Russia confirmed 8,554 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 4,940,245, the official monitoring and response center said Sunday.

The national COVID-19 death toll rose by 391 to 115,871 in the past day, while the number of the country's recoveries grew by 8,573 to 4,556,073. (Russia-COVID-19-Cases)

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MANILA -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Sunday 5,790 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,143,963.

The death toll climbed to 19,191 after 140 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. (Philippines-COVID-19-Cases) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 23:35:56|Editor: huaxia

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JUBA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) on Sunday expressed deep concern over the fresh escalation of violence in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area in the eastern part of the country.

Nicholas Haysom, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, said the violence between community-based militias, similar to the serious conflict witnessed in early 2020 will cause further displacement of civilians and threats to life-saving food aid stationed in the area.

"However, the protection of citizens, wherever they are, from militia violence is first and foremost the responsibility of the government and its security officials," he said in a statement issued in Juba.

Haysom said the sudden escalation of violence has led to increased displacement and the suspension of humanitarian operations in Gumuruk and Verteth, where food was being distributed. He called on the government to prevent a repeat of this violence, take steps to address the root causes, and fulfill its responsibility to protect civilians.

The UN mission said it's continuing to establish temporary bases and intensify patrols in the affected areas to deter violence.

UNMISS is also working with political and traditional leaders to promote reconciliation through peace conferences and is supporting efforts to secure the release of abducted women and children.

A human rights report issued by UNMISS, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that, during January and August 2020, thousands of fighters from Dinka, Nuer and Murle militias conducted coordinated attacks on villages, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians. Women and children were also abducted, and dozens of women were raped. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 23:41:03|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on Aug. 18, 2020 shows the Doxong Pass and tunnel exit on the highway linking Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Construction of a highway passing through the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, known as the world's deepest canyon with a maximum depth of 6,009 meters, was completed on Saturday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The project took almost seven years to complete. A 2,114-meter tunnel was dug through on Saturday morning, marking the completion of the major construction of the 67.22-km road connecting Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County. (Photo by Dong Zhixiong/Xinhua)

LHASA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Construction of a highway passing through the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, known as the world's deepest canyon with a maximum depth of 6,009 meters, was completed on Saturday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

The project took almost seven years to complete.

A 2,114-meter tunnel was dug through on Saturday morning, marking the completion of the major construction of the 67.22-km road connecting Pad Township in the city of Nyingchi and Medog County.

The project was built by the China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. and started in 2014, with an estimated investment of over 2 billion yuan (about 310 million U.S. dollars).

The company stressed green development during the construction and poured 110 million yuan into ecological and water environment protection. It was much more than the planned 75.39 million yuan, said Du Canxun, a manager with the company.

The road was built on the former hiking route between Nyingchi's Pad Township and Baibung Township, Medog County, with an altitude difference of up to 2,892 meters between the highest and lowest spots of the road.

It is the second significant passageway to Medog, following the first one connecting the county and Zhamog Township, Bomi County. After the new highway opens to traffic, the road length connecting the city proper of Nyingchi and Medog County will be shortened to 180 km from 346 km, cutting travel time by eight hours. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 23:44:28|Editor: huaxia

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ALGIERS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Sunday reported 117 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the North African country to 125,311.

The death toll from the virus rose to 3,374 after eight new fatalities were added, said the Algerian Ministry of Health in a statement.

Meanwhile, 108 more patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 87,359, the statement added.

The President of Algerian National Medical Association Mohamed Berkani on Sunday reiterated the "need" to abide by strict health rules, especially the obligation to conduct PCR and antigen tests before the reopening of borders, the official APS news agency reported.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the Council of Ministers will discuss the issue of reopening the borders in a regular meeting on Sunday.

Algeria closed its borders in March 2020 after the first COVID-19 case in the country was confirmed. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 00:46:12|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland on Sunday called for international efforts to end the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence.

This escalation in the past week has already produced tragic results. A further intensification of hostilities would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis, he told the Security Council in a briefing. "We cannot allow the situation to slide further into chaos. The hostilities must stop."

The international community has a crucial role to play. It must take action now to enable the parties to step back from the brink, said Wennesland.

He welcomed the statements from members of the Security Council, the Arab League and others aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the immediate crisis. He also appreciated the efforts of leaders across the international community over the past days urging all parties to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions and prevent further civilian casualties.

"We are once again witnessing the tragic results of the failure to address the core issues that have driven the conflict for decades. Palestinian and Israeli civilians continue to endure the suffering that accompanies repeated cycles of violence and conflict. These cycles of violence will only stop with a political resolution of the conflict, including addressing the status of Jerusalem and other final-status issues, with an end to the occupation, and the realization of a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, UN resolutions, international law and mutual agreements, with Jerusalem as capital of both Israel and Palestine," he said.

"I reiterate my call to the members of the Middle East Quartet, key Arab and international partners, as well as to Israeli and Palestinian leadership, to strengthen efforts to return to meaningful negotiations toward a viable two-state solution." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 01:38:40|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland on Sunday called for international efforts to end the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence.

This escalation in the past week has already produced tragic results. A further intensification of hostilities would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis, he told the Security Council in a briefing. "We cannot allow the situation to slide further into chaos. The hostilities must stop."

The international community has a crucial role to play. It must take action now to enable the parties to step back from the brink, said Wennesland.

He welcomed the statements from members of the Security Council, the Arab League and others aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the immediate crisis. He also appreciated the efforts of leaders across the international community over the past days urging all parties to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions and prevent further civilian casualties.

"We are once again witnessing the tragic results of the failure to address the core issues that have driven the conflict for decades. Palestinian and Israeli civilians continue to endure the suffering that accompanies repeated cycles of violence and conflict. These cycles of violence will only stop with a political resolution of the conflict, including addressing the status of Jerusalem and other final-status issues, with an end to the occupation, and the realization of a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, UN resolutions, international law and mutual agreements, with Jerusalem as capital of both Israel and Palestine," he said.

"I reiterate my call to the members of the Middle East Quartet, key Arab and international partners, as well as to Israeli and Palestinian leadership, to strengthen efforts to return to meaningful negotiations toward a viable two-state solution."

Israelis and Palestinians have a legitimate right to safety and security. The ongoing violence is unacceptable and unjustifiable, said Wennesland.

Hamas and other militants' indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighborhoods into civilian population centers in Israel violates international humanitarian law and must cease immediately. Civilian areas must never be used for military purposes. Israeli authorities must abide by international humanitarian law principles governing armed conflict, including the proportional use of force, exercising maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations, he said.

"I reiterate that children should not be the target of violence or put in harm's way."

Since Monday, according to Israeli official sources, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other militants have launched over 2,900 indiscriminate rockets from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. According to the Israeli prime minister's office, nine Israelis, including five women and two children, and one Indian national were killed, and over 250 injured. Civilians across the south and the center of the country have been repeatedly sent to shelters. An anti-tank missile fired at a vehicle near the Gaza perimeter fence killed an Israeli soldier and injured two others, he said.

In response to the Palestinian militant rocket attacks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted over 950 strikes against what it said were militant targets. As of Sunday afternoon local time, health authorities in Gaza have reported that 181 Palestinians, including at least 52 children, 31 women and a person with disabilities, were killed and 1,200 people injured in these strikes.

The population must repeatedly try to find cover from the strikes and over 34,000 people have been displaced from their homes, said Wennesland.

The dense and closed context of Gaza makes seeking shelter all the more difficult. As a result of the military operations, seven factories, 40 schools and at least four hospitals sustained complete or partial damage. At least 18 buildings, including four high-rise towers, including one hosting international media outlets, have been destroyed and over 350 buildings damaged, he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 02:17:46|Editor: huaxia

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BAGHDAD, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Ministry of Health said on Sunday underscored the need to boost the COVID-19 vaccination campaign to control the spread of the pandemic.

The ministry's spokesman Sayf al-Badr told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA) that there is a gradual increase in demand for vaccines, but "what has been achieved so far is about half a million, which is very far from what was determined by the World Health Organization."

Iraq needs to vaccinate at least 20 percent of its 40 million population by the end of this year, al-Badr said, adding that the ministry has ambitious plans to exceed this vaccination percentage to 40 or 50 percent of the population this year.

"I can say that this is possible through intensifying health education and awareness efforts to give a push to the vaccination campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, the health ministry reported 2,456 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the total nationwide tally in Iraq to 1,139,373.

The ministry also reported 24 new COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll in Iraq to 15,954, while the total recoveries climbed by 5,624 to 1,045,240.

It noted 4,093 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 during the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses received to 475,381.

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. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 02:53:21|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday underlined the need to take international actions to confront Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.

During their phone talk, Rouhani said that the Palestinian cause is the most important and active common issue of the Muslim community worldwide, said Iran's presidential office in a statement.

Islamic states, he added, should cooperate to confront the Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinians through international bodies such as the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The Iranian president voiced Tehran's readiness to share points of view and boost the Tehran-Ankara cooperation to resolve crises in West Asia, including those of Syria and Yemen.

For his part, Erdogan described Israeli attacks on the Palestinians as highly worrying, and called for a strong reaction of the international community, the Iranian presidential office said.

The Turkish president also expressed the hope that an Ankara-Tehran strategic cooperation meeting would be held in the coming months to expand cooperation between the two countries.

Also on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took part in a virtual emergency meeting of the OIC, during which he accused Israel of "blatant and systematic violations of human rights, humanitarian law and international law."

Zarif said Israel "only understands the language of resistance," adding that the Palestinians are "fully entitled to the right to defend themselves."

Zarif also called for an "institutionalized" legal and political campaign against Israel at regional and international levels. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 04:00:38|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland on Sunday called for international efforts to end the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence.

This escalation in the past week has already produced tragic results. A further intensification of hostilities would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis, he told the Security Council in a briefing. "We cannot allow the situation to slide further into chaos. The hostilities must stop."

The international community has a crucial role to play. It must take action now to enable the parties to step back from the brink, said Wennesland.

He welcomed the statements from members of the Security Council, the Arab League and others aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the immediate crisis. He also appreciated the efforts of leaders across the international community over the past days urging all parties to exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions and prevent further civilian casualties.

"We are once again witnessing the tragic results of the failure to address the core issues that have driven the conflict for decades. Palestinian and Israeli civilians continue to endure the suffering that accompanies repeated cycles of violence and conflict. These cycles of violence will only stop with a political resolution of the conflict, including addressing the status of Jerusalem and other final-status issues, with an end to the occupation, and the realization of a two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 lines, UN resolutions, international law and mutual agreements, with Jerusalem as capital of both Israel and Palestine," he said.

"I reiterate my call to the members of the Middle East Quartet, key Arab and international partners, as well as to Israeli and Palestinian leadership, to strengthen efforts to return to meaningful negotiations toward a viable two-state solution."

Israelis and Palestinians have a legitimate right to safety and security. The ongoing violence is unacceptable and unjustifiable, said Wennesland.

Hamas and other militants' indiscriminate launching of rockets and mortars from highly populated civilian neighborhoods into civilian population centers in Israel violates international humanitarian law and must cease immediately. Civilian areas must never be used for military purposes. Israeli authorities must abide by international humanitarian law principles governing armed conflict, including the proportional use of force, exercising maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in the conduct of military operations, he said.

"I reiterate that children should not be the target of violence or put in harm's way."

Since Monday, according to Israeli official sources, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other militants have launched over 2,900 indiscriminate rockets from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. According to the Israeli prime minister's office, nine Israelis, including five women and two children, and one Indian national were killed, and over 250 injured. Civilians across the south and the center of the country have been repeatedly sent to shelters. An anti-tank missile fired at a vehicle near the Gaza perimeter fence killed an Israeli soldier and injured two others, he said.

In response to the Palestinian militant rocket attacks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has conducted over 950 strikes against what it said were militant targets. As of Sunday afternoon local time, health authorities in Gaza have reported that 181 Palestinians, including at least 52 children, 31 women and a person with disabilities, were killed and 1,200 people injured in these strikes.

The population must repeatedly try to find cover from the strikes and over 34,000 people have been displaced from their homes, said Wennesland.

The dense and closed context of Gaza makes seeking shelter all the more difficult. As a result of the military operations, seven factories, 40 schools and at least four hospitals sustained complete or partial damage. At least 18 buildings, including four high-rise towers, including one hosting international media outlets, have been destroyed and over 350 buildings damaged, he said.

Violence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continues to increase, said Wennesland.

Since Monday, 19 Palestinians, including two children, have been killed and some 1,844 Palestinians were injured in the West Bank by Israeli security forces in either clashes or other incidents, with 444 injured by live ammunition, he said.

At least eight Israelis were injured in these incidents, according to Israeli government sources, he added.

On Monday, amid heavy presence of Israeli security forces ahead of planned Jerusalem day marches, thousands of Palestinians clashed with police in and around the Holy Esplanade and other parts of the Old City of Jerusalem. Israeli security forces reportedly shot and injured over 650 Palestinians with rubber-coated metal bullets and other crowd-control means. Some 32 Israeli security forces personnel were injured in the clashes, he said.

In Sheikh Jarrah, Israeli security forces dispersed demonstrators using skunk water, sponge-tipped bullets and stun grenades. One Palestinian was killed and another shot and injured in separate incidents after they attempted to attack Israeli soldiers, he said.

On Friday, violence escalated as Palestinians held a "Day of Rage" in support of Gaza, with clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Qalqilyia, Ramallah, Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron and dozens of other locations. Ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, in addition to one Palestinian killed near Ofra settlement in an alleged stabbing attack against Israeli security forces. This is the highest number of Palestinian fatalities recorded in a single day in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the United Nations began recording fatalities in 2008, he said.

The IDF said Thursday that three rockets were fired from Lebanon into the sea off the coast of northern Israel. Lebanese Armed Forces confirmed the firing and reported finding materiel close to a Palestine refugee camp in Rashidiyeh, said Wennesland.

On Friday, up to 100 individuals protested north of the Blue Line, a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations in 2000. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon observed several protesters cross the Blue Line close to the town of Metula. IDF personnel fired multiple warning shots, reportedly injuring two. According to Lebanese authorities, a Lebanese citizen later died. The Lebanese Armed Forces arrested several protestors following the incident, said Wennesland.

Three rockets were launched from Syria toward Israel. There were no reports of damage or injuries, he said.

Mass protests in solidarity with Palestinians also occurred at Israeli borders with Jordan, where thousands of Jordanians marched toward the bridge connecting Jordan to the occupied West Bank but were reportedly stopped short by the Jordanian security forces, said Wennesland. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 04:04:32|Editor: huaxia

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ALGIERS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The Algerian government on Sunday approved a plan to partially reopen its borders next month, following 14 months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Council of Ministers said in a statement after holding a meeting, chaired by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, that a set of proposals, including the partial reopening of land, air and sea borders, were approved at the meeting.

The reopening of borders will take place on June 1, and, at the first stage, five flights a day will be scheduled from airports located in major cities, such as the capital Algiers, Oran and Constantine, the statement said.

It stressed the reopening of borders must be carried out in strict compliance with the rules on ensuring the health and safety of passengers and employees.

The decision came as the country has witnessed significant improvement in controlling the COVID-19 spread.

On Sunday, the Algerian health authorities reported 117 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 125,311. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 04:20:38|Editor: huaxia

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Norwegian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mona Juul (C) speaks to reporters with Zhang Jun (L), China's permanent representative to the UN, and Tarek Ladeb (R), Tunisia's permanent representative to the UN, after a Security Council open debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the UN headquarters in New York, May 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Xie E)

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Norway, Tunisia and China, which requested an open debate of the Security Council on the escalation of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on Sunday demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities.

Mona Juul, Norway's UN ambassador, read a joint statement of the three countries after Sunday's Security Council meeting.

Norway, Tunisia, and China expressed deep concern about the situation in Gaza and the rising number of civilian casualties, and called for an immediate end to hostilities, full respect for international law, including international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians, especially children, reads the joint statement.

"We demanded an immediate cessation of all acts of violence, provocation, incitement, destruction, and eviction plans. Furthermore, we expressed concern about the tensions and violence in East Jerusalem, especially in and around the holy sites, including at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and urged the exercise of maximum restraint and (called) for the respect of the historic status quo at the holy sites."

The three countries urged both Israel and the Palestinians to work to urgently lower tensions and end the violence. They reiterated their support for a negotiated two-state solution in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and international law, and called for the intensification and acceleration of diplomatic efforts and support toward that goal.

Sunday's open debate was the first Security Council public event to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since the escalation. Previously, the three countries managed to push for two rounds of closed-door consultations of the Security Council. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 04:42:20|Editor: huaxia

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Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (R) meets with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides in Amman, Jordan, on May 16, 2021. The two foreign ministers on Sunday discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ways to halt "illegal" Israeli actions against Gaza Strip. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua)

AMMAN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides on Sunday discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ways to halt "illegal" Israeli actions against Gaza Strip.

At a meeting in Amman, they emphasized the need for continued coordination aimed at resolving regional crises and achieving security and stability, while expressing keenness on enhancing bilateral cooperation in various fields, said the Jordanian Foreign Ministry in a statement.

Safadi said the fundamental issue is the need to exert a real international effort to safeguard the Palestinians and protect the region from historical repercussions of extended tensions and violations against Gaza.

Calling the situation in Gaza as "very dangerous," he urged the international community to shoulder its responsibility to force the Israeli side to stop its aggression that pushes the region toward further escalation and conflict.

Christodoulides, for his part, emphasized the necessity of respecting Jordanian custodianship over Jerusalem's Islamic and Christian holy sites, while highlighting the need to make efforts to reach deescalation.

He also stressed Cyprus' support for all initiatives aimed at stopping the Israeli-Palestinian violence. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 06:38:10|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chairs the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate on "The Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question" via video link on May 16, 2021. (Xinhua/Wei Xiang)

BEIJING, May 16 (Xinhua) -- China puts forward a four-point proposal regarding escalating Palestine-Israel conflict, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday.

Wang made the remarks when chairing the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate on "The Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question" via video link.

Wang said that the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestine had resulted in a large number of casualties, including women and children. The situation is extremely critical and severe, and a ceasefire and cessation of violence is urgently needed.

The international community must move forward with urgency to prevent the situation from further deteriorating, to prevent the region from falling again into turmoil, and to protect the lives of local people, Wang said.

He said that the Palestinian question has always been the core of the Middle East issue. Only when the Palestinian question is resolved comprehensively, fairly and permanently, can the Middle East truly achieve lasting peace and universal security.

In response to the current tense situation, Wang put forward a four-point proposition:

First, ceasefire and cessation of violence is the top priority. China strongly condemns violent acts against civilians, and once again urges the two sides to immediately stop military and hostile actions, and stop actions that deteriorate the situation, including airstrikes, ground offensives, and rocket launches. Israel must exercise restraint in particular.

Second, humanitarian assistance is an urgent need. China urges Israel to earnestly fulfill its obligations under international treaties, lift all the blockade and siege of Gaza as soon as possible, guarantee the safety and rights of civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory, and provide access for humanitarian assistance. The international community must provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine, and the UN must play a coordinating role to avoid serious humanitarian disasters.

Third, international support is an obligation. The UNSC must take vigorous action on the Palestine-Israel conflict, reiterate its firm support for a "two-state solution," and push the situation to cool down at an early date.

The UNSC has failed to make a unanimous voice due to the obstruction of one certain country. China calls on the United States to shoulder its due responsibilities, adopt a fair stand, and support the UNSC in playing its due role in easing the situation, rebuilding trust, and political settlement.

China also supports the UN, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other countries that have an important influence on the region to play a more active role.

Fourth, a "two-state solution" is the fundamental way out. China supports the two sides resuming peace talks based on a "two-state solution" as soon as possible, to establish an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty with East Jerusalem as its capital and based on the 1967 border, and fundamentally realize the peaceful coexistence of Palestine and Israel, realize the harmonious coexistence of the Arab and Jewish nations, and realize lasting peace in the Middle East.

Wang said that, since China assumed the rotating presidency of the UNSC, it has made responding to the current tensions in the Middle East a top priority and pushed the UNSC to deliberate on the Palestinian question many times.

"China will continue to intensify efforts to promote peace talks, and fulfill its duties as the rotating presidency of the UNSC," said Wang, adding that China reiterates its invitation to peacemakers from Palestine and Israel to hold dialogue in China, and welcomes negotiators from the two countries to hold direct talks in China.

Wang urged unity; siding with peace, justice and fairness; standing by the right side of history; and practicing the real multilateralism, to push for the comprehensive, fair and permanent settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date.

For the part of the attendees, they thanked China for chairing the event, and called for an immediate ceasefire and cessation of violence between Israel and Palestine, as well as cooling down of the situation while abiding by relevant UNSC resolutions and international laws.

They also believed the UNSC members and the international community should speak with one voice to fairly promote the Palestine-Israel peace talks and the realization of peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 00:35:03|Editor: huaxia

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ALGIERS, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Algeria on Saturday reported 135 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the North African country to 125,194.

The death toll from the virus rose to 3,366 after six new fatalities were added, said the Algerian Ministry of Health in a statement.

Meanwhile, 134 more patients recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries in the country to 87,173, the statement added.

Algerian Presidency Saturday announced that President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and the Council of Ministers will discuss the issue of reopening the border in its regular meeting on Sunday, the official APS news agency reported.

As an advisory body, the Algerian Scientific Committee monitoring the spread of COVID-19 suggested last Thursday the conditional return of Algerians stranded abroad and foreigners.

Algeria has closed its borders in March 2020 after it reported the first COVID-19 case. Enditem
Georgia welcomes Council of Europes 8th decision on the conflict in Georgia that uses the term occupation for the first time

By Veronika Malinboym

Earlier yesterday, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an official statement in which it welcomed the 8th decision of the Council of Europe on the conflict in Georgia and the fact that the document, for the first time, included the term occupation when referring to the regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.This years document welcomed the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights announced on January 2021, and underscored Russias responsibility for the dire human right situation in the occupied territories that it exercises effective control over. The document also states that the presence of Russian military forces in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali threatens the peace and security of the region and violates international obligations, including the EU-proposed ceasefire agreement signed on August 12, 2008. The document calls on Russia to comply with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Georgia v. Russia and take active steps to end all forms of ethnic discrimination of the residents of the regions and create conditions for safe and dignified return of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as put an end to policies that lead to violations of human rights.The annual CoE document also highlights the pressing need to put an end to the murdering of ethnic Georgians in the occupied regions and bring perpetrators to justice, and allow humanitarian organizations and human rights monitoring missions free access to the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Finally, the document urges to end the violation of the right to education in the region, as well as prevent the deterioration of the cultural monuments that belong to the cultural heritage of the regions.In response to the CoEs decision, Foreign Minister of Georgia David Zalkaliani expressed his gratitude in a post on his official Twitter page:Shared with media representatives the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers unprecedented decision on The Council of Europe and Conflict Georgia, where it stresses Russia's responsibility of occupying Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali and depriving the local population of their fundamental human rights. Grateful to our partners for staunch support.The European Court of Human Rights released its judgment on the case of Russia v Georgia on January 21, 2021. According to the ruling, Russia is found guilty of violating several charters of the European Convention on Human Rights during the active phase of the August 2008 conflict, as well as of carrying out ethnic cleansing of Georgians.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 19:45:58|Editor: huaxia

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CAPE TOWN, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Major political parties in South Africa on Sunday stood together and stopped attacking each other -- a rare occurrence -- at least in Western Cape Province, in order to push forward registration for COVID-19 vaccines, as the third coronavirus wave is approaching.

Provincial representatives from ruling African National Congress (ANC), Western Cape's governing party and the official opposition in the nation Democratic Alliance (DA), the third largest political party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other parties including Freedom Front Plus (FF+), African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Good and Al Jama-Ah in a joint statement encouraged Western Cape residents aged 60 years and above to register for COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the start of the 2nd phase of the national vaccination program on May 17.

COVID-19 vaccines are "an extremely important defense" in the battle against the virus and offer "a real hope" of ending the pandemic, they said, while encouraging residents who still have concerns and unsure about the vaccine to seek out the facts from reliable sources.

They also committed to disseminating the latest vaccine registration information, assisting residents to register, sharing facts about vaccine to support people to make an informed decision and standing against queue jumping by those who are not yet eligible to receive inoculation.

The latest National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), conducted by 30 social science researchers from five South African universities, suggested Western Cape may have the highest vaccine hesitancy among the nine provinces in South Africa, with 42 percent of its surveyed respondents were vaccine hesitant, while the national average stood at 29 percent.

Side effects, efficacy and trust in vaccines were three leading reasons among the respondents across the country who said they were hesitant to receive a vaccine.

Data from May 3-9 showed an overall 46 percent increase in new cases in comparison to the previous week with the Northern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces topping the list, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said Thursday in a statement.

It also said there has been an increase in hospital admissions while COVID-19 related deaths increased by 18 percent in comparison to the previous week.

Although South Africa hasn't met the threshold for a new wave nationally, the Free State province is currently experiencing a third wave at a provincial level and the Northern Cape, which never met the technical criterion for exiting the second wave, has experienced a significant resurgence in recent weeks, the institute said.

"The current trajectory is worrisome and should it continue its course, we will likely cross the threshold for a new wave in the coming weeks," said its acting executive director Adrian Puren.

The third wave in Western Cape "must be happening" in the next few weeks, Premier of the Western Cape Alan Winde told Xinhua in an interview Tuesday, after the Free State entered the new wave.

South Africa plans to vaccinate about 67 percent of the population by the end of this year with three phases to achieve herd immunity.

Following the first phase for healthcare workers only, the second phase will inoculate persons aged 60 years and above first, then other groups of people including essential workers, persons in congregate settings and persons over 18 years of age with co-morbidities. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 12:03:54|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, May 16 (Xinhua) -- At least nine people were killed and five others seriously injured in a shootout between two rival groups on Saturday night in Pakistan's southern Sindh province, local media reported.

According to the reports late Saturday night, the exchange of intensive firing took place between the Jagirani tribe and Chachar tribe over an old enmity in the Kandhkot area of Sindh for hours.

Police personnel told media that armed men of both sides were firing at each other while hiding in bunkers when security personnel reached the site.

Police and rescue teams have shifted the bodies and the injured to a hospital and filed two separate cases against each of the armed groups. Police have started operations and raids to arrest the culprits and confiscate weapons from them.

Automatic guns, hand grenades and rockets were used in the clash, local reports said.

A heavy contingent of police has been deployed in the area to defuse the tension after intensive firing for hours spread panic among locals. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 12:28:02|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The New Zealand government is committed to delivering a carbon neutral public sector as part of its plan to address climate issues, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw said in a pre-budget announcement on Sunday.

According to the announcement, a total of 67.4 million New Zealand dollars (48.8 million U.S. dollars) will be allocated over four years to achieve the Carbon Neutral Government Program by 2025. This includes a significant boost of 19.5 million New Zealand dollars to the State Sector Decarbonisation Fund, and 41.8 million New Zealand dollars for leasing low-emissions vehicles.

"A carbon neutral public sector is a key part of the New Zealand government's plan to address the climate emergency," Shaw said.

The State Sector Decarbonisation Fund has committed funding for 422 electric vehicles and charging infrastructure; and clean energy upgrades at 36 schools, seven universities and 10 hospitals, according to the announcement.

The additional funding for the State Sector Decarbonisation Fund means that more coal boilers in schools and hospitals will be replaced, which will save an additional 44,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over 10 years; while leasing of low-emissions vehicles across the public sector will save a further 32,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over 10 years, according to Shaw.

"We're in a position where we can think ahead to the type of public sector we want for future generations. The choice we are making in Budget 2021 is to pass on to our children and grandchildren a world that is better for what we did," said Shaw.

Over the last three budgets, the New Zealand government has made significant investments in New Zealand's low-carbon future, including climate-friendly transport options. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 13:36:22|Editor: huaxia

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DHAKA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh has extended again the closure of all secondary and higher secondary educational institutions following the surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths since March.

Bangladesh's Ministry of Education said in a statement on Saturday night that the government extended the closure of the institutions till May 29.

Previously the closure was extended in phases till May 22.

According to the statement, the latest decision was taken considering the safety of students, teachers, institution employees and guardians.

It, however, said all online academic activities of all schools and colleges will continue until May 29.

Bangladesh on March 16 last year first announced to close all educational institutions in the country in an effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19.

Since March last year, the virus has spread to nearly every Bangladeshi district, and the total number of cases has risen to 779,796 with 12,124 deaths so far. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 14:26:41|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The COVID-19 cases in Mongolia increased by 541 over the past 24 hours to 48,642, with the death toll rising by two to 219, the country's health ministry said Sunday.

Meanwhile, 1,306 more recoveries were reported, bringing the nationwide count to 40,900, it said.

The Asian country launched a mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its 3.3-million population.

More than 1,770,500 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 641,000 have got both jabs. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 15:25:10|Editor: huaxia

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NEW DELHI, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed in rain-related incidents accompanying storm due to cyclone Tauktae in Karnataka and Kerala, officials said Sunday.

Cyclonic storm Tauktae in the Arabian Sea is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speed expected to touch 160 kmph by Monday.

Tauktae is very likely to reach Gujarat coast in the evening hours of Monday and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) around Tuesday early morning, federal ministry of earth science quoting the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

According to the IMD, the cyclone has brought heavy rains to some areas.

Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority said four people were killed and 73 villages destroyed in six districts of the state due to Tauktae.

Authorities have set up relief camps and deployed rescue teams to evacuate people in the affected areas of the state.

In Kerala, heavy rain accompanying the storm has claimed two lives in Ernakulam and Kozhikode districts and forced more than 2,000 to move to 71 camps set up by the authorities, local media reports said.

The rains, according to officials, have caused heavy damage to the power and agriculture sectors.

On Saturday evening, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the preparedness of states and federal agencies concerned to deal with the situation.

Officials said the federal home ministry was reviewing the situation round the clock and is in touch with the local governments in states and federal agencies.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has pre-positioned 42 teams which are equipped with boats, tree-cutters, telecom equipment in six states and has kept 26 teams on standby, an official said.

Meanwhile, the Indian coast guard and the navy have deployed ships and helicopters for relief, search and rescue operations. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 15:32:50|Editor: huaxia

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GARDEZ, Afghanistan, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Five militants have been confirmed dead as fighting planes struck a Taliban hideout in Dand-e-Patan district of the eastern Paktia province on Sunday, a statement of the provincial police said.

The Taliban militants, hours after the end of the three-day ceasefire, targeted security checkpoints in Dara-e-Muqbal area of Dand-e-Patan district early Sunday and the security forces' fighting planes in sharp reaction struck the Taliban hideout, killing five insurgents and destroyed their anti-aircraft gun, the statement said.

A dozen more militants sustained injury due to the air raids, the statement further said.

The two sides observed a three-day ceasefire on Eid al-Fitr occasion to enable Afghans celebrate the end of Muslims fasting month which ended late Saturday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 18:34:01|Editor: huaxia

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BAKU, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan Sunday launched a large-scale military exercise as the country was in a border tension with Armenia, according to the country's defense ministry.

Over 15,000 military personnel, 300 tanks and other armored vehicles, 400 missiles and artillery systems and 50 military aircraft will involve in the drills, which will last till May 20 in the country, said the ministry in a statement.

The exercise, in accordance with a plan approved by the president of Azerbaijan, aims to improve the army's combat readiness, coordination and interoperability among different units, said the statement.

Earlier this week, Armenia accused Azerbaijani troops of crossing the southern border and advancing more than three kilometres into Armenia's Syunik region.

Azerbaijan denied the allegations, saying Azerbaijan was enforcing its own border and is committed to easing tensions in the region.

Both countries said the peaceful negotiations to deescalate the tension was still going on Sunday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 21:45:55|Editor: huaxia

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PHNOM PENH, May 16 (Xinhua) -- A flight carrying the fourth batch of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine Cambodia purchased from the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech arrived in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Sunday.

Cambodia's health ministry secretary of state Yok Sambath noted that the COVID-19 vaccine is essential for the Southeast Asian country to fight against the pandemic, expressing gratitude to China for its timely supply of the vaccine.

"This is another testament to the iron-clad friendship and close cooperation between Cambodia and China," she told reporters while receiving the vaccine at the Phnom Penh International Airport.

Sambath said both China's Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines are "very safe and effective".

Cambodia has acquired COVID-19 vaccines from both China and the World Health Organization-led COVAX Facility.

The kingdom launched a COVID-19 inoculation drive on Feb 10. To date, some 2.06 million out of the 10-million-target population have been vaccinated against the coronavirus, the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Cambodia logged 350 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 22,184 with 150 deaths and 12,120 recoveries. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 02:09:48|Editor: huaxia

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BAKU, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Two Azerbaijani servicemen, including an officer, were killed on Saturday in a shootout on the Azerbaijan-Iran border involving a group of armed border violators, Azerbaijan's State Border Service said.

The incident happened when a border patrol unit tried to prevent three men from illegally crossing the border from Iran into Azerbaijan near a border checkpoint in the southeastern district of Yardimly, according to border authorities.

The border violators did not obey border guards' "stop" command, opened fire in response and wounded two of them. The wounded servicemen, a senior lieutenant and a junior ensign, were immediately taken to hospital where they later died of their injuries, the border service said in a statement.

The authorities said one of the border violators, an unidentified Iranian citizen, was arrested, while two others managed to escape. "A search operation is now ongoing to find them," the border service said.

Border guards discovered 10 kg of substance at the scene resembling narcotic drugs in appearance.

Iranian authorities had been informed of the incident, the border service added.

Armed incidents involving drug trafficking are a frequent occurrence on the Azerbaijan-Iran border. Enditem
An observational study conducted by Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has found that over 97 per cent of fully vaccinated people were protected from COVID-19 infection and the chances of hospitalisation after vaccination were only 0.06 per cent.

The observational study was carried out on healthcare workers who reported to Indraprastha Apollo Hospital with symptomatic COVID-19 during the first 100 days of vaccination through Covishield vaccine. The objective of the study was to evaluate the frequency of 'breakthrough infections'.

The study's findings are currently under consideration for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

Also read: Delhi lockdown extended by another week to check COVID-19 spread; curbs in place till May 24

"Our study demonstrated that 97.38 per cent of those vaccinated were protected from an infection, and hospitalisation rate was only 0.06 per cent. The results of the study show that breakthrough infections occur only in a small percentage and these are primarily minor infections that do not lead to severe disease. There were no ICU admissions or death. Our study makes the case for vaccination stronger," Dr. Anupam Sibal, group medical director of Apollo Hospitals and a senior consultant for paediatric gastroenterology, told news agency ANI.

Breakthrough infections are infections which occur in a partially or fully-vaccinated person.

While the study indicates that COVID-19 vaccination does not provide 100 per cent immunity, it protects against serious manifestations, Sibal added.

A total of 3,235 healthcare workers participated in the study, of which 85 got infected during the study period. While 65 of those infected were fully vaccinated, 20 were partially vaccinated. Females were significantly more affected and the age did not influence the incidence of infection.

(With inputs from ANI)

Also read: Planes to gas cargoes: UK's Cairn Energy identifies $70-bn Indian assets for seizing
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 18:04:31|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, May 16 (Xinhua) -- More young Chinese want to be civil servants with strengthened faith in the public sector due to the anti-corruption drive, the London-based Economist reported recently.

Almost 1 million people took China's national civil-service exams in 2020 to secure a job in the public sector, much more than the previous year, said the report released on Saturday.

Still more took tests to become provincial and local officials, it added.

The report cited Zhu Ling, who graduated last year from a highly competitive master's programme at one of China's best universities, as saying that trust on the Chinese officials has been on the rise.

Zhu, who joined an elite government ministry, "credits an anti-corruption drive that began in 2012 with changing their views of officialdom," said the report. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 15:43:54|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Demonstrators took to streets on Saturday in a number of major U.S. cities, demanding an end to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

In the U.S. capital Washington, D.C., hundreds took part in pro-Palestinian protests on Saturday afternoon, marching from the Washington Monument to the U.S. Capitol.

Also on Saturday, thousands of people rallied in Los Angeles in support of Palestinians. Local media said a handful of pro-Israel counterprotesters also gathered, and police officers kept the groups separated.

A demonstration that started in a neighborhood in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has a large Arabic-speaking community, continued through the streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon, said an ABC News report.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled "Palestine will be free" as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park, the report said, adding that pro-Palestinian demonstrations were also held in Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and some other U.S. cities.

The protests were planned for Nakba Day, which Palestinians observe every May 15 to commemorate the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel's war of independence, local media reported.

Since Monday, Israel has pounded Gaza with hundreds of air strikes and shells, killing at least 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women. Meanwhile, rockets fired by militant groups in Gaza have killed 10 people, including a five-year-old boy, a soldier and two women. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-16 16:19:08|Editor: huaxia

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by Yosley Carrero

HAVANA, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Dayami Suarez, a Cuban nurse living in Havana's Alamar district, has changed her daily routine after the neighborhood's doctor office she works for was turned into a COVID-19 vaccination center.

Across the city, local authorities have set up mass vaccination sites as part of an intervention study of Abdala and Soberana 02 COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

The 48-year-old starts work at 8 a.m. before daily experimental vaccine doses are transferred from a nearby polyclinic, where they are stored at required temperatures.

She told Xinhua that she had administered 300 shots of domestically produced Cuban experimental coronavirus vaccines so far.

"I have been working and living in this community for more than 20 years. So, I am not only vaccinating my patients but my neighbors," she said. "I am very proud of being part of this great professional experience."

It comes as the Cuban capital has seen its sharpest rise in coronavirus daily cases, hospitalizations, and deaths since the start of the pandemic on the island nation in March 2020.

In Alamar, mostly senior citizens receive the first dose of the Abdala COVID-19 vaccine candidate during the first phase of the rollout.

Among them is 62-year-old Carmen Coello, who works as a security guard at an educational institution in the Cuban capital.

"I had long awaited this moment. I feel protected by our public health system," she told Xinhua. "Now, I can better protect my grandsons from contracting the virus."

At the entrance of the vaccination center, people are provided with hypochlorite disinfecting solutions and asked if they are under any medical treatment or taking any medication.

As some waited in line for their turn, others read newspapers and books in the waiting area set up to monitor possible adverse events in relation to local COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

"My blood pressure is a bit high, but I will be Okay soon," told Xinhua 84-year-old Ana Frometa while holding her daughter's hands. "I feel happy."

By 6 p.m., thousands of doctors, nurses, medical students, and volunteers working at Havana's COVID-19 vaccination centers finish their work until the next day.

"We work tirelessly all day long to guarantee the success of this vaccination rollout. It will help the government tackle the coronavirus crisis in Cuba," Amanda Fernandez, a 24-year-old health worker from Alamar, told Xinhua.

"I like what I am doing," she added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-17 02:48:46|Editor: huaxia

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs, Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and other organizations jointly organized a rally on Saturday in Chinatown in Oakland, the U.S. state of California, against racial discrimination and hate crimes.

Hundreds of people from all walks of life, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, attended the event.

Schaaf greeted the demonstrators in Chinese, saying that she was glad to see individuals and communities have stepped forward to wrap arms around Chinatown to support those who had been subjected to hate and discrimination.

"This is our moment to say no longer," Schaaf said.

According to Rob Bonta, the California attorney general's office and the California Department Of Justice were taking action against hate crimes. "We fight side by side. That does not just be an issue for the API community, because so many communities have faced and suffered the sting of hate in California and throughout this nation's history," he noted.

"Too many times in too many places, people have been hurt and targeted and attacked because of who they are, where they're from, or who they love. And we know that is wrong," Bonta added.

Daniel Wu, an actor growing up in Oakland, participated in the rally and delivered a speech.

"We are clearly seeing a result of the hatred that was spread over the last eight years has disseminated down to the street level and we're seeing it now. And so we need to fight against that," Wu said.

He argued that the solutions would not be short-term. "This is a great moment, but we need to keep pushing and get that door open and keep pushing through against hate against racism and unite together."

During a press conference for the Asian community and media on Thursday in the city, Craig Fair, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of San Francisco field office, said that over the past year, the FBI had seen an increase in the number of reported hate incidents and hate crimes across the United States in California, and in the San Francisco bay area, particularly in Oakland. Enditem
Alice Rothchild in CounterP unch:

The both-sides-have-their reasons-but-Israel-is-the-victim stories follow an expected pattern. Israeli Jews, still living in the shadow of the Holocaust, return to their rightful homes and then fight for every inch of what is justly theirs. They are repeatedly faced with intractable Arab terrorists who attack innocent civilians and must be crushed with all the might the Israeli military has at its disposal. Never Again! Add barely human Hamas and Iranian militants, and armed and aggressive ultra-Orthodox Jews and settlers abetted by Israeli soldiers defending Gods promises and marching defiantly through Jerusalem yelling Death to the Arabs! and we have the narrative in place. The United Nations, a host of human rights groups, and the International Court protest, suggesting various crimes against humanity, while Israelis wring their hands and cry foul. Victim again. The US remains remarkably silent given that much of the weaponry is ours. Could both sides just de-escalate, please?

What is different this time?

While there have been uprisings of Palestinian citizens in Israel against land confiscations and other violations, as well as in support of Palestinians suffering in the territories (Land Day in 1976 comes to mind), now Palestinians in Acre, Haifa, Jaffe, Lod, Nazareth, and Ramle are protesting loudly and vigorously. The mayor of Lod may call this Kristallnacht but Palestinian citizens have reached a breaking point, unable to tolerate the 72 year history of racist and exclusionary policies by the Israeli government, its most recent attacks in Jerusalem, and ever-increasing rightward, tending toward fascistic, political parties.

The Israeli government may have miscalculated, although it is entirely possible that the wily Netanyahu thinks that a war would rally the fractured Israeli populace and improve his chances of reappearing Houdini-like as a viable candidate and of course staying out of prison. I suspect that most Israeli politicians believe that anything that causes a rift in the dysfunctional Hamas/ Palestinian Authority relationship and provides an excuse to assassinate a few Hamas leaders is also good for Israel. Israel has already thrown a monkey wrench into the now cancelled Palestinian elections by denying East Jerusalemites the right to vote, thus increasing the distress of the already pandemic stressed occupied Palestinian population.

More here.
The National Elections Commission, (NEC), Friday hosted a one-day emergency Inter Party Consultative Committee, IPCC, meeting with representatives of the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, Assessment Team to Liberia, and Registered Political Parties in Liberia.

The IPCC meeting, requested by the two-person UNDP Assessment Team to Liberia focused on political parties' recommendation to strengthening their institutions and their role in ensuring Gender and Women political participation and integration and train of youth within their parties.During the meeting,

representatives of political parties spoke about the need to setup a secretariat to coordinate all of their activities. They further emphasized the need for external donor support for capacity building and funding to enhance execution of their platforms throughout the country.

Executive Members from more than 15 registered political parties, alliances and coalitions, attended the meeting with the delegation and the board of commissioners.
New York  The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) on Friday called on the international community "to urgently investigate the killing of two peaceful protesters and injury of 37 others" on May 11 in Khartoum.

"The response from the Sudanese authorities towards the assembly commemorating the 3 June massacre raises concerns about the continued reliance on repressive tactics to disrupt peaceful assembly," the New York-based African Centre said in a statement on Friday.

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum on May 11/Ramadan 29 to commemorate the victims of the June 3/Ramadan 29 massacre two years ago, when more than 127 people present at the large anti-military sit-in near the army command were killed by government forces. More than 700 others sustained injuries, and at least 100 people went missing.

During the commemoration on Tuesday, armed men wearing the uniform of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) reportedly fired tear gas and live ammunition at the protesters and beat them with batons, the African Centre states. Osman Ahmed Badreldin and Modasir Mukhtar were killed by bullets.

At least 37 others were seriously injured, according to the Sudanese Doctors Central Committee. The wounded were taken to the Royal Care, Al Zaitoona and Fedail hospitals in central Khartoum.

In the afternoon of 10 May, a significant number of armed forces were deployed on the streets leading to the army headquarters in the country's capital, to prevent people from organising the planned commemoration of what has become known as the June 3 massacre.

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'International standards'

In its statement, the ACJPS urges the Sudanese authorities to respect "the right to peacefully assemble and restrict the use of force to extremely necessary circumstances, in line with international standards," . The authorities should "ensure that law enforcement agencies comply with international standards on the use of force. It should be made clear that arbitrary or abusive use of force by security forces will be punished.

"Further, the enjoyment of freedom peaceful assembly, association and expression by Sudanese citizens is very crucial for the transition into a civilian-led government. We urge Sudanese authorities to respect these rights as guaranteed in the 2019 Constitutional Charter and international treaties ratified by Sudan."

On May 12, the SAF formed a committee to investigate who ordered the shooting. Minister of Defence Lt Gen Yasin Ibrahim announced that those among the government forces accused of firing live bullets at the demonstrators the evening before, were detained and would be charged within a few days.

Many political parties as well as the Sudanese Employers Union strongly condemned the violence. The Sudanese Congress Party and the Nasserist Unionist Party withdrew their leaders from high-level government posts. The National Umma Party stated that "the security forces still do not comprehend the requirements of the democratic transformation," and need urgent restructuring.
analysis

Mauritius has been listed as one of the world's top ten autocratising nations. Can the people save it?

Over the past few decades, Mauritius has built a glowing international reputation. It is regarded as one of the best managed democracies in Africa, as a place to do business, and as a country where the rule of law is upheld. However, recent reports have begun to challenge this "picture perfect" image.

Most notably, Mauritius was put on the European Union's blacklist for money laundering and terrorist financing last year, jeopardising trust in the country and potentially undermining its financial services sector. Then, earlier this year, Mauritius was listed alongside the likes of Brazil, India and Turkey as one of the world's "top ten autocratising countries" between 2010 and 2020 in a report by the V-Dem Institute.

What's behind this fall from grace of a country recently considered a textbook for success?

Autocratising

A key moment in Mauritius' democratic decline were the 2019 general elections. The island's previous eleven elections had typically been well-managed, but this poll was fraught with allegations of irregularities and unfair practices.

These ranged from inconsistencies in the electoral register, to marked ballots being found outside counting centres, to widespread allegations of fraud and bribery. One of the respondents interviewed for the Westminster Foundation for Democracy described how "for the first time in my political career, I have witnessed so much money in circulation. Big means were used. Millions of Mauritian rupees were laundered. In each constituency, vast amounts of money were used."

The ruling Militant Socialist Movement (MSM) and Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth were officially returned to power, but opposition parties filed ten petitions in the Supreme Court contesting the validity and credibility of the results. 18 months later, the court is still yet to make its ruling.

In some ways, the disputed elections were a sign of things to come. After winning the elections, the MSM-led government quickly signalled its unwillingness to tolerate dissent. To begin with, the party ran roughshod over the long-standing tradition that the Speaker of Parliament is selected in consultation with the opposition. Instead, the party used its majority to install MSM loyalist Sooroojdev Phokeer, who has acted with little impartiality since.

In 2020, the speaker expelled or suspended opposition MPs 14 times for asking questions about corruption allegations linked to Jugnauth or the then deputy prime minister. Then, this March, Phokeer went even further by indefinitely suspending three MPs who protested his decision to withdraw from the Hansard and delete footage of a question an opposition member had asked the previous week. These elected officials will be barred from participating in parliament or voting until 2024 unless they tender "unreserved apologies". This situation is unprecedented and has shocked many.

Other supposedly independent institutions have also been accused of bias. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and Police have avoided investigating those close to power. Meanwhile, the National Audit Office (NAO) has complained of restrictions in its attempts to conduct its 2019-2020 audit, saying it "had to deal with situations where NAO officers either could not have access to records or such access was simply denied".

The auditors did, however, have enough information to raise serious concerns about government spending. Corruption, nepotism and cronyism have always existed in Mauritius, but the COVID-19 pandemic has taken them to another level. According to the NAO, "medical disposables to the tune of Rs 850 million [$21 million] were purchased from private companies which had no previous dealings with the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW) in such goods. The average prices paid for some medical disposables were up to 67 times higher than the last price paid for."

Many in Mauritius are also concerned by what they see as a creeping surveillance state. Financed by a $350 million loan from the China EXIM bank, the government launched the Mauritius Safe City Project (MSCP) in December 2019, installing 4,000 CCTV cameras across the island. These are accessible by the Police, which falls under the purview of the Prime Minister's Office.

The ruling party also recently published proposed amendments to the ICT Act "to effectively address any inappropriate use of social media platforms". If approved, all internet communications in Mauritius would pass through a centralised proxy server managed by Information & Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) that could access, decrypt, analyse and block traffic. This method of filtering data bears a chilling resemblance to "The Great Firewall of China", which severely restricts freedom of expression and information.

Sprigs of hope

In the island's history, Mauritians have rarely taken to the streets to protest. This can be partly explained by the fact that independence was peaceful and that governments since then have tended to emphasise national unity while investing in a generous welfare state.

Following the MV Wakashio oil spill in July 2020, however, this changed. Two massive street protests saw tens of thousands of protesters expressing their anger at government inaction and opacity in dealing with the environmental catastrophe. Many openly demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Jugnauth.

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These demonstrations were momentous in terms of their turnout, diversity and explicit demands for change. They also led to the emergence of new citizen-led groups such as Linion Sitwayin (Citizens' Union), Ideal Democrate (Democracy Ideal) and En Avant Moris (Let's Go Mauritius). At the same time, the Mauritian diaspora - believed to number about 200,000 people, compared to the country's 1.3 million population - has become more vocal. A group called the Mauritius Global Diaspora recently organised "Virtual General Elections" on their right to vote.

It is too soon to say if these new political formations can sustain popular support and provide a credible alternative to the mainstream political parties that have dominated Mauritius' political landscape since independence. But what is clear is that many Mauritians are deeply dissatisfied. In a 2020 Afrobarometer survey, 36.4% said they considered Mauritius either "not a democracy" or "a democracy with major problems", while 53.6% of respondents said the country is "going in the wrong direction".

Roukaya Kasenally is a democracy scholar and an Associate Professor in media and political systems. She is currently the Chair of the Electoral Institute of Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) and part of the International Advisory Board of the Electoral Integrity Project (EIP).
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will head to Paris on Sunday to take part in a high-level conference on Sudan and on a summit on financing African economies, to convene Monday and Tuesday respectively, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

Sisi's participation in the two events come upon an invitation by French President Emmanuel Macron in light of the distinguished relations binding the two countries.

It also comes as part of Egypt's vital role in boosting transitional stage in Sudan at regional and international levels and its heavyweight status in the African continent, the spokesman said.

During Sudan conference, President Sisi will focus on the importance of rallying international community's efforts to support Sudan during transitional period and will expound Egyptian efforts in this regard, the spokesman said.

As for the summit on financing African economies, Sisi will shed light on the importance of international efforts to help African countries achieve economic growth despite coronavirus pandemic and facilitating technology transfer to African countries.

Sisi's visit to France also includes holding summit talks with Macron to discuss bilateral relations that are witnessing a qualitative leap in recent years in addition to continuing consultations over a number of regional and international files of common interest.

President Sisi will hold a number of meetings with French officials as well as heads of some French companies to discuss ways to develop cooperation in the economic, trade and investment fields between the two sides.

On the sidelines of the visit, the President will meet with a number of heads of state and government for talks on boosting bilateral cooperation towards various regional and international issues.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said 308.3 billion pounds were earmarked to the economic bodies in the new budget to help them finance more investments to carry out national development projects.

In a statement by the Finance Ministry, Maait said economic bodies, totaling 57, are the pillars of economic activities in Egypt and they contribute to improving business climate in a way that serves national economy.

Thanks to the projects the country is now carrying out, Egypt became among the four countries that managed to achieve positive economic growth despite coronavirus pandemic, he added.

These economic bodies contribute 176.9 billion pounds to the State treasury in terms of taxes and duties, he added.

He said financial allocations to public investments in the new budget grew by 27.6% to hit 358.1 billion pounds to guarantee better services to citizens.
Bharat Biotech on Sunday said its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin is effective against all new emerging variants of coronavirus, including those first found in India and UK.

Citing a study published in peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Bharat Biotech co-founder and Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella said in a tweet, "Covaxin gets international recognition yet again, by scientific research data published demonstrating protection against the new variants.Yet another feather in its cap."

Ella also tagged Prime Minister's Office, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, among others in the tweet.

Also read: COVID-19: Chances of hospitalisation after vaccination at 0.06%, says study

"Vaccination with Covaxin produced neutralising titres against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first identified in India and the UK, respectively," the Hyderabad-based company said.

The company said a modest reduction in neutralisation by a factor of 1.95 was observed against B.1.617 variant compared to vaccine variant D614G. However, despite the reduction, neutralising titre levels with B.1.617 remain above levels expected to be protective, it added.

Besides, no difference was observed in neutralisation between B.1.1.7 and the vaccine strain.

The study was conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology and Indian Council of Medical Research, it said.

Also read: 8 of 10 most valued companies' m-cap plunges by Rs 1.13 lakh crore; RIL, SBI lone gainer
Fochville  Two men were left injured following a single vehicle rollover on the N12 in Fochville direction Potchefstroom last night.

When ER24 paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 20h30, they found two patients at the scene. A patient was found lying next to the bakkie, he was found to have sustained moderate injuries. The second patient was found lying a couple of meters from the bakkie, he was found to have sustained serious injuries.

ER24 as well as GPG treated the patients at the scene before transporting them to hospital. Once at the hospital, the seriously injured patient was airlifted by medical helicopter to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital for further medical care.

The exact circumstances surrounding the incident were not known to our paramedics.
Police in Tororo District are holding three people on allegations of murdering their own friend.

It's alleged that Hussein Kato, 33, a resident of Nyangole Village, Eastern Division in Tororo Municipality was murdered by his friends and dumped near the unfinished building.

The Bukedi South Regional Police Spokesperson, Mr Moses Mugwe, said the suspects, not identified in order not to jeopardise the investigations, were arrested on Saturday with the help of police sniffer dogs.

"We have arrested three suspects to help us in investigations," he said.

Mr Mugwe said that the lifeless body of Kato was found in a pool of blood opposite Muzuri Guest House by locals who alerted the police.

"Police detectives headed by the officer In-charge Criminal Investigations, Mr Moses Mukooli, visited the crime scene to gather more evidence, and investigations into the matter are ongoing," he said.

Police preliminary investigations indicate that the suspects had misunderstandings with Kato resulting from a woman. It is alleged that Kato was having extra-marital affairs with the wife of one of the suspects.

The trio who face murder charges are currently being detained at Tororo Central Police Station and their case is registered as CRB 491/2021.

Kato's body was taken to Tororo Municipal Mortuary for a postmortem.
Amid the anger and disappointment at the High Court ruling that shredded the push to amend the constitution through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020, promoters and supporters of the initiative are plotting their next moves.

In a series of meetings that began as soon as the High Court finished reading the summary of its decision, close aides and allies of President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga , who are the chief proponents of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), were exploring political and legal options as they rush to avoid an embarrassing end to a journey that started in March 2018.

The legal team assembled by President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga have identified at least 14 grounds on which they will be seeking to convince the Court of Appeal either tomorrow or Tuesday to set aside a judgment by the Constitutional Court which dismissed the push to amend the constitution through the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) as an illegal.

And yesterday, Mr Odinga released a statement where he said they will move to court but also called for sobriety. He was speaking for the first time since the court delivered the verdict.

Sobriety

"We will move to the Court of Appeal to present our case as to why we think the High Court did not render the right verdict. We will do so with sobriety and with respect for our judges and courts," Mr Odinga said.

As of last evening, the teams had held at least six brainstorming meetings, both at the State House with Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki leading one team and at Mr Odinga's Karen home led by lawyer Paul Mwangi, who is also the former premier's legal advisor, with participants exuding confidence that they will convince the appellate court to set aside the High Court decision.

The BBI secretariat and Mr Kariuki are expected to jointly move to the Court of Appeal as early as tomorrow.

By last evening, a star-studded legal team that has some of the lawyers which appeared for both Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga in the 2017 presidential petition were drafting the appeal as the Sunday Nation learnt that they had identified 14 grounds to file for the review of the verdict.

"We will just go up the ladder and appeal. The decision is fundamentally flawed, so we will challenge it," said Ken Ogeto, the Solicitor-General. Mr Ogeto termed the High Court ruling by Justices Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Chacha Mwita and Teresia Matheka "an academic dissertation". A number of names have been considered and some have been approached though with a mixed bag of success. Some of those approached have expressed reservations about taking up the assignment for fear the initiative may tarnish their reputation.

BBI strategists

The strategists have been bold enough to even approach an advocate who has in recent times mostly allied himself to Deputy President William Ruto's wing of the Jubilee Party.

The lawyer, Sunday Nation learnt, was surprised to receive a call from the BBI strategists asking him to join the team that will argue the appeal at the Court of Appeal.

Names of lawyers James Orengo, Ahmednasir Abdullahi, Paul Muite and Kioko Kilukumi, all senior counsels have featured in many of the planning meetings. Yesterday, one of them with a history of defending the constitution and civil liberties expressed his reluctance to take up the assignment.

Former Attorney-General Githu Muigai has also been approached to buttress the team up.

Some of the lawyers have also kept away from the media to defend the BBI, leaving mostly Mr Odinga's long-term legal adviser Mr Mwangi to do the job.

"This of course is a coup against the sovereignty of the people. While the people of Kenya at Bomas had said that judges will not have any power to decide the validity of any clause of the constitution, the judges have now found a way to curtail the sovereign power of the people by giving the court power to decide what enters the constitution. This is politics, not law," Mr Mwangi argues.

BBI proposals

Yesterday, Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi, one of the key proponents of BBI alongside Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper, Ford Kenya's Moses Wetang'ula, Gideon Moi of Kanu, and National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) boss Charity Ngilu, called on use of Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group (IPPG) model to implement some of the BBI proposals.

Mr Mudavadi said even if the court's decision is appealed, the constitutional review will be facing timeline hurdles.

"We are acutely aware that constitutional timelines will be in the way, regardless of the result of the appeals. For instance, the proposed 70 constituencies would not be applicable in the next election if the entire process of the referendum is not concluded before August 2022. This means that regardless of the results from any appeals preferred, the bulk of the provisions of the bill will not, for sure, become operational in next year's polls," said Mr Mudavadi.

Read: BBI promoters accuse judges of activism, vow to appeal court ruling

He suggested that in order not to lose the entire BBI bill, there is a need for leaders to embark on what he described as "inclusive national dialogue".

"Kenyans, we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater. There must be a silver lining out of the court's judgement and this is what we must look out for as a nation. All is not lost. We recommend and appeal to all leaders to consider a return to the conversation table and re-start an inclusive national dialogue styled in the format of the 2002 IPPG arrangement. This national dialogue should be as inclusive as possible," said Mr Mudavadi.

There is also the plan to launch a vigorous campaign to sway the public into supporting the BBI agenda.

While there is almost consensus among key players that times are hard and a referendum should not be a priority at the moment, something DP Ruto has been using to try and shoot down the initiative, they are upbeat that a concerted campaign to project the potential benefits to the people will not only help assuage the apathy but also help address questions around legitimacy of the process and the impact of the court ruling.

"I am convinced beyond any shadow of doubt as a writer and leading commentator on the Kenyan Judiciary, that the BBI case decided this week is one of the cases being used by this cabal in directing political change in this country. I will lay out how these political objectives were pursued in the BBI case," lawyer Mwangi said.

University of Nairobi don Herman Manyora, believes that as politicians, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Odinga have something up their sleeves to rescue the sinking BBI boat.

"They will pursue an appeal and they will likely win and the referendum will go on. The big question, however, is on legitimacy. Even without this (High Court) ruling, there was going to be the question of legitimacy. This judgment makes it worse for them," said Prof Manyora.

As the BBI proponents plot their next move, DP Ruto and his allies, on the other hand, have been holding virtual victory laps over the High Court judgment.

Immediately after the judgment was delivered on Thursday evening, Dr Ruto posted on Twitter: "There is God in heaven who loves Kenya immeasurably. May God's name be praised forever."

Separation of power

Then on Friday morning, as if to savour the 'victory', he posted: "Our democracy is anchored on the rule of law, constitutionalism, separation of power and respect for independent institutions. All patriotic citizens must defend these tenets just like the judiciary did. Now let's focus on Covid-19 vaccination, economic recovery, the Big4 and stay united."

Legally, the room to manoeuvre has considerably shrunk for the BBI proponents, says Kenyatta University's political economy and history lecturer, Dr Edward Kisiangani.

"Even if there are options available, they are not very strong," he added.

According to political analyst Dismas Mokua, the urgent matter for the President and Mr Odinga right now is to save themselves from embarrassment.

"They will employ all resources and sharpen all the tools at their disposal to save the BBI or avoid any further embarrassment," said Mr Mokua.

Politically - and this has started showing from supporters of the two principals - the idea of bastardising the ruling and going for the individual judges who ruled against the BBI has been considered. It is a vicious scheme meant to 'slow them down' going forward.

The plot, we established, is to paint the judges as being driven by revenge and malice after President Kenyatta refused to swear some of them in after the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in 2019.

Justices Ngugi and Odunga, who were members of the five-judge bench that tossed out the BBI proposal to amend the constitution, were among the 11 persons the JSC had recommended for appointment as judges of the Court of Appeal.

On social media, claims of the judges taking advantage of the petitions against BBI to get back at the government have been prevalent.

The BBI secretariat co-chairman Junet Mohamed, in a press conference in Nairobi on Friday, hinted at that. He accused the five judges, with the help of a section of politicians opposed to the BBI and members of the civil society, of judicial activism and subverting the will of millions of Kenyans who endorsed the BBI bill.

Constitutional crisis

"This was a very deliberate design to plunge the country into a constitutional crisis and chaos through judicial activism," said Mr Mohamed.

Through the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (BBI Bill), President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga had promised their political bases of goodies that would come their way if they supported and adopted the proposed changes in a referendum - new constituencies, more money to counties, inclusivity through expanded executive, and ward development fund among others.

The bill was birthed by the March 9, 2018, 'handshake' on the steps of Harambee House when President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga promised "to create a united nation for all Kenyans living today, and all future generations."

The High Court, however, faulted the process the BBI took, which they said lacked public participation. They also faulted the initiation of a popular initiative by the President. The court also issued a permanent injunction against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) from undertaking processes to prepare for a referendum in respect to the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

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"To the extent that the BBI Steering Committee was employed by the President to initiate proposals to amend the constitution contrary to Article 257 of the Constitution, the BBI Steering Committee is an unconstitutional entity," the judges said.

The loss no doubt jolted the handshake alliance, which was planning Mr Kenyatta's succession largely based on new positions such as that of prime minister contained in the proposed constitutional changes.

It partly explains the gusto with which they are taking up the appeal they cannot afford to lose.

Constitutional lawyer Bobby Mkangi says the BBI proposal gives strength to pre-election coalitions of which if they win the polls, they share positions as agreed and in a scenario that referendum is not conducted before next year's election, there is a likelihood of political realignments, adding that the Thursday decision has taken political bigwigs to the drawing board.

Pre-election coalitions

"BBI architecture no doubt provides great opportunity for political pre-election coalitions on the basis of the executive slots that can be shared. If the proposed amendments are affirmed through a referendum, it will open up political realignment and coalitions, and deal sealing before the 2022 General Election and vice versa," he argues.

Governance expert Javas Bigambo says the court decision is likely to "signal the end of the deal with the BBI". "What unites President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga is the two issues in the three years that the process has been in the eyes of Kenyans. Its breakdown means the political closeness of the two is over, if there is no room for those running the scheme to file an appeal in court," said Mr Bigambo.

He explains that this will also provide an opportunity for new political alliances to be formed, especially among leaders who felt excluded from the process. "We will witness politicians forming political alliances on the basis of 'revenge' exclusion from the program," he said. Mr Bigambo thinks that without a BBI referendum, the Head of State will not find it easy to influence his succession and there is likelihood of finding himself between a rock and a hard place.

Prof XN Iraki of the University of Nairobi argues that an end to the process is likely to scuttle dreams of the political bigwigs.

"BBI referendum will be a dress rehearsal for 2022. Politicians would love it. It will help them refine their 2022 strategies. It is more than that, If BBI goes through, winning in 2022 will be easier, just distribute the top five national positions (President, DP, PM and his two deputies) to the regions that matter. Not holding it will scuttle lots of political dreams. Remember BBI is a political investment, the investors are awaiting returns through 2022 polls," he says.
Oh, so we can actually sue the President on literary anything? This is a new development in our jurisprudence and former Attorney-General Charles Njonjo, the man who authored the clause that shielded President Jomo Kenyatta from any civil and criminal prosecution, must be seething with anger.

It seems that we are starting to rethink immunity granted to members of various institutions, over sins of omission and commission, while carrying their official duties.

There was a time in 1965 when Mr Njonjo was asked by a Nation journalist, John Platter, on why he had set the president to be above the law. Mr Njonjo was candid. "Just as in Britain where the Queen is the Head of State and is the fountain of justice, so too is the president here," he said, "in Britain the Queen is above the law and we see no reason why our president shouldn't be too. For instance, why should he be liable for prosecution, as we are, if we break a traffic law?"

The question of sovereign immunity under domestic law and under international law has always interested legal scholars and most Commonwealth countries tend to mimic the British monarchy system where the King or Queen is the Head of State and above legal scrutiny.

But in some countries, such as Kenya, where we have the Head of State serving as the head of government - the combined positions usually pose some legal dilemma and confusion. And that appears to be the dilemma that faced the High Court bench when deciding the Building Bridges Initiative case in which they held that the president can, indeed, be sued and named in proceedings and that he should enter appearance.

Attorney-General, Kihara Kariuki, had argued that it is not that the President cannot be held to account for his actions while in office, but that whenever he has to be sued, the proper procedure to adopt is the judicial review proceedings in which the AG, rather than the President, would be named in the proceedings as the respondent. The bone of contention was on who should be named in the proceedings.

Immunity concepts

While we have borrowed some of the immunity concepts from UK where the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is the sovereign, the Kenyan constitution regards the people as the sovereign - just like in the US.

Where, then, do we draw the line of immunity given to the three arms of government: Executive, legislature and Judiciary? Can we banish the very doctrine of immunity from our laws - and is the immunity given to Executive, Judiciary and legislature inconsistent with our constitution?

What are the ramifications of this week's ruling - or are our courts getting careless? There is a whole body of literature on crown, state and sovereign immunity for those who want some deeper understanding.

But some legal scholars are now appreciating that sovereign immunity is an anachronistic relic of the English law which had assumed that the King could never err.

But still, nations want to protect their symbols of national unity; especially the presidency from harassment. In a 1982 ruling, the US Supreme Court held in Nixon v. Fitzgerald that the president enjoys absolute immunity - which is drawn from sovereign immunity - from civil litigation for official acts undertaken while he or she is president. The same applies to members of the Judiciary.

The doctrine appears to have gained ground in the 13th century during the reign of King Edward I when it was held that the monarchy was not suable unless it had consented to the suit.

Actually, the last time an English sovereign appeared in court was in 1649 when King Charles I was accused of starting war with parliament and in which thousands died. While he had been accused of treason, a special court - where he refused to attend pleading immunity- found him "guilty of all the treasons, murders, rapines, burnings, spoils, desolations, damages and mischiefs to this nation" and ordered for his beheading. He was beheaded on January 30, 1649 outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall and his death triggered the Third English Civil War.

Ever since, the King and Queen have rarely been questioned and this has entrenched the common law immunity that was enshrined in our constitution in 1964 - albeit with different reactions.

In terms of developing jurisprudence on sovereign immunity, the UK seems to be lagging behind - and their Kings and Queens could still do no wrong. This doctrine was once tested in 1911 in the UK when a French journalist wrote an article alleging that King George V had entered a morganatic marriage with an admiral's daughter in Malta. The journalist, Edward Mylius, accused King George V of bigamy and of contravening the Royal Marriages Act of 1772. The import of that accusation was grave. If, indeed, King George V had married an Admiral's daughter, then she was the rightful Queen of England, and not Queen Mary, and her children were the rightful heirs to the throne.

Winston Churchill

The King decided to sue but he was advised by Winston Churchill that he could neither appear as King or in private capacity as a witness simply because this was his own court! The Lord Chief Justice Alverstone also decided that the King could not be ordered to give evidence. This position was once again tested nine years ago when Paul Burell was in 2002 accused of stealing Princess Diana's property and he alleged that he had talked to the Queen about their safekeeping.

Rather than call the Queen, as a witness in the case, Prosecutor William Boyce QC dropped the case arguing that it was no longer realistic to get a conviction. Thus, over the years, the British monarchy has not only been shielded from appearing in their courts but also from prosecution.

But now, in Kenya, we seem to be adopting the original tenets of the American constitution, that all were equal before the law and where nobody is above the reach of the law. While this was the foundation of the American constitution in 1776, its Supreme Court has invented the judicial doctrine of qualified immunity to shield public officials from liability, even when they violate people's constitutional rights, unless a court determines those rights were "clearly established". That means that rather than fade sovereign immunity, the Americans have expanded its scope. In Kenya, the courts are fading the immunity granted to the Head of State.

The current jurisprudence, following the Justice Isaac Lenaola ruling in the Isaac Polo Aluochier case, is that when the president is sued in his personal capacity, the AG cannot enter an appearance for him. But it now appears that the court has opened the floodgates with yet another observation: "Any person may invoke the jurisdiction of this court by suing the president, whether in his personal or in his official capacity; whichever capacity he is sued may very well depend on the nature of the violation or threatened violation and will certainly depend on the circumstances of each particular case."

Those who have studied the British history will tell you that the King (or Queen) was both the sovereign and fount of justice - meaning that he was the source of law. The King was deemed to be appointed by God and that he was inviolable and thus could not be sued.

Secondly, the King, or Queen, was considered to be the dispenser of justice, through their appointees - and that is where we still borrow the tradition of the president appointing judges. So, therefore, the King could not appear before the same people he had appointed for it would appear ridiculous. Thus, in that monarchical thinking, the judges enjoyed the immunity thanks to their appointment by the King who held - and still holds - his position by "the grace of God."

In Kenya, the same privileges and immunity enjoyed by the Executive, were extended to Parliament with the passing of the National Assembly (Powers and Privileges) Act, which in Section 3 said that "no civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against any member for words spoken before or written in a report to the assembly, or to a committee, or by reason of any matter or thing brought by him therein by petition, bills, resolution, motion or otherwise."

This was once tested when Martin Shikuku and Jean Marie Seroney were detained without trial after Shikuku said that Kanu is dead and Mr Seroney, then the temporary Speaker, agreed with him and told off a member who wanted Shikuku to substantiate. "You can't substantiate the obvious," Mr Seroney ruled.

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Also, Njonjo did not respect that particular clause and in October 1965, Wajir North MP Abdi Sirat Khalif claimed in Parliament that Mr Njonjo had threatened him outside the Chamber. "(He) told me outside the Chamber that he is going to see that I am victimised for the nonsensical speeches and questions, which are designed to embarrass him that I made in the Chamber."

But Mr Njonjo later denied saying it was Mr Khalif who had threatened him by saying that, "if the government does not answer questions properly, in this House, something will be done... He told me he will get assistance from Somalia... and my only comment was that he should go to Somalia and get the assistance that he was speaking about and carry out his threat."

Recently, the Kenyan Supreme Court also held that you cannot sue a judge and "that immunity of a judge can only be stripped in our realm, by proceedings through the Judicial Service Commission and not by a civil suit.

"Suing a judge or judicial officer for rendering an unfavourable decision rather than appeal or seek a review, was in our opinion, a misconception and a step in the wrong direction on the part of the petitioner. As a court, we are cognizant of the fact that at times, litigants may feel aggrieved by some of the decisions that judges and judicial officers make. But this is not in any way an exoneration of the petitioner in its actions.

To seek relief by apportioning an unwarranted attack on (judges), who were lawfully exercising their judicial function, was tantamount to harassment and intimidation of the judicial officers," said the Supreme Court in the Bellevue Development case.

Perhaps legal scholars should tell us why you can sue the president and not sue a judge or MP?
In a bid to improve access to mental healthcare, the Health ministry is set to conduct a countrywide survey to establish the number of people living with mental health challenges.

Dr Hafsa Lukwata, the acting assistant commissioner for mental health and control of substance abuse at the ministry, said the lack of data on the state of mental health in the country had created a gap in planning for those in need of care.

Dr Lukwata said a private entity will support the survey that is planned to help government offer better and demand-driven interventions.

"We have had a challenge of not knowing the actual prevalence of the different mental conditions in the country until lately. An organisation has come up to help us carry out this nationwide survey to help establish the state of mental health in the country," Dr Lukwata said.

She was speaking during the launch a toll-free helpline set up by Mental Health Uganda, an organisation championing mental health awareness. The toll-free line will offer counselling and referral services to persons facing mental health challenges.

Asked how patients will be identified in a sea of people with different challenges, Dr Lukwata said a team of experts in the field has been selected to conduct the survey.

"There is some science around it. Mental health challenges are not like malaria that has clear symptoms. People get challenges in different forms, there is depression, anxiety, and those are some that we will be investigating. Not everyone who does not sleep well or has panic attacks has a mental health problem. There is a criteria, explicit signs and symptoms which when put together, give you a diagnosis and it requires a lot of work to get the right people for this surveys," Dr Lukwata said.

Mr Derrick Kizza, the executive director of Mental Health Uganda, said the ministry needs to be establish strict and science-backed criteria to be followed.

Other interventions

For a country still grappling with understanding the meaning of mental health, stakeholders want the ministry to integrate the phenomenon in primary healthcare and invest in community awareness and interventions. Drug stockouts and high prices in private facilities has also been a big challenge.

Dr Lukwata, however, said the department has a small budget that cannot be stretched any further.

"As a country we have dealt a lot with the clinical aspect of treating people with mental illness. However, we know these illnesses take on a chronic mode of care, we will not depend on the facility-based care of treatment. There are other interventions that can be worked out at the community level to help people with challenges recover. That is where our emphasis as a country is; psychosocial interventions," Dr Lukwata said.

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The ministry is also in the process of establishing regulations for the implementation of the Mental Health Act that, among others, directs that each district should have a person in charge and isolation units be headed by an expert in psychiatry.

Toll-free helpline

Mr Derrick Kizza, the executive director of Mental Health Uganda, said more than 500 calls were recorded on the first day of the opening of the toll-free line.

The line [0800212121] will be used to offer counselling and referral services, with special attention to young people between 15 and 35 years.

The organisation has partnered with health facilities in different regions to refer those in need of further help. The lines will be stationed across eight districts in Gulu, Lira, Kampala, Mpigi, Soroti, Mbale, Kanungu and Mbarara to offer services in English, Luo, Swahili, Luganda and Runyakitara.
Abuja  The federal government has disclosed that it has concluded a plan to restore mangrove ecosystems in Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta region.

This plan was revealed in a statement the Director of Press, Ministry of Environment, Saghir el Mohammed issued yesterday after an International Expert Meeting on Mangrove Restoration in the Niger Delta.

At the opening session, according to the statement, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Mohammad Abubakar said the meeting was a turning point for mangrove ecosystems in Ogoniland.

Quoted in the statement, the minister said: "Using the knowledge and experience of the experts assembled here today, together, we will be able to restore the mangroves and improve the lives of the Ogoni communities who are affected every day by the devastating pollution."

The statement said the meeting convened by his ministry would lead to the creation of a strategy and conservation plan for the restoration of mangroves in Ogoniland.

The statement noted that during the meeting, the conditions and methods for successful replantation and recovery of mangrove habitats were discussed.

It said international experts provided their experiences from around the world and their application to Ogoniland. In addition, examples of successful mangrove restoration already taking place in Nigeria were provided.

It noted that the meeting was attended by experts from more than 20 different institutions, and was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

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The statement identified mangroves as not just ecologically significant but are critical to the livelihood and food security of communities in Ogoniland.

The meeting is expected to bring new momentum to the restoration efforts for mangrove ecosystems in Ogoniland, paving the way for healthy ecosystems and successful environmental remediation of areas affected by the pollution.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) had found extensive damage to mangroves in Ogoniland when it undertook its 2011 Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.

The report found that the impact of oil on mangrove vegetation in Ogoniland had been disastrous.

Impacts of the pollution varied from extreme stress to total destruction. In the most impacted areas, only the roots of the mangroves remain, with no stems or leaves.

In many of these areas, the roots were completely coated in oil, sometimes with a 1 cm or thicker layer of bituminous substance. Experts found that pollution has accumulated over a very long period.
In the early hours of Monday, May 10, 2021, unknown gunmen, in flagrant disrespect for the holy month of Ramadan, surrounded a mosque in Jibia and abducted worshippers observing midnight prayer.

The incident took place at Abattoir area of Jibia, JIbia Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The police spokesman in Katsina, SP Gambo, confirmed the incident, saying the bandits who came in their numbers, with AK 47 riffles, surrounded the worshippers at a newly constructed mosque on the outskirts of Jibia.

"They surrounded the worshippers and fired a shot into the air to scare them after which they abducted about 40 of them. But a combined team of the police, military, local vigilante and members of the community went after them and succeeded in rescuing about 30 of the victims," he said.

Isah added that a headcount the following morning indicated that about 10 were still missing, but could not be ascertained whether they were actually with the bandits or they ran to other places for their safety.

However, Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that among the missing persons, only three were taken to the kidnappers' den - a nursing mother, her seven-month-old baby and a young girl whose heroic story is worth reading.

Escapees narrate their ordeal

One of the victims, who sustained an injury during the unfortunate incident, Malam Muhammad Bello, recounted his ordeal.

"We were observing midnight prayers around 1:30 am when the bandits came into the mosque and asked us to move out.

"They collected phones and money from worshippers and then asked us to move outside where some of them were stationed.

"Majority of us ran away the moment we went out of the mosque, including me. But unfortunately for me, the place where I ran to, there was a bandit stationed there and the moment he saw me, he hit me on the head with a gun, but I did not stop, I continued running until I was confident that I was in a safe place."

He added that amongst those who were taken by the bandits, some escaped along the way because when one attempts to run, the bandits would not go after him.

Also narrating his ordeal, Mustapha who fractured his leg during the incident, said when the gunmen came, it was a young boy who first went into the mosque and asked the Imam to halt the prayers, but the Imam and other worshippers ignored him.

"Then a grown-up man came in and took down the microphone from the Imam and asked everybody to go out, after firing a shot. When we went out, a lot of us ran away, but unfortunately for me, my wife, who is a nursing mother, was held by a bandit while our 7-month-old baby was crying on her back. That was why I could not run away but decided to go along with them.

"On our way, I began to plead with them to release the nursing mother, but they refused to do so, and instead they asked if she was my wife, but I said no, I was just concerned about the baby.

"When I realized that they were not willing to release her, I told them that I could not walk anymore, so I pretended to collapse there. They insisted that I should get up and go along with them or else, they will shoot me, but I said they should go ahead and shoot me, which they actually did.

"When they fired the gun, I realized that most of their guns did not have live ammunition and so, I got up and began to run. One of them chased me but could not catch up. That was how I escaped, but hit my leg against an object in the process and had a small fracture," he narrated.

The last three

As for the nursing mother, the husband, Mustapha, said he received a call from Gurbi village, that a woman, who escaped from captivity gave his phone number as she was in chains even at that time.

"She told me that she was assisted by the wife of the bandits' leader to escape, as the other girl who was with her had escaped the previous day.

"The wife of the bandits' leader removed the chains from the peg which she was tied to, but she could not unlock the padlocks because she didn't have the keys. So, she assisted her with a pair of shoes, a torchlight and a piece of the wrapper to carry her baby," he said.

As for the young heroine, Halima, she began her dangerous adventure when she wrestled one of the young bandits and hit him on the ground right outside the mosque.

"When they came, they first met us (the women) outside and asked us to fold our prayer mats. Na'ima, who is the nursing mother, got hold of me. They asked us to remain there. A young one among them raised his hand to beat me but I grabbed him, lifted him up and hit him on the ground. He quickly got up, and ran into the mosque," she said.

She said they trekked for about two hours before reaching a place where the bandits kept their motorcycles from where they rode for another two hours into the forest before reaching their enclave.

"They brought some food and water and assigned two young boys to watch us. Later, the boys said we should come along with them to where their women are because they could not stay there with us all alone.

"They took us into a hut and chained us inside. They would always bring food and water and if you want to ease yourself, they will untie you and escort you to and fro.

"On Tuesday, they came to unlock us because we told them that we wanted to urinate, when we returned, they mistakenly dropped the keys there and Na'ima saw them and gave them to me so I dug the ground and buried them in.

"Later in the evening, they came to ask about the keys but we said we did not see any key. They used all sorts of intimidation but we kept mum. After a while, their leader came and asked that we should give him the keys if we saw them, but we said, they locked us here and went away with their keys, so we did not have any key with us.

"The following morning, the young boys came and told me that since I will not give them the keys, they will not let me go anywhere out of the hut, that whatever I want to do I should do it inside. They brought other keys and unlocked Na'ima for her to go and ease herself after which they left.

"Around 12pm, I realized that there was no movement around us as the place was so quiet. I told Na'ima that we should try and leave the place, but she said she could not go out as she was afraid of what could be the consequence.

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"I dug out the keys and unlocked myself and asked her to let me have the baby since she said she was not going with me, but she said no, I should just go, she wished me a safe journey.

"I looked around and there was nobody except a small boy who was far away from where I was with his cattle. I began to run along a footpath for some time, then I heard a sound of a motorcycle coming from the other side, so I took cover in the bushes until they passed, then I proceeded.

"After about two hours I heard the roar of motorcycles coming behind me, so I decided to climb a thick neem tree and I saw them searching all around but Allah protected me, they didn't see me.

"When I saw that they have gone in another direction, I came down and continued until I got to Batsari town from where I was assisted back to Jibia," she narrated.

She said when they got to Gurbi village, a policeman at a checkpoint asked where they were coming from and the driver disclosed who she was and where she was coming from. On hearing that, the police asked the driver to drop her there and called for a patrol vehicle that picked her to Jibia Police station and then to a hospital for a medical check-up, where she was certified okay apart from the sore on her feet.

The nursing mother said when they returned and discovered that Halima was gone, they vowed to return back with her dead body since she was proving to be 'naughty'.

She also said that two men amongst the kidnappers' captives were shot dead by the bandits and she overheard them saying they would collect ransom before informing their relatives that they were dead.
Jos  For seven years, the construction of Garba Daho, Gangare and Yandoya road in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State has remained abandoned. One morning in 2014, the contractors had simply packed up their machines and left the community. Seven years later, they have not returned and residents of Garba Daho say all their efforts in getting government's attention to recommit to the projects have been futile.

The construction of the 3km road was first awarded in early 2014 during the administration of former Governor Jonah David Jang to WAKEMA Construction Company. However, after grading the road and the partial construction of certain drainages, it was alleged that the contractors had stopped work due to the inability of the then government to pay them certain amount of money to continue the work.

Though it is uncertain how much was initially budgeted for the project, the community leader of Garba Daho, Muhammad Sagir Umar told Daily Trust that the contractor had informed them that it was owing the state government over N900 million and had asked the government to release N450 million to continue with the work, a request that was not met as at the time they abandoned site.

Even after several efforts have been made by residents and community leaders to get the present government to once again kick-start the project, not much has been achieved. Umar said the community had set up a committee in 2016 which met with the then Secretary to the State Government, Rufus Bature, on the matter, adding that the then SSG had promised them that the government would look into their plight and ensure that the work was done but this has not come to fruition.

He said: "When we went to see the governor, we were asked to present our problems to the then SSG and he assured us that government would do the work but there wasn't enough resources at government's disposal at that time."

Another view of the dusty road

"In the same 2016," he said, "we lodged the same complaint to the former Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Peter Azi, who is a member of the constituency. He also promised that the road would be included in the next budget but the following year when the work was not done, we went to him again but nothing positive came out up to the time he left office."

The community leader said realising that their efforts were not successful, they had gone to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development to beg for the completion of the road, but such move never yielded the needed result. "We booked an appointment with the Commissioner for Works whom we believed had some influence but it has been the same old story," he said.

Residents say due to years of neglect, the edges of the graded road and the gutter areas are now degrading, with erosion setting in due to high flow of water during the rainy season.

Yusuf Tijjani, a resident of the area, while lamenting on the condition of the road said: "Every year, particularly during the rainy season, we spend a lot of money to repair the road. The rain usually damages the road and my house happens to be by the roadside so I spend a lot of money to fix it when it is destroyed.

His point was buttressed by the community leader who said to make it motorable, they often contribute money to fix those areas already damaged by the rain and erosion. "Because without such efforts, vehicles and tricycles would not be able to ply the road. That is the only alternative we have at the moment," he said.

Sagir Umar however noted that during the dry season, residents also face a new challenge with the red dust which invades their biological system and their homes. Vehicular movements on the untarred road often raise red dust with particles many say have caused mild to severe respiratory diseases. "It has not been easy," said Tijani who explained that abandoning the project has been detrimental to the community's progress.

"The dust we inhale during the dry season is very harmful. Everywhere in the house is red - under the bed and inside the rooms. The situation is dangerous and if nothing is done, it will continue to pose danger to our lives," he said.

Motorcyclists plying the dusty road

"Aside other inconveniences, cars raise dust during the dry season which has been causing various illnesses especially asthma among the residents," said the community leader.

He further stated that from their records, 14 residents, eight of them kids, have been diagnose with asthma and have been placed on drugs due to the prolonged dust inhalation. "It is very unfortunate and if nothing is done, more people will be affected because the problem is from the rising dust, " he added.

Our correspondent reports that apart from the health implications, the rising dust leaves a red residue on almost every aspect of the people's lives. Bedrooms, kitchen and laundry often turn up with red stains from the sand and residents say, this also affect food items, kitchen utensils and the clothes they wear. "We cannot keep our clothes inside our rooms, even the ones packed in the bags or boxes are stained. The ceilings, walls and our kitchen utensils are always covered in red sand. The situation has been injurious and inimical to us as a community," he said.

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Nonetheless, it seems the plight of the people may not be eagerly addressed in the immediate future as the Plateau State government indicated that the faith of the project lies with whether or not the state government gets the available resources it needs to complete the project and others in the state.

Responding on the inability of his administration to complete the projects, Governor Simon Bako Lalong, in a recent media chat, said his government was aware of the road and promised to fix it when resources are available. "We have lots of work to complete. That is not the only work we have. We have done lots of road construction in Jos North. What we often do when we get money is to share it among the different works so that all communities can benefit."

For this particular road, Lalong said, his administration has the intention of completing it and assured that all uncompleted works will be done before the end of his tenure.
At 85, the designer of Nigeria's national flag, Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi believes in Nigeria and usually prays for the greatness of the country.

Asked about his relationship with the federal government, he kept silent. However, Nigerians believe he deserves better welfare from the government of a country he believes so much in.

Akinkunmi is presently living with one of his sons in the Oluyole area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Many people who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday described him as a hero without honour, but the retired civil servant remains grateful to the country.

Akinkunmi was 23 years old and a student of engineering at the Norwood Technical College, London in 1959 when he saw a newspaper advert calling on people to enter a competition to design the Nigerian flag. He won the competition.

He mailed his submission to Lagos within a short time; and in October of the following year, he received a letter inviting him to the London office of the Commissioner for Nigeria in the United Kingdom, where he was told that his green and white design had been selected. He had won 100pounds ($281 in 1959) as well as a place in Nigeria's history books.

That was about 62 years after a British journalist first suggested the name Nigeria. So the 23-year-old Ibadan-born student gave the new country its national flag.

"I felt satisfied when my design was taken. I got a price for winning the competition," he said.

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In 2014, former President Goodluck Jonathan honoured him with a national award and a certain amount of money.

The family and friends of the octogenarian celebrated him as he clocked 85 years last week.

In an interview with journalists as part of his birthday celebration, Pa Akinkunmi said the country would still be great despite the current challenges militating against its existence.

According to the octogenarian, he is always satisfied whenever his design is lifted up as Nigeria's national flag, adding that it is usually a memorable moment.

While wishing the country well in all its endeavours, Akinkunmi advised the youth to be law abiding. He urged them to continue contributing their quotas to the development of the country, with the hope that things would get better very soon.

"I wish the youth well; all the best to them. I hope it would be well for all and sundry.

"My advice is that government should interact with the people."

Akinkunmi further said the price he got for winning the competition and the recognition he received during the independence celebration were enough for serving the country.

Speaking on how the federal government treats the man who designed the country's national flag, an Ibadan traditional titleholder, Mogaji Wale Oladoja said, "The old man deserves better treatment. His contribution to the Nigeria project should be appreciated. If it were in another clime, Akinkunmi and his family would have been given a special treatment. Thanks to former President Jonathan for recognising him."
Residents of Port Harcourt and those residing in Obio Akpor Local Government Area have raised concern over the incessant stealing of manhole covers in Port Harcourt City and Obio Akpor Local Government Areas of the state.

A manhole, according to Wikipedia, is an opening to a confined space such as a shaft, utility vault, or large vessel. Manholes are often used as an access point for underground public utilities, allowing inspection, maintenance, and system upgrades. The majority of underground services have manholes, including water, sewers, telephone, electricity, storm drains, district heat, and gas.

But in Port Harcourt and Obio Akpor Local Government Areas of Rivers State, stealing of manhole cover has become a recurring decimal.

From NTA road, Ozuoba, Ada George, Wimpy road, Rumuolumeni, Rumuola, Port Harcourt/Aba road, Ikwerre road, Leventis and Forces Avenue, heading to Government House main gate and to the old Port Harcourt township, our reporter observed that more than 100 manhole covers have been vandalised and stolen by unknown persons.

The vandalised manholes which are over 15 feet deep have constituted danger to pedestrians who pass through the walkway where the manholes are installed on a daily basis.

Some of the pedestrians have deployed tactical methods of avoiding the vandalised manholes on the walkway while residents who are ignorant of the vandalised manholes cover have on several occasions fallen inside the holes.

In 2019, the Rivers State Government expressed dismay over the continued vandalisation of the manhole and warned that the State Government will deal decisively with any person or group of persons caught vandalising the manholes.

The then Commissioner of Information and Communication, Barrister Emma Okah, had raised concern that several complaints had been made by residents and motorists plying some parts of Port Harcourt such as Forces Avenue over the removal of the entire manhole covers.

He stated that the state government had been looking for an opportunity to catch at least one of the culprits, adding that it was not unaware of the removal of the manhole covers.

"The government has discussed the issue and it has reached a decision that the Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties should design a non-iron manhole cover that will serve as a model to make it unattractive for those dealing in iron to steal them," Okah was quoted as saying.

The State Government our reporter learnt later gave out a N100,000 bounty to anybody that would give useful information on those that are responsible for the vandalization of the manhole. But despite the bounty given out to informants on those that vandalised the manholes, the criminal activities have continued unabated.

Some of the residents who spoke with our reporter blamed the vandalisation of manholes on poor security network and criminal tendencies of those they described as unpatriotic residents of the state.

A resident of Port Harcourt, Chimaobi Ginika, said those that vandalise the manhole do it in the night.

"These criminal activities are carried out in the night when most residents are asleep in their respective homes. It's very unfortunate that some unpatriotic Nigerians do not value public utilities and infrastructures put in place by the government for public good. It's evil and satanic for one to contemplate vandalising such facilities," he said.

He called for more proactive measures in tackling the issue of manhole cover theft in Port Harcourt.

Sharon Chinwengozi Godwin decried the vandalisation of manholes, noting that the open manholes constitute danger to pedestrians who use the walkway on a daily basis.

"It's very unfortunate that criminally minded people go about vandalising manholes meant to cover deep holes that accommodate public utilities such as telecommunication cables and drainage disilting point. I cannot imagine what those that carry out these evil acts stand to gain. How much will they sell it? Can you imagine the danger of someone falling inside this manhole because the cover was stolen?" she said.

She called on the state government to set up a monitoring team that will safeguard the manholes from vandalisation.

Another resident who preferred not to be mentioned blamed some truck pushers and those he described as iron dealers for the vandalisation of the manholes.

"It's very easy to identify and arrest those behind the vandalisation of the manholes in Port Harcourt. The cat pushers are my number one suspect in this criminal activity. They carry out this criminal act in the night when people have retired to their respective houses. If you go to Ikokwu market you will see some of these stolen items displayed for sales. The police should carry out a discreet investigation to find out those behind the criminal activities and bring them to book," he said.

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Felix Azunna said that he nearly fell into the manhole recently.

"These uncovered manholes have become a death trap for many pedestrians who use the walkway. I nearly fell into one of the manholes along Azikiwe road in Port Harcourt. It rained heavily that day and I didn't know that water covered one of the manholes. As I moved further, my right leg stepped into the manhole and I discovered that my leg was going down the hole. It was at that point that I retraced my steps. Something drastic should be done to stop the stealing of the manholes," he said.

He called on the state government to use less valuable and unattractive items such as wooden objects to cover the manhole.

Rivers State Government said that it has taken a proactive measure to checkmate those behind the vandalisation of the manholes in the state.
The first batch of Defence Research and Development Organisation's (DRDO) anti-COVID drug 2-DG will be released on Monday by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

In a tweet, the Office of Defence Minister said the first batch of 2-DG will be released via video conferencing facility at 10:30 AM on Monday.

Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh will release the first batch of Anti Covid drug 2DG via video conferencing facility tomorrow at 10.30 AM. The drug has been developed by DRDO's Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS) in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories. -   / RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) May 16, 2021

Also read: COVID-19: Covaxin protects against all key emerging virus variants, says Bharat Biotech

The 2-DG (2-deoxy-D-glucose), an anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the drug, has been developed by the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a lab of DRDO, in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad.

The 2-DG drug helps in faster recovery of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients and also lessens oxygen dependence.

The PM CARES Fund had on May 12 also approved the procurement of 1,50,000 units of oxycare system developed by DRDO at a cost of Rs 322.5 crore. Oxycare is a SpO2 based oxygen supply system which regulates the oxygen being administered to patients based on the sensed SpO2 levels.

Under the sanction, 1,00,000 manual and 50,000 automatic oxycare systems along with non-rebreather masks are being procured, the defence ministry said in a release.

Also read: COVID-19: Remdesivir to be supplied directly to private hospitals, says Tamil Nadu govt
The Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality has recommended various sums as compensation to 125 petitioners who complained about injustices meted on them by men of the police force.

This is out of the 154 petitions received by Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe led panel.

The panel was set up to address the grievances arising from the protest over brutality by men of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigerian police.

Secretary to the panel, Mr Isaac Oguzie, told our correspondent in an exclusive interview that 20 of the petitions were struck out for lacking in merit while nine memos were received from interested stakeholders.

The memos, according to him, were from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Council for Women Societies (NCWS), Youth for Positive Action and Students Union Government.

Others were from local government areas and the police whose facilities were destroyed during the protests.

Oguzie said that despite summons to answer petitions against them by communities in Mbaitoli Local Government Area, the army authorities refused to appear before the panel.

He added, however, that though the police were represented by their counsel, all the police officers mentioned in various petitions refused to appear.

Oguzie said, "The Commission has ended its sitting and out of the 154 petitions received, 125 were awarded various sums as a compensation for the wrongs they suffered in the hands of police while 20 were dismissed or struck out for lacking in substance.

"Though the panel recommended the monetary awards, it's left for the government to decide," he added.

The commission was inaugurated on November 3 2020 and concluded its assignment on May 4, 2021.
Former head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), has called on the Federal Government to train and equip soldiers with modern weapons in order to tackle insecurity.

IBB, who expressed concern over the state of insecurity, said he has been engaging and advising the government without making it public.

He said it is imperative for the citizens to support government and the military in order to bring an end to the security crisis.

When asked if those at the helms of affairs are playing the desired role in bringing an end to insecurity, he said, "There are many things they need to put right. If they agree to sit down and think over, I believe success will be achieved."

While speaking further on what is expected of those in power, he said it is important to rally round the soldiers and other security agents.

"Provide them with all they require and let them know this is their country, they've no other better than this."

"Nigerian soldiers need modern weapons and they also need to be trained on how to use the modern weapons, not to get weapons and just hand over to them. They should be trained," he said.

On his effort towards advising government how how to end insecurity which is now ravaging his country home, Niger State, he said he has been engaging the government on the matter.

According to him, "We give advice as we can but we don't make noise about it. We don't announce that this is what we say. We should unite, we should support those in power, we are all working towards achieving the same goal. Between the leaders and citizens, we need peace and a harmonious relationship.

"This problem of insecurity, every government had its experience... but if we unite, I remember how we fought the civil war for 3 years, the people supported the government, the government did its best, bought what was necessary, those who fought were made to understand that this country is the best for them.

"It's not only in Nigeria, many countries encountered this kind of problem, some had it for ten years but through concerted effort, they are out of it. I believe we can get out of this problem. Both citizens and those governing are trying, but we should know that it is not an easy task."
Luanda  Angolan head of state Joao Lourenco will travel to Paris (France) on Sunday (16) where he will participate in a high-level meeting on the African Economy, along with other African Heads of State, an official source announced Saturday.

The event, which will take place next Tuesday, is an initiative of the French Government, with the involvement of the African Union.

The high-level meeting will discuss issues related to African countries' debt, private investment, infrastructure construction and the economic reforms of African nations.

According to a press release from the Civil Affairs Office to the President of the Republic, the Angolan Statesman will meet, on the fringes of the event, with the counterparts of France Emanuel Macron and of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa.

Joao Lourenco is expected back on Wednesday (19).

Bilateral relations

Angola and France established diplomatic relations on 17 February 1976. The two countries also have cooperative relations in several areas.

The cooperation between Angola and France saw new developments, after President Joao Lourenco's official visit to the European country, on May 28, 2018.

According to data released last March, France has a strong position in Angola, where it operates with more than 70 companies. Oil exports from Angola to France stands at USD 400 million.

France intends to change and deepen its commercial relations with Angola, as part of the economic diversification underway in the country.

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The priorities are issues related to industrialization, particularly in the fields of logistics, distribution, agribusiness, among other areas.

The event, which will take place next Tuesday, is an initiative of the French Government, with the involvement of the African Union.

The high-level meeting will discuss issues related to African countries' debt, private investment, infrastructure construction and the economic reforms of African nations.

According to a press release from the Civil Affairs Office to the President of the Republic, the Angolan Statesman will meet, on the fringes of the event, with the counterparts of France Emanuel Macron and of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa.

Joao Lourenco is expected back on Wednesday (19).

Bilateral relations

Angola and France established diplomatic relations on 17 February 1976. The two countries also have cooperative relations in several areas.

The cooperation between Angola and France saw new developments, after President Joao Lourenco's official visit to the European country, on May 28, 2018.

According to data released last March, France has a strong position in Angola, where it operates with more than 70 companies. Oil exports from Angola to France stands at USD 400 million.

France intends to change and deepen its commercial relations with Angola, as part of the economic diversification underway in the country.

The priorities are issues related to industrialization, particularly in the fields of logistics, distribution, agribusiness, among other areas.
The Osun Police Command said it has tighten security in Osogbo, Osun, to prevent breakdown of law and order, as Yoruba Nation agitators hold a peaceful rally in Osogbo.

Osun Police Spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, on Saturday, said the agitators, under the group 'Omo Oduduwa United', has informed the police of their rally beforehand.

Opalola said the law is not against holding a peaceful rally, and the state commissioner of police, Olawale Olokode, has directed that protection and security be provided for the rally to prevent hoodlums from highjacking it.

She said the command has put adequate security measures in place to prevent any form of breakdown of law and order and that police officers are with, and monitoring the rally.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hundreds of youths under the aegis of Omo Oduduwa United, converged in Osogbo on Saturday, marching through the streets in agitation for a Yoruba Nation.

It was reported that the youths were prevented from converging at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park for their rally by armed security officers, which forced them to reconvene under the November 27 bridge, around NECO office, Africa Area, Osogbo.

NAN
The Osun government says it will do everything possible to sustain its free train service for holiday seekers during festive periods in the state.

Dr Bode Olaonipekun, the state Commissioner for Commerce, Industries, Cooperatives and Empowerment, stated this while speaking with beneficiaries of the free train service at the Osogbo Terminal of the Nigerian Railway Corporation on Saturday.

Olaonipekun said that regardless of paucity of funds, the government would continue to provide the free train service for its citizens, who wish to come home from Lagos during festive periods.

"I want to assure our people that the government will do everything possible to sustain the initiative regardless of paucity of funds.

"We thank God for the kind of governor that we have, who is known as a financial magician. However, to whom much is given, much is expected.

"We want our people to reciprocate this gesture by paying their taxes promptly and responding to financial obligations they have to the government," he said.

Mr Isa Haruna, one of the beneficiaries, who boarded the train from Lagos, described his experience to Osogbo as unquantifiable, memorable and adventurous.

Haruna lauded the state government for taking the initiative as a priority in spite of the present socioeconomic realities.

Also, Miss Folashade Olateru and Mrs Abiola Oyerinde, who boarded the train from Lagos, described their experience as fantastic and worthwhile.

The duo noted that the provision of the free train service had afforded them the opportunity to come home to celebrate the Eid-el-Fitr with their families.

Olateru said, "This is my first experience of traveling by train from Lagos to Osogbo. My experience was very nice and smooth.

"I want the government to continue with this. The gesture is highly appreciated and laudable".

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Osun Gov. Adegboyega Oyetola had been providing free train service for the citizen from inception of his administration for citizens during festive periods.

NAN

Vanguard News Nigeria
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested a Police officer based at Dabel police station in Moyale allegedly for being the mastermind in the torture and murder of Joshua Mungai.

Until his death, Joshua was a tout at Stage One, in Ongata Rongai.

According to a statement by the DCI, Police Constable Edwin Oscar Okimaru was arrested on Friday night after joint investigations by the DCI Homicide branch, Cybercrime and Crime Research, and Intelligence Bureau, forensically placed him at the scene of the murder.

"In our findings that involved investigative interviewing of eyewitnesses, forensic autopsy analysis by Chief Government Pathologist Dr. Johansen Oduor and combing of the scene, the detectives indeed concluded that the suspect was at the scene of the murder on the fateful night," DCI said.

On April 18, at around 10 pm, the tout alongside two other friends were apprehended for reportedly violating curfew orders. The three were allegedly assaulted before being bundled into the boot of a private car and driven to Tuala bridge area, where the victims were dumped.

"The vehicle was then driven to Tuala bridge area, where the victims were dumped. However, George who had been tied up using a rope managed to free himself, before rescuing the deceased and Njenga who had been badly assaulted," DCI stated.

DCI further said that George then managed to stop a Boda Boda rider and together helped the deceased who couldn't walk onto the motorbike.

However, they couldn't assist the deceased to hospital, for fear of coming across the two officers who had beaten them and therefore left the deceased close to Nazarene University.

Mungai was found the following morning and rushed to Ongata Rongai health center, where he received first aid before being transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital, in critical condition.

Unfortunately, he passed on two days later.

"Unfortunately, two days later Joshua died while undergoing treatment. Forensic analysis later conducted, indeed concurred with eyewitnesses accounts that the deceased died as a result of chest injuries due to blunt trauma," DCI said.

The deceased also suffered broken ribs and bones, indicating that he had been tortured before his death.

Detectives are still pursuing more leads into the murder, with a view of gathering more evidence and making subsequent arrests.
Although the volume of attacks increased last week compared to the previous week, the casualty decreased significantly: from 16 deaths to one.

The attacks on police facilities by criminals continued last week with at least one police officer killed and two others injured in separate incidents.

All the attacks occurred in the South-east and South-south regions, which have both witnessed multiple attacks on security officials and facilities in the past two months.

Although the volume of attacks increased last week (May 9 to 15) compared to the previous week, the casualty decreased significantly: from 16 deaths to one. A total of 18 police officers were killed in the penultimate week (April 25 to May 1).

The reduction in casualty could be a result of increased intelligence gathering by Nigerian security operatives who appear unable to prevent the attacks but ensured the casualty reduced. In at least two of the attacks on police stations last week, officials said they were forewarned about the attacks and had vacated the premises to ensure no one was killed or injured.

Apart from the attacks on police facilities, the criminals also targeted the facilities of other public institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

IPOB, an outlawed secessionist group, and its security network, ESN, has been blamed for the attacks but the group has denied any involvement.

Dozens of suspected members of the ESN have been killed or arrested as security agencies move to quell the attacks. The Nigerian Army on Thursday announced that its officials had arrested another top ESN official.

To prevent further attacks, President Muhammadu Buhari met with security chiefs last week during which new security measures were reached for the two regions. However, the new measures were not publicly disclosed.

PREMIUM TIMES highlights the reported cases of attacks on police facilities last week (May 9-15).

Ubani Market Police Station

Suspected members of the ESN on Sunday razed the Ubani Market Police station in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.

No life was lost in the incident as policemen had relocated from the place days before the incident.

Daily Trust reported that the officers working at the station were moved to a station at the nearby TradeMoore housing estate.

Another station attacked in Abia

On the same Sunday as the Bende station attack, armed persons attacked another police station in Abia State.

John Okiyi-Kalu, the Abia commissioner for information, said the attack was on the Mike Okiro Police Station, located along the Umuahia-Uzoakoli Road, in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA).

He said there was no casualty from the incident because there was a security report earlier that the station could be attacked. He said the police officers at the station were relocated from there three weeks earlier.

Mr Okiyi-Kalu said the Abia State Government condemns the attack.

Attack in Akwa-Ibom

Gunmen on Sunday attacked another police station in Akwa Ibom State, less than 24 hours after the killing of five police officers and a wife to one of the officers in a similar attack in the state.

A police officer said the attack occurred on Sunday afternoon at a local police station in Abak Local Government Area of the state.

While no life was lost in the attack, some vehicles were set ablaze by the gunmen, according to photographs of the attack posted on Facebook.

Police officer killed in Akwa Ibom

A police officer was killed on Wednesday by gunmen in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The police spokesman in Uyo, Odiko MacDon, identified the slain police officer as Edogi Bassey, a police constable.

The officer was said to have been killed while repelling an attack on a police facility.

"At about 6:30 a.m. today, armed men, in their numbers, armed with AK 47 Rifles and other dangerous weapons, in two vehicles attacked the rented building housing the Etim Ekpo Area Command and Division," Mr MacDon said in the statement.

"The undaunted and vigilant police officers on duty, gallantly fought back, repelled them and averted the intended carnage.

"Unfortunately, a dedicated officer, one PC Edogi Bassey paid the supreme price while a small portion of the building was torched."

According to Mr MacDon, the gunmen proceeded to another local government area - Ika Local Government Area - to attack a police division there, but were repelled again by the officers at the station.

NDLEA Office Attacked

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Abia State confirmed that part of its office at Amaekpu in Ohafia Local Government Area of the state was set ablaze.

The State Commandant of the agency, Bamidele Akingbade, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that the attack took place at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

Mr Akingbade blamed the attack on hoodlums, adding that only a section of the office complex was set ablaze.

He said that the assailants' intention was to free the suspects who were detained in the facility.

"However, the suspects were relocated out of the facility, in the wake of Monday's attack on the nearby office of the Independent National Electoral Commission," he said.

He said the agency recorded no casualties and their weapons were intact, adding that important official documents were stored in a fire-proof safe.

Another attack in Bende

Suspected members of ESN, numbering at least 100, on Wednesday, attacked a local police station in Abia State, Nigeria's South-east, leaving two operatives with gunshot wounds.

The attack occurred at Bende Divisional Police Station.

The station was set ablaze by the gunmen.

A resident of the area said they heard gunshots around 10.45 p.m. and when they rushed outside, they saw the station on fire.

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"At that point, it dawned on us that the station was under attack so everybody began to scamper for safety," the witness said.

The police spokesperson in the state, Godfrey Ogbonna, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.

Mr Ogbonna, a superintendent of police, said two operatives were shot in the leg and that the attackers also burnt down the generator house and a multi-purpose building belonging to Bende Local Government Council.

He said the hoodlums later released criminal suspects who were detained at the station.

Condemnation

A security analyst, Timothy Avele, had told PREMIUM TIMES that the attacks on police officers could lead to a higher crime rate across the country which is still battling with other cases of insecurity like kidnappings and terrorism.

"First, this will result in more violent crimes like kidnapping, murder, armed robberies etc as the security personnel, especially the police, will feel less concerned to respond to distress calls from the public," he said.

"Secondly, there will be transferred aggression from the security personnel to the citizens; no more police is your friend slogan in practice.

"On the other hand, the police not responding to distresses of the public and being cruel to citizens due to the unprovoked attacks on them could result in missing out on criminal information normally shared with them by the public," Mr Avele stated.
Gunmen suspected to be herders have killed a catechist identified as Sydney Shirsha and two others at Amudu village in Giza chiefdom of Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that the suspected gunmen, who were armed with sophisticated weapons, stormed Amudu, a Tiv village in Giza Development Area, at midnight on Saturday.

Further findings by our correspondent indicated that the attack left several others with various degrees of gunshot injury.

It was learnt that hundreds of locals had fled the area following the attack.

The president of the Tiv Development Association (TIDA) in Nasarawa State, Comrade Peter Ahemba, who confirmed the incident, lamented constant attacks on his people.

When contacted, the police public relations officer in the state, ASP Ramhman Nansel, said the command was yet to receive any report of the attack.
A month after military base in Allawa and Bassa communities in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State was attacked by armed bandits, who killed five soldiers and a mobile policeman, soldiers, on Saturday, returned to their camps.

A military convoy comprising 10 Hilux Vans and about 100 motorcycles arrived Allawa and Bassa communities to a warm reception by a crowd of people who came out of their houses in excitement to receive them.

The return of the military follows a series of meetings between the military, led by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Major-General Danjuma Hamisu Ali-Keffi, the state government and other stakeholders in the state.

Recall that military camps in Allawa and Bassa were shut down last month after armed bandits numbering about 100 invaded a Security Joint Task Force camp and killed five soldiers and a mobile policeman.

The bandits also reportedly set the military base in Allawa town on fire and burnt down their operational vehicles.

The return of the soldiers has brought great relief to the people who are predominantly farmers as the soldiers have asked them to return to their homes and assured them of adequate security.
The ongoing battle between the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and the embattled Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, which culminated in the suspension and probe of the latter over an alleged N162.32billion unremitted funds, is another round of the many conflicts between ministers and heads of agencies and parastatals under their supervision, Daily Trust on Sunday reports.

Over the years, ministers in charge of some federal ministries have had running battles with heads of some agencies under their purviews over issues largely bordering on supremacy battles on accounts of an alleged attempt by one party to usurp the other.

With such clashes usually come allegations of insubordination, financial impropriety, abuse of office, award of contracts without following due process, non-remittance of appropriate funds to government's coffers and other infractions.

While these ministers adduced various infractions as reasons for their 'fights' with heads of agencies under them, analysts, however, believe there are always more "behind the scene" reasons and vested interests for such actions.

Such altercations, according to some analysts, also affect operations of the concerned agencies, even as they erode political authority in governance across the board, with public interest suffering the most.

Two former ministers who spoke with Daily Trust on Sunday on the issue yesterday described such open confrontations as signs of indiscipline and the inability of the government to maintain a cohesive administration.

Some chief executive officers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said ministers would want to be on the drivers' seats instead of providing direction to those who are the actual drivers.

"My minister, for example, would want to dictate to you who gets a particular contract and keeps sending copies of curriculum vitae for prospective employees. He would not bother about how you do what he requests. He just wants it done," he said.

Another head of the agency who also craved anonymity said chief executive officers like him often drew the ire of their supervisory ministers because some instructions if carried out, could land one in trouble.

"In everything, self-preservation is the most important instinct. You cannot risk yourself to please another person," he said.

Recurrent decimal

Among some of the ministers who have had running battles with heads of agencies under their purview in the last four years are former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, who orchestrated the suspension of the then director-general of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo, and former Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, whose clash with the executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at the time, Professor Usman Yusuf, led to the exit of the latter.

Others include the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman versus the managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET); Minister of Power versus the managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA); Minister of Power, Sale Mamman versus the managing director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria; Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo versus former director-general of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), and the latest one between the Minister of Transportation and suspended managing director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman.

Amaechi versus Hadiza over N162.32bn 'unremitted' funds

The latest of such drama is what is seen as the 'triumph' of Minister Amaechi in his long-drawn cold war with the managing director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman.

The Presidency, on May 6, 2021, announced the suspension of Bala-Usman, adding that she would face an administrative panel over an alleged non-remittance of N162.32billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

The suspension was announced by a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu.

In a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, dated March 4, 2021, Amaechi, had requested for the audit of NPA's account over alleged unremitted operating surpluses between 2016 and 2020 as flagged by the Budget Office of the Federation.

The letter, titled "Remittances of operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account (CRF) by the Nigerian Ports Authority from 2015-date," was signed by the minister.

"In view of the above, I wish to suggest that the financial account of the activities of the Nigerian Ports Authority be investigated for the period 2016 to 2020 to ascertain the true financial position and the outstanding unremitted balance of N165,320,962 697," the minister stated.

But responding, the embattled NPA boss said the allegations against her were not true.

In a letter to the chief of staff to the president, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, dated May 5, 2021, a copy of which was made available to Daily Trust on Sunday, she said the figures provided by the Budget Office of the Federation as the operating surplus for the respective years on which basis they arrived at the shortfall were derived from submission of budgetary provision and not the actual amounts derived following the statutory audit of the authorities financial statements.

Usman further said she wished to request that the chief of staff requested the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation, which is the statutory custodian of the status of payment to the CRF to provide clarification on the above so as to establish the true position of the organisation's remittances to the CFR.

While the issue of non-remittance of N162.32 billion is at the heart of the ongoing probe of the NPA, observers are saying that some conflict of interests might be playing some role in the saga.

The suspended NPA boss had reportedly had clashes with the minister over 'bypassing' him in key decisions in procurement and other matters.

The latest quarrel, according to sources familiar with the altercation, was about the reappointment of the managing director and constitution of the new board of the NPA without Amaechi's input.

There have been discordant tunes over the suspension of the NPA boss and the composition of an administrative panel. While some have justified her suspension and probe, others described it as a 'witch hunt' by the minister.

NHIS: Isaac Adewole versus Usman Yusuf

In November 2017, the then Minister of Health Isaac Adewole suspended the former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Usman Yusuf indefinitely.

Yusuf had earlier been ordered by Adewole on July 7, 2017, to proceed on a three-month suspension to pave way for an investigation following petitions against him, one of which was the procurement of a N58million SUV without due process.

Yusuf had refused to follow the directive, saying only the president, according to the Act setting up the scheme, may appoint or remove him.

He had said that although the NHIS Act empowered the minister to give directive of a general nature to the Governing Council of the organisation and could exercise presidential mandate in the absence of the Council, such powers did not include "discipline, suspension or removal of the executive secretary from office."

But Adewole insisted on the indefinite suspension of Yusuf, saying a committee set up to carry out an investigation had completed its investigation against the NHIS boss and had found him culpable in many areas.

President Muhammadu Buhari eventually sacked Prof Usman Yusuf in July 2019 following the recommendations of the report by an independent fact-finding panel on the NHIS.

SEC: Adeosun versus Gwarzo

In another case, a former Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and a former Director-General of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo had a running battle over an allegation of financial impropriety.

On November 29, 2017, Adeosun suspended Gwarzo from office indefinitely.

Mr Gwarzo was suspended "to allow for an unhindered investigation of several allegations of financial impropriety levelled against him."

According to a statement by Patricia Deworitshe, deputy director, Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, "the suspension is in line with the Public Service Rules (PSRs) 03405 and 03406."

"The minister has set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate and determine the culpability of the director-general.

"She has directed the suspended director-general to immediately hand over to the most senior officer in the commission, pending the conclusion of the investigation," the statement read.

However, Gwarzo fired back at the then minister, saying he was suspended because he refused to stop the forensic investigation of Oando Plc as directed.

He made the revelation during a public hearing on the need to intervene in the conflict involving him and the minister by the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market and Institutions. He stated that the minister threatened him to either resign or risk being suspended.

"On October 18, we directed that the shares of Oando should be put on technical suspension. Ae also informed the public that a forensic audit would be undertaken on Oando.

"The following day, October 19, the minister of finance invited me to her office and queried the power I had to carry out the investigation, and I explained to her that the law had given me the power to do the investigation.

"She told me to lift the technical suspension placed on Oando. The permanent secretary was also in attendance, and it was on Friday. I tried to reason with her why it was not necessary to lift the suspension, but she told me that it was important to do that.

But in May 2019, the National Industrial Court, Abuja, ordered the immediate reinstatement of the suspended director-general of the SEC.

Justice Sanusi Kado, in his judgement, held that the then minister of finance, named as the second defendant in the suit, lacked the power to suspend the claimant (Mounir). He is, however, yet to be reinstated.

Mamman versus Ogunbiyi

In 2019, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, an engineer, suspended the managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Damilola Ogunbiyi, following what was described as "some apparent infractions in the agency and lack of due process.

The minister directed Ogunbiyi to proceed on indefinite suspension with immediate effect after she had been directed to hand over to the next most senior officer in the agency.

He also directed immediate investigations into the activities of the agency towards 're-positioning it for better service delivery.'

But Buhari later reversed the suspension to pave way for Ogunbiyi to take a new job at the United Nations.

Mamman versus Amobi

In 2019, the Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, also ordered an immediate step-down of the managing director/chief executive officer of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Dr Marilyn Amobi, over myriads of complaints and a series of allegations against her.

On December 10, 2019, the management staff of the agency petitioned the federal government over Amobi's alleged threat of physical assault on a senior member of staff, Itohan Ehiede.

But the minister,r in a statement by his special adviser on media and communication, Mr Aaron Artimas, said his action was a continuation of the reorganisation and sanitation exercise in the ministry.

Mamman versus Usman Mohammed

In May 2020, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman also sacked the managing director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed and replaced him with Sule Abdulaziz in an acting capacity.

Mohammed was sacked over an alleged $2billion (about N781bn) Siemens Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).

The document approving the sack was signed by President Muhammadu Buhari and his chief of staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

Mohammed was replaced by Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, an engineer, as the acting managing director of the organisation.

His removal was also attributed to the frosty relationship between the TCN and other players in the power sector, which many believe has been one of the factors taking a toll on the supply of electricity to Nigerians.

Mamman, who got approval for the shakeup, was also empowered by the Presidency to immediately nominate members of the TCN board and management team.

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Altercations sign of weak Presidency - Ex-minister

A two-time minister, Dr Aliyu Modibbo Umar, described the altercations between ministers and chief executives of parastatals under them as embarrassing to the government and a sign that the Presidency is weak.

Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday, Dr Umar, who was a minister of commerce and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at different times, said the unabated altercations portrayed the president in a bad light.

The clashes, he said, also pointed to inadequacies in terms of the appointment of competent persons into key positions, as well as the collapse of key administrative structures that are meant to guide the system.

"The line of authority is very clear; the minister is in charge. No matter how privileged you are, no matter how close you are with the president, as head of a parastatal you have to go through the minister," he said.

The ex-minister, who is an Oxford University fellow, said though the minister is in charge, however, he ought to also submit to bureaucratic authorities in his ministry, while weighing in political considerations for the professional position of senior civil servants.

Umar said the happenings since President Buhari came into office had become surprising and an issue of concern.

"It is surprising because President Buhari is not new to the office. This was not how he operated when he was there the first time. There were efficient structures and people with sufficient experience and institutional memory manning key offices in the presidency and the State House," he said.

How to address recurrent clashes - Adoke

The immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), blamed the recurring crises between heads of agencies and ministers on permissiveness, influence peddling and nepotism in the system.

The only way to address the incessant clashes, according to him, is for government to insist on doing things the proper way and draw the curtain on indiscipline and permissiveness.

Adoke said a lot of ministers were overbearing and trying to exert much influence on parastatals and agencies under them, and by so doing, breach laws, and when that happens, there will be a crisis.

He said the undue pressure on heads of parastatals to subvert the system encourages such chief executive officers to also subvert the ministers.

"The president must not allow heads of parastatals to bypass the ministers, and ministers should not breach procedures. The reporting line must be followed. There must be discipline and an end to influence peddling. Proximity, whether religious, ethnic or regional, must not be a reason to circumvent the system," he said.

He also criticised the situation where the functions of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation has been usurped by the office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

"The Office of the Secretary to the Government is a constitutional creation. It should be allowed to fully function and not have a parallel structure in the name of the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President," he added.
COVID-19 is possibly India's biggest challenge since independence, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said, arguing that in several places the government was not there to help the people.

Speaking at a virtual event organised by the University of Chicago Center in Delhi on Saturday, Rajan stated that India needs a speedy bankruptcy process for the MSME sector.

He noted that "this is a tragic time" in the country given the pandemic. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic is "probably India's greatest challenge since independence." The country has been recording over 3 lakh fresh daily coronavirus cases daily in recent weeks, with the death toll from the infection also rising.

Also Read: 'Drastic changes' in monetary policy framework can upset bond market, warns Raghuram Rajan

"One of the effects of the pandemic is, we don't see the government present for various reasons," Rajan said.

Noting that the Maharashtra government was able to provide oxygen beds to COVID-19 patients, he said, "In many places that level of the government was also not working."

According to Rajan, post-pandemic if we don't seriously question society, it would be almost as big a tragedy as the pandemic.

"The pandemic has shown that we are all connected. No man is island, no woman is island," he said.

Rajan, currently a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, noted that sometimes, you have to reform not by stealth but in full openness.

Also Read: COVID-19 impact: Raghuram Rajan worries about small businesses, increasing protectionism

Recalling his famous IIT Delhi speech, the eminent economist said he was being seen as a token opposition by the press.

"My IIT Delhi speech was not a criticism of the government...Things get over-interpreted sometimes," he said.

Speaking at the convocation of IIT Delhi, his alma mater, on October 31, 2015, Rajan said tolerance and mutual respect were necessary to improve the environment for ideas, and physical harm or verbal contempt for any particular group should not be allowed.

"We need freedom of speech, freedom to criticise, it will prepare India for the 21st century," he had said.

(With inputs from PTI.)
Not many Nollywood actresses have the guts to admit they can take up a role that involves a sex scene. But for Regina Chukwu, an old hand in the business, it is just another avenue of expressing one's craft and being prolific in what one does. She told Potpourri in an interview some time ago (yet to be published) that she can take up a role that involves having sex on set.

Hear her: "Why not? I have done it one or two times. Acting is make-believe, so you have to be comfortable when you're doing it and you also have to take into consideration that our society does not really support some things; they may just condemn you for doing some things but that does not mean we would not do it. We only have to be considerate when we're doing it."

She explained further, "There was this movie I shot but I don't think it's out yet; we were supposed to shoot a scene where we were making love, as in serious lovemaking. After the director did it and everything, I made sure that they did a kind of behind-the-scenes shoot where people would see that I was actually wearing clothes, that it was editing that brought it out like that.

This is because of my children particularly, they are kids and they would not understand. I made them do a behind-the-scenes so that when we finish, people can see that so many people were in the room while we were doing it."

Regina Chukwu granted Potpourri the interview when her daughter was 14 and her son 12.

Regina Chukwu is one of the leading household names in the Yoruba movie industry. She has done so many blockbuster movies that her name rings as loud as the very best in the industry. But Regina Chukwu, is not a Yoruba woman, she's Igbo but her footprints in the acting business can only be found alongside top Yoruba acts.

Her popular films include Akun, Ewatomi, Idaro, Awolu ati Awalu, Ogunso to name but a few.

Vanguard News Nigeria
Mr Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during a Yoruba Nation rally.

A self-styled Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, on Saturday, threatened to disrupt the 2023 general elections in Southwest states of Nigeria.

Mr Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, during a Yoruba Nation rally, where participants called for a break away from the country.

He claimed that many Southwest governors are interested in breaking away but are scared that their monthly allocation could be denied if they declare open support for an independent Yoruba nation.

"I can't be cowed or intimidated. They said I would be arrested. Who would dare do that? We are no longer part of Nigeria. We won't have anything to do with them again," he said.

"There is no election again in Yorubaland until we have a Yoruba nation. Those in authority initially thought we were joking when we demanded an independent Yoruba nation.

"All our governors are with us. From Oyo, Ogun and Ondo to Ekiti, Lagos and Osun, they are supporting us, but they can't do it openly. Allocation they give them in Abuja may stop if they do it openly. So, don't abuse them again. Governor Oyetola was informed I will be in Osun and he allowed us to come here. All our monarchs are with us," Mr Igboho said. Mr Igboho did not provide evidence for his claim and there is no evidence he has the support of the governors.

Mr Adeyemo, however, said he would revolt against stakeholders who failed to support his cause.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the Yoruba nation agitators grounded activities in Osogbo on Saturday as major roads were blocked.

They were also seen chanting secession songs and distributing handbills to people along the streets.

Before Osun, similar rallies were held in Oyo and Ogun states in late April and early May respectively.

Some high profile Nigerians have said only an urgent restructuring would save Nigeria from breaking up.

Also, 17 southern governors in Nigeria called for restructuring last week.

But the presidency has maintained that calls for restructuring are "recurring threats to the corporate existence of the country with factions giving specific timelines for the President to do one thing or another or else, in their language, 'the nation will break up."

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Defying authorities

Mr Adeyemo is a notorious warlord with a history of negative past. This newspaper reported how he was evicted from Modakeke in Osun State in early 2000 following the crisis between NURTW members and motorcycle riders.

Mr Adeyemo was later made a political thug of former Oyo State Governor, Rashidi Ladoja, and became more prominent.

In January, he led a group of men to Igangan in the Ibarapa axis of Oyo state to eject the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, Salihu Abdulkadir, triggering a face-off with the state and federal governments.

He accused Mr Abdulkadir of backing criminal herdsmen behind the kidnapping and killing of farmers and residents of the community. Mr Abdulkadir denied the allegation but he was nonetheless forcefully ejected from a community he had lived in for decades.

Also in February, he defied authorities order and proceeded to Ogun State to purportedly evict herdsmen resident there.

He claimed that some security operatives attached to Oyo State Operation Burst attempted to arrest him at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway while on his way to meet elder statesman, Ayo Adebanjo, in Lagos.

This was denied by the State Security Service and other security agencies.

He has repeatedly threatened to attack top government officials including monarchs in Yoruba land.

The Osun police spokesperson, Yemisi Opalola, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking her reaction to the threat made by Mr Adeyemo in Osogbo on Saturday.
The Institute for International Cooperation of the Deutscher Volkshochschul-Verband (DVV International), has launched an online platform for professional adult educators in Africa called MOJA in Malawi by effectively enabling adult educators and learners to easily interact with their counterparts across the continent.

According to a press release issued by DVV International, "this is the first time ever in Africa that adult education and learning professionals have a place where they may easily communicate with each other and form networks to share insights, experiences and outcomes so that the wider continent may benefit from a pan-African team of educators".

The launch of MOJA took place in the capital Lilongwe and brought together scores of stakeholders in the adult literacy sector. The stakeholders underwent an orientation on how the platform operates.

The portal includes articles, news, links and other resources that are easy to search, download and read.

In his remarks, DVV International Regional Director in Southern Africa David Harrington described the platform as very important, saying it creates a community where people working in adult education in Africa have access to resources, find latest news and events, upload their own information, make contacts with each other and search content on different things.

"This is a resource that has long been lacking in Africa. MOJA will address a gap in the African adult education community. It will provide a space for people to share and learn with and from one another, and to draw on the rich tradition and practice of adult education that has evolved in African contexts," said Harrington.

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Harrington then called upon adult learning and education professionals in Malawi to join "MOJA community", saying the power of networking is unlocked there.

"People must register. It is free. They must sign up. We want them to engage with others to share what they are doing in adult education. We want to see adult education becoming more visible. People must reach out and learn from neighbouring countries," he said.

According to the DVV International press release, MOJA (www.mojaafrica.net) was founded when DVV International, together with its African partners, identified the need for adult educators in Africa to have a universally accessible online portal to pool collective insights, experiences, resources and wisdom to advance adult education and learning.

The press release says "Moja" is the Swahili word for "one" which is rich in meaning and resonance, drawing on the power of unity and pointing to the central objective of the MOJA platform: to advance adult learning and education in Africa through partnership, knowledge-sharing and collaboration."

The MOJA portal also has a library of insights, experiences and accounts of promising practices from across Africa that adult educators may investigate and adopt to enhance their own professional practices.

Also speaking during the launch in Lilongwe, Malawi government's deputy director for community development responsible for adult literacy and education Charles Mkunga said networking through the MOJA platform will help improve the country's models of delivery of education to adult literacy learners.

"I, therefore, call upon all stakeholders in the adult literacy sector to fully utilize the portal so that, as a nation, we realize maximum benefit from the initiative," Mkunga said.
Everyone knows about HIV, what causes it, and how it is transmitted - and that it has no cure. But the biggest question is, does everybody know their status?

Malawi Council of Churches (MCC) Board Member Reverend Edina Navaya, who inspected activities in TAs Njema and Nthiramanja this week, said MCC as the church is concerned with the holistic growth of people, and HIV is an important area of focus.

"We look at both the spiritual and physical wellbeing of our people. Sickly people cannot praise their God, and can also not work to provide for their needs. With this project we realise that men and boys need to know their status so they can plan their lives better. Prayer without action is useless.

"Also prayers that asks those on HIV treatment to stop ARVs are wrong. Religious leaders must encourage our people to test, take medication, and adhere to that medication. Only then can all people praise their maker with good health and prosperity."

M'theto Lungu, Programs Manager at the ecumenical umbrella body, says this is why the faith based organisation is targeting men and boys to do something worthwhile about their lives.

"Research has shown that men and boys barely go to access HIV services, including testing and treatment. And men, unlike women, mostly do not adhere to HIV medications as well."

MCC, supported by Palladium Group with funding from USAID's Pepfar initiative, lately targeted men and boys working at tea estates, and other occupations including tailoring, teaching, bicycle taxis, poultry businessmen, welders, tinsmiths, grocery, music burners, photographers, and others to engage them on their HIV standing and relative behaviours.

"We realise that the men working in this field often have extra or readily available disposable cash which encourages risky behaviour as far as HIV is concerned.

In the tea and plumbing estates, risky behaviour is eminent fortnightly when workers get their dues.

Men queue up to pay for sexual debts. Up the mountains mother's send young and little girls to sell snacks and food to workers and end up being sexually involved.

At trading centres women deliberately entice bicycle taxis operators to pay through sex.

These are some of the many behaviours we have discovered which is threatening the lives of children and women, and also countering the fight against AIDs in Mulanje district," explains Lungu.

Lungu and his team visited Limbuli and Chisambo Estates under Eastern Province Malawi (EPM) limited in TA Njema, and men and boys around Chonde trading centres in TA Nthiramanja at Mombo CCAP and Malo primary schools.

Estate Managers at both the estates said the visit was important because the workers needed to be reminded that one's health is ones riches.

"When you know you status you plan your life both at home and at work. You work better, feel motivated, and also prosper in all areas. We are happy that you have brought us encouragement to know our status, get on ARTs when found positive, and also follow the prescription to the letter.

"The Self-Test kits you have also brought will encourage most of is and our families to go for testing, beyond the kits, for confirmation at the hospital," said Peter Kimu at Chisambo Estate.

Blessings Mwakabaka of Limbuli Estate said: "I am happy that you chose us for your interventions. You are always welcome to work with us around testing.

"Most of our worries around testing, treatment, and challenges to adherence due to side effects have all been arraigned. We are more informed now and am happy that almost all of our employees have taken the kits to self Test.

Mwakabaka said the project will go a long way in ensuring good health and productivity.

"I encourage our workers to get this message to their fellow employees, families, and friends," he said.

The Health Coordinator at EPM, Verstino Kampango said she was excited that MCC targeted them.

"Most organisations shun the estates and yet this is where many people, especially men are found. This awareness, particularly targeting men and boys, is very welcome here at the estates and I am sure the entire TA Njema and Mulanje district," he said.

He added: "We are more excited because MCC is working with the District Health Office and Baylor Malawi and other stakeholders in fighting HIV."

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The ART and HTS Coordinators from Mulanje DHO, Mrs Monica Katuli and Mr. Kondwani Chikoti emphasized that health facilities in the two TAs were doing their best to work with organisations such as MCC in getting men and boys to testing, taking treatment, and adhering to the treatment.

"Figures for men and boys are now rising at our health facilities following MCC's interventions. It is good that through Messages of Hope, which utilises scripture to encourage men and boys to access HIV services from religious leaders and faith communities," said Chikoti.

MCC has trained religious HIV Self-Test Distributors so that the communities can access the kits within their residential communities.

Other trained cohorts encouraging testing, treatment and adherence through messages of hope, include Expert Clients that work in support groups, Peer Navigators, Men and Boys that reach out to men where they are found, and Stop Violence Against Children (SVAC101) volunteers that look into children's welfare under the Religious Leaders Advise and Inform Men and Boys (AIM) Faith Communities Initiative (FCI) HIV Project.
The First Lady Madam Monica Chakwera has called on for Women in the Diaspora to come forward and engage more with the government so that their vast talents and expertise can be utilised in various areas in Malawi.

She was speaking on Saturday evening when she addressed over 400 Malawian women living in the diaspora where she articulated what her organisation Shaping The Future is doing lie offering scholarships to girls.

Madam Chakwera appreciated the role the diaspora saying; "the meeting had given her opportunity to sample the many talents and expertise that is in the diaspora that need to be utilised in various capacities back home."

"We appreciate you the women in the diaspora and even the help some have been providing to our organisation. Recently we had a donation of wheelchairs coming from a diaspora group and we want to work on strengthening that working relationship" said Madam Chakwera.

Madam Chakwera responding to questions from the audience told the gathering that Malawi is now seeing an increase in the reported cases and prosecution of both physical and sexual abuse. She said this is being possible due to what she described as "mother groups", community groups that comprises of various stakeholders including local chiefs and that are urging women to speak out if abused.

She said: "Malawi has in the past suffered from its own cultural challenges especially the culture of silence that made it difficult for women to speak out when abused for fear of ridicule or even threat of death."

The virtual meeting was organised by MCP Diaspora Network (MCPDN) attracted women globally including South Korea, RSA, UK, USA and many more.

An action-packed line up of presentations by various successful women in the diaspora sharing their success stories, to inspire others and showcase to the First Lady what their contribution can bring to Malawi.

South Korean based international development expert Bertha Simbeye Chiuza opened the floor speaking about her journey towards a successful career despite the many hardships and challenges she faced as a woman.

South African based Tina Sayenda told the First Lady and the group of her charity organisation "Girl Child Foundation" working from the diaspora to empower girls in Malawi.

UK based NHS Consultant Chimwemwe Kalumbi Mkambula spoke about morbidity and mortality advising the First Lady that Malawian experts in the diaspora are, willing to help and share knowledge with counterparts in areas of patients' safety and quality healthcare.

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Another UK based Edith Chikago Parker spoke about diaspora groups' efforts being at the forefront of helping and mobilising resources for the Covid-19 fight in Malawi.

One interesting story on the night was the inspirational story of young Bolton based Kyla Chenda Joseph who together with her school are raising 50,000 in order to build a school in Malawi. She was not the only young girl given platform to share her story as Dubai based Lusungu Mahowe spoke and requested the First Lady create a platform that provide opportunity for diaspora kids to easily interact with fellow kids in Malawi to help them get accustomed to Malawi language and culture. This was also echoed by Ireland University Student Grace Simati.

Zambian based Bertha Munthali, a nutritionist advised the First Lady that Malawi need to take nutrition serious as malnutrition is known to impact a nation as it affects people thinking capabilities. She also took opportunity to speak of her other exploits that include writing children books and her ability to make kids dolls called "Kamdonthi Dolls" with inspiration from old Malawi folklores.

Other speakers included: RSA based Leah Mwambene, UK based Ellen Mkukupa, Ethiopian based Dr Tapiwa Nyasula Rweyemamu and USA based Omega Nankhuni who shared her experiences as a diaspora business woman.

The women on the night also had opportunity to hear from former Malawi Olympic athlete Catherine Chunda (Nee Chikwakwa), a long distance runner during her days and now based in UK.
Nairobi  ODM Leader Raila Odinga has urged calm and restraint amid escalating personal attacks on judges who issued a judgement on Thursday invalidating a constititional review process he co-sponsored with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The Orange Democratic Movement Leader issued the statement after meeting Jubilee Party Vice Chairperson David Murathe and trade unionist Francis Atwoli on Saturday.

The Former Prime Minister said promoters of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) Constitution Amendment Bill will seek a second opinion from the Court of Appeal.

"Supporters of the Constitution Amendment Bill, including myself, have been disappointed by the High Court ruling. I urge restraint in the public commentary about the ruling," he stated.

Odinga added: "We have learnt that democracy is about peaceful and respectful contestation, whether we agree or disagree with each other."

Odinga also asked his supporters to treat other Kenyans with dignity as BBI promoters seek to overturn multiple decrees by the constitutional court that punctured the process of amending the Constitution (2010) to among other things expand the national executive and create seventy additional constituencies.

A five-judge bench of Justices Prof Joel Ngugi, George Odunga, Jairus Ngaah, Chacha Mwita and Matheka Mumbua termed the process as unconstitutional, singling out President Uhuru Kenyatta for overreach.

The court faulted promoters for attempting to usurp powers apportioned to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission on delimitation of constituency boundaries.

In its ruling, the court declared the basic structure of the constitution could only be amended by invoking a four-phased process entailing, "civic education; public participation and collation of views; Constituent Assembly debate; and ultimately, a referendum."

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Contrary to the position taken by the court, the BBI constitutional review process was found to have fallen short of the Primary Constituent Power, the court holding that the President overreached his mandate in promoting constitutional changes under a popular initiative.

"A constitutional amendment can only be initiated by Parliament through a Parliamentary initiative under article 256 or through a Popular Initiative under Article 257 of the Constitution," the bench ruled.

A BBI steering committee gazetted in January 2020 was also declared an unconstitutional entity, the court holding that it lacked the legal capacity to initiate constitutional changes under Article 257 which sets out conditions precedent for an amendment through a popular initiative.

The court also issued a declaration invalidating "the entire BBI Process culminating with the launch of the Constitution of Kenya Amendment Bill, 2020" saying it was "done unconstitutionally and in usurpation of the People's exercise of Sovereign Power."

The BBI Implementation Steering Committee which was set to appeal the verdict on Monday however vowed to clear pitfalls set by the constitutional court ruling to sustain the clamor for the review of the constitution spearheaded by President Uhuru Kenyata and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

"For sure we will appeal and somebody has to look at this to see through what is purely a political exercise. We shall prove that this was sheer politics. This is not law," lawyer Paul Mwangi, a co-chairperson of a taskforce which midwifed the BBI process, told Citizen Television on Friday.
The Chegutu community is in shock following the sudden death Friday of prominent businessman Philemon Mashinge, who is said to have committed suicide by plunging his car off Mupfure River bridge.

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident which is still under investigation.

"Yes, police received a report of suspected suicide to the effect that a male adult drove his car off a river bridge.

"It is said his hands were tied to the steering wheel. We are still investigating the matter and will provide details when we are done," said Nyathi.

The Chegutu rumour mill was awash with varied versions of what pushed the well-known figure to tragically end his life.

Sources who spoke to NewZimbabwe.com said Mashinge, who owned a freight company, Flightcare Logistics, committed suicide after failing to handle mounting pressure from accumulating debts.

The entrepreneur was also chief buyer at Zimplats where he was reportedly under probe on allegations of corruption.

"He had just been suspended at Zimplats to pave way for investigations. As the chief buyer there, Mashinge was allegedly involved in shady dealings that were now under scrutiny.

"In order to avoid embarrassment and an unceremonious exit from his job, he had tendered his resignation and was serving the final notice month, but the issues kept haunting him.

"This could have pushed him to kill himself," said another source.

It could not be immediately established whether Mashinge left behind a suicide note explaining why he decided to take his own life.

Mourners are gathered at the late businessman's Hinton suburb residence.
Public primary and secondary schools are facing a financial crisis just a week after they reopened. This is after the government delayed releasing Sh15 billion meant for the schools.

School heads who spoke to the Sunday Nation yesterday said creditors are on their necks demanding to be paid for foodstuffs and other items supplied to the institutions last term and before schools reopened on Monday.

The heads also said they have not been able to pay non-teaching staff and some have accumulated salary arrears since last year because the government has been underfunding the institutions.

Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (Kepsha) chairman Johnson Nzioka said for the more than 23,000 public primary schools, the situation is worrying since they entirely depend on government funding.

"Primary schools have not received any funds so far since reopening yet we are expected to ensure that the Covid-19 protocols are observed in schools," said Mr Nzioka. Some schools that do not have running water, Mr Nzioka said, have been forced to ask parents to step in for the safety of the children.

Capitation per child

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha last week promised that the government will release a total of Sh15.8 billion to schools by Friday. Secondary schools were to receive Sh13 billion and primary schools Sh2.8 billion.

However, the school heads said the money has not reflected in the schools' accounts.

Mr Nzioka further said that despite primary schools asking the government to revise the capitation per child from the current Sh1,420 to Sh 8,077 annually, they are yet to receive a response from the Ministry.

When contacted, Basic Education Principal secretary Dr Julius Jwan did not answer our calls nor reply to text messages sent to him

The financial crisis is also biting in secondary schools, with some sending students with fees arrears home.

Fee balances

Mr Martin Oloo, a parent whose daughter is in Form Two at Embakasi Girls in Nairobi, said his daughter was not allowed to report because of fee balances.

"We travelled from Kisumu to Nairobi last week to ensure the girl reports to school but she was turned back on arrival as she has a fee balance of more than Sh65, 000," said Mr Oloo

Butere Boys sent a message to parents asking them to clear their children's school fees ahead of reopening last week.

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"We remind you of your utmost responsibility of paying fees. The school will not allow any student in school who owes school fees and fees arrears. We are insisting on zero fees balance," read part of the text message.

The principal of a secondary school in Kisii told the Sunday Nation that the institutions are facing a financial crisis and are unable to meet their monthly financial obligations. He said in most schools, non-teaching staff members such as matrons, cooks and watchmen were sent home and only a few are working as schools are unable to pay them.

"The Ministry should be releasing funds before schools open to enable them to manage and run operations," said the principal.

The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) chairman Kahi Indimuli was not available for comment yesterday.

Special Schools Heads Association of Kenya (SSHAK) chairman Peter Sitienei echoed other heads' call for the release of the funds. He said operations in the schools have been paralysed.
Picture this: you get into a mutual understanding with a surrogate mother to carry a baby for you after donating an egg. After giving birth, she hands over the child to you but things don't go as planned - she backtracks on the agreement. The court battle starts. You are dragged to court and accused of child trafficking.

Well, this is set to be a thing of the past thanks to the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, 2019 sponsored by MP Millie Odhiambo.

The Bill, currently in its second reading, proposes the formation of the Assisted Reproductive Technology Authority that will develop standards, regulations and guidelines on assisted reproduction, establish and maintain a confidential national database of persons receiving or providing services or sperms and embryos, among other functions.

It specifies who qualifies for the service and ways to enforce discipline among practitioners.

Parental rights

It also seeks to regulate rights and obligations of those involved in the process.

Surrogate motherhood is a practice where a woman is contracted to conceive, gestate and after delivery, hand over the child. The surrogate mother gives up all parental rights, but this has been subject to moral and legal challenges.

In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother is impregnated through artificial insemination with the sperm of the husband. In gestational surrogacy, the wife's ova and the husband's sperm are subjected to in-vitro fertilisation, and the resulting embryo is implanted in the surrogate mother.

Currently, there is no law on surrogacy in Kenya, but the practice is nevertheless carried out.

In the absence of written laws, even with mutual understanding or written agreements, numerous court cases have been filed as surrogate mothers change tunes after delivery and

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While moving the Bill on the floor of the House, Ms Odhiambo pointed out that assisted reproduction is not illegal but there is no legal framework.

"I know there may be many moral and ethical issues that will be raised, but we cannot bury our heads in the sand. I have read the Bible and I have found nothing that stops assisted reproductive technology," she said.

The lawmaker said many women have been abused and mocked in society. "I have been abused by male competitors that I don't have a child," she said.

Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino said infertility among couples has caused economic and social distress in many families.

Good bill

"This is a good Bill. It will bring dignity to both men and women in families," Mr Owino said.

Kitui South MP Rachael Nyamai said the law will held end the current haphazard use of the technology.

Seme MP James Nyikal supported the Bill saying: "At the moment, if something goes wrong during this process, there is no penalty for the medical practitioner. But the authority that this Bill proposes to be in place will set the circumstances under which it can be done, where and the penalties."

Kilifi North MP Owen Baya said the country needs the law as soon as possible. "There are a lot of young girls out here being exploited by doctors because their eggs are harvested and they are just given a mere 10,000 while the doctor ends up earning millions of shillings," Mr Baya said.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court has reinstated a deputy registrar who was sacked amid vicious turf wars at the Supreme Court five years ago.

While upholding a decision to reinstate Ms Lucy Njora, the three-judge bench criticised the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) over the manner in which the court official was treated, saying, her dismissal was unreasonable and unjustified.

Ms Njora was sacked shortly before former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga went on terminal leave.

"(JSC) actions smacked of victimisation and an attempt to make someone pay for the embarrassing events that surrounded the two applications before the Supreme Court," said Justices Patrick Kiage, Justices Gatembu Kairu and Fatuma Sichale.

Ms Njora was entangled in a row between Dr Mutunga and Justice Njoki Ndung'u, with the latter complaining that the CJ was interfering with the independence of judges.

Two of their colleagues, retired Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and Justice Philip Tunoi, were making last-ditch efforts to remain in office up to the age of 74 years after the court had set the retirement ceiling at 70 years.

Interdiction

The judges said Ms Njora, dismissed in 2016, was made to carry that burden of embarrassment and awkwardness as some kind of scapegoat.

She was accused of insubordination and given an interdiction letter by Dr Mutunga only for other judges to reinstate her on June 17, 2016. However, she was subjected to disciplinary action a few months later.

In a ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for labour relations, the judges said employers must understand that before taking drastic actions that cut short the careers and livelihoods of their workers, they should ensure that the process is conducted reasonably and fairly.

"Given the predilection exhibited by JSC in its entire attitude towards Ms Njora, some of it in full display in the manner she was questioned by the relevant committee, I think that an appeal to the same commission would have served no purpose, given that the decision-maker had already made up its mind," said the judges.

Justice Nelson Abuodha of the Employment and Labour Relations Court had ruled that the disciplinary proceedings against Ms Njora and her eventual sacking in 2016 were null and void.

Adequate compensation

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The judges said Ms Njora executed her job as required by Supreme Court rules and there were no valid reasons for sacking her. Ms Njora had urged the court to order the JSC to pay her a compensation Sh70 million for dismissing her illegally.

The judges declined to grant the claim but ordered that she be fully compensated for the period she was out on interdiction until the date of her reinstatement: "Although she was not working, we think, with due respect, that would provide adequate compensation."

The thrust of her complaint was that her right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, reasonable and procedurally fair was violated, as was her right to dignity.

She argued that she was subjected to discrimination, harassment and removal from office without due process.

Her case has been pending before the JSC since 2016, and it was not until 2018 when she was asked to appear before the commission. Seven months later, she was served with a dismissal letter without being furnished with detailed reasons.

She wondered why Dr Mutunga was not called as a witness, being the complainant, or make any presentation over the alleged insubordination.
The vaccines being administered to protect against COVID-19 are "almost certainly less effective" against preventing the transmission of the B1.617.2 variant first identified in India, a leading UK scientist who advises the country's vaccination programme said on Saturday.

Professor Anthony Harnden, from the University of Oxford who is the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said it was important to approach the easing of lockdown in England with "utmost caution" as it remains unclear exactly how much more transmissible the variant detected in India is.

He reiterated that there is no evidence so far of increased severity of illness or that the particular mutation of the coronavirus evades the vaccine.

Also Read: Don't call B.1.617 COVID strain 'Indian variant': Health Ministry

"The vaccines may be less effective against mild disease but we don't think they're less effective against severe disease. But in combination with being less effective against mild disease, they're almost certainly less effective against transmission," Prof. Harnden told the BBC.

"We don't know how much more transmissible it is yet. All the evidence so far suggests there is no evidence of increased severity of illness or that it evades the vaccine. So, at the moment, on the basis of the evidence we are doing the right thing, coolly, calmly continuing with Monday, but keeping everything under review," he said, in reference to the next stage in the easing of lockdown that begins in England from Monday.

His comments follow UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Downing Street press conference on Friday evening when he focussed on the "important unknowns" related to the B1.617.2 variant, which is believed to be largely behind India's devastating second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We believe this variant is more transmissible than the previous one - in other words, it passes more easily from person to person - but we don't know by how much," said Johnson.

"I am told that if it's only marginally more transmissible, we can continue more or less as planned.

But if the virus is significantly more transmissible, we are likely to face some hard choices. We are going to be learning a lot more in the coming days and weeks about that," he said, in an indication that a planned June 21 timeline for an end to all lockdown measures is likely to change.

Also Read: Covishield, Covaxin protect against 'Indian strain' of COVID-19, shows preliminary study

He also pointed to the "good news" that so far there is no evidence to suggest the vaccines being administered by the National Health Service (NHS), which includes the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine being deployed in India as Covishield, will be less effective in protecting people against severe illness and hospitalisation.

"So I believe we should trust in our vaccines to protect the public whilst monitoring the situation very closely. Because the race between our vaccination programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter," he said.

Under the UK's action plan laid out to tackle the B1.617.2 variant of concern (VOC) first identified in India, all over-50s and the most vulnerable groups are to be offered their second Covid-19 vaccine dose earlier than scheduled.

Appointments for the second dose of the vaccine will be brought forward from 12 to eight weeks for these groups.

Those aged under 50 will continue to get their first dose, with their second dose at 12 weeks, as has been the deployment strategy so far.

"We have implemented measures at record pace to get on top of this new variant and control the spread. Everyone has a role to play in this effort - accept the invitation to get a jab when it comes, and if you live in one of the areas where we've introduced surge testing, get your free PCR test. Let's work to fight this together," said UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The move will be supported by targeted new activity to accelerate vaccine uptake amongst eligible cohorts in Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen, among the 15 most affected areas from the B1.617.2 VOC.

Public health officials are being backed up by the Army in some of these hotspots to distribute coronavirus tests door-to-door as part of the drives.

"This move is a belt-and-braces approach to ensure as many people as possible have the full protection a vaccine has to offer - make sure to book in your jab when contacted," said Nadhim Zahawi, UK Vaccine Deployment Minister.

The government's Scientific Group for Emergencies (SAGE) believes the B.1.617.2 VOC could be up to 50 per cent more transmissible than the one first recorded in the southeast England region of Kent last year, which is the UK's dominant strain.

The latest data on the B1.617.2 variant, published by Public Health England (PHE) on Thursday, shows the number of cases across the UK has risen from 520 last week to 1,313 cases this week.

Most cases are in the northwest of England, with some in London.

Britain, which has recorded 128,000 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic hit last year, has seen new infections fall sharply and daily deaths in single figures in recent days.

Under a pre-set lockdown easing roadmap, most businesses are set to resume full activity from Monday. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are also following similar patterns, though the Scottish government has kept the city of Glasgow and the northern area of Moray under restrictions because of rising case numbers of the B1.617.2 VOC.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is congratulated by Chief Justice Luke Malaba after his inauguration at the National Sports Stadium in Harare (file photo).

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa's plan to retain Chief Justice Luke Malaba following changes to the constitution suffered a setback after the High Court yesterday ruled that the top judge's term of office ended on Friday.

In a landmark ruling read by Justice Happias Zhou, three High Court judges declared that Malaba ceased to be chief justice when he turned 70, in line with the original 2013 constitution.

Justice Zhou, Justice Edith Mushore and Justice Helena Charehwa were handling applications by Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum executive director Musa Kika and the Young Lawyers' Association of Zimbabwe challenging Mnangagwa's move to give Malaba a new five-year term.

There were indications, however, that the government would appeal the judgement and hand Malaba a lifeline.

"It won't have much effect in the sense that they will appeal to the Supreme Court and just the noting of the appeal will suspend the operations of that order, meaning the chief justice will just have to proceed until that appeal is determined," said Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional law expert.

"It shouldn't surprise anyone, which is the principle of separation of power."

The judges ruled that all incumbent judges of the senior courts could not benefit from an amendment to the constitution extending their term limits past retirement age.

"The term extension does not apply to any sitting judges of the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court," Zhou said in the ruling.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had filed an application challenging the application and tried to force the three judges appointed by judge president Justice George Chiweshe to deal with the matter to recuse themselves, alleging bias.

Kika, represented by Advocate Thabani Mpofu instructed by Cinginkosi Dube of Scanlen and Holderness, filed an urgent High Court application suing Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and the entire superior court structure, including all the judges of the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court, on the matter.

In his application, Kika said it was clear that the purpose behind the amendment was to "assail judicial independence".

The Bill was fast-tracked in April this year by Ziyambi in the National Assembly before Zanu PF and MDC-T senators voted for it on May 4 with Mnangagwa signing it into law three days later.

MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa praised the lawyers that handled the cases, who included his deputy Tendai Biti.

"History has a place for you," Chamisa tweeted after the ruling.

"You serve with dignity and decorum.

"Your indefatigable stamina and passion for justice is outstandingly phenomenal.

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"The future is exciting."

Former deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara said the ruling was a victory for Zimbabweans.

"One goal for constitutionalism, zero for Mnangagwa. One score for the people of Zimbabwe, zero for Mnangagwa," Mutambara said.

"The fightback is on. No retreat or surrender."

Mnangagwa's spokesperson George Charamba downplayed the ruling on Twitter and indicated that the government would appeal.

"Enjoy while it lasts. We are fighters, trust us," Charamba tweeted.

Lawyers said they would now return to court to challenge the procedure used to pass the amendments by suing the National Assembly, the Senate and Mnangagwa.

The over 20 amendments to the supreme law introduced through the Constitution Amendment Act Number 2 have divided opinion with critics saying the changes have created an imperial presidency.

They gave the president powers to appoint the country's top judges and scrapped the running mate clause for vice-presidents.
After dropping out of school because of financial constraints, 20-year-old Cephas Dube from Tsukuru village in Bulilima district decided to seek employment in the informal sector.

Without money to board buses, he walked for more than 30 kilometres to reach Madlambuzi business centre in Bulilima. Dube moved from shop to shop without luck.

His hopes were raised when he found an opening at a grocery store where they were looking for a general hand.

Unfortunately, Dube did not have a national identity card and he failed to secure the job.

Dube stays in a remote area, about 120 kilometres from Plumtree town, where the registry department hardly conducts mobile outreach programmes.

He said he cannot afford to travel to Plumtree town to obtain the crucial document.

He has lost several job opportunities as a result.

"People don't want to employ someone who doesn't have documentation," Dube said.

"It's been a while since officers from the registry department came to our village.

"Sometimes we hear after they have gone that they were in neighbouring wards serving people."

Dube wants to obtain an ID card so that he can get a decent-paying job, save money and go back to school.

He stays with his grandmother and two siblings whom he feeds through occasional piece jobs in his neighbourhood.

Scores of youths in rural Matabeleland South province especially those in remote parts of the province continue to miss out on development opportunities as they do not have IDs, while others do not have birth certificates.

The situation has worsened during the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic as the registry department has suspended some of its operations over a long period.

Sinokuthoba Moyo (19) from Sifanjani village in Gwanda said she had also missed out on job opportunities.

She dropped out of school when she was in Form 3 after her father passed on.

"I don't have the money to travel to Gwanda town to apply for an ID," Moyo said.

"Without an ID, it means that I will remain stuck at home and I won't manage to develop myself."

Headman Ndolwane, from Bulilima district, said many youngsters in rural areas do not have IDs and one of the reasons is the long distance being travelled to reach the offices and the cumbersome process involved when they do get the chance.

"There are some vulnerable people within our communities who can't afford to travel to towns to obtain documentation," Ndolwane said.

"The registry department has been conducting mobile outreaches, but they don't cover all areas.

"Some villagers have to travel to reach the points for these mobile outreaches.

"Some children lost their parents and are being taken care of by their grandparents and their cases are complicated.

"Such cases should be considered. Some elderly people have given up on obtaining documents for their grandchildren after travelling several times to the registry office without luck."

Chief Bango in Mangwe says obtaining a birth certificate and ID must be a process that is simple and easily accessible to all communities.

He said just as the national government is in a drive to ensure that communities can access clinics, they have to do the same with documentation.

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The chief believes registry offices must be dotted all over, even temporarily.

Matabeleland South provincial deputy registrar Edward Dube said they have sub-offices in various districts in the province as well as mobile services in a bid to reach various wards; however, they are unable to cover all villages due to resource constraints. Dube said the target was to have mobile outreach teams visiting all schools in the province each month.

The Covid-19 pandemic has halted some of the mobile outreach programmes which are set to resume soon.

According to Dube, the government is set to launch a national mobile outreach programme that seeks to cover almost all remote parts of the country.

This article was originally published by The Citizen Bulletin, a nonprofit news organisation that produces hard-hitting, hyperlocal reporting and analysis for the southwestern region of Matabeleland.
The mysterious death of dendera crooner Sulumani Chimbetu's friend and businessman Givemore Panganayi has shocked the nation with many still waiting for answers.

Panganayi went missing on May 5 during a birthday dinner at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) before his body was discovered in a disused lift in a decomposing state.

The case is still under police investigation.

According to sources, the unfortunate incident occurred during the dinner event that was hosted for two people.

"On May 5, Emmanuel Mahachi and one Mhofu Shutto organised a surprise birthday dinner for Kelvin Mutsvairo," a source told Standard Style.

"There was also another birthday dinner for a woman known as Lindi.

"The dinner event was attended by some businessmen and top Zanu PF officials mainly from the youth league. There were around 30 people at the dinner."

Panganayi was buried at his rural home in Mhondoro on Friday. The burial which was attended by Sulu and other businesspeople.

According to the source, Panganayi was reportedly in the company of his relatives when he attended the dinner.

"He arrived with some of his relatives, five or six of them. We gathered that they had a relative, who had died in Swaziland on the very same day and they were preparing for the funeral," the source said.

"Givemore then received a call and excused himself, that was the last we saw him. We later heard that he had been found dead."

Some of the dinner attendees, among them Sulu have since been questioned over the matter, as police try to put closure on it.

Mutsvairo yesterday confirmed the surprise birthday dinner at the plush facility, but refused to comment further saying the matter was being handled by law enforcement agents.

Sulu yesterday confirmed that he attended Panganayi's burial on Friday.
The government has launched an astonishing attack against High Court judges, claiming they are captured after they ruled that Chief Justice Luke Malaba's term of office ended on Friday.

Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told The Standard yesterday that the government would appeal the landmark ruling by Justices Happias Zhou, Helena Charewa and Edith Mushore.

Ziyambi claimed Zhou, who read the judgement, was sympathetic to the opposition because he was seconded to the bench by the late prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai during the inclusive government era.

"They [opposition] accuse us of capturing the judiciary, but what happened is a typical case of judicial capture," he fumed.

"Justice Zhou was seconded by the MDC Alliance to the bench and we asked him to recuse himself on the matter, but he refused.

"The applicants [the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Young Lawyers Association of Zimbabwe] are the people he once worked with.

"We raised concern over it and it is there in the papers.

"He was once a commissioner of the Judicial Service Commission and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights; he was part of those people.

"He surely cannot hear a matter brought by the people he worked with."

In an earlier statement, Ziyambi said the judgement against Malaba was a "typical case of a night court, consisting of night judges and night lawyers".

"With the greatest of respect, we do not agree with the decision of the court for so many reasons, we have already instructed our lawyers to file an appeal first thing on Monday [tomorrow]," he charged.

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"We do not understand how the Honourable Justice Zhou insisted on proceeding with the matter after we sought his recusal because he is clearly conflicted."

He added: "We are also at a loss at how the Honourable Judge President [Justice George Chiweshe] was excluded from being cited in the litigation which included all judges of the High Court, who acted in the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court.

"We are further alarmed that these proceedings went on through the night up to midnight.

"This is a typical case of a night court consisting of night judges and night lawyers."

Ziyambi said the applicants were supposed to seek the leave of the court before suing judges.

He charged that the High Court could not make a determination on a constitutional validity except the Constitutional Court.

"We are now going to poke the enemy in the eyes and confront it," Ziyambi said.
Zulani Mudenda of Madumabisa village 2 in Hwange says she will never forget August 22, 2020, a day which ended in tragedy.

"There was a loud gun sound and in the twinkle of an eye, I felt weak, he was so close to me, he shot me on the abdomen, tearing my stomach and exposing the intestines," said Mudenda (46).

She was coming back from work at Zambezi Gas.

Police officers were pursuing illegal coke vendors near their residence.

Mudenda said although she had seen some skirmishes, she didn't think the police would fire at her.

"When I had just passed a 3.5-tonne truck, I saw three police officers on foot," she said.

"They stopped me and I immediately complied. Without notice, a police officer wielding a gun hit me in the stomach."

Consequently, Mudenda fell on the ground, lost a lot of blood, and was admitted to the Colliery Hospital where she had a blood transfusion before being referred to Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo for further treatment.

She is one of the two women who became victims of the police shooting in Hwange when police indiscriminately shot at coke vendors at a Hwange Colliery Company dumping site.

On the same evening, Twaboni Nyoni (25), a breastfeeding mother of the same village, was also left battling for her life.

"It was in the evening while seated at home," Nyoni said. "I was hit unawares, without any involvement in the activities on coke.

"Imagine, just seated home. I was severely injured resulting in being referred to St Patrick's Hospital."

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), through their lawyer Prisca Dube, recently wrote to the officer-in-charge of Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Hwange protesting against the police conduct and demanding legal action to be taken.

Through ZLHR, the two women -- Nyoni and Mudenda -- subsequently filed an intention to sue the police.

Since the police acknowledged the sad incident and promised an investigation, no information has been availed to the victims, raising concerns the issue might have been swept under the carpet by authorities to protect the alleged offenders.

Hwange and the surrounding countryside are a centre for coal mining.

According to Hwange Colliery Company Limited, their concession has proven reserves that are estimated to last over 1 000 years, at current production levels.

Coal has been used for decades in power generation and heating various crops and minerals in Zimbabwe and abroad.

But, it is the recent developments around coke, a by-product of coal, which have left villagers and civic society organisations with questions.

The shooting, displacements, forced labour and inhumane working conditions in coke oven batteries have drawn parallels to the mining of diamonds in Chiadzwa, characterised by blood.

The incidences of residents visiting dumping sites in search of coke to sell have increased as a result of economic shocks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the black market, a 50 kg sack of coke sells between US$3 and US$5.

Recently, a 37-year-old woman was buried alive while extracting coke at an old mine dumpsite.

The vendors usually sell to truck drivers at the unregulated truck stop at Cindrella, Hwange.

The official price of metallurgical coke ranges from US$160 to US$300 with 50-80mm nuts fetching up to US$400 on the international market.

In 2018 Hwange Colliery Company Limited invited bids to revive its coke oven battery, which was decommissioned in 2014.

Of late, Hwange has seen a proliferation of many investors in the coke oven batteries, while residents are risking their lives for the same black rock by-product.

However, more than 95% of coke oven batteries are run by the Chinese.

These include the major ones, the Zimbabwe Zhongxin Coal Company and Hwange Coal and Gasification Company.

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Coke oven batteries are causing various challenges in Hwange.

Many residents have been arrested in coke-related activities than coal itself. Others like Zulani Mudenda and Twaboni Nyoni cheated death and were left with horrible stories to tell.

The Greater Hwange Residents Trust (GWRT) condemned the excessive use of force by law enforcement agents and urged an investigation into events leading to the shooting of the two women.

"There is a need to protect life, especially our residents," said GWRT coordinator Fidelis Chima.

"We call for a full investigation of the matter."

In an August 2020 press statement, the Centre for Natural Resources Governance condemned the use of guns to scare away unarmed informal coke vendors.

This article was originally published by The Citizen Bulletin, a nonprofit news organisation that produces hard-hitting, hyperlocal reporting and analysis for the southwestern region of Matabeleland.
London  From the very earliest of days of the internet in Africa, a recurring idea has been that it would be possible to sell African craft and design globally to European or American buyers looking for something different. But over the last two decades these kinds of sites have usually been disappointing. According to Taboure: "There have been many attempts. We've seen dozens of websites, starting and dying. Too many of them start from wanting to curate products rather than giving people what they want."

Taboure is Malian and after working all over the word for companies like PwC and Alstom, he and his two co-founders, Abdoul Kadry Diallo and Luc B. Perussault Diallo, decided to launch Afrikrea in Abidjan in 2016. CTO Diallo has over 20 years experience in e-commerce.

Over five years since it started, it has built up 182,000 products on its site. It sells clothing, jewelry, bags and accessories, fabrics, beauty, wellness and food, and home and art:"It's a marketplace and moderation makes sure that products are compliant. There's dynamic display so that users see the kinds of things they interact with." The biggest source of sellers is Nigeria followed by Kenya, Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal. But it also has Africans living in France selling African products.

The stats are impressive. It US$10 million plus of transactions in 150+ countries, 50,000 buyers globally and 200,000 followers on social media. The average transaction is US$45 but it sells items up to US$3,000."We offer the largest choice and you can filter by price.

The majority of buyers are from Europe and the USA and it is trying to get more African buyers. To achieve this, it will be adding local mobile money options:"The number of local African buyers has tripled over the last year from a low base."

90% of its sellers are women, with 80% from Anglophone countries having studied or worked previously in their area of sales, compared to only 40% in Francophone countries. Broadly speaking, there are three types of sellers in the market: exporters selling African products to the world, social commerce sellers and sellers in Europe and the USA who manage local partners. There are currently 2,000 sellers but in three years time Taboure told me there will be "many more using it. There will be a revolution of Global African sellers." The social commerce sellers are probably Afrikrea's biggest competitors. They use Facebook and WhatsApp as sales channels and Taboure wants to make the process easier for them with his new product ANKA.

"It can generate payment links on these and other platforms and save time with tracking orders. Facebook is not designed to keep track of sales. Most competitors stop at the point of buying. Our model is much more Ali Baba." The module can plug into the seller's website or chosen platform and they can choose to save money on shipping through Afrikrea's partnership with DHL:"The buyer can talk to the seller all along the transaction. You can sell the story and a service. We have our own Visa card and we can give payment links to the seller and combine that with our own mobile money wallet."

The service is subscription-based and can operate across a range of channels including websites and social media but consolidate what's happening in one place:"The motivation for doing ANKA is following my clients. The best sellers have invested time in creating new products and ANKA frees up more time for this sort of creativity."

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Just a quick reminder... If you're interested in AgTech, see Building a Data Ecosystem for Food Security and Sustainability AgTech V3.0 by Russell Southwood and Kelly Wong for CIAT, Bioversity International and International Food Policy Research Institute. To download a copy: https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/111666/Building%20a%20Data%20Ecosystem_XH.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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In Brief

Beem has been selected at the East Africa Com Connectivity Champion for 2021. This award celebrates the telecommunication providers and services going above-and-beyond to ensure connectivity across Africa. Beem is a Pan-African cloud communications provider that enables enterprises to deliver sms, ussd, airtime and other telecommunications services to over 500 million+ subscribers, in 20+ African countries and 55+ mobile network operators across Africa.

South Africa: Part of a multi-billion Rand investment by WIOCC has added 30 additional PoPs are on a new 1,700km terrestrial link between Durban and Cape Town, bringing more affordable connectivity to coastal towns from Somerset West, Grabouw, Caledon and Swellendam in the Western Cape, through to Doonside, Kingsburgh and Isipingo in KwaZulu Natal. Furthermore, WIOCC's policy of not imposing aggregation restrictions allows clients to serve multiple end-users over a single WIOCC connection.

Nigeria: Uber has announced to drivers that it has increased the price on UberX. According to its statement:"At Uber, we remain committed to providing a reliable earning opportunity for driver-partners, as well as a reliable and affordable service for riders. With this in mind, starting 11th May 2021, we are increasing prices on UberX by about 13%."

Kenya: The first trial of a new digital learning programme for young adults has now gone live in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya which is run by the UNHCR, and home to around 200,000 people. The Beekee Hub has been developed by the Geneva-based startup Beekee, an EdTech spin-off of the University of Geneva (Switzerland), specifically for use in emergency settings where student numbers far exceed the number of available schools and teachers. The Beekee Hub is a semi-nomadic device which creates a wireless network so that students can access content inside the Hub from the browser of their own smart feature phones, smartphones, laptops and tablets. The Hub acts as a last-mile relay and connects to the Internet on-demand to download new material and to synchronize learning and enable access to collaboration tools such as Beekee Live.

Orange has announced that, in several of its subsidiaries in the Middle East and Africa, it is deploying innovative solar solutions and the latest generation batteries with partners specializing in energy. To reduce its environmental footprint, the Group is positioning itself in these countries as the biggest deployer of solar panels, with a renewable energy use rate already at over 50% for Orange Guinea, 41% for Orange Madagascar and 40% for Orange Sierra Leone. Orange is accelerating its solar projects in Africa and the Middle East to reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2040. Since 2018, the company has successfully reduced its CO2 emissions by 45 kilotons thanks to this solar infrastructure.

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METISS is a 3,200 km subsea fibre optic cable system connecting South Africa to the Indian Ocean islands of Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius. The METISS consortium comprises Canal+ Telecom, CEB Fibernet, Emtel, Zeop and SRR (SFR) Telma. The METISS cable lands in Amanzimtoti and is backhauled by Liquid Telecoms to Teraco's data centre in Durban (DB1).

A Kenyan insurtech startup Lami has raised $1.8m to scale its product across Africa.

South Africa-based carrier MTN Group has announced its results for the three months ending 31 March 2021, claiming to have delivered a 'strong and resilient' performance with service revenue up 17.8% year-on-year to ZAR42.3 billion (USD2.93 billion), driven by gains in data and fintech revenue, and EBITDA up 21.3% with the EBITDA margin widening from 42.7% to 44.2%.

Zimbabwe: The government of Zimbabwe owes state-owned fixed line telco TelOne ZWL945 million (USD2.61 million) which the operator claims has constrained its cash flow and operations to the extent that it is 'facing difficulty in setting its key service providers and statutory obligations'. A report from 263 Chat says that the government debt accounted for around 60% of TelOne's total outstanding payments of ZWL1.58 billion at 31 March 2021.
Port Louis  BRITAIN'S stranglehold over the Chagos Islands despite orders by the International Court of Justice to cede them to Mauritius has encountered a fresh blow after Chagossian people sued to the tune of 1 billion ($1,38 billion) for lost fishing rights.

Queen Elizabeth II is the main respondent in the case at the British Indian Ocean Territory Supreme Court.

"There is no doubt the Chagos Archipelago fishing rights have both monetary and cultural value and the Chagossians are barred from even entering the territory's waters," said Dr Jonathan Levy, the international lawyer representing the Chagos islanders.

"The colonial administration has the power to issue the currency requested and has no excuse for what amounts to continuing theft of indigenous property and rights," the legal representative added.

The Chagos Archipelago is one of the world's prime fisheries rich in tuna, shell and game fish.

The United Nations (UN), African Union (AU) and many countries with native peoples including the United States (US), Canada and Australia recognise indigenous fishing rights.

Chagos Archipelago, also referred to as the British Indian Ocean Territory is best known for the top secret United States naval base on Diego Garcia Island and the forced deportation of the original Afro-Creole inhabitants from the region between 1967 and 1973 and subsequent apartheid laws barring them from returning home.

Britain did not cede the area to Mauritius at the latter's independence in 1968.

The United Nations General Assembly, African Union, and International Court of Justice found Britain's deportation of the Chagos Islanders and continued military occupation of the Chagos as a serious violation of international law.

Amid the disregard of laws, British and US military forces still ban Chagossians from the territory.
Controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, says the students of Greenfield University kidnapped about two months ago have not been released because their kidnappers have links with Boko Haram.

Mr Gumi said this in an interview with Channels Television on Sunday from Kaduna.

The kidnappers had attacked the private university on April 17 and abducted 20 students, five of whom they have killed.

They have also threatened to kill the others unless a N100 million ransom is paid for their freedom.

In the interview with Channels Television, Mr Gumi said unlike previous cases of abduction in the North-west and North-central states, the kidnappers of the univrrsity students have linkage with some elements of Boko Haram in the forest.

"The Greenfield abduction is unique because for the first time we saw a cooperation between some bandits and Boko Haram elements which confirm that Boko Haram are encroaching into the field, which is a bad situation," Mr Gumi said.

Mr Gumi said Boko Haram had reached out to the abductors of hundreds of students of Government Science College in Kankara, Katsina State, last year with an offer that the schoolboys be sold to them because they could bargain better for ransom.

He said the bandits, however, rejected the offer and eventually released the students after negotiations brokered by Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle.

The cleric also said all the students abducted in Kagara, Niger State; Jangebe in Zamfara State, and Federal School of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna were released through negotiations.

But the Greenfield abduction is proving difficult because of the linkage between the bandits and Boko Haram, Mr Gumi said.
A weekend attack on some communities in the Bali local government area of Taraba state by suspected herdsmen has displaced over 4000 persons.

The displaced persons are currently taking refuge at Tiv traditional council hall, NKST church, and legislative quarters in Bali town.

However, 13 recovered bodies have also reportedly been buried as of Sunday.

Related peace has also returned to the affected communities after the deployment of security operatives.

A resident of the Utsua Daa community, Kelvin Awua, who spoke to newsmen said the last two recovered bodies were buried Sunday morning at Gazabu village.

According to him, "we have buried all the 13 people that were killed between Thursday and Saturday. The last two were buried this morning in Gazabu.

[ALSO READ] Insecurity: Southeast APC chairmen commend Uzodimma's boldness

"The leaders of Fulani in Taraba State and Bali, in particular, should be commended for standing firm to ensure that the crisis did not escalate beyond what we witnessed.

"Till this moment no one knows the cause of the renewed attacks, but we thank God for the Ter Tiv Bali, Zaki David Gbaa, Fulani Ardos (chiefs) and security agencies made efforts to quickly bring the situation under control.

"Though the situation is under control, those who fled the attacks are suffering untold hardships in the camps and government should make efforts to support them."

The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of Bali LGA, Saidu Baba Bali, who spoke to Vanguard via telephone said the situation in affected communities is relatively calm.

He also noted that the Chairman of the LGA convened a security meeting with Tiv and the Fulani leaders, traditional rulers, and heads of security agencies in the area.

He explained that the Chairman told the warring communities that such barbaric acts will not be condoned by the government.

As at press time, spokesman of Taraba state police command, DSP David Misal did not respond to phone calls.
Addis Ababa  Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has vowed to transform Ethiopia by resisting the recent launched campaigns against the country "without losing hopes rather cutting ribbons."

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Semera Industrial Park on Saturday, Abiy said "Countries with strong economy or other entities are in a campaign against Ethiopia with the target to decide how Ethiopians should live".

However, the Premier stressed "our history reminds us that Ethiopians have never been fallen under any forces and will never fall".

So, he said "without giving up for any challenges, we will brighten up the future of Ethiopia by cutting ribbons not losing hopes."

Regarding the elections he noted "The election will be decided by Ethiopia and Ethiopians only not to fulfill the interest of external forces."
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:        70%              90%.

           21  35      19  29       19  30          26  36    22  37    25  41  .

: 
The overall COVID-19 situation in the country is stabilizing and the government will work towards ensuring further stabilisation, NITI Aayog member V K Paul said on Saturday.

At a press conference on Saturday, top health officials said 10 states account for 85 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the country.

The Union Health Ministry said 11 states have over one lakh active COVID-19 cases, 17 have less than 50,000 cases, while eight have active cases between 50,000 and 100,000.

It also said Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Chhattisgarh, which are recording a high number of novel coronavirus cases, are also reporting a decline in the number of active cases.

Also Read: Despite COVID-19 crisis at home, India doubled oxygen exports in FY21

Twenty-four states have a COVID-19 positivity rate of more than 15 per cent while Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh have reported a major drop in case positivity, it said.

India in a day recorded 326,098 COVID-19 cases that took the tally to 24,372,907, while 3,890 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 266,207, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The active cases have reduced to 36,73,802 and comprise 15.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 83.83 per cent, it stated.

"It is evident that we can see a certain amount of stabilisation of the second wave of the pandemic. Some states have shown a clear pattern, in some states there are concerns and in some others there is a trend towards an increase. It is a mixed picture. But overall, the situation is stabilising and we hope and we will work towards ensuring further stabilisation and rapid decline of this pandemic," Paul said.

Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health, said a total of 180.4 million vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country. This includes 127.4 million people above the age of 45 years, 16.2 million healthcare workers, 22.5 million frontline workers, and 4.25 million people between the age of 18-44 years who have received their first dose.

Also Read: COVID-19 probably India's greatest challenge since independence, says Raghuram Rajan

Agarwal also said the containment efforts of the government are working and the overall COVID-19 positivity rate in India, which stood at 21.9 per cent last week, has now fallen to 19.8 per cent.

He also spoke of 'e-Sanjeevani OPD' which is a telemedicine platform that facilitates free online medical consultation to all citizens of India, as well as provides for online prescription of medicines.

He said this 'Stay Home OPD' is operational in 28 states and has so far provided over 30,000 consultations by more than 17,000 doctors.

AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria also warned against the spread of mucormycosis, and recommended that with COVID-19 cases increasing, it's of paramount importance that protocols of infection control practices are followed at hospitals.

"It is been seen that secondary infections like fungal and bacterial are causing more mortality," Guleria said.

The black fungus infection, also known as mucormycosis, is caused by a fungus called mucor.

Recently, several states have flagged cases of COVID-triggered mucormycosis, especially among patients who are diabetic.

In an advisory released on May 9, the Centre said mucormycosis may turn fatal if uncared for. It also said the fungal infection mainly affects people who are on medication that reduces their ability to fight environmental pathogens.




This information was provided by Lely Solari an infectious disease specialist at the National Health Institute (INS)  noting that more information is needed to understand the impact of this variant on the epidemic.





Solari emphasized that according to the World Health Organization (WHO)  a variant of concern "is associated with an increase in transmission, a change in the epidemiology of COVID-19, an increase in virulence, a change in clinical symptoms, or a decrease in the effectiveness of health measures including diagnosis, vaccines, or treatment, among others."





She explained that the possibility that new variants will continue to emerge exists as long as transmission remains active in the country.





Disproportionate fears





In this context, assuming that the C.37 variant is the cause of the second wave is disproportionate.





Oscar Escalante a researcher at the INS explained that the C.37 variant was first detected in November 2020.





He remarked that 53 different lineages (variants) have been detected in Peru, among which the most frequent is B.1 and, in turn, the sub-lineages B.1.1.1 and B.1.1.29, under this.





The presence of the B.1.1.7 (or British) variant was detected in Peru in December by sequencing the whole genome, while the presence of the P.1 (or Brazilian) variant was reported in January. Both are considered to be of concern.





Their presence has been detected in several regions by means of a screening technique (real-time PCR), which has been confirmed by genome sequencing.





(END) NDP/KGR/RRC/RMB/MVB

According to internationally agreed concepts and currently available information, the C.37 variant known as the Peruvian variant is not classified as one of concern, and its epidemiological relevance is still uncertain.Published: 4/28/2021
A university lecturer has been sentenced to 31 years in prison for strangling his wife to death and throwing her body from their fourth-floor balcony in one of Brazil's most high-profile murder trials of recent years.

Following a seven-day trial, Luis Felipe Manvailer was sentenced to 31 years, nine months and 18 days in prison for homicide and obstruction of justice on Monday (local time).

A jury of seven men found him guilty of killing his wife of five years, Tatiane Spitzner, whose body was found inside the couple's apartment in the Brazilian municipality of Guarapuava in July 2018.

CCTV shows Tatiane Spitzner trying to run away from husband Luis Felipe Manvailer who was sentenced over her death. Source: Newsflash/Australscope

Witnesses attest to seeing Ms Spitzner lying in a pool of blood on the pavement beneath the couple's fourth-floor balcony and Manvailer subsequently taking her body back inside their apartment building.

The biology professor, then aged 32, was arrested following a traffic accident more than 320 kilometres from the crime scene hours later.

He told police, who believed he was trying to flee to Paraguay, his wife had jumped to her death.

However, the autopsy carried out on the 29-year-old lawyer's body gave the cause of death as mechanical asphyxia.

Ms Spitzner died of mechanical asphyxia, according to the autopsy. Source: Newsflash/Australscope

Security camera footage recorded inside the couple's apartment building also showed Ms Spitzner trying to run away from her husband in the garage and the professor restraining his wife in the lift shortly before the crime took place.

Manvailer's preventive detention was ordered, and he has since spent two years and nine months in a prison in Guarapuava.

The judge, Adriano Scussiato Eyng, also ordered the defendant to pay BRL 100,000 (A$24,380) in compensation to the victim's parents.

Ms Spitzner's (right) husband, Manvailer (left), was sentenced to more than 31 years in prison. Source: Newsflash/Australscope

The victim's family's lawyer, Gustavo Scandelari, has said he considers the verdict a milestone in the fight against femicide.

Story continues

It had taken years for the trial to go ahead as it had been postponed numerous times due to appeals from the suspect's lawyer and complications due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Manvailer's lawyer Claudio Dalledone has said he will appeal the sentence.

 Australscope

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Where to vote

Polling places and hours for Cayuga County-area school districts on statewide public education voting day Tuesday, May 18:

Auburn Enlarged City School District: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Auburn Junior High School, 191 Franklin St.; Casey Park Elementary School, 101 Pulaski St.; Owasco Elementary School, 66 Letchworth St.; and Seward Elementary School, 52 Metcalf Drive. Call the district office at (315) 255-8850.

Cato-Meridian Central School District: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Round Table Cafeteria in Cato-Meridian Elementary School, 2851 Route 370.

Jordan-Elbridge Central School District: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Jordan-Elbridge High School, 5721 Hamilton Road, Jordan.

Moravia Central School District: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in north foyer of Moravia Middle School/High School, 68 South Main St.

Port Byron Central School District: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in athletic center lobby, Port Byron Central School District campus, 30 Maple Ave.

Skaneateles Central School District: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Skaneateles Central School District Office, 45 E. Elizabeth St.

Southern Cayuga Central School District: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Southern Cayuga Central School District Office, 2384 State Route 34B, Aurora.

Union Springs Central School District: Noon to 9 p.m. in gym lobby of Union Springs Middle/High School, 239 Cayuga St.

Weedsport Central School District: Noon to 9 p.m. at Weedsport Jr.-Sr. High School, 2821 East Brutus St.
This year there are eight candidates running for three positions on the Auburn school board. The decision as to which candidates to choose can be an arduous task. A candidate must understand that they represent all of the facets of the school as well as the community at large.

For me one candidate in particular stands out above the rest, Sam Giangreco. I had the pleasure of serving with Sam when I was president of the school board. He always had every students interest at heart, whether it was special education, class sizes, curriculum, the list goes on. The point is he cares deeply about our students. He also understands the fiscal responsibility that comes with being a board member.

He is on the capital project committee and has been for some time making sure our facilities are safe, secure and up to date.

Please help support Sam for re-election; our students and community need someone like Sam on the board.

Charlie Cator

Fleming

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Although the sale was canceled last year as a result of the pandemic, Cordasco said Babbitt Ranches is getting ready to bring it back and in-person this July.

Still, a lot has also changed in the century Babbitt Ranches has been in operation.

The organizations business and mission has expanded from mainly livestock to include issues of conservation, outdoor recreation and, potentially soon, renewable energy as well, Cordasco said.

In 2015, Babbitt Ranches purchased the Nordic Center north of Flagstaff and nearly 20 miles of the Arizona Trail now pass through ranch land.

Meanwhile, the ranch has also holds 40,000 acres in a conservation easement and, along with government agencies, has undertaken projects to reintroduce the endangered black-footed ferret and conducted grassland restoration work.

At the same time, Cordasco said, like any business, they have financial concerns.

Managing the ranch means keeping all those missions and values in mind when making decisions, even if not every decision supports each value equally, Cordasco said.

"They don't have to be in balance each time when you make a decision, you simply have to be aware of them, Cordasco said.
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There is also a dam under consideration at Lees Ferry by the Edison Electric Company.

The reports that gasoline prices in Flagstaff are around $1 per gallon are not correct. Gasoline station operators wish to point out that nowhere is the price of one gallon more than 75 cents per gallon and often as low as 60 cents per gallon.

50 years ago

1971: The weekend cleanup of Oak Creek Canyon between Manzanita and Slide Rock yielded 2  tons of trash that included a womans purse with a check for over $200 in it that will be returned to its owner.

Yes, the assets were frozen. Flagstaff police are investigating a burglary at the Pizza Inn. The burglary was reported after the opening manager found $300 in cash missing from where it was stored  in the walk-in freezer.

Greyhound has expanded its service in Flagstaff with new state-of-the art terminal across from Northern Arizona University. A special open house and preview showing will be held prior to the official opening.

25 years ago

1996: The potential for a severe fire breakout in the Flagstaff area is at an all-time high this season due to the lack of rain.
Theyd say, Mr. Marks, I dont know whats happening, he recalled. Theyd say, Mr. Marks, I have no connectivity for school. Im feeling this weight on me, Mr. Marks. Im scared. Some students said their parents had the electricity turned off because theyd lost their jobs. For others, it was a matter of having enough either for food or internet (service), not both.

Stuck at home, Marks started doing what he could to help his people, physically and emotionally. He quelled his own rising panic and concern to aid others.

I remember saying to my sons or friends, Can you get me the phone number for this person because they arent responding to email?'" he said. "I asked, 'Do you know who this person on social media is? Can you tell them to call me? I was telling my sons, Can you call your friends to get this friends phone number to get ahold of that person who we hear needs help right now.

Soon, Marks realized he needed to be on the ground, in person, on the reservation and the satellite towns encircling it. That it meant risking his own health  albeit masked and socially distanced  to bring needed supplies to people never weakened Marks resolve. He knew that he, too, could get sick like so many of his relatives, but he had to act.
Birthday wishes

Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun.

Happy Birthday Wishes
Saturday Night Live didnt mask the confusion over current government guidance on face coverings  with a cold-open skit mocking the mayhem over when and where masks are needed.

The latest episode opened with a message from Dr. Anthony Fauci, with Kate McKinnon reprising her role as the often-controversial leading infectious diseases expert.

Its your boy, Fauci, the patron saint of Purell, the fake Fauci said, inviting a group of doctors to act out different scenarios to try to teach Americans correct mask behavior.

The CDC announced that people that are vaccinated no longer need to wear masks, outdoors or indoors. Pretty great, right? McKinnons Fauci said. But a lot of people had questions, such as, what does that mean? What the hell are you talking about? Is this a trap?

The first pretend scenario had a couple walking into a bar  with Beck Bennett telling Aidy Bryant that the fact he was entering a bar at 11 a.m. should have been proof enough that he was not vaxxed.

In the next scenario, Bowen Yang played an airline passenger told that he had to keep on his mask when not eating or drinking  but instead being so sexually frustrated from lockdown he asks the flight attemndant to bang, telling her, Hop on, lets go for a real ride.

SNL dubbed infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci the patron saint of Purell. Susan Walsh/AP

The lesson should have been, you need masks on planes. Not, everybody [is] horny now, McKinnons Fauci complained.

The next scene saw Alex Moffat and Cecily Strong at a pretty large gathering with neither wearing a mask.

We dont have to because were outside  the Capitol Building! Strong said, pulling out a gun as Moffat put on a MAGA hat. Now lets get em! Strong said.

Ok. That was a very specific example, but accurate in terms of masks, the fake Fauci said.

In another scene, a store customer said they did not need a mask as they were gay, while the clerk bragged about being an ally.

Then Chloe Fineman played a woman on a date who was horrified when Andrew Dismukes finally took off his face and she saw his goatee.

The cast of SNL broke down scenarios where a mask does not need to be worn, according to the CDC. NBC

Oh no! I dont like the bottom of his face. It looks like you grew mold under your mask, she said, with her date telling her to wear the mask over her eyes instead.

Pete Davidson then played a New York subway perv who was more concerned about where should I masturbate because buses, ferries and subways all sound like great options.

Dont worry  Ill put a mask on it first, he said with a wink.

Highlighting the confusion over different scenarios, the final one showed four friends who were only half-vaccinated and traveling by train from Florida to the UK with one of them old and another a baby.

Keegan-Michael Key hosted the show May 15th. NBC

How many of us should wear masks and in which order? Kenan Thompson asked to the fake Faucis confusion.

The finale was titled everything is good again, a vision with the future, with a group dancing together now that everyone was vaccinated and never need masks again.

As they celebrated how much easier life was, Bennett ended the calm by saying, Now, lets talk about Israel.

McKinnons Fauci ended by telling everyone to please get the vaccine and enjoy life with no masks  adding after a pause, Except this audience, you gotta keep em on.
Pat Schindele is a co-owner of Keller Williams, a leader to staff, and a mentor to newer agents. He has also been recognized for several achievements this year. Pat is the recipient of the Platinum Medal Top Producer in Montana for sales volume, was in the top 1% of the entire MRMLS in sales volume, and Quadruple Gold this year. Pat specializes in commercial, farm and ranch, residential, and luxury. Pat is also a Broker.

Dale Miller has been recognized as Realtor of the Year, and has the following designation from the national association of realtors: GRI, CRS, CRB. Dale has been in real estate in Billings for over 40 years and has decided that Keller Williams is where he wants to finish his career in real estate, knowing it will be the best years to come. He specializes in commercial, condos, patio homes, and HOAs.

Nancy Hua, who recently joined Keller Williams, is an accomplished woman that speaks both Vietnamese and English. She will be Specializing in luxury, investment, residential, and relocation.
A woman who escaped from the Montana Women's Prison on Friday was arrested Saturday and booked into the Yellowstone County Detention Facility that evening.

Lisa Anne Nester, 50, was discovered to be missing at roughly 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to a press release from the Montana Department of Corrections.

Nester was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service Montana Violent Offender Task Force. Task force members found her at about 8:30 p.m. on North 24th Street and Second Avenue North in Billings near the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office.

As of Sunday the YCDF online jail roster showed her being held on suspicion of felony escape.

In its Friday announcement that Nester had escaped, the state department of corrections had said they did not believe she posed any specific threat to public safety. She was reported to have connections in Carter, Montana and Grenora, North Dakota.

Nester's legal record on the Montana Department of Corrections online Correctional Offender Network Search lists her with three different convictions, including one for escape in Yellowstone County on June 6, 2015.
Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas' devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war."

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.
I went right into basic training and then was part of the first Black WACs to go overseas, she told The Buffalo News in 2014. There were 800 Black women in the 6888th Central Postal Battalion.

The women had a nerve-racking passage across the Atlantic to Birmingham, England, where they were ensconced in an old school for boys. There they discovered warehouses stacked with mail that had not been delivered in two years.

The soldiers had been moving across Europe, and the mail was never sent. They didnt know where to send it to, and we had to readdress the mail, Martin said. We spent about three months doing that.

And while they were far from the front lines, at night, Martin said, the WACs watched as distant exploding enemy bombs lit up the sky.

We could see the flashes of bombs, and we never knew if the Germans would bomb Birmingham, she says. Trenches had been dug for us just in case. We called them mud holes.

After the war ended in May, 1945, the 6888th traveled to Rouen, France, to perform a similar job: Sorting mail that had not been delivered for several years.
Reducing class sizes and hiring more social workers and guidance counselors are among the suggestions for how to spend a $289 million influx of federal dollars coming to Buffalo Public Schools to help recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The one-time fusion of money is about the same amount as the district receives in federal anti-poverty funds in a decade, and how the district decides to spend the money is being closely watched by community leaders, parents and advocates.

"We have to seize this opportunity, and use it in a strategic way and do this right, because we probably wont get another chance like this," Jaime Cohen, director of the district's Title I program, said Saturday during an online forum aimed at gathering ideas. "We want a massive, dramatic impact."

Districts across the state are receiving millions of dollars in grants from the two coronavirus recovery acts, and they must seek input from the public on how to spend the money before devising a plan and applying for the funds. Saturday's forum was the second of three virtual district meetings in Buffalo to solicit input of parents, teachers and other community members
Still, there is some worry over the future of foundation aid, since New York State has reduced expected aid in the past.

"State aid is pretty robust for the next couple years and things look a little rosier," Timbs said. "The big question is, what happens after federal money that is supporting the state goes away?"

"I still think its a wait-and-see budget year. They know they are good this year," said David Lowrey, executive director of the Erie County School Boards Association. "They're optimistically cautious and hoping that the money will still be there next year."

The average percentage increase in proposed spending for districts in Erie and Niagara counties is 2.48%, while tax levies would increase an average of 1.91%. None of the 38 districts are proposing to go over the tax cap, which would have required that 60% of voters approve the budget instead of a simple majority.

Of the 668 districts filing property tax report cards with New York State, only 19 plan to exceed the tax cap, according to an analysis by the Empire Center for Public Policy, and Albany think tank. The group's report said most of the proposed budgets are at the taxing limit or within 1% of it. The tax cap went into effect in 2012.
When the Islamic Society of Niagara Frontier presented plans for its Muslim Community Center and mosque 30 years ago, some area residents fought against it. So, when it sought permits and approvals, it incorporated plans for three future expansion options.

"Since we had some opposition to the building of the center at the time, I thought we might as well incorporate the expansion now and go through the process once rather than having to go through it every time," said Khalid Qazi, the inaugural chairman of the Islamic Society and the driving force behind the Islamic Community Center from the beginning.

One of those plans has come to fruition with the completion of the center's recent expansion  a project that doubles the size of its mosque and better accommodates Amherst's growing Muslim population.

+13 Bangladeshis transforming Buffalo, one block at a time Something dramatic has happened in Broadway-Fillmore, largely unnoticed, and its spreading to other neglected neighborhoods. Its a transformation spearheaded by Buffalos newest immigrant group, the

While many Muslim refugees have resettled in Western New York in recent years from places such as Somalia, Burma, Iraq, Iran and Vietnam, they are not the ones driving the most growth, Qazi said.
The Rev. Al Wilson buried a mother and son two weeks ago. They died two days apart. The son was only 31.

He was preparing to bury another mother and son this weekend, all casualties of Covid-19.

Like the majority people living around the Martha P. Mitchell Community Center, they hadn't been vaccinated.

"People are scared," he said.

Despite the abundance of vaccine now available at pharmacies, mass vaccination clinics, hospitals and pop-up community clinics throughout the region, the gap between neighborhoods with high vaccination levels and those with low vaccination levels has been stubbornly difficult to close.

The overall pattern is clear. The poorest and most rural communities in Erie and Niagara counties have the lowest vaccination levels.

For Erie County, that includes much of the East Side of Buffalo, as well as the Black Rock and Riverside neighborhoods on the northwest corner of the city.

It also includes the City of Lackawanna and rural towns near the southern and eastern county border. In these communities, more than half of eligible residents have received no vaccine at all.

In Niagara County, the lowest vaccinate rates exist in the City of Niagara Falls, as well as all the rural towns on the northeastern end of the county. Unlike Erie County, there is no ZIP code in Niagara County that has yet reached the herd immunity threshold of 70%, but more eligible county residents there have been vaccinated overall.

"Its not necessarily a geographic issue as much as it is the areas that are typically underserved, which tends to be poorer areas and more rural areas," said Niagara County Public Health Director Daniel Stapleton.

The vaccination rates for both Erie and Niagara counties are below the state's average, when looking at data of individuals who have received at least a single vaccine dose. But the vaccination levels within Erie County are more wide-ranging.

Even within the same city or bordering towns, the disparity can be stark, based on state data provided to counties of first dose vaccine recipients.

While 84% of eligible Colden area residents in the 14033 ZIP code have received at least one dose of the vaccine, less than half of residents in the neighboring West Falls ZIP code of 14170 have gotten a single shot.

Within the city of Buffalo, the disparity is even greater.

Only a third of city residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine in the impoverished 14211 ZIP code, which covers a sweeping chunk of the East Side from the eastern Fruit Belt border to Cheektowaga.

Comparatively, only a few miles away, 80% of eligible residents living in the city's central business district have received at least one vaccine dose.

That's why counties are now moving away from low-demand mass vaccination clinics to smaller school, church and community center pop-up clinic sites.

"We need to go where we need to go, and the public is telling us, 'We need you to come to us,' so were doing that as often as we can," Stapleton said.

Wilson, who serves as pastor of Greater Royal Worship Center on Clinton Street in Buffalo, as well as director of the Martha Mitchell Community Center, has spoken to community center regulars, urging them to sign up for their two-dose vaccinations or face the risk of getting added to his funeral list.

"I need them to get the message," Wilson said. "And my message to them is, 'Take two or get carried by six.' "

Getting clear and trustworthy information out to people in underserved communities is challenging. They are less likely to come across accurate and reliable information about the vaccine's safety and effectiveness, and more likely to take the word of someone they know and respect, Wilson said.

Ebony White, community outreach coordinator for the African-American Health Equity Task Force, said when people don't know what information they can trust, they don't engage.

"You just kind of walk away," she said.

While half of all Erie County residents and 61% of all vaccine-eligible residents had been vaccinated as of last week, that average obscures the wide gaps in vaccination rates across Buffalo Niagara neighborhoods, where one might have 75% of residents vaccinated and another only 35%.

"If you recall, when the county executive showed the areas where we can still see high numbers of Covid-19, these are the same areas that are seeing low vaccination rates," said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein, "so we're really going to try hard to reach people in these communities, make it easy for them to make a smart choice and get vaccinated."

Counties have set up pop-up vaccination clinics throughout the region, and Erie County has drawn attention for offering to inoculate people at local breweries, providing free beer tickets and pint glasses to those who say yes to a shot. Last week, County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced last week that the county would even offer vaccination house calls.

At the Martha Mitchell Community Center, Wilson and others talked up the free vaccine clinic the center would be hosting on Tuesday. They spoke with people at their food pantry and walked out to the nearby Langfield housing project to distribute flyers door-to-door. The nearby Langfield and Kenfield housing projects are home to thousands of residents. Some said they were eager to get the vaccine, while many expressed reservations.

When one woman said she was afraid, Wilson said he would be there for her and offered to hold her hand. He also shared his own experience being infected with Covid-19, describing the experience as being repeatedly run over by a truck.

Wilson and other staffers also made it a point to say that anyone who shows up for the Tuesday clinic would receive a free Tops grocery gift card.

The residents he speaks with may not trust the vaccine, he said, but they trust him.

"They're willing to go on my word alone," he said.

Tara A. Craig, the community center's administrative assistant, said she hopes that 75 community members will show up at the Tuesday clinic. About two dozen have already committed.

But not everyone is buying the message, especially if it comes from someone without the same standing as Wilson.

"Our outreach team has had doors slammed in our faces," White said.

But by hosting listening sessions with young people in their teens and 20s, working with other partners to get accurate information out on social media, at food pantries and churches, progress is happening, she said. The fact that more primary care physicians have direct access to the vaccine is also turning the tide.

Signs of progress exist. ZIP codes that had vaccination percentages in the 20s and 30s, are moving into the 40s and 50s. In both Erie and Niagara counties, the vaccination rates have finally crossed the halfway mark, with roughly 51% of all Erie County residents vaccinated and 55% of all Niagara County residents vaccinated.

"I think its important that were moving in the right direction," White said.

News staff reporter Thomas J. Prohaska contributed to this report.

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If youve got two Republicans vying for the Trump supporters, it leaves open the middle, he said. Its a race I definitely, definitely am considering getting in.

So far, Giambra is not feeling much Republican love. He has generated little enthusiasm among party regulars, who are lining up behind Zeldin to the point where the Iraq War veteran claims more than the 50% needed for the party endorsement and automatic inclusion on any primary ballot.

Realistically, Giambra can only dream of cracking the partys pro-Trump shell. State Chairman Nick Langworthy cemented a solid relationship with the future president back in 2012, when he and a few others tried to coax Trump into the 2014 election for governor.

Trump had bigger things in mind. But a partnership grew, President Trump paved the way for Langworthys ascension to the state chairmanship, and the New York GOP now loyally marches in step.

Last week, Giambra was trying another maneuver. He seeks to convince enough state committee members to open the Republican primary to nonaffiliated voters (in the same manner as the old Independence Party) so that a more moderate candidate for governor could appeal to New Yorkers.

We need to find the rank-and-file voter, he says.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer has joined the fight to reopen the border with Canada as soon as possible. His influence is more than welcome. Given the foot-dragging of officials on both sides of the border, its essential.

The border has been closed to nonessential traffic for more than a year as both countries, like the rest of the world, contended with a deadly pandemic that has killed more than 580,000 Americans by an official count that is likely low. In Canada, deaths are near 25,000. The decision to shut the border was sensible, both early on when this country showed little interest in dealing seriously with the virus and more recently as cases spiked in Canada, especially neighboring Ontario.

But things are changing. Many Americans are vaccinated and rates are creeping up in Canada. Thats always been the key to reopening the border and, while the pace of inoculations is unfortunately declining in this country, it is up to the two nations to find the best way to press those facts into a plan to restart cross-border travel. Plainly, they need to be encouraged. Thats where Schumer comes in.
It is an appropriate requirement for students in the 64-campus State University of New York system that they receive Covid-19 vaccinations before being allowed on campus. It gets a little dubious when it comes to exempting faculty and staff.

The sticking point is contract stipulations with several SUNY unions. They prevent mandating the grownups to get the shot. Many students are shouting about the unfairness of it all, but union power equals political power, and everything is up to negotiation. Nevertheless, students shouldnt worry about the fairness issue too much: Their health will be protected.

For some faculty and staff, inoculation will require evidence and persuasion. Union leaders should make it their job to encourage members to be vaccinated against a disease that can still kill. Persuading young people to get vaccinated has been challenging, though the temptation of free beer seems to help. But it doesnt help the cause if one campus population must be vaccinated while others dont.

The issue broke open last week, when Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo declared it time to get creative to boost Covid-19 vaccination rates. He said all state university students returning in the fall for on-campus learning must be vaccinated.
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A visual of the recovered items from the 2 accused by the Crime Branch. (Photo/ANI)

New Delhi [India], May 16 (ANI): The Crime Branch has arrested two foreign nationals for duping over 1,000 people across the country on the pretext of providing oxygen cylinders and COVID medicines amounting to Rs 2 crores.

The duo -- one from Nigeria and another from Ghana - were arrested by the Crime Branch team of Stars-II. While one was apprehended on Thursday, his associate was arrested on Saturday.

As per an official press note from the crime branch, the two foreign nationals along with their associates made false claims of providing oxygen cylinders and COVID medicines in the midst of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic that has created a huge demand for oxygen and medicines.

On May 5, a complainant reported that he was in extreme need of an oxygen cylinder for his relative suffering from COVID-19. He found one mobile number on social media claiming to provide oxygen cylinders.

When the complainant contacted on that mobile number through WhatsApp message, the receiver asked him to pay Rs 16,000 for oxygen cylinder and Rs 4,000 as a delivery charge. Complainant made payment of Rs 20,000 in the given bank account of the accused with an assurance that the cylinder would reach at his address. However, on not receiving any oxygen cylinder, and after several attempts to contact the accused, a complaint was registered at Jyoti Nagar police station in northeast Delhi.

According to the Crime Branch, several complaints of cheating relating to the same mobile number have been registered at different police stations of Delhi. One of their associates operates from Bengaluru while their other associates in Africa assist in this fraud.

The accused named in the FIR are Chika Benneth, 42, and Jonathan Kojo, 44, both residents of Khirki Village, Delhi.

The crime branch informed that 165 SIM cards, 22 mobile phones, 5 laptops, 2 wifi dongles, and 4 debit cards used in the commission of the crime have been recovered from the possession of the two accused in the case.

The two foreign have so far used more than 20 bank accounts spread all over India to receive the fraudulent money.

An acute oxygen crisis in the country induced by the increasing number of coronavirus cases has pushed several people in the involvement of crimes related to all necessary medicines and medical equipments. Several cases of black-marketing, selling fake medicines/injections have been reported across the country. (ANI)
Woman surrounded by speech bubbles

Some children who have grown up in Africa being forced to speak English are facing an identity crisis.

Khahliso Amahle Myataza's family is from the South African township of Soweto in Johannesburg where they spoke Sotho, Xhosa and Zulu.

She would switch languages depending on who she was talking to.

But when Khahliso started primary school her family moved to a predominantly white neighbourhood of the city.

"I was severely bullied for not knowing how to speak English properly, for not knowing how to pronounce certain words," she told the BBC.

"To learn English I immersed myself with white kids. I didn't want to associate myself with the black kids any more. It was really difficult"", Source: Khahliso Amahle Myataza, Source description: South African student, Image: Khahliso Amahle Myataza

There were other black children in a similar predicament but they didn't make friends with each other - not wanting to be associated with others who did not speak English.

"To learn English I immersed myself with white kids. I didn't want to associate myself with the black kids any more. It was really difficult."

The 17-year-old's fluency has come with the realisation of how, not only being able to speak English, but to speak it in a certain way - can open and close doors in South Africa.

"When I go to a restaurant with my mum, and they hear her speaking Xhosa or Sotho, they will automatically assume we're not really here to buy expensive food.

"Then when they hear me or my brothers speak English, especially my brother, then we see people jumping."

'Pidgin banned'

For the parents of 22-year-old Nigerian Amaka, who asked us not to use her real name, this too must have been apparent.

When she was growing up in Lagos, English was the only language she was allowed to speak.

Her Igbo parents took her English language skills seriously and as a young girl she attended an etiquette class where diction was a key component of the lesson.

Some Nigerian schools are based on the British model

They also frowned on her using Pidgin, which is widely spoken in Nigeria as a lingua franca.

"I was watching a movie on TV and they said something in Pidgin English. And I kind of responded and I got in trouble," she told the BBC.

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Their attitude was: "English is the only proper language".

This was so engrained that Amaka says the fact that she could not speak Igbo did not bother her initially.

"I was very kind of proud of myself in being able to speak English language the way I can."

But when she was about 15, she met her paternal grandmother for the first time - and they could not communicate or connect at all.

"That was the first time I realised that: 'OK - this is an actual problem. This is a barrier.'"

'Am I really black?'

And Khahliso says her relationship with her mother tongues has changed as she is now less proficient in languages like Sotho and Xhosa.

She's unable to hold a conversation without turning to English words - an experience she describes as being "colonised by English".

Khahliso believes her situation - and that of Amaka - are not unusual.

"A lot of black children in the middle-income class are facing that identity crisis of: 'I can't speak my native language.'

"I forced myself to unlearn it. Am I really black if I do not know how to speak my vernacular? Am I really black if I don't know how to say: 'I love you' to my mum, in Sotho or in Xhosa, or in Zulu, or in Tonga?"

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Combing Africa for stories that bind us together and tear us apart. A single story, every week.

Amaka is working to overcome her identity crisis by taking Igbo lessons and immersing herself in Igbo culture through films and music.

"Language gives you a sense of community," she says.

"It makes you see the world in a different light, it makes you feel like you are a part of something, something greater than yourself, something that has been there for generations, and will continue to be there for generations".

Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o has spoken about a linguistic famine in African societies - which he says is the result of prizing foreign languages over native languages.

Despite an estimated 2,000 languages being spoken across the continent there is still a tendency to see English and French - the languages of the countries which colonised most of Africa - as those needed to succeed and as a result some choose to abandon their mother tongue.

'Only smart kids speak English'

In Ghana, which like South Africa and Nigeria was colonised by the British, this attitude is prevalent, says Ronald - a secondary school teacher in a rural area who also asked us not to use his real name.

"There is this stereotype that the smarter kids are the ones that speak English. Even parents that never went to school try to force it on their children to also be fluent in English.

"I know quite a number of people that have never travelled beyond the borders of Ghana, but they can't speak any language besides English."

But he feels some students would perform better if some of the textbooks and the language of instruction was in their mother tongue - and that this would stop children dropping out of school.

English is at the core of the Ghanaian school curriculum

"If I ask them a question, some of them would tell me: 'Sir, I know the answer, but I don't know how to say it in English.'

"Everyone is just trying to force them to speak this white man's language and... some of the students then say: 'It's just not for me. It's for the "smart" ones.'"

Khahliso says if she could go back in time, she would approach language learning differently.

"I would allow these languages to co-exist and to exist in one space - because they can co-exist. My sister and my friend are proof of that.

"To assimilate I don't think that I needed to throw away my languages and to completely stop speaking Xhosa and Sotho."

More from The Comb:
Canadian Paralympic Media Consortium to provide widespread coverage of the Games

Over 200 TV hours on CBC/Radio-Canada, AMI, and Sportsnet

Paralympic Games to take place August 24 to September 5

OTTAWA, ON, May 16, 2021 /CNW/ - With 100 days to go until the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) alongside its sport, media, and corporate partners, including primary broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada, are celebrating the countdown to the first day of the Games as well as the widespread broadcast and digital coverage that will allow Canadians from across the country to follow all the action from Tokyo.

Canadian Paralympic Committee Logo (CNW Group/Canadian Paralympic Committee (Sponsorships))

"The 100-day countdown is on and we look forward to soon announcing our sport teams set to compete in Tokyo and celebrating each and every athlete," said Stephanie Dixon, chef de mission of the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team. "These Games will be powerful and momentous for our athletes who have all worked so hard in these challenging times to make it to this point, and their resiliency, courage, and determination will shine through in their performances."

The Canadian Paralympic Media Consortium will be the official broadcaster for Tokyo 2020 for the fourth straight Paralympic Games. Led by the CPC, consortium partners include CBC/Radio-Canada, AMI, Sportsnet, Facebook, Twitter, and MXZN. The broadcast is made possible through support from corporate partners Toyota, Canadian Tire Corporation, Petro-Canada, and Bell.

"We are thrilled that Canadians will get to live such inspiring moments with our Paralympic athletes through unprecedented coverage, including primetime broadcasts, thanks to our media consortium," said Marc-Andre Fabien, president, Canadian Paralympic Committee. "As a valued partner, CBC/Radio-Canada has been instrumental in showcasing Paralympic values year-round to all Canadians."

CBC/Radio-Canada, the home of the Paralympic Games in Canada, will be airing more than 120 original hours on TV. This will mark the most TV hours for a Paralympic Games in Canadian history.

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"CBC/Radio-Canada is proud to partner with the Canadian Paralympic Committee to bring the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games home to Canadians, across all of our platforms," said Catherine Tait, president and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada. "We can't wait to support and celebrate our athletes as they go for gold."

CBC' s coverage will be hosted by Scott Russell from CBC headquarters in Toronto, with three shows set to air per day. He will be joined throughout the Games by studio analyst Summer Mortimer (a four-time Paralympic medallist in Para swimming) as well as 21-time Paralympic medallist in wheelchair racing Chantal Petitclerc for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. CBC reporter Devin Heroux will be providing updates from Tokyo.

Marie-Jose Turcotte will be the in-studio host from Montreal for Radio-Canada's weekend Paralympic Games shows as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, with Jean St-Onge handling the hosting duties during the week from Tokyo. Benoit Huot (19-time Paralympic medallist in Para swimming) will be a special onsite analyst.

CBC/Radio-Canada's TV coverage will be presented in an accessible manner with closed captioning and described video. The live and on-demand streams of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will also include American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), CPC's accessibility media partner, will feature Paralympic Games content on AMI-tv in an accessible manner.

Live streaming and on-demand coverage will also be available through Paralympic.ca, cbc.ca/tokyo2020 and Radio-Canada.ca/jeux-paralympiques, the CBC Tokyo 2020 app, the free CBC Gem streaming service, Twitter, and Facebook for a total of 21 disciplines from 19 sports including: Para athletics, Para badminton, boccia, Para cycling (road and track), football 5-a-side, goalball, Para judo, sitting volleyball, Para swimming, Para table tennis, Para triathlon, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, Para canoe, Para rowing, Para equestrian, Para archery, and shooting Para sport. Highlights will be available for Para powerlifting, Para taekwondo, and wheelchair fencing. CBC/Radio-Canada will offer an additional 600+ hours of live streaming coverage via its multiple platforms.

Paralympic.ca will be the hub of all things Canadian Paralympic Team for the Games, including live streaming, live results, and all the latest news.

"Shine", the official song of the Tokyo 2020 Canadian Paralympic Team written by award-winning Canadian songwriter Paul DeRosa, which will be featured in the Games broadcast, is also now available for download on Spotify and iTunes.

The complete schedule and further broadcast details will be released closer to the start of the Games.

Aurelie Rivard, Tokyo 2020 Hopeful, Para Swimming  Three-time Paralympic gold medallist and Closing Ceremony Flag Bearer at Rio 2016: "After a challenging year of uncertainty, it's nice to have something that brings hope to the Paralympic community. We've worked so hard to make it all the way here and I look forward to these last three months."

Brent Lakatos, Tokyo 2020 Hopeful, Para Athletics  Seven-time Paralympic medallist: "This year has been the most difficult year of my career, as I am sure it has been for many athletes. My preparation has been hugely impacted by lockdowns and losing access to training facilities. But as the difficulties have increased so has my determination to do everything I can to be ready. These will be a Games unlike any before, and I intend to be in the best shape of my life."

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will run from August 24 to September 5, 2021. Canada is expecting to send a team of approximately 130 athletes, with team announcements for each sport set to take place throughout the next few months.

About the Canadian Paralympic Committee: Paralympic.ca

About CBC/Radio-Canada

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada's trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.

May 16, 2021 marks 100 days to the start of the Tokyo Paralympic Games. PHOTO: Canadian Paralympic Committee (CNW Group/Canadian Paralympic Committee (Sponsorships))

SOURCE Canadian Paralympic Committee (Sponsorships)

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Visual representation of Cyclone Tauktae. [Photo/IMD]

New Delhi [India], May 16 (ANI): Cyclone Tauktae intensified into a "very severe cyclonic storm" over Eastcentral Arabian Sea and is very likely to intensify further during the next 12 hours, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday.

It is very likely to move north-northwestwards and reach Gujarat coast in the evening hours of May 17 and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) around May 18 early morning.

In an official statement issued today, the IMD said, "The Severe Cyclonic Storm Tauktae over eastcentral Arabian Sea moved nearly northwards with a speed of about 09 kmph during past 06 hours, intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm and lay centred at 0230 hours IST of today, May 16, 2021 over eastcentral Arabian Sea near latitude 14.7N and longitude 72.7E, about 150 km southwest of Panjim-Goa, 490 km south of Mumbai, 730 km south-southeast of Veraval (Gujarat) and 870 km south-southeast of Karachi (Pakistan)."

"It is very likely to intensify further during next 12 hours. It is very likely to move northnorthwestwards and reach Gujarat coast in the evening hours of May 17 and cross Gujarat coast between Porbandar and Mahuva (Bhavnagar district) around May 18 early morning."

The IMD has also predicted light to moderate rainfall at many places in Kerala with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 16 and heavy rain at isolated places on May 17.

It also said light to moderate rainfall is likely to occur at most places in Karnataka (coastal and adjoining Ghat districts) and warned of heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 16.

The IMD further predicted light to moderate rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy rain at a few places over Konkan and Goa and adjoining ghat areas on May 16 and heavy rain at isolated places on May 17 over north Konkan.

Light to moderate rainfall at many places in Gujarat is very likely to commence over coastal districts of Saurashtra from May 16 afternoon, with heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Saurashtra and Kutch and Diu and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places on May 17 on May 18.

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"Light to moderate rainfall at many places with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places very likely over south Rajasthan on May 18 and over Rajasthan on May 19," the IMD said.

The IMD further warned that the sea condition over eastcentral Arabian Sea will be very high to phenomenal on May 16 and over northeast Arabian Sea on May 17 and 18.

"Sea conditions will be very rough to High along and off Maharashtra-Goa coasts on May 16. It is very likely to be very rough to High along and off south Gujarat coast from May 17 morning and very high to phenomenal from May 17 midnight," it said.

The IMD has also issued a warning for fishermen near coastal areas. There is a total suspension of fishing operations over eastcentral and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea and along and off Kerala-Karnataka-Goa-Maharashtra coasts. Total suspension of fishing operations over northeast Arabian Sea and along and off Gujarat coast from May 17.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a high-level meeting here on Saturday to review the preparedness of states and central agencies concerned to deal with the situation arising out of cyclone 'Tauktae'.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept 16 transport aircraft and 18 helicopters operation ready in peninsular India as a preparation for the Cyclone Tauktae.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials have also assured on Friday that they are well prepared for Cyclone Tauktae and 53 teams have been committed, 24 teams pre-deployed, and 29 teams are on standby ready for the 5 most vulnerable states-- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra. (ANI)
Reuters

Samarco Mineracao SA, a bankrupt joint venture between Brazilian miner Vale SA and BHP Group Ltd, proposed on Thursday a plan to restructure 50 billion reais ($10 billion) in debt with an offer of preferred shares or a cash payout in 2041 equal to 15% of the current value of holdings, sources said. Samarco filed for bankruptcy protection in April to prevent creditors' claims from affecting operations that restarted at the end of 2020, more than five years after a tailings dam collapsed causing one of Brazil's worst environmental accidents. The 'haircut' plan proposes discounts of 85% on the amount to be paid to the company's largest creditors who do not accept preferred shares in the mining company, people with direct - ok?
Felicia Frazar is the managing editor of the Seguin Gazette. You can e-mail her at felicia.frazar@seguingazette.com .
(Bloomberg) -- At the Daqo New Energy Corp. factory in Chinas Xinjiang region, workers carefully processed tall columns of refined silicon last week as a group of reporters and analysts looked on. Its the first time outsiders were allowed to witness the mundane factory scene since Chinas dominant solar industry has come under scrutiny for its labor practices.

Unlike three other companies in Xinjiang that produce polysilicona key ingredient in solar panelsDaqo hasnt been linked to alleged human-rights abuses. Yet Daqo has upheld the same secrecy as its peers with ties to the government-run labor program that's under international scrutiny. As recently as March, the company declined interview requests for its executives and turned away foreign observers.

Now the companys leadership is breaking ranks in an attempt to shield itself from potential U.S. sanctions over China's treatment of the Uyghur minority group in Xinjiang.

READ MORE: Secrecy and Abuse Claims Haunt Chinas Solar Factories in Xinjiang

Daqos chief financial officer, Ming Yang, acknowledges there's a good probability that Xinjiang-made polysilicon will be banned by President Joe Biden. As the only U.S.-listed polysilicon company based in Xinjiang, Daqo cant just ignore concerns from overseas investors and regulators, he said in an interview. We understand there are these perception risks, especially from the public and media, and some investors, Yang said.

On Wednesday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said officials believe in some cases that Chinese solar products are being produced by forced labor and confirmed the administration is mulling restrictions. Daqos best bet is to try and win an exemption. Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. this month managed to get itself removed from a U.S. blacklist of military-linked companies, suggesting theres a way for individual companies to avoid penalties even as tensions rise between the worlds two biggest economies.

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Concerns about forced labor in Xinjiang stem from a state-run labor program that some Western governments and academics have argued is used to compel mainly Muslim Uyghurs and other minorities to work against their will. Researchers have highlighted public documents showing three other polysilicon factoriesnot Daqosaccepted workers from the program. China says the initiative helps poor ethnic minorities find better employment and that accusations of forced labor in Xinjiang are lies invented by foreign adversaries.

Daqos campaign is being spearheaded by Yang, a Taiwan-born, Cornell-educated former McKinsey & Co. consultant who joined the firm in 2015. The night before the tour, the 46-year-old held court for two hours over dinner at a local hotel, sipping Moutai liquor with a group of foreign journalists. A vegetarian, he picked at dishes including tomato and egg soup and cauliflower stir-fry as he set out his case: Daqo doesn't participate in the labor program and doesnt employ any Uyghurs.

When asked later what he thought of the governments treatment of Uyghurs, including internment camps that officials describe as vocational training facilities, Yang equivocated. Do they exist or not? Actually, I dont know, he said. But certainly if they do exist, then I think there are moral standards that this will be judged against.

Yang and his team plan to appoint an agency to conduct a human-rights audit of their operationsand most probably those of key suppliersto back up the companys assertion that it has zero tolerance for forced labor. Daqo has shortlisted three possibilities: a global auditing firm and two fair-labor institutions referred to them by the U.S. government.

Its a gamble. Conducting independent, third-party inspections at random times would require cooperation from a local government that has for years prevented foreign journalists and diplomats from freely visiting the region. Yang said the authorities have given Daqo preliminary assurances that the auditors will be granted access.

Supply-chain audits are recognized by the U.S. government, "but the bar is high and they have mixed results of success," said Nicholas Turner, a lawyer at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Hong Kong who specializes in economic sanctions. "A lot will depend on who the auditor is and the level of transparency the company can provide."

Daqos push for transparency could also end up raising more questions about the other key players in the industryXinte Energy Co., GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. and East Hope Group Co.and Chinas labor practices in the region. Together, the four factories provide almost half the global supply of polysilicon, helping to power a surge in solar energy around the world.

Operating in the region has become problematic for companies after China began a strike-hard campaign in Xinjiang in the 2010s in response to a series of deadly terror attacks by Uyghurs seeking greater political and cultural autonomy. The policies, which have seen Muslims placed under tight surveillance and separated from their families, have been characterized by the U.S. government as genocide.

For Daqo, distancing itself from the labor program could be almost as risky as facing U.S. sanctions. The company must be careful that in defending its own practices it doesnt appear to be agreeing with Western criticisms of Chinese policies, or failing to show solidarity with Beijing and its industry peers. Thats why Daqo has tailored its message for two different audiences.

During the factory tour, which was also attended by analysts from HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG, Yang insisted that Daqo wouldnt take part in the labor program. If the government did ask us, we would not participate, he said. As a foreign-invested company, Yang said Daqo wouldnt be obligated to comply with such an order. Daqo has very high integrity standards, he said.

There are early signs that Daqos charm offensive may be working. There is no evidence of any human-rights violations and only allegations, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analyst Johnson Wan wrote in a note to clients after watching a virtual video tour of the plant. Wan has a buy rating on Daqo, which is planning to raise 5 billion yuan ($778 million) in a listing this year on Shanghais Star board.

Kevin He, Daqos head of investor relations, struck a different tone from Yang at a press conference arranged by the foreign ministry in Beijing in early May. Sitting next to Xinjiang government officials, he lashed out at a U.S. solar industry lobbys efforts to form an anti-forced labor alliance. The aim, he said, was to sabotage Chinas participation in the global market. We express our strong indignation and condemnation, He said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian reiterated on Monday that there is only voluntary employment in Xinjiang. "China welcomes those with just and objective view from all countries and institutions to visit Xinjiang, but is against investigations based on the presumption of guilt, he said.

Concerns about Daqos perceived ties to Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, or XPCCa state-affiliated organization that's been sanctioned by the U.S. government for alleged human-rights abuses including mass arbitrary detentionare another potential risk, Yang said. The organization oversaw the development of Shihezi, the city where Daqos factory is based.

We have no association with the XPCC, Yang said. We're not owned by them. Were a fully foreign-owned enterprise and we have no collaboration. Yang said Daqo will stop expanding its Shihezi operations after this year, citing diminishing energy price advantages and a desire to be closer to customers. The company is looking at Yunnan and Inner Mongolia as possibilities for future growth.

But Daqo faces an uphill battle as it tries to escape the shadow of Xinjiang. Last week, for example, researchers Laura Murphy and Nyrola Elima released a report detailing what they called a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship between Daqo and XPCC. They also cited public documents that indicate some of Daqos major suppliers may have hired workers from the labor program. Daqo said it didnt find any evidence of forced labor at the plants.

Companies must allow unannounced, unfettered, unmonitored audits that center Uyghur workers' voices and that guarantee zero repercussions for whistleblowers, said Murphy, a professor at Sheffield Hallam University. No company can guarantee any of those conditions in Xinjiang so long as internment camps remain in operation. And certainly none of this is accomplished by guided tours of factory floors.

That means the pressure on Daqo will be difficult to evade, no matter how open the company makes itself. Were trying to be as transparent as possible," Yang said.

(Updates with analyst comment in 11th paragraph.)

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Police ticketed multiple people under the Health Protection Act during a pro-Palestinian rally in Halifax on Saturday. (Jeorge Sadi/ CBC - image credit)

People ticketed for breaking public health rules during a pro-Palestinian car rally in Halifax say they were shocked to receive a fine while sitting in their car and plan to fight the fine.

The rally, which organizers with the Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society called the Free Palestine COVID-safe car rally, saw more than 200 cars participate.

The group began at Tower Road and Inglis Street, outside Saint Mary's University, before the long line of cars drove through downtown streets, waving flags and honking.

But multiple people say they were ticketed in the parking lot before the drive began when there was a bottleneck of traffic trying to leave.

Nada Musa was sitting in a car with her roommate, who was driving, and two of the roommate's family members, all in their COVID-19 bubble.

She said one Halifax Regional Police officer hit the car as he walked by in the parking lot, shouting at them to move along.

'We were really shocked'

Soon after, another officer came up to the car and issued Musa's roommate a ticket under the Health Protection Act for physically gathering with "everyone outside," referring to the nearby cars. That ticket carries a $2,000 fine.

"So I go, 'Wait, you're telling me the gathering is people in their cars'  we didn't even come into contact with anyone outside our car," Musa said Sunday.

"We were really shocked."

Nada Musa holds the Palestinian flag out the window of a car during the pro-Palestinian demonstration in Halifax on Saturday. (Nada Musa)

Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella said Saturday that the rally was an illegal gathering and the time for demonstrations and protests "isn't now."

In a news release Monday, police said 17 tickets were issued at the event. Nine were for offences under the Health Protection Act, two for offences under the Emergency Management Act and six for offences under the Motor Vehicle Act.

The province has been under lockdown for more than two weeks to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus as the Halifax region deals with community spread, high cases and increasing hospitalization.

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The province reported 126 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and 91 cases Monday.

Musa said she understands how serious the virus is and felt like their group did everything right to keep themselves and the public safe.

But she said she saw police ticket other people for honking and making noise, or pull them over at different points of the rally as they drove along, for leaving their homes for non-essential reasons.

At the same time, Musa said lots of people were moving around on scooters or enjoying the sunshine in groups and were not ticketed.

As someone with family in the Palestinian territories, Musa said raising awareness of the escalating violence in the Middle East was too important to just leave to social media, and attending the rally to make noise was vital.

"They're calling us every day. They don't know if they're going to make it tomorrow," Musa said.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations like Halifax's were held across Canada on Saturday, in large cities like Toronto and Vancouver.

Fairness questioned

Musa said it was unfair for Halifax police to single out their rally as an illegal one, alongside one on Citadel Hill at the same time. That event was organized on Facebook by a group called Freedom Nova Scotia, and a small number of people showed up Saturday to protest the current restrictions.

"We were not gathering on the hill or having people close to each other. People were in their bubbles, their families," Musa said.

She added her roommate is planning to work with a lawyer to argue the ticket.

Police laid charges at the start of a car rally near Saint Mary's University in the south end of Halifax (Jeorge Sadi/CBC)

Halifax lawyer Peter Planetta said he was watching part of the rally Saturday and what he observed did not violate the Health Protection Act.

"People have the right under our charter and constitution to peacefully assemble and to demonstrate, and that's what these people were doing," said Planetta in an interview Monday.

"There are some serious constitutional questions here and I fear there was an injustice and their rights were violated."

Planetta is encouraging anyone who was ticketed at the event to reach out to him. He noted he has already heard from several people and will be taking on the work pro bono.

Dana Elborno, one of the rally organizers with the Atlantic Canada Palestinian Society, said Sunday she is especially upset with the tickets because they reached out to Halifax police days before the rally.

Elborno said police thanked their group for the notice and a few officers arrived at the Inglis Street parking lot around noon before the rally began.

She said the police told them they were there to make sure public health rules were followed, but never said the rally was illegal or that it should be stopped.

Exit blocked

Then as more and more cars arrived, many honking horns to grab attention, Elborno said police informed them they were starting to get noise complaints and tickets would now be handed out.

Police blocked one of the parking lot exits to only allow cars to leave through Robie Street, Elborno said, which she feels added to the traffic issues.

"I feel like I was betrayed by the police," Elborno said. "They gave us their word and they were fine with it  they knew that this was going to happen."

Elborno said she can't see how their rally was any different from cars sitting in a parking lot at a grocery store, or people gathering within their households at the beach.

Questions should go to Public Health: HRM lawyer

Kinsella, the police chief, was asked about the weekend gatherings and enforcement during the Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Monday.

Coun. Lindell Smith asked if a group planning a rally should go through the police or municipality for permits to hold an event.

"The police do not give permission for rallies or protests or demonstrations. We do our very best to make sure that people are given the opportunity to do it safely, and be provided those ... kind of things when they're forming up for those purposes under, you know, their right to protest," Kinsella said.

The chief said police are enforcing the current Public Health orders, with the help of the injunction on Friday that added additional powers for the police. Kinsella added that the injunction applies to any gathering breaking current restrictions, anywhere in the province.

Martin Ward, a lawyer for the city, added that from time to time there are "questions of interpretation" around exactly what those Public Health restrictions cover.

He said the office of Dr. Robert Strang, the chief medical officer of health, has been very cooperative for most groups looking for advice on whether their events follow the rules.

"If some group wants to know whether they think they'd be in violation of the restrictions, then they should be contacting Dr. Strang's office," Ward said.

Strang addresses car rally

In a COVID-19 briefing Monday, Strang was asked about Saturday's car rally. He said right now the province is not allowing "any type" of gathering.

"Even people getting together in a group, in a parking lot together in cars, is technically a gathering," Strang said.

"Because as we saw, not everybody was in their cars, unfortunately."

People have to remain in very small groups, Strang said, only getting together with their household while outside, or one or two other people while socially distanced.

"We cannot right now have large numbers of people getting together," Strang said.

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HMCS Bonaventure was Canada's last aircraft carrier and served from 1957 until 1970. She was scrapped 50 years ago in 1971. (Library and Archives Canada MIKAN No. 4821237 - image credit)

Ask Bryce Allen what life was like on aboard Canada's last aircraft carrier and his mind turns back to December of 1959.

Now in his 80s, the Fredericton Junction native was part of the flight crew and had been on board for a little more than a year, joining the crew not long after the Bonaventure was commissioned.

The ship was returning from two weeks of NATO exercises off the coast of Ireland, with four destroyer escorts, when it ran headlong into a North Atlantic storm just north of the Azores.

"The flight deck was 65 feet off the water, and water was flooding the deck," Allen recalls, describing the waves that battered the task force.

Meteorological records from the time show wind speeds of 125 kilometres per hour at the height of the storm, with gusts as high as 166 kilometres per hour.

Allen said, to make matters worse, the elevator for moving aircraft from the deck to the lower hangar had jammed at about a foot below deck level, allowing water to flow down into the ship.

Six twin-engined Tracker aircraft couldn't be moved to safety, and had to be strapped down on deck. All they could do was hope they weren't swept away by the wind and waves.

HMCS Bonaventure in the midst of a storm in December, 1959. Six DeHavilland -Grumman C2SF-1 Trackers are seen strapped to the deck. With winds gusting to 166 kilometres per hour, Bryce Allen says the ship probably should have sunk. (DND)

The upper deck suffered substantial damage in the storm and five sailors were injured.

Allen said he took 8 mm movies of the storm, but "you think I could find what I did with those pictures?."

"Really, the carrier should of sunk," Allen said, "But she came through her."

Gone half a century

It has been 50 years since the Canadian government decided the cost of operating an aircraft carrier was too high to justify keeping the Bonaventure.

The ship was scrapped in Taiwan in 1971.

Allen spent eight years of his life on the Bonaventure, and even though he left the ship in 1965, he said he was sad to see her go.

A wave crashes over the bow of HMCS Bonaventure on Dec. 6, 1959. Bryce Allen says the deck was 20 metres above the waterline, but it was flooded by wave after wave. (DND)

People who lived in ports like Halifax and Saint John likely missed her too.

HMCS Bonaventure was by far the biggest ship in the navy, and she drew a crowd of onlookers when she sailed into port.

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Many Saint Johners of a certain age still remember her arrival in the fall of 1963 for a three-month refit at the Saint John shipyard.

Only carrier purchased by Canada

She was originally designed for the Royal Navy to provide air support for convoys during the Second World War and was to be named HMS Powerful.

But the ship wasn't completed in time to take part in the war, and construction was halted.

After a few years of operating carriers on loan from the Royal Navy, and with increasing Cold War tensions, the Canadian Navy made the decision in 1952 to purchase and complete the Powerful, renaming her HMCS Bonaventure.

Canada's experience with carriers during and after the Second World War had proven the value of carriers for anti-submarine work, and Soviet subs presented the biggest threat to Canadian sovereignty in the 1950s. Plus, the move was seen as a way to help prop up Britain's sagging economy.

She had upgrades to handle more modern aircraft, including a steam catapult to help get enough speed to get airborne, an angled deck to help gain lift and six arresting cables to stop the aircraft during a landing, but the fact remained Bonaventure was 30 per cent shorter than her U.S. counterparts.

With a deck just a bit over 700 feet long, landing modern aircraft on the Bonaventure was a tricky business. (Library and Archives Canada MIKAN No. 4951224)

Saint John's George Vair wasn't on board during that wild storm in 1959. He was still three years or so away from joining her crew.

But her handling in rough seas was also something clear in his mind.

"One of the problems was she was not made for the North Atlantic," Vair said, "Water would come in around the gun stations in rough weather  not the greatest ship in the world for that sort of thing."

Lines, lines, lines

Vair had been a signaller aboard destroyers before finishing up his stint in the navy on Bonaventure.

The biggest change for Vair was the size of the crew, usually operating with 700 to 800 on board.

"You lined up for everything. You lined up at the galley for meals, you lined up for 'tot'  we still had that then," Vair said, referring to the daily rum ration, a practice that ended in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1972) .

"A lot of people didn't like it because of the lining up."

And it was crowded in the living quarters, too.

"The bunks were set four bunks high on each side. Once you were in, you had about 10 inches to the bottom of the next bunk," Vair said.

"In those Tribal [Class] destroyers, you just strung a hammock, which was a lot better.

"And, you hardly knew anyone outside your own group. Years later, I was sitting in a tavern talking to a guy and discovered we were both on her at the same time."

The view of HMCS Bonaventure from the cockpit of an aircraft about to land. (Library and Archives Canada MIKAN No. 4951242)

It also could be a dangerous place to be, especially for the aircrews.

Allen remembers the danger involved in taking off and landing on the small flight deck of the ship the crew lovingly called "The Bonny".

"People from the air force were just flabbergasted," Allen remembers, "'You fly off the Bonny? Jeez, are you crazy or what?'"

"I only had one crash," Allen said matter-of-factly about a landing in a twin-engined Grumman Tracker.

On a night mission in bad weather, Allen's aircraft made six approaches without being able to get the plane down, so the decision was made to head to a land base in Labrador.

After spending the night on land, they headed back to the ship in the morning, but the weather hadn't gotten any better.

Coming in, the aircraft's arrestor hook missed the first five cables stretched across the deck.

On Oct. 8, 1961, the Tracker Allen was flying in was left dangling over the water after missing five of the six arrester cables on the deck. The final cable that kept the plane from plummeting into the sea can be seen still attached at the lower tail. (Submitted Bryce Allen)

"We caught number one wire," Allen said, the sixth and final cable, and the 10,000-kilogram plane and its four crew members were left hanging off the end of the flight deck, with only the cable keeping it from plummeting into the sea below.

"There were people hollering for us to get out, and people hollering for us to stay inside," he said.

"Finally, I said I've had enough of this and went out [the hatch] right around where the props were, which were still spinning. That was a little bit interesting."

Dangerous business

Some aircrew weren't so lucky.

George Vair was on board for just one year. "We lost two people when I was on it," he said.

And that trip through a hurricane in 1959 ended in tragedy.

Just 240 kilometres or so from Halifax on Dec. 12, after riding out five days of rough weather, a Tracker went into the sea minutes after takeoff.

The newspapers of the day reported the aircraft was launching to take part in exercises with a submarine, just a day before the ship was supposed to sail into Halifax, and that the plane with all four crew members couldn't be found.

Bryce Allen remembers it differently. He said the usual process coming home was to launch the planes offshore and fly into Shearwater air base.

Allen said he was assigned to be on the plane that crashed, but since he was single and it was two weeks before Christmas, he volunteered to give up his spot to a married man.

Bryce Allen of Fredericton Junction served eight years on HMCS Bonaventure. (Submitted)

"The only thing they figured could have happened was that, in a hurry, they threw the baggage in the back of the plane and it wasn't secured. When the catapult launched the plane, they figured the baggage was thrown ahead into the cabin."

Allen said the plane went straight up into the air, and then down into the sea.

'They kept us busy'

HMCS Bonaventure had a busy career, out to sea three times a year, in three-month intervals.

She took part in numerous NATO exercises, sailed as far south as Argentina, and as far north as Ungava Bay. She also had stops in most of Europe's major ports.

She took Canada's first peacekeeping troops to Cyprus, was on high alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and picked up victims from a downed airliner off the coast of Ireland.

More than 20,000 aircraft landings took place on her deck, with the last one occurring on Dec. 12, 1969, coincidentally 10 years to the day after the fatal crash Bryce Allen witnessed.

But by the late '60s, the navy was looking to cut costs. And, the Bonaventure, the largest ship in the fleet, was an obvious target.

By that time, Vair was out of the Navy altogether, Allen had moved on to flying in shore-based Argus patrol aircraft. When she was decommissioned, he was there.

Sad to see her go

"It was a bad scene," he recalled.

"She had just had a refit done  $17 million. And they sold her for scrap."

Allen said there has always been a rumour that she ended up in service with another navy, "so maybe she got another 10 years."

There's no proof that's the case. Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

One of her anchors sits in Point Pleasant Park in Halifax, and the ship's bell is at Shearwater's aviation museum, memorials to the last of her kind in Canadian service.
ROME (Reuters) - COVID-19 infections in adults of all ages fell by 80% five weeks after a first dose of Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine, according to Italian research published on Saturday.

The first such study by a European Union country on the real-world impact of its immunisation campaign was carried out by Italy's National Institute of Health (ISS) and the Ministry of Health on 13.7 million people vaccinated nationwide.

Scientists started studying data from the day Italy's vaccination campaign began, on Dec. 27 2020, until May 3 2021.

The analysis showed that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalisation, and death decreased progressively after the first two weeks following the initial vaccination.

"As of 35 days after the first dose, there is an 80% reduction in infections, 90% reduction in hospitalisations, and 95% reduction in deaths," the ISS said, adding that the same pattern was seen in both men and women regardless of age.

"This data confirms the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign and the need to achieve high coverage across the population quickly to end the emergency," ISS president Silvio Brusaferro said in the statement.

Among the nearly 14 million people included in the Italian study, 95% of those who had taken Pfizer and Moderna had completed the vaccine cycle, while none of those given AstraZeneca had received a second dose.

Up until now, Italy has been following the makers' recommendations, giving a second dose of Pfizer three weeks after the first, a second dose of Moderna after a four week gap and a second dose of AstraZeneca after a 12 week gap.

As of Saturday morning, some 8.3 million Italians, or 14% of the population, were completely vaccinated, while around 10 million people had received a first jab.

(Reporting by Emilio Parodi; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
Sinikka Gay Elliot went missing on Salt Spring Island on Wednesday. (Submitted by Salt Spring RCMP - image credit)

RCMP on Salt Spring Island, B.C., say they have found the body of a University of British Columbia professor who had been missing since last Wednesday.

Sinikka Gay Elliott left her home to run errands on Wednesday and had not been seen or heard from since. Police say they received a missing persons report at 2:15 p.m. the same day.

On Saturday, police issued a written statement that said they had found her body. Although they are still investigating the details surrounding her death, they don't suspect foul play.

RCMP thanked the more than 100 volunteers who helped search for Elliott.

Overwhelming community response

The search began Wednesday night and located Elliot's vehicle abandoned on Juniper Place Road at approximately 9:30 p.m.

After an overwhelming response from the community looking to help in the search, police had asked the public to stand down.

Elliot had been an associate professor with the sociology department at UBC since 2007.

Guy Stecklov, head of the sociology department at UBC, previously told CBC News that her colleagues and students were all distressed by her disappearance.
Academics / Advising

Screaming Eagles Orientation - Virtual

Come learn more about resources at USI as you begin your academic journey with us!

Screaming Eagles Orientation will be provided virtually using the Zoom platform. These virtual orientations will last around 90 minutes and will provide a great opportunity for new students to meet staff, faculty, current and other new students; to ask questions; and to learn about resources available to help them be successful at USI.

We offer a separate Virtual Parent and Family Orientation session at the same time. This session will focus on meeting staff and faculty and answering parent and family members' questions.

Students will need to make a reservation for these session in myUSI. Students just need to look for the Screaming Eagles Orientation app. When students are making their reservation, they will have the opportunity to sign up parents and family members for their own virtual orientation session.

The Zoom links for these programs will be sent in the confirmation.

More information and additional resources are available at USI.edu/orientation.
The current COVID-19 fuss has caused adverse effects on the business industry. However, as businesses transform seamlessly to accommodate changes caused by the pandemic, the e-commerce industry has experienced a boom for a niche of products. Even in a marketplace platform such as Amazon, sellers have noticed at least 8 products that customers frequently add to their carts.

Buying Trends in 2021

Industry influencers often determine buying trends, and the current customer behavior is fast shifting towards trending products. Thankfully, social media has a hand in promoting buying trends for most products in 2020 and 2021.

8 Amazon Items That Are Flying Off The Shelves

With thousands of products today, some people rely on social media recommendations and reviews that back bestsellers in the online market. In this regard, let us explore 8 Amazon Items you can feel confident purchasing this spring.

1. Little Green Machine
Wisconsin residents know all too well you need to keep the snow brush in the trunk, even if youre wearing shorts and flip flops.

The ever-changing weather is just a reality weve all come to expect and we make sure were always prepared. Another reality is the threat of severe weather at any time and in any season. Sadly, climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of these extreme weather events.

In Wisconsin, we know all too well the devastation that can come from floods, tornadoes and blizzards, whether it is to our homes or businesses. All of these can cause disruptions to petroleum supplies, whether the natural disasters occur in Wisconsin or along the supply chain.

Access to fuel in times of crisis is of particular concern for our emergency responders who need to reach residents, transport those needing critical care, assist with evacuations, close roadways, transport key supplies and equipment and respond to downed power lines and fires.
Every medical student must take the Hippocratic Oath before they can treat patients, pledging to, first, do no harm. The Biden administration and Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra should follow this same oath and do no harm to patients and frontline providers as they implement the recently passed law banning surprise medical bills.

2020 was a difficult year for frontline healthcare providers across the country. Approximately 1.4 million healthcare jobs were lost in April 2020 alone. Patient volumes plummeted as hospitals and clinics postponed voluntary treatments to limit the spread of the virus.

On top of COVID-19, rural healthcare providers here in Wisconsin continue to face immense financial pressure. A 2020 study from Guidehouse found that five rural hospitals in Wisconsin are at high risk of closing. Nationwide, 25% of rural healthcare facilities may close unless their financial situation improves.

The Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative is owned and operated by 43 rural acute, general medical-surgical hospitals. We are committed to fighting for policies that protect access to life-saving care for rural Wisconsinites.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  John Lloyd returns to show business, but this time under a colleagues talent agency.

Cruz has signed up with Maja Salvadors Crown Artist Management.

We are happy to share with you the CAMback of the one and only John Lloyd Cruz, now under Crown Artist Management (CAM), read the talent agencys social media post.

Salvador launched her own talent agency last March. She and Cruz worked together in the 2007 hit One More Chance.

Cruz was last seen top-billing a film in 2017, with Sarah Geronimo in the romantic-comedy Finally Found Someone.

The 37-year-old actor explained in an interview last year that he took a hiatus to rest and meditate.

Since then, he rarely made public appearances. He made a cameo in a historical drama film Culion in 2019. Last year, he reunited with his former on-screen partner Bea Alonzo in a short film.

In February 2020, Cruz was set to star in Servando Magdamag, a film helmed by renowned director Lav Diaz and award-winning writer Ricky Lee.
Donald Eugene "Bub" Martin, Jr., 69, of Waldorf, MD passed away peacefully at his own home on Sunday, May 9, 2021. He was born on March 9, 1952 in Washington, D.C. to the late Donald Eugene Martin, Sr. and Thelma Lenora (Devers) Martin.



Bub met the love of his life, Linda, and they married in 1972 in Lanham, MD. Together they have celebrated over 49 years of marital bliss. Their joyous union was made even more special when they welcomed two sons, Donnie and Daniel.



Bub was a kind and generous man who took wonderful care of his family. He worked as a Master Electrician and retired in 2012 to spend his time with his family. Although retired, he continued his membership with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, as he felt honored to be a skilled electrician.



A true lover of nature, Bub enjoyed spending time outdoors. His favorite place to get away was to his cabin in PA. He would escape the hustle of the everyday and soak in the peace of the great outdoors. Bub appreciated a quiet morning when you could hear the birds sing their gentle songs and the deer ran freely through untouched forests. He was so happy to share this solitude with his family and show his grandchildren the true beauty of nature.



A great man has left the physical world behind, but his family is taking solace in knowing he has been reunited with his family in his cabin in the woods on the other side of the clouds. As you sit back and watch lightening cross the dark skies, know that Bub is sending you a signal that he is healthy, happy and awaiting your arrival when you get to join him on the front porch of his cabin.



Bub is survived by his wife, Linda Martin of Waldorf, MD; sons, Donald Eugene Martin, III of Prince Frederick, MD and Daniel Steven Martin and his wife Keri of Mechanicville, MD, seven (7) grandchildren, Madison, Cory, Ethan, Emma, Brooklynn, Lucas and Elena; siblings, Peggy Sprouse, Susan Appleby, Marilyn DiMarco and Linda Perry; and many nieces, nephews and extended family and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, Donald Eugene Martin, Sr. and Thelma Lenora Martin.



The family will receive friends for Bub's Life Celebration on Saturday, May 15, 2021 from 3:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. with a Time of Reflection at 4:00 p.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622. Interment will be held privately.



Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com



Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., Charlotte Hall, MD
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  Rebels belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf were killed in separate clashes with the military in Mindanao on Sunday.

Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr. said two BIFF members, believed to be part of the group's Karialan faction led by Mohiden Animbang, died after a 10-minute firefight with government forces.

Joint Task Force Central commander Maj. Gen. Juvymax Uy said there were no casualties among troops in the military operation conducted in Barangay Mao, Datu Paglas, Maguindanao.

The troops recovered one bandolier with two long magazines for an M16 rifle with 50 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, two civilian backpacks with personal belongings, one broken hand guard of an M16 rifle, and assorted food.

Meanwhile, three Abu Sayyaf members were killed in a military encounter in Sitio Kura-Kura, Barangay Baiwas in Sumisip, Basilan.

Vinluan said the troops battled eight Abu Sayyaf rebels under sub-leader Pasil Bayali. The opposing sides exchanged gunfire for about 30 minutes, which resulted in the deaths of two Abu Sayyaf members.

After the clash, Joint Task Force Basilan commander Brig. Gen. Domingo Gobway said a 15-minute firefight ensued where another Abu Sayyaf rebel was killed. The military recovered one M16 rifle in the second gun battle.

The identities of the slain Abu Sayyaf Group members are yet to be verified.

This year, the military said a total of 41 BIFF rebels were killed while 48 surrendered. Among Abu Sayyaf rebels, four were killed and 13 members surrendered while one was apprehended.

The Philippine National Police also moved to an offensive mode against BIFF members, in response to President Rodrigo Duterte's appeal for help to control the rebels in the region to prevent an "all-out offensive."

RELATED: Duterte asks BARMM to help gov't deal with rebels to avoid 'bloody' all-out offensive

On May 8, BIFF rebels stormed a public market in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and their clash with government troops forced many residents to evacuate the area.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  The House of Representatives will pursue the passage of the 405.6-billion Bayanihan 3 or the Bayanihan to Arise As One Act once the session resumes on Monday, according to House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez.

The Leyte 1st District Representative said the House of Representatives will "prioritize" the proposed Bayanihan 3 to help rev up the pandemic-battered economy.

"We need Bayanihan 3 to help ensure that the economy recovers quickly from the coronavirus disease-19-induced crisis in a strong, sustainable, and resilient manner," he was quoted as saying in a statement Sunday.

"We only have three weeks to pass this vital measure that will help our fellow Filipinos who are all affected by the pandemic, and we are confident that before we adjourn, we will be able to pass the measure," Romualdez added.

Romualdez noted that the proposed third COVID-19 stimulus package has already secured approvals from the House Committees on Social Services, Economic Affairs, and Ways and Means.

RELATED: Bayanihan 3 bill hurdles House committees

But the Bayanihan 3 proposal still has to go through the Committee on Appropriations, he added.

Under the bill, Marikina Rep. Stella Quimbo earlier this month said 216 billion will be earmarked for the cash grant. This means each Filipino will be entitled to a 2,000 cash aid.

READ: Each Filipino may get 2,000 'ayuda' under the proposed Bayanihan 3, solon says

Aside from this, lawmakers have also proposed an additional 30 billion to finance the Department of Social Welfare and Development's emergency assistance program for households affected by COVID-19.

The proposed bill also seeks to provide wage subsidies and assistance to displaced workers and to the agri-fishery sector.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  A fire hit the state-run Philippine General Hospital at Taft Avenue, Manila early Sunday morning, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection.

Authorities said the blaze started in an operating room on the third floor of the facility. It reached first alarm at 12:41 a.m. and was quickly raised to the second level at 12:58 a.m., the BFP-National Capital Region reported.

A total of fourteen fire trucks responded to the scene, while photos and videos on social media showed patients being evacuated. The BFP said the fire was declared under control at 2:46 a.m. and was put out at 5:41 a.m.

No one was hurt in the fire, the Manila Public Information Office said. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the incident.

Sta. Ana Hospital Director Dr. Grace Padilla said 12 babies from the neonatal intensive care unit were transferred to their hospital, while Ospital ng Maynila Director Dr. Karl Laqui said two patients needing appendectomy were moved to their facility.

In a Twitter post, Vice President Leni Robredo appealed for industrial fans to help eliminate the smoke in the building.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque thanked those who immediately responded with emergency donations and encouraged people to send assistance to the state-run hospital's official fundraising groups.

"Big or small, cash or in kind, these acts of kindess and generosity would be of great help and assistance to those who are in need," said Roque.

PGH is the largest COVID-19 referral hospital in the country.

Data from the Health department show the facility's COVID-19 bed capacity is under the moderate classification as of May 14, which means 60% to 69% of its beds for infected patients are occupied. During the surge in cases last month, its bed utilization rate reached 90%, with at least five coronavirus deaths recorded daily, according to its spokesman.

CNN Philippines Correspondent Paolo Barcelon contributed to this report.
Kalibo, Aklan (CNN Philippines, May 16)  The Regional Inter-Agency Task Force and the Regional Task Force in Western Visayas have recommended a moratorium on the movement of travelers for seven days due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the region.

"The Western Visayas RIATF and RTF jointly issues this resolution recommending for a moratorium on the movement of all travelers to and from the islands of Panay and Negros for a period of seven days, to be determined by the RIATF upon approval of this request," said Joint Resolution No. 008, which was shared on Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Trenas' Facebook page.

The resolution also said only healthcare and humanitarian workers, uniformed personnel and cargo will be allowed to travel within the inclusive dates once the moratorium is approved.

"Joint National IATF-TF shall provide a two (2)-day lead time for the moratorium to be announced or disseminated to affected travelers to be made aware of," it added.

Meanwhile, travelers are allowed to travel in both destinations while the moratorium has yet to be approved.
(Reuters) - A 12-storey Gaza tower block housing the offices of the U.S.-based Associated Press and Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera collapsed on Saturday after being struck by Israeli missiles, a Reuters witness said.

The owner of the building had been warned in advance of an impending Israeli missile strike, a Reuters reporter said, and the building had been evacuated.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the incident.

The building also contained a number of apartments and other offices.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

This article was first published on Reuters.com
(CNN) -- In a major moment for Disney parks, and the theme park industry overall, Walt Disney World changed its mask rules for guests following new guidance from the CDC.

The resort located in Orlando, Florida announced Friday that masks and face coverings for guests will be "optional in outdoor common areas" at Disney World starting on Saturday. The exception being that guests "must wear face coverings from the entrances at all attractions, theaters or transportation and throughout those experiences," the company said.

So that means if you're walking down Main Street, U.S.A., you don't have to wear a mask but if you're riding Space Mountain, you'll still have to.

The news comes after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances.

The adjusted safety requirements could have huge ramifications for Disney's attendance numbers and the theme park industry as a whole since Disney parks are an industry leader. And as goes Disney, so usually go other amusement parks.

Universal Orlando Resort, a Disney competitor in Orlando that houses attractions from Harry Potter and Jurassic Park, also announced Friday that it was updating its Covid safety measures. Like Disney's new requirements, it says that masks are not "mandatory" while outdoors but are still "required in all indoor locations including shops and restaurants" and required at all attractions.

Disney's parks and resorts have been an important foundation of the company's media empire for decades. However, the division was hit particularly hard because of the coronavirus pandemic. Following a challenging year that brought extended closures and significant layoffs, the new mask rules, as well as increasing capacities, could have a significant impact on the parks' attendance heading into the vital summer season.

Disney generated more than $26 billion in sales at its parks division in fiscal 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, representing 37% of the company's overall revenue. Returning to those levels would obviously be a boon to not just the parks unit, but all of Disney.

"This is the next step in their recovery," Robert Niles, editor of ThemeParkInsider.com, told CNN Business before the announcement on Friday. "They've built a foundation at the parks that they can expand upon. I don't think you're really going to see the result of that expansion in 2021, but you're going to see the beginning of it."

The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is the world's most-visited theme park, with more than 20 million visitors in 2018, according to a report by AECOM. The company has invested billions in its theme park division, opening new Star Wars lands in Florida and California in 2019. It's also planning to debut Avengers Campus, a land based on the successful Marvel franchise, at Disneyland this summer.

Disneyland, the flagship resort in California, reopened last month after being closed for more than a year.

Disney did not say if and when it would change mask guidance and safety measures at its other parks.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Disney World changes mask requirements for guests".
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  The Philippine National Police moved to an offensive mode against the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) amid the latter's increased attacks and recruitment efforts, the newly-installed chief said Sunday.

PNP Chief General Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar issued the directive Sunday, claiming the BIFF was "exploiting" the coronavirus pandemic to gain more members and inflict violence.

"I agree with our Presidential Peace Adviser, Sec. Carlito Galvez, that it is easy now for the BIFF to recruit members because the pandemic has severely affected the livelihood of many people in Mindanao," he said.

To suppress the recruitment and attacks, the official said the PNP would further strengthen its police operations against the group.

"Mas paiigtingin pa natin ang presensya ng pulis para hindi na makaporma pa ang grupong ito," Eleazar said.

[Translation: We will intensify the police presence so that this group can no longer pose threats.]

"We have not and cannot let our guards down against these local terror groups," he added.

READ: Duterte tells BIFF: Stop causing trouble, inflicting violence to civilians

Just last week, President Rodrigo Duterte issued a warning to the BIFF to stop its attacks.

In a speech before officials of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Duterte asked for help to control rebels in the region to avoid an all-out offensive.

This came after an armed encounter between government forces and BIFF members who stormed a public market in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao on May 8. The clash forced many residents to evacuate the area.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 18) - The impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen is now up for discussion by the House of Representatives' Justice Committee.

The lower chamber on Tuesday referred the case to its Justice panel, which is expected to submit a report - together with the corresponding resolution - within 60 session days from the referral.

In a statement, House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez said lawmakers present at the plenary session "overwhelmingly" adopted the motion to include the matter in the calendar of business.

"We believe that the chairman and members of the House of Committee on Justice will act judiciously on the impeachment complaint based on constitutional grounds and in accordance with established rules and practices," he said.

The Justice Committee is chaired by Leyte Rep. Vicente Veloso III, a former Court of Appeals justice.

The complaint against Leonen was filed in December last year by Cordevilla, the secretary general of the Filipino League of Advocates for Good Government. It was endorsed by Ilocos Norte Rep. Angelo Marcos Barba, a cousin of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Cordevilla had accused the magistrate of failing to file his Statement of Assets and Liabilities, and of delaying the resolution of cases, including the ones pending before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, where Leonen serves as chairperson.

Last February 16, the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, voted to unanimously dismiss Marcos electoral protest against Vice President Leni Robredo. Marcos has claimed that Leonen, the decision's ponente or author, was biased against him. The former senator has since filed a motion for reconsideration.

The Constitution states the House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 16)  Following speculations that shes eyeing a gubernatorial post in her home province, Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday clarified shes still not closing the doors on joining the 2022 presidential race.

The countrys second highest official said she has yet to decide if she will gun for a local or national seat next year, or if she will stay in politics at all.

Mula last year, sinabi ko na na open ako sa lahat ng options, Robredo said in her weekly radio show. At ano yung mga options na yun? Tumakbo ako ng pangulo, ng governor, ng congressmandati kong posisyon, tumakbo ako ng mayor, o di na ko tumakbo at all, yun yung gusto ng mga anak ko.

[Translation: Since last year, I have said Im open to all options. And what are these options? That I will run for president, for governor, for congressmanmy former position, for mayor, or that I will not run at all, which is what my children want.]

Repeating a statement in February, Robredo said she finds local office more attractive, as this would allow more on the ground engagement. She reiterated, however, that this isn't something set in stone.

The vice president made these clarifications in response to former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's claim earlier this week that she is now preparing to run for governor of Camarines Sur.

Robredo also said there is no truth to rumors that shes been regularly travelling to the province due to these political plans, noting she has only returned there twice this year. Her offices COVID-19 efforts, she said, have already been keeping her hands full.

Siguro kung walang pandemya, mas may panahon akong asikasuhin yung politika [Perhaps if there is no pandemic, Id have more time for politics], Robredo said.

She added she would respect if a political party eyeing her as a presidential bet could no longer wait for her decision, stressing the pandemic response is her foremost priority at the moment. Robredo is 1Sambayan's top pick for its presidential candidate.

The vice president also said her change of residency from Naga City to Magarao town has nothing to do with politics, explaining the move was only because her family had built a house in the nearby municipality.
(CNN) -- Alireza Fazeli-Monfared's future was brutally cut short last week when members of his family allegedly murdered him due to his sexual orientation, according to his partner and a LGBTQ rights group.

The 20-year-old Iranian had hoped to escape the country, where he felt stifled by the Iranian regime's restrictions on homosexuality, and had dreams of modeling or becoming a make-up artist, his partner Aghil Abiat told CNN. In long phone calls and video messages with Abiat -- who is a refugee in Turkey after being outed in Iran -- Fazeli-Monfared would describe the experiences he longed to have and the life he wanted to build.

But on May 4, Fazeli-Monfared was killed, possibly after his extended family discovered that he was gay through a military service exemption card that arrived in the mail, according to Abiat and the Iranian LGBTQ organization 6Rang. Abiat said Fazeli-Monfared's mother confirmed his death to him, but she did not respond to CNN's calls or messages to a phone number provided by Abiat.

The couple met on a public social media channel for members of the Iranian LGBTQ community looking for support in 2019, according to Abiat. They began chatting, and sending video messages back and forth. "Our communication was wonderful. We were honest with each other ... Alireza had so much he wanted to experience and he was honest about that as well," Abiat said.

Always seething in the background, however, was building family pressure and Iran's draconian laws against homosexuality that make same-sex relations a potential capital offense. "He was always stressed. He bit his nails so there were never any left," Abiat recalled.

Iran is one of 68 countries where same-sex relations between consenting adults is criminalized, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). "(The) LGBTQ community is one of the most marginalized in Iran, they face various levels of discrimination and hate. The most obvious one is by law but there is also a lot of homophobia in society depending on where you are and which demographic you belong to ... the family can sometimes be the most dangerous place," Tara Sepehri Far, Iran researcher at HRW.

Just days before the alleged killing, Fazeli-Monfared told Abiat about the arrival of his military service card. Fazeli-Monfared also told his partner that he thought the envelope had been opened and resealed. The couple shrugged it off at the time -- chalking it up to paranoia. "We talked about it but we didn't do anything about it, we thought it was just in our heads," Abiat said. But the document exempted Fazeli-Monfared from military service on the grounds of his sexuality, and it may have led to his wider family finding out his sexual identity.

Military exemption cards have become weaponized against the LGBTQ community, according to 6Rang. "These exemption cards are issued through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Alireza received one ... indicating that he was gay, which is permissible under ... the military exemption laws. Unfortunately, in Alireza's case, this selection cost him his life," the advocacy group said in a statement.

Iran allows exemptions for gay men from its mandatory military service under a medical category for mental health disorders. "The idea is that they are not fit for service because of their sexual orientation," said Sepehri Far. The card showing either the exemption or completion of military service is vital to function in Iranian society and is required for even basic things such as getting passports. But the exemption is also "confirmation of your sexual orientation in a society where your sexual orientation is criminalized," the HRW researcher added.

The last time the Fazeli-Monfared and Abiat spoke, on May 2, Fazeli-Monfared said he would go to a store to switch his phone, then buy a train ticket from Ahvaz, his hometown in southwest Iran, to the capital Tehran to get a Covid-19 test for travel to Turkey. Abiat, who is also Iranian and left the country three years ago after a former partner outed him to his family, is currently a refugee waiting for resettlement in Turkey.

By May 4, Abiat had begun to worry. Fazeli-Monfared's phone was not online. When he called no one picked up. When he read reports of his partner's murder, he didn't believe them. A friend also called to tell him the news but Abiat still refused to believe it.

Finally, on May 6, he rang Fazeli-Monfared's mother, who he calls Mama Ali. They had been previously acquainted through video calls when Fazeli-Monfared would put his mother on the phone. "She knew me as his friend, just friend," he said. In text and voice messages with his partner's mother, and then with his aunt, Abiat has pieced together his partner's terrible fate.

CNN has called and messaged the number Abiat provided but was not able to speak to the person he identifies as Mama Ali, and cannot independently confirm the account below. He has provided CNN with screen shots of the conversations and audio messages.

"Mama Ali, this is Aghil, we talked couple of months back. What are people talking about? What are all these stupid things they are saying about Alireza ... I can't believe this ... Please tell me that it's a lie," Abiat wrote in a message followed by crying emojis.

She replied with a short message: "No it's true. They have killed Ali."

Abiat and Mama Ali continued to text back and forth. When she got overwhelmed, Fazeli-Monfared's aunt took over and explained the details in a voice message. "We found his body after two days. We found him ... and now it is in the morgue dear," she said.

The aunt went on to explain how when Fazeli-Monfared didn't come home, his mother went to the phone store to ask about her son. The shopkeeper told her that while he was in the store someone came in, then told Fazeli-Monfared that his father was looking for him and told him to come with them.

When Fazeli-Monfared stepped out of the store he was forced into a car, the shopkeeper told Mama Ali. "There were three people in the car," the aunt said in the messages to Abiat.

The aunt told Abiat that the alleged murderers also phoned her to say what they'd done. "They killed him ... and the same night they called and said that they killed him," she wrote in a text message.

"The killers" the aunt alleged were male members of the victim's extended family. "They packed up the same night and fled to their relatives and left their house and wives behind," the aunt alleged. CNN was unable to contact those individuals and it is unclear if a criminal case has been opened or charges have been filed. And while Fazeli-Monfared's death has received considerable media attention, senior Iranian officials have not commented on the matter.

Speaking to CNN, Abiat said that all he wants now is justice for Fazeli-Monfared. "I want the killers to have a fair trial in which Alireza's sexual orientation is not a consideration," he added.

The man who Abiat had hoped to build a life with is gone. "He was beautiful, handsome. He was kind and determined ... All our hopes and plans have vanished" Abiat said. "We were supposed to do it together but now I will have to do it alone."

This story has been updated to correct when Alireza Fazeli-Monfared and Aghil Abiat first met. It was in 2019.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "A card exempted a gay man from serving in Iran's military. It may have cost him his life"
Robert Edward Bond, 83 of Lexington Park, Maryland, passed away on May 10, 2021 in Great Mills, Maryland, surrounded by his loving family.



Born on July 9, 1937, in Ashland, Kentucky, to the late Leonard Washington Bond and Garnetta George Bond. In his early childhood, his family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland where he remained until early adulthood. In 1954 he enlisted in the Navy, and proudly served his country in Naples, Italy, until his honorable discharge in 1958.



In 1962, he met the love of his life, Barbara Ann Susnowitz. They were married in Baltimore, Maryland, and Bob continued to serve his country as an Electronics Technician with the Air National Guard and Dynalectron in Rhode Island, Virginia and Vermont.



Beginning in 1974, Bob enjoyed a lengthy career as an engineering technician at Naval Air Warfare Center, Patuxent River, Maryland. Throughout his employment, he supported both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft platforms, such as the F/A-18, F-14, T-45, F4, EA6-B and MH-60.



He retired from federal service in 2007, but because of his strong work ethic, he left his job on a Friday and on Monday returned to work as a field engineer with Pacific Architects and Engineers. He retired completely in September 2018.



Bob was not only known for dedication to his job, but also his willingness to always work overtimeAearning the nickname, "Overtime Bob"Aas well as his mentorship of junior engineers and technicians. He was legendary for the amount of food he could consume while onboard his many aircraft carrier trips.



Bob was also quite the storyteller. With great gusto, he would retell childhood stories of how the "Bond Boys" would terrorize the streets of West Baltimore. His quick wit and dry sense of humor always brought a smile and chuckle to those around him. Bob was a kind and gentle soul, with the patience of a saint. His philosophy was, "When you do something to make someone happy, it only takes a little more effort to make them happier."



Bob had a wide variety of interests, including politics and current events, Jerry Lee Lewis and bluegrass music, and movies. He was fond of a wide variety of movie genres, from old westerns to the bizarre, such as, "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes." He loved carpentry and built two additions on his house and even built an entire home for his daughter, Sharon. Above all, he found joy in helping his family and friends with whatever they needed and spending time with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.



In addition to his beloved wife, Barbara, Robert is also survived by his daughters, Holly Barry of Jacksonville, Florida, and Sharon Johnson (Benjamin) of Great Mills, Maryland; his brother Ronald Bond (Judy) of Hanover, Pennsylvania: his grandchildren: Alyssa Key (Samuel), Nicholas Shepherd (Lauren), Samuel Johnson, Matthew Donovan, Jacob Johnson; his great-grandchildren: Luke Shepherd, Lance Shepherd, Vincent-Leo Key, and Julien DuSablon; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his siblings; Earl Bond, Leonard Bond, Douglas Bond, Denise Bond and John McVea.



A visitation for Robert Bond will be held on Thursday, May 20, 2021, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A. 22955 Hollywood Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650. Interment will be private.



Memorial contributions can made to the Valley Lee Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 1, Valley Lee, MD 20692.



Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com.



Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A.
(CNN) -- Israel bombed the house of Hamas' Gaza leader and obliterated a family's home in Gaza as Hamas launched more than 100 missiles towards Israel on Sunday, marking one of the deadliest days of the week-long conflict so far.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had bombed the house of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader since 2017, in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis neighborhood early Sunday morning. IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman told local media that Sinwar had been unhurt in the airstrike.

Another Israeli airstrike in Gaza City killed at least 33 Palestinians -- including eight children -- and injured 50 others, most of whom were women and children early Sunday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Palestinian medical and civil defense teams said they rescued five children from the rubble on Sunday morning. Scenes of the rescue operation show a young girl with a bloodied head injury lifted from the wreckage by a team of paramedics. Her expression alternates between shock and horror.

The IDF said in a Twitter post on Sunday morning that Hamas' militant wing had fired 120 rockets between 7 p.m Saturday and 7 a.m. local time Sunday, of which 11 fell in Gaza. IDF spokesperson Zilberman added Sunday that they had targeted dozens of rocket launchers, with the ability to fire multiple rockets at a time.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a Tweet on Saturday that "Israel has no interest in escalation, but is ready for any scenario," echoing an Israeli military official, who said on Friday that Israel is prepared to continue hitting "quality targets" for an "extended period of time." The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored that resolve on Saturday, saying it will "respond forcefully" in Gaza "until the security of our people is reinstated and restored," and said the country is trying to avoid civilian casualties from its strikes.

But civilian deaths continue to rise. With the latest casualties, the death toll in Gaza has climbed to a total of 181, including at least 52 children and 31 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Since the beginning of the airstrikes on Gaza this week, at least 1,225 have been injured, with the number expected to rise, it said, as paramedics continue to carry out search operations.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday released photos allegedly showing Hamas rocket installations and tunnel entrances placed in close proximity to civilian infrastructure like hospitals and schools, claiming that "Hamas deliberately and systematically places military targets within the civilian population, exposing their citizens to danger."

The recent conflict began at the start of last week, fueled by controversy over planned evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and restrictions at a popular meeting point near the Old City. It has since escalated rapidly into one of the worst rounds of violence the area has seen since the 2014 Gaza War, which saw more than 2,200 Gazans killed during the fighting, approximately half of them civilians, including more than 550 children, according to a United Nations report.

Rioting and violent clashes between Arab and Jewish citizens have also spilled out across several Israeli cities the week, including Lod, Bat Yam and Acre, leading Netanyahu to warn against "lynching" by either community. And that violence has boiled over to the occupied West Bank, where on Friday, at least 11 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during violent clashes, marking the largest number of people killed in a single day in the West Bank in years, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "dismayed" by the rising number of civilian casualties. "The Secretary-General reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs," the statement said.

Guterres' comments come as the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on the violence Sunday. But with a cycle of sirens, bombs, injuries and deaths over the weekend punctuating nearly a week of violence, it remains unclear how those efforts will be received. The Biden administration, which has said its focus is on de-escalation and working with allies in the region on that goal, also sent US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr to Israel on Friday; the US blocked previous Security Council efforts to meet, preferring direct diplomacy on the conflict rather than discussion in an international forum.

US President Joe Biden spoke with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. In his call with the Israeli leader, Biden "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas," and also expressed his concern for the Palestinian people. Abbas, in a readout after the phone call with the American President, called on him to intervene in putting an end to "Israeli attack on Palestinian people everywhere."

Early Saturday, an infant was the lone survivor in a house that was hit and destroyed in an Israeli airstrike hit in the al-Shati refugee camp, killing 10 members of the infant's family -- including eight children, according to the Palestinian News Agency WAFA. At least 20 other Palestinians were wounded after several nearby houses were damaged in the Israeli airstrike, it added.

Militants in Gaza responded to the airstrikes on the refugee camp on Saturday with rockets targeting the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Ashdod, and Sderot. A 55-year-old Israeli man was killed early Saturday afternoon after a rocket hit a series of buildings in a residential area in a Tel Aviv suburb called Ramat Gan, bringing Israel's death toll to 10, according to Israel's emergency service.

Shortly after, the Jala'a building -- which contained offices for international media outlets Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, among others -- was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

The AP said in a statement that they were "shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza," and called on the Israeli government, who says the building contained Hamas military intelligent assets to "put forward the evidence."

"This strike is an incredibly disturbing development," the statement added, concluding: "The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Israel-Palestinian conflict sees rising death toll as scenes of horror unfold in Gaza"
Editor's note: This story contains graphic images. Viewer discretion is advised.

(CNN)  Israel bombed the house of Hamas' Gaza leader and obliterated a family's home in Gaza as Hamas launched more than 100 rockets towards Israel on Sunday, marking the deadliest day of the week-long conflict so far, according to data from the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza and Israeli authorities.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had bombed the house of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' leader since 2017, in southern Gaza's Khan Yunis neighborhood early Sunday morning. IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman told local media that Sinwar had been unhurt in the airstrike.

Two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least 43 Palestinians  including eight children  and injured 50 others, most of whom were women and children early Sunday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Palestinian medical and civil defense teams said they rescued five children from the rubble on Sunday morning. Scenes of the rescue operation show a young girl with a bloodied head injury lifted from the wreckage by a team of paramedics. Her expression alternates between shock and horror.

The IDF said in a Twitter post on Sunday morning that Hamas' militant wing had fired 120 rockets between 7 p.m Saturday and 7 a.m. local time Sunday, of which 11 fell in Gaza. IDF spokesperson Zilberman added Sunday that they had targeted dozens of rocket launchers, with the ability to fire multiple rockets at a time.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a Tweet on Saturday that "Israel has no interest in escalation, but is ready for any scenario," echoing an Israeli military official, who said on Friday that Israel is prepared to continue hitting "quality targets" for an "extended period of time."

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored that resolve on Sunday, saying that he will do "whatever it takes to restore order," and that "it will take some time." On Saturday, Netanyahu said it will "respond forcefully" in Gaza "until the security of our people is reinstated and restored," and said the country is trying to avoid civilian casualties from its strikes.

But civilian deaths continue to rise. With the latest casualties, the death toll in Gaza has climbed to a total of 197, including at least 58 children and 34 women, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Since the beginning of the airstrikes on Gaza this week, at least 1,225 have been injured, with the number expected to rise, it said, as paramedics continue to carry out search operations.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday released photos allegedly showing Hamas rocket installations and tunnel entrances placed in close proximity to civilian infrastructure like hospitals and schools, claiming that "Hamas deliberately and systematically places military targets within the civilian population, exposing their citizens to danger."

The recent conflict began at the start of last week, fueled by controversy over planned evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and restrictions at a popular meeting point near the Old City.

It has since escalated rapidly into one of the worst rounds of violence the area has seen since the 2014 Gaza War, which saw more than 2,200 Gazans killed during the fighting, approximately half of them civilians, including more than 550 children, according to a United Nations report.

On Sunday, six Israeli Border Police officers were injured in Sheikh Jarrah after a car "hit and ran over" officers stationed at a police checkpoint, a police spokesperson said. The driver, a 42-year-old male, was "shot and killed," according to Israeli emergency services.

While not claiming responsibility for the attack, Hamas' military wing described the incident as a "heroic run-over operation" which they say was carried out by a young Palestinian man.

Rioting and violent clashes between Arab and Jewish citizens have also spilled out across several Israeli cities the week, including Lod, Bat Yam and Acre, leading Netanyahu to warn against "lynching" by either community. And that violence has boiled over to the occupied West Bank, where on Friday, at least 11 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during violent clashes, marking the largest number of people killed in a single day in the West Bank in years, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "dismayed" by the rising number of civilian casualties. "The Secretary-General reminds all sides that any indiscriminate targeting of civilian and media structures violates international law and must be avoided at all costs," the statement said.

Guterres' comments come as the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on the violence Sunday. But with a cycle of sirens, bombs, injuries and deaths over the weekend punctuating nearly a week of violence, it remains unclear how those efforts will be received. The Biden administration, which has said its focus is on de-escalation and working with allies in the region on that goal, also sent US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr to Israel on Friday; the US blocked previous Security Council efforts to meet, preferring direct diplomacy on the conflict rather than discussion in an international forum.

US President Joe Biden spoke with both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. In his call with the Israeli leader, Biden "reaffirmed his strong support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas," and also expressed his concern for the Palestinian people. Abbas, in a readout after the phone call with the American President, called on him to intervene in putting an end to "Israeli attack on Palestinian people everywhere."

Early Saturday, a 5-month-old baby named Omar was the lone survivor in a house that was hit and destroyed in an Israeli airstrike hit in the al-Shati refugee camp, killing 10 members of the his family -- including eight children, according to the infant's father Mohammad Hadidi. At least 20 other Palestinians were wounded after several nearby houses were damaged in the Israeli airstrike, the Palestinian News Agency WAFA reported.

Hadidi told CNN that his wife had taken their four children -- who were mourning the recent loss of another family member -- to their uncle's house on Saturday to celebrate the end of Ramadan. "We had a martyr in the family that was killed on the first day of Eid, so the kids didn't get the chance to celebrate or wear their new clothes, so their mother took them to her brother's house and stayed there overnight," Hadidi said.

"They were so happy to get away from the grief, but they didn't know it was their turn," he said. Hadidi lost his wife, three children, and his brother and sister-in-law and their four children in the strike. "They didn't do anything bad to anyone, they were looking for a happy place to celebrate Eid, Hadidi said, crying: "What were they punished for?"

Militants in Gaza responded to the airstrikes on the refugee camp on Saturday with rockets targeting the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Beersheba, Ashdod, and Sderot. A 55-year-old Israeli man was killed early Saturday afternoon after a rocket hit a series of buildings in a residential area in a Tel Aviv suburb called Ramat Gan, bringing Israel's death toll to 10, according to Israel's emergency service.

Shortly after, the Jala'a building -- which contained offices for international media outlets Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, among others -- was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Speaking on Sunday, Netanyahu said that the building was "a perfectly legitimate target," adding:

"One of the, I think, AP journalists said we were lucky to get out. No, you weren't lucky to get out. It wasn't luck. It's because we took special pains to call people in those buildings, to make sure that the premises were vacated," he said.

The AP said in a statement that they were "shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP's bureau and other news organizations in Gaza," and said that they "have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building."

"This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk," AP said.

AP has called on the Israeli government, who says the building contained Hamas military intelligent assets, to "put forward the evidence."

"This strike is an incredibly disturbing development," the statement added, concluding: "The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today."
There are also clearly many areas for improvement in procedures used by the Medical Examiners Office, he wrote.

A lawyer who had accompanied MOVE members to a meeting with Kenney prior to Friday's revelations, Michael Coard, had said they were outraged, enraged, incensed, but mostly confused by what was thought to have been the destruction of the remains. He said Thursday that a lawsuit was possible.

Williams did not describe the family's reaction to Friday's news to the Inquirer.

Late Thursday, dressed all in white, MOVE members read a minute-by-minute account of the bombing and the confrontation that led up to it: Philadelphia police, attempting to serve warrants on four members and evict the rest of the Black back-to-nature group, dropped a bomb from a helicopter, igniting fuel for a generator stored on the roof.

Members on Thursday recounted alleged comments from the city emergency officials directing first responders to let the house burn. Fire department leaders later said they were scared their firefighters could face gunfire if they attempted to get to the home in the middle of the block. The fire quickly spread, displacing more than 250 people.
"Your story is an inspiration not only to me, but all public servants in Missouri," Schmitt said. "Thank you for your commitment and service to our great state."

Starkey said he was really surprised, even though he got it in the mail, it was still a big surprise.

"I didn't know anything was going on like that, at all," Starkey said. "I have put a lot of time in. I'm not bragging on myself, I don't know that I earned all this, but I have put the time in to try and make this department better. That has been my goal to just keep improving and keep making things better and that is still my goal. I'm not done yet."

CPVFD Firefighter Brad Reagan said he knows how many hours it takes to keep a department up and running on a professional scale, and he is amazed at times to see the dedication and time Bill contributes.

"Bill is always working on getting better equipment and training for this department and for all Madison County emergency services with no personal gain from it besides knowing he is serving the county," Reagan said.

To Starkey and the whole crew, Cherokee Pass Volunteer Fire Department is a family. They help each other grow both within the department and outside in their every day lives.
As the supermarket landscape continues to grow, Charlottesville-area residents soon will have more options to shop for groceries.

The area hasnt seen a new supermarket chain since Wegmans opened in 2016, and hasnt had a new convenience store chain enter the market in well over a decade. That changed this past week when Pennsylvania-based Wawa opened two local stores.

By the end of the summer, German supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl are scheduled to open stores in Albemarle County. Both had attempted to open free-standing stores in the county previously, but are now renovating previously vacant storefronts.

We want the best sites that are closest to our shoppers and can support a high daily traffic volume, said Jeff Bianchetta, vice president of Aldis Petersburg division. As the demand for Aldi grows, so do our real estate options. Bottom line, we want to be conveniently located for our shoppers, and Charlottesville was a natural fit.

The supermarket is working to open a location in the Albemarle Square shopping center.

Food World Publisher Jeff Metzger, an industry analyst, said the Charlottesville market, like many other areas, already has a lot of diversity in terms of retail styles, yet smaller-format store companies still want to come into the market.
As Colonial reported making substantial progress Friday in restoring full service, two people briefed on the matter confirmed the company had paid a ransom of about $5 million.

Granholm, like other Biden administration officials, urged drivers not to panic or hoard gasoline.

Really, the gasoline is coming,'' she said. If you take more than what you need, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of the shortages. Lets share a little bit with our neighbors and everybody should know that its going to be okay in the next few days.''

Granholm's agency is leading the federal response to the ransomware attack. She said the incident shows the vulnerability not only of U.S. infrastructure, but also personal computers. Her 86-year-old mother recently suffered a ransomware attack on her iPad, Granholm said.

So its just happening everywhere,'' she said. All these cybercriminals see an opportunity in the cloud and in our connectivity. And so we all have to be very vigilant. That means weve got to have security systems on our devices and individually we shouldnt be clicking on any email with attachments from people you dont know. I mean its just around us.''
NEW YORK  Silenced for 14 months by the pandemic and dealing with labor strife, the Metropolitan Opera will make a brief return Sunday.

Music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin will conduct members of the Met orchestra and chorus in a program with soprano Angel Blue, tenor Stephen Costello baritone Justin Austin and bass-baritone Eric Owen.

The 45-minute program of works by Terence Blanchard, Mozart and Verdi will be performed twice Sunday night before audiences of 150, which will include first responders and Met audience members selected by lottery. The concert will be at the Knockdown Center in Queens rather than the Metropolitan Opera House.

The Met has not performed since March 11, 2020, because of the pandemic, canceling 276 performances plus an international tour scheduled for next month.

The Met hopes to resume with a Verdi Requiem on Sept. 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Next season is scheduled to start on Sept. 27 with the Met premiere of Blanchards Fire Shut Up in My Bones.
John Michael "Mike" Jones, 67, of Charlotte Hall, MD passed away peacefully at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, May 8, 2021. He was born on August 13, 1953 in Washington, D.C. to the late Anthony H. Jones and Betty F. (Brown) Jones.



Mike is survived by his loving wife, Aggie Jones, and was proud of the beautiful family shared together with their children, John M. (Dawn) Jones, Jr. of Dunkirk, MD, Paul (Jordan) Morrell of St. Augustine, FL, James Brady of Charlotte Hall, MD. Brenda (Robert) Barkley of Huntingtown, MD;



Also survived by his siblings, Steve (Pat) Jones of Mechanicsville, MD and Liz (Sidney) Pennington of Gainesville, MD also sisters-in-laws, Cathy Jones and Rose Frederick-Jones, and numerous nieces and nephews that were loved and very special to him. He was preceded in death by his parents, Anthony H. Jones and Betty F. Jones and siblings, James Jones and Anthony Jones.



Above all, he loved his family, had a heart of gold and especially loved being "Poppie" to his fourteen grand children, as he watched them run carefree, as they grew. His grandchildren always brought a special twinkle to his eye. We were all blessed to have known such a kind, caring man always willing to open his home to those in need was one of his ways to show the family how important they were to him.



Mike was a simple man and enjoyed his career. He loved being a truck driver and a proud member of the Teamsters, local 639. Once he retired in 2019 his love for trucks continued in restoring his 1994 Black Chevrolet Pickup, relaxing in his recliner while watching his favorite auto/truck programs. He also found much joy in spending time with family and friends at monthly lunches, bringing all together to celebrate life with great conversation and laughter.



Although we will all miss him, and his smile, the family will take solace in knowing he is no longer in pain and is now in his heavenly home.



The family will receive friends for Mike's Life Celebration on Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. with a Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m., all at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., 30195 Three Notch Road, Charlotte Hall, MD 20622. Interment will be held privately.



Condolences to the family may be made at www.brinsfieldfuneral.com



All arrangements made at Brinsfield Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A., Charlotte Hall, MD 20622
Adams boiled down the request to the personnel record of one employee, the workings of a single committee over less than a single year, and the history of the interpretation and enforcement of the divisions procurement policies over a five-year period.

The matters identified in the Designation are hardly arcane, either due to the strangeness of the subject matter or the remoteness in time, he wrote, referring to the deposition notice.

Royer argued that Socol should begin his inquiry by directing discovery requests to Haas, instead of to the School Board, in order to discern the statements Haas made and why he made them. She went on to highlight what Socol could learn by doing that, such as the circumstances under which those alleged statements were made and why Haas believes Socol violated policy.

Adams argued that the materials sought would help determine Haas state of mind.
Goffinski said the monument is particularly poignant in an area where there has been violence and debate over Confederate monuments.

We have all sorts of monuments to former slave owners and former Confederates and fighters that are problematic, and here we have a sort of interactive monument, a democratic monument to an ideal that we believe is critical to what we do as an organization, he said.

Its an opportunity to highlight the voices of community partners and artists who are doing important things, and we recognize that we can use this as a sort of a venue or an avenue for programming and diversifying and championing expression from all people in all forms, Goffinski said.

While writings and drawings on the wall cannot be censored, and anyone can write over someone elses work at any time, The Bridge will be required to clean it once a week.

The lease between the city and The Bridge also requires the organization to take out $1 million in liability insurance and make repairs to the wall. The Bridge also will provide and replenish chalk for people to use to write messages.
The properties, which are currently zoned for two units per acre, total almost 16 acres and have seven existing dwellings on them. About 14 acres of the land are owned by R&H Partners LLC, owned by the Chiles family.

The Neighborhood Density Residential designation in the draft plans future land use map recommends three to six units per acre, while the Middle Density Residential designation recommends six to 12 units per acre, with up to 18 for additional affordable units.

Land use categories are assigned to properties to serve as a marker to community members and developers about which kinds of potential projects could be on a site in the future. Ultimately, a developer likely would need approval from the Board of Supervisors to change the zoning of the property to allow for the use.

Rachel Falkenstein, a county planning manager, noted that anyone who wanted to develop these properties or portions of them would still have to go through a rezoning process, where staff and the Board of Supervisors would review any proposed development with the areas master plan in mind.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, visitors were no longer allowed inside. Chandler said her mom aged very quickly while isolated.

Fallons family and Williams would separately visit her outside a window, and they would chat on their cell phones.

After Fallon fell and broke her nose in February, Chandler decided to have her move in.

Around Easter, Williams stopped by to drop off holiday cupcakes, although Fallon was too sick to eat them. When Williams arrived, Chandler welcomed her in to see Fallon, who was sleeping.

Williams sat on the side of Fallons bed, talking to her about how much joy she brought everyone and how much her friendship had meant.

Before Williams left, Fallon opened her deep blue eyes, grabbed her hand and told her she loved her.

Within 48 hours of that meeting, Fallon died  on March 22, Chandler said. She was 83 and had been suffering from congestive heart failure and arthritis.

When the baker called Fran and Jim Williams last week to tell them she planned to deliver a cake for their 50th wedding anniversary, they had no idea who sent it.
The endorsement also let Republicans solidify the Trump base early and move on with the campaign without unresolved questions about the ex-presidents involvement looming over the race.

Republicans also say theyre optimistic about the change vs. more-of-the-same contrast they expect to be able to draw with former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the heavy favorite in the five-person Democratic gubernatorial primary that will be held June 8.

What we need isnt another politician. Or worse, the same politician, Youngkin said in a general-election video ad released the day after his victory.

Given the possibilities of a badly splintered party or a nominee destined for a blowout loss, Kenney said he was surprised be the amount of energy behind Youngkin

It really does seem like we have a Virginia gentleman here that really is galvanizing the base, Kenney said. Youre not finding the old dichotomy between Trump supporter and Never Trump. Everyones behind Glenn.

At a new conference Thursday at Capitol Square, Democrats narrowed their focus from broad charges of extremism to specific policy criticisms, zeroing in on Youngkins emphasis on voting restrictions during his primary campaign.
RICHMOND  The General Assembly won't meet its own July 1 deadline for filling seats on the expanded Virginia Court of Appeals, with a special legislative session likely in late July or early August to elect appellate judges and decide how to spend billions of dollars in emergency aid from the federal government.

The special session will be the third since the COVID-19 pandemic began 14 months ago, but it could be the first conducted entirely in person, with the House of Delegates likely to return to the Capitol in Richmond, according to a legislative source. The House met in person for one day at the beginning of the special session that began in August, but has convened virtually since, while the Senate has conducted its sessions at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond.

The timing of the special session depends partly on the Virginia State Bar, which said Friday that it has expanded its capacity to evaluate almost 50 additional candidates to fill six new seats on the Court of Appeals and a seventh that has been vacant for almost two years. It expects to report the results of those evaluations to the assembly by mid-July.
As with almost everything else during this pandemic, uncertainty reigned and you have to suffer through several changes of plans and a number of curveballs, including the recent gas shortage, he said. About which all I could say after everything else that happened this year was, really? When are the locusts coming? And then someone reminded me about the cicadas.

Finishing up his introduction, Ryan urged the graduates to remember the lessons they learned at UVa as the world reopens and life returns closer to normal.

I hope you carry forward the lessons you learned here, like how to think and read critically, how to empathize, how to lead and how to build bridges across lines of differences, he said. I continue to have all those hopes for you, but seeing you here, surrounded by your friends and your family, its clear to me that youve all carried that with you.

James Murray Jr., rector of the university, also sought to impart some wisdom, urging the graduates to use their time wisely and drawing parallels to his own commencement amid the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.
Liz Cheneys ouster from the House Republican leadership has prompted many observers to say that the Wyoming representative is headed to the political wilderness. This assumes that the Republican Party is itself a civilization and not some decaying political entity about to be buried under the lava of its craziness.

The Donald Trump personality cult may have gotten its way for now, but Cheneys story is just beginning. The few sane Republicans left, Cheney among them, are now vowing a fight to remove the Trumpian scourge from their party  while others talk of abandoning the ship they see as too far gone and forming a third party.

One of the partys most serious conservatives, Cheney remains totally unrepentant about condemning former President Donald Trumps big lie that the election was stolen. She is said to have big plans to confront Trump head-on and march on the media to drive home her message. And, yes, she is running for reelection and willing to face the possibility of losing the Republican nomination to a Trumpian clone. That would be another big story starring her.
A poacher who lived with four relatives could legally have 25 animals of a single species, such as 25 box turtles, in his residence  at least until he got them out of the country and went back into the woods for 25 more.

Its next to impossible, Kleopfer said, for law enforcement to say, Are these the same 25 box turtles you had here a week ago?

At this rate, it wont take long for turtles to be depleted in the wild.

In addition to preventing box turtles from being taken, the proposed rules would limit possession of other types of common, native reptiles or amphibians to just one, total, per household.

Violations would be misdemeanors punishable by fines of up to $500. Having multiple animals could be classified as multiple offenses, for which fines could range up to $1,500.

People who have these animals now could keep them, as long as they let the wildlife department know. The rules also wouldnt apply to non-native species.

Whats controversial about this proposal is that it also would ban well-meaning Virginians from taking turtles out of the wild and keeping them as pets. Some people resent that proposed restriction.
As reported in The Daily Progress, Gov. Ralph Northam  declared a state of emergency in Virginia because of gasoline supply disruptions caused by a cyberattack on a key East Coast fuel pipeline (Va. motorists scramble for gas as pipeline shutdown causes spotty outages, May 11 online, May 12 in print).

Im sure many readers are harkening back to the gas shortages of the 1970s, due to an oil embargo, and are not happy to wait in line and relive those bad old times.

Perhaps now is the time to turn this cyber-threat into an environmental opportunity. Lets work to avoid these problems in the hopefully near future  by reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and increasing our dependence on electric vehicles and alternative transportation  bicycles, shared rides, electric trains, etc. Not only might the hackers have less infrastructure to attack, but also the atmosphere will be cleaner, global warming will be reduced, our health will be improved across society, and well be leaving a better environment for our children.
SpaceCast Weekly is a NASA Television broadcast from the Johnson Space Center in Houston featuring stories about NASA's work in human spaceflight.

They include the International Space Station and its crews and scientific research activities, and the development of Orion and the Space Launch System, the next generation American spacecraft being built to take humans farther into space than they've ever gone before.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
When ballots are collected on May 18, the Greater Albany Public Schools board will see three new faces and in Corvallis, that number could be four. And while the boards are nonpartisan in the state of Oregon and members are not paid, when all is said and done in the 2021 special election, more than $90,000 will have been spent to win those seats.

In the state of Oregon, campaign spending is public record and according to the Secretary of State filings, the battle for seats on school boards in Corvallis and Albany has taken in a total of $92,599 in money and in-kind donations.

The money has created lopsided races where thousands of dollars separate two candidates running for the same seat and some of the money comes from other communities, including out-of-state.

In the race for GAPS seats about $50,000 has come in from cash and in-kind donations.

Much of that money comes from a political action committeea fund organized for the purpose of raising money for political candidates. Albany First PAC has contributed nearly $20,000 to three candidates: Roger Nyquist, Pete Morse and Brad Wilson.
Perry, who lives in Albany, said that the Wall of Honor is integral for the organization and a sort of focal point for the groups work. This is a magnet for vets. It enables us to get in touch with the community, he added.

I dont have enough fingers and toes to count the vets that have started the healing process with this, Perry said.

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The Wall of Honor is personal for Dave Troyer. His son, Tyler Troyer, a 2002 graduate of West Albany High School, is among the names listed on the display.

The 21-year-old Marine was killed in Iraq in 2005.

Troyer planned to ride his Honda motorcycle from Albany to Ontario. The motorcycle is a tribute to his son, with Tylers name on the windshield and photos of him on the gas tank.

The wall was important, Troyer said. Its a way to honor those who have paid the ultimate price for our country. This is just a way to show appreciation for their sacrifices, he said.

Troyer is part of Tribute to the Troops of Oregon, a motorcycle group that visits families who have lost loved ones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Mainly clear skies. Low near 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear skies. Low near 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Q: Whats the story behind Brannon Stand Road?

A: On some maps, the area where State Highway 605 crosses Main Street on the west side of Dothan is called Brannon Stand. North and south of that intersection, the state highway is called Brannon Stand Road.

The origin of the name is referred to in a 2015 article on the website of The Arab Tribune, a newspaper in the town of Arab about 30 miles south of Huntsville.

The article is part one of the edited text of a presentation that Linn Brannon, an Arab businessman, gave at a meeting of the Arab Historical Society.

Linn is the son of Julian Brannon, who was born in Newville in 1913. Julian spent his early childhood in Newville and Dothan and moved to Birmingham in the late 1920s, attended Ensley High School and Birmingham-Southern College.

Julian entered the military in September 1943. Because of his background in personnel work, he worked in the adjutant generals department in New Guinea and the Philippine Islands during World War II.

Julian made a trip to Washington in December 1943 and his wife took the train to meet him there. Linn was born in September 1944.
"I don't know of a normal day around here when people are threatening to hang the vice president of the United States or shoot the speaker, or injure so many police officers," said Pelosi, who has pushed for a bipartisan commission to investigate the riots.

The hearing Wednesday was supposed to be the latest dive by congressional investigators into the chaos of Jan. 6  the missed warning signs, confusion and delays that allowed the rioters to terrorize the Capitol for an entire afternoon. But several Republicans used their rounds of questioning not to pepper the witnesses with questions but to downplay the brutal assault on America's seat of democracy.

"Let's be honest with the American people  it was not an insurrection, and we cannot call it that and be truthful," said Rep. Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia serving his first term.

Clyde said one video feed of the rioters looked like they were on a "normal tourist visit." Those in the video, taken in Statuary Hall, were able to enter the building after rioters broke through glass, pummeled officers and busted through the doors as lawmakers were frantically evacuated. They were headed to the House chamber where they tried to beat down the doors with lawmakers still inside.
Vietnam could segregate Covid-19 quarantine facilities for people coming from high-risk places and use technology to reduce the risk of transmission, international experts suggest.

A fourth wave began in late April starting with several people who tested positive after finishing two weeks of quarantine. They had breached the self quarantine protocol, which required them to isolate themselves at home for two weeks after completing quarantine.

"Vietnam might consider using technology to make sure people are physically in their homes in mandatory quarantine after completing a 14-day period at centers," Dr. Karen Grepin of the University of Hong Kong said.

That is used in Hong Kong where authorities require people to wear a wristband while self-isolating for two weeks, she said. The band pairs with a phone app and is designed to detect if a person has left their hotel room or house.

Grepin warned that there is some evidence the virus is actually being transmitted within quarantine facilities, and to reduce the transmission risks she suggested authorities should put people from lower-risk countries and places where cases are not severe in a separate area.

"Ones coming from higher-risk countries should stay in the more secure facilities."

A quarantine center in Cu Chi District, HCMC in March 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

If quarantined in hotels, she said people who arrive at similar times must be roomed near each other and away from newer arrivals, a system that could help minimize possible transmission, she said.

Staff working in such hotels and people interacting with quarantined people, including health workers, need to be vaccinated as far as possible, she said.

Professor Mark Jit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the U.K., said people should be regularly tested during quarantine so that if they are infected it would be detected quickly.

There are different algorithms that Vietnam may examine for testing. For most countries, it's been shown that 10-day quarantine with two tests could be enough to help reduce the transmission risk, and 14 days are enough in most cases, helping reduce imported infections by 99.9 percent, Jit said.

On May 5 Vietnam increased the mandatory quarantine period from 14 to 21 days for both foreign arrivals and those who come into contact with Covid patients.

Jit said the chance of someone still being infectious after 21 days "is really very low."

Grepin corroborated this, saying the vast majority of the risk is already reduced with a 14-day quarantine, and scientists do not have much evidence that it has a public health benefit beyond 14 days.

Dr Ali Mokdad of the University of Washington, the U.S., said even with the Indian variant, quarantining for 14 days is more than enough because the maximum incubation period of the virus is 14 days.

He said quarantining should be done correctly along with tests, and warned that with a 21-day quarantine the chance of people cheating would increase since they have the need to meet family and friends.

"Every country has the right to decide. But scientifically 14 days are enough."

Albert Icksang Ko of the Yale School of Public Health, the U.S, said the large majority of people stop shedding infectious viruses before 14 days, and there might be little added value in extending to 21 days.

Dr Hiroyuki Moriuchi, Nagasaki University Hospital, Japan, said Vietnamese authorities should have measures to ensure people completing their quarantine regularly report any health problem, so that the country could timely stop the transmission.

In order to find out undiagnosed patients, comprehensive transmission survey should be conducted, he said.

Experts said besides quarantining, Vietnam also needs to increase testing to detect variants and decide what measures are required.

Professor Kelley Lee, Simon Fraser University, Canada, said genomic sequencing is critical to ensuring that variants are identified before reaching the wider community.

She suggested performing whole genome sequencing (WGS) on some samples that test negative as well because some variants are eluding detection with some tests without WGS and so sequencing a negative sample would increase the chances of identifying variants.

Some random testing could be done in the community to identify asymptomatic cases, and this must be risk-based, she added.
Le Xuan Thanh, 37, and To My Hong Anh, 32, have been placed under criminal investigation for organizing illegal entry into Vietnam in the guise of foreign experts, police said.

Following their arrest, their houses were searched Saturday.

Thanh is the director of two companies, Phi Anh Pro Co., Ltd. and Patour Trading and Services Co., Ltd., with offices located in an apartment building in the central city.

From January to March this year, Thanh colluded with the owner of a South Korean company based in Da Nang to use the legal status of his two companies to sponsor seven South Koreans to enter Vietnam as foreign experts or investors.

Initial investigations show that the seven foreigners were neither experts nor investors, nor included in the list of priority for entry during the Covid-19 pandemic.

After completing their quarantine periods in Da Nang, they did not work for the companies that had sponsored them. They worked for other firms instead.

Thanh and the Korean business owner shared the money that the group of South Koreans gave, investigators said.

Anh, an employee of the South Korean company, acted as a 'bridge' between his company and Thanh and Nguyen Tran Anh Tuan, who was arrested last week to investigate allegations he received $2,400 to bring 14 South Koreans into Vietnam as foreign experts.

The investigation is being expanded, police said.

On May 9, Da Nang authorities launched a criminal investigation into the ring that brought foreigners into Vietnam illegally under the cover of experts. The probe began after local police detected two cases where 20 foreigners entered the country under 'expert visas' but do not know their guarantors businesses.

Vietnam closed its borders and canceled all international commercial flights on March 25, 2020 and has since only allowed Vietnamese repatriates and foreign experts, diplomats, investors and highly-skilled workers along with their parents, spouses and children to enter with stringent conditions related to Covid-19 testing and quarantine.

The nation has been grappling with its latest Covid-19 wave since April 27, under which 1,086 community transmissions were confirmed as of Sunday afternoon.
Condair Group, a leading humidity control and evaporative cooling specialist, is organising a CIBSE-approved webinar entitled Using humidifiers for evaporative cooling in AHUs next month.

The event, to be held on June 14, will see attendees learn the psychrometrics of evaporative cooling and also the three main strategies of AHU evaporative cooling (direct, indirect and exhaust-air indirect).

It will also analyse the energy consumption figures for three real-life case study projects that employed these strategies, and compare the latest evaporative cooling humidifier technologies.

Mahmoud Widyan, General Manager for Condair Middle East, and Dave Bull, Applications Manager for Condair Global Sales, will be leading the 45 minute session.

Widyan said: "A single adiabatic humidifier can provide up to 680kW of evaporative cooling to an AHU from as little as 0.3kW of consumed electrical energy."

"Their potential for delivering low energy cooling to an air handling unit is great and we frequently see this application being employed in modern AHU designs. This webinar is an invaluable chance for consultants and building designers to explore how humidifiers can be used in AHUs to take advantage of this low energy cooling method," he noted.

"The case studies also provide a clear understanding, beyond the theory and physics, of the actual energy savings that can be enjoyed," he added.

The presentation has been CIBSE-approved and is therefore independently verified to be unbiased, up-to-date and technically accurate, said the statement from Condair.

This accreditation also means attendees can accrue one hour CIBSE CPD (Continuous Professional Development) points should they wish, it added.-TradeArabia News Service
LAS VEGAS (AP)  Las Vegas police did not issue an Amber Alert for a missing toddler who was later found dead because they did not have any information on a possible suspect or a suspect vehicle as required by law, a sheriff said.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said the police lacked the required information to issue an Amber Alert, which sends out media notifications, highway signs and cellphone alerts to the public to have them watch for a missing child.

It is very restrictive for Amber Alerts, Lombardo told the Las Vegas Review Journal of the requirements. They dont want overuse because people become immune to it, or (they may) not pay attention to it when it is overused.

Amari Nicholson, 2, vanished from the Emerald Suites apartments on Paradise Road in Las Vegas on May 5. Police had been called to the location twice that day by Amaris mother, Tayler Nicholson, who wasnt there. She said her boyfriend, Terrell Rhodes, 27, told her a woman showed up that morning at the couples apartment and took Amari after saying she had permission.
The judge issued a written finding to the court record saying he was satisfied that Cannizzaro and Scheible were on leaves of absence from Wolfsons office and that while serving in the Legislature they were not under the control of Wolfson.

The court finds that under the present scenario there is not a separation of powers violation, he said.

Levenson read into the court record a quote Wolfson provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal for a March 26 report about his call to execute Floyd.

I think the timing is good, Wolfson said. Our legislative leaders should recognize that there are some people who commit such heinous acts, whether it be the particular type of murder or the number of people killed, that this community has long felt should receive the death penalty.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Residents in the Topanga Canyon evacuated their homes Saturday after a wildfire in a nearby area grew to more than a square mile, authorities said.

The residents who were ordered to evacuate were those living east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Topanga Community Center and Viewridge Road, as well as those north of Entrada Road, south of Oakwood Drive and east of Henry Ridge Mountain Way, the Los Angeles Times reported. Authorities did not say how many residents were evacuated.

The wildfire, which the Los Angeles Fire Department said started in brush, covers about 750 acres, or about 1.2 square miles. The fire ignited about 10 p.m. Friday, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Nicholas Prange told reporters.

KNBC-TV reported that the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department was searching for a person suspected of setting the fire. The search was confirmed by Deputy Alejandra Parra of the Sheriffs Information Bureau, the station reported.
The Californian Franchise Tax Board (FTB) is in the process of distributing a round of $600 stimulus checks to recipients of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC). The direct payments are part of the Golden State Stimulus bill that was passed in February by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The eligibility requirements for the Californian stimulus checks were notably narrower than that of the three rounds of national payments that have been sent during the pandemic.

They were designed to provide immediate relief to vulnerable Californians, and so were largely restricted to CalEITC recipients. But who is eligible for CalEITC relief, and how much is the annual tax credit worth?

Who can receive CalEITC?

The Californian FTB outlines the eligibility requirements for the CalEITC programme on their website, along with a handy EITC Calculator.

Recipients of the support must by at least 18 years old, or have a qualifying child, and have a valid Social Security number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). They must also live in California for at least half of the year and be able to show proof of having a taxable earned income.

If you satisfy all of these conditions, you must also have a maximum income in the state of California of no more than $30,000 per year.

However you can also claim missing support on the basis of your income level in any year from 2016 onwards. But bear in mind that in the past the maximum income threshold was considerably lower, dropping as low as $6,717 for childless households in 2016. For full information on the requirements from previous years, check out the CTFBs handy guide.

How much is CalEITC worth?

The CalEITC is not offered in the form of a direct payment, like the Golden State Stimulus checks, but is instead a tax credit which provides either a refund on taxes paid or a deduction on taxes owed. You will have to complete your state tax return before you can receive the credit and the amount on offer differs greatly, depending on your situation.

The maximum amount of tax credit that you may receive can be no greater than the total of your California tax payments for that year. These figures refer to the number of children listed as dependents on your 2020 California tax return.
India records more than 4,000 daily covid deaths

India reported a smaller rise in daily covid-19 cases for the third straight day on Sunday, but the number of deaths in 24 hours was higher than 4,000, taking the country's death toll to 270,000.

Deaths grew by 4,077, while infections rose by 311,170 - the smallest rise in daily cases in over three weeks, health ministry data showed on Sunday. Total infections have risen by over 2 million this week and deaths by nearly 28,000.

India's massive second wave of infections began in February, putting hospitals and medical workers under pressure. Cases have fallen steadily in states hit by an initial surge of infections, such as the richest state of Maharastra and the northern state of Delhi, after they imposed stringent lockdowns.

Federal health officials said on Saturday that the overall rate of positive cases per tests had dipped to 19.8% this week from 21.9% last week, sparking hopes that daily infections have begun to stabilise.

But surges have been seen in states such as Tamil Nadu in the south and rural areas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday called on officials to strengthen health care resources in rural areas and step up surveillance as the virus spreads rapidly in those areas after ravaging the cities.

The world's largest vaccine-producing nation has fully vaccinated just over 40.4 million, or only 2.9%, of its 1.35 billion population as of Sunday, according to data from the government's Co-WIN portal.

India will have 516 million doses of covid-19 vaccines by July, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday.

Photo by Diptendu DUTTA / AFP
Lethal weapons are being used on the Gaza Strip (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that in a phone conversation with Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, both leaders agreed that Israel's actions must be stopped immediately.

In a televised address, he said both were of similar views that the international community, especially the UNSC, should act swiftly to cease all forms of violence committed by Israel, and save the lives of Palestinians.

To date, the UNSC has not issued any statement on the current situation in Palestine, he added.

The Council will publicly discuss the worsening violence on May 16, diplomats said.

The 15-member council has met privately this week about the worst hostilities in the region in years, but has so far been unable to agree on a public statement.

The UNSC held the second emergency meeting this week on May 12 to discuss escalating tension between Israel and Palestine in recent days, during which Vietnam expressed serious concern over and opposed related violent acts./.
In a working session with leading official of the Ministry of Health, PM Chinh stressed the need to ensure safety and success of the upcoming elections of the 15th National Assembly and all-level Peoples Councils for the 2021-2026 tenure.

To that end, the health sector and others must continue stepping up the inspection and perfection of mechanisms and policies on COVID-19 prevention and control, he stressed.

It is necessary to promote proactive testing and accelerate the implementation of a vaccine strategy by increasing access to effective vaccine sources and stepping up vaccinations.

The Government leader called for a change in the popularisation of pandemic prevention and control so the people will voluntarily join the fight for their own health and for national interests.

PM Chinh directed the sector to carry out urgent tasks, including completing institutions, mechanisms and policies in accordance with the situation; raising the quality of human resources, especially in remote areas; investing in developing specific medicine; mobilising all legal resources in bettering health care; and stepping up the application of information technology in the sector.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said that the number of new COVID-19 cases in Vietnam may continue increasing; however, the sources of infection of all new cases have been identified.

Regarding the testing capacity, Long stated that Vietnam now can test nearly 66,000 samples per day, and could increase to 290,000 samples at maximum if necessary.

As of May 13, a total of 969,730 vaccine doses have been injected, he said, adding that there are four domestic companies researching and producing vaccines against the disease.
From May 11-15, the group shared experience in COVID-19 prevention and control with local agencies at villages reporting a large number of infections, along with quarantine sites, hospitals and testing units in the province.

Members also joined consultations regarding serious cases with their Lao counterparts, and held seminars sharing experience in fighting the ravaging pandemic.

Dr Panom Phongmany, Deputy Director of the Department of Health Promotion and Hygiene at the Lao Ministry of Health, spoke highly of experience and opinions put forth by Vietnamese experts over the past few days.

He added that support from Vietnamese medical experts proves effective in the efforts in the province and the country at large.

From May 16-20, the team will continue its tasks in central Savannakhet province before leaving for Vientiane capital.
In 2016, a Spanish biochemist named Oscar Fernandez Capetillo attended a conference about the origins of life on Earth. The speaker was Jack W. Szostak, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, who was attempting to discover the recipe for generating life in the laboratory, from a basis of chemical ingredients already present on the planet during the Earths infancy. After his talk, both men got together for coffee. Szostak does not remember the content of their conversation but for Fernandez Capetillo it is imprinted on his memory. Five years later, that brief chat has culminated in the discovery of a mechanism that sheds light on one of the most devastating diseases known to humans: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrigs disease).

The disorder, which sooner or later proves fatal, affects one in every 20,000 people in the world. ALS tends to appear without warning in adults, destroying the nerve cells that control muscle movement, gradually leaving the patient unable to walk, talk, eat and, finally, to breathe. There is no cure. And, in 90% of cases, the cause is unknown.

Fernandez Capetillo, 46, of the Madrid-based Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), first took an interest in ALS in 2014, when the famous Ice Bucket Challenge campaign in which celebrities, including Donald Trump, would record themselves tipping a bucket of iced water over their heads, was launched to draw attention to the disease.

Fernandez Capetillo was at that time a world-renowned expert in cancer. The scientific journal Cell had just included him in an international selection of 40 principal investigators under the age of 40. After developing an experimental cancer drug and seeing it licensed in 2013 by the pharmaceutical company Merck Serono, Fernandez Capetillo turned his attention to ALS. I believed that, with the tools we had at our disposal for cancer research, we could make progress with ALS, he recalls.

His eureka moment came on April 14, 2016. Szostak was giving a talk at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where Fernandez Capetillo also has his own laboratory. The Spaniard recalls that, during their coffee conversation, Szostak told him about his experiments to try and recreate the origins of human life. The American researchers hypothesis was that life on Earth emerged through ribonucleic acid (RNA), a sugar and phosphate-based molecule that directs human cells to form proteins, such as hemoglobin in the blood and myosin in the muscles. Szostak explained to Fernandez Capetillo that in order to slow down chemical reactions in the laboratory, he used small proteins rich in arginine, a molecule that sticks to RNA and DNA like glue.

The US investigator Jack W. Szostak, winner of a Nobel Prize for Medicine. Universidad de Harvard

Suddenly, Fernandez Capetillos mind segued from the origin of life on Earth to ALS. I thought to myself: Wow, what if the same thing is happening with ALS patients. And that is exactly what was happening. This was the mechanism that causes neurons to be killed off, he says. The results of his investigations were published on May 12 in the specialized publication The EMBO Journal, co-authored by CNIO researchers Vanesa Lafarga and Oleksandra Sirozh.

Around 10% of ALS patients also have family members who suffer from the disease. Fernandez Capetillo and his team have focused on these cases where there is a genetic component, half of which are connected to the C9ORF72 gene. The researchers have observed that mutations in this gene induce human cells to produce small proteins that are rich in arginine, which stick to RNA and DNA, blocking essential cellular processes and killing off neurons in ALS patients. Fernandez Capetillo believes that the mechanism could be similar in others types of ALS. I dont know if it can be extrapolated to all of them, but to a large number, yes, he says.

Szostak has not spoken to Fernandez Capetillo since their brief conversation in 2016. Speaking to EL PAIS, the Harvard University researcher was staggered by the results with ALS: Its extraordinary that a trivial comment over coffee can lead to such interesting experiments years later!

Valle Palomo, a chemist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has applauded Fernandez Capetillos work: It is a huge step forward toward understanding why this disease affects these patients in particular. But Palomo, who runs a project to seek treatments for ALS, sounds a note of caution by pointing out that 90% of ALS diagnoses do not display any genetic component. What happens with the patients where we have not detected any mutation? We will have to see if something similar occurs or if there are more mechanisms involved. This is the big question.

Ana Martinez Gil, also a CSIC expert in chemistry, runs ALS-Madrid, another project dedicated to developing experimental treatments against the disease. She also lauds Fernandez Capetillos research but adds she would have liked a more in-depth analysis of the results, such as the possible relation between this new mechanism and the appearance of TDP-43 protein aggregates in neurons, a phenomenon considered a distinctive hallmark of the disease. Each one of us is focused on a single path and we are incapable of lifting our heads for a moment to see what is happening at the general level: how the different roads join up, say Martinez Gil.

Despite that, Martinez Gil is optimistic. ALS used to be a hidden disease and in the last few years it has been made visible. It was a disease that was invisible to society, to researchers, to doctors and to those who finance investigation, she says. Now that it has been made visible, lots of human and financial resources are being focused on it. And whenever resources are allotted, in the long term there will be results.

Fernandez Capetillo and his team have started to look for potential therapies for ALS in mice that have been genetically modified to produce large amounts of small proteins containing arginine. The key to curing any disease is to first understand what is not working, he says. Only in this way can you start to look for a cure.

English version by Rob Train.
KYODO NEWS - May 16, 2021 - 18:39 | World, All, Japan

A Japanese freelance journalist who spent nearly four weeks in a Myanmar prison before returning to Japan on Friday said the prison where he was being kept held many political prisoners who had been subjected to harsh interrogations.

Yuki Kitazumi said in an online interview from a hotel outside Tokyo on Saturday night that he will work from Japan to help junta-ruled Myanmar return to democracy, adding those incarcerated in the prison had pleaded with him to report on what is going on in the Southeast Asian country.

The 45-year-old was arrested on April 18 on suspicion of spreading "fake news" regarding junta-ruled Myanmar and kept in the infamous Insein Prison in the country's largest city Yangon, which is known for holding many political prisoners.

Kitazumi said that in the prison, political prisoners recounted to him being punched and kicked while blindfolded, or being tortured nearly fatally. They also spoke of being denied food for days, he said.

Time and again, Kitazumi said, political prisoners pleaded with him to tell the wider world what is going on in their country following a February coup that ousted the country's civilian government.

The military currently holds about 4,000 people in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights group monitoring the situation in Myanmar.

Kitazumi was questioned seven to eight times while in detention. "Even though I wasn't subjected to violence, an interrogator banged the desk hard when I refused to sign a statement containing things I had no recollection of saying," he said. "That frightened me."

While in prison, the former Nikkei business daily reporter was not allowed to use a pen, so he made "ink" from instant coffee powder and applied it to a feather he picked up to record what he saw there on a scrap of paper, Kitazumi said.

Once he learned of his impending release, Kitazumi and a fellow political prisoner he had gotten to know hugged each other, and he promised to deliver on their plea, he said.

In the interview, Kitazumi once again expressed gratitude to people for working for his release.

He said he will report on Myanmar from Japan, expressing hope that the Myanmar issue will draw interest from as many people as possible.

While in Myanmar, the journalist had covered anti-coup protests and posted on social media information deemed critical of the military.

On Thursday night, state-run TV reported that the junta decided to release Kitazumi "in consideration of cordial relations between Myanmar and Japan up to now and in view of future bilateral relations, and upon the request of the Japanese government special envoy on Myanmar's national reconciliation."

Kitazumi boarded a flight from Yangon on Friday, the same day he was released, and arrived at Narita airport near Tokyo later that night. He has been quarantining at a hotel nearby.

Related coverage:

Japanese journalist detained in Myanmar returns home

Suu Kyi to appear in court on May 24: lawyer

Myanmar bomb attacks kill five including ousted NLD lawmaker: media
The Rochester Institute of Technology  Dubai (RIT-Dubai), located at the Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), started receiving applications for its advanced and specialised academic programmes of the academic year 2021-22. The programmes will be delivered at its new campus at the hi-tech park.

The programmes help expand the tech specialisations available to university students in Dubai and the wider UAE.

The first phase of RIT-Dubais new campus, whose design is based on four main pillars  innovation, smart, sustainable, and connected  has been completed at a total investment of AED200 million ($54.45 million), while the second phase is expected to be completed by 2023 at an estimated investment of AED300 million, adding an area of 116,000 sq m to the campus.

Located near innovation centres and advanced technology industries in DSO, RIT-Dubai offers advanced academic facilities and labs for students, spanning an area of 30,000 sq m. Investments in these labs amounted to approximately AED30 million, and they include a digital transformation and innovation lab that meets the demands of innovative students and youth in all fields and is open to university employees and the wider DSO community to develop high-quality solutions for future smart cities.

Other labs and workshops onsite focus on smart energy, advanced manufacturing, robotics, fourth industrial revolution, work environment elements, control, materials and elements, and fluid mechanics.

RIT-Dubai offers a series of valuable specialisations in advanced technology, artificial intelligence applications, big data, and cybersecurity, which are the future of an integrated infrastructure in smart societies, especially with the ever-changing habits at work, school, and everyday life, due to Covid-19.

Dr Yousef Al-Assaf, President of RIT-Dubai, said: We offer valuable opportunities to students looking for academic excellence and advanced specialisations that do not only meet labour market demands, but also envision the growing future trends in academic fields and professional careers.

He added: We look forward to empowering a generation of academically and professionally qualified people to lead the exchange of knowledge, accelerate innovation, and localize technology in the UAE. RIT-Dubai offers American academic degrees in technology, innovation, engineering, and advanced sciences, giving our students a competitive edge in the job market and helping them launch projects that fulfil their ambitions and benefit the UAEs knowledge-based economy.

RIT-Dubai offers undergraduate programmes in mechanical, electrical and microelectronics engineering, computing security, computing and information technology, international business and management, marketing, finance, and industrial engineering. It also provides post graduate programmes that include electrical engineering, service leadership & innovation, mechanical engineering, engineering management, city science, data analytics, and future foresight and computing security.

RIT-Dubai is now accepting applications for its academic programmes via its website. -- TradeArabia News Service
KYODO NEWS - May 16, 2021 - 11:20 | Arts, All, Japan

A Luxembourg startup that runs a platform for investing in music royalties is looking to expand into Japan through a tie-up with the country's first royalties transaction brokerage.

ANote Music Sarl said it hopes its partnership with Tokyo-based Royalty Bank, announced in April, will spur royalty investments for Japanese music catalogues and other assets, including a rapidly growing comics and animation market that alone generates around 3.7 billion euros ($4.5 billion) a year.

"This is a huge milestone for ANote Music as we take the next step in our continued global expansion," Marzio F. Schena, CEO and co-founder of ANote Music, said in a statement.

"We're delighted that our market leading technology assist both established and new artists looking to develop and grow, while providing investors with long term, stable income through the royalties this growth will generate," he said.

Music royalty investment is growing with the emergence of streaming services that generate more predictable revenue streams and attract wider audiences. Such investment is seen as relatively low risk, little affected by financial market movements.

Under the system, publishers, record labels, and artists seeking to raise funds sell music rights, while investors earn the chance to own shares in promising artists.

With technology support from ANote Music, Royalty Bank plans to launch an exchange platform in late June with a minimum investment of 1,000 yen ($9) per share in Japanese music, comics and animation.

"This is a major step in contributing to the evolution of the music industry," Ryuichi Sasaki, CEO of Royalty Bank, said in the statement. "Both Royalty Bank and ANote Music will further boost the value of music in the digital age."

ANote Music was founded in January 2018 by Schena, Matteo Cernuschi and Gregoire Mathonet in Luxembourg. It is supported by Luxembourg government funding for startups.

"We are delighted to now see (ANote Music's) successes and innovation join us in Japan through this partnership," Pierre Ferring, Luxembourg's ambassador to Japan, said in the statement.
Chautara (Nepal):

Millions of Nepalis are voting on Sunday in historic polls billed as a turning point for the impoverished Himalayan nation, hoping to end the ruinous instability that has plagued the country since the end of a bloody civil war a decade ago.

The two-phase elections for national and provincial parliaments are the first under a new post-war constitution born out of a peace deal that ended the 10-year Maoist insurgency in 2006 and set the country on a path from monarchy to democracy.

It took another nine years for the new charter to be agreed as a series of brittle coalition governments bickered over the countrys future as a federal democratic state.

Many hope that the elections, which will establish the countrys first provincial assemblies, will bring and end to political turbulence and limit the impact of horse-trading in Kathmandu.

Weve never seen a government last five years. If it does there will be stable policies and it will be easier to work, said Amir Dhoj Thapa from Chautara, a town east of Kathmandu that votes Sunday.

ALSO READ: Nepal President, Prime Minister extend Dashain greetings to citizens

Around 3.2 million people across the north of the country, including areas badly hit by a devastating earthquake two years ago, are eligible to vote in Sundays first phase. The more populous south will vote in 10-day time.

Nepals constitution, finally passed in 2015, lays out a sweeping overhaul of the political system and aims to devolve power away from the central government to seven newly created provinces.

Rules laid out in the new charter will weed out some fringe parties from the parliaments and raises the bar for ousting a prime minister, leading to hopes that the next government could be the first to last a full term.

However, analysts warn that the changes could be limited, with the three parties that have dominated the political stage since the end of the conflict expected to take the lions share of seats at the national and provincial level.

The Maoist Party of the former rebels has formed an electoral alliance with the communist CNP-UML, fielding candidates jointly in key races.

The powerful bloc has left the ruling party, the centrist Nepali Congress, on the back foot, forced to look to smaller parties in a bid to remain in power.

ALSO READ: Nepal signs agreement with US to get grant worth USD 500 million in next five years

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New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is all set to celebrate its fifth foundation day on Sunday and hold a national convention at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi.

The convention will see discussions on various issues, like the work done by the Delhi government and the Jan Lokpal Bill passed by the Assembly, which is awaiting clearance from the Centre, Delhi Labour Minister and senior party leader Gopal Rai said.

Other issues including farmers distress and current social, economic and political developments will also be discussed, he said adding, the AAP is the only party in the Indian history to have established a national footprint within a short span of five years and is expanding rapidly across the country.

According to party leaders, around 10,000 AAP volunteers and representatives from 22 states are likely to attend the convention.

ALSO READ: AAP cannot claim powers of state, Delhi enjoys special status among Union Territories: Centre tells Supreme Court

Besides the partys national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, several top AAP leaders are expected to address the convention.

Senior party leader Kumar Vishwas, who has had an uneasy relationship with the party leadership, tweeted that he would be addressing the volunteers during the convention and speak his heart out.

(With PTI inputs)

ALSO READ | Odd-even: Delhi govt urges NGT to exempt women, two-wheelers

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New Delhi:

Ever thought of how would it feel like to have a beer on Mars? Well now, Budweiser is all set to pave way towards this goal as it plans to send barley to be tested at the International Space Station in early December.

"It would create a beer suitable for drinking in space... and when people get there they will toast on Budweiser..., the company said in a statement this week.

Twenty Budweiser barley seeds will be sent to space on the upcoming SpaceXs CRS-13 cargo supply mission scheduled to be launched on December 4 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The grain will remain in orbit for one month to see how they react in a microgravity environment and then return to earth for testing and analysis.

Read more: New 'Big Bird' species discovered in Galapagos Islands

"Budweiser is always pushing the boundaries of innovation and we are inspired by the collective American Dream to get to Mars", said Ricardo Marques, Vice President, Budweiser.

"We are excited to begin our research to brew beer for the red planet", he further added.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Against the milieu of the ongoing Rohingya refugee crisis, Pope Francis has set off on a six-day visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh.



Pope Francis left Rome en route for Yangon, Myanmar's main city and will touch down around 0700 GMT on Monday to make efforts to check the crisis that has seen many of the Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority in the mostly Buddhist Myanmar flee their homes and take sanctuary in filthy refugee camps over the border in Bangladesh.



"I ask you to be with me in prayer so that, for these peoples, my presence is a sign of affinity and hope," Francis told 30,000 believers in St Peter's Square, shortly before the departure.

As I prepare to visit Myanmar and Bangladesh, I wish to send a message of greeting and friendship to everyone. I can't wait to meet you!  Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 25, 2017

Some 620,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August as a result of violence that the UN and the United States have described as ethnic cleansing.



Aides say Francis will seek to encourage reconciliation, dialogue and further efforts to alleviate the crisis following last week's tentative agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh to work towards a return of some of the Rohingya to Myanmar.



(With Agency inputs)

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New Delhi:

The Centre has been allowed by the Supreme Court to pull out four of the eight companies of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) from strife-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of West Bengal.



The four companies of CAPF will be deployed in poll-bound Gujarat.



A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud agreed to the Centre's plea to relocate half of the remaining paramilitary forces from the state's strife-torn districts to the poll-bound state.



The apex court had earlier on October 27 permitted the Centre to withdraw seven of the 15 companies of CAPF from Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts for deployment along the borders of Jammu and Kashmir and in the north-eastern states and to the poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.



The Calcutta High Court had earlier stayed the withdrawal of CAPF from Darjeeling hills.
New Delhi:

Noted historian Ramchandra Guha on Monday took to Twitter to express his discontent over the "unprovoked rudeness" by staff of low-cost carrier IndiGo.

"Three times this time, I have been subject to unprovoked rudeness by an @IndiGo6E staffer. Different people, different airports, same airline. Absolutely shocking," Guha tweeted.

He said he does not normally use Twitter as a means of consumer redressal, but did so as the same airline misbehaved thrice in a single week.

"Friends and family also confirm that rudeness has become a habit with @IndiGo6E," he said. The airline declined to comment on Guha's allegations.

Earlier this month, IndiGo was at the centre of a controversy after a video showing one of its staff members allegedly manhandling a passenger went viral.

The outrage over the incident forced the airline to apologise, while in a report to the ministry of civil aviation it also maintained that the employee was doing his job.

The government has also asked regulatory body Directorate General of Civil Aviation to probe the incident.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

They were brave, they made terrorists bite chicken peas with their nose, and they fought till their last breath in service to mother land. On the 9th anniversary of deadly 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, we remember the five of the many brave hearts who lost their life fighting the enemies.

Hemant Karkare AC  The chief of the Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Ashok Chakra Hemant Karkare martyred in action during the 2008 Mumbai terro atatcks. He was shot three times in the chest by terrorists.

Ashok Kamte AC  He was the one who shot terrorist Ajmal Kasab in the arm. A highly experienced police service officer, the brave heart Kamate was shot dead by the terrorist during encounter. His martyrdom was awarded with the Ashok Chakra.

Tukaram Gopal Omble AC- Tukaram Gopal Omble, an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in Mumbai Police and a retired army man died during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He played significant role in catching Ajmal Kasab alive. HE was also awarded with the Ashok Chakra for his extraordinary bravery and valour.

Suggested Read | 26/11 Mumbai terror attack: Ajmal Kasab, the killer of innocents

Vijay Salaskar AC  The Additional Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Vijay Salaskar was the encounter specialist and one of victims of a terrorist's bullet. He also died in the encounter with terrorists during 26/11 Mumbai attacks. He was also awarded the Ashok Chakra, India's highest peace time gallantry award.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan  AC Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan was an Army officer serving in the elite Special Action Group of the National Security Guards. He martyred fighting terrorists during 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. He was consequently awarded the Ashoka Chakra on 26 January 2009.

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New Delhi :

Nine years ago, a 21-year-old boy, along with nine others of just about his age, put one of the busiest cities of the world on its knees by inflicting huge damage in a matter of 60 odd hours.

Born on July 13, 1987 Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, was a Pakistani, terrorist, and member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist group which is banned by the USA.

Birth and early life:

Kasab was born in Faridkot village in the Okara District of Pakistan Punjab. After a spat with his father in 2005, Ajmal Kasab left home. Thereafter, he engaged in petty crimes and later resorted to armed robbery.

On 21 December 2007 in Rawalpindi while trying to buy weapons, they encountered members of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, the political wing of Lashkar-e-Taiba, distributing pamphlets.

According to various reports, Kasabs father sold him to Lashkar-e-Taiba so that he could use the money they gave him to support the family.

Induction in LeT and training:

Kasab was selected from among a group of 24-26 people and was in the elite 10 to be a part of the team that executed the deadly Mumbai terror act.

They received training in marine warfare at a remote camp in the mountainous terrains of Muzaffarabad. Part of the training also took place on the Mangla Dam reservoir.

The training consisted of psychological indoctrination to Islamist ideas, basic combat, advanced training, and commando training.

They also received training in swimming and sailing, besides the use of high-end weapons and explosives under the supervision of LeT commanders.

26/11 Mumbai terror attack:

Ajmal Kasab was at the forefront of the Mumbai terror attack, which started with assault at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus that killed 58 people.

Photographer Shriram Vernekar of The Times of India clicked a photo of Ajmal Kasab showed him carrying an AK-47 rifle.

After the CST attack, Kasab and his mate in crime Ismail Khan headed towards Cama Hospital where they couldnt kill innocents as the nurses there already locked up the patients in one room.

After killing eight police personnel, including Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, at the Cama hospital, Ajmal Kasab and Ismail Khan took two constables as hostages in a Qualis (police van). After that Kasab and Khan drove towards the Metro cinema.

The two fired some shots into a crowd gathered at the Metro cinema.

Kasab was captured alive while crossing a police barricade at Girgaum Chowpatty.

Trial and Execution

Kasab's plea for clemency was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on November 5, 2012. November 21 was fixed for the execution, and the Indian government faxed the decision to the Pakistani Foreign Office.

The trial of Ajmal Kasab was based on CCTV footage showing him marching across the CST railway station with an AK-47 and a backpack.

By the end of 2008, Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as the special Public Prosecutor for trying Kasab and Justice M.L. Tahaliyani was appointed as the judge for the case.

An 11,000 page charge sheet was submitted by Indian investigators and Kasab was charged with murder, conspiracy and waging war against India along with other crimes.

On May 6 2010, Kasab was sentenced to death by the Bombay Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

A Bombay High Court bench consisting of Justice Ranjanaa Desai and Justice Ranjit More, heard Kasab's appeal against the death penalty and upheld the sentence given by the trial court in their verdict on 21 February 2011.

He was secretly transferred to Yerwada Jail in Pune under heavy security in the wee hours of November 19.

As planned, Kasab was hanged on November 21, 2012 at 7:30 am and was buried at a secret location in the jail premises.

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New Delhi:

Seven people were killed and 17 injured in a bus accident in Pendra district of Chhattisgarh on Sunday.

The senior administrative officials rushed to the spot and launched rescue operations.

In a similar incident on Thursday, a bus fell from a flyover in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi town, killing two people and injuring at least 31 others, the police had informed.

The accident took place in the Railway Ganj locality after the bus driver lost control of the vehicle, they had said.

"A private bus broke the railing of the flyover and fell down. Thirty-one people were injured and two died," Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar had said quoting a report from the Hardoi additional district magistrate.

3 killed, several injured in a bus accident in Chhattisgarh's Pendra pic.twitter.com/URUxRogEbv  ANI (@ANI) November 26, 2017

The injured have been hospitalised and their condition has been stated as critical, the police had said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
China's new naval fleet embarks on escort mission

Xinhua) 16:01, May 15, 2021

NINGBO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The 38th escort fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy on Saturday left a military port in Zhoushan, east China's Zhejiang Province, for the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali to escort civilian ships.

The fleet is composed of the guided-missile destroyer Nanjing, the missile frigate Yangzhou, and supply ship Gaoyouhu, with dozens of special operation soldiers and two helicopters on board.

This is the first time for the Nanjing to join an escort mission.

The PLA Navy began to carry out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia in December 2008.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Bianji)
More CEOs anticipate an economic boom (60%) than stagnation (40%) in 2021 and 2022, according to a recent survey of CEOs and senior executives by Gartner, Inc. Most respondents (35%) anticipate returning to or exceeding 2019 revenue levels as early as this year.

CEOs top priorities for 2021 show confidence, said Mark Raskino, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. Over half report growth as their primary focus and see opportunity on the other side of the crisis, followed by technology change and corporate action.

This year, all leaders will be working hard to decode what the post-pandemic world looks like and redeveloping mid- to long-range business strategy accordingly. In most cases, that will uncover a round of new structural changes to capability, location, products and business models.

The annual Gartner 2021 CEO Survey was conducted between July 2020 to December 2020 among 465 actively employed CEOs and other senior business executives in North America, EMEA and APAC across different industries, revenue and company sizes.

Technology-related change was the second-highest priority for CEOs. When asked about their organisations top five strategic business priorities for the next two years, respondents gave answers in their own words. CEOs responses increasingly included the simple word digital, cited by one in five CEOs in this years survey. Digital capabilities was also the only category in which CEOs intended to increase investment in 2021.

When it comes to specific technologies, CEOs see artificial intelligence (AI) as the most industry-impactful technology. Over 30% of respondents said that quantum computing will be highly relevant to their long-range business plans but are still not quite sure how.

Blockchain, 5G, AI and quantum computing are at the forefront of an emerging economic race between the US and China, with one-third of CEOs believing that evolving trade disputes between the two nations over these technologies are a significant concern for their businesses.

Within CEOs third strategic business priority of corporate action, M&As were the most mentioned item, rising 75% year-over-year. This shows that CEOs and senior executives seeking advantage from a cyclical downturn are going shopping for structural inorganic growth.

There was a significant reduction in mentions of sales revenue within the growth priority category and a significant increase in mentions of new markets across different industries and company sizes, suggesting that CEOs are finding it hard to obtain simple incremental sales revenue growth using the strategies that have served them well in the past.

Techquisitions can bolster digital business progress, while also providing access to potential fast-growth market sectors, said Raskino.

Over 80% of CEOs expect enduring societal behavior change arising from the pandemic, such as a permanent shift to hybrid work. Shifts in customer behavior are expected as well: The biggest concern among CEOs is that customer demand will be constrained, particularly in industries such as travel, and that consumers and chief financial officers (CFOs) alike will hold back on related expenditures.

More use of digital technology and the demand for digital channel flexibility are also within the top three anticipated shifts in customer behavior. This suggests that continuing to improve the way customers are served digitally will be vital, said Kristin Moyer, distinguished research vice president at Gartner.

As key matters of sustainability and social justice rise to the foreground of public consciousness in many countries, 39% of CEOs said that taking an active social justice stance is good for business and that their employees are mostly of one mind. This leaves 61% who are tentative around such subjects  the majority are still not confident and comfortable navigating the business through this area of change. In addition, nearly half of CEOs (45%) said climate change mitigation is having a significant impact on their businesses.-- TradeArabia News Service
New Delhi:

In a dreadful incident, a youth suffered injuries after he was allegedly set ablaze by unidentified men after he raised objections on taunts aimed towards his female friend in outer Delhis Bawana, the police said on Saturday.



However, the police found some contradictions in the statements of the girl and the victim and the possibility of self-immolation is being kept in consideration.



The 19-year-old youth has been admitted to the GB hospital with burn injuries and the authorities reported the incident to the police on November 23.



According to the victim, when he was walking with his female friend, who is a minor, on Kanjhawla Road, three persons came on a motorcycle and allegedly taunted the girl, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Rishi Pal said.

On raising objection, the accused allegedly poured inflammable liquid on him and set him blaze, the officer said.

Read more: Delhi: Kids rivalry resulted in murder, woman kills two year old toddler

The families of the girl and the victim have been staying on different floors of the same house in Nangloi for five years, the police added.



Both the families, in their statements to the police, said that they were aware about their friendship.



Around 50 letters, many of which written in blood, were found from the bags of the duo. The contents of the letters were found bizarre and some had mention of something he wanted to do to prove his love for the girl, the officer said.

(With PTI inputs)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration released a 3D video of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The helicopter take its historic third flight.

The flight was one of the five successful endeavours with one failed attempt. NASA has in the meanwhile, took it to Twitter sharing a video clip of 3D view of Mars. The agency wanted to give the viewers a first-hand experience of this flight on the red planet. NASA has got the solution for those who dont have 3D glasses, the agency has shared a quick DIY 3D glasses to make at home in few minutes.

???? ???? Our Ingenuity #MarsHelicopter, but make it 3D!



When the helicopter took to the Martian skies on its third flight, @NASAPersevere was there to capture it all. Check out the rendered flight in 3D as it ascends, hovers, then zooms laterally: https://t.co/YVY07InRKu pic.twitter.com/dAR37lBONk  NASA (@NASA) May 12, 2021

In a press conference, the agency stated that When NASAs Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took to the Martian skies on its third flight on April 25, the agencys Perseverance rover was there to capture the historic moment. Now NASA engineers have rendered the flight in 3D, lending dramatic depth to the flight as the helicopter ascends, hovers, then zooms laterally off-screen before returning for a pinpoint landing. Justin Maki is the imaging scientist who led the team and created 3D imaging of Mars with NASA since he was a graduate student.

The video of Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was taken by Perseverance Mars rovers zoomable dual-camera Mastcam-Z instrument. Lately, the agency had announced that the rovers robotic arm had successfully started conducting science operations on the red plant.

Also Read

Blood Moon on May 26, Total lunar eclipse, timings; all you need to know

Himachal Pradesh extends Curfew till May 26, Check Details inside

Madhya Pradesh extends ban on interstate bus movement till May 23
With the world fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, citizens in most districts of Nepal are going through a lockdown or a prohibitory order as a safety measure. Hopefully, their contribution to staying home will be successful in reducing the number of infections and controlling the virus.

But, while you are inside your home taking care of each other, there is something else that needs your attention as well; that is your vehicle.

As you cannot use your bike during the lockdown, you need to be extra cautious about the maintenance and cleanliness of your vehicle. This will ensure that your vehicle will be in the top condition to drive again when the lockdown ends.

Listed below are some of the tips on how to maintain your bike during the lockdown.

1. Keep it covered

Photo: Pack up and Ride

Keeping your vehicle covered always protects the paint and chrome from harmful rays of the sun. It also protects your bike from all the dust. Also, since your bike is not used for a long period, make sure the parking spot is a good one. An area that is not directly exposed to the sun is always highly recommended.

2. Clean the bike regularly

Photo: The drive

When the bike is not used for a long period, It can lead to the bike collecting dirt and dust which can affect the performance of the bike later. In order to avoid this, make sure to put an effort to clean your bike regularly. Using the double stand is recommended while cleaning as it will be easier for you to clean all the parts. Also using a sponge and the right shampoo ensures that the body of your bike gets fair treatment and does not lose its shine.

3. Ensure proper lubrication

Photo: startrescue

Lubricating the parts of your bike is very important for proper maintenance. The springs, cables and chain of the bike should be lubricated at least once a week so that the bike will perform smoothly when you ride it again.

4. Park it using the double stand

Photo: Bikenbiker

This may not seem a big deal, but parking your bike using the double stand instead of the side stand will ensure your bike to be in a tiptop shape. When the bike is parked using the side stand for a long time, the bike will be in a slanting position and that can put a lot of pressure on the tyres. By using the double stand, you not only ensure that the pressure stays off the tyres but also make sure that engine oil is not stranded to only one side.

5. Check the status of the battery

Photo: Bikebandit

The battery in your bike loses charges easily. So, it would be wise to disconnect the battery as you do not be able to use it during the lockdown. However, if you do not want to disconnect the battery, make sure you start your bike and let it idle for about 15-20 minutes once or twice every week. Doing this also ensures your engine will get enough heat to perform smoothly and effectively after the lockdown.
(Reuters) - Mazda Motor Corp said on Friday it expects a semiconductor crunch to affect around 100,000 of the Japanese automaker's vehicles globally during the fiscal year.

However, Mazda will fully leverage available inventory to minimize the hit to about 70,000 wholesale units, it said in a statement.

The worldwide shift to remote work and learning during the pandemic had boosted demand for laptops and other gadgets, exacerbating a global chip shortage.

The shortfall will cost automakers $110 billion in lost revenues this year, up from a prior estimate of $61 billion, consulting firm AlixPartners said, forecasting the crisis will hit the production of 3.9 million vehicles.

Automobiles depend on chips for everything from computer management of engines for better fuel economy to driver-assistance features such as emergency braking.

(Reporting by Shreyasee Raj in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
New Orleans, Louisiana--(Newsfile Corp. - May 15, 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 17, 2021 to file lead plaintiff applications in a consolidated securities class action lawsuit against Lordstown Motors Corp. (the "Company") (NasdaqGS: RIDE) f/k/a DiamondPeak Holdings Corp., if they purchased Lordstown and/or DiamondPeak shares between August 3, 2020 and March 24, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period") and/or were holders of DiamondPeak shares entitled to participate in the October 22, 2020 shareholder vote on the merger with Lordstown. This consolidated action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

What You May Do

If you purchased and/or held shares of Lordstown or DiamondPeak as above 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-ride/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 17, 2021 .

About the Lawsuit

Lordstown and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws. On March 12, 2021, pre-market, Hindenburg Research reported that the Company has "no revenue and no sellable product," and that it "has misled investors on both its demand and production capabilities." Further, the report noted that the Company's "orders are largely fictitious and used as a prop to raise capital and confer legitimacy," and that a former employee "explained how the company is experiencing delays and making 'drastic' design modifications, putting [Lordstown] an estimated 3-4 years away from production," rather than it being "on track" for a September 2021 production start. Then, on March 17, 2021, post-market, the Company disclosed during an earnings call that it had received an inquiry from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, despite not including that disclosure in its Form 8-K announcing its fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results, filed after trading closed that same day. On this news, shares of Lordstown plummeted.

Story continues

The first-filed case is Rico v. Lordstown Motors Corp., et al., 21-cv-00616.

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/84239
Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Paris and Frankfurt have their work cut out if theyre going to seriously challenge the City of London, according to an analysis by think tank New Financial, which found five times more international financial activity in the U.K. than France or Germany.This report shows you would have to move a huge amount of activity from the U.K. before France, Germany or any other EU financial center is significantly closing that gap, William Wright, New Financials managing director, said i
PETERBOROUGH, ON, May 14, 2021 /CNW/ - On behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, will make an announcement for support for people at risk of overdose in Peterborough.

There will be a media availability immediately following the announcement.

Date

May 17, 2021

Time

10:30 AM EDT

Location

The event will be held on Zoom.

Zoom link:

https://ca01web.zoom.us/j/63542472616

Passcode: 000373

Please indicate your name (first and last) and media outlet when joining the event.

SOURCE Health Canada

Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2021/14/c1469.html
(Bloomberg) -- Orange SA is interested in buying a minority stake in Ethiopias state-owned telecom monopoly as part of the countrys privatization of the industry, according to people familiar with the situation.

The French group will consider bidding for the 40% shareholding in Ethio Telecom, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the process hasnt been concluded. Orange opted to explore the acquisition of the stake rather than one of two new licenses being auctioned to international operators, they said.

Eyob Tekalign, the Ethiopian minister responsible for privatization, said the government cant comment on who might be interested because the process hasnt formally started. Orange declined to comment.

A successful sale of the stake in Ethio Telecom would deliver a boost to a wider liberalization intended to generate foreign exchange and improve service for the nations 110 million people -- the second-highest population in Africa. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmeds administration has made privatization a key part of its plan for economic reform, aiming to boost investment and jobs.

Orange initially indicated an interest in taking one of the new licenses, but the companys name was absent when a list of bidders was released last month. Instead, a consortium including Vodafone Group Plc, Johannesburg-based Vodacom Group Ltd. and Kenyas Safaricom Ltd. made an offer, as did a partnership between MTN Group Ltd., Africas largest wireless carrier, and Chinas Silk Road Fund.

The outcome of those auctions has yet to be announced.

Mobile Money

One sticking point for bidders was uncertainty over whether they will be able to offer a mobile-money service, a major generator of revenue and profit for African operators. The Ethiopian government eventually ruled that it wont be allowed for now, a decision that cost the state about $500 million, Abiy said this week.

The new entrants will be allowed to add financial services in about a year, he said, though Ethio Telecom will be given the green light right right away. That would give Orange a potential advantage of its international rivals, should the talks to buy the stake be successfully concluded.

Story continues

Details of Ethio Telecoms finances are patchy, but the company generated revenue of about 25.6 billion birr ($600 million) in the six months through December and has 53 million subscribers, covering about half the population. The horn of Africa country also has a minimal 4G network, presenting an opportunity for new entrants to expand rapidly.

(Updates with Orange no comment in third paragraph)

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are making big moves to expand their business empire  one year after exiting the royal family.

Riding the momentum from a blockbuster televised interview, the couple made several announcements this week, including a new partnership with Procter and Gamble (PG), the same company a young Meghan Markle called out over sexist ads 28 years ago.

The multi-year, global initiative was publicized through the couple's Archewell Foundation, and is set to focus on gender equality, more inclusive online spaces, and resilience and impact through sport. A financial agreement has not yet been disclosed.

In addition, Prince Harry's much-anticipated Apple TV+ (AAPL) series with Oprah Winfrey finally has a release date. On Monday, it was announced that the program  titled "The Me You Can't See"  will debut on May 21.

Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey's mental health will tell tales of the "human spirit fighting back from the darkest places"

The series will see Winfrey and Harry, who serve as co-creators and executive producers, lead discussions on mental health with high-profile guests including Lady Gaga, Glenn Close, San Antonio Spurs DeMar DeRozan, celebrity chef Rashad Armstead, and more.

The news follows Harry's hiring as the chief impact officer at San Francisco-based mental health startup BetterUp.

At the moment, there are no details on his compensation or employment agreement, although the Wall Street Journal reports he will be joining the companys leadership team as an officer of the corporation."

BetterUp, which serves over 300 enterprise businesses including Hilton, NASA, Chevron, Mars, Genentech, Snap Inc., and Warner Media, raised $125 million in its latest funding round  valuing the company at an impressive $1.73 billion.

BetterUp's growth means there's more wealth for Prince Harry to share in, putting him further down the road toward financial independence.

In addition to BetterUp, Harry also took on a six month role as a commissioner for the leading non-profit Aspen Institute's new Commission on Information Disorder. Journalist Katie Couric, Color of Change president Rashad Robinson, and the Former Director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs all serve as co-chairs of the agency. It is unclear whether Harry will be paid for the part-time gig.

Story continues

And then there are the couple's media and investment deals.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle inch closer to building $1 billion brand

In December, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a 3-year podcast deal with Spotify (SPOT) for an estimated $15 million - $18 million. That same month, Markle invested an undisclosed amount in the powdered oat milk latte startup Clevr Blends  her first public personal investment, according to Fortune.

Still, it was their 5-year Netflix (NFLX) deal that's generated the most buzz, with multiple reports saying the deal could be valued at up to $100 million.

Combined with the duo's various speaking appearances, which are reported to go for around $1 million, the couple is poised to build a $1 billion brand as mental health advocates, content creators and venture capitalists.

Financial Impact of Royal Departure

The couple's polarizing departure from the House of Windsor may in fact be fueling interest in the couple's mushrooming business ventures. Yet with the prince relinquishing his royal duties, it's unclear how much  if anything  he'll continue to receive from the royal family.

Before their new spate of deals, the couple's combined net worth stood at $10 million, according to Forbes, with a sizable portion lying in the equity of their nearly $15 million California mansion. For context, Queen Elizabeth II is worth an estimated $500 million.

Prince Harry inherited roughly $10 million from his late mother Princess Diana's estate, with Meghan Markle contributing approximately $2 million (after taxes) from her various works as an actress.

The Sovereign Grant, funded in part by British taxpayers, previously contributed 5% to the couples total income. It is currently used to finance and support the official duties of the Queen including travel, security, staff and building upkeep.

The remaining 95% of their income came from the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate account maintained by Prince Charles. The estate is valued at roughly $1.2 billion, with Prince Charles receiving approximately $28.3 million to distribute amongst his family.

Alexandra is a Producer & Entertainment Correspondent at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193

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Avaya, a global leader in solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration, has been identified as a Leader in The Aragon Research Globe for Video Conferencing 2021.

Avaya is providing customers with digital workplace solutions built on the understanding that work is not just what is done within a meeting, but also the before and after.

Video meeting use at home is skyrocketing  with huge numbers of remote workers adopting video communications since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, research shows that many workers are struggling with using their video meeting tools  and this is impacting productivity. Avaya OneCloud UCaaS solutions have transformed the traditional video meeting to enable always-on collaboration, helping businesses meet the challenges of an unpredictable, work-from-anywhere world with continuous, multiexperience collaboration. Avaya is empowering cross-functional teams to collaborate across departments and locations in ways that help avoid video call fatigue associated with most video apps.

Avayas vision for evolving video conferencing into workstream collaboration solutions, we feel, is what has propelled the company deep into the Aragon Leaders sector. According to the report1, authored by Aragon Research lead analyst Jim Lundy: Avaya continued to invest and innovate in collaboration in 2020 making a number of moves to strengthen its overall portfolio. The following features contributed to Avayas placement in the report:

Avaya Spaces, an intelligent video meeting platform that is integrated with team collaboration and is complimented through Avayas partnership with NVIDIA providing enhanced, AI-powered video capabilities for both low bandwidth and high-quality, more engaging meetings. Avaya is first to market with these upgraded capabilities and offers a smoother, immersive video experience that is noticeable to users.

Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral continues to make traction with its large install base and Avaya is one of the few providers whose room-based systems support 4K video.

Avayas integrations with Apple, Google, Microsoft Teams and Office, and Salesforce/Slack are attracting new customers. Avaya has made AI part of its overall UCC focus and its partnership with NVIDIA to integrate leading-edge AI into Avaya Spaces is a move that others will most likely emulate.

2020 will be remembered as the year that video conferencing overtook audio conferencing as the preferred communications interface for people to connect and meet, said Lundy. Hybrid work continues to become the new normal and many associates will always now work remotely. With the shift to a focus on video meetings, Avaya is well positioned to meet the needs of enterprises with its growing portfolio of intelligent video offerings.

Avaya is helping organisations globally move forward into the new world of work, which is increasingly unplanned, dynamic and more collaborativeand work is now conducted anywhere and everywhere, said Anthony Bartolo, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Avaya. Organisations and their customers depend on workstream collaboration solutions that are reliable, secure and deliver great experiences, whether employees are in the office, home or mobile. Avaya helps empower businesses with flexible, always-on, continuous collaboration providing exceptional experiences for this new work nucleus.

The Aragon Research Globe is a market evaluation tool that graphically depicts Aragon Researchs evaluation of a specific market and its component vendors. Aragon Research examined 21 major providers in a market that focuses on all forms of collaboration and communication based on its three dimensions of analysis: strategy, performance, and reach. Leaders are noted as having comprehensive strategies that align with industry direction and market demand and perform effectively against those strategies. -- TradeArabia News Service
CAIRO, May 16 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud held a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the latest developments "in Palestine and in the region', Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.

They reviewed "the strategic relations between the kingdom and the U.S. and ways to boost them in all fields, in addition to the most prominent developments, foremost of which are developments in Palestine, and in the region," SPA said.

(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Omar Fahmy, Editing by William Maclean)
Getting a tax refund? Warren Buffett wants you to spend it like this

Just like you, famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett dutifully files his taxes every year  a practice he started at the tender age of 13, when he owed $7 on the earnings from his paper route.

The average individual federal tax refund so far in the current filing season is about $2,900, according to IRS data. While thats a drop in the bucket for Buffett, the folksy businessman knows that amount of money can make a huge difference for the average American household.

The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway took some time at his annual shareholder meeting on May 1 to pass on investing wisdom. The famously frugal businessman also is a source of knowledge on how to spend an influx of cash wisely.

Due to more internal IRS issues that include staffing shortages and broken equipment, you might be waiting for your refund long after the delayed May 17 filing deadline. But with a little help from Buffett, youll know exactly what to do once it arrives.

The wisest way to use tax refunds, according to Buffett

fizkes / Shutterstock

Buffett says whenever you come into any extra money, your first move should be to pay off credit card debt. While he says "the world is in love with credit cards," they're far too expensive.

While Buffett says he understands many Americans are relying on credit cards to get them through the pandemic, it seems like some people think of their plastic as "a piggy bank to be raided."

"If I owed any money at 18%, the first thing Id do with any money I had would be to pay it off," Buffett said he told his friend. "You cant go through life borrowing money at those rates and be better off."

But what if your tax refund isn't enough to pay off all of your credit card debt? You could make your remaining balances more manageable and affordable by rolling them into a lower-interest debt consolidation loan.

Buffett would not say to use your refund for your mortgage

sitthiphong / Shutterstock

Buffett is passionate about avoiding carrying a balance on your credit card: "It just doesnt make sense," he said during the virtual shareholders meeting.

Story continues

But thats not to say he thinks all debt is bad  in fact, he wouldn't suggest you use your refund to pay down your mortgage.

Buffett took out a 30-year mortgage in 1971 when he bought a vacation home in Laguna Beach, California, even though he could easily afford to pay for it in cash.

In a 2017 interview with CNBC, he called the 30-year mortgage "an incredibly attractive instrument for the homeowner."

Fast forward to 2021, that still rings true as mortgage rates are still at historically low levels.

Buffett says his home loan made good financial sense: I thought I could probably do better with the money than have it be an all-equity purchase of the house," he told CNBC.

Already have a mortgage? Now that the rate on 30-year fixed mortgages is under 3% again, mortgage data and technology provider Black Knight says 13 million homeowners still have an opportunity to save an average of $283 a month with a refi.

No credit card debt? Then invest your refund

Aris-Tect Group / Shutterstock

So what did Buffett do with the cash he would have used to buy the house outright? He bought stock in his own company. He bought around 3,000 shares of Berkshire Hathaway at about $40 each  and by the time of the 2017 interview, that investment had grown to $750 million.

If you dont have credit card debt or other pressing needs to cover with your tax refund, follow the Oracle of Omahas lead: Consider investing whatever you get back from the tax agency. You could even buy into Berkshire Hathaway.

Berkshire stock has reported average annual returns of more than 20% since the 1960s, versus just 10% for the S&P 500, according to multiple media outlets.

Buffett has never split his company's Class A shares (BRK.A), so the stock is notoriously pricey  now just over $400,000 per share. But you can still grab a slice of stock with a popular investing app, that allows you to buy fractional shares based on what your budget allows.

Another way to make your refund money work for you is by opening an account with an app that allows you to build your portfolio using "spare change" from everyday purchases.

With the stock market currently setting record-breaking highs, theres never been a better time to dip your toe into investing.
My favorite writing spot is the sofa in my living room in front of the fire with a cup of coffee.

Future plans as an author: This journey is all so new for me, since I am a retired pediatrician. I am savoring each step of the way as I introduce my book to readers and find that it resonates with all ages. It is certainly a fun process and one that may well lead me on to another book, but who knows at this point? I would certainly welcome another adventure!

What I learned from the writing/publishing process: I learned the advantages of organizing my photographs and notes in a systematic approach for edification and incorporation into the whole project. The key thing for me was the reality that this was going to be a fun process and that I was in control of what I wanted to convey. This pandemic has been so hard for everyone, with separation from family, losing loved ones and financial burdens. For me, creating this book was my catharsis and a way that I could, hopefully, bring a smile to those who have struggled so hard this year.

My advice for those trying to write a book: Follow your dream and write whats in your soul, not what you think people want to hear.

ABOUT MY WORK

Title: Our Family is So Special!
Fredericksburg-area governments are getting over $100 million more in federal stimulus funds to help them get back on track as the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine last week announced billions of dollars would be coming to Virginia in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Stafford County will receive the largest amount at close to $29.7 million, followed by Spotsylvania County at nearly $26.5 million.

Fredericksburg is slated to get nearly $10.8 million, Caroline County almost $6 million and King George County $5.2 million. Allocations to others localities in region include $13.8 million to Fauquier County, $10.2 million to Culpeper County, almost $7.2 million to Orange County and $3.5 million to Westmoreland County.

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The announcement from the senators said the funds will allow the state and localities to recover from the economic harm of COVID, promote public health, invest in broadband, make up for lost revenue, and address many of the other impacts of the pandemic.

The state government will receive nearly $4.3 billion from the fund established by the American Rescue Plan Act. Approximately $2.9 billion more will be allocated to regional municipalities across the state.
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Some of our seniors only have Social Security, or maybe one pension, or maybe they have one piece of land. Theyre normal Americans, and this is all they have left, said Coen. It just seemed equitable to be looking out for those people.

As part of the same package, supervisors approved steps to prorate the amount of tax those enrolled in the countys tax relief program owe the county in the event the taxpayer dies.

Prior to the change, the estate of the deceased was required to pay the entire year of taxes, regardless of the date of death. But Mayausky said the new rules prorate the amount of taxes due based on the date of death.

Coen said the old rule caused concern among some of his constituents in the George Washington District.

It didnt seem fair, said Coen. Why would you tax someone for an entire year if they didnt own it for the full year. The way it was set up was not equitable or kind. Someone has a death in their family, why are we harming them?

Mayausky said applications for the countys tax relief program are processed only one time each year.
This helps explain why Hamas can claim that Israel is starving Palestinians with its tight control of the Gaza border, yet also devote money and resources to build imprecise rockets and missiles to launch at Israel every few years. It also explains why Hamas hides its weapons and ammunition in schools and mosques. Most militaries try to protect civilians. Hamas actively exploits them.

This is a fact that appears to be lost on the International Criminal Court, for which the escalation of violence raises the prospect of possible war crimes.

By contrast, it is a fact very much on the mind of Israels most important ally.

Asked about the disparity in casualties of Israelis and the Palestinians, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday: There is first a very clear and absolute distinction between a terrorist organization, Hamas, that is indiscriminately raining down rocketsin fact, targeting civiliansand Israels response defending itself that is targeting the terrorists who are raining down rockets on Israel.

No Arab leaders or diplomats have gone that far in their public statements, though a U.S. official told me this week that the message from regional allies has been muted.
In 2020 alone, there were nearly 2,400 ransomware attacks on state and local governments, schools, health care facilities and other entities that paid $300 million in ransom, according to Frank Cilluffo, director of the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University, and Mark Montgomery, senior advisor to the chairmen of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The commission released a report in 2020 strongly urging the U.S. to adopt a layered cyber deterrence that rewards acceptable behavior and imposes steep costs on individuals, criminal groups or nation-states that target American cyberspace.

Last week, President Biden signed an executive order that removes barriers to information sharing between the government and IT providers, and takes other steps to prevent cybercriminals from gaining access to government and key U.S. industry databases.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that the United States is simply not prepared to fend off state-sponsored or even criminal hackers intent on compromising our systems for profit or espionage. This executive order is a good first step, but executive orders can only go so far. Congress is going to have to step up and do more to address our cyber vulnerabilities.
But thats exactly what Democrats are trying to do. And it will inevitably hurt them on Election Day, especially when 56 percent of independents said they would be less likely to re-elect their senator if he or she supported those two disliked and radical Democratic priorities.

Beyond seeking to dramatically alter fundamental government mainstays that have been around for more than 150 years, Democrats must also answer for the crisis at the border, pushing citizenship for undocumented immigrants, trillion-dollar spending bonanzas, D.C. statehood, radical gun control measures, defunding the police, and rising fuel and food costs.

Whatever hope there was for governing from the middle is gone. Once again, Democrats are overplaying their hand.

But Republicans biggest advantage in 2022 might come from redistricting. Topline 2020 census numbers show both New York (which Biden won by 23.2 percent) and California (Biden by 29.2 percent) losing seats in 2022, while Texas (won by Trump by 5.6 percent), Montana (Trump by 16.4 percent), North Carolina (Trump by 1.6 percent), and Florida (Trump by 3.3) will all gain seats.


UNITED NATIONS  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israels U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gazas Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.


BFL Group has announced the launch of a new major store in Mushrif Mall in Abu Dhabi to house Brands For Less and Muy Mucho.

The new store is one of BFL Groups biggest stores, spread over an area of 1,400 sqm and comes as part of the groups 2021 expansion plan.

Muy Mucho  the latest addition to BFL Groups portfolio in Abu Dhabi - is a Spanish brand that focuses on homeware products, following a theme of wood, textiles, and soft colours. The brand is popular for its travel-inspired and personalized home decoration items. Meanwhile, the new store will also feature Tchibo, in addition to branded toys and homeware.

Commenting on the launch, Ayman Beydoun, Chief Operating Officer at BFL Group said: We are excited to launch our new store at Mushrif Mall and introduce Muy Mucho for the first time to Abu Dhabi consumers. Currently, we operate seven stores across the emirate, however, we look forward to further expanding and growing our presence in Abu Dhabi by taking the total number of stores to nine by the end of 2021, with the aim of bringing the groups unique shopping experience to our consumer base in the emirate.

BFL Group offers competitive prices that suits the budget of all its customers while offering a range of products to choose from.

Users can get latest updates about the store from the social media accounts of Brands For Less and Muy Mucho UAE and shop online at www.brandsforless.com.-- TradeArabia News Service
Researchers exposed 20 bonnetheads to magnetic conditions that simulated locations hundreds of kilometers (miles) away from where they were caught off Florida. The scientists found that the sharks began to swim north when the magnetic cues made them think they were south of where they should be.

That finding is compelling, said Robert Hueter, senior scientist emeritus at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, who was not involved in the study.

Hueter said further study is needed to find how the sharks use the magnetic fields to determine their location and whether larger, long-distance migrating sharks use a similar system to find their way.

The question has always been: Even if sharks are sensitive to magnetic orientation, do they use this sense to navigate in the oceans, and how? These authors have made some progress at chipping away at this question, he said.

Keller said the study could help inform management of shark species, which are in decline. A study this year found that worldwide abundance of oceanic sharks and rays dropped more than 70% between 1970 and 2018.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services soon will begin relaxing standards put in place at the start of the pandemic for visitors and volunteers and allowing more activities at the state's prisons.

This is a huge step forward and one that is sure to be welcomed by staff members as well as inmates, said Prisons Director Scott Frakes. We have been operating under limits for almost a year and a half. But now, we are in a good place to make this turn and re-initiate some of things we were doing pre-COVID.

Starting Friday, the prison also will increase the number of visitors allowed at any given time to three. Children of any age are also permitted.

Frakes said visitors still will need to preregister on the prison's website for a day and time slot, and there still will be restrictions in place to maintain social distancing and limit physical contact and the sharing of food or drinks.
Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces resumed on May 16 in the restive southern province of Helmand, bringing an end to a three-day cease-fire that had been called during the Islamic religious festival of Eid al-Fitr.

The violence came despite a claim by Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen that Taliban and Afghan government negotiators met briefly a day earlier in Qatar and had renewed their commitment to try to find a peaceful end to the war.

Clashes that broke out on May 16 were on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province. That area has seen intense fighting since the United States and NATO began to withdraw their remaining troops from Afghanistan at the beginning of May.

"The fighting started early today and is still ongoing," Attaullah Afghan, head of the Helmand provincial council, told AFP.

Afghan authorities claimed Taliban militants had launched the attacks on security checkpoints on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah and other districts. An Afghan Army spokesman confirmed fighting had resumed.

But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that Afghan government forces "started the operation."

"Do not put the blame on us," Mujahid said.

The three-day cease-fire had been marred by several attacks, including a bombing in a mosque in Kabul on May 14 that killed 11 worshippers and the cleric leading prayers.

Islamic State (IS) extremists claimed responsibility for the mosque attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors websites of jihadist groups.

IS also claimed it blew up several electrical grid stations, leaving Kabul in darkness for much of the three-day holiday that follows the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Despite international mediation, an intra-Afghan peace initiative has stalled since talks began in Qatar last September between Afghanistan's Western-backed government and the Taliban.

With reporting by AFP and AP
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he has asked Israel for any evidence of Hamas operating in a Gaza building housing news bureaus that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike over the weekend
Soldiers who perished on secret mission are memorialized

Families whove fought for recognition for soldiers who died while traveling to Vietnam for a secret mission have something to celebrate
Senate Bill 73 would redefine child sexual abuse and other offenses against adults and children as sexual misconduct, and then remove the time limit on civil legal action. Under Senate Bill 88, survivors can bring claims against individuals as well as organizations that operate youth programs, including public entities. They may do so if the organization knew or should have known about a risk of abuse to minors and did not address the risk or warn participants.

Bills to watch

Mental Health Bills To Watch

 SB21-137 Behavioral Health Recovery Act

Extends, modifies and increases funding for behavioral health programs.

Cost: $33.9 million the first year and $12.3 million in out years from the General Fund, Marijuana Tax Cash Fund and federal money.

Sponsors: Sen. Brittany Pettersen; Reps. Michaelson Jenet and Chris Kennedy

 HB21-1097 Establish Behavioral Health Administration

Creates the state Behavioral Health Administration, based on the recommendations of a 2019 task force.

Cost: Reallocation of existing funds

Sponsors: Reps. Mary Young and Rod Pelton; Sen. Rhonda Fields

 HB21-1068 Insurance Coverage Mental Health Wellness Exam

Requires insurance coverage for an annual mental health wellness examination of up to 60 minutes.

Cost: $17,830

Sponsors: Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Brianna Titone; Sen. Dominick Moreno

 SB21-154 988 Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network:

Enacts federal legislation establishing the 9-8-8 crisis response line and creates sustainable funding.

Cost: A surcharge to be set by the Public Utilities Commission

Sponsors: Sens. Chris Kulker and Cleave Simpson; Reps. Lisa Cutter and Matt Soper

 HB21-1021 Peer Support Professionals Behavioral Health

Broadens peer support services billing under Medicaid, clarifies that peer support services ro include telehealth and other advances.

Cost: $109,294 paid for by fees on support service providers

Sponsors: Reps. Rod Pelton and Yadira Caraveo

 HB21-1030 Expanding Peace Officers Mental Health Grant Program

Allows additional public safety agencies to apply to the renamed Peace Officers Mental Health Support and Community Partnerships Grant Program.

Cost: existing resources

Sponsors: Reps. Julie McCluskie and Hugh McKean, Sens. Janet Buckner and John Cooke

 HB21-1119 Expanding the Crisis and Suicide Prevention Training Grant Program

Updates the role of the Suicide Prevention Commission and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to include prevention, intervention and postvention.

Cost: existing resources

Sponsors: Reps. Janice Rich and Lindsey Dougherty, Sens. Kerry Donovan and Don Coram

 HB21-1228 Domestic Violence Training Court Personnel

Requires additional training in domestic violence and child abuse for respective court personnel.

Cost: not specified

Sponsors: Rep. Meg Froelich, Sen. Jim Smallwood

 HB21-1085 Secure Transportation Behavioral Health Crisis

Provides secure transportation for those in behavioral health crisis.

Cost: $529,764 in gifts, grants and donations.

Sponsors: Reps. Julie McCluskie and Colin Larsen; Sens. Jeff Bridges and Jim Smallwood

 HB21-1166 Behavioral Health Crisis Response Training

Trains behavioral health crisis responders to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Cost: $103,020

Sponsors: Reps. Mary Young and Perry Will; Sen. Joann Ginal

 HB21-1130 Expand the Transition Specialist Program

Redefines high risk to allow more patients to access recovery services.

Cost: Existing resources

Sponsors: Reps. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Mary Bradfield; Sens. Chris Kolker and Bob Gardner

 HB21-1146 Auricular Acudetox Professional Practice

Repeals the requirement in the Mental Health Practice Act that a licensed mental health professional practice auricular acudetox, a form of acupuncture.

Cost: None

Sponsors: Reps. Andres Pico and Donald Valdez; Sens. Rachel Zenzinger and Rob Woodword

 HB21-1258: Mental Health Sessions for Youth

Creates a program to reimburse providers for up to three mental health sessions with a young person.

Cost: n/a

Sponsors: Reps. Dafna Michaelson Jenet and Kevin Van Winkle; Sens. Janet Buckner and Rob Woodward
The virtual Germany Travel Mart (GTM) 2021, organised by the German National Tourist Board (GNTB), has come to a very positive conclusion following a meeting between trade professionals from around the globe.

More than 250 German participants from sectors including hotel, transport, leisure, incoming services and regional tourism organisations joined around 500 buyers from international travel companies and online travel companies from April 27 - 29 to negotiate offers for the coming year.

According to an on-site survey of suppliers and buyers during the event, 84 per cent were satisfied / very satisfied with the course of GTM, with 86 per cent of the respondents stating that GTM was a good / very good platform for business deals.

Petra Hedorfer, Chairwoman of GNTB, said: As a digital platform, GTM is the central sales event for German incoming tourism with 79 per cent of the participants having already attended GTM as suppliers or buyers in the past."

A preliminary survey on GTM 2021 confirmed excellent brand awareness for Germany as a travel destination among international key accounts and corresponded with high expectations - these have been fully met. 96 per cent of those surveyed were able to make new business contacts at GTM, 90 per cent want to take part in the GTM again in the coming year. With this track record, we are effectively supporting the restart for Germany's incoming tourism.

The information program offered panel discussions and webinars with market insights from important source markets for Germany, the latest trends on the international market, developments in the German tourism industry, Germanys proposition as a travel destination, and the current GNTB marketing campaigns. Around 6,500 online appointments were arranged using the GNTB's GTM Networking Tool.

Tobias Woitendorf, Managing Director of the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Tourist Board (TMV), the partner region of GTM 2021, said: GTM was a very good opportunity for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to intensify the direct exchange with international buyers who showed great interest in new tourism projects as well as sustainability and health holidays. The interest in travel is still unbroken, hopefully there will soon be an opening perspective. "

In 2022, the GTM will take place from May 2 to 4 in the run-up to the Passion Play in the municipality of Oberammergau. - TradeArabia News Service
As the pandemic wore on, Rachel Suter worried about everyones mental health. She had endured the suicides of three neighbors years ago, and h
The old Summit House on the top of Pikes Peak.
The Maldives has emerged as one of the safe havens for travellers in the Covid-19 era following several proactive measures taken by the Government of Maldives to contain the spread of the virus.

Being a tourism driven country, the Maldives was undoubtedly the hardest hit South Asian nation by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Shiuna Khalid, Managing Director, International Maldives Travel Market (IMTM).

As the world, and Maldives, experienced unprecedented and monumental changes as a result of the on-going global pandemic, trade events like IMTM aimed to help Reconnect, Revive and Grow the tourism industry in the island nation, by hosting its very first, virtual travel and trade fair.

Speaking to TTN, Shiuna Khalid discusses learnings from the pandemic and what steps have been taken to make Maldives a top of the mind destination to target markets and promote the destination as a safe haven to travellers.

Excerpts from the interview:

Covid-19 brought on a new set of challenges for the events sector. What have been the learnings from the 2020 event and what are the plans for the next one?

The Maldives is undoubtedly the hardest hit South Asian nation by the Covid-19 pandemic and this is not surprising as 21.5 per cent of the countrys GDP flows from tourism. The sudden halt of international tourism brought an unprecedented economic shock, severely weakening the fiscal and external position, threatening the economic and developmental gains in the Maldives, increasing food insecurity due to disruptions in the supply chain. Social and livelihood costs to people are immense: childrens education is being severely affected, and people have lost incomes and require urgent protection.

As we are part of one of the worst affected industries in the pandemic, we started the year with unconceivable challenges, especially Covid-19 regulations restricting all aspects of our physical event. In order to survive, we had to act fast and adjust to the new normal in order to sustain our business. Thus, we relied on technology to offer the opportunity to conduct business virtually, equipping stakeholders with a tool to Reconnect, Revive, and Grow the business. The virtual exhibition was a part of IMTMs broader plan to gradually reopen the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector to new markets.

The company tackled its challenges through adaptation and innovation. With the launch of IMTMAir, an in-house virtual meeting platform, IMTM 2020 was conducted successfully, contributing to the governments effort to recover the tourism sector and the economy of the Maldives. We have listened to all, and based on the feedback, we are working to improve the online experience of the platform for our community. We are proud to bring forth a platform locally developed by our own in-house team. This took a lot of coordination and immense effort by the team, to bring a first-of-its-kind travel and trade platform designed and created by local minds.

With the event industry transitioning into the new norm of virtual fairs, attending several events online became a battle filed. Therefore, we ensured that out IMTMair platform was easy to navigate throughout the event, providing a user-friendly experience to the participants.

IMTM Pvt. Ltd. has officially announced the Fourth Edition of International Maldives Travel Market (IMTM), to be held on September 21, 22, and 23 virtually on their online B2B platform IMTMAir. The platform will come with new features according to the user feedback and will aim to provide an enhanced user experience for the participates. If there is the possibility to have the event physically and if the authorities allow such events to take place, we do plan to hold a physical event of IMTM with precautionary measures in place. Some countries have resumed physical fair but the Health Protection Agency of the Maldives has not lifted the restriction to have large gatherings.

How has Maldives coped with the spread of Covid-19 and what measures have been taken to make the island a safe destination for travellers?

The government of Maldives alongside MMPRC and industry stakeholders took the decision to reopen its borders on July 15, 2020, to recover from the worst seen effects on the island nations economy. It was a risk that the country had to take financially to survive the pandemic. However, the Maldives implemented proper coronavirus protocols keeping the safety and health of its residents and tourists at top priority. The Maldives took the advantage of the closed borders of other popular Asia pacific island gateways and welcomed tourists from around the world with few restrictions entering the country. The unique geographical features of the Maldives, with many hotels and resorts providing health benefit of isolation by the one island, one resort concept was the biggest advantage, making it the perfect holiday destination while much needed social distancing.

The Maldives continues to promote the destination as a safe haven to the tourists and has achieved many milestones along the way in the recovery of its tourism. The country is experiencing a huge increase in tourist arrival from around the world and the March of 2021 has been a record-breaking month for the country, as it has welcomed 100,000 tourists in a single month for the first time.

Last year, Allied Insurance company in association with the Ministry of Tourism has launched a Covid-19 insurance policy focusing on tourists who visit the Maldives. The covid-19 Insurance policy namely Allied Inbound consists of two options that cover medical charges, isolation facility charges, emergency medical transportation charges and interment charges which may follow a positive diagnosis for Covid-19 of a tourist during their stay in the Maldives.

The Maldives Immigration, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) initiated Maldives Border Miles, the worlds first nationwide loyalty program announced last year during the pandemic, opening tourist facilities and other tourism-related businesses the opportunity to become its partners.

Maldives Border Miles is a three-tiered loyalty program designed to attract tourists in order to promote and increase the popularity of the Maldives. Tourists who enroll in this program will earn points based on the number of visits, duration of stay, and visits on special occasions. Points will also be rewarded for the predefined services obtained from the partners of Maldives Border Miles and for the visits during the off-season (June 1 to August 31).

The Maldives plans to offer Covid-19 vaccines to tourists as an incentive to reopen travel. The tourism minister has stated on CNBC this April that a new Maldivian tourism campaign, dubbed 3V, for Visit, Vaccinate, Vacation, aims to make shots available for vacationers who travel to the Maldives, once all-local residents have been offered a vaccine.

Effective April 20, travellers who have got their final dose of vaccination (vaccine approved by WHO) 14 days prior to the arrival do not need to submit a pre-arrival negative PCR test to enter the Maldives. But the travellers must submit authentic vaccine certification to the immigration via the online portal, IMUGA prior to travel.

What are the buyers from the Middle East looking for in the Maldives?

The Middle Eastern markets are recovering with impressive results. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Tourism, UAE is showing an 86.8 per cent growth from last year in terms of tourist arrivals. We believe that there is an increase in short getaways as many resorts offer 3 nights packages specific for the Middle East market. Furthermore, as the market is very specific on their requirement for privacy, resorts offer villas covered with vegetation or wall. Most of the resorts also offer an in-villa pool to provide the ultimate privacy for the guests.

What are the latest hotel openings?

As of April 15, the Maldives has 159 tourist resorts, 159 liveaboards, 711 hotels, and local guesthouses are operating to service tourists arriving in the island nation. All major international and local luxury brands and budget hotels are in service, facilitating holidays to different kinds of travelers to the Maldives. Furthermore, 29 internatioal airlines are now currently connecting Maldives to the world.

What do you hope to achieve at IMTM 2021?

We hope this year even many travel agents and tour operators from the Middle East participate in International Maldives Travel Market (IMTM) 2021, our B2B international travel and trade fair held in the Maldives, which brings forth a platform for leading international tour operators and travel agencies to explore opportunities in the Maldives; as well as connect with all of the accommodation

providers of the Maldives Tourism Industry, including resorts, hotels, liveaboard, and guesthouses (local island tourism).

We are very proud of the accomplishment we have achieved this so far despite the pandemic. Some of the highlights include the privilege of being supported by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and endorsement by the Ministry of Tourism and Maldives Marketing and Public Relation Corporation. Furthermore, we were able to host a very successful webinar on Rural Tourism Development, in which experts from Maldives, Malaysia, China, and Bhutan, presented about their rural tourism approaches and practices. - TradeArabia News Service
Scott was a wild, free, and independent spirit from the time he could walk. He loved to run and explore, often getting into trouble or finding his way into mischievous situations. He always had a sense of wonder and curiosity, and he carried that passion with him through adulthood. His biggest passion was most certainly his passion to help others. He made it his personal mission to brighten your day if you were feeling down, and he never failed to put a smile on your face, even if you didn't know him. He was quick witted, loved puns, League of Legends, Star Wars, strawberry lemonade, crocodiles, politics, and volunteering. He was always striving to make the world a better place, and was compassionate towards all creatures, big and small. Scott was also an old soul, and many believed him to be wise beyond his years.
Writing to Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria said its important to focus on the broad context of worthiness for the reception of holy Communion on the part of all the faithful, not just politicians. The Jesuits leaked letter has been discussed in America magazine, The Pillar, National Catholic Register and elsewhere.

The bottom line, said Ladaria, is that any effective policy in this area requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic pro-choice politicians within their jurisdictions.

Thus, a key figure in this drama will be the new leader of Bidens home diocese in Delaware. In his introductory press conference, Bishop-elect William Koenig told reporters he prays for Biden every day and would certainly be open to having a conversation in the future. ... As a bishop, Im called to teach the fullness and the beauty of the Catholic faith.

As for Cordileone, he stressed that many Catholics fail to grasp how defending unborn life  a moral absolute  is linked to discussions of immigration, economic justice, the environment and other examples of what Pope Francis calls throw-away culture.

Rejecting these life-and-death truths, said Cordileone, will have eternal consequences.

When public figures identify themselves as Catholics and yet actively oppose one of the most fundamental doctrines of the Church ... we pastors have a responsibility both to them and to the rest of our people. Our responsibility to them is to call them to conversion and to warn them that if they do not amend their lives, they must answer before the tribunal of God.

Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A smoky wildfire churning through a Los Angeles canyon community gained strength Sunday as about a thousand residents remained under evacuation orders while others were warned they should get ready to leave, authorities said.

The cause of the fire near Topanga State Park has been deemed suspicious and is under investigation, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Arson investigators with the fire department and the Los Angeles Police Department identified one individual who was detained and released. Investigators then detained a second suspect and were questioning them Sunday evening, according to a statement from fire department spokesperson Margaret Stewart.

Cool, moist weather early in the day gave firefighters a break, but by afternoon flames starting moving again in steep terrain where tinder-dry vegetation hasn't burned in a half-century, the fire department said.

We're definitely seeing increased fire activity, said Stewart.

No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported in the wildfire that broke out late Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains. It smoldered for much of Saturday before erupting in the afternoon.
3. Why is Youngkin such a potentially difficult opponent for Democrats? You mean, other than he has no record and lots of money? Here are but two examples of what a dexterous candidate he will be. First, heres a Republican candidate who managed to get the nomination without filling out the obligatory National Rifle Association questionnaire  and thus did not earn the NRAs A-rating. That means he gets to have it both ways: He can go into rural Virginia and claim to be a diehard defender of the Second Amendment, but he can go into suburban Virginia and not look like a gun fetishist. This week provided another example. Through the nominating contest, Youngkin refused to say whether he thought Joe Biden was properly elected. But with the nomination now in hand, he promptly declared of course and circulated that declaration. McAuliffe, for better or worse, is a known quantity for Virginians. Youngkin, for the time being at least, gets to be whoever he wants to be. Were not saying such chameleon-like qualities are necessarily a good thing, but they are politically useful, especially for a Republican trying to win a state that lately has voted consistently Democratic.
HIGH POINT  A new craft beer brewery two years in the making is ready to open in downtown.

Paddled South Brewing has announced it will open May 27 at 602 N. Main St.

Weve been working on it just about two years now, said Patrick Watterson, who co-owns the brewery with Dave Nissen. Of course, the challenge was getting things going and then COVID hit and kind of shut down everything. But timing-wise, its probably worked out better.

The brewery is leasing a 1,600-square-foot space next to Atlantic Realty and Property Management.

The space is in a very unique building. The building is from 1935 and weve got 14-foot ceilings with it, so its a very open concept, Watterson said.

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The interior includes a mural thats 50 feet long and there are two large glass garage doors in the front and rear of the building.

The inside includes a taproom with space for 49 people, and there is also outdoor space for seating.

The brewery plans on having nine or 10 beers on tap, all of which will be the owners recipes. Nissen is the head brewer.
Walker primarily works in digital art and traditional acrylic paints, but she is always willing to try new mediums.

As an artist, I am very happy that I had the opportunity to do this project, as it is a way to let others know who I am and what I do and provide something positive to help the community, she said. If a child sees my art, and it helps them grow, then Im happy to be a part of that.

Discussion and planning for the project started a couple years ago. During a community stakeholders meeting focused on literacy and improving third-grade reading scores, a community member and RCPCs previous director, Heather Adams, discussed the idea of a literacy trail. The idea was presented to the Eden Strategic Planning Committee, which presented it to the Eden City Council, which supported it as well.

Terry Vernon, interim director of Parks and Recreation/Facility Maintenance for the City of Eden, hopes the Childrens Interactive Trail attracts more children and families to the greenway to enjoy nature while getting healthier through walking and exercise.
Wendy said going to college at the same time has been a journey for all of us.

Weve always been a village, but during this pandemic, its been crazy, she said. Ive worked full-time, got Kameron through school and did my schoolwork. Plus, I had surgery. When I was crying and tearing my hair out, I called my sister. My family was always available to me.

Maxine said that their family is all we have.

Even in the midst of isolation, we were present and were in constant contact, she said. If one of us wins, we all win. You hold tight and support one another.

Wendy said that their parents are extremely proud of all of them.

To celebrate, the family is having a cookout at Ballou Park after graduation with their family and a few friends.

After that, Kam will begin a masters program at Northcentral University in educational psychology.

As a mother, I am extremely proud of her, Wendy said. As a single mother, I was able to beat the odds. Im not supposed to be here.

Kameron, who said she doesnt take anything for granted, said, These ladies are my greatest inspiration.
GREENSBORO  Cone Health began vaccinating ages 12-15 on Friday at clinics across the Triad after the Pfizer vaccine on Monday received FDA approval for use in the younger age group.

We strongly encourage 12- to 15-year-olds to be vaccinated, not only for their own health, but also for the lifesaving impact vaccination can have on those around them who are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, says Dr. Michael Cinoman, executive medical director of pediatric services at Cone Health.

Thorough clinical trials have shown the Pfizer vaccine is safe and effective for this age group, Cinoman said in a news release.

Pediatric clinicians will be at sites where Cone Health offers vaccination for those ages 12 to 15.

Following state law and guidance, Cone Health will not require parental or guardian consent for vaccination of those 12 to 15 years old at its vaccine clinics, although Cone encourages parents or guardians to accompany their kids, the release said.

Cone Health will honor school system policies requiring parental/guardian consent for vaccination of school students at high school sites.
REIDSVILLE  Students at the UNCG Moss Street Partnership School here will soon take their lessons on the trail.

Indeed, starting May 28, the youngsters will experience a new on-campus educational trail to help them explore the outdoors and learn about natural science all at once.

Several community partners, including the Rockingham County Education Foundation, will celebrate the opening of the new and interactive learning trail with a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 28, the RCEF announced in a news release.

Festivities begin at 10 a.m. at the school at 419 Moss Street.

The project was funded by a $15,000 North Carolina Schools Go Outside Grant awarded to the Rockingham County Education Foundation in October.

Additional funding for the trail and other support came from the North Carolina Outdoor Heritage Advisory Council, UNCG, the City of Reidsville, Dan River Basin Association, and the Rockingham County Schools.

It will feature several educational assets teachers may use for instruction, as well as for promoting physical activity.
Members of Congress and the administration have work to do as well. Reshaping education and skills training is just the beginning. Leaders can also expand export opportunities, maintain access to reliable sources of American energy, fix our broken immigration system and finally offer a secure future to Dreamers, many of whom contributed above and beyond on the health care front lines and in manufacturing operations during the pandemic. Well also need tax incentives for research and development, too, to replicate the kind of success story that we saw with vaccine development. Imagine what is possible  and what jobs we will create  if we do more to facilitate advancement across all economic sectors.
Debbies Restaurant and Catering in Stoneville is a full-service catering business with a restaurant on the side.

Last March, Debbies started getting cancellationd left and right, says Amy Sparks-Martin, who owns the business with her father, Dennis Sparks.

In two days, I had over $30,000 in cancellations, and it just snowballed as standing events like the annual Harris-Teeter picnic were cancelled, she said.

Accustomed to providing catering for a couple thousand events each year, Sparks-Martin knew she had to use her creativity to ensure the survival of her business.

She created a drive-up setup at the restaurant to offer low-cost pandemic meals to the community, and they were so successful that many customers have begged her to continue the service even after the pandemic is over.

Curbside deliverance

Drive-thru, curbside and delivery options were a lifesaver for many businesses.

Ryan and Ashley Talley, who bought PGs Home Style Chicken and Biscuits in PGs Home Style Chicken and Biscuits during the pandemic, say theyre thankful the restaurants drive-thru has made it possible for PGs to remain open during the pandemic.
Dealing with the old 113-year-old courthouse and with new buildings going up, he had to learn to deal with old and new structures and to be diversified in the way you had to keep them together.

Modestly, Farris credits his father, Bill, a diesel mechanic with Sam W. Smith Inc. with influencing him in his career.

He could fix things. He had a very mechanical mind and was a very good mechanic, said Farris, who admitted he was never a mechanic, but sort of shifted to the upkeeping of buildings.

Predominant among the county buildings he oversaw were the Rockingham County Judicial Center (new courthouse), 911 Operations, Madison/Mayodan Public Library and the Western EMS Base.

Most of his career, Farris was building and grounds supervisor for the engineering and public utilities department, successfully involved in the maintenance of 85% of county-owned buildings.

Once they were set up, I had to make sure the lights, heat, and plumbing were working and everyone did their jobs.

When not tending to county buildings, Farris enjoys playing music. He became interested in playing guitar when he was 13 but also plays bass and the mandolin.
Dalton was not so sure hed be able to open his shop during the pandemic. He said getting supplies was tough.

We fought it through and made it happen, he said.

Cassell said he had a hard time getting copiers for his shop. Other than that, he said, he had few problems opening.

I imagine the real challenge was the same as any other business, and that was getting the word out, he said.

Cockram said Rockingham County offered aid to small businesses early in the pandemic.

We knew those were the businesses that werent going to get the PPP money when it first came out, she said.

Cockram said of the 84 businesses that got grants from the county, only two have since closed.

Cockram said there was a bit of a silver lining in the pandemic: More people shopped locally.

Not being able to travel as freely as they have in past made them more aware of what is right next door, she said.

Cockram said Eden saw more new life with The Hive, also a wine bar, which opened downtown last year. And Edens historic Central Hotel was renovated and is getting new life as apartments.
CHARLOTTE  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte will no longer require social distancing and face coverings at services, according to a letter to parishes on Friday from the Rev. Msgr. Patrick Winslow, diocesan vicar general and chancellor.

The decision followed new guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which no longer recommends social distancing or face coverings for those who are fully vaccinated, Winslow wrote.

The diocese covers western North Carolina, including the Triad.

Winslow also noted Gov. Roy Coopers executive order on Friday that lifts mask and social distancing requirements in most circumstances.

Masks are still required on public transit, as well as at child care centers, schools, prisons and public health settings, Cooper said.

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Local governments can enact tougher health protocols, Cooper said. But in Mecklenburg County, health officials have closely followed the governors lead and CDC guidance.

In Greensboro, Mayor Nancy Vaughan on Friday followed the states lead and lifted the local mask mandate with the same exceptions as the state. The city will also continue to require everyone to wear masks and face coverings inside all city-owned facilities.
RALEIGH  Gov. Roy Cooper said Friday that its now safe for people to move around in public without wearing a mask, but at the flea market at the State Fairgrounds on Saturday morning it was clear not everyone is ready for that.

While many people moved about The Raleigh Market without face coverings, others continued to wear masks, even outside. Pat Parker of Raleigh pulled hers on as she got out of the car to do a little shopping.

Im going to keep my mask on, Parker said. Im middle age, and I want to make sure I keep healthy.

The governor issued his first executive order requiring face coverings last June. Masks had to be worn in public places where physical distancing was not possible to prevent the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, which at that time had killed more than 1,250 people in the state.

On Friday, Cooper lifted mask and social distancing requirements in most settings, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said people who are fully vaccinated could resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing. Cooper said indoor mask requirements will remain in effect on public transportation and in child care centers, schools, camps, prisons and certain health care settings, such as nursing homes.
RALEIGH  UNC Health wants to build a 40-bed hospital in Research Triangle Park, but first it must persuade state regulators to approve the project over a competing proposal from Duke University Health System.

UNC and Duke are each proposing to provide additional acute care beds and operating rooms in Durham County. The state Department of Health and Human Services has determined the county is running a deficit of 40 hospital beds and four operating rooms.

UNC proposes to fill that need with a new $252 million hospital near where N.C. 54 crosses N.C. 147 in RTP. The hospital would have two operating rooms, a full emergency department, a range of imaging services and an obstetrical unit for delivering babies that includes two dedicated C-section operating rooms.

The hospital would be the only one in the fast-growing heart of the Triangle, about halfway between UNCs hospitals in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, said UNC spokesman Alan Wolf.

Theres just so much demand coming as the population booms, Wolf said. UNC wants to be in the right place to provide care.
But as part of the effort to have the cemetery nominated to the National Register, ground-penetrating radar was used to locate unmarked graves in 2016. New South Associates, the firm that did the survey, concluded that only 152 of the about 403 graves had markers and that people were buried in dense clusters throughout.

Rudolph Loftin Sr. inherited a copy of the 1938 map when he became the cemeterys volunteer caretaker in 1967, when graves were dug by hand and the cemetery was still surrounded by woods and thickets. As families acquired plots, Loftin, now 94, wrote their names on the map that he passed on to the new caretaker, Albert Crenshaw, a few years ago.

Burials are rare these days, maybe one every few years. The newest headstones tend to be around the edges of the roughly 1-acre square cemetery. Some of the older stones have been toppled over the years and some are too worn to read anymore.

Loftin says his wife, three of his sons and a lot of friends are buried in Oak Grove, and someday he and his surviving son will be, too. He said he knows of an old cemetery on nearby Blue Ridge Road that was moved to make way for a bank, which is why he helped get Oak Grove designated a historic site.
Its part of a long history in the United States of laws and societal norms that stamp Blackness  and associated physical traits like dark skin, kinky or curly hair, etc.  with a blemish of inferiority, which arms people with an unwarranted justification to treat people differently and disrespectfully.

Many of us may remember the awful story of Andrew Johnson, a 16-year-old Black wrestler on a high school team in New Jersey who was summoned before a match by the referee, who was white. In order to participate in the match, the referee insisted that Andrew cut his beautiful locs. Andrew felt as if he had no choice, and his eyes filled with tears as his locs were hacked off then and there, right on the mat.

Last week, a similar event occurred in North Carolina, as a Durham girls softball player was forced by an umpire to cut her hair because she wore braids with beads in them.

It was humiliating, Nicole Pyles of Hillside High School, told The (Raleigh) News & Observer last week. Why do I have to take away from myself just to play this game where we are actually doing well? Im embarrassed because you pick on me in front of all these people for no reason.

Like many, I cringed to see these young people singled out, marginalized and harmed because of their hairstyles.
In North Carolina, that translated into almost $100 million of debt settled in 2019 alone, resulting in savings that consumers used to buy groceries, pay rent and keep their families together. These are savings  and local spending  that would be lost if HB 76 were to become law.

For many people, debt settlement is the most consumer-friendly option available. Debt settlement is a federally regulated industry. In fact, under federal law, clients pay no fees until they have received and accepted a settlement offer and have made a payment toward that settlement. Clients are free to reject any settlement offer or to quit a debt settlement program at any time without any cost or penalty.

The industry offered the supporters of HB 76 a compromise that would add a layer of state regulation to the federal regime, empowering the state to license and oversee the industry in North Carolina. But the bills backers refused to negotiate and are instead pushing harmful legislation that would leave tens of thousands of North Carolinians with few, if any, alternatives.
He and Speaker Moore said it was just coincidence that they had both quashed bills targeting transgender individuals. Yet they didnt kill them quietly. They went out of their way to do it publicly.

Berger maintained, It had nothing to do with Apple.

Whatever the reason, give Berger and Moore credit. They did the right thing.

Give Cooper credit. He could have hogged the stage. Instead, he shared it.

Give them all credit for working together and crafting an incentives package that brought in Apple. It amounts to $845.8 million over 39 years.

Three years ago, it looked as if North Carolina had missed its bite at Apple. But the Cooper administration kept talking to the company. The administration and the legislature worked together to write the incentive package into law.

Staffers for both, usually sworn enemies, traded compliments at the end.

With Apple, we saw a picture you dont see in other Southern states these days: The governor and legislative leaders, Democrats and Republicans, Blacks and whites  including Machelle Sanders, a former life-sciences executive who is the first Black commerce secretary  standing together.
Francis led a Mass for Myanmar Catholics living in Rome. Their country is marked by violence, conflict, [and] repression". The pontiff wishes to lay upon the Lords altar the sufferings of his people and to join you in praying that God will convert all hearts to peace.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis led a special Mass today for Myanmar Catholics living in Rome at the Altar of the Chair in St Peters Basilica.

During the service, the pontiff was inspired by Jesus' prayer asking the Father to protect the disciples. In light of the tragedy that Myanmar is experiencing, keeping faith comes first. Believers must not lower their head before evil, allowing themselves to be crushed by pain or fall back into the bitterness of those who are defeated and disappointed; instead, they must look up to God to ask him to convert everyone's hearts to peace.

At a time when Myanmar is "experiencing violence, conflict and repression", Pope Francis urges the countrys Christians to keep the faith, remain united, guard the truth, and trust Jesus.

To keep the faith is to keep our gaze lifted up to heaven, as here on earth, battles are fought and innocent blood is shed. To keep the faith is to refuse to yield to the logic of hatred and vengeance, but to keep our gaze fixed on the God of love, who calls us to be brothers and sisters to one another.

Prayer leads us to trust in God even in times of difficulty. It helps us to hope when things seem hopeless and it sustains us in our everyday struggles. Prayer is not a retreat, an escape, in the face of problems. Instead, it is the only weapon at our disposal for keeping love and hope alive amid the weapons of death.

Secondly, Francis asked them keep unity. Jesus asks the Father to preserve the unity of his disciples, so that they may be completely one (Jn 17:21), one family in which love and fraternity reign.

Division a deadly disease [. . .]. We experience it in our hearts, because we are divided within; we experience it in families and communities, among peoples, even in the Church. Sins against unity abound: envy, jealousy, the pursuit of personal interests rather than the common good, the tendency to judge others.

Those little conflicts of ours find a reflection in great conflicts, like the one your country is experiencing in these days. Once partisan interests and the thirst for profit and power take over, conflicts and divisions inevitably break out. [. . .] For division is of the devil, the great divider.

We are called to keep unity, to take seriously this heartfelt plea of Jesus to the Father: to be completely one, to be a family, to find the courage live in friendship, love and fraternity. What great need we have, especially today, for fraternity! I know that some political and social situations are bigger than we are.

Yet commitment to peace and fraternity always comes from below: each person, in little things, can play his or her part. Each of you can make an effort to be, in little things, a builder of fraternity, a sower of fraternity, someone who works to rebuild what is broken rather than fomenting violence. We are also called to do this as a Church; let us promote dialogue, respect for others, care for our brothers and sisters, communion!

To keep the truth means to be a prophet in every situation in life, in other words to be consecrated to the Gospel and bear witness to it even when that means going against the current. At times, we Christians want to compromise, but the Gospel asks us to be steadfast in the truth and for the truth, offering our lives for others.

Amid war, violence and hatred, fidelity to the Gospel and being peacemakers calls for commitment, also through social and political choices, even at the risk of our lives. Only in this way can things change. The Lord has no use for the lukewarm. He wants us to be consecrated in the truth and the beauty of the Gospel, so that we can testify to the joy of Gods kingdom even in the dark night of grief, even when evil seems to have the upper hand.

Finally, today I wish to lay upon the Lords altar the sufferings of his people and to join you in praying that God will convert all hearts to peace. Jesus prayer helps us keep the faith, even in times of difficulty, to be builders of unity and to risk our lives for the truth of the Gospel. Do not lose hope: even today, Jesus is interceding before the Father for all of us, praying that he keep us from the evil one and set us free from evils power.
Its parent idea, critical theory, was concocted by Marxist intellectuals of the mid-20th century in the aftermath of disillusionment with revolutionary socialism as actually practiced behind the Iron Curtain. Some scholars and activists began applying their new ideas to the judicial system, yielding critical legal studies. Others concluded that prior Marxist analysis had focused too much on class at the expense of other structures of oppression, devising critical race theory (and even more narrow and esoteric applications) not only as an approach to radical scholarship but also as a guide to radical political action.

What does all this have to do with the public-policy conversation in North Carolina? Plenty  unfortunately.

Do you believe in diversity, equity and inclusion? So do I, at least when the terms are properly defined. Surrounding yourself with people of differing views and backgrounds is often good for you. It can make organizations and teams stronger. I also think people ought to be treated fairly, that they shouldnt be discriminated against based on race, ethnicity or other characteristics that have nothing to do with performing a job well. And I think its best to include, not exclude. Dont you agree?
Kims Marina and RV Resort, a mainstay at Canyon Ferry Lake, has been sold to a man with deep Montana ties who says he plans to keep some traditions but add a few touches of his own.

Lukas Jewett said he has been owner of the lakeside business since late April and said he bought it in order to return to the Treasure State. He was born in Montana and grew up near Ennis, but had since moved to Denver, where he worked in telecommunications.

Its beautiful here and the people are great, Jewett, 51, said, adding that his parents live nearby.

Maryann Axtman, the previous owner along with husband, Greg, posted a note on Facebook on April 23, announcing a change in ownership. A sale price was not disclosed.

She said that after 22 years, Greg and I have decided to open the next chapter of our lives.

The couple thanked all of you from the bottom of our hearts for your support of our wonderful business. You all helped make this place what it has become and our memories will never be forgotten.

Maryann Axtman said they plan to stay at the lake we love and enjoy more time with our family and friends.

Hope to see you on the water.
The class of 2021 selected Jenny Tu as the student speaker for this year's commencement. Tu grew up in Taipei City, Taiwan before moving to Washington state in 2013. She entered Carrol in 2017 where she would go on to earn a degree in communications. She spent all four years with Carroll Student Activities and spent two years as co-president of the organization. She also served as a resident assistant and Gold Team Ambassador for admission.

Tu took the opportunity to inject humor and lightheartedness into hear commencement speech.

"I was not actually supposed to be speaking today, they wanted Jenny One, it fell through so you get me, Jenny Tu," she said. "But don't you worry, I am graduating with a communication degree, which means that this is the moment I have been preparing for all four years of my education. For this very moment, to communicate with you, although the one communication class I didn't take was professional communication, so please lower your expectations."

Tu recounted the decisions that led her to the stage that day. She thought back to the day she said "yes" to Carroll College. However, Tu said it was only meant to be temporary and she intended to transfer after a single semester.
DECATUR  The approximately 400 students who graduated from Decatur Public Schools on Saturday could not have imagined, when they were starting high school, what they would face during these four years.

Both ceremonies were held outdoors at the schools on their respective football fields, and though the day was cloudy and cool, the rain held off. The graduations were live-streamed on Facebook, because each graduate was only allowed three tickets in the interest of social distancing.

We're a little older, a little more experienced, and a lot more confused, said summa cum laude speaker Rebecca Allgeier at MacArthur High School's ceremony Saturday morning.

The most valuable lessons she learned, Allgeier said, didn't come from classes or textbooks, but from her classmates. Through the challenges of remote learning and uncertainty that surrounded them, they showed her what friendship and resilience are all about.

One of the biggest mistakes in high school is putting too high a priority on things that won't matter in hindsight, she said.

Principal Cordell Ingram's message was similar.

The pandemic attempted to strip this day from us, he said. It attempted to strangle our dreams, our destiny, our goals. But what someone forgot to tell this pandemic is that we are Generals, and we hold strong to the last D: determination. I recognize that this is a class of great fortitude and great courage.

He told the graduates he had three pieces of advice for them to always remember: Don't take life for granted; motivation has to come from within; and be the change you want to see.

Live life until the wheels fall off, he said.

Graduate Zxy Rice-Thomas said, before the ceremony, that there were plenty of times in the last year that she felt like throwing in the towel, but she was determined to make it to graduation day.

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Tamara Hill said she's ready to move on to the next chapter, which for her is pursuing a career in nursing, while Tyrese Barbee plans to go to work for a while before heading to college.

I'm ready to start my new life, explore new things, explore whatever God's got planned for me and for my life, Hill said.

Eisenhower Principal Amy Zahm-Duncheon also congratulated the students for showing perseverance during a challenging time.

"These events have made you stronger than you know," she said. "You may feel frustrated about what you've missed this year, but don't let those feelings linger. Embrace this moment and know you have conquered the challenges thrown at you."

Summa cum laude speaker Matthew Clayton joked that during freshman orientation, he was terrified of his classmates and just wanted to go home. Graduation seemed far away then, he said.

"This year's been really weird to say the least, not because of that other thing, but because we actually had to decide what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives," Clayton said. "This past year was a very good time to reflect on all we have done and who we could be."

Ella Smith, the class orator, described senior year as "a wreck for most of us." People often say the high school years are the best years of your life, she said, but she hopes they're wrong about that.

"This year, especially, has been, at times, overwhelmingly difficult, to say the least," Smith said.

The students have proved that humans are resilient, she said, and the Class of 2021 deserves a moment to bask in the fact that they pushed through.

"I am so beyond proud of each and every one of you," Smith said. "I know it has not been easy."

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Celebration Church, Shipley Ferry Road, Blountville, Tennessee, was the setting Friday evening for a dinner ceremony recognizing regional American veterans of the Korean War. Renowned Korean evangelist and humanitarian Dr. Billy Kim, the Korean government and other Korean friends of American veterans sponsored the event. Bristol businessman Bobby Griffin hosted the ceremony and was one of two Korean War veterans present. The other was 90-year-old Mack Fink of Haysi, Virginia. Following moving remarks by Griffin, patriotic solos by Bristolian Eddie Shelton, a prayer and blessing, a full-course dinner and the enjoyment of a cake decorated with the Korean and American flags, Griffin and Fink, along with family representatives of deceased regional veterans, were presented medals and certificates of appreciation from the government of Korea. Mr. Jim Moore of Kingsport shared the poignant story of his fathers death during the war a mere four weeks before Moore was born. The evening was concluded with a benediction by Father Joe Dunagan of Bristols Emmanuel Episcopal Church and the group singing of God Bless America led by Mr. Shelton. Attendees left with the affirmation that the people of Korea had not forgotten the sacrifices made for them by their American allies. If anyone who served or whose family members served in the Korean War would like to receive a medal, email bobby@bfgmats.com.
A: Mack the Knife was surely one of the most unlikely hits of the 1950s. The songs title character was based on the character MacHeath from English playwright John Gays 1728 play, The Beggars Opera. In 1928, The Beggars Opera was adapted by German writer Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill into The Threepenny Opera. Brecht and Weill found that Gays contrast between criminals and government officials (and the conclusion that they are the same) was perfect for post-World War I Germany. Marc Blitzstein translated the song to English. The song is also known as Theme from the Threepenny Opera. The main character of The Threepenny Opera is also called MacHeath, a.k.a. Mack the Knife. In the play, MacHeath, a criminal, marries the daughter of Jonathan Peachum. Displeased by the marriage, Peachum conspires to have MacHeath killed. After being imprisoned, escaping and being imprisoned again, MacHeath is ultimately pardoned and set free. Mack the Knife was made popular by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitgerald, but Bobby Darins 1959 recording was the most popular. Recorded in December 1958, the song was released in August 1959. It was No. 1 on the charts for nine weeks and won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1959.
BRISTOL, Tenn.  Daylight streamed through the many windows at the front of the Dorsey familys house on a Tuesday afternoon, illuminating what appeared to be a picture of serenity at least at first glance.

Landfill consultant: 'I wish we could just turn a switch and make this go away' Built on an old rock quarry and mired in $35 million worth of debt as well as actual trash, the Bristol, Virginia landfill has long been a sore spot for the city. Multiple city officials and consultants for the city have said they think the landfill isnt the only source of the air pollution.

In the living room of the Taylor Street home, located just below the Virginia-Tennessee state line, a white-footed cat named Mittens rolled back and forth on the carpet at the foot of the couch where Amanda and Jonathan Dorsey sat. The chatter of their two children, playing with a friend during a homeschooling break, drifted in from a side room.

The air filter sitting in one corner of the living room was white, ottoman-sized and easy to overlook. But Amanda Dorsey, 38, said she and her husband routinely check the devices air pollution measurements.

Jonathan Dorsey, 36, brought out another machine, a tiny computer he built to measure air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and volatile organic compounds, or VOCs: a class of organic chemicals found in a slew of artificial products and associated with air pollution. The couple usually has yet another air monitoring device standing sentry, but they loaned it to a friend who wanted to try it at her house, she said.

The VOC level goes up on bad nights, she said of the third device.

The Dorseys are one of many families in the Twin City that have, in recent months, experienced an overpowering stench  both outside and inside their homes. Like other residents, they report experiencing health problems when the odors are present: burning eyes and throats, headaches, tightness in the chest. The Dorseys default reaction is to head to a relatives house, Amanda Dorsey said.

Its just like, close the doors, get in the car as fast as possible, weve got to get out of here now, she said. Thats how bad it is.

Meanwhile, the couple has been laboring to figure out whats in the air that could be making them miserable, and not just through their own trio of air monitors.

In December 2020, the Bristol, Virginia landfill, which city officials say is responsible for at least some of the areas odor issues, began gathering and analyzing air samples at the facility and in surrounding neighborhoods.

So did the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

The Dorseys spent hours researching the VOCs detected in some of those samples. On Wednesday, two days after the city published a draft of a plan for handling future complaints about the pollution going forward, the couple said they were glad to see that the plan proposes more air testing at and around the landfill. But she said the initial samples contain enough evidence for her.

[They] mostly confirmed what we already knew, that there was something harmful in the air, she said. You know its unhealthy.  Its not good for you.

Why cant I stay awake?

The Dorseys still struggle to describe the intense, noxious odor that began permeating their house last November, but he said its something chemical-like ... really acrid, really pungent.

He said its easier to describe how their bodies respond to it. Jonathan Dorsey said he gets a burning sensation in his throat and chest. The couples 9-year-old, Ethan, and 6-year-old, Ava, complain of headaches.

Amanda Dorsey said that when the odors are around longer, she and her husband also get headaches and feel a tightness in their chests. And in December, during a particularly relentless stretch of experiencing the odors, she felt unusually lethargic.

After breathing it, when the smell was so strong inside the house, Im just wondering, What is wrong with me? Why cant I stay awake? she recalled. I felt ... my body was changing.

She went to her doctor, who said that she was anemic based on her bloodwork, and that her symptoms sounded premenopausal  but the doctor said she was too young for that.

Whos counting? Heres a rundown of the total odor complaints logged on Smell My City or sent to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality since the odor problems began late last year. Smell My City Between Jan. 16, when residents first began logging complaints on the app, and April 4, roughly a month after the completion of the first round of repairs to the Bristol, Virginia, landfill:  Total complaints: 832  Average daily complaints: 10.7 Between April 4 and May 12  Total complaints: 316  Average daily complaints: 8.5 Total complaints between Jan. 16 and May 12: 1,148 DEQ Total monthly complaints to DEQ about the odors:  December 2020: 13  January: 11  February: 20  March: 29  April: 22  May (as of the morning of May 12): 6  Total complaints between Dec. 1 and May 12: 101  Average monthly complaints, excluding May: 19

The air samples

Meanwhile, that same month, both city officials and DEQ staff began separately collecting and analyzing air samples at the landfill, as well as in some neighborhoods where the smells were occurring.

Ernie Hoch  who manages solid waste and environmental services for Draper Aden Associates and has been consulting for the city on the landfill  said that some of the citys samples tested for methane, oxygen, carbon monoxide, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. All are gases commonly produced by landfills, he said.

Hoch said that those air samples, taken over a few days in late December in various neighborhood spots that seemed to be problem areas, didnt yield any unusual levels of those gases.

His team did find a spot at the actual landfill leaking high levels of carbon monoxide and low levels of oxygen and methane  something Hoch said theyre now investigating, since it suggests some kind of chemical reaction could be occurring below the surface.

But once this [carbon monoxide] vents out in the air, it dissipates to a level thats harmless, Hoch said. This level would never have any effect on anybody more than 10 feet away from where the vent is. Its very isolated.

That stuff sits there, like a cloud

The more attention-worthy samples, at least so far, are the ones that tested for volatile organic compounds. VOCs are a family of chemicals found in a huge variety of household, office and industrial products  everything from aerosol sprays and permanent markers to pesticides and gasoline.

The health risks of those chemicals vary widely. But according to the Environmental Protection Agency, direct, short-term exposure to some of them, especially indoors, can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, headaches and nausea. Prolonged exposure to some can cause more serious health impacts such as cancer. And when theyre released outside and mix with other gases in the air, VOCs can also generate ozone, a pollutant known to cause health problems.

Those gases are all heavier than air. So what that means is, they cling to the ground, Dan Costa, an adjunct professor for the University of North Carolinas Department of Environment Sciences and Engineering and former national research program director for the EPAs Air, Climate and Energy Research Program, said of VOCs.

Particularly in times where theres not a lot of wind ... usually except during thunderstorms, that stuff sits there, like a cloud, Costa said.

In late December and early January, at the landfill and a handful of spots in surrounding neighborhoods, the city and DEQ began separately testing outdoor air for VOCs. The results from those months, as well as later samples taken by both groups, showed a hodgepodge of VOCs, some of which can cause both short- and long-term health impacts.

Really stressful

Amanda and Jonathan Dorsey said theyve essentially gone through a crash course in landfill gases in the past few months. After they started complaining to city officials about the odors, the couple also began doing their own research on air pollutants commonly associated with landfills, she said.

Once they obtained copies of some of the air sample reports showing VOCs, they turned their focus to those chemicals. The reports werent exactly light reading. Some of the substances in the samples are 20 or more letters long and difficult to even pronouncedibromochloromethane, trichlorofluoromethane, methyl-tert-butyl ether.

Jonathan Dorsey, an IT consultant, said he approached the material the way he approaches any other problem: break it down into manageable pieces. In this case, that meant researching each individual chemical, he said.

We started googling  what symptoms do they cause, what are the recommended limits for exposure, both short- and long-term, all that kind of stuff, he said. Theres a lot there and it took a long time to parse through it all. But thats essentially what we did. 

Its a lot of research, she said.

Amanda Dorsey added that the air samples, along with a February sample of liquid the couple also obtained from the landfill, left her feeling particularly concerned about a VOC called benzene. It was detected in all of the samples the Dorseys sifted through.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, benzene is a sweet-smelling chemical found in gas, crude oil and cigarette smoke, as well as a wide array of industrial materials and household products. Direct, short-term exposure to it can cause eye, nose and lung irritation. Long-term exposure  which the CDC defines as lasting a year or more  can cause a host of problems in the blood system, including leukemia, a cancer that occurs in blood-forming tissues.

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She said she noticed that benzene can also cause anemia, which she was diagnosed with in December, after experiencing other unusual symptoms and going to the doctor.

It [was] really overwhelming, she said of the research. Its very stressful.

The official response: No acute public health concern

Both the city and DEQ officials said that the levels of benzene and other VOCs that showed up in their outdoor air samples didnt set off any alarm bells for immediate action.

Hoch, for example, said that the benzene and other VOCs in the citys air tests were all detected at relatively low levels, and that the samples with the highest VOC levels were at the actual landfill.

So the rationale would be that if youre getting that [higher] reading at the edge of the landfill, a mile away, being diluted with all that air, your parts per million or billion  the concentration of VOC particles in the air  are going to be much less.

But Hoch also stressed that he and the others working on the landfill repairs are engineers, not health experts.

Whether its a health issue, that really is something that the health department or a health official would have to take a look at, at [that] persons home, Hoch said.

Crystal Bazyk, the enforcement and air compliance and monitoring manager for DEQs Southwest Regional Office, said she and her team discussed the agencys own tests for VOCs in the air with officials at the Virginia Department of Health and a national-level health agency.

As far as acute public health concern  that means [something that would require] immediate action  they havent seen anything yet, Bazyk said.

Two of DEQs Dec. 28 air samples did exceed a benzene threshold set by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, though. One sample, taken at a spot at the landfill near the Highlands Juvenile Detention Center, detected benzene present at 44.8 parts per billion; the other, taken at the intersection of Booher Road and Willow Oak Court, showed that chemical present at 21.8 parts per billion.

In a Jan. 12 email to Bazyk about the samples, Lora Siegmann Werner, a regional director for ATSDR, said the agencys minimal risk threshold for benzene is 9 parts per billion. That means that by ATSDRs standards, if someone is exposed to more than 9 parts per billion of benzene once or for up to two weeks, they face more than a minimal risk of health problems from the exposure.

But Werner sandwiched that information in caveats: Its tricky to measure substances in the air outside that could be directly responsible for odor problems, she said. She added that most of those odors arent at levels that are harmful, and that the symptoms they can cause generally go away when the odor is gone.

People can smell and react to certain chemicals in the air before they are at harmful toxic effect levels.  Werner added. Those odors can become a nuisance and bother people, causing temporary symptoms such as headache and nausea that can affect quality of life.

Not buying it

All of that should mean theres nothing to worry about, right?

Amanda Dorsey said shes not buying it  not just because of what she and her husband have learned about the health impacts of benzene and other VOCs, but because they physically cant bear to stay inside their house when the smells are present, she said.

They run their tests, and according to their tests, this isnt unhealthy, she said. But they cant take the peoples word, saying, you know, were having these symptoms  thats been completely ignored.

Wilma Subra isnt buying it, either.

Subra, a Louisiana-based chemist, is president of Subra Co., a chemistry lab and environmental consulting firm, as well as a technical adviser to the Louisiana Environmental Action Network. Shes spent decades helping people in Louisiana and across the country make sense of and combat toxic chemicals in their communities, work that won her a MacArthur Foundation genius grant in 1999.

Health impacts associated with VOCs Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are a class of chemicals found in a huge variety of household, office and industrial products  everything from aerosol sprays and permanent markers to pesticides and gasoline. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, direct exposure to some VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, cause headaches, and even, in some cases, cancer. Outside, these chemicals can also mix with gases in the air to produce smog, or ground-level ozone. Here are a few of the VOCs detected at the Bristol, Virginia, landfill, and in spots in surrounding neighborhoods where foul odors have been reported, along with their health impacts. Benzene Acute health impacts:  Irritates the skin, eyes nose, throat  Causes coughing, wheezing, headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting Chronic health impacts:  A carcinogen in humans, causes leukemia  Limited evidence it is a teratogen in animals; should be treated as a possible teratogen in humans. (From the National Center for Biotechnology Information: A teratogen is any agent that causes an abnormality following fetal exposure during pregnancy. Teratogens are usually discovered after an increased prevalence of a particular birth defect.) Toluene Acute health impacts:  Irritates skin, eyes, nose, throat  Causes coughing, wheezing, headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, affects the nervous system causing trouble concentrating, slowed reflexes Chronic health impacts:  May be a teratogen in humans since it is a teratogen in animals.  May damage the developing fetus Ethylbenzene Acute health impacts:  Irritates skin, eyes, nose, throat  Causes headache, dizziness, lightheadedness, loss of coordination, passing out Chronic health impacts:  May be a carcinogen in humans since it has been shown to cause cancer of the kidneys, testes, lung and liver in animals  Limited evidence it is a teratogen in animals, it should be treated as a possible teratogen in humans  Limited evidence it may damage the developing fetus and may affect male and female fertility Xylene Acute health impacts:  Irritates skin, eyes, nose, throat  Causes coughing, wheezing, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, lightheadedness, passing out Chronic health impacts:  May damage the developing fetus  May damage the liver and kidneys Source: Wilma Subra, president of Subra Co. and technical adviser to the Louisiana Action Network

At the Bristol Herald Couriers request, Subra reviewed the December and January air samples run by DEQ and the city. (Samples taken later, in March and April, werent available yet at that time.) She said the results were very concerning.

The 25 VOCs detected in those samples  including benzene  have the potential to result in extensive cumulative acute health impacts and long-term cumulative impacts due to chronic exposure, Subra wrote in her review.

What about the statement from DEQ that there werent any health concerns requiring immediate action?

Thats usually the response you get, Subra said.

She said that even when these chemicals are detected at levels lower than the various standards set for them, you have to consider the cumulative impact of all of those chemicals added together.

Both Subra and Costa, the former EPA air program director, also said that some groups of people are more sensitive to VOCs and other toxins in the environment  children, for example, and people with underlying health conditions.

And Subra said that there isnt enough data yet to really determine the health risks faced by the residents experiencing the air pollution. Collectively, DEQ and the city gathered several more air samples at the landfill and surrounding neighborhoods in March and April, and those samples all showed lower VOC levels than the ones from December and January. But the exact locations of multiple samples  including the initial ones  arent clear, so its hard to tell how much the air quality is really improving.

The issue becomes, where was the data collected? How often was it collected? And was it collected at the worst ... situations or not? Subra said.

These initial data indicate its an issue of concern, she said of the air samples. And more data is needed to totally understand how frequently these chemicals are present in the air where the community lives.

In response to Subras perspective, City Manager Randy Eads said the odor problems have been concerning to him for several months.

We began air sampling for VOCs in December and have continued to take samples since that time, he said. Ill be more than happy to speak with any air quality expert you have consulted with recently. The more information I have about the air quality, the better decisions I can make moving forward.

More testing

On Monday, Eads published a number of announcements about Bristol, Virginias work on the odor crisis: a new page on the city website dedicated to landfill repair updates, an official odor complaint response form, an odor management plan and a draft of a plan for handling odor complaints.

The latter is still awaiting approval from DEQ, but it calls for additional air sampling  some of which has already begun.

Starting on March 20, 2021, the city will conduct baseline [air] sampling at the landfill, the draft states. The baseline sampling will include monthly, 24-hour composite air samples for a period of three months.  Additional on-site sampling may be conducted at the discretion of the city.

The draft also states that when the city receives an odor complaint from a resident in one of the areas reporting the problems, a landfill employee (or a third party, if they choose to contract outside help) will visit the location while the odor is still occurring, if possible, and collect samples of the air in that moment. If DEQ approves the plan, the results and analyses of those samples will be shared in a monthly report.

Thats a good start, Subra said of the proposal. But [it depends] on the communitys calling in the complaints, and the citys being able to go out every time an odor complaint is called in.

Looks like they are starting to take the right steps, but we are already seven months in, Jonathan Dorsey said.

He said that the smells havent been as consistently strong inside the familys house over the past few months, but theyre still definitely happening. The week of April 25 through May 1, they spent two nights at his sisters house because of the smells.

Amanda Dorsey said that after three years on Taylor Street, they are thinking of moving because of the odors  and not to somewhere else in Bristol.

I wanted to commit to a school for the kids this year, next fall. And  I cant do that, she said. It just makes me uneasy for the kids to be here and not exactly know the risks associated with what theyve been breathing.
To provide testimony, attendees must register through links online that will be made available at noon and at 5 p.m. Sunday at aacps.org/boardtestimony. The board will choose speakers by their first choice of agenda item on a first-come, first-served basis until available slots are filled. Should additional spots remain open, speakers will be allocated their second choice, again on a first-come, first-served basis. Speakers can not sign up to comment on more than two agenda items.
Hoch said that the carbon monoxide isnt dangerous to anyone more than 10 feet away from the chimney. But other substances in the chimney could be contributing to the odors, he said.

Were getting chemical smells [from that spot], Hoch said. Is there odor coming from this area? Yes. Is it all the odor? No. Its a piece of the puzzle we have to figure out.

Another piece theyre monitoring, he said, is the liquid flowing out of the landfill. Its made up of leachate, liquid that has passed through the trash, as well as gradient, which Hoch said is water beneath the landfill. He said the leachate and gradient mingle as they exit the site through a pipe, which carries them through both Bristols sewer systems and ultimately to the regional wastewater treatment plant on the Tennessee side.

There has been some benzene detected in the water and the leachate that goes into the sewer system, Hoch said. Which is why were checking to see if theres any odor parallels between the leachate and the air.

But Hoch said it would be highly unusual if the leachate proves to be more than a small source of the odors. He stressed that the landfills gas emissions still appear to be the main driver of the odors  and thats what the current repairs are focusing on.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been rightly ridiculed for his shifting positions on whether Donald Trump bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol by crazed Trump supporters.

But on Wednesday, just after his first White House meeting with President Joe Biden, McCarthy invited further mockery with a mind-boggling comment about the 2020 election.

The California Republican, who signed on to a brief in the Supreme Court challenging Bidens victories in four states, said: I dont think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. (He added: Were sitting here with the president today, but that doesnt support his larger assertion.)

The idea that no one of any prominence is questioning the legitimacy of the election is not true. On Sunday, Trump did just that.

In a characteristically bizarre statement, the former president referred to our fake presidential election in a pseudo-tweet on his personal website that also described Medina Spirit, the horse that won the Kentucky Derby, as a junky.
For the current maximum benefit of $650 per week, the compensation would have to be $16.25 an hour.

At the same time, Dellinger cautioned that unemployment benefits are not the only thing influencing the labor market right now.

Even as vaccination has ramped up, he said health concerns about the pandemic are still weighing on the economy.

Another element is the mismatch between workers skills and the skills needed for many available jobs, a problem that has been a focus of local leaders for years.

Demographics are yet another factor.

Dellinger said many workers have retired and the number of younger people available to fill those roles is less than it used to be.

At the same time youve got a lot of workers leaving, you dont have as many workers joining the labor force, so thats kind of a two-edged problem, one thats demographic-driven, he said.

Dellinger said there is evidence that some companies, particularly larger ones, are raising wages.

This could lead to more competition between service and manufacturing businesses as the service wages climb closer to those offered by manufacturers, he said.
Potter, who is charged with second-degree manslaughter in his death, resigned within days of the shooting. Police have said Wright was pulled over for expired tags, but they sought to arrest him after discovering an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for his failure to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and had a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June.

Dozens of citizens spoke at Saturday's council meeting. In one tense moment, a man said he didnt agree with having unarmed people pull over drivers. He then turned to Wright and said: Your son was killed, not because of a traffic stop in my mind. But because he had warrants. The man was drowned out by boos.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota called the proposal an important first move in changing policing. But several police groups have raised concerns, saying parts of the resolution conflict with state law and will put public safety at risk.

No police officers spoke at Saturday's meeting.



Find APs full coverage of the death of Daunte Wright at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-daunte-wright

For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, Star Tribune.
Azerbaijan flag (Credits: Reuters Pictures)

eBaku [Azerbaijan], May 16 (ANI/Sputnik): Baku has been taking appropriate measures to normalize the situation on the border with Armenia, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lyla Abdullayeva told Sputnik on Sunday.

Earlier in the week, the Armenian Defense Ministry claimed that the Azerbaijani armed forces carried out what it deemed were provocative actions in one of the border areas of its Syunik region. On Friday, the Armenian leadership announced an appeal to the CSTO on the issue. Azerbaijani side, in turn, has since maintained that it deployed border forces "in the usual mode and in a systematic manner" and did not violate Armenia's territorial integrity.

"As you know, as soon as tensions flared up on the border, the leadership of the State Border Service of Azerbaijan immediately visited the region and began negotiations with the border guards of the opposite side. Appropriate steps are being taken to normalize the situation," Abdullayeva said.

According to the spokeswoman, Baku urges Armenian political and military powers to "acknowledge the reality of the interstate border regime," prevent further conflict escalations in the region and to "constructively resolve border issues with Azerbaijan through bilateral channels." (ANI/Sputnik)
The Federal Court today ordered that Telstra pay $50 million in penalties for engaging in unconscionable conduct when it sold mobile contracts to more than 100 Indigenous consumers across three states and territories, in proceedings brought by the ACCC.

Telstra admitted that between January 2016 and August 2018, it breached the Australian Consumer Law and acted unconscionably when sales staff at five licensed Telstra-branded stores signed up 108 Indigenous consumers to multiple post-paid mobile contracts which they did not understand and could not afford.

Sales staff in these Telstra-branded stores used unconscionable practices to sell products to dozens of Indigenous customers who, in many cases, spoke English as a second or third language, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

This conduct included manipulating credit assessments and misrepresenting products as free, and exploiting the social, language, literacy and cultural vulnerabilities of these Indigenous customers.

Telstras board and senior executives failed to act quickly enough to stop these illegal practices when they were later alerted to them.

The $50 million penalty imposed against Telstra is the second highest penalty ever imposed under the Australian Consumer Law. This is appropriate given the nature of the behaviour by Australias biggest telecommunications company, which was truly beyond conscience, continued Sims.

In some cases, sales staff at the licensed stores failed to properly explain the potential costs of the contract to the consumers and falsely represented that consumers were receiving products for 'free'.

In many instances, sales staff also manipulated credit assessments, so consumers who otherwise may have failed its credit assessment process could purchase post-paid mobile products. This included falsely indicating that a consumer was employed when they were not.

The ACCC reports Telstra has since taken steps to waive the debts, refund money paid and put in place measures to reduce the risk of similar conduct in the future.

In addition to the remedies ordered by the Federal Court, the ACCC has accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Telstra in which Telstra undertakes to provide remediation to affected consumers, improve its existing compliance program, review and expand its Indigenous telephone hotline, and enhance its digital literacy program for consumers in certain remote areas.

We expect much better behaviour from large businesses like Telstra, but all businesses in Australia have a responsibility to ensure sales staff are not breaching consumer law by manipulating or tricking consumers into buying products or services they do not need or cannot afford, Sims concluded.

Telstra admitted liability, cooperated with the ACCCs investigation and made joint submissions with the ACCC to the Court in relation to penalty and other orders.

Background

On 26 November 2020, the ACCC instituted Federal Court proceedings against Telstra for admitted unconscionable conduct in the sale of post-paid mobile products to Indigenous consumers.

Telstra is Australias largest retail supplier of mobile telephones and telephony and data services for mobile telephones and tablets, which offers pre-paid and post-paid services to its customers. It is a publicly listed company, incorporated in Australia.

Telstra operates stores across Australia, including stores operated by independent licensees which sell Telstra products and services on behalf of Telstra through Telstra-branded stores.

The admitted unconscionable conduct occurred at licensed stores in Alice Springs, Casuarina and Palmerston (NT), Arndale (SA), and Broome (WA).

Consumers from remote Indigenous Australian communities located near these stores were affected by the alleged conduct, including the regions surrounding Darwin, the islands off Northern Territory, the Kimberley region and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands) in central Australia.
It was by far the lowest annual compensation for a median employee for the 29 listed corporations.

Our various compensation programs include the payment of market-based wages and the provision of competitive employee benefits, Hanesbrands said in its CEO pay ratio explainer.

The programs vary from region to region and among our various consolidated subsidiaries in each region, from country to country. The vast majority of our employees, about 80%, are compensated on an hourly basis.

The Hanesbrands CEO pay ratio gap is likely to expand again in 2021. Hanesbrands provided an estimated annualized total compensation for Bratspies for 2020 that found him making $1,056 to every $1 for the median employee.

Does not work

The annual CEO pay ratio disclosures may cause some buzz for a few days, but overall the strategy does not work, said Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, an economics professor at Winston-Salem State University.

Investors do not seem to care about the ratio. What they care about are results, and with the stock market reaching new heights, the ratio of CEO to worker pay is reaching record levels for those corporations who closely tie stock awards to executive compensation.
This play, written by Bill Barclay and produced by Concert Theatre Works, will premiere on Sept. 11 and 12 at Reynolds Auditorium.

The Winston-Salem Symphonys project is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.

Play reading

Triad Stage in Greensboro will present a virtual reading of Jekyll at 7:30 p.m. May 20 on Facebook.

Jekyll is a feminist take on Robert Louis Stevensons sinister novella, featuring Triad Stage actors Laura Bess Jernigan and Lalenja Harrington.

Jane Utterson has an impossible choice to make. On the one hand, she wants to help the authorities catch the brutal and dangerous vigilante who keeps attacking corrupt men in the dead of the night. On the other hand, she has a terrible suspicion her best friend, Jekyll, somehow might be mixed up in this mess  maybe its related to Jekylls latest science experiment?

Watch the reading at facebook.com/triadstage. You dont have to have a Facebook account to watch.
Arnita Miles, community activist and former Winston-Salem police officer, accused Tonya McDaniel, a Forsyth County commissioner, of misappropriating about $47,000 in grant money meant for the Winston-Salem NAACP and pocketing it into a personal bank account. No criminal charges have been filed. Blueprint NC, a nonprofit, said it gave the grant money based on an application made on behalf of the local NAACP, but the past president of the chapter said he was never aware that a grant request had been made and he never saw any of that money come through the Winston-Salem NAACP.
Around 2:30 a.m., Anne Arundel County police assisted Maryland State Police at the scene of the crash on I-97 and Officer Hannigan was first to get to the scene, where he saw a blue Honda Accord against the concrete barrier engulfed in flames, police said. Hannigan had to pull the driver out through the passenger side door.
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Council Member Kevin Mundy said he was concerned that the company has non-discrimination policies that track those of the city, which recently adopted policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity. Officials said the company already has such policies in place.

City officials said Ardaghs can and can-end manufacturing here is the companys largest U.S. plant, with six production lines and about 243 full-time employees.

The company proposes to add two high-speed can manufacturing lines and 94 jobs, with the average salary pegged at $77,300, according to a separate presentation made to the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

During the first two years of the expansion project, officials said, the company would make $5.5 million in building improvements and invest $190 million in machinery and equipment.

Ardagh was not mentioned by name as the company asking for the incentives during the presentation to the Finance Committee, under a new industrial recruitment policy that gives companies more privacy during site-selection negotiations.

However, the companys name was revealed during a meeting of the county board, and will be named publicly before the city council on Monday, when the council is expected to vote on the incentives following a public hearing.
Its still going to work its way through the system over the next few days, but we should be back to normal fairly soon, she said.

Some stations were still out of gas in Raleigh, N.C., on Saturday. Driver Jermaine Barnes told CBS17 the shortage has made him more conservative with his trips.

Im not going places I dont need to go, he said. Im not visiting people. Im watching where Im driving. Im doing everything different right now.

Some drivers responded angrily on Facebook Saturday to a post by ABC-13 in Asheville, N.C., about the pipeline resuming normal operations. Several said the majority of gas stations still did not have fuel and those that did receive deliveries were quickly selling out.

Martha Meade, manager for public and government relations at AAA Mid-Atlantic, said many gas stations in the Virginia area still did not have gas on Saturday. But she said lines have diminished from the height of the crisis and panic buying has subsided.

Multiple sources confirmed to The Associated Press that Colonial Pipeline had paid the criminals who committed the cyberattack a ransom of nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency for the software decryption key required to unscramble their data network.
Fayetteville police Sgt. Jeremy Glass said the May 7 report has been assigned to a detective and remains under investigation. He could not confirm that Tyson was the driver. Officers responded to a call reporting protesters in the road, and when they arrived, heard more reports that a passing car had tried to hit them.

The Market House has been a spot for regular protests over the past year since George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2000. Those protests have been peaceful, though two men pleaded guilty in November to setting a fire inside the historic building.

Warren said the vehicle traveled inside an inner lane painted with a "Black Lives Do Matter" mural and off-limits to cars. Glass confirmed the inner lane where protesters typically stand is closed to traffic but police received reports they had stepped outside.

After jumping out of the way, Warren said Tyson's car jumped the curb and remained on a nearby sidewalk for two to five minutes. Some approached it, demanding an explanation and asking if its driver was OK.

"We have about 10 people witnessing the fact that this vehicle just tried to run people on the side of the circle off the road, then he just jumped the curb here," protester Mario Benevente said on his Facebook Live feed.
DuRants case is an advanced one and being managed as best as possible by her husband and son  both of whom live with her  and a small team of caregivers.

Still, as John DuRant Jr. put it, they can feel like strangers to her.

Its been a cycle, a gradually progressing disease, he said. I look back at the times, it doesnt feel like that long ago where we were able to have reasonable conversations with her. Now, most of the time, she doesnt recognize me.

RENEWED URGENCY

Developing a cure and better treatments for dementia has taken on renewed urgency since the number of Americans with the disease is on pace to double in the next 30 years, according to the Alzheimers Association.

Worldwide, it more than doubled over the past 30 years, as cases have exploded from an estimated 20.2 million in 1990 to more than 50 million in 2020, according to the World Health Organization, with nearly half of the cases involving people 85 and older.

In 2020, the WHO announced that dementia was one of the top 10 causes for death, with nearly two million deaths attributed to it worldwide in 2019 alone.
Even if it were proven that Willingham was the only innocent person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, isnt that an error percentage that exceeds acceptability?

There can be no authentic advocacy for the death penalty that does not include ghoulish possibilities. As macabre as the execution of the innocent may seem, its more gruesome to consider it may have occurred just four years ago, a time when reasonable persons might assume such actions would be a moral impossibility.

According to The New York Times, the Innocence Project and the ACLU pushed for additional DNA testing on several occasions, including on the eve of Lees execution. All requests were denied.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, responding to the DNA results, defended Lees execution. Its my duty to carry out the law, he said, adding, The fact is that the jury found him guilty based upon the information that they had. The governor also suggested the new DNA evidence was inconclusive. But four years after being executed by the state, Lees guilt remains in doubt  exacerbated by DNA results the governor deems inconclusive.
Her sons body was found in a Coliseum Drive parking lot 10 days after his 35th birthday. Rain fell as police worked the crime scene that morning. Teore Terry, the shift manager at the CVS in downtown Winston-Salem, was a tall, friendly man beloved by many. He was a graduate of West Forsyth High School and had attended Forsyth Technical Community College. He was a light, Velma Terry said. He loved to see people smile.

Teore, the third oldest of her seven children, had been through struggles alongside his siblings and his single mom, first in their native Boston. Velma Terry abused drugs, then beat her addiction. Teore and his siblings walked with me on that journey, she said. Along the way, she said, she instilled in him the person he was, loving, caring and just giving back.

Teore was gay, she said. Hed initially been ashamed because he didnt think his family would be OK with it. I let him know we were fine with it. Shed known he was gay since he was little, she said. A mother knows her children. Some so-called straight men have a problem with gays. The problem they have is with themselves. My son was being who he was. He was comfortable in his own skin.

His siblings carry some of his ashes in small vials attached to necklaces.
But wait. If you are intent on reforming law enforcement because you, a Black man, have repeatedly been the victim of police mistreatment, doesnt that suggest that you believe that the problem is in the system and not in a few bad apples? Isnt that systemic racism?

Biden has not been a shining example of rhetorical clarity. The morning after he said in his address to the Congress, We have a real chance to root out systemic racism that plagues America, he said in his CBS interview he doesnt think Americans are racists.

So, our systems are racist, but were not?

Come to think of it, the president didnt say that America is not a racist country; he said the American people are not racist. Maybe he agrees with Rashawn Ray, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, who, relying on sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, says that there can be systemic racism without actual racists. Maybe that is what the president believes. Maybe. How would we know?

Harris also said that she doesnt think that America is a racist country. But, she added, We also do have to speak the truth about the history of racism in our country and its presence today.
Social media are a mixed blessing. They allow us to communicate with our loved ones from afar  and allow creeps and trolls to push their ignorant bile into places where theyre unwelcome. They allow wise voices and rational discourse to reach more people  and provide the same privilege for voices that belong to unhinged extremists. In short, they have increased access to information, misinformation and disinformation, indiscriminately.

They have also generated billions in profits  and turned each of us into a commodity, with businesses buying and selling our attention.

If only we could limit social media to recipes and photographs of cute cats. But its much too late for that. Pandoras Box has been opened and its contents spilled across our culture, where it can help or harm us  and our children.

Facebook is preparing a version of its Instagram platform for children under 13. With a focus on images rather than dialogue, this may seem benign. But a coalition of 44 attorneys general  a bipartisan group that includes North Carolinas Josh Stein  is asking Facebook to halt its plans.
Happy

I was so happy to read about the new recommendations (CDC lifts mask recommendation, May 14) and I have no doubt that our state will soon lift its requirements  maybe by the time this is printed!

What a treat it will be to remove my mask  while keeping it in my pocket for those increasingly rare instances when it will be needed  and see smiling faces like mine. We deserve to celebrate!

Cant do that

According to Acts 4:32-35, All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And Gods grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
This change, however, cant change Chinas demographic challenge in the coming decade: it still has too many people to feed from too little land.

In the past, notes AEI in a May 10 post, that mattered less. For example, from the 1970s through the 1990s, Chinas production and consumption of soybeans was nearly lock-step.

Of course, balancing the books back then often came with the wave of an autocrats hand, not the markets free hand.

Soon thereafter, though, a growing, more trade-dependent economy took root and (a)round 2000 Chinas consumption of soybeans surged from 20 million metric tons to 114 million in 2020/21.

Thats an average annualized 7.6% growth rate. As a result, China quickly grew to become the big dog in the global bean business and, now, it buys more than 60% of globally imported soybeans.

The growth picture for Chinese corn imports is similar. From the 1970s onward, Production and consumption have been essentially in lock-stop  In the last three years, however, domestic consumption has outpaced production  [and] for the 2020-21 marketing year, China purchased 13% of the globally traded corn.
Rombauers win means there will be no Triple Crown winner, but it also makes things a little less complicated. Medina Spirits superstar trainer, Bob Baffert, is still waiting on the results of a split sample test that could overturn the colts Derby victory. The controversy over Medina Spirit testing positive for an anti-inflammatory drug after his victory in the Derby has been the main storyline of this years race.
Howard Wiegers was the father of the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Fisheries and Wildlife program, and he was a father figure to some of his students, too.

As an adviser at UNL in the 1970s and '80s, he traveled across Nebraska to meet students and their families to help them adapt to the college experience. Advisees usually received letters from Wiegers, and he always made time for students.

He advised them on their career, personal life and classes. Wiegers didn't tell them how to solve their problems directly, instead asking questions and pushing them to find the answer themselves.

"On any given day, there could be a mix of people eating lunch with Howard just shooting the breeze," former student Tom Christiansen said. "And he always had some wisdom to impart. But usually it was just casual conversation, nothing too heavy."

After he retired in 1986, people still kept in touch. On milestone birthdays  such as his 100th  he received dozens of cards wishing him well.

Its a real testament to him, former executive assistant Jeanne Andelt said. "How many people still keep in touch with a professor 20, 30 or 40 years later? That doesnt happen a lot.
Thirty-one people from 16 states applied to be Lincolns next police chief, a list that has been narrowed down to eight people city officials will interview later this month.

Officials arent releasing the names of the eight candidates who want to replace Jeff Bliemeister as the top cop at the Lincoln Police Department until they narrow the list to three or four people following interviews the week of May 24.

The city will hold a public forum at a yet-to-be scheduled date in June to introduce the candidates and get feedback.

No internal candidates are among the eight finalists, who come from Arizona, California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico and Oregon, according to Jennifer Brinkman, the mayor's chief of staff. There are five men and three women vying for the job at this point.

Bliemeister, who was installed by Mayor Chris Beutler in 2016, resigned in January to take a job at Bryan Health and Assistant Chief Brian Jackson is acting chief.

The city hired the Police Executive Research Forum, a research and policy organization, to lead the search, and met with community focus groups from various sectors, as well as LPD staff, city advisory boards and groups that included the NAACP, Black Leaders Movement and Change Now LNK.
But the beltways flyover  a curving, 2,245-foot-long and 65-foot-high viaduct carrying westbound travelers above all other traffic before depositing them on southbound U.S. 77  wont go unnoticed.

Its the one that most people will look at, just because of the location of it and where its at, Mueting said. Of all the structures on the project, Id say its probably one of the most complicated parts.

It will be supported by nine concrete piers, each of them anchored to the earth on top of dozens of steel pilings, diesel-hammered 50 to 60 feet down. On top of those, contractors are laying a base of four spans of steel girders, 10 feet deep and up to 285 feet long.

And on top of those, eventually, theyll add nearly 1 million pounds of rebar before covering it with the concrete driving deck.

You wont be able to miss it when its done, said Hayes, the Hawkins project engineer.

Its going to be the most noticeable, with how high it is above everything else. Youre going to see it one way or another. It stands out.
OMAHA  Omaha police have made an arrest in the 2020 homicide of an Omaha woman whose body was found by first responders who were called to the home on a medical emergency.

Anthony Triplett, 31, was arrested Friday on suspicion of first-degree murder in the death of Ebony King, police said in a news release.

The 37-year-old Omaha woman was found dead April 15, 2020, by Omaha firefighters and medics responding to a 911 call by someone who said they were performing CPR on the unresponsive victim. But responders who arrived on the scene said the woman was already dead, and they summoned police.

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* A Lincoln biggie: Garth Brooks at Memorial Stadium in August blowing the doors down. It will be a huge crowd, but a long ways from his record crowd at Central Park in New York City in 1997, an incredible gathering estimated as large as 980,000.

* High marks to Speaker Mike Hilgers for deftly, and safely, ushering the 2021 legislative session through a pandemic, urging senators to look for opportunities to think big and guarding the Legislature's power to attempt to override any late gubernatorial vetoes before it adjourns.

* Sen. Deb Fischer planted her flag early during an interview last week: she's going to seek a third term in 2024; that announcement no doubt slammed the door on some other people's ambitions. No more visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads.

* Rep. Jeff Fortenberry told the Chief Standing Bear story to the House once again during consideration of legislation designating the Chief Standing Bear Trail as a national historic trail. The Ponca chief's words  "I am a man; the same God made us both"  changed American history.
The reality is more complex. Many of those Americans who may be reluctant to return to work may be afraid to contract COVID-19 or lack child care or want to earn more or prefer to continue to work from home.

Then there is the fractured relationship. I suspect that many workers don't like employers as much as they once did.

These things go in cycles. Right now, it's a worker's market. Job applicants and existing employees have the leverage. But it wasn't that long ago that the tables were turned, and it was an employer's market.

I was laid off from my last full-time newspaper job in 2010, after escaping three other earlier rounds of layoffs. The year before I left, my colleagues and I were told that -- because of corporate belt-tightening -- we were getting docked 20% of our pay and giving up one week's vacation. The company just tore up our existing deals and told us to take it or leave it. The job market was bleak at the time -- especially for newspapers. So I took it. A year later, I was let go along with dozens of other journalists.

During the pandemic, many employers acted terribly. They put workers at risk of contracting COVID-19, and then laid them off when business dropped -- leaving millions without salary or health care. When workers lost their homes, many employers seemed to say: "It's not my problem."
Sen. Myron Dorn knows better than any state senator the impact a crushing financial burden a multimillion-dollar judgment can cause a local government.

The Adams lawmaker chaired the Gage County Board of Commissioners when a federal judge levied a $28.1 million judgment  three times the countys annual budget  to be owed to the individuals known as the Beatrice Six, who were wrongly convicted of a 1985 murder and spent a combined 75 years in prison following an astounding miscarriage of justice.

The county board there has maxed out its property tax and sales tax levies to raise money more rapidly to pay off the judgment. All the while, Dorn has made seeking assistance from the state one of his legislative priorities, including a bill that recently cleared its first hurdle to passage.

Though he told senators that his bill was designed to provide relief to Gage County taxpayers, who bear no responsibility for the travesty that occurred three-plus decades ago  before some residents resided in the county or even were born, for that matter  having a law on the books before the next court-imposed budget crisis hits another county is imperative.
Nothing breaks me out the clutches of winter like the annual spring cycle of bird migration.

From the first round of geese in March to the warblers in May, this international journey brings the promise of thaw, growth and birth carried on wings.

Conservationist Aldo Leopold described the hope of this unique season in writing, A migrating goose, staking two hundred miles of black night on the chance of finding a hole in the lake, has no easy chance for retreat. His arrival carries the conviction of a prophet who has burned his bridges. And with it comes spring.

For the love of birds

The beginnings of bird conservation in the United States started in the late 1800s, and these efforts continue today. Public awareness and concern are crucial components of conservation. People who are enthusiastic about birds, informed about threats and empowered to become involved in addressing them can help maintain healthy populations.

One of the greatest things about birds is how easy and common it is to see them just about every day, in every habitat. Because of this, birds can serve as a great bridge between people and nature. They can inspire everyone to feel connected and excited about the natural world.

Nebraska Bird Month
On Friday, a statement from a Racine County Sheriff's Office public information officer issued a statement indicating that it plans to release no more information about what occurred pending the investigations of the deaths, both of which are being led by the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department.

"The Racine County Sheriffs Office has released two statements to the media concerning two inmate deaths in the County Jail on Saturday, May 29, 2021, and Tuesday, June 1, 2021," Sgt. Michael J. Luell said in an email. "The investigations into the two deaths are being handled by the Kenosha County Sheriffs Office. The Racine County Sheriffs Office is cooperating fully with the Kenosha County Sheriffs Office, as-well-as the Milwaukee County Medical Examiners Office (which is reported to be performing the autopsies). In respect to the integrity of the investigative process, the Sheriffs Office is not providing any additional information or making public comments at this time."

The fiancee of one of the men that she is "now left with more questions than answers" after the little information she has received from the Racine County Sheriff's Office.
Commentary: Water-diversion project underscores people-centered philosophy

Xinhua) 09:09, May 16, 2021

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the Danjiangkou Reservoir and listens to introductions to the construction, management and operation of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and the ecological conservation of the water source region in Xichuan County, Nanyang, central China's Henan Province, May 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping convened a symposium Friday on advancing the high-quality follow-up development of a mega water-diversion project following an inspection, underscoring China's continued commitment to its people-centered development philosophy.

As of March 2021, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project had transferred over 40.8 billion cubic meters of water since the first phase of its eastern and middle routes began supplying water, directly benefiting more than 130 million people.

Since ancient times, China has seen floods in summer and droughts in winter, with a shortage of water in the north and an abundance in the south. That uneven distribution of water in terms of time and space has troubled the Chinese nation for centuries.

After the founding of the People's Republic, the Communist Party of China (CPC) led the nationwide construction of large-scale water projects, optimizing water resources, boosting sustainable economic and social development, and ultimately improving people's livelihoods. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a prime example, built at considerable cost but bringing even more benefits, thanks to its careful planning and determined execution.

It transfers water from the Yangtze River to dry areas in northern China through eastern, middle, and western routes, and is the largest such project in the world.

To facilitate the construction of the project, many Chinese families were relocated, settling in new homes and starting new lives. Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visited some of the resettled families on Thursday and wished them well.

Their sacrifice is for the greater good and speaks to both the tradition of the Chinese nation and the mobilization capabilities of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.

Marking its 100th anniversary this year, the CPC was not founded to pursue its own interests, but to enable people to enjoy happy lives.

"The people are the state," Xi said, underlying the purpose of the CPC's governance -- ensuring the people's happiness and meeting their aspirations.

With the changes in time and conditions, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is now in need of follow-up development, which was the focus of the Xi-chaired symposium. The people-centered development philosophy is not an abstract, abstruse concept, but an enduring pursuit. The CPC will not restrict itself to idle reflection or paying lip service to this philosophy but will put it into practice in all areas of social and economic development.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Bianji)
In a 2020 report, the center ranked Maryland the worst in the nation for its psychiatric laws, citing factors including the standard for involuntary admission and the lack of what is known as assisted outpatient treatment for severe mental illness, in which the court orders someone to undergo treatment in a community setting. Maryland is one of only three states that does not have that.
During an interview with The Journal Times Editorial Board on Monday, Gov. Tony Evers said it seems to defy logic that a significant percentage of medical professionals still have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Vaccines began being made available in limited quantities to front-line health workers in December, but all Wisconsinites ages 16 and up have been able to be vaccinated this spring as supplies of vaccines have outstripped demand in recent weeks.

Certainly I appreciate health care workers being on the front line, putting themselves at risk. But it makes no sense to me, frankly, that someone could be working in a nursing home or hospital or in some other health care situation and be reluctant to get the vaccine, Evers, a Democrat, said. It intuitively doesnt make sense to me; it obviously does make sense to those people, and well just have to agree to disagree on that.
MOUNT PLEASANT  The Racine County Economic Development Corp. will celebrate its 38th anniversary by hosting the 2021 annual meeting on Thursday, June 3. The event will be broadcast live from Foxconns High-Performance Computing Data Center (HPCDC).

This years theme is Disruption. With strategic plans foiled by the COVID-19 pandemic, it became essential that RCEDC pivoted to meet the immediate needs of Racine Countys businesses. In 2020, RCEDC completed 93 projects, more than quadrupling the previous year. RCEDC staff tallied an abounding amount of outreach with 355 businesses technically assisted and 446 businesses called or physically visited.

The annual meeting will provide attendees an overview of the creative solutions RCEDC used to guide relief efforts. The event will also recognize the following individuals and organizations for their contributions towards fulfilling RCEDCs mission:
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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The battle over police reform was probably the best example of this problem. I have consistently opposed the defunding and attacking of police departments. Scapegoating police will not help already unsafe communities. However, there were several areas where the General Assembly could have had common sense, bipartisan compromise. There were very aggressively anti-police activist groups that were arguing for drastic changes but I watched law enforcement representatives come to the table with ideas on what they needed to be able to do to execute their jobs effectively  and protect the public  while also addressing need for some reforms.
Bakare competed in extemporaneous and poetry. He received first place in poetry at districts and went on to compete at state, where he was one point away from going to finals. He also put his acting chops to use as Gaston in Holdrege High Schools musical, Beauty and the Beast.

Outside of school, Bakare enjoys playing chess, and he plans to enter the chess competition at the Cornhusker State Games July 17-18 in Lincoln.

I just love it. You dont have a lot of time to think about your problems when you are playing chess. You focus on the board and your opponent. Chess is a game that looks over your gender, your race, your age. You could play blindfolded and not know who you are playing against. I think that is beautiful because you see kids in the chess world, and they are already Grandmasters, he said.

Bakare was accepted into the biochemistry program at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, but he plans to change his major to computer science because of his love of math and problem solving.
COZAD  Artist Hana Brock learned the mechanics of art from her parents.

My love and appreciation for creating started as a young girl, she writes in her artist statement. Growing up, I was always surrounded by art and creativity. I would sit with my father and he would teach me about drawing and how light would wrap around an object to cast a shadow. My ability to paint comes from both of my parents; I am naturally skilled in the discipline.

Although she specializes in visual art, Brock instills her work with a sense of motion.

I have become fascinated with movement, creating and the act of doing; movements such as the way the paint moves from brush to canvas, producing a story, she said.

Artwork by the Lexington native, who now studies fine arts at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, will be on display as the Artist of the Month of May at the Robert Henri Museum in Cozad through the end of the month. The museum will recognize her work with a reception at the museum 5-7 p.m. May 20.

Brocks work has been honored by institutions throughout Nebraska and Kansas.
The River Valley Media Group (RVMG) and the La Crosse Tribune will launch a new business-to-business website on Monday, May 17, designed to assist local and regional businesses achieve their marketing goals.

For more than 100 years the River Valley Media Group has been a key provider of marketing services, historically centered in print advertising solutions. As buyers and sellers have evolved to embrace a more multimedia buying and selling experience, including digital, the River Valley Media Group has evolved it product set along with these trends. Today RVMG provides a comprehensive array of print and digital products and services to meet the needs of the fast-evolving business community.

When many think of our available advertising solutions they think of our historic print-centric focus, but were now so much more. Were not your grandfathers media company anymore, said Sean Burke, president of River Valley Media Group,

From website design and development to search advertising, from social media to reputation management, from content marketing to connected TV, and so much more, RVMG can help local business deliver their marketing message to the right audience at the right time in the right medium.

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That cuts into our bottom line, because we do run this like a business, he said. Unfortunately the cost is going to be passed on to the tenant. The consumer. And I dont want to do that.

Nickelatti owns around 50 properties in La Crosse, he said, and has seen some of the new assessments showing between $30,000 and $50,000 increases. He hires a property management company who is likely to handle navigating if and how much rent will go up, but he is worried it will cause some good tenants to leave.

Mayor Reynolds, who only recently took office after running a campaign that put housing at its foundation, told the Tribune that he doesnt think the increased values at apartment buildings should cause major increases to rent because landlords have historically overpriced their apartments in the city  but that rent increases likely will still happen because of that very practice.

There are (some landlords) who realize that they have a sellers market when it comes to rental properties, and theyre doing their damndest to make sure that they make as much as they can on that, Reynolds said. I do believe that were going to have landlords who are going to do their best to continue to push those rents up as high as they can, knowing there is a shortage of affordable housing in the city.
The Brownies breakfast special is eggs, potatoes, choice of meat and a drink for $9.

He makes a mean goulash, Nancy Brown said. A ham and cheese omelette with homemade toast is popular, too.

Nancy Brown is the restaurants only employee aside from Ray Brown. She started about 37 years ago.

Three generations of my family have been raised in here, she said. My kids and grandkids.

Operating the cafe has been all about the people, Ray Brown said.

They become family, he said.

When COVID-19 forced the closure of the restaurant for about two months in the spring of 2020, it was a difficult time.

I guess that was my vacation, Ray Brown said. We got 2 hours notice that we were going to be closed and that was just from the TV telling us. And they never said how long. We didnt know when we would be back open again, so I had to scrinch and save.

Brown said there arent very many family restaurants left in the city.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp  most of them children  and pulverizing a high-rise that housed The Associated Press and other media.
Wisconsin could save money, too, by not having to arrest, prosecute and in some cases incarcerate people for using a drug that an increasing number of states already allow.

In recent months, governors in New York, New Mexico and Virginia have signed laws legalizing marijuana. That means 17 states  some controlled by Republicans  and the District of Columbia now allow small amounts for recreational use.

Twenty additional states allow cannabis as medicine, bringing to 36 states  nearly three-quarters  that are ahead of Wisconsin in providing Americans with more personal freedom. At the same time, these states are freeing their law enforcement and judicial systems from having to spend time dealing with minor drug offenses. They can address serious crime instead.

Importantly, legalization spares many good citizens  a disproportionate number of whom are people of color  charges and citations for marijuana that make it harder to find a job.

Legal pot is popular in Wisconsin. A statewide Marquette Law School poll two years ago showed 83% of respondents favored legal cannabis with a doctors prescription. Only 12% were opposed. The same poll showed 59% supported legal marijuana for recreational use, while 36% were opposed. Now, with a popular dispensary in South Beloit, we suspect support has only grown.
No Menthol Sunday is an annual practice to shine a light on the impact menthol cigarettes have on the African American community. This year, it will take place today.

Menthol makes cigarettes easier to smoke and harder to quit. The menthol creates a cooling effect which reduces the harshness of cigarettes and suppresses smokers coughing. Because of these effects, people may inaccurately think menthol cigarettes are less harmful than regular ones, and are therefore more appealing to youth.

However, its not only youth whom they appeal to. Menthol cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product among African Americans. In fact, among cigarette smokers in the U.S, 70.5% of African Americans use menthol cigarettes which is 20% points higher than Whites and Hispanics.

These rates are the result of targeted marketing on the part of tobacco companies. A study done in Milwaukee showed that tobacco retailers in Black neighborhoods had twice as much outdoor menthol advertising and twice as many menthol price promotions as those in White neighborhoods.
With its elegant clubhouse, landscaping, customized home plans, walking trails, and sense of community, Traditions of America in Lititz is an idyllic setting for most of its age 55+ residents.

But all is not perfect in paradise.

At the April 21 meeting of the Warwick Township supervisors meeting, several residents of Traditions of America attended to express their concerns about the final phases of Traditions of America in Lititz.

With the last homes of the final and fifth phase of Traditions of America nearing completion, the development will have a total of 329 homes in Phase 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The development, which is restricted to those aged 55+, was started in 2013 and at the time was the second Traditions of America development in Lancaster County. Work is now underway for a Traditions of America in East Petersburg.

That is one of the concerns of some Lititz TOA board members, who feel that with TOA now working on the newest development in East Petersburg, they have abandoned us in Lititz, failing to complete the final touches needed to wrap up the project.

Their worries include a number of details that have frustrated them in recent months. There are several lamp posts without light fixtures. The handicapped ramps at some curbs are as much as 5-6 inches high, which would be impossible for someone in a wheelchair or walker to navigate. There are several stormwater pipes in the road that have not been capped, putting small animals at risk of falling in and posing tripping hazards for people walking across the street. At least one walking path is so steep that an older person would not be able to climb it and someone in a wheelchair or walker would be at great risk.

In most of Phase 5, the roads are not yet finally paved, which leaves manhole covers raised in the road. Driveways are also raised several inches higher that needed to avoid bottoming out in a lower car. Roadways are private and will not be taken over by the township.

As TOA in Lititz nears completion, Warwick Township still holds a letter of credit of more than $500,000 to finish these details. Township Manager Daniel Zimmerman has assured residents that the final touches must be competed before the project is considered finalized.

It has taken longer than expected to finish up, but we have every confidence that it will be done properly, said Zimmerman, adding that township engineers and inspectors are keeping tabs on the project.

David Biddison, Partner of TOA, which was started in 1997 and now has 20 communities across the region, with seven still in their active phases, also assures residents that the project in Lititz will be completed to specifications.

As is customary with every development, the completion of the improvements in guaranteed by a bond posted by the developer with the township, said Biddison. As we complete the improvements, the townships engineer reviews and confirms completion of the work. Once the work is completed, the township releases the security. We are still in the process of completing the improvements and the township is holding some security pending the completion of the improvements.

Biddison reports that Traditions of America is committed to building a first-class community and ensuring an excellent customer experience.

Our team takes a proactive approach to the home construction and warranty process. Our representatives schedule meetings during and after construction to ensure a quality home for every customer. If there are open issues, our onsite team is available to meet and review any concern, said Biddison.

For some Traditions of America residents in Lititz, reaching out to TOA representatives hasnt been that easy. HOA board member for Lititz TOA William Gretton III of Allegiance Drive lives in Phase 5. He has complaints about unfinished streets and retention basins, as well as deficient work on walking paths and sidewalks, and safety issues in some homes. He wants to see the final phase of TOA finished to the level of quality promised when they signed our letters of agreement.

He and other HOA board members have had trouble reaching TOA to voice their complaints. The board hired Becht Engineering to do a Reserve Study and a Deficiency Study, which turned up some issues the board wants to have remedied., such as fire walls not built to code in some homes.

These are dangerous issues that can affect the safety of residents, especially those who are older, said Laura Dobbin, another HOA board member who has lived on Allegiance Drive at Traditions of America since 2018.

As Dobbins and HOA board member Rick Rittler report, a Deficiency Report done by an independent engineering firm revealed several issues. The most serious and potentially life-threatening concerns are separation walls with gaps or holes that pose a fire safety issue. Rittler added that there are several ADA curb ramp landings that were not installed properly, and he is frustrated by the lack of progress with the completion of the threeyear- old punch list.

Rittler is another resident of Allegiance Drive, and has lived at TOA since 2018. As he noted, It is frustrating to live in an unfinished community where the final paving of streets in Phase 5 has not been done due to damaged curbs and broken sidewalks needing repair or replacement. We remain hopeful that TOA will engage in discussions and work with us to resolve all these outstanding issues in a timely matter.

There are several areas that the HOA will be responsible for after TOA departs. Some of these areas include the stormwater swales, basins, and riparian buffer which must meet the requirements of the NPDES permit. Additionally, ADA handicap ramps are governed under Federal law. Common elements that may not have been built or maintained properly will need to be corrected,

all at the cost of the residents, if TOA does not correct these issues before they leave, said Rittler.

Still, none of the dissatisfied residents regret their decision to move to Traditions of America in the first place. Gretton, Dobbin, and Rittler all reported that they enjoy life in the 55+ community.

The location is excellent, convenient to the hospital and supermarkets, said Dobbin. Additionally, the people are wonderful.

They are also grateful to Warwick Township officials for backing them up in their concerns. At the April 21 meeting, Supervisor Herb Flosdorf shared their frustration, and suggested that a letter be sent to TOA, outlining their obligations and requirements to close out the project, while Supervisor Chairman Kenneth Eshleman assured the residents that, We hear you.

Our entire company is extremely proud of the community, the homes, and the amenities. We strive to build homes that are both affordable and highly customizable. We believe the opportunity for adults 55 and older to move into a new-home community with resort-style amenities and low-maintenance living has improved the lives of activeadults in the Lititz area and in areas across the state, said Biddison of TOA. We are committed to building quality homes, and we strive to take a hands-on approach to ensure every community and every home is built to our satisfaction.

Laura Knowles is a freelance feature writer and regular contributor to the pages of the Lititz Record Express. She welcomes feedback and story tips at lknowleslrc@gmail.com.
Becker and Link were hardly the only non-male winners around Carroll County. In fact, eight of the 18 council seats won during the countys seven municipal elections this month went to women. And when Manchester goes to the polls May 18, its a virtual certainty incumbent Debra L. Howe will join those ranks given that she is one of only two candidates who registered to run by the filing deadlines and three councilmembers will be seated. So seven of Carrolls eight municipalities will have elected at least one woman this time  with Union Bridge electing three.
GAZA CITY  Israeli warplanes have unleashed a series of heavy airstrikes at several locations of Gaza City.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes early Monday.

The airstrikes were heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed. That attack was the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel ad the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

In a brief statement, the Israel Defense Forces says only that IDF fighter jets are striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip.



TOP NEWS IN THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT:

 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flatten three buildings and kill at least 42 people on Sunday

 An AP reporter documents the terrifying final minutes of leaving the Gaza office before it is blown up by the Israelis

 An Israeli airstrike destroys a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press office in the Gaza Strip despite urgent demands by the news agency to halt. AP's top editor called for an independent investigation into the airstrike.

 Protesters in major US cities urge Israelis to halt attacks on the Gaza Strip

 French police use tear gas to quell pro-Palestinian march that was banned in Paris



RABAT, Morocco  Moroccans have taken to the streets in the capital and other cities to protest Israeli air raids on Gaza during clashes with the Hamas extremist group that rules the Palestinian territory.

Sizeable demonstrations were held Sunday across the North African kingdom, including in Casablanca, the countrys largest city, where thousands waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israels military actions. Protesters also gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat.

In December, Morocco announced it had resumed relations with Israel as part of a U.S. brokered deal. As part of the agreement, the United States agreed to recognize Moroccos claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

On Friday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI ordered forty tons of aid to be be shipped to the West Bank and Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians in the wake of recent clashes.



UNITED NATIONS  The three U.N. Security Council nations trying to get the U.N.s most powerful body to take action on the escalating violence between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers say they are still trying to get the U.S. to support a statement including a call to end the fighting.

China, Norway and Tunisia tried unsuccessfully at closed meetings Monday and Wednesday to get agreement on a council statement. Diplomats say the U.S. argued such a statement could interfere with diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

There also was no agreement at Sundays first open meeting on the violence.

The ambassadors of China, Norway and Tunisia issued a joint statement on the Gaza conflict demanding an immediate end of all acts of violence, provocation and destruction.



PARIS  A media watchdog group is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate Israels bombing of buildings housing The Associated Press and other media organizations in Gaza as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders says in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days.

The group says the Israeli militarys intentional targeting of media organizations and intentional destruction of their equipment could violate one of the courts statues. It says the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

Israels military says Hamas was operating inside the building where AP had offices and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike Saturday.



UNITED NATIONS -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is urging the United States to join the 14 other members of the U.N. Security Council and support a statement urging a halt to violence between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza.

He also wants the U.S. to support calling for a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Wang chaired a high-level emergency meeting of the Security Council on Sunday and said the dangerous and urgent situation calls for an immediate cease-fire.

He urges Israel to exercise restraint, stop evictions and settlement expansion, put an end to the violence, threats and provocations against Muslims and respect the status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem. He says Palestinians must avoid steps that would escalate the situation, avoid civilian casualties and work for an immediate de-escalation.



UNITED NATIONS  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says the United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to end the conflict between Palestinians in Gaza and Israel, and is warning that the current cycle of violence will only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict further out of reach.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken with senior Israeli, Palestinian and regional leaders.

At the same meeting, Israels U.N. ambassador called the rocket attacks launched by Gazas Hamas rulers against Israel completely premeditated to gain political power and replace the Palestinian Authority as the leader of the Palestinians.

He said the rocketing of Israel was part of a vicious plan by Hamas, which not only seeks the destruction of Israel but is vying to take power in the West Bank and was frustrated when Abbas postponed elections last month that would have been the first in 15 years.



THE HAGUE, Netherlands  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, urging them to end violence and expressing support for mediation by Egypt and the United States.

Rutte said in a statement Sunday that the Netherlands stands ready to help using its good relations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the U.S.

He says that a further escalation and yet more Palestinian and Israeli civilian casualties must be avoided.

Rutte says Israel has the right to defend itself against rocket attacks but says the country must act proportionally within the borders of international law.



UNITED NATIONS  Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki is accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and carrying out a policy of apartheid in Jerusalem.

Al-Malki told a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday that there are no words that can describe the horrors that our people are enduring, listing families and children and infants killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Israel is killing Palestinians in Gaza, one family at a time, he said. Israel is trying to uproot Palestinians from Jerusalem. Its expelling families, one home, neighborhood at a time. Israel is executing our people, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.



ISRAEL  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday renewed his claim that a Gaza building leveled by an Israeli airstrike housed a Hamas office as well as American and Middle East news organizations, but gave no evidence.

Netanyahu spoke to CBSs Face the Nation about ongoing violence between Israeli forces and the armed Palestinian group Hamas, and about Saturdays airstrike that leveled the building housing Gaza offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera news organizations. Its a perfectly legitimate target, he said.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call later Saturday with President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said, We pass it through our intelligence people.

Netanyahu gave no time frame for when Israel would be ready to halt its side of the fighting after nearly a week of Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rocket barrages. We hope that it doesnt continue very long, but we were attacked by Hamas, he said.

Asked about reports that Hamas had agreed to an Egypt-brokered cease-fire but Israel had not, he said, Thats not what I know.



UNITED NATIONS -- A U.N. Mideast envoy says the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes.

Tor Wennesland told the Security Council on Sunday that over 40 U.N. schools in Gaza have been turned into shelters. He says the schools have limited water and no access to food or health care, and serve for protection purposes only.

After nearly a week of fighting, Wennesland called for calm and said further escalation would have devastating consequences for both Palestinians and Israelis.

He called Hamas rocket fire from civilian neighborhoods in Gaza into Israeli population centers a violation of international law. He also urged Israel to show maximum restraint to spare civilians and civilian objects in its operations in Gaza.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said. It is the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The violence, which came as international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory, marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

The airstrikes Sunday hit a busy downtown street of residential buildings and storefronts over the course of five minutes just after midnight, destroying two adjacent buildings and one about 50 yards (meters) down the road.



UNITED NATIONS  The United Nations chief is appealing to Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza to immediately stop the utterly appalling escalation in fighting and senseless cycle of bloodshed, terror and destruction at the start of a high-level emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the virtual meeting on Sunday that the United Nations is actively engaging all sides towards an immediate cease-fire.

He warned that the most serious escalation in violence in Gaza in years only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace.

The open meeting is scheduled to be addressed by the Palestinian foreign minister and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, China, Tunisia, Norway, Ireland, Algeria and the deputy foreign minister of Russia along with ambassadors from other nations on the 15-member council, an Israeli representative and the head of the Arab League.

Guterres said he is appalled by the increasingly large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli airstrikes, and deplores Israeli casualties from rockets launched from Gaza. He called the destruction of media offices in Gaza extremely concerning, stressing that journalists must be allowed to work free of fear and harassment.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The Gaza Health Ministry says the death toll from Israeli strikes on a main thoroughfare in Gaza City has climbed to 33, including 12 women and eight children.

It was the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers erupted nearly a week ago. The airstrikes hit Wahda Street, a major thoroughfare.

The ministry says another 50 people were wounded in the strikes early Sunday, mostly women and children.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.



ISTANBUL  Turkeys state-run Anadolu news agency has offered to share its Gaza offices with The Associated Press and Al Jazeera after Israel bombed the building that housed the media offices.

Anadolu said its Director-General Serdar Karagoz made the offer in letters to AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt and Al-Jazeeras chairman.

Karagoz said the Turkish wire service was appalled by the Israeli militarys targeting of media offices.

Since this recent conflict has escalated over the past week, there is an apparent pattern of targeting journalists who are carrying out their professional duties so as to block coverage of the situation on the ground, Karagoz said.



BRUSSELS  The European Unions foreign policy chief says the 27-nation blocs foreign ministers will talk Tuesday about what the EU can do to help end the current round of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Josep Borrell tweeted Sunday that he convened the special videoconference in view of the ongoing escalation between Israel and Palestine and the unacceptable number of civilian casualties.

He added that we will coordinate and discuss how the EU can best contribute to end the current violence.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Gazas militant Hamas rulers fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering an Israeli assault on Gaza.



VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has denounced the unacceptable spiral of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the deaths in particular of children was a sign that they dont want to build the future but want to destroy it.

Francis prayed for peace, calm and international help to open a path of dialogue during his Sunday blessing, delivered from his studio window overlooking St. Peters Square.

The pope said: I ask myself: this hatred and vendetta, what will it bring? Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?

In unusually pointed comments, Francis added: In the name of God, who created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity and are called to live as brothers, I appeal for calm and an end to the violence.

Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza City for days as heavy fighting has broken out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among the 26 people killed in Sundays airstrikes, with another 50 people wounded in the attack.



JERUSALEM  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 23 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the attack. Rescuers were racing to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader in a separate strike. It was the third such attack in the last two days.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman confirmed the strike on Sinwars house in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis to army radio.



JERUSALEM  The Israeli military said Sunday it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader, the third such attack in as many days, after nearly a week of heavy Israeli airstrikes on the territory. The Palestinian militant group ruling Gaza has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

The military said it struck the homes of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, and his brother Muhammad, another senior Hamas member. On Saturday it destroyed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch.



GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes have struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City early Sunday.

According to photos circulated by residents and journalists, the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa, the largest hospital in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. It said rescuers are still digging through the rubble and had so far pulled up five more wounded.

Two hours into the heavy bombardment, there has been no comment from the Israeli military.
There were about 15 minutes to go before Dutch Wonderland opened its doors for the first time since September, and more than 100 people were already lined up outside. They wouldnt be disappointed.

The East Lampeter Township amusement park, located at 2249 Lincoln Highway East, opened for the first time this season on Saturday morning.

Its nice to see so many smiling faces in the park again, whether theyre behind masks or not, said Jeffrey Eisenberg, the parks Director of Marketing. We realize that this is an indicator of a return to normalcy.

The park had been open last year from mid-July until Labor Day in what Eisenberg called a significantly abbreviated season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Holiday-specific events, like Happy Hauntings and Dutch Winter Wonderland, also had to be scrapped.

This years opening, which comes about a week or two later than the parks typical annual opening in early May, is the first more or less normal opening the park has had since 2019.

Eisenberg said tickets to Saturdays opening were sold out by Thursday afternoon.

Initial indicators is that the demand is there and folks are really eager to get back out to visit amusement parks and other attractions, he said.

Dutch Wonderland doesnt release attendance figures publicly, though Eisenberg said he anticipated Saturdays size-controlled crowd to be in the thousands.

Even with the high demand, lines at most rides were relatively short, in part due to only being at 50% capacity. Some of the parks main attractions, like Merlins Mayhem and Kingdom Coaster, had little or no wait times.

Coming back this year are several fan favorites, such as bumper cars and the Fun Slide, that were closed last year due to pandemic restrictions. Just one ride, Kite Flight, is closed due to health restrictions this season.

Guests who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear masks in the park. Social distancing is still encouraged, and lines to rides and food vendors have markers on the ground that are six feet apart. Visitors do not have to provide proof of vaccination.

About half of the opening day crowd appeared to be wearing masks.

We essentially trust our guests to follow the same recommendations from the CDC that we are as well and be respectful of the environment and be respectful of the parks rules, Eisenberg said. To date, pretty much everybody has been.

Park employees all appeared to be wearing masks and could frequently be found sanitizing surfaces.

Christina Sullivan, 34, who was visiting the park with her son Jack, 4, and daughter Gabriella, 6, said she felt safe with the parks safety precautions.

Its a safe day for the kids, the Hockessin, Delaware resident said. The park is clean and people are being respectful of each other.

Sullivan and her family, now in their third year of being season pass holders, didnt go to the park last year because of the pandemic, but felt a need to go on opening day this time around so they could go on every ride.

We love coming here, she said. They have something here for everybody.

State health guidelines allow the park to operate a 75% capacity, though Eisenberg says theyre sticking at 50% for now.

The self-imposed capacity limit is really where we need to be regardless of the guidance, he said.

Once we started going beyond 50%, thats when it became a little more difficult to provide adequate space for social distancing, he added.

Eisenberg said park officials may look to increase their self-imposed capacity limits later on as additional health restrictions are lifted.

Visitors are required to purchase their tickets ahead of time online as a way of controlling park capacity. Daily ticketholders can purchase their tickets in advance online, while season ticketholders just have to enter their barcode into the parks reservation portal.

Tickets can be sold at the gate as available, though Eisenberg warned that there was no guarantee visitors who arrive without a ticket will be able to get in.

In all likelihood, unless theres a large volume of reservations who dont actually show up, we might not be able to allow anyone else into the park, he said.

Park officials are planning for a more or less typical summer season that runs until Columbus Day weekend, and are hoping to bring back seasonal holiday events later in the year.

For now the park will only be open on weekends, but beginning in June itll be open five days a week, being closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Typically the park is open seven days a week by mid-June.

Eisenberg said the hope is that the park can be open on additional days this season as COVID-19 restrictions continue to ease.

Were seeing great demand just today for our grand opening day, he said.

In the meantime, those off-days will be used for staff to provide the park a more thorough cleansing than they can normally do when guests are present.

Health and safety at an amusement park like this is always priority number one, Eisenberg said. Thats just evolved in ways we had never foreseen with COVID.
This story contains links that will take you to our archives site on newspapers.com. This content is free for LancasterOnline subscribers who are logged in. Click here for more information about how to subscribe.

Excerpts and summaries of news stories from the former Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster New Era and Sunday News that focus on the events in the countys past that are noteworthy, newsworthy or just strange.

One of the oldest living things in Lancaster County met its demise in 1996.

A massive white oak tree, more than 300 years old, was felled and removed by local arborist Jack Wolf. The tree had been struck by lightning 10 years earlier, and had been slowly dying ever since. Its weakening trunk meant it posed a danger to a trailer park neighborhood near its longtime home along Columbia Avenue in East Hempfield Township.

The 35-ton tree, which Wolf said he believed was one of the oldest in the county, was nearly 10 feet in diameter and more than 100 feet tall.

When the colossal tree was a sapling, William Penn had just arrived in the New World, and King Charles II was on the throne in England.

In the headlines:

Ridge signs welfare reform into law

Eating eggs not so bad for you after all

GOP will start ads criticizing Clinton

Check out the May 16, 1996, Lancaster New Era here.

"Is it the start of a revolution, or just a fluke?"

That question opened a Sunday News story from May 1971 about local manufacturing businesses testing out the concept of a four-day work week.

Two factories - Redman Industries of Ephrata (which produced mobile homes) and Aggregate Equipments Inc. of Leola (which made quarrying equipment) - had shifted to a work week of four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days.

The vast majority of employees liked the new system, and were happy to work longer days in exchange for three-day weekends. Management was happy as well - both plants were reporting improved worker morale, increased productivity and lower overhead costs, all of which added up to increased profits.

Only the factory workers had moved to the four-day schedule, however. Clerical and other office employees continued to work a traditional five-day week - at least, the Sunday News reported, until the four-day week becomes the new norm across the county.

In the headlines:

Drugs are declared epidemic in Vietnam

India warns Pakistan refugees pose threat

Sadat pressing purge of Egypt dissidents

Check out the May 16, 1971, Sunday News here.

"Death Highway" is what the Intelligencer Journal, circa 1946, was calling Lincoln Highway East, both in headlines and in the text of a front-page article.

The article reported that Donald Martin, 26, was killed at the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Strasburg Road when his car collided with a truck on May 15, 1946.

Martin was the county's 19th highway fatality in 1946 as of that date, a total that was nearly quadruple that of the previous year, when the county saw just five fatal wrecks by the same date.

In the headlines:

Soft coal peace talks broken off

Atcheson tells Soviet delegate U.S. does not favor communism

Husband refuses to leave side of wife stricken by leprosy

Check out the May 16, 1946, Intelligencer Journal here.

In May 1921, a raid by state police and state health department officers targeted "disorderly houses" - in other words, brothels - in Columbia.

Several dozen people were taken into custody, though no criminal charges were filed. As the operation was run as a "public health" effort, the women who resided in the targeted houses - as well as their male guests - were instead taken to area hospitals and tested for "social diseases."

The 17 women nabbed in the raids were quarantined at the hospital, while the 34 men were released and ordered to report back tot he hospital for testing.

The state effort to combat the "menace" of social diseases also involved placing the seven houses involved under quarantine while abatement proceedings were begun to prevent the homes from being used again for "immoral purposes."

In the headlines:

Four are murdered in ambush of Irish

'Northern lights' halt wire service

Check out the May 16, 1921, Lancaster Intelligencer here.
The Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center administered its 200,000th COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, according to the Vaccinate Lancaster Coalition.

Sheri Yohe, 47, of Lancaster, was the recipient of the 200,000th shot administered at the site since it opened on March 10, the Vaccinate Lancaster Coalition said in a news release. Yohe was greeted with a surprise gift card and applause from Vaccinate Lancaster staff.

The vaccination center, located at the former Bon-Ton department store in Park City Center, has seen a recent uptick in demand for vaccinations, with about 1,500 first doses and 2,000 second doses expected to have been administered on Saturday, according to the news release.

Its so gratifying to our partners and our entire Vaccinate Lancaster team to see such incredible support from our community, said Dr. Michael Ripchinski, the vaccination centers site director and chief clinical officer with Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, lead healthcare partner for the Vaccinate Lancaster Coalition.

The milestone coincided with the vaccination centers Armed Forces Day celebration, also the first weekend children ages 12 through 15 were eligible to be vaccinated.

How fitting that we are celebrating our 200,000th vaccination on the same day that were honoring our men and women in the Armed Forces, Ripchinski said. After all, our military service members and our veterans have given so much to this country. Today, we celebrate them while also celebrating our community members whove gotten their shot of hope  for themselves, their families and their community.

The center partnered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which had its VA Mobile Vet Center onsite in the parking lot, the Vaccinate Lancaster Coalition said. A small awards ceremony was held to honor the 50 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard who have been volunteering at the center in both clinical and nonclinical roles since mid-April.

Its an honor to partner with our community, and I think its a model for how it should be done, said Brig. Gen. Edwards Little Jr., assistant adjutant general of the Pennsylvania National Guard, who presented awards to three Guard members, as well as certificates of recognition to Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health and Rock Lititz as key partners in the Vaccinate Lancaster initiative. This is a great example of how we should all work together.

For more information on the Lancaster County Community Vaccination Center, or to schedule a vaccination appointment, visit VaccinateLancaster.org or call 717-588-1020.
A group of Hempfield School District parents was horrified after the school board approved what initially appeared to be more than $20,000 in new furniture for a suite for the districts chief financial and operations officer, Mark Brooks.

The contract, awarded to Harrisburg-based Phillips Workplace Interiors at an April school board meeting, includes upholstered office chairs at nearly $500 a piece, multiple walnut-colored desks costing more than $600 each, two $200 bookcases and a nearly $2,000 privacy wall.

The parents said in an email to LNP | LancasterOnline the decision was a slap in the face of taxpayers, the students and the teachers.

We genuinely hope that our suspicions were misguided, they said.

It turns out, the space was renovated for multiple Hempfield School District employees, not including Brooks, district spokeswoman Shannon Zimmerman said.

The space, left vacant when two social workers took their workspace from the district office at 200 Church St. in Landisville to individual school buildings, was originally meant for Brooks, who started at Hempfield just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. Brooks however, wound up planting himself a floor below where other business office employees, including Sheryl Pursel, the director of finance, are located.

The office area was then turned over to Karen Hall, the districts executive director of human resources and business operations, and her team. The human resources department had insufficient space and lacked a conference room, Zimmerman said. Meetings  sometimes involving confidential employee information  would be conducted in the district office lobby, she said.

The move made sense, Zimmerman said, though she admitted the term suite  the language used in the contract  may have caught taxpayers off guard.

The district considered cost, Zimmerman said. For example, it chose a moveable privacy wall instead of building an entire wall with drywall and the like, she said.

If you look at the options, there are a lot more expensive options, she said of the furniture, which included chairs, desks and a conference table.

Hempfield, she added, purchased the contract through the states COSTARS program, which, according to the Pennsylvania Department of General Services website, offers competitively priced contracts to public entities, like school districts, from verified suppliers.

Zimmerman could not provide the square footage for the office space in question. She also couldnt provide a photo of the space, as the district does not provide interior photos for safety and security reasons.

Notice any problems?

Email the Lancaster Watchdog at watchdog@lnpnews.com or go to LancasterOnline.com/watchdog and tell us about it.
East Earl Township police

STALKING

EAST EARL TWP.: Carrie B. Snurkowski, 42, of Downingtown, was charged with stalking, harassment and terroristic threats after using text messages and social media to stalk, harass and threaten a person with violence between Jan. 1 and May 6, police said.

East Hempfield police

ASSAULT

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: James Steffy, 38, of Nottingham, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault by vehicle, receiving stolen property, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, simple assault, reckless endangerment, three counts of driving under the influence and multiple traffic violations after crashing head-on into another vehicle in the 900 block of Roherstown Road at 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, police said.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Male students ages 15 and 16 were both charged with simple assault following an altercation at Hempfield High School at 200 Stanley Avenue on May 6, police said.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: An unknown vandal attempted to break into a coin machine at Personal Touch Car Wash at 916 Links Avenue sometime during the night of May 16-17, police said.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A piece of playground equipment was defaced with spray paint at Jenkins School at 3131 Columbia Avenue sometime between May 21 and May 25, police said.

FALSE IDENTIFICATION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: Amber Miller, 39, of Columbia, was charged with false identification to law enforcement after identifying herself as someone else to police officers at a Travelodge Motel at 2101 Columbia Avenue on May 25, police said. Miller was found to have a warrant for her arrest through the Mount Joy Borough Police Department, police said.

THEFT

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: An Easy Go Club Cart golf cart was stolen from Roots Country Market & Auction at 705 Graystone Road sometime between 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on May 18, police said.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A $600 Smith & Wesson firearm was stolen from the 2100 block of Swarr Run Road sometime between Nov. 1 and May 20, police said.

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: A $1,000 cell phone was stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the 1300 block of Hammock Way sometime between 9:15 a.m. and 9:35 a.m. on May 22, police said.

TRESPASS

EAST HEMPFIELD TWP.: An unknown person used a brick to break the window to a garage in the 1900 block of Oreville Road, causing $300 in damage, sometime between noon on May 12 and noon on May 15, police said.

Lancaster police

ASSAULT

LANCASTER: Antonio Borrero, 39, of Lancaster, was charged with simple assault after punching a woman in the face during an argument in the first block of East Ross Street at around 12:24 a.m. on May 12, police said. The woman sustained a bloody nose and bruising and swelling underneath her eyes, police said.

LANCASTER: Howard G. Shannon, 53, of Lancaster, was charged with simple assault after repeatedly punching a woman in the face until she was knocked unconscious during a domestic disturbance in the 100 block of South Water Street at 8:21 a.m. on May 12, police said. Shannon told investigators he began punching the woman after he got angry, police said. The woman sustained a 2-inch laceration on the top of her head and bruising to her face, police said.

Manheim Township police

BURGLARY

MANHEIM TWP.: An unknown person entered a residence in the 800 block of Landis Avenue through an unlocked front door, taking numerous electronics and jewelry sometime between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on May 13, police said.

DUI

MANHEIM TWP.: Paul B. Murray, 68, of Lancaster, was charged with driving under the influence after crashing his vehicle in the 300 block of Greenview Drive at 8:30 p.m. on May 8, police said. Murray had a BAC of .164%, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: Jenida A. Marshall, 36, of Lancaster, was charged with driving under the influence after crashing her vehicle at Route 222 South and Route 30 West at 2:04 a.m. on May 9, police said. Marshall had a BAC of .152%, police said.

FORGERY

MANHEIM TWP.: Two unknown men attempted to pass two counterfeit $100 bills at a Wegmans at 2000 Crossings Boulevard at 8:53 a.m. and 9:02 p.m. on May 8, police said. Both men fled without getting any items, police said.

HARASSMENT

MANHEIM TWP.: Alicia Michelle Beaston, 27, of Lancaster, was charged with harassment and criminal mischief after striking another person in the face, damaging their eyeglasses, in the 1000 block of Manheim Pike at 10 a.m. on May 5, police said.

PROPULSION OF MISSILES

MANHEIM TWP.: An unknown person threw eggs onto vehicles traveling along Route 222 from the Bushong Road overpass between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on May 9, police said. Two vehicles were struck, causing $400 in damage, though no crashes occurred, police said.

THEFT

MANHEIM TWP.: Brittni Nicole Blocher, 25, and Charles Henry Suraci, 31, both of Dover, were charged with retail theft after they were seen taking $478 worth of merchandise from a Target at 1589 Fruitville Pike at 5:54 p.m. on April 21, police said. Suraci was also charged with possessing instruments of a crime and a drug charge after he was found in possession of a magnet that was used in an attempt to defeat the stores security devices, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: Stephen M. Ogorzalek, 36, of Lancaster, was charged with retail theft, robbery and harassment after he was seen stealing $12.94 worth of merchandise from Harvest Lane Farmers Market at 851 East Oregon Road, then punching the store manager in the face, causing bleeding, bruising and swelling when he was confronted, at 1:50 p.m. on May 6, police said.

LANCASTER TWP.: A $20,000 2019 Toyota Corolla was stolen from a residential driveway in the 200 block of Elmshire Drive at 2:40 a.m. on May 9, police said.

MANHEIM TWP.: An unknown man was seen stealing $184.95 worth of Similac baby formula from a Giant Food Store at 1605 Lititz Pike at 2:59 p.m. on May 13, police said.

Northern Lancaster County Regional police

ASSAULT

WARWICK TWP.: Jay Ronald Steffy Jr., 38, of Lititz, was charged with two counts of simple assault and a drug charge after striking a man in the face and then throwing them to the floor, then brandishing a knife following an argument at a residence in the 400 block of Crosswinds Drive at 9:30 a.m. on April 25, police said.

CLAY TWP.: Josue-Daniel Tapia, 18, of Ephrata was charged with simple assault after punching a man in the chest and striking him with an aluminum-handled broom, then shaking his head vigorously by pulling his hair following an argument at a residence in the 200 block of West Church Road at 5:15 p.m. on May 10, police said.

DUI

CLAY TWP.: Titus Zimmerman Hoover, 59, of Stevens, was charged with two counts of driving under the influence after he was found swerving on a pedalcycle in the 1900 block of West Main Street near the Weaver Nut Company at 1:15 p.m. on May 13, police said. Hoover had a BAC of .279%, police said.

Susquehanna Regional police

FLEEING OR ATTEMPTING TO ELUDE AN OFFICER

EAST DONEGAL TWP.: Stephen Lloyd Sumpman Jr., 31, of Mount Joy, was charged with fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and three traffic violations after leading authorities on a short chase after he failed to pull over for a traffic stop near Routes 743 and 441 at around 5:30 a.m. on April 18, police said. Sumpman was later found at Little Dippers at 432 West Main Street in Mount Joy, police said.
Phil Weaver shut the doors to Lancaster Countys biggest restaurant on March 16, 2020, complying with an order issued by Gov. Tom Wolf to close all indoor dining establishments and bars in the hopes of curtailing a dangerous virus.

That day, Weaver said, was one of the first times he realized COVID-19 posed a serious threat. And while the governors initial order presented a significant hit to his business, it was only supposed to last two weeks -- all it would take to flatten the curve of virus infections.

Two weeks turned into two more weeks. Then it was a color-coded guideline for when counties could begin to reopen. All the while, Weavers buffet-style restaurant, Shady Maple Smorgasbord in East Earl, remained closed for indoor dining and offered limited takeout options.

The year COVID-19 shut down much of the nations economy coincided with Shady Maples 35th anniversary in business. What should have been a year-long celebration for the popular restaurant and tourist destination turned instead into a complete rethink of its operations.

How can you run a buffet in a world where touching shared objects, or even breathing the same air, could potentially expose you or others to a deadly viral disease? Answering those questions took time. Shady Maple sat closed for nearly five months before it reopened for limited service.

Its basically like restarting all over again and trying to figure out a whole new business, Weaver said.

Making those changes was the least frustrating part of 2020 for Weaver. Far worse, he said, was the silence or indifference with which Wolfs administration responded to business leaders pleas for more communication and collaboration.

For business leaders across the state, a perception that COVID-19 rules were arbitrarily issued and enforced fostered the political movement to limit the emergency powers entrusted to Pennsylvanias chief executive. Two constitutional amendments on Tuesdays primary ballot would, Weaver and other supporters say, force the governor to collaborate with the Legislature on managing emergencies in the future.

But for Wolf, these amendments would do nothing but hurt the states ability to respond to future emergencies, he said in an interview with LNP | LancasterOnline.

Were all frustrated by the pandemic. This virus really hurt our lives and our businesses, Wolf said. The problem is changing the rules isnt going to change the fact the virus really did bad things to our families and our businesses Im not sure you can make a bad situation any better by just changing the rules and hoping that is going to make things better magically.

Waiver woes

The initial jolt that set the amendment ball rolling was the Wolf administrations handling of waivers for essential businesses, allowing them to skirt pandemic lockdown orders so long as steps were taken to protect employees from the virus.

The state government revealed little about how waivers were reviewed when the program ramped up in April, and the range of businesses that received one suggested the criteria was being applied haphazardly, if at all.

We would get [constituent] questions because no one, as in the executive agency that is solely responsible, was answering, said Bryan Cutler, the Peach Bottom Republican who is Speaker of the state House of Representatives. Nobody was in the Department of Labor to answer questions; there was nobody to explain the waiver process and why one furniture maker got one but another didnt, why greenhouses couldnt open but Walmart could.

Proposed Constitutional Amendments 1 and 2 All Pennsylvanians -- no matter their political party -- are eligible to vote on four ballot questions, two of which would amend the state constitution to restrict the governors emergency powers. Question 1 on the ballot asks voters whether the General Assembly should be able to end an emergency declaration by way of a simple majority vote. Question 2 ask voters to shorten the length of an emergency declaration from 90 to 21 days, and require a governor to get approval from a simple majority in both of the Legislatures chambers each time he or she wants to renew it. A Yes vote would agree to the changes, while a No vote on both would leave the constitution -- and a governors emergency powers -- unchanged. Voters will see the following text on the ballot: Question 1: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to change existing law and increase the power of the General Assembly to unilaterally terminate or extend a disaster emergency declarationand the powers of Commonwealth agencies to address the disaster regardless of its severity pursuant to that declarationthrough passing a concurrent resolution by simple majority, thereby removing the existing check and balance of presenting a resolution to the Governor for approval or disapproval? Question 2: Shall the Pennsylvania Constitution be amended to change existing law so that: a disaster emergency declaration will expire automatically after 21 days, regardless of the severity of the emergency, unless the General Assembly takes action to extend the disaster emergency; the Governor may not declare a new disaster emergency to respond to the dangers facing the Commonwealth unless the General Assembly passes a concurrent resolution; the General Assembly enacts new laws for disaster management? Source: Pennsylvania Department of State

By mid-April, protests under the ReOpen PA banner began in Harrisburg, led by some business owners and conservative legislators who argued the COVID-19 threat had to be weighed against the hardship that lockdowns were causing.

It would have been rough no matter who was in charge, but I think if there was more transparency, it would have been easier to get with the program, said Scott Bowser, the owner of Mount Hope Estate & Winery and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Fair, who estimates his businesses lost more than $5 million during the shutdown.

When he called his legislators with questions, he said he was stunned by what he heard.

When youre trying to call your representatives and they give you answers like, I dont know, were not included, thats troublesome to me. I would have much rather there been joint task forces that worked together on a bipartisan basis as they did in the campaign to vaccinate, Bowser said.

For Sight and Sound CEO Matt Neff, the lack of collaboration was the most frustrating part. His team had already reopened by early June at Sight and Sounds theater in Branson, Missouri  but remained closed until the end of July in Lancaster. By then, the Sight and Sound staff was already well-versed in what worked to minimize contact among patrons, thanks to the flexibility of local government in Missouri leading the mitigation efforts.

Theres a lot of things at stake, peoples lives and livelihoods. It doesnt have to be an either-or, Neff said.

The Lancaster Chamber is urging its members to cast a Yes vote on these amendments -- though it acknowledges that many of the COVID-19 orders that impacted businesses fell under the purview of the Secretary of Health and not the governor, according to a May 7 email sent to its membership.

From bad to worse

Despite the angry protests led by some legislators, Pennsylvanias House and Senate were willing to cooperate on a pandemic response, according to Cutler. Pennsylvania, he noted, was the first state in the country to allow legislators to cast votes remotely. Legislators freed up dollars for emergency response and changed school laws to accommodate the years unusual circumstances -- steps taken in collaboration with Wolf and his administration.

Wolf's COVID-19 response March 6, 2020  The first presumed positive cases of COVID-19. Gov. Tom Wolf declares a state of emergency. March 13, 2020  Wolf announces that schools in Pennsylvania will be closed for at least two weeks. March 16, 2020 Wolf expands COVID-19 initially applied to counties in Pennsylvanias southeastern corner to the entire state for 14 days. Restaurants and bars are ordered halt dine-in services, visitation ends at prisons and nursing homes, travel and large gatherings are discouraged, and businesses are urged to allow employees to work from home. March 18, 2020  First COVID-19 death in Pennsylvania is recorded in Montgomery County. March 19, 2020  Wolf orders the closure of all non-life sustaining businesses and says enforcement for the order will soon begin. March 23-28, 2020  Wolf progressively issues stay at home orders for counties around the state. April 1, 2020  Wolfs stay at home orders become effective statewide for the month of April. April 3, 2020  Wolf asks Pennsylvanians to wear masks while in public April 9, 2020  Wolf closes all Pennsylvania schools through the end of the academic year. April 17, 2020  Wolf outlines his three phase reopening plan for the state. April 19, 2020  Wolf orders employees and customers at essential business to wear face masks. April 20, 2020  Hundreds gather outside the Pennsylvania capitol to protest the stay-at-home order. May 7, 2020  Wolf extends the stay-at-home order for counties in the red phase of his reopening plan until June 4, 2020. May 15, 2020  Some counties, including Lancaster, unilaterally declare they are easing COVID-19 restrictions. June 10, 2020  The legislature approves a legislation to end Wolfs emergency declaration. July 1, 2020  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules that the legislature cannot unilaterally end a governors emergency declaration, endorsing the governors ability to veto resolutions like the one passed on June 10. July 1, 2020  Wolf issues a statewide order requiring face masks to be worn in all public spaces. July 14, 2020  Wolf vetoes the June 10 legislation seeking to end the emergency declaration. July 15, 2020  Wolf reimposes restrictions in response to a rise in cases, limiting indoor dining to 25% capacity and limiting indoor gathering to 25 people. August 6, 2020  Wolf recommends all school sports be suspended until 2021. September 1, 2020  Wolf extends the states emergency declaration by 90 days. September 2, 2020  An attempt to override Wolfs veto of the June 10 bill fails to gather enough votes. September 14, 2020  U.S. District Judge William S. Stickman IV rules that Wolf's pandemic restrictions are unconstitutional. On October 1, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the governors pandemic rules to remain in place while the Wolf administration pursued an appeal of Stickmans ruling. The case is ongoing. September 27, 2020  Wolf orders that restaurants suspend alcohol sales after 11 p.m. to discourage cases among younger adults. October 6, 2020  Wolf increases crowd capacity limits for indoor and outdoor events. November 25, 2020  Wolf extends the states emergency declaration by 90 days. December 8, 2020  Wolf himself tests positive for COVID-19. December 10, 2020  Wolf issues new restrictions in response to a rise in cases. December 12, 2020 to January 4, 2021: Wolf imposed tighter restrictions as cases continue to climb. He ordered restaurants to halt indoor dining, indoor gyms were closed, indoor gatherings were limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 50 people, and in-person entertainment venues were ordered to close. Not all businesses complied with the restrictions. December 14, 2020  Pennsylvania receives its first doses of COVID-19 vaccine. February 17, 2021  Wolf extends the states emergency declaration for 90 days. March 1, 2021  Wolf increased the capacity for indoor and outdoor events. March 15, 2021  Wolf announces that starting April 4 capacity limits imposed on restaurants, bars, gyms and other indoor venues will be eased. Alcohol sales without an accompanying food purchase also can resume. March 22, 2021  The states mask mandate is revised to allow fully vaccinated people to gather without masks or social distancing. April 13, 2021  All residents 16 and older become eligible for the vaccine. May 4, 2021  Wolf announces that all COVID-19 mitigation orders would be lifted May 31, with the exception of the mask mandate, which he says will be lifted when 70% of Pennsylvania adults are fully vaccinated. May 11, 2021  Wolf announces the state will increase indoor and outdoor event capacity on May 17, allowing indoor events to operate at 50% capacity and 75% capacity for outdoor events.

But the Republican-controlled Legislatures relationship with Wolf soured quickly. As cases and deaths declined after the viruss first wave, economic restrictions remained in place. Legislators and local officials asked on a daily basis for a seat at the table, or answers to basic questions like what data Wolf was using to guide his plan for reopening the economy.

Wolf, however, said he was always communicating with lawmakers, noting that every member of leadership has him on speed dial. The problem was not a lack of collaboration, Wolf said. There was a fundamental disagreement between Republican leaders and Wolf on how to handle the pandemic.

Its the nature of an emergency, Wolf said. You need to act and youre not going to make everybody happy, but the goal is keep people safe as we possibly could, and I think we did that.

Businesses and Republican legislators said at the time that Wolf wasnt explaining the science driving his restrictions. They pointed to different metrics used in other states, and argued that the fact hospitals were not overwhelmed with cases was reason enough to lift some or all restrictions on businesses.

Wolf insisted the public health measures were based on the best advice available from medical experts. For example, the governor stressed one metric -- fewer than 50 new COVID-19 cases per day per 100,000 residents for 14 days -- as a threshold for lifting some restrictions at the county level.

Pennsylvania has some of the most extensive emergency powers in the U.S. Pennsylvanias governors enjoy unusually broad emergency powers when compared to most other states. First, the 90-day duration for orders in Pennsylvania is an outlier. Many states, including California and Utah, require a governor to obtain approval from the legislature to extend an emergency past 30 days; in South Carolina, its 15 days. Several states give their legislatures the power to end emergency declarations, including Maryland, New York and Colorado. Source: National Conference of State Legislatures

We werent even sure how the virus spread at first, Wolf said. At first we were watching surfaces, then scientists realized it spread through aerosol transmission... Im not sure how you create a hard and fast rule for anything like this.

By May, some lawmakers and county officials -- Lancaster included -- said they would unilaterally begin lifting pandemic restrictions. On May 28, frustrations built to a breaking point, as the Legislature voted to end Wolfs emergency declaration, with some Democrats supporting the move. This effort ultimately failed, with the state Supreme Court saying Wolf had the power to veto the Legislatures resolution. A subsequent veto override attempt failed.

The Lancaster lawmakers who hold leadership positions in the state Legislature say its for these reasons they moved forward to amend the state constitution.

The intent of the two amendments on Tuesdays ballot is to force governors to make the case for their emergency orders, according to Sen. Scott Martin, R-Martic Township, who sponsored the amendments.

Youve got to show what youre doing is working, youre communicating with us, and were not finding out about this when the press release comes out, Martin said.

Martin said he doesnt believe the constitutional amendments to limit the governors emergency powers would be on the ballot if Wolf had worked with the Legislature from the beginning -- though Martin still believes the emergency management laws were in need of updating no matter what.

This is something -- though it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of emergency -- our laws werent really geared toward it, Martin said. Because no one could assume that it could go on this long, and now we know there is a better, more collaborative way to deal with it.

Cutler noted the success of Wolfs legislative vaccination task force (of which Lancaster Republican Sen. Ryan Aument is a member), saying it is exactly the sort of collaboration hed been asking the administration for since the beginning of the pandemic.

Democratic legislators are standing with Wolf. Rep. Mike Sturla, the countys lone Democrat in the Legislature, said the amendments would create two levels of legislative power.

It would be easier to override a governor in the midst of a pandemic, than to override a veto for a bridge naming, Sturla said, noting that both questions on the ballot lets a simple majority of the legislature overturn a governors emergency power vs. the two-thirds majority needed to override a gubernatorial veto.

Wolf echoed this, contending that if he was really acting inappropriately, the Legislative branch would have used its constitutionally allowed process of a veto override.

If you want to make the rules easier so you dont have to reach 67% [for an override], then you strike right at the heart of the balance of powers that the American constitution, the Pennsylvania constitution weve been working with for generations, Wolf said.

Regardless of whether these amendments pass on Tuesday, the state Secretary of Health will be able to close businesses, limit occupancy and make masking orders under the states disease control laws. When asked whether this made the amendments toothless, Cutlers office deflected, saying the intent was always to ensure he collaborated with the Legislature in future disasters.

What if...

As bad as the pandemic was -- more than 26,000 deaths in Pennsylvania so far -- public health experts predict the state would have suffered many more cases and deaths if the governor had dialed back his public health orders.

Weighing the social and economic consequences of lockdowns and mandatory mitigation steps is always a prime consideration, and one of the most difficult to weigh in making public-health decisions, wrote Dr. Joseph Kontra, who leads the Infectious Diseases department at PennMedicine Lancaster General Health, in an email. It must be remembered, though, that the social and economic consequences of an uncontrolled epidemic of a potentially fatal disease can be far more devastating.

But in all this, business owners still believe they got the raw end of the deal.

Mick Owens, owner of Mick's All American Pub and Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Associations Alcohol Service Committee, was sympathetic that Wolf had a tough job in front of him at the beginning of the pandemic. But he said he found it frustrating that Wolf seemingly only made his decisions based on input from the medical community, and did not consider other impacts like mental health and the economy.

Our county isnt meant to be run by just one person, he said. One man does have to make that quick decision, but after 21 days it is no longer an emergency, it's an ongoing problem and all of our elected officials should be involved.
When: Akron Borough Council meeting, May 10.

What happened: Plans for a storybook trail in Akrons Roland Park have fallen through.

Background: Ephrata Public Library had hoped to construct the trail consisting of storyboards on 20 separate poles in the park. The library has purchased the poles and Akron Borough was asked to install them in the park. However, problems arose when Akron officials announced at the April 12 meeting they planned to recoup the labor costs estimated between $1,500 and $2,000 by deducting the amount from future library donations. The library objected to that proposal.

Whats next: The library is seeking to place the storybook trail in another municipality.

Also: Council voted to award a contract for a new website to WebTek Design and Marketing of Akron. The companys bid was for $5,500. Hosting will cost $29.95 per month, billed every six months. The company has 90 days to create the new site.

Towns history: Resident Dick Wanner addressed the status of a commemorative 125th anniversary book celebrating Akron Borough. The book is due to the printer on May 28. The books will be sold for $10 each and will be available at borough hall and at Akron Day in the Park on June 12.

Next meeting: Borough Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. May 24 at the borough hall.
Our forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East are about to recede into history at a cost of nearly 7,000 dead and more than 50,000 wounded American troops.

President Joe Biden and his national security team have shifted focus to China, the first geostrategic competitor since World War II to seriously challenge American dominance of the Asia-Pacific region, and beyond. The danger of major military confrontation with China is rising, and the potential costs could make our Middle East losses pale in comparison.

Taiwan is the most likely source of conflict. Japan took Taiwan from China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1895 and ruled it until Japans WWII defeat in 1945. Since then, Taiwan has been ruled by anti-communist governments under the name, Republic of China. A hundred miles across the Taiwan Straits lies the Peoples Republic of China  as China is officially known  established in 1949 after defeating the Nationalists who had retreated to Taiwan. Beijing, the ruling center of China, fervently holds that it will never be whole until Taiwan is reunited with the mainland.

The U.S. has played an essential role to block a forced takeover of Taiwan by Beijing. For decades we have called on Taiwan and China to work out a peaceful, mutually agreed solution to Taiwans final status. We have maintained carefully honed unofficial relations with Taiwan and provide its authorities with defensive arms to deter hostile actions by China.

We have declared that militant action by China to force the issue will be considered a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the U.S. This formulation, labeled strategic ambiguity, was crafted to make Beijing think twice before trying to take Taiwan by force. This statement has long underscored Americas commitment to resolution of Taiwans relationship with China only through mutual agreement by the two sides. It is clear that Bidens Asia advisers favor raising the level of strategic competition with China since it has risen to peer status with the U.S. as a major power in the Asia-Pacific region.

Now, many influential academics and officials recommend that the U.S. partner with Taiwan. They see it as a potentially valuable link in a strategic chain of islands off Chinas coast, stretching south from South Korea and Japan. This U.S.-allied first island chain would be a physical barrier to hinder Chinese military power projection eastward. Chinas illegal claims of sovereignty over disputed territory in the South China Sea heighten U.S. worry over Chinese challenges to Americas dominance in the region. Some advisers are considering abandonment of the formula of strategic ambiguity in favor of a firm commitment to defend Taiwan against any threat from China, and closer official political and economic ties to Taiwan.

Entwined in these arguments are praise of Taiwans vibrant democracy and free economy, in obvious contrast to Chinas communist regime and notorious human rights abuses (including, of course, its repression and mass detention of the mostly Muslim Uighurs in the region of Xinjiang). President Biden recently dispatched former senior national security officials, along with former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd to Taiwan. Biden characterized the delegation as a personal signal of his commitment to Taiwan and its democracy.

Of more practical importance, Taiwan fabricates about half of all the semiconductors used by the U.S. and the rest of the world, which enhances Taiwans value as a vital strategic asset.

China clearly fears that the U.S. is drifting toward outright support for Taiwans independence. To demonstrate its pique, Chinese fighter planes, bombers and anti-submarine aircraft have flown hundreds of sorties into Taiwans airspace in the past year. Washington has sought to counter these actions by ordering U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups and other U.S. naval ships to transit between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland on numerous sorties. At the same time, U.S. naval forces are conducting freedom of navigation exercises to challenge the illegal Chinese actions in the South China Sea where it has expanded its military presence. Tension is high.

U.S. leaders may be underestimating the danger of open-ended military conflict with a well-armed China. China would have the advantage of operating from air and naval bases very near to sites of any likely military clashes. The closest U.S. major naval and air bases are on Guam, more than 1,700 miles from Taiwan, but well within range of Chinese missiles.

In March, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan staged the administrations first senior-level bilateral meeting with Chinese diplomats in Anchorage, Alaska. Blinken did not use the occasion to explore ways to reduce tensions. On the contrary, he held news interviews beforehand to note that he would use the meeting to focus on Americas criticisms of Chinas domestic human rights violations and what he terms Chinas failure to act in accordance with the international rules-based order. Blinken did as promised in Anchorage with media present, then summoned the media back in to record the furious, lengthy response by the Chinese side.

No further high-level meetings between the U.S. and China have been announced, and Blinken has said the time is not ripe for high-level strategic dialogue with China.

Blinken is wrong. It is urgent that the Biden administration seek confidential senior-level talks with Chinese political and military officials at an early date. The most urgent topics must be to reduce current military tensions and begin to build a foundation for reducing the chance that competition becomes armed conflict. Otherwise, even an isolated, accidental armed incident on either side could lead to grievous military conflict with costly unpredictable consequences.

At best, the U.S. would find itself engaged in a new Cold War with unpredictable economic and political costs. The worst is unthinkable.

Kent M. Wiedemann is a former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia now living in Lancaster County. He was a senior foreign service officer with the U.S. State Department, and was a diplomat at a number of other posts, including in China and Taiwan. He also held senior Asia policy positions at the National Security Council, State Department and Department of Defense.
THE ISSUE

Registered voters will go to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the municipal primary election. While only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote for their parties nominees, all registered voters can weigh in on four ballot questions. As Spotlight PA has reported, the third and fourth questions on the ballot are relatively straightforward. The third question would allow for amending the Pennsylvania Constitution to enshrine discrimination protections for Pennsylvanians based on race and ethnicity. The fourth question is a statewide referendum, Spotlight PA explained, that would allow municipal fire departments or companies with paid personnel, as well as EMS companies, to apply for a loan through an existing state-run program for volunteer companies. Spotlight PA is a nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer; its partners include LNP Media Group.

Weve heard and read the multitude of complaints about Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfs leadership through this COVID-19 pandemic.

The governor and his agencies should have been more transparent, particularly regarding the commonwealths chaotic and inconsistent business waiver program during last springs lockdown and the states inadequate handling of nursing homes.

We wish  oh, how we wish  that Wolf had created an equivalent of the COVID-19 Vaccine Joint Task Force earlier in the pandemic.

A lot of the anger surrounding his handling of the pandemic might have been avoided had Wolf brought together a bipartisan group of legislative leaders to help him make decisions about lockdowns and other mitigation measures. These actions were needed to limit COVID-19s spread but had profound impacts on the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvanians. And the public perception that Wolf alone was calling the shots added fuel to the discontent during an intensely stressful time.

The vaccine task force, which includes Republican state Sen. Ryan Aument of Mount Joy, has handled thorny issues relating to vaccination and other COVID-19 mitigation measures in a smooth and cooperative way since its creation in February.

And its a truly bipartisan effort. Its effectiveness should serve as a lesson to future governors faced with crises of any sort.

One of the reasons the task force has worked is because of its compact size. Its members are Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Randy Padfield, as well as representatives of each of the state Democratic and Republican House and Senate caucuses. Thats six people working with the governor.

Not 253 lawmakers more inclined to squabbling and squandering time than leading.

Which brings us to the first two questions on Tuesdays municipal primary ballot.

The questions

As Spotlight PA explained, only Pennsylvanias governor can currently end a disaster declaration, like the one the state is currently under to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. State law gives the General Assembly the option to pass a resolution to terminate the declaration, though the state Supreme Court ruled last year the governor still gets the final say. The Legislature can overturn a governors veto with support from two-thirds of members.

Proposed constitutional amendment No. 1 on Tuesdays ballot would allow a majority of lawmakers to terminate an emergency declaration at any time, without the governors consent.

Proposed constitutional amendment No. 2 asks voters to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to limit a disaster declaration to 21 days, Spotlight PA reported. It could only then be continued with the consent of the Legislature.

Now, a disaster declaration lasts 90 days and can be renewed as many times as deemed necessary by the governor, Spotlight PA noted. This proposed amendment would also prevent the governor from issuing a new disaster declaration based on the same or similar facts.

On its face, this sounds reasonable, right? Take major, life-altering decisions out of the hands of just one person and put it in the hands of the state Legislature?

Except: Have you met this Legislature?

The members of the vaccine task force are hardworking, sensible people who take seriously the duties of their elective offices. There are other such legislators in Harrisburg, too.

But not all of them fit this description.

Tough decisions

Imagine putting life-and-death decisions in the hands of someone like Republican state Rep. Russ Diamond, of Lebanon County.

Diamond has treated COVID-19 as if it were a joke and not a vicious, capricious infectious disease that has claimed the lives of more than 26,000 Pennsylvanians  including 1,026 Lancaster County residents, as of early Friday afternoon.

Diamond waged a publicity-seeking campaign against mask-wearing  when masks were our most effective weapon against the novel coronavirus  and falsely described COVID-19 vaccines on social media as poison.

Diamond is a menace to public health. So, too, are Republican state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Butler County and state Sen. Doug Mastriano of Adams and Franklin counties, who falsely have claimed that Pennsylvanians would be required to get the vaccines, according to WITF reporting.

Mastriano has denounced COVID-19 mitigation measures as tyranny, and has perpetuated debunked conspiracy theories and lies about vaccination and COVID-19.

Similarly irresponsible nonsense has been perpetuated by other state lawmakers, too.

Making our future health and safety the responsibility of the General Assembly doesnt seem prudent.

We are talking about a legislative body that is bloated and overcompensated but cant even make the tough but necessary  and long-overdue  decision to curtail its own size or spending. Do lawmakers have the political courage to make difficult decisions in the throes of a crisis, when data must be considered quickly, urgent tasks must be assigned and lives are at stake?

As Spotlight PA reported in February, the state Legislature failed in 2020 to address some of Pennsylvanians most pressing needs related to the pandemic.

Only 27 of the 140 bills passed by the Legislature and signed by Wolf in 2020 directly addressed problems brought on by the pandemic, Spotlight PA reported. Left on the table were relief measures that had wide bipartisan support. Renters and home owners in the state, for instance, missed out on $108 million in aid because Republican leadership in the Senate failed to advance fixes to a broken state program.

Instead, Spotlight PA noted, the GOP-controlled chambers spent large portions of the spring, summer, and fall challenging Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfs expanded powers.

The Legislature should have fixed its own House  and Senate  instead of focusing on the executive branch. It had its own work to do and generally failed to do it.

Of the two proposed constitutional amendments on Tuesdays ballot relating to a governors emergency powers, the second one strikes us as a bit more reasonable than the first.

But even that proposal is problematic. Crises like pandemics arent resolved in 21 days. And an inefficient, work-shy Legislature  which seems to only call itself full time so it can be compensated accordingly  isnt exactly the kind of responsive, nimble decision-maker one would want in a crisis.

Has Wolf made some mistakes? Yes. As we noted in an editorial last May, the governor vetoed legislation that would have reopened an economic sector  real estate, for instance  and then moved unilaterally on that front. He repeatedly chose executive action over collaboration  the kind of collaboration a joint task force would have provided.

But no one can say Wolf has lacked the courage to make tough calls for the sake of public health that we believe other politicians would be afraid to make.

As LNP | LancasterOnline reader Christopher DeWalt of Strasburg wrote in Wednesdays edition, a slow group of legislators is worse in emergency response than the executive prerogative.

Partisan squabbling and divergent priorities delay emergency responses  and real people suffer, DeWalt wisely wrote. The executive (with input from the legislative) is the only branch in a position to swiftly ease suffering.

There are better ways to ensure cooperation in government than placing an artificial, arbitrary time limit on a governors emergency powers. In proposing these constitutional amendments, lawmakers are doing the exactly wrong thing: They are politicizing matters of public health and safety.
Ida Woodyard was the auxiliary's chaplain in 1902. Her husband, Andrew, served aboard two different naval vessels, the Allegheny and the Crusader, according to official records. His gravestone says he served as a "steerage cook." Some of the least desirable jobs in the military were assigned to black soldiers and sailors during the war. At the beginning of their service, the government paid them less than their white counterparts, but for those who had been slaves before they enlisted, fighting for their country in wartime guaranteed they would return home as free men.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2021

Your Life, and Mankinds Existence, Depend on Global Mobilization for Modern Health Facilities in Every Nation

May 15, 2021 (EIRNS)There have been other moments like the current one in the history of Western civilization.

In the 1330s, Europe fell into general warfare, and within a decade the Black Death, Bubonic Plague, swept through the entire region, wiping out 20 million people, one-third of the populationand yet the wars raged on.

In 1914, the nations of Europe had formed into blocs, threatening each other with war, but not expecting war to break out. Of course, it did, and another 20 million souls were needlessly sacrificed to Mars, the God of War. Although the war was ending in 1918, yet another plague, the so-called Spanish Flu, broke out among the soldiers and the immiserated civilians among the wreckage of war, and soon 500 million peopleone-third of the worlds populationbecame infected with the virus, with 50 million dead worldwide.

Are we walking, morally self-blindfolded, into yet another world war, this time with a deadly pandemic already in progress, brought on by decades of little wars and economic decay? Why did the populations of the 1330s and 1914 not foresee the horror of the wars and pandemics they were about to endure? You must ask yourself that question, and more importantly, reflect on your own actions, or non-actions, in the face of the crisis today.

The Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche and former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders initiated the Committee on the Coincidence of Opposites in June 2020, to address the global strategic and social crisis. The Committee released an emergency call on May 14, to all peoples and all nations, titled: Global Health Security Requires Medical Infrastructure in Every CountryMajor Industrial Nations Must Collaborate Now! The call presents a picture of the drastic situation facing civilization today, stating: our response to the pandemic, seen in these terms, is a question of existential importance to the human species. It requires the cooperation of all major industrialized nations. A new paradigm of coordination among the United States, China, Russia and others is central.

It is no hyperbole to declare this an existential crisis. Again, ask yourself, what should the people of 1330 and 2014 have done, and what must you do today? This is not a question of charity. It is not hand-outs, even food and medicine hand-outsas desperately as that is neededwhich can stop the onrushing holocaust. Decadesnay, centuriesof neglect of major portions of the human race, the looting of their resources by the colonial powers, the artificial debt slavery in the neo-colonial IMF/World Bank era, and now the endless regime change wars and sanctions imposed by decaying trans-Atlantic powers, frantically trying to prevent the emergence of China as a modern nation while demonizing Russia, accusing them both of aggression when they exercise their military forces within their own boundaries, while surrounded by nuclear armed, hostile forces from nations thousands of miles away.

Consider that the Director of the U.S. State Departments Office of International Religious Freedom, Daniel Nadel, this week declared that the Chinese government had turned the entire region of Xinjiang into an open-air prison. Of course, all people of Xinjiang are free to come and go from Xinjiang, visitors from anywhere in the world are welcome. The Muslim people there have more mosques per capita than any other region in the world, while abject poverty has been eliminated. Compare that to Gaza, whose 2 million people, Muslims and Christians, have truly been held in an open-air prison, blockaded on all sides, lacking in electricity, food, and clean water for years, and now being bombarded daily, even high rise apartment buildings being demolished by bombs from a modern air force, leaving thousands dead or injured and many thousands homeless. The health system was already crushed by COVID-19, and is now unable to care for the wounded. The President and the Secretary of State of the United States commented only that Israel has a right to self-defense. What rung of Dantes Inferno do such rulers have to look forward to?

Circulate the call from the Committee on the Coincidence of Opposites linked here to everyone you know, to your political representatives, to your unions and businesses. Without a modern health care system in every country, millions more will die, while the mutations which emerge from the uncontrolled spread, as in India today and Africa tomorrow, will render the vaccines being hoarded in the U.S. ineffective. Building a modern health system in every country will require massive supplies of energyprecisely what the genocidal Green New Deal intends to prevent. It will require clean water sources and modern transportation. Only if the worlds leading nations come together, doing away with British imperial geopolitics once and for all, can such a massive new Renaissance come about. The alternative is unthinkable.
California Weighing Issues Around New CDC Masking Guidelines

Californias governor said Friday that his office is weighing issues of enforcement and workplace safety in considering whether and when to adopt the latest federal guidelines around masking.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said his office has been talking with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local health officers and other states since the CDCs announcement Thursday calling for fully vaccinated people to skip face coverings and social distancing in most situations.

The agencys guidelines still call for people to wear masks in crowded indoor settings, such as buses, planes, hospitals and prisons, and says residents should follow local rules.

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But Newsom says he doesnt know what the federal guidelines would look like in schools, where younger children are not yet able to get vaccinated, and what happens if businesses want to require masks.

Theres a whole host of complexities that we all have to work through, Newsom said when asked of the guidelines at a budget briefing. He said some governors are quick to default to the CDC guidelines, but now are starting to appreciate some of the nuances and complexities around enforcement or lack thereof.

The state is on track to fully reopen its economy next month, signaling an end to most pandemic restrictions, with infection rates at record lows and more people inoculated against the coronavirus. On Thursday, the state began allowing children 12 to 15 to receive the vaccine.

The CDCs announcement raised more questions for some health officials, including Dr. Barbara Ferrer, public health director for Los Angeles County, home to about one-quarter of the states nearly 40 million people.

I think that the question thats top of mind for many people is: What does this mean when people are going around their day-to-day business? she said. The big issue that were facing is making sure were still able to protect our workers.

At least 60% of residents 16 and older are partially vaccinated in California. But the percentages of people vaccinated vary widely by county and across the country. Theres also no way to know who is vaccinated or who is just saying they are.

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I think this is early, Marin County public health officer Dr. Matt Willis said on San Franciscos KGO-TV. Frankly, the idea of people not covering their faces indoors when theyre gathered together, its concerning that there would be ongoing transmission.

In California, people who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask outdoors unless at crowded events. But they still have to wear a mask indoors unless meeting with other vaccinated people. The state has a number of other rules for businesses and other public places that vary by county based on the prevalence of the virus.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this week that in June residents will not be wearing face coverings except for at large-scale indoor convention events. But the next day, he said the state is likely to have guidelines and mandates for wearing masks indoors after the state fully reopens.

Disability rights activist Sascha Bittner, 47, has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and survived lymphoma. She plans to keep wearing a mask and stay away from people she doesnt know unless she is certain shes in a place where everyone else is vaccinated.

She wishes the Biden administration had waited until more people had been vaccinated nationally.

I will mask up and keep socially distanced for as long as I see fit. I also wont be around people lax in their protocols yet, the San Francisco resident said by email. Im just not there yet, and I REALLY hope people will see we arent quite there yet.

Berkeley resident Justin Grant said he wishes the federal government had loosened outdoor masking rules earlier, given that all the scientific research hes seen shows that outdoor masking is completely unnecessary.

He waited Thursday at a Walgreens pharmacy with his 13-year-old daughter, who had just received her vaccination. She wanted the shot so she can hang out with her friends, he said, and he had no hesitation letting her get the vaccine, given that he trusts the science. She can visit with friends two weeks after her second shot, when shes fully vaccinated, he said.

Counties say nothing has changed as they wait for the state to give direction.

As more people are vaccinated and case counts decrease it is natural for some of the regulations to loosen, but that is not greenlight to be reckless. Situational awareness is important, said San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher.
Gas Crunch from Cyberattack Intensifies in Nations Capital

Gas shortages at the pumps have spread from the South, all but emptying stations in Washington, D.C., following a ransomware cyberattack that forced a shutdown of the nations largest gasoline pipeline. Though the pipeline operator paid a ransom, restoring service was taking time.

As Georgia-based Colonial Pipeline reported making substantial progress in restoring full service, two people briefed on the matter confirmed that the company had paid the criminals a ransom of about $5 million in cryptocurrency for the software decryption key required to unscramble their data network. The people spoke on condition they not be further identified because they were not authorized to divulge the information. Bloomberg first reported the payment.

President Joe Biden, when asked by a reporter on Thursday if he had been briefed about the ransom payment, said I have no comment on that.

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Biden also said that his administration will pursue a measure to disrupt their ability to operate. And our Justice Department has launched a new task force dedicated to prosecuting ransomware hackers to the full extent of the law.

The tracking service GasBuddy.com on Friday showed that 88% of gas stations were out of fuel in the nations capital, about half were out in Virginia and 42% of Maryland stations were dry. Nearly 70% of stations were without gas in North Carolina, and about half were tapped out in Georgia and South Carolina.

Colonial said Thursday that operations had restarted and gasoline deliveries were being made in all of its markets, but it would take several days to return to normal, and some areas may experience intermittent service interruptions during this start-up period.

A gas station owner in Virginia said panic buying is the problem.

Its like a frenzy, Barry Rieger, who owns a gas station in Burke, Virginia, told WJLA-TV.

In North Carolina, at least five school systems canceled in-person learning on Friday as the gasoline supply crisis continued. Wake County, with the largest school system in North Carolina, emailed parents citing the impact of the gas shortage on staffing availability and student transportation.

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Businesses were also feeling the sting.

At Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia, maintenance and safety vehicles have to be filled up, but all the gas stations close to use  within a mile of us  are out of gas, said Mia Green, the tracks general manager. Shes heard of racetracks that canceled this weekends races because crews might not be able to get there due to gas shortages.

Many authorities are warning of the dangers of hoarding gas.

In South Carolina, a woman was severely burned after flipping a car that a deputy tried to pull over for a suspected stolen license plate Thursday night. The fire touched off multiple explosions due to fuel that she was hoarding in the trunk of the vehicle, a Pickens County sheriffs statement said.

In Florida, a 2004 Hummer was destroyed by fire Wednesday shortly after the driver had filled up four 5-gallon (18-liter) gas containers in Homosassa, according to Citrus County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Courtney Marsh. Firefighters doused the blaze and found the melted gas containers. One man was injured, but refused medical treatment, she said.

A cyberattack by hackers who lock up computer systems and demand a ransom to release them hit the pipeline on May 7. The hackers didnt take control of the pipelines operations, but Colonial shut it down to prevent the malware from impacting its industrial control systems.

Biden said U.S. officials do not believe the Russian government was involved, but said we do have strong reason to believe that the criminals who did the attack are living in Russia. Thats where it came from.

Biden has promised aggressive action against DarkSide, the Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate responsible for the attack. The syndicates public-facing darknet site went offline on Thursday and its administrator said in a cybercriminal forum post that the group had lost access to it.

This does not necessarily mean U.S. or allied cyberjockeys knocked it offline. Cybersecurity experts said that DarkSide, which rents out its ransomware to partners to carry out the actual attacks, could have taken it down to prevent Western law enforcement from tracking down the rest of its infrastructure.

And just because DarkSides public-facing structure is offline doesnt mean its backend operations have been impacted, said Alex Holden, the founder of Hold Security, who closely monitors the cybercriminal underground.

DarkSides main servers are alive, said analyst Yelisey Boguslavskiy of the cybersecurity firm Advanced Intelligence. While the servers are hidden, encrypted traffic to and from them is being monitored by threat hunters, he said.

DarkSide stole information from Colonials network prior to locking up the data on Friday. Its not known how long the cybercriminals were inside the network. DarkSide is among the ransomware gangs that employ double extortion, threatening to dump online sensitive data they steal before activating the ransomware. In Colonials case, that could potentially include data on contracts with suppliers that would be of keen interest to stock and commodities traders.

DarkSide, in fact, recently offered to share data stolen from victims with inside traders.

It would not be surprising if DarkSide were to disappear, experts noted. Ransomware gangs have dissolved and `rebranded under different names in the past when the heat was on.

The Colonial Pipeline system stretches from Texas to New Jersey and delivers about 45% of the gasoline consumed on the East Coast.

We are not out of the woods yet, but the trees are thinning out, Richard Joswick, global head of oil analytics at S&P Global Platts, said.

Gas stations should be back to normal next week if the pipeline restart goes as planned and consumers are convinced they no longer need to panic-buy fuel, Joswick said. Full recovery would take several more weeks, he estimated.
Maxine Waters Threatens To Sue Fox News Over Flight Report

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, threatened legal action today against Fox News for a story that claimed Waters and other members of Congress were abusing a program created after 9/11 to protect the flying public by assigning air marshals to certain domestic flights.

According to the Fox News story, a complaint filed with the House Committee on Ethics alleges that Waters flew from Washington, D.C., to Minneapolis on April 17 to attend the trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering George Floyd. The complaint says Waters was accompanied by two armed Capitol Police and two U.S. Secret Service agents, but allegedly requested two federal air marshals and two more marshals once the plane touched down to escort her in the airport.

U.S. Capitol Police and Secret Service officials denied those claims, telling Fox News that neither agency provided in-flight protection for Waters.In a recent article by Fox News, reporters William La Jeunesse and Lee Ross cited sources that falsely claimed I was accompanied by two armed Capitol Police and two U.S. Secret Service agents on an April 17 flight, that I requested a total of four U.S. Air Marshals, and used government resources for my travels, Waters said in a statement Saturday.

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Variations of this article and false claim were then published by the New York Post and the Daily Mail. Each and every one of these claims is an absolute lie. Let it be made clear that I have never requested or utilized any Capitol Police, Secret Service, or U.S. Air Marshal presence on that flight or any of my flights.

Waters added that following her trip to Minnesota, I became aware that documents outlining a security threat assessment that included my flight number and other travel information was leaked to TownHall, a right-wing media outlet.

It was then subsequently shared by Fox News, the New York Post, the Post Millennial, and other outlets where it was falsely claimed that the document indicated I had requested police protection during my trip. Again, this is an absolute lie.  This leak of my travel information and operational and threat assessment information is deeply disturbing and puts my life at risk.

Waters, 82, went on to say: As a result of Foxs willingness to lie and deceive its audience, I am now considering a lawsuit against Fox News and demand an immediate retraction of the article. Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The air marshal program was created after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to protect the flying public. Fox News reported that after this years Capitol riot on Jan. 6, some members of Congress began requesting extra security when they traveled back to their home districts and to other destinations as well.

Following the events of January 6th at the U.S. Capitol, the Transportation Security Administration enhanced security and law enforcement presence throughout the transportation system to include airports and aboard aircraft to protect the traveling public, including Members of Congress, the TSA told Fox News.

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On March 2, Waters office said the longtime congresswoman has been the target of at least two death threats being investigated by Capitol Police detectives.

According to her office, a man from Kansas left a profane and racist message for Waters on Dec. 15 that included the words, I got an AK47 and Ill use it if I have to.

On Feb. 8, a man from Mississippi called the congresswomans district office and left a similar message threatening Waters, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-San Francisco, according to her staff.

A statement from Waters office said the Capitol Police were investigating both the call from Kansas and Mississippi, along with a few other menacing calls made to her office within the past several weeks.
Sales of costly homes have been booming in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai during the coronavirus health crisis.

People from Europe and the United States have been moving to the city, which is one of the United Arab Emirates. They say it is because the city follows a business as usual policy.

Christophe Reech is a wealthy French businessman who lived in London for nearly 30 years. But when Britain put in place restrictions because of COVID-19, he decided it was time to leave.

In Dubai, he said, the plan for dealing with the virus is simple: Lets make sure everyones vaccinated and keep everything open.

Of course that attracts people like me, he said.

The U.A.E. is mainly using a vaccine from China to protect people from the virus. The country has a population of about 9 million and has provided over 10 million vaccine doses so far. Other vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca are also available.

Dubai reopened to tourists last summer. It had a sharp increase in virus cases in January. But, unlike some countries, not very many people in the U.A.E. died.

The country used to be a place for rich people from the Middle East and Africa. Now people are coming from places like China, Russia, India and Europe. One reason is that it is easy to get vaccinated.

Reech was able to get an appointment for the Pfizer vaccine as soon as he arrived. In London, the waiting list was four months long.

It is also easy for foreigners to get permission to live in the U.A.E. The country is offering visas for people who are able to work using the internet.

In the past, some westerners worried about moving to Dubai because of its Islamic laws. But recently the country changed its rules to permit people from other parts of the world to observe some of their own laws and traditions. For example, it used to be illegal for men and women who were not married to live together.

These changes made some people think about moving to Dubai: a busy city with beaches, bars, restaurants and tall buildings on the Persian Gulf.

In March, a home in one of the citys rich neighborhoods was sold to a family from Switzerland for over $30 million. Less costly homes are being bought at record rates. Ninety homes worth over $2 million changed hands in April.

But there are some signs that the housing boom is ending.

Prices for space in the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, have fallen nearly 70 percent from their height in 2013. Prices are falling in other buildings, too.

Home sales experts say there are now too many places to live in Dubai. Jackie Johns is a home sales expert. She said the boom time  can run too quickly and it all falls apart.

Matthew Cooke works for a business that sells costly homes. He said people are buying without thinking too much about the future.

Robert Mogielnicki studies the Middle East at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C.

He said a property boom does not usually hurt rich people. If the market changes, they are in a good position.

The people who lose out are on the lower end, Mogielnicki said.

Im Dan Friedell.

Isabel Debre wrote this story for the Associated Press. Dan Friedell adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

Would you spend $30 million for a home in Dubai? Tell us in the Comments Section and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

boom v. to grow or expand suddenly

vaccine n. a substance that is usually injected into a person or animal to protect against a particular disease

dose  n. the amount of a medicine, drug or vitamin that is taken at one time

tourist n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure

attract v. to cause (someone) to like or be interested in something

change hands v. to move in ownership from one person to another


One year ago, college graduates in the U.S. were worried about their futures.

After four years of study, they were ready to find jobs. But the economy was weak because of restrictions on businesses and travel meant to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.

Few employers were offering jobs. Some students found that promises of work were cancelled. Many 2020 graduates stayed at home for the last year, wondering when they would begin their careers.

Now, however, college students are about to graduate into an economy that is coming back to life. Alycia St. Germain is one example. She is graduating soon from the University of Minnesota. Last year, she lost a part-time job at a bookstore when many businesses closed because of the pandemic.

This year, she already has plans for a new job when she graduates. After studying child psychology, she will be working at a new child-care center in St. Paul, one of the large cities in Minnesota.

This is probably the most positive thing that could happen, she said.

Things seem to have worked out for St. Germain. But for other students it will not be so easy to find a job. Lots of 2020 graduates are looking for jobs, too.

Many businesses are now looking for workers. Restaurants are offering extra money and other perks. Chipotle is a restaurant that serves Mexican food. It has over 2,500 restaurants in the U.S. It recently announced that it will help pay for college for those who stay in their jobs for 120 days. Dominos, a pizza delivery company, is offering people who live near Washington, D.C. a $500 bonus to start working with the company.

Recession difficulties

Some economists say the United States is coming out of the pandemic recession so quickly that many businesses are having trouble finding qualified workers.

In March, U.S. employers added over 700,000 jobs. In April, the number was 266,000. That result was lower than economists expected. But jobs are still being offered faster than before the pandemic. Many jobs are in businesses that are looking for college graduates.

Brad Hershbein is an economist for the Upjohn Institute in Michigan. He said this recession will not be as bad as others for new college graduates. Jobs that college graduates can do from home are becoming available. He said it may be harder for people without college degrees.

Elise Gould is an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. While there are a lot of jobs, she said, it may still be hard for some college graduates to find just the right job.

Because there is a large pool of unemployed workers, companies can pick exactly who they want and skip over people with less experience.

During a recession, some college graduates take lower-paying jobs. The jobs do not always require a degree. The problem with young people taking these jobs is that they will likely make less money for the first 10 years of their career.

Good opportunities exist

But experts say there are many good jobs out there for people just starting. Sheila Jordan is the chief digital technology officer for Honeywell, a large American manufacturer. Jordan said she hopes to employ current students and those about to graduate as trainees. They are called interns. She then hopes to hire them again as employees once they graduate or finish training. She said she is looking for students who have experience with computer software, data analysis and computer security.

Thats a feeder group for us, she said about the students.

Some students feel good about the future. Dominique Davis is about to finish school at Tennessee State University. She was an intern, or a trainee, for the carmaker Toyota. She worked at the companys American headquarters in Texas in 2019. She continued her internship last summer from her parents home in Illinois.

Although she was working in another state, she made an effort to meet people at Toyota by making a lot of video calls. She even talked with the vice president of her department almost every day.

I think I networked even more this term than being in the building, she said. It forces you to reach out. Its less awkward

Meeting new people to expand your career is called networking.

Davis is planning to go to graduate school next year. But she said she knows schoolmates who are looking for a job and are going into a difficult time.

I have heard of multiple students who are having trouble getting interviews or internships, Davis said.

Some still struggling

There have been fewer job choices for students who are looking for careers in other countries or in organizations like museums. Foreign travel and public spaces have mostly been closed for more than a year.

Lucius Giannini graduated last year and wanted to work for the Peace Corps or teach English outside of the U.S. Most foreign travel was impossible during the pandemic. His schoolmate, Natalie Naranjo-Morett will graduate next month from the University of California in San Diego. She studied history. She said it has been hard to find jobs at museums or other places where she can put to use what she learned in school.

A study by the American Alliance of Museums said about one-third of museums are worried about their future. Some think they may close for good by the autumn.

Naranjo-Morett said there are not many openings for people with a degree like hers.

Its so difficult at this point, I kind of would go for anything, she said.

Im Dan Friedell.

Travis Loller and Christopher Rugaber wrote this story for the Associated Press. Dan Friedell adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

How is it for new graduates where you live? Tell us in the Comments Section and visit our Facebook page. Quiz - Job Market is Better than One Year Ago for New College Graduates Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

career n. a job or profession that someone has for a long time

psychology n. the science or study of the mind and behavior

pick --v. to choose or select from a group

analysis n. the careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do and how they relate to each other

perks n. something extra that someone receives in addition to regular pay for doing a job  usually plural

bonus  n. an extra amount of money that is given to an employee

skip v. to pass over or leave out (something)

pool n. a supply of things or people that are available for use

feedern. a system that moves one thing to another

awkwardadj. not socially graceful or confident
The once-empty steps outside New York Citys Metropolitan Museum of Art are filling up with visitors. Near the financial area, people again are taking selfies with the Charging Bull of Wall Street.

As pandemic restrictions ease, visitors who left the citys museums, hotels and other attractions a year ago are now slowly returning. But there is still a long way to go before the citys Broadway theater area will be filled with international travelers.

Lately, however, the number of hotel guests and museum visitors have increased due to American travelers and those on a one-day trip to the city.

Ive always wanted to come to New York, just because Ive watched the movies, said Chazmin Fuhrer. A first-time visitor from Concord, California, she came into the city for a few days to celebrate a friends birthday.

Sitting at a table in Times Square, Fuhrer said she knew it was not as busy as usual, but she was not concerned.

Its kind of nice without a lot of people out, she said, as three street performers started their dance moves nearby.

City officials are pleased, even though New York City recently experienced a violent gun incident that killed three people.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said after the shooting that New York City is very safe. He added, In the end, people want to come to this city.

In 2019, an estimated 67 million people visited the city. Last year, that number fell to a little more than 22 million as the virus began spreading in March.

Restaurants, stores as well as some hotels were forced to close. In late spring, social unrest over racial injustice led to two days of property destruction and some stealing. And then-president Donald Trump loudly criticized the city.

After a difficult year, things are starting to look better.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example, has reached 9,000 visitors on some recent days. That is still far less than the 25,000 people who visited the museum during one of its busiest days before the pandemic. And visitors are again riding the ferry from the southern edge of Manhattan to the Statue of Liberty.

Rafael Abreu is vice president for marketing at Statue Cruise, a ferry service that brings visitors to the statue. He said it had been fairly slow through February, but visitors had risen in March and April to about 25 to 30 percent of pre-pandemic times.

In the last few weeks, hotel occupancy in the city has gone up to nearly 50 percent of pre-pandemic numbers. New hotels are opening and the number of rooms is expected to reach 118,000 by the end of the year, said Fred Dixon. He is president of the citys tourism agency.

Its just really wonderful, Dixon said, adding its given us a lot of hope.

City and state officials in recent weeks have been making moves to open the city up as much as possible.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the citys subway system would return to 24-hour service in mid-May. Restrictions on businesses are being lifted. A social distance of 2 meters is still required.

De Blasio last month announced a $30 million tourism marketing campaign that will launch in June.

The city and state are also setting up vaccination areas to offer free shots to tourists. De Blasio says he has a message for tourists.

Come here. Its safe. Its a great place to be and were going to take care of you, he said.

Im Susan Shand.

The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

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Words in This Story

selfie  n. a self-portrait taken with a phone camera

tourist  n. one who visits a place for pleasure

ferry  n. a boat that takes passengers short distances

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Working as a teacher was Bill Mathis top goal. It was his dream job.

But he quit his job at a school near Detroit in the state of Michigan last August. His school district was returning to in-person classes. But Mathis said he did not feel like it was safe enough. He was especially worried about his wife, who has the disease lupus.

What about us and our families? he asked school officials.

The 29-year-old teacher felt few in the community understood his concerns. Good riddance, one person told him.

His story is just one showing the struggles of American government workers known as public servants.

Jobs like teaching, firefighting, policing, government and social work have offered people the chance to give back to their communities. These jobs often earn good pay and benefits.

Opinion studies show public support for medical caregivers and teachers. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, firefighters had strong support.

But many public servants no longer feel like they have the support of their communities.

Many are overworked and feel very tired in systems that do not have enough workers. There is a shortage of teachers in Michigan and many other states. In cities like New York, Cincinnati and Seattle, there are not enough police. Many of these workers suffer from mental health problems, addiction and even suicide, especially among first responders.

Before the coronavirus health crisis, researchers found in 2018 that about half of American public servants said they were extremely tired, or burned out. That is compared with 20 percent of workers in all fields.

Adding to the problem, few young people work in public service careers. The Partnership for Public Service is a nonprofit organization that supports effective government. Their research shows that just six percent of people in public service jobs are younger than age 30 and about 45 percent are older than 50.

The pandemic has only intensified that situation.

Elizabeth Linos is a behavioral scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies public workers. The workload is up. Financial security is down, she said.

Linos research includes 911 emergency operators, doctors and others. She said studies during the pandemic have found that anxiety rates for frontline workers are 20 times higher than usual. Ive really never seen anything like it, she said.

During the 2008 Great Recession, feelings against labor unions became common. Once, Detroit had been an area of strong support for labor unions. But some people in Detroit blamed labor organizations for troubles in the auto industry. That feeling has grown to include unions that represent public servants, including teachers.

Tim Deegan is from Waterford, Michigan. He manages a pizza restaurant. They protect bad behavior, and they punish good behavior, he said of unions. He said he has no union protections for a job where he often works 60 hours a week.

Deegan took part in a social media discussion about Michigan teachers who were retiring early. He said that online teaching has been poor and that teachers have phoned it in, or have not cared, for years.

Mathis said he was thanked early on in the pandemic by tired parents who were forced to teach their children at home. This time last year, we were heroes, he said. Now, not so much.

Derek Lies, a father of two, said he supported the teachers at first. But when the union argued against returning to in-person learning, my sympathy went away, he said.

Sue Ziel is a teacher in Mathis district and a union leader.

Why were we the enemy? she said. You cant love a teacher and hate a union because its the same thing.

Kevin Edmond is the fire chief of Sterling Heights, Michigan. He said his department is making more of an effort to address problems of mental health and addiction. Edmond said he gives time off to employees who respond to deadly fires and other serious events.

Edmond has been a firefighter for 35 years. He said younger workers are more open to the departments mental health and support programs.

When I first started, there wasnt such a thingIt was basically youll get over it, he said. Unfortunately, because of our profession, we see a lot of bad things.

The number of workers in the fire department has remained the same since the mid-1990s. However, the department now makes more than three times as many calls.

Bringing young people to public service jobs can be difficult. Linos, the UC-Berkeley researcher, said todays young people are finding other ways to do good  and make more money doing it.

She said that both the private and non-profit fields have used their own message of public service to attract workers.

They are saying, Come change the world, right? Linos said. So what government may have lost is the monopoly on public service.

The day Mathis told his students he was leaving was one the hardest days of my life, he said. He now works in the states growing marijuana industry.

He doubts he will return to teaching. He said Michigan school districts have had to hire people who are not well trained for the job.

It really hurts me to say -- Im happy that I left teaching, he said.

Im Jill Robbins.

Martha Irvine reported this story for the Associated Press. Dan Novak adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.

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Words in This Story

good riddance  n. used to say that you are glad that someone is leaving or that something has gone

public servant  n. a government official or employee

first responder  n. a person (such as a police officer or an EMT) who is among those responsible for going immediately to the scene of an accident or emergency to provide assistance

anxiety  n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

terrifying  adj. causing great fear

monopoly  n. complete control of the entire supply of goods or of a service in a certain area or market

benefits  n.(pl.) something extra that is given by an employer to workers in addition to their pay

addiction  n. a strong and harmful need to have something or do something

manage  v. to have control of something such as a business, team or department
In Israel, Hady Amr, a deputy assistant dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to de-escalate the crisis, met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who thanked the U.S. for its support.

Blinken himself headed out on an unrelated tour of Nordic countries, with no announced plans to stop in the Middle East in response to the crisis. He made calls from the plane to Egypt and other nations working to broker a cease-fire, telling Egypt that all parties should de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence.

Rep. Adam Schiff, Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, urged Biden on Sunday to step up pressure on both sides to end current fighting and revive talks to resolve Israel's conflicts and flashpoints with the Palestinians.

I think the administration needs to push harder on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to stop the violence, bring about a cease-fire, end these hostilities, and get back to a process of trying to resolve this long-standing conflict, Schiff, a California Democrat, told CBS's Face the Nation.
At some point, after some time had passed, what we saw is this suspect grabbed the victim, apparently by her hair, and motioned as if he was going to stab her with a large knife that he had in his hand, Harrison said.
John Lindsey is Pacific Gas and Electric Co.s Diablo Canyon Power Plant marine meteorologist and a media relations representative. Email him at pgeweather@pge.com or follow him on Twitter @PGE_John.
Members of a congressional delegation and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. have lunch and discuss new female body armor on April 30, 2021, at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. The new female body armor, part of the Air Forces continued progress in innovation, is an improvement to the Airmans quality of life and ability to complete their mission.
The case against him was never what you'd call ironclad. No physical evidence tied him to the crime. The centerpiece of the prosecution's case was a confession Mr. McCollum, then a 19-year-old said to have the mentality of a child 10 years younger, gave with no lawyer present after five hours of questioning. "I had never been under this much pressure," he told the News & Observer newspaper in a videotaped death row interview, "with a person hollering at me and threatening me ... I just made up a false story so they could let me go home."
Undine (Paula Beer) is in the process of getting dumped by her boyfriend Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) as the movie opens, and her reaction is, to put it mildly, odd. If you leave me, Ill have to kill you, Undine tells Johannes, and he seems to believe her.

This plays into the myth of the undine (although Petzold never explains it to the audience), a water sprite that achieves human form for love. If betrayed, the undine must kill her lover and return to the water. Its unclear at this point where Undine really is a water nymph, or merely believes she is. A lot of Undine reminded me of the stories of Haruki Murakami, where surreal flourishes float through ordinary human life, as in a dream.

Undine apparently forgets about her deadly promise when she runs into Christoph (Franz Rogowski, who starred with Beer in Transit). Christoph is a professional diver who repairs underwater turbines in dams, so perhaps he has a natural attraction to a water creature. He's sweet and open where Johannes was manipulative and duplicitous.

Beer and Rogowski have enormous on-screen chemistry as Undine and Christoph fall quickly and deeply in love; Petzold often uses the sound effect of a distant train rumbling in the distance to signify their roiling emotions. But the story of the undine is ultimately a tragedy, and it cant last.
But at some point the color faded. When we talked, I could sense the toll the job was taking on him.

You dont really notice what that really does to you over time until you dont have it anymore, he said. Sleeping through the night has been one of the greatest benefits.

With newfound tranquility, DeSpain reflected on his career at the Madison Police Department and his decision to leave after his most trying year.

Youve mentioned Doug Wahl (the longtime Channel 3 cameraman who died of cancer last year) as one of the main factors in your decision to retire.

One of my last really great conversations with him he gave me a big hug and he said, if you think you can get out a little earlier than you thought you would in terms of retirement, if you have stuff you want to do, he said just do it. He said: Thats my one regret. I probably could have got out a couple of years earlier and now theres this bucket list of things Im never gonna get to do. When he told me he wasnt going to make it, I said, Doug, Im gonna retire.

What was the transition like from TV journalist to police spokesman?
Pocans experience with those issues informs his viewpoint, as well as his frustration with the response of former President Donald Trump and many right-wingers to the latest violence, which was to attack U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota. One of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, Omar expressed outrage at raids on the Mosque, noting that, Palestinians deserve to find refuge in a mosque and peace in Ramadan. She had also argued that it is unconscionable for U.S. officials to fail to condemn Israeli airstrikes that had left innocent civilians, including children, dead.

Predictably, Trumps tried to blame President Biden for the crisis, claiming that, Bidens weakness and lack of support for Israel is leading to new attacks on our allies. But his crudest attack was directed at Democrats who shared the views of crazed, anti-American Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Pocan was struck by Trumps singling out of Omar. Im seeing a lot of right-wing extremists criticize my wonderful colleague, @IlhanMN, because she rightly condemned the murder of Palestinian children & Israels violence against Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrar & at Al-Aqsa, he tweeted. I did the same, wonder why theyre not criticizing me?
Dear Editor: Following the Presidents official recognition of the Armenian genocide, John Nichols shared that it was something he waited his entire life to hear because Biden put America on the right side of history when he recognized the truth.

I confess I didnt even know about it for much of my life, and honestly, issues over 100 years old dont usually hit me in the gut. But I can still empathize when I think about a somewhat similar obsession of my own. Or rather I could if the president were to use similar language about it, because as Nichols puts it, the language of denial is so insidious.

America has denied the true nature of this issue for so long, generations have grown old, ignorant of truths so important to grasp, that our democracy is imperiled, in good measure due to their absence. Weve spent those generations held hostage morally, ethically and politically, to a set of false narratives that render us unable to resolve issues which can only be resolved if we follow the truth. But our minds have been kept in the dark.
Israeli airstrikes have been pounding Gaza City for days as heavy fighting has broken out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers. The Gaza Health Ministry said 10 women and eight children were among the 26 people killed in Sundays airstrikes, with another 50 people wounded in the attack.



JERUSALEM  Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 23 people on Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territorys militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago.

The Gaza Health Ministry said another 50 people were wounded in the attack. Rescuers were racing to pull survivors and bodies from the rubble.

Earlier, the Israeli military said it destroyed the home of Gazas top Hamas leader in a separate strike. It was the third such attack in the last two days.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as efforts to broker a cease-fire accelerate. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.
It has been a bigger boom than I think anyone expected a year ago when we filed the petition, Wahlin said. Those shipping companies have been operating for almost a year now at peak levels where theyve had a year of holiday season-like surges and a lot of them were not prepared for that. And now that thats happening a lot of trailer companies have the challenge of finding people, hiring people, ramping up and investing in new equipment and automation to support that. So its really taken off faster than people expected.

The company, which has made $30 million in improvements to its facilities in Stoughton, Evansville and Brodhead over the last five years, is now in the midst of a hiring spree. Its offering $20 an hour and providing on-the-job training for welders; painters start at $18.25 an hour and assemblers at $16 per hour. The plan is to add a second shift at the Evansville plant while the company has plans for another $10 million in improvements by the end of this year, Wahlin said.

Automated manufacturing is a big part of that investment but the company still needs hundreds of people to fill positions.
For Pamela Boivin, a member of the Menominee Tribe, a commissioner on the Governors Blue Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity and executive director of NiiJii Capital Partners Inc., improving broadband access is essential to understanding other issues that affect rural and tribal communities, such as access to health care and education resources.

It was a big issue, obviously exacerbated when COVID hit our communities, Boivin said. If we can address the broadband issue, it could help us tap into all of these other areas to improve on and also bring us into this virtual world where we can thrive and where we can improve on a lot of areas.

Affordability challenges

The national rural poverty rate, at 17%, is higher than the urban poverty rate, according to findings from the University of Wisconsins Institute for Research on Poverty and the Rural Policy Research Institute.

Even in areas with more socioeconomic resources, students are struggling.

Emily Dittmar, a librarian who works in an affluent area in southeastern Wisconsin, said that low-income families in her school district could not afford to pay for internet access for their children, particularly those who live in more rural parts of the district.
PAUL  Exit 201 on Interstate 84 will close on Tuesday for 10 days as construction begins to resurface 8 miles of Idaho Highway 25 from the I-84 interchange to Paul.

All ramps at exit 201 and Idaho 25 underneath the interstate will be closed from May 18 through May 27 to allow crews to reconstruct the roadway. Drivers on I-84 will need to use exits 194 or 208 during this time. County roads will not be affected.

Closing the ramps and a small section of Idaho 25 underneath the interstate will allow our crews to safely and efficiently complete work in the area, ITD Project Manager Sam Purser said. This project will provide a better driving surface for motorists and help extend the life of the roadway.

Work on Idaho 25 north of the interchange will also start on Monday. This work will reduce the highway to one lane during working hours, which are scheduled Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Outside of working hours, all lanes will be open.

Construction will take until August to complete.

This closure was originally expected to take place from May 15 through May 25 but will now occur at a later date. Residents may have received a postcard with the original anticipated dates.

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TWIN FALLS  In honor of National Nurses Week, 10 south-central Idaho nurses received recognition for their lifesaving efforts at the Heart of Healthcare reception Thursday evening.

Nominated by the community, the nurses received a plaque and gifts from sponsors. The reception was hosted by the Times-News at the College of Southern Idaho and broadcast via livestream on Magicvalley.com.

The recognition comes more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic began, putting health care professionals on the front lines in several capacities.

Arlen Blaylock, Chief Operating and Chief Nursing Officer for St. Lukes Magic Valley and St. Lukes Jerome, gave the keynote address at the event.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed health care forever, he said.

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It forced competitors to lay down differences and work together and highlighted the risks of allowing politics into patient care and putting all supply their chain eggs in one basket.

Whether we like it or not, one small, lingering crown-shaped virus has forever changed us and will continue to reshape the world and how we care for the sick, he said.

COVID has killed more than a half-million Americans, including his own father, Blaylock said.
When she was in Jerome, she wrote a column, Academics Count, for the Times-News. You can enjoy her current humor in her blogs at WrinklyBits.com.

Get on stage

If your child is a bit dramatic, the College of Southern Idaho Theater Camp is a great place to encourage their talent. Shane Brown and James Haycock will direct the camp, and an ensemble of talented professionals will be sharing their experience. They camp at the CSI Fine Arts Center June 21-25 from 9-5. Register online at CSI.edu/communityed or pick up forms and more info at the Fine Arts Center. The cost is $215 by June 6. Procrastination will cost you $240. Students will need a sack lunch each day.

Watch out for the ditch

May 24-28 is Agriculture Water Safety Week. Canals winding across our southern Idaho landscape may look like streams and an excellent place to cool off. They are not. The water can flow fast, and canals are deeper than a beautiful brook. The water is used to water crops, but it is dangerous to people who think they can swim. Dont spoil a day of fun with a water safety emergency.
BOISE  Amid a nationwide debate over police violence and discussions about defunding departments, Gov. Brad Little signaled support for law enforcement on Thursday by offering hazard pay bonuses for the Idaho State Police, according to a release.

Little announced $1,000 bonuses for 360 frontline personnel at ISP, according to a press release. The officers receiving bonuses will include troopers, specialists, sergeants, lieutenants, captains and others, according to Marissa Morrison Hyer, a spokesperson for Little.

Idaho truly is a state that backs the blue, Little said in the release sent out during National Police Week. While other places seek to defund the police, here in Idaho we are defending the police! Our men and women in law enforcement put their lives on the line every day to serve and protect us.

The cost of the bonuses, which will be paid out on July 9, is estimated to be $362,000, according to Hyer. The funding comes from federal dollars Idaho received under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, which was passed by Congress in March 2020.
TWIN FALLS  Voters in the Magic Valley will go to the polls about a school bond, override levies and highway district commissioner races in Tuesdays election.

Voters within the Jerome School District will decide whether or to approve a $27 million bond measure that, if approved, will fund the construction of a new elementary school and additions at some existing schools. This work is intended to address overcrowding concerns as the district continues to grow.

Jerome School District holding $27M bond election JEROME  Voters will have the chance next month to decide whether to pass a $27 million bond proposed by the Jerome School District.

The district ran a $26 million bond election last May to try to solve this issue. About 62% of voters supported the measure, which fell short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to pass a bond in Idaho.

The districts proposal this year is the same aside from a $1 million increase, which district Superintendent Dale Layne previously told the Times-News is due to increases in construction costs.

Like last years bond proposal, this measure will not affect the districts tax levy rate. Layne said district officials will restructure existing bonds to maintain the same rate for taxpayers. The district will also use the states Bond Levy Equalization program, which would pay for interest over the life of the bond.
Armed Forces Day, which celebrates the men and women serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy, is May 15. The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of our nations armed forces.

1. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress which powers?

A. The power to provide and maintain a navy

B. The power to declare war

C. The power to raise and support armies

D. All of the above

2. The oldest infantry unit has been active since 1784. What is it called?

A. Old Iron Sides

B. Yellow Jackets

C. Old Guard

D. Devil Dogs

3. Who is the current U.S. Secretary of Defense and in what branch of the military did he serve?

A. James Mattis, Marines
Local economic development forecasters estimate over 1,000 direct jobs will be lost, as well as countless supporting jobs that would have facilitated the buildout.

Jeff Nobers, the president of Pittsburgh Works, an economic group made up of officials in manufacturing, steel, energy and labor unions, said the unknown costs and future implications due to this decision are formidable and long-lasting. We have to be thinking about what manufacturers who were looking to locate here are thinking, he said. Do they look at the climate here and wonder if it is worth it? Well, that is a problem, too.

Local elected officials are of several minds on this project. Most of them were just hoping it would fly under the radar of the climate justice warriors and go up without notice. That was never going to happen. The rest fully backed its demise because of their views on climate change.

One exception has been Fetterman, the progressive populist Democrat who is seeking his partys nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey in 2022. He was a vocal supporter of the project, which sometimes placed him at odds within his own partys ranks. His support created a strange alliance between him and Republican state lawmakers such as Allegheny County state Sen. Devlin Robinson and the state Senate majority leader, Kim Ward.
Why did Hamas fire rockets into Jerusalem and other Israeli cities? The militants say their offensive is a response to the actions of Israeli police who fired stun grenades inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem  one of the citys holiest sites  on Monday morning, the article read.

In retaliation, a 9News article read, the Israeli military has conducted more than 150 strikes in Gaza as of Tuesday afternoon.

At least our nations fiscal foundation is strong, right? Well, hold on there. Based on statistics from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, our total public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product was 107 as of last December; since then, it has ballooned to 129%. In 2010, it had hit a high of 88%.

Well, thats a simple problem to resolve, you might think. After all, we can just tax the rich more, as President Bidens administration has proposed.

According to the Tax Foundation, the top half of U.S. taxpayers pay 97% of all federal income taxes. The top 1% pay 52% of their income to federal taxes. The bottom half of income pay on average 25% of their income in taxes. The top earners are already paying most of the taxes.

So heres your take-home lesson from today: We need to reduce crime, encourage employment, tighten up the money supply, secure our borders and reduce federal spending. The American people can do anything; they just have to face facts first and move forward with optimism. We need leaders for our country, not for one party or another. We have no time for malaise. Lets get moving.

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Lets not kid ourselves. Former  yes, former  President Donald Trump wants to run for president in 2024, and so he shall.

The story some Republicans like to tell themselves  that Trump will not run again for the White House because he knows he cant win and hes smart enough to see the glory in being a GOP kingmaker  is wishful thinking.

Trump is enjoying leaving his plans unclear so he can lure various GOP hopefuls to Mar-a-Lago to kiss his ring. Later, Trump can use their courtship against them.

Hell run because he only gets the ego-slathering adulation he craves at a campaign rally. If he dooms the GOP to failure and sows more discord among voters, hes OK with that.

He doesnt mind losing, because he can pretend he didnt lose, blame election fraud and let his base shred any elected Republican who dares call out the emperors new clothes.

The base thinks that Trumps critics lack courage when its really the likes of House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy who folded to save his sorry skin.
But its also only half full of helium, and drooping toward the ground. Whatever it used to be, its now a sad, limp little balloon.

Its attached to a flower vase, and I suppose that once there were flowers in it, but the vase is now empty.

Theres also a delivery card attached from a local florist with our address on it.

But theres more. Next to the wilted balloon and the empty vase is a pretty potted plant, with little green shoots, all topped with fresh white blossoms. Im sure this type of plant has a name, but you know me better than that. Its a plant with little white blossoms.

Theres also a hand-written note attached to the blossoming plant. Heres exactly what the note said:

your flowers were delivered to the wrong address!! I was away for the weekend & they had Tipped over & died before I made it home. HAPPY BELATED MOTHERS DAY. A neighbor down the road. And a small hand-drawn heart.

So there I am, standing at the front door assembling the puzzle in my mind. Misdelivered. No one home. Wind. Dead flowers. Discovered. Pondered. Decided. The trip to the store to buy something with blossoms. The clandestine drop-off at the front door.
Choosing areas where the Idaho Legislature failed this year has been easy pickings for liberal columnists, editorial pundits and an assortment of academic vegetable professors. Theyre comparing negatively it to the great Cecil Andrus years when Idaho brought in a new sales tax, as raising taxes is a very good thing.

Yet, despite the inordinate length of this session and the time wasted by right-wing rants and their windmill tilts, some real accomplishments stand out, although they wont get any credit from lefties.

What, you say? How can a session that dragged on into May before simply running out of energy be anything but a failure, if not a disaster? Well, here are some important issues which yielded real if not complete results.:

Income Tax Reduction: For the second time in four years, the Legislature passed a major income tax reduction, from 6.9 to 6.5 percent on all brackets. It also will rebate a portion of taxes paid in 2019 back to taxpayers. The total tax reduction is close to $400 million, about $160 million of which continues annually. Democrats all voted no on this reduction. Republicans voted yes. Whattch got in your wallet?
The political and media establishment bought into the corporate dogma that monopolies produce economic efficiencies, so why not turn em loose? Thus, trusts are us! Monopolistic corporations today have chokeholds on nearly every market, setting prices, wages and terms of business. Worse, their power is systemic, dominating elections, health access, education opportunities, communications ... our society!

Thats why I dont favor the term antitrust. Its too soft  I mean, whos against trust? Anti-theft is more blunt, easily understood and true. The reason our people have fought corporate dominance so hard for centuries is because a monopoly is nothing but organized theft; it steals Americas fundamental principles of fairness and opportunity for all. By controlling the marketplace, workplace and public space, the few take away everyone elses freedom of choice and their possibilities of maximizing their intellect, skills, labor and other abilities to achieve their dreams. Thats the theft of the very idea of America.
A Georgia mom and dad convicted of murdering their days-old baby daughter have had all charges dismissed  after they each spent almost 13 years in prison. The district attorney apologized to them for not getting a fair trial.

Too often, we would rather believe that good people did a bad thing for no reason than believe that a bad thing happened to good people for no reason, said one of the appeals attorneys involved, Andrew Fleischman of Ross & Pines in Atlanta. It explains what happened in this case and what happens too often in America:

Late in May of 2008, just a day after Ashley and Albert Debelbot brought their seemingly healthy baby girl, McKenzy, home, a bump was discovered on her forehead. The Debelbots brought her to Martin Army Hospital in Fort Benning. She died a day later.

The couple was accused of crushing her skull.

At their joint trial, their defense attorneys failed to present alternative explanations for the babys death, including the fact that the baby may have been born with serious birth defects, exacerbated by a difficult delivery.
Dakota graduated from Bret Harte in 2013 and went to Davidson College, NC where she earned a bachelor's degree in Arab studies. After spending time studying in the Middle East and Europe, she is happy to be home, writing about the community she loves.

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Make sure bears know that they dont belong in neighborhoods

When a bear learns that walking across your yard or deck is OK, it will continue that behavior. By doing nothing, the bear learns that people are harmless and that making daily walks around your house is both acceptable and potentially rewarding if they find food.

If you have a bear around your house, or in your neighborhood, and, if it can be done safely, immediate action is necessary to haze the bear to let it know it is not welcome. This can be done by loud yelling, clapping your hands, banging on pots and pans, basically anything to scare it away.

Bears are very smart. They can learn quickly where they are not welcome. Hazing can be a very effective tool to keep bears out of communities and neighborhoods and in doing so, you will help preserve the wild nature of bears that is essential for their survival.

Do your part to keep yourself, your neighbors and the bears safe

There are very simple things you can do to keep everyone safe and bears roaming the mountains where they belong.
Like more than 120 million other Americans, Jan Massie is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and can pretty much give up wearing a mask under the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But she's still covering her face, even as the temperature rises in her native Alabama, because of benefits she says are too great to give up.
Starbucks

The coffee chain will make facial coverings optional for vaccinated customers starting on Monday, the company announced on its website.

"Facial coverings will be optional for vaccinated customers beginning Monday, May 17, unless local regulations require them by law," it said.

However, its restrooms will continue to remain closed to customers in locations where cafe seating is unavailable.

Walt Disney World

The Florida theme park announced that masks and face coverings for guests will be "optional in outdoor common areas" at Disney World starting on Saturday. The exception being that guests "must wear face coverings from the entrances at all attractions, theaters or transportation and throughout those experiences," the company said.

So that means if you're walking down Main Street, U.S.A., you don't have to wear a mask, but if you're riding Space Mountain, you'll still have to.

Universal Studios
Thats more or less the heart of the New River Valley, roadway wise and population density wise, Hincker said.

Barber maintains that Christiansburg in general remains the logical location.

Previous research has found that most passengers would come from either Blacksburg or Christiansburg.

Christiansburg spent just under $400,000 a few years ago to buy the eight acres near the aquatic center, but town officials said at the time the land would be used for additional parking for the swimming facility should a train station not be built there.

Barber said the town already paved space for overflow parking on some of the acquired land. But he said a big reason the town bought the land was to show that it would be ready to accommodate passenger rail operations.

We set the tone and bought the land to show we had a commitment to getting passenger rail to this area, he said.

Another key component that will need to be finalized is the exact makeup and functions of the New River Valley Passenger Rail Station Authority, an entity expected to include representation from various localities and agencies across the New River Valley.
The campaign will continue as long as it is required, Netanyahu said in a televised speech on Saturday evening. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building. Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.

The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas, without being targeted directly. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agencys cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace offered 24-hour live shots as militants rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

In the afternoon, the military called the buildings owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely .
The habitat highlighted by the conservation groups is rugged and made up mostly of federally managed land. They say it includes water sources, suitable cover and prey.

Fish and Wildlife Service biologists have yet to review the latest study, but such a proposal would likely face fierce opposition from ranchers and some rural residents who have been at odds with environmentalists and the Fish and Wildlife Service over the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves. That program has faced numerous challenges over the past two decades and while wolf numbers are trending upward, ranchers say so are livestock deaths.

Jaguar advocates said losses could be mitigated through compensation programs like those established as a result of the wolf program.

Then there's the question of where the jaguars would come from. Advocates say a captive breeding program could be developed over time and jaguars from existing wild populations could be relocated.

Wilcox said there are many factors  some understood and others still being studied  that influence the movement of jaguars.
France is on track to reach its goal Saturday of 20 million initial doses of coronavirus vaccines, officials said days ahead of a hugely anticipated reopening of restaurant terraces as the government begins lifting a nationwide lockdown.

"Again nearly 600,000 vaccinations today," Health Minister Olivier Veran tweeted late Friday. "Tomorrow, 20 million French will have had at least one dose," which would represent nearly 30 percent of the population.

"I'm reasonably optimistic," Prime Minister Jean Castex told journalists while visiting the mass vaccination site at the Porte de Versailles conference centre in Paris.

"It's a very important moment for the entire country, because it supports our prospects for ending this crisis," he said.

The government aims to have 30 million initial doses injected by June 15, when President Emmanuel Macron has said all adults will be able to sign up for a jab currently reserved for priority groups and adults over 50.

"It's within reach," Castex said.

Authorities also reported further declines in the number of patients requiring intensive care in hospitals.

The number of people in intensive care stood at 4,352 on Friday, a decline of 90 from the previous day and well below the peak of 6,001 during the "third wave" of infections that battered France starting in March.

On Wednesday, museums, theatres, cinemas and concert halls will reopen with limited capacity after six weeks of closure to halt the pandemic, and the nationwide curfew will be pushed back to 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) from 7 pm.

Non-essential shops will also reopen and outdoor seating at cafes and restaurants will be allowed for the first time since October 30.

Cafes and restaurants will be able to serve clients indoors on June 9, and the curfew will be fully lifted on June 30 if infection rates continue to decline.

Explore further France to offer COVID jabs to all adults from June 15

 2021 AFP
An Indian state stricken by coronavirus after mass rallies were held for a key election ordered a two-week lockdown on Saturday in a bid to halt the spread.

All offices, stores and public transport in West Bengal were told to close for 15 days after the region reported its biggest spike yet in deaths and infections.

West Bengal along with a host of southern states are bearing the brunt of a Covid-19 surge in India that has taken the nation's infection total to nearly 25 million with more than 265,000 deaths.

The strain of the virus responsible has been declared a variant of "global concern" by the World Health Organization.

West Bengal accounted for 21,000 of India's 326,000 new cases reported Saturday and hospitals in the state say they are swamped with patients.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew tens of thousands of people to rallies in the region last month ahead of state elections in which his ruling nationalist party failed to unseat chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

Banerjee also staged major rallies ahead of the polls and on Friday her brother died from coronavirus in hospital.

Many experts have said the election campaign was a "super-spreader".

In the resort state of Goa, more than 70 people have died in four days from medical oxygen shortages at hospitals, an opposition party in the region said.

A court ordered emergency supplies of oxygen to be sent to Goa Medical College Hospital to prevent more deaths.

The state's main opposition party said the patients died from a lack of oxygen but the government said the cause of death had not been determined.

Goa authorities nevertheless said they had asked the central government to nearly double the state's oxygen supply to 40 tonnes per day.

Coronavirus restrictions in Goa had been relatively relaxed until the current wave of infections. The virus is now causing more than 60 deaths a day in the region and Goa has one of India's highest infection rates.

Explore further 22 COVID patients die in India after oxygen supply disrupted

 2021 AFP
People wear face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus at a night market in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

The island of Taiwan, which has had enviable success in containing COVID-19, imposed new restrictions in its capital city on Saturday as it battled its worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

Authorities raised the alert level for Taipei, the capital, and the surrounding area of New Taipei city. The level 3 alert, which remains in effect for two weeks, requires people to wear a mask outdoors and limits indoor gatherings to five people and outdoor gatherings to 10 people.

Health authorities said that 180 new locally spread cases had been confirmed, the majority in Taipei and New Taipei. That's more than the total of 164 cases previously confirmed for the entire pandemic period. The daily number of new cases rose steadily from single digits early this week to 29 before the triple-digit jump announced Saturday.

"The epidemic is gaining intensity," Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said, while noting that more cases are being identified as authorities hone in on hot zones.

Movie theaters, museums, indoor swimming pools and amusement parks were among the places ordered closed under the level 3 alert, as were community colleges and senior citizen activity centers.

Taiwan, a self-governing island of about 24 million people off China's east coast, has kept the coronavirus largely at bay. It has tallied 1,475 cases, mostly infected people who arrived from abroad, and 12 deaths. The total number of locally spread cases more than tripled in the past week to 344 from under 100 as of last weekend.

People wear face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus at a night market in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

People wear face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus at a night market in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Reznik said in an interview that hes not making a partisan attack on the governor and that its important to have a full accounting of the deal. He said hes motivated by concern for following the rules. Had the state better vetted LabGenomics and signed a contract with the company  instead of a less-formal letter of intent  it might have gotten its money back, or been able to get the replacement tests without spending millions of extra taxpayer dollars.
Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel receives her first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from Dr. Vin Diwakar at Guys Hospital in London, Saturday May 15, 2021. (Stefan Rousseu/PA via AP)

British health workers, aided by the army, distributed coronavirus tests door-to-door Saturday in two towns in northern England, seeking to contain a fast-spreading variant that threatens plans to lift all lockdown restrictions next month.

Cases of a variant first identified in India have more than doubled in a week, defying a sharp nationwide downward trend in infections won by months of restrictions and a rapid vaccination campaign. Government scientific advisers say this variant is likely more transmissible than even the U.K.'s dominant strain, though it's unclear by how much.

"If the virus is significantly more transmissible, we are likely to face some hard choices," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a news conference on Friday. "I have to level with you that this could be a serious disruption to our progress."

He said the next stage of lockdown-easing measures would take place as planned on Monday, but warned the variant might delay plans to lift all restrictions, including social distancing and face-covering rules, on June 21.

Johnson said soldiers would help carry out "surge testing" in Bolton and Blackburn in northwest England, where pop-up vaccination sites were also being set up to speed the inoculation drive.

The government's scientific advisory committee says there is no evidence so far that the variant causes more severe disease or that existing vaccines won't work against it. More than two-thirds of British adults have received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, and 37% have had both doses.

Britain's Home Secretary Priti Patel receives her first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine from Dr. Vin Diwakar at Guys Hospital in London, Saturday May 15, 2021. (Stefan Rousseu/PA via AP)

The government is shortening the gap between doses for people over 50 from 12 to eight weeks in a bid to give them more protection.

The government's Scientific Group for Emergencies says the Indian-identified variant, formally known as B.1.617.2, could be up to 50% more transmissible than one first recorded in southeast England last year that is now the U.K.'s dominant strain. But they say there is a high level of uncertainty about the exact figure.

Mark Walport, a member of the advisory group, said the new variant had "intensified" the race between the virus and vaccines.

"The knife edge on which the race sits has just sharpened," he said.

Britain has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest reported toll in Europe. But new infections have plummeted to an average of around 2,000 a day, compared with nearly 70,000 a day during the winter peak, and deaths have fallen to single figures a day.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at a press conference about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, in London, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaking at a press conference about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, in London, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he answers a question from the media at a press conference about the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, in London, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)

Restrictions that have curbed travel, commerce and daily life for months are gradually being lifted. Starting Monday, restaurants and pubs in England can open indoors, museums, theaters, cinemas and hotels can reopen, and people can once again hug friends and family members they don't live with.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are following similar but slightly different paths. The Scottish government is keeping the city of Glasgow and the northern area of Moray under restrictions because of rising case numbers there.

Critics said the government should have acted sooner to ban travelers from India, which has been gripped by a devastating coronavirus outbreak.

Labour Party lawmaker Yvette Cooper said the government had not barred visitors arriving from India until April 23, a decision that let in "many hundreds of new variant cases."

"This was predictable but it was not inevitable," she said.

Explore further Johnson 'anxious' over rise of Indian virus variant in UK

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Natalie's life was centered around caring for her family and raising her three children. She was immersed in their school lives and extracurricular activities. Natalie was the consummate volunteer mom and every one of her children's friends looked at her as a second mom. Every job Natalie had always centered around interacting with people. Her sense of humor, kind heart and strong wit always made people feel at ease in her presence. We were all lucky to have known Natalie but especially blessed to be loved by her.

Matthew, Natalie's son says To some, their mothers are doctors, lawyers, or teachers, but my mother was my hero who could put a smile on the most miserable person's face. She brightened every person's life she entered, and I was lucky to have been brought into this world with her to take care of me. There is not a woman on this Earth I would rather have to call mom. I will always love you.

Courtland, Natalie's son says My Mother was not only the best mom you could ask for, but she was also the light in everyone's life one way or another and brought joy to us all. We are all at a loss of words losing Mom. I will forever miss my Mother and she will always be on my mind and forever in my heart.
Teslyn Rebecca Eyer

Montana's future dimmed a little on June 20, 2020 with the passing of Teslyn Rebecca Eyer, an inpatient child at Children's Hospital of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado. Teslyn was born on June 6, 2006, in Anchorage, Alaska. She moved with her parents to Missoula, Montana in October 2008 and soon became the epitome of the Montana fighting spirit. She was kind and loving, yet with a strong sense of justice, extremely well read, adventuresome, a scientist in the making with a deep creative streak.

On January 30, 2019, Teslyn was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and though considered a curative cancer, difficult to treat. Without exhibiting fear, Teslyn stated I will beat this, and she did. Months of treatment brought several near-death experiences but each time Teslyn rallied through the trauma until in September 2019 she was declared cancer free. Remission was not to last and Teslyn was re-admitted to the Children's Hospital in late April 2020 with reoccurrence of AML. Though at the time of her death she was again cancer free, she was unable to survive complications from so many treatments.
The move could save money in the area, city officials said this week. If the ditch was not decommissioned, the city would have to pay around $625,000 for storm culverts, which would come out of the Mullan BUILD Grant  federal money that will go toward infrastructure in the Sxwtpqyen Area.

"The acquisition is really a unique opportunity to do a lot of things," said Jeremy Keene, the citys Public Works & Mobility director, on Wednesday.

The release said around 40 cubic feet per second of water would stay in the river rather than being diverted to the ditch. Outside of reducing costs of development in the area, decommissioning the ditch would also solve the problem of fish getting stuck in it.

"Reducing loss of fish to ditches, improving instream flow, and protecting river habitat are important objectives for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Decommissioning the ditch achieves all these objectives completely and permanently. We are very excited about this opportunity, said Pat Saffel, fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in a release.

New wells will be dug if the project goes through, which city officials believe will ultimately be a more reliable source of water for those currently utilizing the ditch for irrigation.
Paul Burow, a property manager and Realtor in Missoula who often compiles statistics about renter incomes and rent prices for the Missoula Organization of Realtors, said this year has seen historically high competition for apartments and houses.

"Our biggest issue with rental stuff right now is just supply," he said. "Probably on a typical year, two or three years ago before the pandemic, I'd be processing 40-50 move-outs. And I've got like four right now. People aren't moving. If something does come up, the prices are getting jacked because we have a waiting list of people who want it."

Property managers also work for the owner of the property, he noted.

"It's not that we're trying to take advantage, but holy cow, our job is to rent things at the highest price possible and people are paying anything right now," he said. "I feel bad for everybody."

Several Missoula renters told the Missoulian stories of rent prices increasing drastically after their building was sold but asked for anonymity because they feared repercussions.

Barr said Missoula is in danger of replicating another high-priced city.
Turning points. Crossroads. Landmarks. Transformations. Milestones. These are all special moments in our lives that signify new beginnings. Right now is an exciting time of new beginnings for graduates everywhere as they shift from being high school seniors to being college scholars. Across Montana, families are gearing up for celebrations that honor these milestones and achievements.

At Achieve Montana, we're celebrating too. We are celebrating because we know that when parents open an Achieve Montana 529 college savings account, they are ultimately taking advantage of one of the best ways to help cover college costs for their child's future education.

With an Achieve Montana 529 college savings account, parents can: open a college savings account for as little as $25 or $15 with payroll deduction, choose from a variety of investment options that best suit their family's needs and goals, get tax advantages that include a state income tax benefit, allow contributions to their child's Achieve Montana account from anyone, such as relatives and friends, and have peace of mind knowing that the sooner they start saving, the more resources their child will have to spend towards college expenses.
Thanks to an amendment reportedly requested by regents, the new law specifies that minimum safety and training requirements must also be met. The draft policy notes that a concealed weapons permit will meet this requirement, as well as certain other official hunter education, firearms safety and law enforcement training courses.

The policy also spells out that guns will still not be permitted at any event on campus where alcohol is being served, or in child care or health care centers, or in high hazard areas such as labs with sensitive materials. Firearms must be kept secured when not in their owners possession and concealed when they are. People will not be allowed to fire their gun, or even remove it from their gun case or holster, except in self-defense. It should go without saying that a person may not point a gun at another person, but the new policy has to say it anyway.

It also says a campus may establish secure hearing rooms where firearms and ammunition are restricted as needed to conduct hearings or disciplinary proceedings. Campus police and local law enforcement will be charged with handing any violations, but students and employees may face disciplinary actions from their university as well, up to expulsion or termination of employment.
For example, theres a library book that you didnt feel like it was appropriate for an elementary school. So, you contacted the principal and said, I have issues with this book and Id like you to take a look at it. So, the principal might do that and should have a committee at their school that reviews that, looks at it the information and decides whether that book needs to be pulled or not.

Craven said she believes its also important for teachers to make sure they are abiding by the standard course of study and not try to place undue personal influence on the lessons taught.

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A good teacher, a student would never know how they felt about politics, religion or anything like that, Craven said. They would get in there and they would teach the lesson, and they would teach it so that the student could formulate their own ideas and beliefs, not try to cram their particular ideas or beliefs into the students head.

So, a good teacher is going to go in there and present the material, give all kinds of different scenarios, but the child would never know what their political party or religious beliefs were. They might see it on Facebook, but not in the classroom. Its a time to open childrens minds.
Teens between 12 and 15 years old have now been given the green light to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

Cooper and Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen said even though the state is easing mandates, it doesnt mean the virus is gone.

Cooper pointed to the numbers of virus cases still being reported, even as of Friday.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services showed 1,501 new cases reported on Friday, with a daily percent positive rate of 3.8%, and 926 people hospitalized throughout the state. A total of 12,862 people have died in North Carolina due to the virus.

And cases are still being reported in Burke County.

The Burke County Health Department reported 38 new cases since Monday for a total of 10,200 cases, up from 10,162 cases on Monday. The total number of cases reported is since the first case was reported in March 2020 in Burke County.

Of the total, the Burke County COVID-19 dashboard, which typically lags behind briefings from the health department, showed 293 active cases, with nine people hospitalized due to the virus. The county has reported a total 161 deaths due to COVID-19.
One of the most difficult tasks all authors grapple with is coming up with a catchy title for their work.

Once you have the idea planted in your head that youre going to produce a Pulitzer prize creation, the title must entice the shopper along with an eye-catching cover. A dull title can work against you because the attention span of the warp speed customer is equivalent to the size of a flea, especially while scrolling titles via Google or Amazon for the Kindle.

Some successful authors figured this out and had the courage to come up with unusual titles for their books, and the results were bestselling books and a hefty profit. For instance, British writer Alex Bellos decided to combine writing about his adventures around the world with mathematics. Mathematics? Sounds a bit dry when you pair it with traveling, but Bellos book became a success and his title may have played a big part in enticing the public. He cleverly called it Heres Looking at You, Euclid, a play on words using the quote Heres looking at you, kid from Casablanca, one of the 50 best romantic movies of all time. That paused the public to think and read at least the dust jacket.
Federal health officials did not change guidance for those who are unvaccinated. The CDC recommends that those who are unvaccinated should continue to wear masks in most situations. Being outdoors or spending time outside with a small group of vaccinated individuals is also not considered a serious health risk, according to the CDC.
The budget for the clinics construction is $3.23 million. The lead contractor is M.A. Mortenson, a construction engineering company based in Minneapolis.

Officials from the SCL Health Medical Group-Butte believe the new location will free up much-needed space at the RMAP walk-in clinic, with the potential of adding a pulmonologist and a gastroenterologist to the uptown facility.

SCL Health officials, with a real estate team acting in an advisory capacity, chose the new location, in part, because of the expansive parking space and easy accessibility. Patients will be able to access the facility from two avenues  Harrison or Monroe.

According to Chad Paul, a practice administrator with the St. James Medical Group, 55% of SCL Health Medical Group-Buttes primary care patients live in the area where the new facility is being built.

It makes sense when this is where a good portion of the population lives, said Ball.

While making the decision on the clinics locale, officials took into account their out-of-town patients as well. Coming off the interstates, the clinic will be closer and easier to find.

Both Dennehy and Ball are looking forward to opening day.
Supporters of the bill included ranchers along the Rocky Mountain Front who have been outspoken as the bears expand east onto the plains.

But opponents of the bill pointed out that the threatening livestock provision conflicts with federal law. As long as the bears remain federally protected, state law is trumped. The bill could give ranchers a false impression of when they can and cannot shoot bears in defense of life or property, critics have said.

Gianforte announced the signing of SB 98 on Wednesday.

Grizzly bear populations are recovered in Montana, a spokesperson for the governor said. If grizzly bear management is turned over to the state, this bill ensures Montanans can protect themselves and their livestock from growing predator populations.

SB 337 also makes declarations that grizzly bears are recovered and should be put under state management. The bill then makes two important changes on how Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will respond to issues with the bears.

The first provision of SB 337 dictates that should FWP capture a bear, it may only relocate it to areas pre-approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission.
The State of Montana has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to teach all students how settlers brought disease and starvation to Native people and how those tactics were used as genocidal practices for white people land-grabs. Students learn that our founders used the Declaration of Independence to establish a white-Native divide by naming Indians savages. They learn about policies that sought to erase or assimilate Native people. And, they learn that tribes have inherent sovereignty that allows them to determine their future without state interference. These are all lessons that the OPI helped create and that schools and educators implement in classrooms. This is the type of accurate, authentic, and factual history that our students need and deserve.

Young people can handle the truth. If we want the next generation to truly understand where we come from and our current context, they need to recognize that systemic racism is part of our daily lives.
Under federal law, states have the option to increase support to these families (overwhelmingly run by single moms) by implementing a child support cooperation requirement in food stamps.

Even if youre not a single mom on food stamps, this issue should matter to you. Families that dont receive child support are nearly 50% more likely to receive taxpayer-funded Medicaid, 60% more likely to receive taxpayer-funded food stamps, and 70% more likely to receive public housing benefits.

But its not just about money. Its also about responsibility and fairness. When dads ask for public assistance, its only fair that the state ask dads to step up and support their kids. If they cant, the state is right to ask them to at least cooperate and seek an adjustment to their payments, rather than falling completely off the map.

And theres fairness on the other side of the ledger, too.

When the state makes the effort to establish and enforce a child support order to help single moms on food stamps, its only fair that moms do what they can to help the state get her family the support its owed (unless theres a unique situation, like domestic violence).
The release said 20 dogs, 29 cats, eight birds, one guinea pig, and one French Angora rabbit were rescued from the residence. They were taken to the humane society where they were examined by a veterinarian and are currently being cared for. All animals were reportedly located in some sort of living condition, the release said, or were found in some sort of condition, some more serious than others. The conditions are defined in Iowa codes under Animal neglect. Since being rescued, one bird and three kittens have died due to lack of proper care. The rabbit had to be euthanized due to its condition. A poodle was found to have an atrophied lower jaw due to lack of dental care which has lead to disfigurement and has impaired the dogs ability to eat.
The Latest on the continuing violence between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers amid the latest escalation in the Middle East:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A league of Muslim nations on Sunday demanded that Israel halt attacks killing Palestinian civilians amid heavy fighting between it and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even as fissures between countries over their recognition of Israel emerged.
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Pretty impressive for someone who didnt know how to sew. Kiara and her mother, Stephanie, borrowed a sewing machine, got some fabric and, along with her father, Eric, and brothers Ethan, 14, and Tyler, 12, figured out how to make masks.

It took a little bit to catch on, Kiara said. We did toss a few that got really mixed up.

The first masks were given to the nursing home in Holstein, then the hospital in Ida Grove.

Then I started getting more fabric, and it turned into a bigger project, Kiara said.

When the Dutlers bought some fabric with a red, white and blue pattern, Kiara thought of veterans. Shed heard of a need for masks at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

The red, white and blue fabric got me thinking about their need for masks and keeping them safe, she said.

By then, the mask-making was mostly her project. Kiara made 245 masks for the Veterans Home and the Omaha VA Medical Center.
Interview: CPC "has traveled a colossal path" in 100 years -- former Belarusian deputy PM

Xinhua) 09:11, May 16, 2021

MINSK, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Communist Party of China (CPC) has enormous intellectual potential, enjoys the greatest possible support from the Chinese society, and is the political force capable of ensuring China's development and prosperity, former Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Tozik has said.

"In 100 years, the party, created by a small group of young people, has traveled a colossal path, which has no analogues in world history," Tozik, also a former ambassador to China, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The CPC has led China from "a peasant, industrially backward country" into "one of the most powerful and dynamically developing countries of the planet," he said. "These are results that no one in the world has ever achieved."

"I am absolutely convinced that the CPC is the only political force capable of ensuring the development and prosperity of the Chinese people. It has the necessary intellectual and organizational potential for this," Tozik said.

Tozik, who has a long relationship with China, served as co-chairman of the Belarusian-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission for Trade and Economic Cooperation from 2004 to 2006, and from 2011 to 2014 he served as deputy prime minister of Belarus. He stayed in China as ambassador between 2006 and 2011, during which he visited almost all Chinese provinces.

After 2016, Tozik has worked as director of the Republican Confucius Institute of Sinology at Belarusian State University, and has paid more attention to studying China and made more efforts to better the mutual understanding between the people of the two countries.

Under the leadership of the CPC, China showed outstanding results in three areas in 2020, demonstrating the colossal capabilities of the country and its people, Tozik said.

First, China achieved unique results in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, setting an example for the whole world. Second, China moved away from absolute poverty, solving for the first time in the world a problem that previously seemed insurmountable. Third, China is the only major economy on the planet to see GDP growth in 2020. "All of these three outstanding achievements are directly related to the CPC," he said.

"China, led by the CPC, is an example of creating the maximum possible conditions for the self-realization of the potential of every citizen and the conflict-free development of the society as a whole," Tozik said.

He said that China's reform and opening-up is important experience for other countries, including Belarus. "There are a lot of interesting things in the socio-economic development of China, which today I see as very relevant for our country," he said.

Tozik is deeply convinced that the stronger China is, the more opportunities mankind has.

"The growth of China's power and its economic strength is not a threat to humanity, but an additional chance for everyone to overcome today's terribly difficult time and terribly difficult period in the life of human civilization," he said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Bianji)
Mark Eisner was a tremendous person who cared deeply about many causes important to this community and he gave generously in support of these; one of which was the SPCA, Brady wrote. As to the persons to whom Mr. Eisner entrusted the responsibility to carry out his intentions, we are pleased that the legal questions have been resolved in a way that benefits all of the charitable organizations Mr. Eisner cared so much about.
U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Ca., walks with U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, after the Republican caucus meeting to speak to the media, in Washington, D.C., May 14, 2021.

REUTERS
'US Welcome Patrol': How some border agents are struggling with Biden's policy shift
BCs Tales of the Pacific | How the Suez shutdown will speed Arctic development
Online shopping giant Amazons plan for a new African headquarters on a piece of prime real estate in Cape Town is facing opposition from a coalition of environmental and heritage protection organisations.

The City of Cape Town recently approved the R4 billion River Club mixed-use development, for which Amazon will be the anchor tenant.

The city said the development  which will be built on a 15-hectare piece of land in Observatory next to the Liesbeek River  is expected to boost the Cape Town economy and create 5,239 direct jobs.

In addition, up to 19,000 indirect and induced jobs would be supported, the city stated.

The development will comprise of 150,000 square metres of mixed-use space  59,600 square metres for offices, 20,700 square metre for retail, an 8,200 square metre hotel, and a 4,100 square metre gym.

The new precinct will include restaurants, conferencing facilities, a school, and events space, and is set to be built over the next three to five years.

The image below shows a rendering of what one part of the development will look like.

According to a report from The Sunday Times, the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) plans to launch legal action seeking a court order to set aside the environmental and land-use authorisations for the area in which the development will be built.

The site for the project was rezoned from a conservation space to commercial use earlier in 2021.

This move faced significant opposition from organizations like Heritage Western Cape, which said the area was recognised as a sacred space.

The city claimed its decision was based on the need to balance investment and job creation, along with heritage and planning considerations.

According to a blog post on the OCAs website, Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LLPT)  the owner and developer of the land  had issued a Notice of Intention to Commence Construction along with a grievance process for disputes from the public earlier in May.

LLPT stated that it planned to start construction at the site in mid-June.

In response, OCA has sent a letter to LLPT in which it asked the company to stop earthworks until its case was heard in court.

It labelled the profit-driven development as being at the expense of environmental protection and respect for heritage.

It has garnered significant support for its view, with a petition launched by the association on Change.org racking up nearly 50,000 signatures in less than two weeks.

OCA chairperson Leslie London said that they had written to Amazon boss Jeff Bezos twice about the issue, but had not received any reply to date.

In response, LLPT has slammed the OCAs view and claimed it was potentially delaying the creation of thousands of jobs and environmental rehabilitation.

The LLPT further claimed that it had the support of First Nations representatives, who would operate a heritage centre on the property.

It also said it would undertake vast cleaning and rehabilitation projects at its own cost to restore the area into an environmentally-sensitive and safe space.

Amazon has a strong connection to South Africa. Amazons Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service was built in Cape Town between 2004 and 2005 by Chris Pinkham and a team of Cape Town engineers.

EC2 now forms a core part of Amazons hugely successful cloud computing platform  Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Since that time, Amazon has maintained a presence in Cape Town, and in 2018 moved its local AWS staff to an eight-story building in the city.

It also launched an Amazon CloudFront Edge location in the city that same year, improving the availability and performance of content delivery from to users in both Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In April 2020, it announced its AWS Cape Town region had gone live, allowing developers and companies to access low-latency links to AWS services and cloud-based applications.

In June 2020, it announced it was hiring 3,000 employees in South Africa, including customer service associates and technical experts.

The company is currently still hiring in South Africa, with 148 full-time vacancies in Johannesburg and Cape Town being available at the start of May 2021.
A North West municipality paid R11 million to a politically connected Zimbabwe-born businessman for services which are free from Google Maps and a minimal fee from the Deeds Office.

The City Press reported that the Moses Kotane Local Municipality paid the businessman to distinguish between land which the municipality owns and private land.

Prior to this deal, Googles free map services and the Deeds Offices property search service were used.

The businessman was also awarded numerous other tenders at the municipality, including a R200 million information and communication technology tender.

While there is widespread corruption in the North West province, what makes this case stand out is the checkered past of the person.

The Mail & Guardian reported that he was convicted for defrauding the South African Revenue Service (SARS) in 2018 in the commercial crimes court in Pretoria.

He was given a suspended sentence in a plea bargain where he agreed to pay R843,080 for his misdeeds.

The Hawks is investigating a case of fraud involving one of his companies which received R234 million for an ICT audit and development strategy contract.

According to National Treasury, the company was paid R78 million more than the R156 million that was budgeted for in the contract.

Treasury added that over 72% of the total contract was paid within seven days of the service providers appointment. This means the municipality may not have received services.

The Hawks said there are further allegations that the municipality only advertised the bid for 13 days instead of the prescribed 30 days. Three other bidders were allegedly excluded irregularly.

The commercial crime investigation unit said there are allegations of contravention of procurement processes, fraud, and corruption relayed to this tender.

The connected businessman is also engaged in a legal battle with the Department of Home Affairs for allegedly being in possession of a fraudulently obtained ID document.

As for his political connection, he is credited as the person who assisted Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa after he was fired by the late Robert Mugabe.

He also has strong connections with many senior people at the Moses Kotane Local Municipality.

Now read: Corruption crackdown by the ANC
South Africas Central Firearms Registry (CFR) needs to move into the twenty first century with urgency and take the entire firearms application process online.

This is the view of the DAs Shadow Minister of Police, Andrew Whitfield who was commenting on the state of the CFR.

He said during an oversight visit by Parliaments Portfolio Committee on Police to the CFR this weekend, it became clear that it is dysfunctional and cannot fulfil its mandate.

What they have seen confirmed photos posted on social media about the dire state of the CFR, which include:

Files piled up in corridors on every floor due to a lack of space.

The poor use of IT systems.

Staff shortages.

A building which has been declared unsafe.

These are all contributing factors to the chaos we saw at the CFR. Staff morale is at an all-time low under these conditions resulting in rock bottom levels of productivity, Whitfield said.

During the oversight I challenged the SAPS to take the entire process online from application to approval.

This would remove unnecessary delays and ensure a fully digitised system which applicants could access to monitor the progress of their application.

It was revealed by SAPS that amnesty applications are placed on top of one another on the floor as they arrive.

This results in amnesty applications submitted at the beginning of an amnesty sitting at the bottom of thousands of pieces of paper.

Therefore, if you were one of the first amnesty applicants, your application is likely to be one of the last to be processed, he said.

In February 2021, SAPS presented to the Portfolio Committee that only 4%, or 2,059, of the 50,962 applications received during the 2019/20 amnesty had been finalised.

For applications received during the 2020/21 amnesty just 0.92%, or 280, of the 30,356 had been finalised.

Thousands of South Africans waiting for their firearm licences are left vulnerable by the failures of the CFR. This is unacceptable, Whitfield said.

The DA will now write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Police to request the CFR to present its turnaround plan to Parliament as a matter of urgency.

South Africas Central Firearms Registry (CFR)

Visit to CFR (Central Firearms Registry) today. This is the filing system. The changes to get hold of your application on an inquiry is poor. Offices and corridors are the filing cabinets pic.twitter.com/kQw9kDVt8Y  Pieter Groenewald (@GroenewaldPJ) May 15, 2021

Now read: Municipality paid R11 million for service which is free through Google Maps
The citys most recent homicide follows a violent weekend in Baltimore  starting on Feb. 7 when Khaled Heeba, 31, was fatally shot in the chest in the 1300 block of West Franklin St. Davon Evans, 40, was then shot and killed in the 1700 block of West Lanvale St. just hours later on Friday, according to police.
Dis-Chem will start to administer between 500 and 600 Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines per site at 11 mass vaccination sites in five provinces from Monday 24 May.

Dis-Chem is planning to vaccinate around 6,000 people per day at the 11 vaccination sites in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Free State.

At each vaccination site there will be 12 nursing practitioners who will help people to get vaccinated.

If there is strong demand for the Pfizer vaccine, Dis-Chem will expand its operations to 32 mass vaccination sites across the country.

Commenting on the decision to initially only use mass vaccination sites, Dis-Chems national head of clinics, Lizette Kruger, said it related to the cold storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is an mRNA vaccine which uses the genetic material of the virus to deliver a specific set of instructions to our cells.

In simple terms, it tells our cells to make a specific protein for the immune system to recognise and respond to COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine is safe and effective, with an efficacy of 95% based on data from an ongoing large-scale clinical trial.

It is a two-dose vaccine where shots should be taken two weeks apart.

It is a preferred vaccine for many nations, but requires careful planning because of its cold storage requirements.

The vaccine needs to be stored at between -25C and -15C to ensure it stays stable. Pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators are typically needed for this.

If it needs to be stored for longer than two weeks, the vaccine must be kept in an ultra-cold freezer at temperatures between -80C and -60C.

Because of the storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it will not be offered at Dis-Chem stores.

Kruger said while it may be disappointing that they will not immediately offer vaccinations at their stores, it is in the pipeline.

When the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is released, Dis-Chem will make it available at its stores countrywide. Johnson & Johnson is a single-shot vaccine with less stringent cold storage requirements.

Dis-Chem is aiming for between 20 and 40 vaccinations per store across its nearly 200 stores in South Africa.

Dis-Chems national head of clinics, Lizette Kruger interview
There was one spot that offered me solace, and that was the school library. The library was as strange to me as fractions and standardized tests  I had never seen or imagined such a place in a school. In my memory, the ceiling was miles above me and the wooden shelves of books went on forever. The smell of that many books gathered in one place was earthy and intoxicating. The librarian was sweet and welcoming, seemingly amused by my wonderment.

It may or may not have been on my first visit to the library (though in my memory it was) but over one of the shelves was a paper mache or cardboard model of a little boy looking in amazement at a huge dog with a giant clock on his side.

I asked what it was, and the librarian bought me a copy of something called The Phantom Tollbooth.
And yet, the report does not show that Ramos made any effort to clear up the confusion over her presence, which apparently had not been well explained to staff in advance. Nor did she decline the shot when it was offered or otherwise find a way to get it to an eligible person.

Instead, she conspicuously hung around long after her filming was done, chatting and glad-handing with staff. That caused many of the staff and volunteers to become uncomfortable and to feel unspoken pressure to provide this powerful elected official a shot, despite her age.

Watergate it is not, but at the same time, the report does not paint a flattering portrait of Ramos. She comes off as entitled, out-of-touch and obtrusive, all charges that have been leveled against her by critics and former supporters over the years.

This comes on top of Ramoss inept handling of the fallout from the ABC 7 story. At the time, she declined to speak with the TV stations reporter, saying she was too busy, despite the fact that she had rarely been shy about media appearances in any previous circumstance. Later, she variously claimed to the Register and others that she was on the official standby list (she was not, a fact made perfectly clear by the report) and that she was cleared by an initial investigation by the county CEO (an assertion only partly vindicated by the new report).
From January through October of every year, tennis star Sloane Stephens is in a different city competing. Based out of Florida, she visits her mother in Los Angeles as often as she can  and also checks in on the Sloane Stephens Foundation, which utilizes education and tennis to uplift vulnerable children. I honestly dont remember where exactly (my first tennis tournament was), but I do remember that I had a lot of fun and met friends that I grew close to and continued to see at tournaments, Sloane said from Paris, where she was competing in the French Open. That positive first experience with tennis is why I stuck with it. That is the type of environment we create with the kids at the Sloane Stephens Foundation. We give you all the tools to take tennis as far as you want, but the most important thing is that you are finding a pathway to be healthy, happy and have a positive experience. Stephens  who serves on the WTA Players Council  stays in touch with fans on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sloanestephens/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/SloaneStephens) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Sloaneposts).
Armenia Prosecutor General receives OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission's delegation

France's Macron intends to discuss situation in Nagorno-Karabakh with Turkish counterpart

Armenia 3rd President on Nikol Pashinyan: People look at him and say 'greetings, son of a b**ch'

US Department of Commerce intends to impose sanctions against Armenia's Armenal aluminum foil producer/exporter

Armenia 1st President recalls his "remedial secession" formula for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement

"I Have the Honor" bloc to Armenian authorities: Let them try to use force or threaten anyone

Armenia 2nd President: Everything that makes us Armenian has been destroyed over past three years

Azerbaijan continues obscene farce, "investigation" into case of another 26 Armenian POWs is over

Ex-governor presents situation in Armenia's Syunik Province

Armenia 3rd President doesn't know why Nikol Pashinyan hasn't signed the pro-Armenian document he's talking about

Armenia's Pashinyan: If I'm guilty, execute me, and I'll submit

Armenia acting PM holds march with twice as many security and police officers in Vanadzor (PHOTO)

Armenia acting MOD attaches importance to transparency of procurement and supplies in Armed Forces

Remains of 4 more Armenian servicemen found and removed from Artsakh's Jrakan region

Enigmatic incident takes places in Yerevan, semi-decayed body of man found under bridge

Philip Reeker: Azerbaijani Armed Forces need to return to positions of May 11

Armenia opposition party leader says he's ready to form coalition with all forces, except for ruling party

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijani side opens fire at military posts in border section of Gegharkunik Province

Head of Armenia's Mission to OSCE: Goals of OSCE and CSTO serve as ground for their cooperation

Azerbaijan shares documents on 8 Armenian POWs, COVID-19 in Armenia, Jun 19 digest

Azerbaijanis open gunfire at military posts in Armenia's Gegharkunik Province for nearly 30 minutes

Armenia acting justice minister expresses gratitude to US for supporting government's reforms agenda

Philip Reeker: US will continue to press for the return of Armenian POWs and detainees

Armenia 1st President: Russian peacekeepers won't leave Nagorno-Karabakh after 5 years

Catholicos of All Armenians receives newly appointed Ambassador of Kazakhstan

Armenia Parliament Speaker also attending ruling party's campaign meeting in Odzun (PHOTO)

Zakharova: Russia makes essential contributions to post-war demining in Nagorno-Karabakh

160,000,000 children are involved in child labor around the world

Dollar loses value in Armenia

Biden, Johnson underscore close ties between US and UK

Armenia attorney general forwards video recording of ex-FM's sensational statement to National Security Service

Ex-President Kocharyan: Armenia must stand on its feet to conduct effective negotiations on Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenia 2nd President: Border with Azerbaijan needs to be constructed as soon as possible

Armenia 1st President proposes to acting PM to publicize recording of their conversation about Karabakh

Armenia President congratulates Portuguese counterpart on National Day of Portugal

Iranian Ambassador to Armenia acting minister: Iran has already developed roadmap and timetable for joint programs

People are brought in vans to Lori Province village for meeting with Armenia acting premier

Karabakh rescue squad searching for remains of deceased servicemen in Fizuli and Jabrayil

Karabakh President appoints new chief of staff

Armenia 1st President doesn't rule out formation of coalition with Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan after elections

Armenia former President Kocharyan: Only way to work with external partners is being straightforward, honest

Acting US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs visits Armenian Genocide Memorial

Armenia 1st President: If we Armenians miss this moment as well, very bad things will happen

"I have the honor" bloc is in Armenias Syunik (PHOTOS)

Horsemen lead Armenia acting PM Pashinyan motorcade in Lori Province village

Armenia 2nd President Kocharyan: I have reasonable doubts that Shushi was deliberately handed over

Azerbaijan provides documents on 6 captured Armenia soldiers health condition

Police apprehend 16 ARF youths near Armenia government building

Ex-President Kocharyan on acting PM idea to exchange son for Armenian captives in Azerbaijan: Primitive stupidity

Armenia acting premier receives acting US assistant secretary of state

ARF youth close off downtown Yerevan street

Yerevan police forcibly apprehend protesting ARF members

Armenia acting PM in Lori Province, he is accompanied by State Protection Service head (PHOTOS)

ARF of Armenia presents facts about high treason

Permit documents can now be submitted online at Armenia border checkpoints

76 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

World oil prices dropping

Armenia interim government holding Cabinet meeting

Daily Express: Brussels angry over upcoming Biden-Putin meeting

Newspaper: Bright Armenia Party leader gives acting US deputy secretary of state sanctions list on Azeri authorities

American billionaires pay little income tax

Most livable city for 2021 is announced

Newspaper: Artsakh President makes controversial decision

WTO countries agree to intensify negotiations on easing access to coronavirus vaccines

Armenia Ombudsman: Trials against Armenian POWs continue in Azerbaijan with gross violations of international law

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
The Foreign Relations Committee of the European Parliament formulated in its report the basic principles of building relations with Moscow, RT reported.

MEPs voiced five recommendations: imposing sanctions, financial control, organizing international investigations, and countering security threats. Another point is the fight against Russian interference in the affairs of the European Union and opposition to Russian-language propaganda, including through the creation of a TV channel with round-the-clock broadcasting. This also includes supporting a pro-democratic society in Russia and inspiring Russians through the Eastern Partnership program.

Brussels also proposed not to recognize the legitimacy of the new composition of the State Duma after the elections in September, if they are held with falsifications. The authors of the report noted that it is advisable to tell Russia about the benefits in case of its formation on the path of democratic transformations. For example, the visa regime will be simplified, strategic partnerships, investment programs in free trade and modernization are possible.

In relations with the United States, the European Union is encouraged to unite to defend democracy around the world and develop common measures for sanctions, financial assistance and support for human rights activists. To comply with the principle of democracy first, European countries should take into account the issue of human rights and free elections in any dialogue or agreement with the Kremlin.

This policy should start with the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project. The European Union is also going to prepare a plan to reduce purchases of Russian oil and gas. To contain the Russian aggression, the text proposes, together with NATO and international partners, to put pressure on Moscow, which should stop interfering in the affairs of the countries of the former USSR and return Donbass to Ukraine.

Moreover, if Russia continues aggressive threats and military actions, then the European Union may threaten to disconnect the state from the international payment system SWIFT.
Every member of the BGE team is behind our injured colleague and keeping them in our thoughts and prayers as they recover, BGE spokeswoman Stephanie Weaver wrote in an email, citing employee and customer safeties as the companys top priorities. Were committed to understanding the full details of the incident to learn from the event and take steps to help eliminate incidents like this.
From book-worthy research on Serbian ethnicities to developing training for the Liberian National Police to tutoring Atlanta-area refugees, Tara Djukanovic has thoroughly embodied the extraordinary promise of a McMullan Award winner.

Growing up in Iowa as the daughter of Serbian immigrants, Tara Djukanovic entered Emory College four years ago with the goal of honoring the people whose sacrifices created her opportunities.

Beyond devoting herself to coursework, she also mentored fellow students through Residence Life, tutored Atlanta-area immigrants and refugees and even crafted a training program for the Liberian National Police.

The joy she felt with each effort confirmed for Djukanovic, who graduates with highest honors, that she should pursue a career focused on human rights advocacy. She starts Harvard Law School in the fall, armed with the unrestricted $30,000 that comes with earning the McMullan Award.

Made possible by a generous gift from Emory alumnus William Matheson 47G, the highly selective award recognizes Emory College graduates who show extraordinary promise for future leadership and rare potential for service to their community, the nation and the world.

Dilek Huseyinzadegan saw that talent in Djukanovic, a double-major in international relations and philosophy, political science and law, in her freshman seminar examining 18th- and 19th-century writings on freedom and oppression.

My first instinct: Tara will be secretary of state in 20 years, says Huseyinzadegan, an associate professor of philosophy.

Its not just that I can see her advising presidents, Huseyinzadegan adds. There is nothing she feels she can do to pay back the labor, care and attention given to her, so whatever she is given and learns, she immediately turns it around and shares. That is how to truly influence people and policy.

Dedicated advocate

Djukanovics interest in elevating others began at home. She credits her parents, an engineer and biologist, with emphasizing both education and service. Living half a world away from relatives and a culture that emphasized tight family connections, they worked hard to ensure stability for her and her younger brother, who has a disability and is fully dependent.

For a time, she thought becoming a public schoolteacher would honor them and the educators who encouraged her intellect in class and helped develop her confidence to speak up through debate.

Her first taste of advocacy came in high school when, as a member of the Iowa Youth Advisory Council, she worked on an antihuman trafficking law.

She was intrigued, when searching for a college, that Emory would afford her the chance to conduct research necessary for thoughtful advocacy and policy. Spotting Dooley clinched it.

I knew I wanted to focus on the voices that hadnt been heard, and I saw that I could do that here, she says. I love Halloween, too, so when I saw Dooley, I knew this school was made for me.

Complex Director Cathy Marques has watched Djukanovic effortlessly juxtapose such seriousness and silliness in advocating for first-year students and fellow Residence Life staffers for two years.

Other students praise her efforts, attention she is so uncomfortable with that she will turn off her Zoom camera when it comes up in a meeting. Other RAs remain undeterred, some showing up for the defense of her senior honors thesis on how ethnically diverse migrants affect existing ethnic divisions in Serbia.

Other students included volunteers from Students Helping in Naturalization of Elders (SHINE). Djukanovic was a four-year volunteer with the group  Emorys signature engagement program with Atlantas refugee, immigrant and new American communities  and served as co-president this year.

Praise from your peers is probably the most difficult thing to achieve, and Tara gets all their respect and love, Marques says. She brings a great sense of humor and balance to everything she does, with this incredible ability to meet people where they are.

Learning by listening

As her thesis suggests, Djukanovic has long thought big when it comes to social justice and policy. Still, her consideration started small: watching how people would ignore her nonverbal brother when trying to help him.

That interest led her to The Carter Center, known for its dedication to underserved populations around the world. There, she learned how to provide humanitarian aid by allowing those being served to guide the process.

As an intern with the Rule of Law program, she helped get dispute resolution and gender-sensitive training approved for Liberian police by listening to stakeholders there about their professional interactions. She also helped create an alternative justice framework for women in Bangladesh.

If you ever think you want to help, if you come with a sense of respect and listen to the people at hand, you can learn more and you can do more, Djukanovic says.

That experience informed the thesis work she originally planned to conduct in Serbia as an undergraduate fellow with the Halle Institute for Global Research.

When the pandemic shut down travel, she used the funds to design a survey that was sent to a mix of Serbians  Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Christian Serbs and Catholic Croats  to see how they felt about each other and the recent influx of migrants from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. The survey showed progress toward reconciliation among the different ethnicities in Serbia. Serbs also demonstrated an amicable view of the recent migrants, perhaps a reflection of Serbias relatively recent wave of emigration that included Djukanovics family in the late 1990s.

Scholars at the Midwest Political Science Association meetings in April were so taken with her original research that they suggested she publish a book from it.

Taras unceasing dedication to producing research that is not only top-notch but also has the ultimate goal of improving the lives of underserved populations demonstrates how effective she already is, says Holli Semetko, the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Media and International Affairs in the Department of Political Science. I think that Tara has the compassionate leadership qualities to become a real problem solver on a global scale.

Next steps

Before tackling the world and even law school, Djukanovic has far simpler aims. First, she must move out the jungle of plants she tends in her dorm room.

Though she plans to use most of her McMullan Award money for law school, she is setting aside some for her family. She hopes travel restrictions will ease enough for her to also pay for her parents to visit family in Serbia.

My parents sacrificed for me to feel safe, and it was also my grandparents who gave up so much for that to happen, Djukanovic says.

My life has been made possible because of the people who did service in my name, she adds. There is always someone who needs help. Everyone is deserving. Emory made me feel like I was smart, and I belonged. Everyone deserves that.
Arrivals from Taiwan to face hotel quarantine

There's been a small rise in domestic Covid infections in Taiwan recently. Image: Shutterstock

Damon Pang reports

The SAR government on Friday announced tighter anti-epidemic measures for people flying in from Taiwan, after a spate of Covid-19 cases there.



Instead of home quarantine, arrivals will have to stay at a designated quarantine hotel for two weeks.



Speaking to lawmakers at a Legislative Council health services panel meeting, Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the new arrangement will be implemented "in a day or two", after it has been gazetted.



Chan said the new requirement is aimed at reducing the chance of coronavirus entering the local community.



Currently, travellers from Taiwan have to get tested on the 12th day of their home quarantine.



Under new rules, they will have to get tested three times during their stay at designated hotels, and must undergo another two tests, 16 and 19 days after their arrival.



DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat asked whether the government would track down nearly 500 people who arrived from Taiwan in the past month.



Quat said if these people were carrying Covid, they might have been asymptomatic during the incubation period.



Chan said in response that the arrivals would have tested negative at the airport before they were allowed into the community.
Marcio Jose Bastos Silva / Shutterstock.com

You don't necessarily need a college degree to be successful -- Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are among the list of college dropouts that have gone on to become billionaires. But they're more the exception than the rule. In fact, many of the world's billionaires went to the same handful of colleges.

Forbes examined the schools attended by the individuals on its annual World's Billionaire List to determine which colleges produced the most billionaire alumni -- and these are the 11 colleges that boast the most.

Discover: See the Full List of Money's Most Influential and More

Low Memorial Library at Columbia University in New York City.

9. (Tie) Columbia University

Number of billionaire alumni: 11

Located in New York City, the Ivy League universitys two wealthiest alumni are Robert Kraft, owner of the NFLs New England Patriots, and Rocco Commisso, the founder of cable company Mediacom, Forbes reported.

Find Out More: Don't Miss Out on Nominating Your Favorite Small Business To Be Featured on GOBankingRates -- Ends May 31

Princeton University in New Jersey

9. (Tie) Princeton University

Number of billionaire alumni: 11

Alumni of the New Jersey-based Ivy League school include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his ex-wife MacKenzie Scott -- who are worth a combined $230 billion -- and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Discover: All You Need To Know About the Economy and Your Money

9. (Tie) University of California, Berkeley

Number of billionaire alumni: 11

Located in Berkeley, California, this public university's billionaire alumni include DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore.

Find Out: Just How Rich Are Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and These Other Big Names?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology college campus designed by Frank Gehry

8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Number of billionaire alumni: 14

Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch and his brother William Koch both attended this Cambridge, Massachusetts university. Other billionaire alumni include Jim Simons, who founded the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston.

Read: 3 Alarming Ways Women Are Lagging Behind Men When It Comes to Their Finances

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USC

7. University of Southern California

Number of billionaire alumni: 15

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff are among the billionaire alumni who attended Los Angeles's University of Southern California.

See More: These Billionaires Got Richer During The Pandemic

Cornell University McGraw Tower in Ithaca New York

6. Cornell University

Number of billionaire alumni: 18

Billionaire graduates of this Ivy League school -- located in Ithaca, New York -- include former Citigroup head Sandy Weill, who is the namesake of the universitys medical school, and private equity heavyweight Robert F. Smith, who lends his name to the chemical engineering school.

Did You Know: Rich People Who Wont Leave Money to Their Kids

Mumbai University Library Building.

5. Mumbai University

Number of billionaire alumni: 20

Based in Mumbai, India, Mumbai University is the only non-American school on this ranking. Its billionaire alumni include Uday Kotak, who founded and runs one of Indias largest banks in the private sector.

Read: Elon Musks Biggest Bets That Paid Off

Yale University campus

4. Yale University

Number of billionaire alumni: 21

Several billionaire heirs and heiresses attended Yale, including candy heirs John, Valerie and Victoria Mars, and oil heirs Lee, Edward, Robert and Sid Bass. Other billionaire alumni of the New Haven, Connecticut-based Ivy League include Joe Tsai, co-founder of Alibaba and owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets, and Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the investment firm Blackstone.

Find Out: These Elite Colleges Went Virtual -- But Raised Tuition Anyway

Palo Alto, CA USA May 20, 2017: University logo at Main Camus of Stanford.

2. (Tie) Stanford University

Number of billionaire alumni: 28

Stanford has educated a number of super-successful entrepreneurs, including Ernie Garcia, founder and CEO of Carvana; Andy Fang, co-founder of DoorDash; David Velez, founder of Nubank; Baiju Bhatt and Vlad TenevRobinhood, co-founders of Robinhood; and Rich Barton, co-founder and CEO of Zillow.

Read: The Worlds Most In-Demand Jobs That Dont Require a Degree

University of Pennsylvania

2. (Tie) University of Pennsylvania

Number of billionaire alumni: 28

Former President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are both alumni of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, as is philanthropist and widow of the late Steve Jobs, Laurene Powell Jobs.

Discover: 15 College Degrees That Wont Make You Money

Harvard Business School university

1. Harvard University

Number of billionaire alumni: 29

Harvard University has more billionaire alumni than any other school, the Forbes analysis found. Bitcoin billionaires Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are among the elites that graduated from the Ivy League institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 11 Colleges With the Most Billionaire Alumni
CHICAGO  Two Chicago police officers responding to a shots fired alert from ShotSpotter, the citys gunshot detection system, were shot and wounded early Sunday on the West Side, authorities confirmed.

One officer had been in critical but stable condition and the other had been in good condition, officials said. Both officers were released from Mount Sinai around 10:45 a.m., police said. The man who allegedly shot the two male officers  a 45-year-old convicted felon, according to Superintendent David Brown  also was shot in a lower extremity, police said, and he was taken to Stroger Hospital.

Thankfully, none of the injuries are life-threatening to either the officers or the offender. But it just underscores the danger that our men and women in the Police Department face every single day. They run to danger to protect us. And we cant ever forget that, said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Both injured officers were discharged less than four hours after the shooting, ceremoniously rolled out in wheelchairs in front of a line of approximately 50 waiting officers before getting in their families cars, police spokesman Tom Ahern said. The other officers lined the cars as they drive away, saluting them, he said. Officers began lining up to witness the release around 10:40 a.m.

Officers then gathered to pray after both injured officers were driven away, during which Brown said a blessing for officers who came to salute the men out of the hospital to encourage them in a hypercritical time for police.

Both officers are expected to make a full recovery, Brown said.

He urged the silent majority in this city who fully support our police officers, to be more vocal and that officers need to hear from them.

The officers had been working in Lawndale when they were dispatched to the ShotSpotter alert near the 1500 block of South Lawndale Avenue about 7:23 a.m., Brown said. When they saw a man in a vacant lot near the location the ShotSpotter alert indicated, they approached him and were immediately fired upon, Brown said.

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They were in uniform, clearly Chicago police officers, and this offender had no regard for their position as police officers  no regard  and began trying to kill them. Lets be clear: This offender turned and immediately tried to kill these officers by firing a gun at them and hitting both of them. But for the good Lords grace that were not here talking about planning a funeral for our officers, Brown said.

Lightfoot reiterated many of the same points as Brown during a 9:15 a.m. joint news conference outside Mount Sinai Hospital, stressing that the officers were readily identifiable as police officers when they were fired upon. Brown also said there was no foot pursuit prior to the gunfire.

One officer was shot in the hand and was in good condition. Police outside Mount Sinai said they expected he would be released sometime after 10:15 a.m.

The other officer was shot in the hip and in the shoulder above his vest and had been in critical but stable condition, Brown said.

Brown said there have been 16 Chicago police officers shot in the past 15 months. In the same time frame, 108 officers have been fired upon, he said.

Its just too early now to go into the details of this investigation, Brown said. He expects investigators will pull video from the area as well as body camera footage from the injured officers.

I would just ask that we also put the same attention on this video with ... these two officers being shot, that we put on others. To just see how quickly these split-second incidents happen, Brown said. Officers oftentimes have often no time to react, so lets make sure we put the same pressures on looking at this video to get a totality of the circumstances, a sense of how quickly our officers are put in danger on these calls that involve gunplay.

Repeating a common refrain, Lightfoot again called for an end to violence in the city.

Lets say a prayer for all involved. Lets pray for peace in our city, Lightfoot said. Weve got to put these guns down. Weve got to stop the flow of illegal guns into our city.

These are at least the fifth and sixth Chicago police officers to be shot in the past two months, according to Tribune records.

On March 25, a Deering District officer was shot in the South Sides Brighton Park neighborhood while he and other officers went after a gunman who shot a security worker at a Home Depot. The gunman was shot and killed by another officer, and the wounded cop and the security worker survived their injuries.

That shooting came five days after an Austin District officer was shot in the hand on the West Side by a gunman who, authorities say, fired at several cops and three other people near Maypole and LaCrosse avenues in the Austin community. A 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

On March 15, an off-duty officer was shot while sitting in his vehicle at a traffic light in the 8900 block of South Stony Island Avenue in the Calumet Heights neighborhood on the South Side. That officer was shot in the abdomen and needed surgery. A $1,000 reward has been offered for the capture of at least two suspects wanted in that case.

The day before that shooting, on March 14, an on-duty sergeant was shot outside the Gresham District Police Station, 7808 S. Halsted St., on the South Side. That sergeant suffered a graze wound to his chin, and theres been no word of any arrests in that case.

Lightfoot, who attended a paramedic graduation ceremony two days ago, also praised the dedication and talent of the medical team at Mount Sinai and the paramedics who treated the officers at the scene and on the way to the hospital.

She noted one paramedic, Gerardo Casas, graduated Friday and, according to Chicago Fire officials, his first call was responding to the two officers who were shot.

I attended a graduation of paramedics from the Fire Department, who were immediately put into action, and Im told that one of those paramedics that graduated on Friday was part of the team that carried these officers here to the hospital, she said.

In a statement released by email around 11 a.m., police said a comprehensive use of force investigation will be initiated by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability with the full cooperation of Chicago police. The two officers will be assigned to administrative duties for 30 days, as is routine.

Brown mentioned the shooting occurred during National Police Week, which was first celebrated as National Peace Officers Memorial Day on May 15, 1962, under President John F. Kennedy. Brown said that because of COVID-19 restrictions, the city has been unable to hold a local ceremony.

These are brave people. These are people who are sworn to protect all of the people of Chicago and they take this oath knowing they are putting their lives at risk to save other lives. They have recovered over 4,000 guns this year  4,000. Thats more than what is recovered in New York and L.A. combined, Brown said. And every gun recovery is a potential deadly force encounter. And so these officers bravery and courage is on display every day, every shift, every hour.
Cops have released surveillance images of the suspect wanted for toppling a large crucifix outside a Brooklyn church in what cops are investigating as a possible hate crime, authorities said Sunday.

The vandal also burned an American flag outside the church, damaging a fence, cops revealed Sunday.

The damage was discovered about 8 a.m. Friday when Msgr. David Cassato stepped outside St. Athanasius Church in Bensonhurst to greet students at St. Athanasius Catholic Academy next door.

This was truly an act of hatred, Cassato said. Today is the saddest day of my 20 years here at this parish.

Surveillance video released Sunday by cops shows the vandal struck at 1:36 a.m. Friday. The wooden cross affixed with a statue of Jesus was busted into pieces after being toppled.

I went over and spoke to the students in the school about what happened, telling them that hate never wins, Cassato said. We are, and must be, a community that continues to share the message of Easter, that which is of love, hope, and forgiveness.

The vandal has not been caught.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
To the outside world, the scenes of rocket fire, bombing raids and angry protests in the Middle East this week may have looked familiar. To the people of Israel and especially the Gaza Strip, they were anything but routine.

Families once again fled or found themselves homeless, anguished parents mourned dead children and journalists evacuated offices before they were destroyed as the Islamic militant group Hamas and the Israeli military sought to inflict as much damage on the other as they could this week - before the fighting intensified further or they were pressured into a cease-fire.

The Gaza side, which is controlled by Hamas, absorbed the overwhelming brunt of the death toll: 145 people, including 41 children and 23 women, as of Saturday night, according to the Health Ministry of the narrow, crowded territory where 2 million Palestinians live. Those killed included a family of six on Friday and 10 members of the same family on Saturday.

In Israel, where cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen nightly communal violence, eight people have died, including two children. The regional director for UNICEF reported Saturday that half of the children killed in Gaza were under 10, while dozens of other Palestinian children were wounded in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The scale of violence is massive. Children are bearing the brunt of this escalation, UNICEF regional director Ted Chaiban said. All sides need to step back and end the violence.

The violence sparked in Jerusalem a month ago amid Israeli police actions at the city's Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint built on a hilltop compound that is revered by both Jews and Muslims. Tensions built in east Jerusalem earlier this month when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of families from their homes.

Starting late last Monday, Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem in an apparent attempt to present itself as the champion of the protesters. Israel retorted with aerial bombardments, and then deployed tanks and warplanes as the militant group fired hundreds of rockets across the border.

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The spiraling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising: Across the West Bank, Palestinians held their most widespread protests since 2017, with hundreds in at least nine towns burning tires and throwing stones at Israeli troops, who fired back with their weapons.

As the U.N. Security Council prepared to discuss the situation Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces set their sights on a new target. An Israeli air strike on Saturday afternoon targeted and destroyed a 12-story building housing the Gaza offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other news outlets.

The bombing disrupted international coverage of the ongoing conflict, an outcome that some media organizations suspected was deliberate.
May 15It was zero-hour 6 p.m. on Friday, May 7 as five local law students in five locations were simultaneously trying to log into the website for the State Bar of California.

The students, ranging in age from 27 to 44, are Isela Welz, Shannon Miller, Misty Franklin, Katherynn DeLeon and Ajaib Gill.

It's been years since aspiring attorneys graduated from a law school located in Bakersfield, and now the five were checking to see whether they had each passed the all-important state bar exam.

The stakes were high  for the students and for the new local law school known as the Kern County College of Law.

"I was at a bar, trying to find some liquid courage," said Misty Franklin, a mother of four and a former teacher who endured three and a half years of challenging courses and grueling work to get to this moment.

The five students were hesitant to celebrate too publicly on social media unless all five passed. After sharing years of work and the emotional ups and downs of completing the paper chase of a lifetime, they had become bonded. They had become family.

But the odds were against them.

"Statistically, there was no way we were all going to pass," Franklin said.

In fact, only 37.2 percent of those who took the state bar exam in February passed it. The odds were not good.

But Franklin finally gained access to the web page and learned that she had passed. Within minutes she was informed that all four of her colleagues had passed as well.

Relief washed over her.

"I screamed," she said. "Then I cried."

It was finally over. And it was just beginning.

A new chapter

Ajaib Gill had never planned on going to law school. Married, with three kids, he currently works full-time as the business manager for the Kern County Assessor-Recorder.

But Gill already has applications pending at the county Public Defender's Office and County Counsel's Office.

"When I heard a law school was opening in Kern County, I was intrigued," he said. "Brandon Martin, a high school classmate, was one of the first-year professors and he encouraged me to apply."

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Gill said he enjoys his work at the assessor's office and has done well there. But a new chapter was calling.

"I got to thinking that I had 25 years left to work and was fascinated by the challenge," he said. "Lawyers are in a position to make a real impact on people's lives. It truly is a noble profession."

But few people can handle the schedule required to get there  and the red-eyed exhaustion that comes with it.

"I attended classes almost year-round, three to four nights a week. It wasn't easy on my family," Gill said. "I would go from work directly to school and come home at 9:30.

"Weekends were often taken up reading cases and preparing assignments," he said. "During bar prep, I was at the college from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. every day for almost two months. I missed a lot of time with my family, and that was probably the toughest part about the whole experience."

Can a new law school stop the attorney turnover?

This first class of students at Kern County College of Law formed in 2017, said Cathy Bennett, an appellate attorney at Klein DeNatale Goldner who also is a law professor at KCCL.

About 16 students originally started in the school's first year in 2017. But like all challenging academic pathways, their numbers dwindled.

"A couple had health problems, a couple had family issues," Bennett said.

Some of those students remain enrolled, but will take longer to graduate.

Six students graduated in December. Five took the bar in February and passed. One graduate, AJ Alejandro, elected to take the bar in July.

Bennett and other faculty members say having a law school in Bakersfield doesn't just fill a need for students, it is good for Kern County.

"One problem we have is attracting qualified professionals, not just lawyers," Bennett said.

Many new attorneys come here for their first job, get trained, and then leave. But most students at KCCL have roots here, family here, and they intend to stay.

"They are trained to serve their community," Bennett said.

Building a local law school

Kern County Deputy District Attorney Hunter Starr was sitting in a barbecue restaurant in Texas when he heard the news that all five students had aced the exam.

"I jumped up and yelled something like 'Yeah!'" he said. "The whole restaurant was looking at me."

Starr, who is also a law professor at the college, had reason to celebrate.

"It's near and dear to us," he said. "It means so much to have a local law school."

Starr's father, retired prosecutor Bud Starr, serves as the dean of the local college of law. The elder Starr, who was awarded the Kern County Bar Association's highest honor, the Bench and Bar Award, in 2016, said the faculty is proud of the five students.

"When five out of five pass the bar, that's rare," he said.

For a number of years, Starr said, there was another law school based in Bakersfield, the California Pacific School of Law.

That school's last class graduated in 2002, he said. But the structure of the schools is quite different.

"We are a nonprofit satellite campus of the Monterey College of Law," he said.

Monterey opened its first branch campus, San Luis Obispo College of Law, in 2015, followed by its second branch campus, Kern County College of Law, two years later.

"We were really lucky the community supported us," Starr said. "The first year, the Kern County Bar Association let us use their conference room."

The law school rented space on the second floor at Chain Cohn Stiles in year two.

Becoming attorneys

Isela Welz, one of the five, wanted to be a math teacher when she was growing up in Shafter. But life is full of happy accidents.

"I landed a job as a file clerk while going to BC and here I am," she said.

"I worked my way up: file clerk, legal secretary, paralegal, and now associate attorney."

She works at the Fresno business litigation firm Wilkins Drolshagen & Czeshinski LLP.

"When I first started telling people I wanted to go to law school, the majority were supportive and encouraging," she remembered. "But one person who I looked up to told me I had two strikes against me: I was a girl and I was Mexican. That just helped me stay committed to my goal."

She was the second of six kids growing up, and while she has no children of her own, Welz said she plays a big part in raising her nieces and nephews.

"Being an example to my nieces is what keeps me working so hard. I want them to know they can grow up to be whatever they want to be," she said.

The youngest of the five law students, Katherynn DeLeon, graduated from UC Irvine in 2016. She started working for a civil law firm, and stayed for three years before joining the Kern County District Attorney's Office.

"When the college of law opened up, I realized I could work and go to school at the same time," DeLeon said.

It seems to have worked out for her.

"I still have to be sworn in," she said. "But I've been doing everything a lawyer can do for the past three months.

"I love working at the D.A.'s Office," DeLeon said. "I love helping victims."

All five talked of the bond that was created between them, and of the admiration and gratitude they feel for the law professors at KCCL.

"We had each other's backs," she said of her fellow graduates. "They're my family.

"We spent every night together for years. I don't think we'll ever stop talking. We'll always be family."

Shannon Miller, a fifth graduate, was in Las Vegas when she learned that she and all four of her friends had passed the bar.

First came tears. Then gratitude.

"This whole experience has been surreal," Miller said. "Then when all five of us passed ... I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them."

Gill agreed with his fellow graduates.

"This is one of the most exciting events of my life, and is the accomplishment I'm proudest of," he said.

"I've received so many calls, texts, Facebook and LinkedIn messages from family, friends, faculty, and even members of the local legal community congratulating me.

"Every single one of them makes me smile," he said.

"The fact that all five of us passed makes it just perfect."

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.
Family of Vijay Raju, who died due to coronavirus, mourn at a crematorium ground in Giddenahalli village - Samuel Rajkumar/Reuters

Good news has been scarce in India of late. But, on Friday morning, Professor Parag Singhal, a consultant endocrinologist, let out a long sigh of relief.

A 57-year-old woman admitted to a Covid-19 care centre at the Centre Point Hotel in the western city of Nagpur was being discharged after a week-long battle against Covid-19.

But Prof Singhal, who recommended placing the patient on oxygen and prescribed her steroids, doesnt work in India. He dons scrubs over 4,500 miles away in the Somerset seaside town of Weston-super-Mare.

Over the previous month, he has woken one hour early to provide daily Zoom teleconsultations to 20 Covid-19 positive patients in India before his usual shift at Weston General Hospital. If he can, he takes on more appointments during his lunch hour.

My motto is very simple, even if we manage to save one life we have done something and we have contributed, said Prof Singhal, who moved to the United Kingdom from India in 1994.

Officially, 262,000 Indians have died from Covid-19 and the last week has seen the average daily death toll exceed 4,000 for the first time.

The actual death toll is believed to be significantly higher with the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) predicting over one million actual deaths by the end of July.

Indias healthcare system is one of the most underfunded in the world and there have been chronic shortages of oxygen, hospital beds and essential medicines.

Despite India receiving aid from at least 40 countries, including the United Kingdom, 75 critical Covid-19 patients have died since Monday in Goas leading hospital after oxygen supplies ran out on two separate occasions.

There is quite a depressing mood right now. Everyone has a family member or friend back in India who has undergone some sad incident or tragedy, said Prof Singhal.

There are approximately 1.5 million British Indians in the UK, including two members of the current UK Cabinet, with many maintaining close ties to the country of their heritage.

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Prof Singhal is the National Secretary of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) and over 700 members of the group are providing free, daily teleconsultations in Indian hospitals that do not have the manpower to cope with the surge in cases.

There is a shortage of 600,000 doctors and two million nurses in India and the situation is particularly grave in rural areas where 83 per cent of surgeon and physician roles are vacant, according to a study published in The Lancet.

I was born in India and I was trained there, my heart is still there. Yes, I definitely belong to two countries, the United Kingdom and India, but looking at the distressing scenes in India and patients not being able to access medicines or to see a doctor I felt compelled and obliged to help, Prof Singhal said.

It has really helped us now when our hospitals are extremely burdened, allowing senior consultants to focus on patients in the ICU, said Dr Niharika Ranjan, an attending consultant at Nagpurs Kingsway Hospital.

Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security
A liberal arts college in Pennsylvania is investigating a horrific incident of alleged harassment of LGBTQ students.

On Friday, Bucknell University President John Bravman and two school officials wrote a letter addressed to students and staff of the prestigious school acknowledging and condemning the incident.

A group of nearly two dozen students male students banged against our windows and doors, swinging a metal bar at our flag pole that displays our pride flag, and urinating on our front porch, Tyler Luong, the residential adviser for Frans House, wrote in an email to Bravman.

Luong sent the email on Friday morning. He also shared it with The Daily Item.

We are both outraged and sorrowful that the residents endured this violation of the space that is so critically important to them as a community, Bravmans letter, which was posted on Bucknells website, read. These actions will not be tolerated.

While others were drinking and having fun under the sunset, the residents of Frans House were locking our windows and securing our doors from nearly 20 former Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) members from breaking into our home, Luong wrote to the president.

The students banged against our windows and doors, swinging a metal bar at our flag pole that displays our pride flag, and urinating on our front porch, he said.

They also yelled, Let us in, This isnt your home, and This is our home.

The house at 825 Fraternity Road formerly housed the TKE fraternity until they were removed two years ago.

A 2019 investigation into hazing found that some TKE members engaged in activities creating a reasonable likelihood of bodily injury, including the use of dog shock collars on students, slapping, as well as throwing darts at members.

As a result, the fraternity is no longer a recognized student organization, and its also banned from campus operations.

It is clear from multiple accounts that the students violated the physical space and, far more importantly, the residents sense of place and security, the president wrote, adding that the school has retained an outside firm to conduct an immediate investigation of these actions and submit a full report to Bucknell administration as soon as possible.

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In his letter, Bravman also acknowledged a possible failure in the handling of the issue by public safety personnel.

When Public Safety arrived, they laughed at the situation, Luong wrote, adding that the officers bonded with our offenders, reminiscing their college days and calling them handsome young men.

The two officers didnt even speak to me, he wrote. Neither of the two officers came up to us Frans House residents to ask if we were okay.

Bravman said that the school has also engaged an outside firm to immediately investigate Public Safetys response and will implement corrective and disciplinary measures as appropriate.

In a statement shared on Instagram, the schools office of LGBTQ resources said that, after the ordeal, the Frans House community has and continues to show courage and support for one another.
May 16As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wane, Norman residents will soon notice new tenants coming to Campus Corner and filling some of its empty suites.

With hopes that the worst of the pandemic is in the past, a local realtor said new businesses are on the way to the corner.

Rainy Powell, an Equity Realty broker who owns a significant amount of property on Campus Corner, said most of his storefronts are occupied, or will be soon.

At 119 W. Boyd, Mamaka Bowls, an acai bowl and smoothie business, will set up shop in the old King Kopy space.

Powell said King Kopy will eventually occupy a different space in the same building.

At 566 Buchanan Ave., local photographer Branden Hart opened a studio and gallery, and updated his website to reflect his new location.

Powell said Pinkberry has submitted a construction permit for the property at 323 W. Boyd St. The frozen yogurt shop plans to start by June and open by August before the football season starts, he said.

Powell said Fanatics Sooner Shop at 329 W. Boyd and 331 W. Boyd is moving out, but still has possession of the space. He said he has received multiple offers, but is being selective about who he will allow in the space.

"If I need to get filled, I could do that quickly, but it's a special space and I want a special tenant," Powell said. "We will probably have two tenants there."

As for the type of business Powell is looking for, he said mercantile would be ideal over a restaurant, bar or service. He said Equity Realty has put together a list of Oklahoma City and out-of-state businesses to call.

Apple Tree Chocolates has plans to move out of its current Campus Corner suite at 754 Asp Ave. into a downtown space at 209 E. Main St. formerly occupied by the Social Club.

Longtime tenant concerns

Apple Tree manager Lauren Collins said while it's not tied to Apple Tree's move, she has seen a significant increase in trash around Campus Corner.

"There's been so much more trash everywhere, and it's disgusting," Collins said.

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Over the last year, COVID-19 has put a sustained damper on many businesses on Campus Corner. While Danny Falcone, co-owner of New York Pizza & Pasta at 217 W. Boyd St., said business is picking up, it has yet to return to a pre-pandemic state.

"It's really not where it should be, but it's picking up somewhat," Falcone said.

Falcone said as business gets back to normal, a lack of parking is of most concern, particularly during peak hours.

"There's not enough parking," Falcone said.

O'Connell's Irish Pub and Grille owner Jeff Stewart said there has been concern about trash buildup around Asp Avenue, but the issue has been addressed.

Stewart said parking is not a serious issue, but finding parking during peak hours on the weekend can be difficult. With a number of spaces still up for grabs on Campus Corner, Stewart it's important to make sure a mix of different types of businesses is coming in.

"We do have some corporate entities, and some of the reason why we don't have more is parking," Stewart said.

Jeff Elkins covers business, living and community stories for The Transcript. Reach him at jelkins@normantranscript.com or at @JeffElkins12 on Twitter.
Local media reported that several police officers were injured in the ramming and that the driver of the vehicle was shot dead.

As Israeli security forces worked at the scene of the incident, police were seen throwing a stun grenade in the direction of journalists.

New clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli police in the area, which was sparked by the planned evictions of several Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, an area captured by Israel in a 1967.

Palestinians live in most of Sheikh Jarrah's homes, but Israeli settlers have moved in to some of its properties.
Tensions between the United States and China seem to loom over everything.

During Sunday's United Nations Security Council meeting on the escalating Israel-Hamas conflict, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. of preventing the council from issuing a unified statement on the situation.

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While China's criticism was the most direct, other nations on the council, including Ireland, Norway, and Mexico reportedly made it clear that crafting a statement calling for an immediate cease-fire is an urgent matter. And Ben Rhodes, who worked as the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications and speechwriting in the Obama administration, tweeted that it "feels increasingly untenable for the U.S. to see this loss of civilian life in Gaza  including so many children  and not publicly call for a cease-fire."

At the moment, the U.S. appears to be sticking to the status quo, however. In her remarks during the council meeting, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Washington is working to end the conflict and will support a cease-fire, but suggested the parties involved in the fighting will have to take the initiative.

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Chris Krebs, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, says the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline should be a wake-up call about the risk of cyber threats.

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- Welcome back to "Face the Nation." We want to go next to the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chris Krebs. Good morning, Chris.

I want to start with the Colonial Pipeline. It was not intended to undermine American infrastructure. But it suggested some vulnerabilities. What did we learn?

CHRIS KREBS: Good morning, John. First, I think that if there was any remaining question as to whether cybercrime, and ransomware in particular, was a national security threat, I think that question resolved itself over the last week.

I think one of the key things I took away from the last week is that business executives have to stop looking at cybersecurity as a technical risk issue. And it truly is a business risk. I mean, we're talking resilience of the national economy. And we've got to do a better job in terms of closing out vulnerabilities and making our systems and our operations more resilient.

- The president signed an executive order this week to try to get at some of those issues. What's your evaluation of that executive order?

CHRIS KREBS: I think it's a really ambitious plan. I think it should be effective, if implemented properly, which I have confidence in the team, both at my old agency as well is in the National Security Council and elsewhere.

But the benefit here is that typically, executive orders really only apply to the federal government. And what we're going to see is, through the power of the purse, through the purchasing apparatus of the United States government and the software from US tech companies and others, we're going to see improved security standards and improved security performance.

And there's a trickle-down or cascading effect, where the government buys the same things that we do out in the industry and at home. So all boats should rise with the tide here.

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- So your argument is that if companies have to step up their game to provide products to the government, they'll use those same new, higher-quality products they create in the private sector?

CHRIS KREBS: They're not going to build two different engineering teams to develop software. The same code that goes out for government is going to go out to industry. And you're going to see better security out there as a result. And I think that's a great thing.

- You talked about execution, always a trick in government a lot of great plans. Execution's the challenge. The position you held, there is an acting, not confirmed, director. Is that a problem? And should that be fixed quickly?

CHRIS KREBS: Well, I'm really optimistic by the candidate or the nominee that the president picked, Jen Easterly. And he even, earlier this week, encouraged the Senate to take up that nomination quickly. I've known Jen for years. She's an incredibly effective leader. She's spent time in government as well as industry. And she knows what it takes to get the job done.

But it takes more than, obviously, one person. And there is going to be a significant lift required by not just my old agency but, really, every government agency. And it's going to require some resourcing. So the Congress needs to put into place additional personnel as well as funding to execute these programs across the government.

- And just to pull people back into the stakes here, what was exposed by this ransomware attack. Give us a sense of what we should think about in terms of the possibility of future challenges on the national security and infrastructure front.

CHRIS KREBS: Well, ransomware in particular is something I've been barking about for a number of years. Unfortunately, I think it's been treated as a law enforcement matter and not necessarily a national security threat. So you didn't necessarily get the full attention of the US government and some of our allies. But I think we've broken through that threshold.

And I think the way we're going to get past ransomware, it's going to take kind of a three-pronged approach. First is that we need every organization to improve their security. And as the Congress contemplates an infrastructure bill, they've got to include cybersecurity investments in that bill.

The second thing we have to do is we have to break the business model. Ransomware is a business. And business is good. I've said that 1,000 times.

So we've got to go look at what enables it. And that includes cryptocurrency. As well as whether ransom should be paid. And if so, how is that categorized or logged?

And then the third thing is we have to go after the actors. Chairman Schiff mentioned it earlier. We have a set of tools that we can use to de-platform, effectively, these ransomware actors. But the last piece here is that when the president goes and meets with President Putin over the summer, this has got to be on the table. Sovereign states do not allow criminal enterprises to operate out of their territory like this without repercussions.

- On the question of ransom, is there any way to make paying ransom illegal? And do you think that should be on the table?

CHRIS KREBS: Sure, it could be done with the stroke of a pen. Legislation could state that. I think there needs to be, though, a very thorough policy conversation. I think there's absolutely some edge cases where the payment of a ransom as a last resort may be necessary. And that's a case where a hospital, where lives are at stake, might be justified.

I do not like saying that because I think it could actually put a target on them. But nonetheless, I think there are probably some edge cases. But at a bare minimum, any organization that suffers a ransomware attack should be required to notify the federal government.

And I think one element we may be able to look at is seeking a license to pay that ransom, where the information on, A, the victim is tracked as well as where that money goes so we can continue to paint up the criminal ecosystem of ransomware.

- All right, Chris Krebs, we're likely to be coming back to this issue again, as prevalent as it is. We appreciate your time this morning.
There are many who remain hesitant to get the vaccine because it was approved on an emergency basis, or because they dont trust the government or because of any one of a variety of other reasons. These changes hopefully will increase pressure for them to accept it is time to get the shot.
A commander in the still-new Space Force has been relieved of duty after publicly espousing a number of conspiracy theories, including that Marxists had infiltrated leadership in all branches of military, while promoting a self-published book.

Since taking command as a commander about 10 months ago, I saw what I consider fundamentally incompatible and competing narratives of what America was, is and should be, Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier said on The Steve Gruber Show podcast. That wasnt just prolific in social media, or throughout the country during this past year, but it was spreading throughout the United States military. And I had recognized those narratives as being Marxist in nature.

According to the book, a new-Marxist agenda has taken hold in the military.

In the podcast, Lohmeier also decried anti-racism training and education and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austins diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The Pentagon said it no longer trusted Lohmeier to lead.

Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, Space Operations Command commander, relieved Lt. Col. Matthew Lohmeier of command of the 11th Space Warning Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado, May 14, due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead, a Defense Department official told CNN. This decision was based on public comments made by Lt. Col. Lohmeier in a recent podcast. Lt. Gen. Whiting has initiated a Command Directed Investigation (CDI) on whether these comments constituted prohibited partisan political activity.

Prior to joining the Space Force last year, Lohmeier spent more than 12 years in the Air Force. It was not immediately clear where he will be re-assigned.
The Changi Prison Complex. (PHOTO: Google Street View screengrab)

SINGAPORE  The Changi Prison inmate who tested positive for COVID-19 is "currently well" and his four cellmates have tested negative for the coronavirus, said the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) on Sunday (16 May).

Following the 32-year-old's positive test result on Saturday, he was transferred to a quarantine centre at Selarang Park Complex (SPC), where he is being monitored by medical staff, said SPS in a media statement.

"His four cellmates were also immediately transferred to separate, isolated cells. Their PCR test results are negative so far, and they will be tested again," added SPS.

The infected inmate  listed as Case 63252 by the Ministry of Health (MOH)  had worked in the prison's kitchen and was administered a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test on Thursday after a close contact  a SATS food worker deployed to the same kitchen (Case 63160)  tested positive for COVID-19 that same day.

SPS added that all the affected areas have since been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

Additionally, mass PCR testing of about 1,050 inmates, staff and partners who had visited the affected areas  located at Institution A5 in the Changi Prison Complex's (CPC) Cluster A  between 10 May and 12 May has been completed. The CPC is divided into Clusters A and B, each of which comprises five Institutions.

"Thus far, no further positive cases have been detected," said SPS.

Activities in Institution A5, including family visits, counselling sessions, rehabilitation programmes involving vendors or volunteers, and non-critical hospital appointments have also been suspended as a precaution.

More testing will also be done to cover all the inmates, staff and partners from Cluster A, which will see about 5,000 people tested in total.

With the recent tightening of community measures announced by the authorities on Friday, SPS said that it will cease face-to-face visits and tele-visits for inmates and replace them with phone calls. This will take effect from Monday until further notice.

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"Families who have already booked their visits will have their visits automatically converted to phone calls. SPS has informed the inmates families about the conversion of visits to phone calls, and will contact them to arrange for the phone calls," said SPS.

"In addition to phone calls, inmates can communicate with their families through e-letters," added SPS.

To curb the spread of COVID-19 within its prisons, SPS currently subjects all new admissions to a 21-day cohort segregation, during which PCR tests are administered at the start, 14th and 20th day of this period. They are only allowed to join the general inmate population after they test negative for COVID-19 at the ned of the segregation period.

SPS said 96 per cent of its staff who are medically eligible for vaccination have been fully vaccinated. Vaccinations for medically eligible inmates were commenced on 9 March, with about 35 per cent of the inmate population having received at least their first dose.

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DULUTH, Ga. (AP)  Monday qualifier Dicky Pride won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour Champions title, closing with a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke victory.

Making his 11th senior start, the 51-year-old Pride had six birdies in an 11-hole stretch before dropping a stroke on the par-4 15th. He parred the final three to win at TPC Sugarloaf a week after contending in the major Regions Tradition in his home state of Alabama.

I am just thrilled. I am so excited, Pride said. Last week was really disappointing with a horrible final round in Birmingham, my home state. I really put a lot of pressure on myself to play well and really didnt. So I came this week, was able to qualify and played really flawless over there. Then to put three rounds together.

Pride is the 14th open qualifier to win on the tour and the 18th player to win at least once on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and Korn Ferry Tour.

Its huge, Pride said. Ive now won on all three tours, which is something I always wanted to do and I always wanted to say. I put in a lot of hard work. I really am appreciative of all of people that have helped me.

Stephen Ames and Kirk Triplett each shot 70 to tie for second with second-round leader Paul Goydos (72). Brett Quigley (68), Doug Barron (69) and Billy Andrade (72) were another stroke back.

Pride finished at 11-under 205. He won the 1994 St. Jude Classic as a rookie for his lone PGA Tour title and also won a Korn Ferry Tour event in Oregon in 2015.

This one means a lot because it was a lot harder, it was a lot harder for me, Pride said. When I won Memphis in 94, I was young, naive, and ignorance is bliss. It really ranks up there, means something, a lot to me.

After an opening 71, Pride had the best scores in the field the last two days, also shooting a 67 on Saturday to pull within two strokes of Goydos.

I played the first day with Stephen Ames and Paul Goydos and I shot 1 under and I felt like I was playing terrible, Pride said. Theyre like, `No, youre tied for 12th.' So, I really played well all week and just kept focused on trying to get more birdies."

Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz shot 84-77-82 to finish 76th at 27 over, beating fellow former major leaguer Shigetoshi Hasegawa by three strokes to avoid finishing last.
Former president Trump gives a speech before boarding Air Force One for his last time as president. Pete Marovich - Pool/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump's blog crashed on Saturday after he posted about an Arizona recount.

His post alleged massive fraud in the form of "broken seals on boxes, ballots missing, and worse."

Trump launched the "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump" blog earlier this month.

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Former President Donald Trump's "From the Desk of..." blog crashed on Saturday. Users were greeted with an error message, saying "something has gone wrong and this URL cannot be processed at this time."

The hourlong outage came after Trump posted a message about the ongoing election recount in Maricopa County, Arizona, according to the Gateway Pundit.

The message included unverified statements about election fraud in Arizona, saying "seals were broken on the boxes that hold the votes, ballots are missing, and worse."

Trump launched the blog in early May as a way to talk directly to his followers and the media. He was previously removed from both Twitter and Facebook, his most-used social media networks.

The Twitter ban for @RealDonaldTrump was said to be permanent. Facebook has been wrestling with letting the former president back onto its platform. The company said earlier this month that it plans to revisit the decision in six months.

His blog had about 212,0000 engagements during its first week online, notably fewer than some of his most popular tweets.

Earlier this month, Peter Loge, an associate professor at George Washington University, told Insider's Thomas Colson that "Trump is just shouting into the void."

Loge added: "He isn't letting anyone shout back. Shouting at people is a less effective way to maintain celebrity status and keep selling new merchandise than finding ways to create the illusion of interaction is."

Trump's blog states that it's paid for by Save America, a joint fundraising committee paid for by political action committees Save America and Make America Great Again.

Read the original article on Business Insider
May 16On Wednesday, a new group of Alaskans officially became eligible for a dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine  and 15-year-old Grady Cutchins received his shot the first evening he was eligible.

"I'm not that great with needles, but it didn't hurt," Cutchins said during a special youth-led public information call. He and other teens helped organize the call this week to share information about the vaccine with his peers, whose families might still be deciding whether they should get a shot.

The needle "was small enough that I didn't actually feel it until afterwards, when it started getting sore," he said.

Alaska youths 12 and and older became eligible this week for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine  a development that health officials have called an important step toward protecting children from the virus and slowing transmission communitywide. Previously, only those 16 and older in Alaska had been eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccination.

Officials said they currently have enough vaccine available in the state for all 40,000 newly eligible youths to get a shot, but they aren't sure what the uptake will be. So far, over half of eligible Alaskans have gotten at least one dose of vaccine.

Cutchins is a ninth grader at Service High School in Anchorage, where he participates in a special biomedical program that prepares students for careers in health care. He's been learning remotely for the past year, which he says hasn't always been ideal.

"I've just been having that kind of awkward, online thing," he said. "I've done pretty much nothing in terms of the hands-on part, so I'm really excited to do that next year."

Cutchins decided to be on the youth panel held Thursday evening  alongside the state's chief medical officer, Dr. Anne Zink, and other teens recruited by the state health department and the Alaska Teen Media Institute  because he thought it was important for his peers to get accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccines from people they listen to. His father is Coleman Cutchins, a pharmacist with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

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Grady Cutchins said that while he respected others' reasons for not getting vaccinated, "I really just want everybody to be informed on what actually is happening with the vaccines."

He said some of his friends' parents won't let them get the vaccine because they think that it causes infertility.

"And that's just completely not true," he said. "I just want everybody to be completely informed on what the vaccine is, what's in it and how it will affect you."

A recent survey conducted by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services found that the sources Alaskans trust the most when deciding whether to get vaccinated were their friends and family  and Cutchins said he thought that applied to young people, too.

"A lot of (young) people generally don't want to listen to physicians that are 50 years old talking for 45 minutes, or parents talking," he said. "They want to be like, 'Oh, yeah, I know Grady, he's my friend. I'm going to watch to see what he's gonna do, and what he's gonna say that's dumb.' "

On the call, the teens answered questions about how the vaccines work, what kind of safety reviews they underwent, common side effects and why they decided to get vaccinated.

One panelist  Lulu from Bethel  said she received her first shot Thursday morning, and encouraged others to do the same.

"It was just a quick little prick," she said. "And my arm's just, like, a little bit sore. I still definitely recommend it because we all want to get back to normal."

Cutchins said that the hardest part of the last year has been not getting to spend time with most of his friends  he's only been regularly seeing two of them in person.

"It's just going to be kind of weird to go back and see what everybody's like now," he said. "It does feel like I've been missing out on the social part. I'm really excited to get back into that."

Another teen on the Thursday evening panel was 17-year-old Abby Laufer, an 11th grader at West High School. She got her second dose of Pfizer vaccine about a month ago and also wanted to be part of the youth call to help spread the word about the vaccine.

"I'm just really excited for more kids to be getting the vaccine, and for high school to be returning to normal," she said in an interview. "I think it's been proven that teens listen to other teens better than anyone else. And I think I'm excited, you know, for us all to get our normal high school experiences back."

Laufer returned to in-person classes this spring after a year of remote learning and said it felt strange at first  but good.

"It was really weird," she said. "The first day I went back, my first period, I was like, just so nervous. I haven't felt that way in a long time, since I was really little. I am usually a person that talks a lot in class. But right when I went back, I was like, 'Oh, my God, how do I talk to people? How do I interact?' "

Things now are starting to feel normal again, she said  especially since she was able to get vaccinated.

"Me and all my friends are vaccinated, which is great because we can all hang out now more," she said. "I feel like I'm protecting the people around me, and I feel protected. And it's just given me the opportunity to be more social again, which I love."

Since becoming fully vaccinated, Laufer has visited her grandparents and traveled for a college interview. She's looking forward to having her senior year in-person.

"I'm still kind of processing the things that I've lost," she said. "These are my last few years here. I don't want to miss out on high school."

At the Geneva Woods Birth Center in Anchorage, two sisters, Lucy and Josephine Wheat, got their first doses of vaccine on Thursday, a day after they became eligible.

Josephine Wheat, 13, said that the first few months of the pandemic weren't so bad, but it became harder to be away from her friends.

"I definitely grew a lot as a person, but it's so awesome to be able to hang out with people again," she said.

Lucy Wheat, who is 15, said she's looking forward to traveling to Costa Rica this summer with her family and attending school in-person in the fall after spending nearly her whole sophomore year learning from home.

"It's been really hard," she said. "I'm really excited for next year. I hope that it'll be back to more normal, but I don't know. It's been stressful but I'm glad it's almost over," she said.

Statewide, parents and others can visit covidvax.alaska.gov or call 907-646-3322 to sign up for a vaccine appointment; new appointments are added regularly. The phone line is staffed from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekends.

Only Pfizer's vaccine is approved for children as young as 12. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved only for those 18 and older.

Daily News multimedia journalist Loren Holmes contributed reporting.
Former factory operative Jake Rawnsley left Leicester-based window and manufacturing firm, QAS in October 2019. (Google)

A 20-year-old man, who was branded a "spoilt child" and punched by his boss, has won an unfair dismissal claim and been awarded almost 8,000.

Former factory operative Jake Rawnsley left Leicester-based window and manufacturing firm, QAS in October 2019 after he clashed with the company director, Antony Beall.

Rawnsley sued the company for age discrimination, unfair dismissal, holiday pay and notice pay.

He told the tribunal his former boss lost his temper during a disagreement on 17 October over who should be cleaning up the work area.

Read: Brits to be sent SOS text alerts as warnings of terror attacks, fires and severe flooding

Beall then struck Rawnsley's face, pushed him and told him to leave the premises, the tribunal heard.

The 20-year-old left work, writing on his clocking out card: Attacked by owner. No longer feel safe here!

Rawnsley said he then went to his GP and was given a note signing him off with stress.

The tribunal heard how later that day Beall sent a text message to the 20-year-old saying: Jake, this is Tony. Apologies for my half in our incident.

"It is my intention to pay you for today and tomorrow and you can resume work Monday. I will assume if I don't hear from you and you don't show Monday you have decided to move on.

I will need a change in attitude from you and I am willing to work with you on this. This is called a cooling off period".

But Rawnsley did not respond to Bealls text message, the tribunal heard.

Watch: Uber hit with $600m drivers' bill after being forced to classify them as workers

The company director sent him a letter four days later, in which he called Rawnsley a jumped up, know it all, spoilt child.

The letter also said: "The QAS official position is as of today you have resigned, should this not be the case you would be dismissed for gross insubordination."

Judge Brewer, who oversaw the employment tribunal, ruled that Bealls actions were a clear breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

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Rawnsley was awarded 7,949.96 including 1,000 for injury to feelings as well as two weeks' notice pay, four days holiday pay, a basic award of 780 and a compensatory award of 4,651.56.

He had also sued for age discrimination, saying that Beall punched him because of how young he was, but this was only partly upheld by the judge.

Beall denied that the assault was a direct act of age discrimination as he had had at least one other similar confrontation with a person older than his former employee.

Beall also claimed that he meant the 20-year-old's behaviour was "like" a spoilt child, but this was refuted by the tribunal.

But Brewer said: "We consider this comment to fall into the category of inherently discriminatory conduct.

"In other words, it is obvious to the tribunal why the claimant received the less favourable treatment, his age, and for that reason this claim succeeds."

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The employment judge also said: "The tribunal is firmly of the view that an assault on a subordinate by a Managing Director who then pushes him towards the door telling him to go amounts to a clear breach of the implied term of trust and confidence.

"Thus, the respondent was in fundamental breach of contract, the claimant was entitled to resign and to treat himself as having been dismissed.

"It was also clear to the tribunal from all of the evidence that no suggestion was raised that the cause of the resignation was anything other than Mr Beall's conduct on 17 October 2019."

Watch: Woman who lost job over transgender views warns of 'scary precedent' if tribunal appeal fails
May 15ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  For years, Sonia Ornelas has looked forward to the acequia blessing event in the South Valley each May.

Now her young children join her in praying for rain and tossing flower petals into the Armijo Acequia.

The longtime Albuquerque resident gathered with other farmers and parishioners on Saturday at the Sanchez Farm for the annual San Ysidro y Santa Maria de la Cabeza celebration.

"Getting my kids involved is really special," Ornelas said. "I think it's good to teach them our traditions and culture and teach the importance of water."

Saturday's event marked the feast day of San Ysidro, the patron saint of farmers, laborers and gardeners.

In the Catholic tradition, San Ysidro's wife, Santa Maria de la Cabeza, also blesses believers with abundant rain.

"My prayer is that the farmers will have water," said Deacon Leroy Sanchez.

Local farmers at the acequia echoed his plea for rain to alleviate the historic drought.

The irrigation season in central New Mexico started a month late this year and will likely be cut short again because of limited water supply.

Raquel Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico, has attended the South Valley event for more than 10 years.

She and her husband, who is a farmer, served as padrinos for the San Ysidro statue in 2012.

Padrinos take care of the statue for a year following the May event.

"To me, this day is a communal affirmation that the season is going to be good and there's going to be good water and crops," Rivera said.

The Aztec dance group Circulo Solar Ollin Xochipilli led the procession from Isleta Boulevard to the Armijo Acequia.

Deacon Sanchez and Santiago Maestas, president of the South Valley Regional Association of Acequias, recited blessings on the water for the upcoming year.

Lansalot Olguin, who raises goats at the Los Jardines Institute, was a first-time attendee at this year's celebration.

"I grew up on a farm, and this is very moving to me," he said. "Water is a precious commodity."

------

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Five people were wounded Saturday in a shooting in the Bronx, police said.

Cops were called just after 9:05 p.m. to an address on Webster Ave. near Belmont St. in Claremont for a man shot, cops said.

When police arrived at the scene, they found one wounded man. His condition was not immediately known.

Four other victims walked into BronxCare Health System, the former Bronx Lebanon Hospital, with non-life threatening gunshot injuries, cops said.

There were no immediate arrests.
A former Customs and Border Protection agent pleaded guilty Friday to illegally bringing a Mexican woman across the border into the United States.

Rhonda Lee Walker, 40, used another officers computer login to scan the womans immigration documents at the Laredo Port of Entry on Jan. 2, according to the Department of Justice.

The Mexican woman, Yadira Yesenia Trevino-San Miguel, worked as Walkers housekeeper and nanny, according to prosecutors.

Walker initially told investigators that Trevino-San Miguel was her aunt, which was not true. She also falsely claimed that Trevino-San Miguel was not paid.

After pleading guilty to conspiracy to encourage or induce a foreign national to enter the United States, Walker faces up to 10 years in prison and a possible $250,000 maximum fine at her sentencing on Aug. 9.

She was initially charged with conspiring to transport an illegal alien and making false statements.
Former child actor Ricky Schroder posted a video to Instagram of his confrontation with a Costco employee. Screenshot via Instagram

Former child actor Ricky Schroder posted a video to Instagram confronting a Costco employee.

The employee told Schroder that he and other customers were required to wear masks in the store.

While Costco lifted its nationwide mandatory mask policy in stores, the state of California still requires them.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former child actor and conservative activist Ricky Schroder on Saturday shared a video online that showed him berating a Costco employee for following California COVID-19 laws requiring face masks to shop in stores.

At the beginning of the 1:38 video, filmed outside a Costco store in Los Angeles and posted to Schroder's Instagram Reels page Saturday, Schroder approaches a Costco employee who is wearing a name-tag that reads "Jason." Schroder asked the employee to identify himself.

The man gestured toward his nametag, said his name was Jason and that he was a front-end supervisor at the Costco store.

"And why aren't you letting me in?" Schroder, known for his roles on "Silver Spoons" and "NYPD Blue," asked from behind the camera.

"Because in the state of California and in the county of Los Angeles, and Costco, there has been no change to our mask policy," the employee said

"Didn't you see the news?" Schroder retorted. "Nationwide Costco said you don't need to wear masks."

Costco on Friday lifted its policy requiring masks inside its US stores to slow the spread of the coronavirus, though in doing so noted that masks would still be required in locations with state or local ordinances mandating them.

The announcement followed updated guidance last week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 could ditch their masks in most indoor and outdoor situations.

Following last week's new guidance from the CDC, several states dropped their mandates, while others, including California, New York, and Virginia, said they planned to keep them in place for the time being.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, last week said he planned to lift the statewide mask mandate next month, around June 15.

The Costco employee told Schroder that California planned to roll back its mandate in June.

"Oh, if they allow us? If they grant us that, our kings?" Schroder said. "The people in power. You're going to listen to these people? They destroyed our economy. They're destroying our culture. They're destroying our state. And you're just going to listen to their rules?"

Schroder, clad in a pro-police hat, then panned the camera toward himself and said he was canceling his Costco membership.

"I suggest everybody in California get their refund from Costco," he said, pointing the camera back at the employee. "Give up your membership from Costco until they remove this."

"Costco is simply abiding by the law and that's the law," the employee responded.

Schroder is an outspoken conservative who last year told The New York Post he contributed "hundreds of thousands" of dollars to a bail and defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old accused of killing two people last year during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Read the original article on Insider
China has sought to step up cooperation with Central Asian countries on security issues amid fears of a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan and subsequent threat to its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure projects in the region.

As the September 11 deadline of complete withdrawal is approaching, Beijing fears that instability in the country could give ground to Islamic fundamentalism that would spill over into China's Xinjiang province that borders the country, South China Morning Post reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Central Asian counterparts on Wednesday, that they should work together to crack down on terrorist forces and prevent transnational crime to create a "safe Silk Road".

"We should cooperate to prevent transnational organized crime, on drugs control, network security, managing non-governmental organizations, the security of large-scale activities and projects, and to safeguard our institutions, personnel, and facilities to create a safe Silk Road," Wang told the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the Chinese city of Xian, in Shaanxi.

Moreover, there is a looming sense of fear in Pakistan that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan will increase instability in its neighbourhood, and add security threats in the region while putting Belt and Road projects at risk.

Instability in Pakistan has steadily increased, and outlawed groups like Tehreek e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have increased cross-border attacks in the country, Nikkei Asia reported. According to the analyst Fakhar Kakakhel, the US pull-back, along with a weak Afghan government will seriously destabilize the region.

Last week, China had blamed the United States' "abrupt announcement of complete withdrawal of forces" for the succession of explosive attacks throughout Afghanistan, saying the step has worsened the security situation and has threatened peace and stability as well as people's lives and safety in the war-torn country.

China's reaction comes after multiple explosions at a girl's school in Kabul.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had said China was "shocked" by the attacks and "deeply saddened" by the death toll. She also called on Washington to pull out troops "in a responsible manner".

US President Joe Biden announced last month the decision to withdraw troops by September 11. The Taliban rejected President Joe Biden's announcement that troops would stay on past the deadline but withdraw over the next four and a half months.

(ANI)

Also Read: Joe Biden calls Netanyahu, reaffirms US support for Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas, other terror groups
Thousands of protesters gathered in Los Angeles on Saturday to demonstrate support for Palestinians amid violence that has rocked Gaza and Israel over the past week.

The march started around noon outside the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard and wound its way through area streets, clogging traffic.

Demonstrators chanted and held signs saying "Free Palestine" and "End All U.S. Aid to Israel," according to the Associated Press. They were heard shouting "long live intifada." Police temporarily shut down traffic on Wilshire Boulevard and warned drivers to find alternate routes.

Some pro-Israel counter-protesters showed up, and police worked to keep the two factions apart. Protesters also gathered in Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Boston.

HAMAS ROCKETS HIT TEL AVIV SATURDAY AT BEACH

Videos circulating social media show protesters swarming a California Highway Patrol car and at some points kicking it. Two protesters stood in front of the police car, but it continued to move forward as they pushed against it, video showed. At one point the car began to move faster and the protesters fell off to the side. The videos have not been independently verified by Fox News.

LIVE UPDATES: ISRAEL TAKES OUT MEDIA BUILDING IT SAYS WAS BEING USED BY HAMAS

An Israeli air raid in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians, mostly children, early Saturday in the deadliest single strike since the battle with Gaza's militant Hamas rulers erupted earlier this week. Both sides pressed for an advantage as cease-fire efforts gained strength.

Israel and Gaza are entering their sixth day of deadly attacks in the most serious conflict between Israeli and Gaza militants since 2014. Police and protesters began with clashes in the streets of East Jerusalem fighting over impending evictions and at the Al-Aqsa Mosque before the rocket attacks commenced. Violence has now spread to other regions where Jews and Arabs live side by side.

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In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed as a result of the air strikes and in Israel eight. An Israeli military official said Friday that at least 2,000 rockets had been fired from Gaza toward Israel since the start of the violence, according to Reuters . Many of the rockets were intercepted by Israels Iron Dome defense system.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Instructor Christine led the class at the African Adventure exhibit and students got to enjoy the zoo after breaking a sweat.

Video Transcript

- The Fresno Chaffee Zoo offered a special experience yesterday and you've still got a chance to join in on the fun. The park hosted a special yoga at the zoo event yesterday and participants had a chance to get their workout on among the animals. Instructor and my friend, Christine, led the class at the African Adventure exhibit. And students got to enjoy the zoo after breaking a sweat.

If you couldn't make yesterday morning's class, you've still got another couple of chances. Yoga at the Zoo will be back on June 5th and June 12th. You can register by calling the zoo's events department.
Under the Temporary Protected Status, undocumented Venezuelan migrants can work legally in Colombia

When the Colombian government announced in February that it would grant almost a million undocumented Venezuelan migrants legal status, the move was welcomed as "a historic gesture".

The United Nation's High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, praised Colombia "for its extraordinary generosity".

Three months on from the announcement, Lucas Gomez, Colombia's presidential adviser on border matters, in an interview with the BBC is urging other countries in the region to follow suit and for the international community to step up financially to make the integration of the Venezuelan migrants a success.

The number of Venezuelans who have left their country in the past five years to escape their homeland's political and economic crisis currently stands at more than 5.6 million.

Read about why Venezuelans are leaving their country

That makes it the second largest migration crisis worldwide.

Countries of origin of refugees and forced migrants. . Chart showing the top five countries of origin of refugees and forced migrants worldwide .

Map showing the routes of Venezuelan migration

Chart showing where Venezuelans are emigrating to

Almost one third of all of those who leave Venezuela go to neighbouring Colombia.

The country is currently hosting 1.74 million Venezuelan migrants who are intending to stay in Colombia long term. More than half of them are undocumented, meaning they have trouble accessing essential services and getting work.

Most of them have left Venezuela since 2017, when mass anti-government protests swept through Venezuela and an economic crisis started to cause widespread shortages of medicine, fuel and food.

Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. . .

Faced with such a large number of Venezuelan migrants, the Colombian government took the unprecedented step of granting them temporary protected status for 10 years.

The measure applies to Venezuelans who entered Colombia before 31 January 2021 both through official border posts and to those who slipped across without registering.

It will also be on offer until 1 July 2023 to Venezuelans entering the country through legal channels once the borders - which are currently closed due to the Covid pandemic - re-open. The idea is to encourage future migrants to use the official border crossings and enter through legal channels rather than "trochas", the name given to the paths which criss-cross the 2,200km-long (1,375 miles) frontier.

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Colombia's Central Bank predicts that the re-opening of the border will lead to a steep increase in the number of Venezuelans entering the country. It estimates that by the end of 2022 between three and five million could have settled in Colombia.

"By granting Venezuelan migrants temporary protected status for 10 years, we gave them room to breathe and a licence to dream", Source: Lucas Gomez, Source description: Adviser to the Colombian president on border matters, Image: A Venezuelan migrant toddler walks inside a humanitarian camp in Bogota on November 13, 2018.

The government predicts that by granting them temporary protected status, which in turns allows them to find formal work and access social services, the Venezuelans will contribute to Colombia's productivity rather than be a burden.

But in the short term, there are costs involved to integrating such a large influx of migrants, many of whom come with only the belongings they can carry on their backs.

With public health services on their knees in Venezuela, many of the migrants have health problems in need of urgent attention, and hospitals in cities with high numbers of migrants have seen a large influx of patients without the means to pay for their treatment.

Colombia has spent $187.8m (133.2m) on providing health care for migrants. Colombia's Central Bank expects that figure to quadruple for the period between 2020 and 2022.

Hospitals in border towns such as this one in Cucuta have seen an influx of Venezuelan patients

With almost half a million migrant children attending public schools, the cost to Colombia's public school system has also been considerable.

The government hopes an international donor conference scheduled for next month will raise funds to cover some of the debts incurred by public hospitals.

But while funds are important, what matters more is to send a signal, says Lucas Gomez, Colombia's presidential adviser on border matters.

Lucas Gomez hopes the international community will step up

"We gave Venezuelan migrants a licence to dream," he told the BBC. "By granting them temporary protected status (TPS) for 10 years, they have room to breathe," he says, pointing out that the term is much longer than the 18 months granted by the United States.

For many undocumented Venezuelan migrants, the announcement in February was life-changing as it allows them to work legally without the need for a visa.

Read: 'Legal status will change everything'

But Mr Gomez says that it cannot stop there. "Granting TPS was a crucial first step but we still have a long way to go towards full integration and we'll need support with that."

Mr Gomez hopes an international donors' conference to be hosted by Canada in June will bring some support, especially for a cash transfer system the Colombian government is planning in order to offer struggling Venezuelan migrants a minimum income.

But while Colombia's decision to grant Venezuelan migrants TPS may have been lauded abroad, many Colombians feel the government should be putting the needs of its own people first.

Colombians have been demanding the government do more to reduce inequality

During the coronavirus pandemic, unemployment has risen and 3.6 million Colombians were pushed into poverty.

For the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets to demand that the government do more to reduce high levels of inequality.

Mr Gomez insists that the TPS is a win-win for Colombia as it will allow migrants to work legally and contribute to Colombia's economy but he acknowledges that closing the gap between the haves and have-nots - be they Colombians or newcomers - will be a challenge.

But above all what he wants the international community to do is to send a message that decisions like the one Colombia took to grant TPS to more than a million migrants should not only be applauded but also be supported financially.

"We're hoping that it will create a domino effect and that other countries like Ecuador, Peru and Chile will follow in our footsteps."

"What we can't allow to happen is for Colombia to take a decision like this and for it to go wrong, then no other country will follow suit."

You may want to watch:
Police in Texas are searching for a man they say shot at a woman as she was walking into a reproductive health clinic on Saturday.

The man hid in the womans trunk as she drove to Alamo Womens Reproductive Center, police said, WOAI reported.

When she arrived around 8:30 a.m., the man jumped out of the trunk and started firing shots, missing the woman but hitting several of the clinics windows, police said, according to KSAT. Officials referred to the facility as an abortion clinic.

A person who was protesting outside the building pulled out a gun and fired at the shooter in an attempt to protect the woman, police said, KENS reported.

The shooter then ran off. Police arent sure whether the man was struck by the bullet, according to the outlet.

The woman was taken to police headquarters and was said to be shaken up but uninjured, per KENS. The protester has a license to carry a firearm, police said.

Officials dont believe the the clinic was the target, and no one inside was injured, KSAT reported.

The shooters gun was found at the scene along with a piece of clothing, according to WOAI.

Police used a helicopter and K-9 units to try to find the suspect, but hes still on the loose, the outlet reported.

Officials said the shooter knew the woman and police are investigating the incident as a case of domestic violence, according to KSAT.

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There may be no profession more publicly and thoroughly second-guessed than educators. From parents to public officials to lawmakers, people believe they know better  or perhaps could do better  than those who educate our children.

Some of this drumbeat is borne from a genuine concern that student and school performance is not what it should be. Some of it, however, is grandstanding, and too much of it is the hubris of people believing they know more about what should happen in a classroom than the professionals certified and trained to work there.

In this legislative session alone, North Carolina Republicans have introduced a bill that would tell teachers how to navigate the choppy waters of history and race in their classrooms, and for good measure proposed another that would require teachers to use valuable time to publish all lesson plans, along with supporting instructional materials and information about how reviews of lesson materials can be requested, on school websites. But Republicans arent the only officials taking the wrong path with schools.

In Mecklenburg County, manager Dena Diorio  with the support of at least some Democratic commissioners  proposed withholding $56 million from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools until the district comes up with a detailed plan on how to close racial achievement gaps by 2024. Diorio said the money, which represents more than 10 percent of the countys annual funding of CMS, would not come from day-to-day classroom needs, and commissioners suggested that the district has been less-than-forthcoming about how it wants to address the achievement gap. One commissioner told the editorial board this week that commissioners have had enough of the districts unresponsiveness.

But in a Dec. 10 meeting with county commissioners and again this month, CMS officials offered substantial details about how they are addressing the needs of low-income and minority students. The most recent meeting included a 72-deck slide presentation of the districts strategy and plans, school board chair Elyse Dashew told the Editorial Board.

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This editorial board understands and shares the concern parents and community leaders have with gaps in student performance, and CMS has hurt itself in the past by too often taking a standoffish posture with parents and Mecklenburg municipalities. But despite Diorios assertion that the $56 million contingency is a way to tie funding to accountability, the county commission is not an oversight board of CMS. If the Board of County Commissioners believes its overpaying for what its getting, state law lays out a process for bridging the gap between what CMS wants and what Mecklenburg wants to provide.

Diorios contingency proposal isnt part of that process. Nor should it be. Closing achievement gaps is a complex challenge that has vexed educators in North Carolina and across the country for decades. Withholding funding might bring short-term satisfaction, but it dismisses how hard districts and schools are working toward improvement, and it does little to help anyone get there. That takes experimentation and collaboration, the kind that N.C. Republican lawmakers happened to show earlier this year when they worked with educators and the state school board to craft the Excellent Public Schools Act, which aligned classroom instruction with a science of reading approach that includes phonics.

Theres legitimate debate over whether a phonics-based approach to reading is best, but lawmakers should be applauded when they take a collaborative approach to addressing a critical need in classrooms. We all want accountability. We all want results. We wish that we all wanted to pay teachers the kind of salaries that attract and keep more of the best teachers in classrooms. Were certain, however, that a collaborative approach  not withholding funds or underfunding education or scoring political points about curriculum  is North Carolinas best chance to move schools closer to the performance that everybody wants. That includes those who know better  and those who think they do.
Palmdale resident Keyana Session, 26, a cashier clerk for L.A. County, arrived Saturday with friend Gerald Gonzales, 28, of Lancaster. "I have some anxiety," she said of the concert. Added Gonzales: "Getting out of the house is good, but ... I got so used to being home. It just feels weird." (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

It felt like a significant step toward post-pandemic normalcy: The Los Angeles Philharmonic performed Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl in front of a live audience.

Before the concert, the entry to the Bowl buzzed with joy, optimism and a lingering bit of wariness as masked ticket holders  frontline and essential workers and their family and friends, all recipients of free tickets  gathered to experience live music as part of a large audience for the first time in more than a year. With masks lowered briefly for a socially distanced photo, they represent some of the faces in the crowd and the backstories they brought to the Bowl.

You can find our other coverage of the historic closure and touching reopening in our Hollywood Bowl story gallery.

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Marissa Fontanilla, left, her son Gregory Fontanilla and her sister Tere Cayamanda. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Marissa Fontanilla, 65, won a raffle at work for Saturday's free concert. As a nurse specializing in employee health at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, Fontanilla spent the last few months vaccinating coworkers. Its easy, she said, miming the jab of a shot in an arm. She attended the concert with her son, Gregory Fontanilla, 27, and her sister, Tere Cayamanda, 61. "Im so excited. What a year weve had," Fontanilla said. "Its good to have some social contact. We havent been going out for over a year."

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Grecia Serrano and her brother, Fernando Serrano. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

South Gate resident Grecia Serrano, 27, attended the concert with her brother, Fernando Serrano, 19. A program director for one of the L.A. Phils Youth Orchestra Los Angeles sites, Serrano is a musician who plays the upright bass. Im really excited. I think when the L.A. Phil gets out there, that means YOLA will eventually get back out there too, she said. Beethovens 'Eroica' is one of those really great pieces to listen to, especially live. Im excited to hear the musicians because they must be really happy to play harmonies together. I hope they have a lot of fun.

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Surgical nurse Kami Kaur and her sons, Jasdeep Singh, left, and Simran Singh. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Kami Kaur, 53, was at the concert with sons Simran Singh, 27, and Jasdeep Singh, 26. Kaur is a surgical nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Lancaster, and Saturday night was the first time she and her sons had attended a concert at the Bowl. I love music, so I was excited because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us, she said. Last year was very busy and stressful. ... Sometimes people think its not a big deal, but for us, it is. Today is like a vacation for us. We came down here and hiked and visited downtown. Its like a more normal day, a really good experience.

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Sandra Weiser with her husband, Bernard, and son Cameron. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Sandra Weiser, 56, works in the COVID-19 unit of Kaiser Permanente in Woodland Hills. She attended the concert with husband Bernard Weiser, 65, and son Cameron Weiser, 24. This is special, heartwarming, kind of emotional, because we worked so hard the whole year, she said. Its also a little bit strange because weve been so isolated. You know we were so terrified and afraid for our families, for ourselves, for all the patients coming in who were so sick, people who couldnt breathe and were dying. So right now, its still a little bit uncomfortable because we went through so much. Its a little bit nerve-wracking. I think tonight is going to be very emotional.

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Ria Magtanong. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Ria Magtanong, 37, is a nurse at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. The Long Beach resident said shed been to the Hollywood Bowl before with her kids, but Saturday night was different. It feels amazing, she said of how the L.A. Phil was recognizing frontline workers and how so many people had "joined together to fight this pandemic."

"The number of patients we have with COVID is going down dramatically, so that feels good," she said. "I havent been out like this in a long time, and to be able to do it in a setting that I feel is safe because were all outdoors and wearing masks, it feels really nice.

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Rose Cooper, left, Nadine Koerner and Louise King. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Louise King, 81, is a nurse and case manager at Torrance Memorial Medical Center. She attended Saturdays concert with longtime friends Nadine Koerner, 79, and Rose Cooper, 87. They went to the Bowl together often before the pandemic.

Its fabulous to be out, King said. Ive been out twice today. I went to lunch with friends and now tonight! Its a good day. Its always exciting to be here. Theres just a sense of excitement all the time. I feel it every time I walk in.

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Jose Morales. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles resident Jose Morales, 41, is a Cedars Sinai EKG technician. I love this place, he said. Being back feels great. Getting back to normal little by little  especially here  is a big deal. Weve been through a lot. Honestly I think it will be a little weird at first, but once everything gets started, it will begin to feel a little more normal.

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Tracy Hild, far right, stands next to husband Gary Hild. To the left are daughter Sydney Hild and her boyfriend, Bradley Smith. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Tracy Hild, 56, of Santa Clarita is an aquatic manager at Castaic Lake and an EMT. Its nice to be in the community again and get back to music, she said. Hild attended the concert with husband Gary Hild, 56, daughter Sydney Hild, 24, and Sydney's boyfriend, Bradley Smith, 22.

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Suzanne Goulet, left, Joseph Fenno and Celeste Florentin. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Reseda resident Suzanne Goulet, 61, volunteers with Project Angel Food. She brought her daughter, Celeste Florentin, 30, and son-in-law, Joseph Fenno, 51, to the concert. Ive been coming since I was in high school, Goulet said. So it is a big part of our familys life. I think Im going to be blown away tonight.

Added Florentin: My mom has been bringing me here since I was in utero, so its just such a huge part of our lives and its amazing to be back. I miss it.

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Cesar Arredondo waits for a friend on a bench partially wrapped in plastic to ensure social distancing. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles resident Cesar Arendondo, 55, attended Saturdays concert with a friend. He got the Johnson & Johnson shot about a month ago and was happy California was a leader in vaccinations. This is a great way to celebrate the protocols being relaxed, he said. Were getting out there to get a little bit of the normal we used to have, and what a great way to do it with music and with maestro [Gustavo] Dudamel.

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Virginia Madrigal and Douglas Madrigal. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Studio City residents Douglas and Virginia Madrigal, 79 and 77, respectively, are regular Hollywood Bowl subscribers who are used to spending their summer nights there. The couple received tickets through the food bank Project Angel Food, where Virginia volunteers. I feel free, she said. Last year there was no Hollywood Bowl and it was like my whole summer was done. It was awful. Coming here tonight really tells me that things are better.

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Andi Gibson. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Pasadena resident Andi Gibson, 42, is an actor who attended the concert at the invitation of a friend who volunteers for Project Angel Food. I have not been this excited to come to the Bowl in a really long time, she said, adding later: "I think its a lovely way to make a tribute to all the important people that helped us survive during the last year.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Mary Smay holds a photo of her murdered son, Juan Vidal, while Vidal's nieces Amaya Rivera, 3, and Alia Rivera, 8, right, join other family and community members at a vigil for crime victims at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The crime was as gruesome as any committed by an adult.

Firefighters discovered the bodies of 16-year-old Sierra Brown and her older sister, Uniek Atkins, in a burned-out Westchester apartment. Brown had been beaten and shot once at close range, while Atkins died from multiple gunshots, according to court filings. Police arrested Brown's 17-year-old boyfriend, alleging he had doused the apartment in bleach and torched it to cover his tracks.

George Gascon inherited the 2018 killings when he took over as Los Angeles County's district attorney in December. Before his election, prosecutors planned to try the teen as an adult and, if he was convicted, have him sent to prison for decades. It was a punishment the victims' relatives supported.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascon, alongside wife Fabiola Kramsky, gestures after taking the oath of office on Dec. 7, 2020, at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in Los Angeles. (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles County)

But Gascon did not. He was elected on a promise that he would rebalance the scales of justice in Los Angeles, the most populous county in the U.S. To do it, he will have to convince many of his own prosecutors, a growing number of elected officials and other doubters to rethink what it is to be a crime victim.

In Gascon's expansive view, victims are not just those targeted by criminals. They are also Black and Latino defendants swept up by a criminal justice system that historically has mistreated communities of color. They are teenagers who have been dealt with as adults in court  even those accused of horrific crimes like the killing of Sierra Brown and her sister. And they are people wrongly killed or injured by police.

Gascon is trying to dismantle the approach his predecessors took to crime, in which they sought to punish defendants heavily on behalf of victims. In its place, he wants something more complicated  a criminal justice system that balances prison time with rehabilitation, consequences with mercy.

I believe that as a D.A., we are the peoples lawyer, he said. We certainly represent the community and not a single victim. So, when we are prosecuting cases, or we are applying our discretion, we should do so through the lens of what is best for our entire community.

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For juveniles, Gascon's arrival means no more trials in adult court. For convicted murderers, that means an end to life sentences without any hope of parole. For low-level offenders, that could mean no prosecution at all. The one group Gascon has vowed to take a harder line on are police officers involved in fatal shootings, who he believes have been given too much deference.

Cookie Marie Genovese, left, and her daughter Heather Genovese salute a photograph of their friend Brendon Glenn, a homeless man who was fatally shot by police in 2015. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

It is an audacious plan that has sent a shock through the county's legal establishment. Not surprisingly, Gascon's first months in office have been met with a volatile mix of enthusiastic support from progressive advocacy groups and angry opposition from a growing and varied list of critics, including L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva and Fox News' Tucker Carlson. In recent weeks, at least eight city councils in L.A. county have issued votes of "no confidence" in Gascon, and an effort to recall him has launched with Villanueva's support.

While others in L.A. and elsewhere have sought to develop alternatives to prison for lower-level, nonviolent offenders, Gascon's focus on serious, violent crimes has drawn a torrent of outrage from people who have lost loved ones to violence.

In the case of the Westchester arson and double murder, Gascon's policies had a dramatic effect. Under his predecessor, the teen  who was one month shy of 18 at the time of the killings  almost certainly would have been tried as an adult. If found guilty in juvenile court, the now 20-year-old will be free by the time he turns 25.

The case tested Gascon's resolve. He said the horrific violence of the crime left him questioning his conviction that no kid should be tried as an adult.

I talked to the family," he said, "and I have to tell you thats a case where I lost sleep over, multiple times, because what the family has gone through and will continue to go through, is tremendous.

But, in the end, he refused to bend.

This isnt justice. Thats what this boils down to, Unieks father, Daniel Souvinette, said in court earlier this year. A man was voted in, his policies came in and changed all the rules for all of the victims. When you lose your only child  a parent wouldnt see this as justice.

Family members clap as George Gascon announces his plan to run for L.A. district attorney at a press event across from the Twin Towers Correctional Facility on Oct. 28, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

There were 89 juvenile defendants awaiting trial on murder charges in L.A. County when Gascon was elected, records show.

Gascon says hes relying on science over emotion. Pointing to studies that show the human brain is not fully developed until age 25, Gascon says he believes the only result of trying a juvenile murder defendant as an adult will be the ruination of at least one more life.

The question for juveniles is can we get them to a place where they have the therapeutic treatment to become someone else and not the person they were when they committed this horrendous crime, he said. When you go into adult prison as a juvenile  youre either going to become prey, or youre going to become a predator. Theres no in between.

Criminal justice is inherently messy and imperfect. No reform can appease every interest. Five months into Gascons tenure, it is easier to find praise or criticism of individual cases than any objective measure of community gain or loss. But for every grieving parent or spouse, there are those who say Gascons policies have opened the door to a more rational and humane criminal justice system.

In October, a month before Gascon's election, Demetrio Lazcano, 28, was facing prison time for a violent argument with his stepfather, William Gomez. High on methamphetamine, Lazcano threw several punches, opening a cut over the older mans eye. Gomez was grateful when police came to intervene, but he begged prosecutors not to charge Lazcano. Gomez believed his stepson needed rehab, not prison.

He didnt know what he was doing that day. When we reunited, he apologized and said he wasnt himself," said Gomez, 55. "Thats why I kept saying rehab.  If you leave him in jail, thats not going to do any good.

A probation report did not recommend jail time for Lazcano. Despite that, along with his lack of a criminal record and the wishes of the victim, prosecutors wouldn't back down. They told Lazcano if he wanted to receive drug treatment from the county he would need to plead guilty to assault, spend a year in jail and remain on probation for half a decade, according to court records.

The posture of the prosecutor assigned to the case changed after Gascon was elected, according to Nikhil Ramnaney, Lazcanos public defender. Lazcano was sentenced to probation and entered a rehab facility in December.

It was 100%, a 180-degree turn. It was seeing the D.A. as a partner in identifying the right programming, with concern for the safety of everyone involved, Ramnaney said at the time.

Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey speaks to the media and a small crowd of supporters in November at L.A.'s Hall of Justice about her concession to George Gascon. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Gascon's predecessor, Jackie Lacey, created a number of alternative sentencing courts designed to get defendants suffering from mental illness, homelessness or drug addiction out of jail and into treatment, but her office used them sparingly. Only 3,935 defendants passed through those courts from 2014 to 2020, a tiny fraction of the caseload for an office that, on average, filed more than 100,000 misdemeanor cases per year.

Gascon plans to expand such programs and has already ordered prosecutors to divert defendants accused of a number of low-level offenses, including trespassing, drinking in public, minor vehicle infractions and resisting arrest in cases where the suspect was not violent. He long championed diversion programs for nonviolent offenders in San Francisco, though critics and some criminal justice experts said those policies led to soaring increases in property crime.

A starker illustration of the difference between Gascons directives and various reforms of the past is his willingness to offer leniency to people who have committed violent crimes, even at a time when Los Angeles is experiencing a rise in gun violence.

Under Gascons new directives, prosecutors can no longer seek the death penalty and have been severely limited in the way they can use sentencing enhancements, which add several years to prison terms for aggravating factors such as gang membership or the use of a gun during a crime. Barring extraordinary circumstances," prosecutors have been directed not to seek jail time whenever a defendant is eligible to receive probation as punishment.

If Gascon gets his way, his policies wont apply only to new cases. When he arrived, he ordered prosecutors to rescind sentencing enhancements imposed before he took office  a move that would have affected at least 11,000 active cases, records show. He was blocked when a judge hearing a lawsuit brought by the union representing his line prosecutors ruled the policy exceeded Gascon's authority.

Gascon is appealing and has announced the creation of a unit in his office that will reconsider lengthy sentences handed down while his predecessors were in office. Although he plans to prioritize cases of elderly defendants who have served more than 15 years in prison, the policys ultimate goal shall be to review and remediate every sentence that does not comport with Gascons new directives. The effort could lead to changes in the outcomes of as many as 30,000 cases.

Gascon has also barred prosecutors from attending parole hearings to argue against the release of any defendant. Although records show the state parole board only granted release in about 19% of all cases it heard from 2018 to 2020, some prosecutors worry that number will increase without formal opposition from prosecutors.

In Gascon's mind, prison sentences that exceed 40 years are impractical. Most people incarcerated for that long, he argues, pose a minimal public safety threat as they get older, yet continue to be a drain on taxpayers who have to fund their prison term.

If you can achieve the public safety objective within a decade or two," he said, "theres no need for three, four ... decades of incarceration.

Critics with traditional law-and-order views argue Gascon's parole policy will release dangerous criminals onto Los Angeles' streets and lead to a spike in violence. Data collected by state prison officials, however, cast doubt on that assessment. Over a recent four-year period, 2,019 people serving life sentences in California prisons were granted parole and only 63 were convicted of a new offense within three years, according to CDCR records.

The backlash to his policies has quickly left Gascon politically isolated. Inside the office, the open revolt among line prosecutors has left the D.A. with few people he can trust, while elected officials who typically would seek to align themselves with the head of one of the state's most powerful law enforcement agencies have turned on him.

District attorneys in several other counties have announced they will no longer consolidate cases with Gascons office because they say his policies effectively abandon victims. Both San Diego's and Orange Countys district attorneys have attempted to wrest control of cases from Gascon in recent months following disputes over his policies. He's been shunned by the California District Attorneys Assn., whose leadership includes a potential future state attorney general in Sacramento County Dist. Atty. Anne Marie Schubert. Locally, a number of former L.A. County prosecutors, including ex-Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, banded together to provide representation to victims of violent crime who want to challenge Gascons handling of their cases.

Gascon counters that his critics are focused on the short-term effect of a sentencing. He says he is trying to assuage the concerns of crime victims while also seeking sentences that could allow a defendant the chance to be rehabilitated.

I deeply care not only about the victims that we have today, but Ive also come to the conclusion that I have a responsibility to future victims.

Gascon's attempt to take on the mantle of victim advocate has enraged his adversaries.

"He does not care about people of color in this community," Deputy Dist. Atty. Jon Hatami, one of the loudest voices in the movement to recall Gascon, told the crowd at an event in support of crime victims last month. "He is lying."

Nearby, counterprotesters from Black Lives Matter L.A. chanted, "You're being lied to, you're being used," echoing concerns that Villanueva, Hatami and other Gascon critics are exploiting victims' voices for political gain.

Melba Pearson, a former prosecutor who ran an unsuccessful progressive campaign to take over the Miami-Dade state attorney's office in Florida last year, said the political blowback Gascon was getting underscored a larger fight over the role of criminal prosecutors nationwide. Gascon, she said, is challenging the widely accepted idea that convictions and heavy sentences are the measure of a prosecutor's success.

I fully believe it is the job of the prosecutor to bring justice for the victim  but the rest of the sentence is whats right for the offender," said Pearson, who now serves as a deputy director for the ACLU of Florida. "And often prison is not the thing that is going to make everybody whole."

Gascon's approach to cases involving police officers who use deadly force has also signaled his willingness to challenge norms.

As is the case throughout the U.S., criminal charges against police officers involved in killings or other uses of force have been rare in Los Angeles. When presented with controversial police shootings, Lacey almost always refused to pursue cases, saying a jury was likely to find the officer's actions were reasonable under state laws. Lacey's detractors said her reluctance to charge officers in on-duty shootings came from her being too cozy with police unions, which spent millions backing her reelection campaign.

Although he never charged an officer in a shooting during his time as D.A. in San Francisco, Gascon was sharply critical of Lacey's decisions in such cases on the campaign trail and vowed to scrutinize them more closely. After his election, he announced that relatives of people killed by officers would now be eligible for aid from the D.A.'s Bureau of Victim Services, and he has hired an independent prosecutor to review the cases of four police officers whom Lacey declined to charge.

Then-LAPD Officer Clifford Proctor, on crutches, was involved in the fatal shooting of Brendon Glenn in Venice in 2015. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

One of them is Clifford Proctor, a former LAPD officer who resigned after he shot and killed Brendon Glenn, a homeless man living on Venice Beach, in 2015. Proctor claimed Glenn had tried to grab his gun during a struggle outside a bar, but video of the incident contradicted his account, and Proctor's patrol partner said Glenn had not posed a serious threat.

The police chief at the time, Charlie Beck, took the unusual step of calling publicly on Lacey to charge Proctor with manslaughter, but she refused.

Glenn's mother, Sheri Campone, said Laceys office never contacted her about the shooting. Gascons approach, she hopes, will give her a second chance at the justice she feels she's been denied.

I felt like maybe this man will have to go to jail because he took my sons life and he took my grandsons father away, she said. Our family is completely broken.

Jessenia Urbina holds her daughter Arielle Urbina, 18 months old, next to family photos that include her slain husband, Julio, in their San Pedro home in January. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Like Campone, Jessenia Urbina's world was shattered by gunfire, when her husband was killed in 2019 while walking home from a baby shower in Wilmington.

By law, the 15-year-old who shot Urbina's husband was too young to be tried as an adult and was convicted of the killing as a juvenile. A 17-year-old accomplice, described by police as the getaway driver, was charged with murder and was expected to be tried as an adult.

Unlike Campone, Urbina sees Gascon as an impediment to the justice she wants her husband's killers to face. She watched last year's election nervously, as a hearing to transfer the teen's case to adult court was delayed repeatedly by the COVID-19 pandemic. When Gascon was elected, her fears were realized: The case remained in juvenile court, and the penalties the defendant now faces are far less severe.

She sees no justice in the notion that she and her children have to live with the grief of losing a husband and father while his killers will soon go free.

Theyll have the mentality that I murdered someone, I just did five years, and now Im back out, she said. So why not get away with it a second time?

Gascon isn't likely to win over Urbina. But his success or failure as district attorney rests instead on whether others in her community, and across L.A. County, believe Gascon's balancing act makes them safer.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A file photo of AR-15 assault rifles similar to some of those seized in Italy. - Associated Press

An Italian judge accused of taking bribes to free mobsters from prison is at the centre of an arms trafficking investigation after allegedly amassing a huge arsenal of illegal military-grade weapons.

A new arrest warrant was issued for Giuseppe De Benedictis, after police discovered one of the largest private stashes of weapons ever confiscated in Italy. The Bari judge was already facing corruption charges after police bugged gangsters bragging about buying him for 30,000 euros.

It comes as Italy reckons with the ongoing influence of organised crime in a mafia "super-trial," in which more than 350 alleged mobsters and their collaborators will face justice. It is the biggest mafia trial since the 1980s.

The arsenal was hidden beneath a rural farmhouse among the olive and almond groves north of Bari. When police lifted the cellar's heavy iron lid, which had been soldered shut, they discovered nearly 200 different weapons, including Kalashnikovs, AR15s, UZI, Socimi and Beretta machine guns, pump action shotguns, CZ and other semi-automatic pistols, hand grenades, 100,000 rounds of ammunition, and even an anti-tank mine.

Anti-mafia authorities are now investigating whether some military equipment may have been stolen from the Italian army to be sold on the black market.

Prosecutors believe Mr De Benedictis and an Italian army officer may have been helping organised crime gangs move illegal arms through the port city of Bari, but the ex-judge maintains the collection was just a side hobby.

A known, passionate collector of rare and antique guns, he reportedly firsty told authorities he had dumped any questionable weapons into the Adriatic Sea, but police continued to search for the cache, following leads from wiretapped conversations.

According to Lecce prosecutors and the 40-page arrest warrant issued by Investigating Magistrate Guilia Proto, Mr De Benedictis had wiretapped conversations with an Italian Army official in Bari, Corporal Major Antonio Serafino, about how to procure arms and where to hide them.

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Corporal Major Serafino worked at the passport office of the Italian Armed Forces Mechanised Brigade Pinerolo in Bari. The brigade has infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments with access to howitzers and other arms.

According to court documents, police bugged his car, and the hidden microphone picked up the sound of machine gun fire from Serafinos balcony in a Bari suburb on New Years Eve, as he and Mr De Benedictis tested out some of their weapons.

The same bugs picked up conversations between the judge and the army officer debating about whether and how to move the cache of weapons from the well in a rural location.

The well turned out to be an underground storage cellar in an outbuilding of a farmhouse near the village of Andria.

The arrest warrant issued this week charged the farmhouse owner, Corporal Major Serafino and Mr De Bendictis with illegal arms dealing. It referred to them as authentic traffickers of weapons of war which they deny.

Prosecutors are in the process of verifying the provenance of the arms to determine if they may have been the property of the Italian Army, and if so, what other public officials might have been complicit in aiding their disappearance.
May 16The Joplin Globe publishes summaries of routine and follow-up inspections performed by the Joplin Health Department.

Businesses that are inspected either pass or fail based on violations found during the time of inspection. Those violations fall into two categories:

Priority violations are more severe and deal with improper food handling, storage and preparation. The Globe lists the number and summary of each violation.

Core violations are less severe and deal with equipment, maintenance and general cleanliness. The Globe publishes only the number.

A failed inspection can result in a variety of corrections based on the types of violations found. Full copies of each report are available from the Joplin Health Department.

Freeman Health System kitchen, 1102 W. 32nd St. Institutional. Routine inspection performed on May 7. Results: PASS with 1 priority violation and 5 core violations.

No air gap provided on garbage disposal three-vat sink (corrected during inspection).

McDonald's, 1531 W. Seventh St. Fast-food restaurant. Routine inspection performed on May 7. Results: PASS with 0 priority violations and 1 core violation.

Andy's Frozen Custard, 2934 S. Range Line Road. Fast-food restaurant. Follow-up inspection performed on May 10. PASS with 0 priority and 3 core violations.

Comfort Inn and Suites, 3400 S. Range Line Road. Continental breakfast. Routine inspection performed on May 10. Results: PASS with 0 priority and 0 core violations.

Red Apple Mart, 901 N. Florida Ave. Convenience store. Routine inspection performed on May 10. Results: PASS with 0 priority and 0 core violations.

Starbucks No. 9566, 323 S. Range Line Road, Suite 100. Fast-food restaurant. Routine inspection performed on May 10. Results: PASS with 0 priority and 0 core violations.

Tilt Studio, 101 N. Range Line Road. Concessions. Routine inspection performed on May 10. Results: PASS with 1 priority violation and 2 core violations.

Nacho cheese in two-door refrigerator is improperly stored with no date marking (corrected during inspection).

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Walmart Supercenter bakery, 1501 S. Range Line Road. Grocery store. Follow-up inspection performed on May 12. Results: PASS with 0 priority and 0 core violations.

Wasab Steak House and Sushi, 101 N. Range Line Road, Suite 310. Full-service restaurant. Results: PASS with 4 priority and 10 core violations.

Evidence of unapproved employee drink observed above flat top reach-in (corrected during inspection).

Raw fish stored above less hazardous food items in sushi reach-in (corrected during inspection).

Raw fish stored above vegetables and avocados in flat-top reach-in (corrected during inspection).

Yum Yum Sauce in walk-in cooler is not properly date-marked (corrected during inspection).
The Independent

The Boston Globes editorial board argued that former President Donald Trump should be criminally prosecuted for obstruction of justice, inciting the Capitol riot and his attempts to overturn his election loss in Georgia. There is only one way left to restore deterrence and convey to future presidents that the rule of law applies to them, the editorial board argued. The Justice Department must abandon two centuries of tradition by indicting and prosecuting Donald Trump for his conduct in office.
WASHINGTON  Two House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump condemned what they called a transformation of their party from one of principles to absolute loyalty to the former president, even as a newly-installed member of GOP leadership reiterated her party's support of the former president.

The differing views of the GOP from within the party itself pointed to the lasting fragmenting of the party after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, with lawmakers supporting Donald Trump consolidating power.

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Days after being ousted from her position as GOP conference chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said on "Fox News Sunday" that Trump remains "a continuing danger to our [democratic] system," arguing that the most Trump voters "have been misled, they've been betrayed" by the former president's frequent repeating of falsehoods and conspiracy theories.

Cheney added that she believes House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., her replacement as conference chair, are "complicit" in spreading misinformation that undermined American democracy.

"I think that, as a party, we really do have to say 'What do we stand for, what do we believe in?'," Cheney said on ABC News's "This Week", adding that both parties "have to stop incentivizing vitriol, we have to stop incentivizing people to show up here and to think the goal is to be a social media star."

Cheney was one of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach Donald Trump in January. Also in that small group was Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.,a frequent Trump critic in the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, who excoriated his party on NBC News's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

"Policy doesn't matter anymore. It literally is all your loyalty to Donald Trump. As I've said before, this is something that, like, echoes a little bit out of North Korea, where no matter what policy comes out, you're loyal to the guy," Kinzinger said.

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Cheney was removed from her leadership position in the GOP over her continued condemnations of Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. While she comfortably defeated a February vote of no-confidence, her continued opposition to Trump earned her scorn from some of her colleagues.

Shortly after being removed from her leadership position, Cheney declared that she would do "whatever it takes" to stop Trump from retaking the White House in a future election and help reorient the Republican Party into a party less centered on his persona.

The scion of a conservative political dynasty, Cheney's ejection underscores the party's transformation into a party motivated less by policy so much as personalityand grievance.

Republican voters and lawmakers still overwhelmingly support the president, a loyalty that has only increased since President Joe Biden has taken office. Many Republicans, believing they cannot properly challenge Biden and the Democrats without first purging their party, are now focusing on becoming a unified opposition.

A CBS News poll released Sunday found that 80% of registered Republicans who had heard about the vote to remove Cheney from leadership approved of the decision.

But on Fox News on Sunday, Rep. Stefanik accused Cheney of "looking backwards," and repeated that Trump remained an important part of the GOP.

"We are unified and we are talking about conservative principles," she said. "President Trump is an important voice in the Republican Party. We are working as one team."

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbownsir.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump critical GOP lawmakers condemn Republican party transformation
Police in Louisville, Kentucky, are reportedly investigating after a disabled Army veteran claimed she was called a "White b----" and then beaten by a group of Black women in a grocery store parking lot on Mother's Day.

In an on-camera interview with WAVE3 News, Pamela Ahlstedt-Brown recalled trying to leave the Kroger on Breckinridge Lane on May 9 by backing out of a handicapped parking spot  but stopped short when she noticed that a vehicle had blocked her in.

"I get out and I say, Do you guys need any help? and she said, F--- you, you White b----," Ahlstedt-Brown told the outlet, referring to one of the women in the other vehicle. "I said, Hold on, you dont even know me. I said, Thats fine. If you dont need anything, thats fine. Ill get back in the car."

Ahlstedt-Brown described the vehicle as a black Dodge  either a Charger or Challenger. She said one of the women proceeded to throw the contents of a cup at her before they all got out and attacked her.

DINER IN LOUISVILLE DRAWS HANDGUN AS ARMED BLM PROTESTERS SWARM RESTAURANT

"I mean, they were beating me, and I was in a fetal position, covering my face, making sure they didnt get my eyes," Ahlstedt-Brown said. "I could have been killed, but I know how to protect myself. I mean, Im a strong person."

Ahlstedt-Brown told the outlet that bystanders intervened to break up the fight  not members of a Kroger security team. She said she suffered a broken nose.

A photo shared by WAVE3 News showed Ahlstedt-Brown wearing what appeared to be a bloodied white T-shirt that read "Run Army, Run Strong" and referenced a race in 2011.

Kroger did not immediately return a Fox News request for comment Sunday.

Ahlstedt-Brown, whose husband is Black and children are bi-racial, expressed concern that race played a role in the incident and that it could happen to someone else if the alleged assailants arent caught.

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"Its hard for us because we all feel like, well, what if we would have been there? It makes you feel helpless," Ahlstedt-Browns husband, Edward, told WAVE, before explaining how their children reacted to the attack. "It was terrible for them and for me to have their mom come home in that condition."

Its unclear whether police have identified suspects or made arrests related to this incident.

The Louisville Metro Police Department did not immediately return a Fox News request for comment Sunday.

"We're gonna collect all the evidence, present it in court and they will decide," an LMPD police spokesman previously told the Independent Chronicle, weighing the potential for hate crime charges. "A hate crime is an enhancement; in this case,  an assault is where we are at at this time."

Ahlstedt-Brown said she returned to that same Kroger later that day of the incident to speak with Louisville police officers and tried to retrieve security camera footage of the incident. She told the outlet that her daughter followed up with the police department three days later but received mixed messages as to whether video could be released to the family.

"They told her, You could have got the video from Kroger the first day," Ahlstedt-Brown said, referring to police. "And then he followed that up with, Well, a detective has it, so you cant get it from Kroger. So which was is it? His response was to hang up on her."

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Anyone with any information is asked to call LMPDs anonymous tip line at (502) 574-LMPD (5673).
MALE, Maldives (AP)  A top official in the Maldives said Saturday that Islamic extremists were responsible for an explosion that critically wounded former President Mohamed Nasheed earlier this week, as police said they arrested two of four suspects.

Hospital officials said Saturday that Nasheed, 53, was conscious and no longer needed breathing support, but remains in an intensive care unit after initial life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs. They told reporters that shrapnel from the blast damaged his intestines and liver, and that a piece of shrapnel broke his rib and had been a centimeter (0.4 inches) from his heart.

Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem told reporters that investigators still dont know which extremist group was behind Thursday's attack, which also wounded two of Nasheed's bodyguards and two apparent bystanders, including a British citizen. Police announced Saturday that two men were arrested in connection with the attack, and released a photo of a person they said is the main fugitive suspect, seeking public assistance in identifying him. No group has claimed responsibility.

Nasheed, the current Parliament speaker, has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law. He's also been criticized by religious hard-liners for his closeness to the west and liberal policies.

Officers from the Australian Federal Police arrived Saturday in the Maldives to assist with the investigation, following a request from the country's government. A British investigator is expected to arrive in the Indian Ocean archipelago on Sunday.

Police presented reporters with security camera footage of the blast, in which Nasheed and his bodyguards are seen walking through a narrow passage that leads from his home to a main road. An explosion occurs as Nasheed approaches his car. Authorities say a homemade explosive device containing ball bearings was attached to a motorbike parked near his car, possibly detonated by remote control.

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Nasheed was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives, serving from 2008 to 2012, when he resigned amid protests. He was defeated in the following presidential election, and was ineligible for the 2018 election due to a prison sentence, but has remained an influential political figure.

He has championed global efforts to fight climate change, particularly warning that rising seas caused by global warming threaten the archipelago nation's low-lying islands.

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, and was also blamed on religious extremists.

The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of militants who fought in Syria and Iraq alongside the Islamic State group.

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 the suspects conducted military training on uninhabited islands and recruited children.
BALTIMORE  Everton Brown believed that drones were following him. He thought the FBI was breaking into his house to feed his dog and worried the authorities were tampering with his computer.

Thats according to records kept by Baltimore County police, whom Brown called more than 100 times over the past 24 years. Neighbors, too, called police to the Woodlawn neighborhood. They say Brown harassed them and yelled from his porch through a bullhorn.

Despite decades of encounters with local authorities, Browns actions continued until they had tragic consequences. Last Saturday morning, police say, Brown, 56, set fire to his home, then shot and killed three neighbors.

Now the killings are prompting questions about how Maryland handles cases of people who may be in a mental health crisis.

This recent incident has been the fear and concern that Ive had for a long time, Republican Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford told members of a state commission on mental and behavioral health Tuesday.

The commission is among those who have been wrestling with Marylands law on involuntary psychiatric commitments, which has standards that are among the strictest in the nation.

Efforts to change the law, including a bill in this years General Assembly session that would have expanded the definition of who is dangerous enough to be forcibly hospitalized, have been opposed by critics worried about violating individual rights.

Its not clear what interventions police or those who knew Brown may have tried over the years or whether he was ever diagnosed with mental illness. Attempts to reach his family were unsuccessful.

But the shootings and fire came amid continuing debate in Maryland over how to get help for people who dont want treatment. Theres also discussion by the state and local governments about how to better connect people in crisis to mental health services rather than treating their needs as a police matter.

Authorities say Brown killed three people: Ismael Quintanilla, 41, Sara Alacote, 37, and Sagar Ghimire, 24. County police officers shot and killed Brown.

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Little is publicly known about Brown. He was licensed as a commercial driver in Maryland until 2019 and had owned his home in the Parkview Crossing town house community since 1996, public records show.

County police say Brown had numerous contacts with law enforcement, including with the departments crisis team. Three peace orders had been filed against him since 2008, they said.

The police department did not answer questions from The Baltimore Sun about whether the officers ever took Brown to a hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation or how many times he interacted with the crisis team, citing state laws about the confidentiality of health records.

County police also have not said whether an extreme risk protective order was ever sought for Brown, telling The Sun that the investigation is continuing at this time. Such orders temporarily require someone who is a danger to themselves or others to surrender firearms and prohibits them from purchasing any.

One neighbor has said that Brown sometimes would walk up and down the sidewalk with a gun. Police said Brown used a handgun registered to him in the killings.

Legislation introduced this year in the General Assembly would have changed the standards for when someone can be admitted involuntarily to a mental health facility. Under current law, that can happen only if someone presents a danger to themselves or others and other treatment is not appropriate.

The measure introduced this year would have significantly broadened the definition of danger, allowing involuntary admission if a person is unable to care for their basic needs or if there is a major risk that they would suffer substantial deterioration without treatment. It also would have allowed involuntary admission for those reasonably expected to present a danger.

Critics of the current law say it often stops people who dont recognize they are ill from getting timely treatment. Others say making involuntary treatment easier could lead to unnecessary and traumatizing hospitalizations and infringe on patients autonomy.

Maryland Del. Nic Kipke, an Anne Arundel County Republican, introduced the unsuccessful 2021 bill. He said current state law offers no guidance on what danger means, so it is often interpreted to require overt threats or acts of violence or self-harm.

Under his bill, Kipke said, if Browns actions before the shooting showed he was deteriorating mentally, that could have provided a basis for hospitalization.

The bill followed a recommendation from the mental health commission chaired by Rutherford, the lieutenant governor. In a 2020 report, the group said Maryland should develop a clear and unambiguous standard for determining when individuals in crisis pose a danger to themselves and others.

As it turned out, the group had a previously scheduled meeting three days after the Woodlawn shootings, at which Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt and county health officer Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch were on the agenda to discuss the countys crisis response system. The horrific incident as Hyatt called it, made the presentation particularly timely.

We frequently, sadly, learn after a crisis that the community knew that an individual needed resources, and the police maybe attempted to assist, Hyatt said.

She advocated for a community referral system in which families or neighbors could call something other than 911 to report mental health concerns.

So, our goal is to build resources in place for increasing contacts with these individuals, making sure theyre going to appointments, taking medications, before they get to the crisis moment, she said. The hope is by being proactive, keeping them safe, that hopefully we can ultimately prevent that flashpoint crisis moment.

As cities and counties try to expand and improve their crisis response efforts, debate over state law for involuntary commitment is likely to continue.

Kipke said he withdrew his bill because it was highly controversial among groups that included the ACLU. He plans to introduce it again next session after working with all sides to address concerns, he said.

The state health department in a letter to lawmakers said it supported the intent of the legislation, but that the measure was too broad.

Adrienne Breidenstine, vice president of policy and communications for Behavioral Health System Baltimore, which oversees mental health treatment in the city, also said the bill overly broadened the definition of who can be involuntarily committed, an action that should be used sparingly and when other options have been exhausted.

Theres a ton of resources in the community, she said.

Breidenstine said involuntary commitment can result in people being hospitalized unnecessarily or swept up into the criminal justice system. That, she said, only adds to an unfair perception that everyone with mental illness is violent or criminal.

One review of epidemiological research said that while some people with serious mental illness are somewhat more likely to commit violence, most are not violent. It found that only 4% of violence in a given year is associated with serious mental illness.

A lot of people with mental illness are not dangerous, Breidenstine said. Theyre not going to harm you. Theyre more likely to be victims than perpetrators.

And, she said, we do know that inpatient commitment is used disproportionately for people of color and Black people.

But some advocacy groups say Maryland sets the bar too high to involuntarily admit someone, and that without treatment, some people are more likely to engage in criminal behavior.

Many families are desperate because they cant get help for loved ones with severe mental illness who dont consent to treatment, said Evelyn Burton, advocacy chair for the Maryland chapter of the Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America.

It leaves them helpless, Burton said.

Psychiatric laws vary widely across the country.

We like to say that were running 50 different experiments with mental health care in this country, said Geoffrey Melada, spokesman for the Treatment Advocacy Center.

In a 2020 report, the center ranked Maryland the worst in the nation for its psychiatric laws, citing factors including the standard for involuntary admission and the lack of what is known as assisted outpatient treatment for severe mental illness, in which the court orders someone to undergo treatment in a community setting. Maryland is one of only three states that does not have that.

A Baltimore pilot program for assisted outpatient treatment started in 2018. It does not impose penalties on those who fail to adhere to the court-ordered treatment plan.

Efforts are underway in both the county and in Baltimore to connect more people with services by diverting some 911 calls to mental health professionals rather than police. Democratic County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr. recently announced an expansion of the countys mobile crisis teams, which include mental health professionals and specially trained police officers.

Maryland law allows family, friends, neighbors and others to petition for an emergency psychiatric evaluation for someone. One neighbor whose family filed for a peace order against Brown said they did not know there was another option.

In addition, the states extreme risk protective order law, often referred to as a red flag law, lets police, family members, housemates, intimate partners and medical professionals petition a court for an order to temporarily seize someones guns and prevent them from buying firearms.

Raising awareness of these existing tools is crucial, said Dr. Arkaprava Deb, a psychiatrist in Baltimore.

We want the community to know about these interventions, said Deb, who also works on gun violence prevention issues with the advocacy group Doctors for America.

Deb said that he has seen people with severe mental illness who, with treatment, go on to graduate school, marriage, homebuying and otherwise thriving in life.

Recovery is a lot more attainable than the public believes, Deb said.

Deb said mental health providers and public health professionals hope to learn more from the investigation of the Woodlawn case. His key questions include whether Brown had a diagnosed mental illness and, if he did, whether he had any clinical interventions in the past year.

The case deserves a hard look, mental health advocates say.

Clearly, the system failed this individual, his neighbors, the people that he hurt and killed, said Dan Martin, senior director of public policy at the Mental Health Association of Maryland.



(Baltimore Sun reporters Christine Condon and Taylor DeVille contributed to this report.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Wednesday they helped advance a five-year-old sexual assault case by locating the alleged fugitive.

Fidel Ortiz Serna, a Mexican national who lived in Louisiana under a lawful permanent resident status, also known as a green card, was stopped crossing a pedestrian footpath from Mexico into Texas Monday.

MIGRANTS ATTEMPTING RIO GRANDE CROSSING INTO US NABBED BY MEXICAN MARINES, VIDEO SHOWS

Ortiz Serna crossed the Hidalgo International Bridge before being stopped by CBP for a routine check.

An initial computer scan identified him as a possible suspect related to sexual assault charges filed in Louisiana in 2016.

A biometric verification through U.S. law enforcement and CBP databases then confirmed Ortiz Sernas identity.

DANGEROUS FLASH FLOODING DRENCHES NEW ORLEANS

Authorities also found an outstanding warrant issued from the Bernard Parish Sheriffs Office in Louisiana years prior.

"Our officers detected this fugitive wanted on sexual assault charges who had been on the run for a few years," Hidalgo Port Director Carlos Rodriguez said in a statement. "This capture can hopefully bring closure to this case and those affected by the alleged actions."

It is unclear for how long Ortiz Serna had stayed in Mexico after the warrant for his arrest had been issued, or if he had been out of the country when charges were first filed.

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Ortiz Serna was charged with one felony count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile relating to an alleged 2007 incident in Chalmette, La., involving a 15-year old victim.

The Mexican national was arrested by CBP before being handed over to local authorities and transported to Hidalgo County jail "where he will await extradition procedures."
As masks start to come off for the fully vaccinated, following the latest federal announcement, it would be easy to slack off on vaccinations, especially in harder-to-reach communities. But for the sake of everyones health, we cant.

Weve seen two troubling indications recently that the states Black residents and some immigrant neighborhoods right here in Miami-Dade County remain woefully low in vaccination rates.

According to a recent el Nuevo Herald analysis, the countys Central American and Haitian immigrant communities are disproportionately undervaccinated for COVID-19. While about half of all eligible county residents  55.5 percent  had gotten at least one does as of April 30, that number fell to 41 percent in ZIP codes where the highest percentage of Central American immigrants live, such as Homestead, Allapattah, Little Havana and neighborhoods south of Overtown.

In Haitian immigrant communities, just 32.5 percent of the eligible population had been vaccinated in places such as Little Haiti, Biscayne Park, North Miami Beach and Westview.

Those figures track with similarly distressing information released by the state on Wednesday: Only 7 percent of vaccinated Floridians are Black, Politico reported. Of the entire Black population in the state, just 20 percent have been vaccinated, health department Deputy Secretary Shamarial Roberson said during a meeting of a state coronavirus vaccination task force. She said, We have a lot of work to do.

We agree, especially here in South Florida.

Theres no single reason for the lack of vaccinations. Language barriers play a part, along with lack of a Florida drivers license as ID, a lack of convenient transportation, conspiracy theories and no paid time off to get the shot or recover from it.

But in the end, one thing remains. If we are going to get this pandemic under control, Miami-Dade has to reach people where they are.

Certainly, the numbers are much improved on COVID. Hospitalizations are down by about 17 percent in the last two weeks, statewide, and down 23 percent in Miami-Dade in the same period, the Miami Herald reported. For a place that was once the hotspot of the virus in Florida, those numbers are music to our ears.

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But as vaccinations slow, we need to find new ways to reach those who havent  for one reason or another  gotten the vaccine. The stakes are high for all of us. The more the virus is transmitted, the greater the likelihood that vaccines will become less effective.

What can we do? Get vaccinated. Persuade others to get vaccinated. And think creatively about how reach those who havent gotten the shot.

Heres an idea from a nursing home in Winter Park: Try a $1,000 bonus, with a twist. While workers at nursing homes and assisted living facilities remained astonishingly undervaccinated, a whopping 92 percent of workers at The Gardens at DePugh Nursing Center got the shots, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Each worker got $100 after the first shot. But no one got the remaining $900 until at least 75 percent of the staff was vaccinated. Peer pressure and cash  thats powerful leverage.

At the coronavirus task force meeting, members tossed out ideas such as phone banks, community block parties, community ambassadors. We need to bolster our efforts here with that kind of thinking.

Erick Sanchez, an organizer with the South Florida immigrant workers group WeCount!, put it this way: If they really wanted to get them vaccinated, they could have mobile sites, in cooperation with different organizations. Wed tell the people, and wed get a lot of them vaccinated.

To its credit, Miami-Dade inaugurated a mobile vaccination unit in January, which, at the time served seniors in public housing.

Still, Its time for a new approach, Miami-Dade.
By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two more ransomware operators appear to have disappeared from the web, a cybersecurity researcher said on Sunday, in another potential aftershock following this month's hack of U.S. fuel transport company Colonial Pipeline.

The sites, run by groups dubbed "AKO" and "Everest", appear to have become unreachable over the weekend, according to Allan Liska, a researcher with cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

And while hackers' websites can often be unstable "it's unusual to see two of the bigger names go down for 24 hours," Liska told Reuters. "That makes me think it's a conscious choice to take their site offline."

The move follows the disappearance of the DarkSide digital extortion gang, the group blamed for paralyzing the country's largest fuel pipeline network and sending a wave of panic-buying up and down the East Coast.

The company's pipeline restarted on Thursday after being shut for nearly a week.

Other ransomware groups - who make money by scrambling companies' data and demanding hefty payments in digital currency to unlock it - have said they were shutting down or scaling back operations as the U.S. government ramped up pressure. Groups such as "Avaddon" and "REvil," for example, have said they would be steering clear of government, nonprofit, or healthcare sectors.

It remains unclear whether the retreat is due to U.S. diplomatic pressure, legal demands on technology providers or even government-backed hacking. The FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the disappearance of the ransomware operators' websites.

Liska said previous declarations by ransomware gangs that certain targets were off-limits in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic did not last long.

"We've seen this song-and-dance before," Liska said. "It remains to be seen whether this is something they're going to follow through on or whether they're putting out releases to get good press."

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
- By GF Value





The stock of Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR, 30-year Financials) gives every indication of being significantly overvalued, according to GuruFocus Value calculation. GuruFocus Value is GuruFocus' estimate of the fair value at which the stock should be traded. It is calculated based on the historical multiples that the stock has traded at, the past business growth and analyst estimates of future business performance. If the price of a stock is significantly above the GF Value Line, it is overvalued and its future return is likely to be poor. On the other hand, if it is significantly below the GF Value Line, its future return will likely be higher. At its current price of $99.48 per share and the market cap of $737.4 million, Nabors Industries stock gives every indication of being significantly overvalued. GF Value for Nabors Industries is shown in the chart below.





Nabors Industries Stock Is Estimated To Be Significantly Overvalued

Because Nabors Industries is significantly overvalued, the long-term return of its stock is likely to be much lower than its future business growth.

Link: These companies may deliever higher future returns at reduced risk.

Investing in companies with poor financial strength has a higher risk of permanent loss of capital. Thus, it is important to carefully review the financial strength of a company before deciding whether to buy its stock. Looking at the cash-to-debt ratio and interest coverage is a great starting point for understanding the financial strength of a company. Nabors Industries has a cash-to-debt ratio of 0.14, which is worse than 70% of the companies in Oil & Gas industry. GuruFocus ranks the overall financial strength of Nabors Industries at 2 out of 10, which indicates that the financial strength of Nabors Industries is poor. This is the debt and cash of Nabors Industries over the past years:

Story continues

Nabors Industries Stock Is Estimated To Be Significantly Overvalued

Companies that have been consistently profitable over the long term offer less risk for investors who may want to purchase shares. Higher profit margins usually dictate a better investment compared to a company with lower profit margins. Nabors Industries has been profitable 3 over the past 10 years. Over the past twelve months, the company had a revenue of $1.9 billion and loss of $82.16 a share. Its operating margin is -17.06%, which ranks worse than 72% of the companies in Oil & Gas industry. Overall, the profitability of Nabors Industries is ranked 2 out of 10, which indicates poor profitability. This is the revenue and net income of Nabors Industries over the past years:

Nabors Industries Stock Is Estimated To Be Significantly Overvalued

One of the most important factors in the valuation of a company is growth. Long-term stock performance is closely correlated with growth according to GuruFocus research. Companies that grow faster create more value for shareholders, especially if that growth is profitable. The average annual revenue growth of Nabors Industries is -12.9%, which ranks worse than 69% of the companies in Oil & Gas industry. The 3-year average EBITDA growth is -16.7%, which ranks worse than 70% of the companies in Oil & Gas industry.

One can also evaluate a company's profitability by comparing its return on invested capital (ROIC) to its weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Return on invested capital (ROIC) measures how well a company generates cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. If the return on invested capital exceeds the weighted average cost of capital, the company is likely creating value for its shareholders. During the past 12 months, Nabors Industries's ROIC is -7.14 while its WACC came in at 10.52. The historical ROIC vs WACC comparison of Nabors Industries is shown below:

Nabors Industries Stock Is Estimated To Be Significantly Overvalued

Overall, the stock of Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR, 30-year Financials) gives every indication of being significantly overvalued. The company's financial condition is poor and its profitability is poor. Its growth ranks worse than 70% of the companies in Oil & Gas industry. To learn more about Nabors Industries stock, you can check out its 30-year Financials here.

To find out the high quality companies that may deliever above average returns, please check out GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.


On Saturday, it served as a reunion site for Tribune colleagues, many of whom had not seen each other in more than a year while working remotely during the pandemic. For others who left the paper in recent years, the moment was even more poignant. Fist bumps and kibitzing mixed with defiance and despair during the hourlong rally.
May 16PITTSBURG, Kan.  With America's child care industry taking a substantial hit due to the pandemic, three Native American tribes in Northeast Oklahoma have partnered with Pittsburg State University to launch a scholarship program for students in early childhood education.

In the first six months of the pandemic, the U.S. child care system fell by 20% with nearly 200,000 child care workers losing their jobs, according to new report released this year from the University of California-Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment

Tens of thousands of educators lost their jobs while other employers scaled back operations or closed altogether, which has disproportionally affected women, especially women of color, who make up a large part of the child care workforce, the study said.

In an effort to build a better future for the region, three tribes in Miami the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Shawnee Tribe  are each contributing $200,000 annually for two years beginning in the fall. In total, the tribes will provide $1.2 million in the two years. The announcement was made by the tribes and PSU this month.

Warning

Authors of the report warn that the decline of the country's child care system will likely continue without public investment and fundamental policy reform.

"Even as many providers try to keep their doors open to ensure their financial security, the combination of higher costs to meet safety protocols and lower revenue from fewer children enrolled is leading to job losses and program closures," the authors of the study wrote. "Many of these closures and lost jobs are expected to become permanent."

The federal Child Care Development Funding Program is aimed at that situation. It is designed to increase the availability, affordability and quality of child care services. Through the federally funded program, tribes are able to assist low-income Native American families who are working or seeking higher education with the cost of child care.

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Carol Essex, who directs the Child Care Development Fund for the Ottawa Tribe, said they reached out to PSU President Steve Scott in February about the scholarship opportunity.

"Our main focus is still to provide subsidy for Native American families in the Four-State Area in 41 counties," Essex said, "but we also now need to look at the provider side, and that's what this scholarship is going to do. We want a highly qualified, enthusiastic staff out there working with those little ones."

Essex said one of their goals with the scholarship program is to expose students to the idea of opening a family child care home or a center-based child care facility.

"We want to introduce them to people who are already doing that and can share the business aspect with them," she said. "We're very excited about being able to do that. We think that it's not only going to be a tremendous impact for our Native American communities but for everyone. Because when you have a new child care center or home open, it benefits all children  Native American and everyone else in the community, and we are thrilled with that."

The Miami Tribe operates the Leonard Learning Center, which is licensed for 90 children between the ages of 6 weeks to 13 years. The employees are trained in early childhood education.

"They're shaping the minds of the future," said Tracy Beckwith, program director for the Miami Tribe. "They have the ability to change lives and make an impact for our future leaders."

Program requirements

Students who transfer to or are already enrolled in one of two early childhood programs at PSU will be eligible for full scholarships. This includes the Child Care Development program and the Early Childhood Unified: Birth to Kindergarten Program.

"We're absolutely thrilled to be able to have this opportunity for students that will be in our program for the foreseeable future," said Duane Whitbeck, chairman of PSU's family and consumer sciences department.

The Child Development program prepares individuals to work with children ages birth through 8, families, and programs serving individuals and families within communities.

"Child Development is our longest standing program, and it doesn't include a teacher license through the Kansas Department of Education, but graduates now work in child care settings, preschool Head Start and community programs," said Whitbeck.

The Early Childhood Unified: Birth to Kindergarten program, which began last fall, focuses on hands-on experiences in pre-K and kindergarten classrooms working with children with and without special needs. This program results in a general and special education teaching license for programs serving children birth to kindergarten and their families.

Amber Tankersley, who coordinates PSU's early childhood programming, said their goal with the scholarship is to offer each student approximately $7,000 to $10,000 per semester, if they meet the eligibility requirements.

"This is an incredibly life-changing opportunity for our students," she said. "This scholarship is going to allow our students to pursue their dream of becoming an early childhood professional and hopefully make differences in the lives of children."

To be considered, students must apply by June 7; have completed at least 45 credit hours at any higher education institution including community colleges throughout the region; maintain full-time status; part-time students taking a minimum of six hours would be eligible for partial assistance.

Applicants also must reside in the 41-county service area in the Four States, maintain a 2.5 GPA and don't need to be a member of the Miami, Ottawa or Shawnee tribes. Recipients will be chosen by the end of June.
Medical culture wields tremendous influence over patients and physicians, with physical, financial and psychological consequences that range from lifesaving to life ending. (iStock)

Over the last pandemic year, weve seen doctors work heroically to save lives. Their dedication, expertise and work ethic represent the best of medical culture. But as we return to normality, we need to acknowledge that the same culture that turns doctors into heroes is also contributing to a healthcare crisis of rising costs and decaying standards.

Physicians, policy experts and academics all insist that American healthcare suffers from systemic issues. By systemic, they mean bureaucratic. Clinicians, they say, are bogged down by administrative burdens, pesky prior-authorization requirements and cumbersome computers that (literally) sit between doctors and patients.

I agree. Correcting these deficiencies will be vital for reform. But if these administrative fixes are the only healthcare changes we accomplish, then everyone will be sorely disappointed with the results.

In addition to fixing the system, we must also look closely at the values and norms that doctors acquire in medical school and carry throughout their careers. This invisible force  medical culture  wields tremendous influence over patients and physicians, with physical, financial and psychological consequences that range from lifesaving to life-ending.

COVID-19 made the physical harm of medical culture clear. Consider that nearly two-thirds of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had at least one chronic disease, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension and heart failure, according to National Institutes of Health research.

In critical care units, doctors pulled many of these patients back from the brink of death. But if American physicians had dedicated more time and effort toward preventing and better managing these types of chronic diseases, tens of thousands wouldnt have needed hospitalization in the first place. And many of them would still be alive.

One obstacle is that insurers reimburse physicians too little for the time it takes to prevent disease. However, an equally large part of the problem is rooted in the priorities of physicians themselves. Preventing disease isnt as visibly heroic as a lifesaving intervention. Its undervalued, even in terms of compensation, although multiple studies show that when healthcare providers place a high value on primary care, they reduce chronic disease by half compared with national averages.

Story continues

That medical bills can lead to financial ruin is no secret. According to a Gallup poll, half of U.S. patients worry that one major illness could force them to declare bankruptcy. We tend to blame the insurance and pharmaceutical industries for the high price of medical care. But we fail to recognize the role doctors play.

A review of articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine determined that one-third of established medical practices  are found to be no better than a less expensive, simpler, or easier therapy or approach. Another study estimated that 25% of all healthcare spending from 2012 to 2019 was wasted.

Physicians insist they put the needs of patients first. And yet it's doctors who order unnecessary tests, overprescribe medications and perform risky surgeries when less-expensive approaches would be just as valuable. And when doctors benefit economically at the expense of patients, medical culture shields them from the shame of hypocrisy, assuring them that doing more is never wrong.

Finally, medical culture does psychological harm. In early 2020, a friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer that rapidly spread to her liver, lung and brain. While delivering the news, her doctor added, Its not a death sentence.

I have no idea why he would have said that. If he was implying a cure was possible, then he was more sadistic than compassionate. My friend deserved the truth. She died three days later.

Physicians are trained to offer hope, even when hope disguises an ugly truth. In 2014, a study of 70 Food and Drug Administration-approved chemotherapy agents found the cancer treatments extended life by an average of only 2.1 months. That time was often spent in a hospital, rather than at home or in palliative care. Hiding uncomfortable truths remains a cultural norm in medicine, one that benefits providers far more than patients.

How do we cure a culture thats invisible yet highly influential? Begin at the beginning, with those who are educating and training our next generation of physicians.

To reduce the physical harm medical culture inflicts on patients, medical school deans must elevate the esteem of primary care, make clear its crucial role. To start, more internal medicine physicians should take the places of specialists in lecture halls.

Inflicting less financial harm on patients will mean lowering overall healthcare expenditures. In general, communities with more specialists have a higher frequency of procedures performed, greater healthcare costs but no improvement in quality or life expectancy. Again, the balance of specialists and primary care doctors is key. Leaders in academic medical centers can help, by increasing the ratio of primary care residents admitted to their programs.

Finally, much psychological damage could be avoided if physicians were trained to treat every patient like a family member. We would produce more compassionate physicians if residents and interns were asked, Did you treat all of your patients today as you would want if they were your parent, sibling or child?

Many factors contribute to our nations soaring medical costs, flagging clinical quality and the rising dissatisfaction of both doctors and patients. The one problem we continually overlook with tragic consequences is the flawed culture of medicine.

Dr. Robert Pearl is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon and former chief executive of the Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente). He teaches at Stanford. His latest book is Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients, scheduled for publication in mid-May.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Palestinian and Israeli representatives speak to a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the ongoing conflict.

Video Transcript

GILAD ERDAN: This is where we stand now. A massive unprovoked assault by Hamas initiated not as a result of any incidents involving Israel but due to the internal Palestinian political maneuvering. This assault has forced Israel to defend and protect its citizens and strike Hamas' terror machine in order to stop their aggression once and for all.

Israel has always sought peace. Just this year, we signed peace agreements with four Muslim countries. In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip and uprooted all the Jewish communities there in the hope it would bring security. Instead, it brought unending terror attacks by Hamas.

RITAD AL MALKI: There are no words that can describe the horrors our people are enduring. Remember that each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself, it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep. Israeli keeps doing the same thing expecting a different result. This is it's belief that it through its troops storming the holiest of sites, Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the holiest of months, Ramadan, and on the holiest of nights, the Night of Destiny, would bear no consequences.
Waving Palestinian flags and wearing the Kuffiya, thousands of Israel's Arab minority turned out in Sakhnin on Saturday for a rally to commemorate a war lost 73 years ago.

Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes and Palestinian militants launched rocket salvoes at Tel Aviv and other cities on Saturday, with no sign of an end to almost a week of fighting.

Palestinians have reported 11 people killed this week in the occupied West Bank after protesters and Israeli forces clashed.

The hostilities showed no sign of letting up as they entered a seventh day, with Palestinians saying at least 145 people have been killed since the conflict began on Monday (May 10), including 41 children. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.

Video Transcript

[SHOUTING AND CHANTING]

[NON-ENGLISH SHOUTING]

[FIREWORKS]

[NON-ENGLISH ARGUING]

[EXPLOSION]
The Palisades wildfire burns out of control Saturday in rugged terrain above Topanga Canyon Boulevard. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A fire that started Friday in Pacific Palisades flared up Saturday due to gusty winds and is threatening homes in Topanga Canyon. More than 1,300 acres have burned.

Authorities urge people to avoid the Topanga Canyon area.

Evacuation zones

 East of Topanga Canyon Boulevard between Topanga Community Center and Viewridge Road in an unincorporated area.

 North of Entrada Road, south of Oakwood Drive and east of Henry Ridge Mountain Way in an unincorporated area.

 Will Roger State Beach closed

Evacuation warning for Chastain Parkway to Calle Del Cielo. The warning area includes Calle De Sarah, Calle Bellevista and all homes west of Calle Del Cielo.

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Shelters

A large-animal evacuation center is being set up at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Small animal shelter set up at Agoura Animal Care Center.

Road closures

Topanga Canyon Road between Mullholland Drive and Pacific Coast Highway.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
It happened this past week . . . the loss of three creative people in very different fields.

Actor Norman Lloyd. / Credit: CBS News

Actor Norman Lloyd died Tuesday in Los Angeles.

He first won notice with the Mercury Theater under Orson Welles in the 1930s.

In 1942 he played a Nazi spy in the Hitchcock thriller "Saboteur" ... memorably dangling from the Statue of Liberty's torch:

Norman Lloyd and Robert Cummings fighting on top of the Statue of Liberty in a scene from the 1942 spy thriller,

He went on to many other roles, from the 1980s hospital series "St. Elsewhere," to the 2015 film "Trainwreck," opposite Amy Schumer.

Long known as the oldest-working actor in Hollywood, Norman Lloyd was an astonishing 106 years of age.

For more info:

Norman Lloyd (IMDB)Turner Classic Movies honors Norman Lloyd

"Sunday Morning" also notes the loss of architect Helmut Jahn, who died a week ago Saturday in a bicycle accident outside Chicago.

Architect Helmut Jahn tours a construction site in Berlin in this July 15, 1998 file photo. / Credit: Jockel Finck/AP

He designed many of that city's most notable buildings  and some of its most controversial.

His State of Illinois Center provoked sharp debate when it opened in 1985. He designed buildings in other cities, too, including New York and Philadelphia.

Helmut Jahn was 81.

Spencer Silver, the inventor of the adhesive used on one of 3M's best-known products, the Post-it Note. Silver was working in a company lab in 1968 when he discovered an adhesive formula that allowed notes to be easily attached to surfaces, removed and even re-posted elsewhere without leaving a residue. / Credit: 3M via AP

And Spencer Silver died a week ago Saturday at his home in Minnesota.

A long-time chemist at 3M, he discovered a unique adhesive used in what was originally called the Press n' Peel memo pad.

Not that successful at first, the pad was renamed the Post-It Note in 1980 ... and the new name stuck.

Spencer Silver was 80.

Story produced by Robert Marston and Juan Torres Falcon. Editor: Remington Korper.

Nature: Santa Cruz Mountains

The unapologetic Ben Crump

Ewan McGregor on recreating the life, and obsessions, of "Halston"
Pfizer came under the spotlight in pleas for it to release the formula for its vaccine. Photo: Reuters/Jeff Christensen JC

Pfizer's (PFE) top UK executive has hit out at calls for the pharmaceutical firm and others to forgo patents on COVID-19 vaccines, ruling out an intellectual property waiver.

Pfizer leader Ben Osborn said that sharing it could lead to a shortage of raw materials "across multiple countries" and may even mean that other vaccines may be unable to fulfil their obligations.

In remarks reported by the Sunday Times he said supplies would "see a very rapid short-term impact" as a result of sharing it.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) had previously proposed to plug a gap in global vaccinations where poorer countries have fallen behind the likes of the UK and US, by letting generic vaccines onto the marketplace.

The call was widely supported, attracting backing by the Biden administration as well as more than 100 countries.

The Covax scheme has so far delivered 49 million vaccine doses, but a further $35bn-$45bn (25bn-32bn) is needed over thee next year to make sure most adults are immunised, the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said.

Pfizer has previously outlined plans to profit from the vaccine, although it sells to low-income nations at cost price.

Read more: Britons to spend 2.5bn as indoor hospitality reopens

The news comes alongside new research from Oxford University that shows both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccines create enough antibodies to be effective against the B.1.617.2 strain of the virus, which is a faster-spreading variant.

The study also showed the more troubling variant from South Africa may be more vaccine resistant.

The research confirms the view of the UK's chief medical officer Chris Whitty who said on Friday there is high confidence that vaccines provide substantial protection against people dying and being admitted to hospital.

Watch: IMF chief: 'We ought to support Africa in this genuinely historic moment'
May 15To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call 888-568-1112 or 800-273-TALK (8255), or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

When his brother-in-law talked about taking his own life this past winter, Brian Dunnigan took him seriously. He knew that Shaun Simmons owned a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun, even though he had never seen it, and he knew that his brother-in-law was drinking heavily.

On Feb. 21 around 3 p.m., Dunnigan, 61, called the Wells Police Department hoping to get officers to use Maine's "red flag" law, which the Legislature approved in 2019, to confiscate Simmons' weapon. Dunnigan claims officers refused to act on his request.

At about 3:30 p.m. on March 14, Simmons, 57, shot his mother's 71-year-old boyfriend in the chest and then turned the gun on himself, according to police, in the Wells home he shared with her. William Ness of Wells survived but is still in a rehabilitation facility, not yet well enough to return home, according to Dunnigan.

Dunnigan believes the tragedy could have been avoided if police officers used Maine's red flag law to confiscate Simmons' gun. But the law requires that there be an imminent threat of danger, which limits what steps police can take when they are told that someone who owns a firearm has previously talked about harming themselves.

Wells police Capt. Kevin Chabot confirmed that prior to the shooting, Dunnigan called the department to ask about Maine's red flag law and spoke with a police officer. Chabot released a transcript this week of the 911 call but not the notes from the officer's conversation with Dunnigan.

According to the transcript, Dunnigan told the dispatcher that Simmons frequently threatened to commit suicide but, when the dispatcher asked if the threat was "happening right now," Dunnigan told him it was not.

"There was not an imminent threat, so we could not take action," Chabot said Monday. "What happened with Mr. Simmons was regrettable and we wish we could have changed what happened but we can only act within the letter of the law."

Story continues

Police and prosecutors have used the law 17 times since it took effect on July 1, 2020, taking people in crisis into protective custody to start the process of determining whether "whether the person presents a likelihood of foreseeable harm" and whether their weapons should be confiscated in an effort to reduce that harm, according to the statute.

When the bill was being considered in the Legislature, it frequently was referred to as a "yellow flag" law to differentiate it from states where red flag laws allow family and friends to petition a judge directly to seize dangerous weapons. Maine's law does not allow family and friends to directly petition a judge to have someone's firearms confiscated.

"We wanted to put people in the path of care in that moment of crisis before there was an escalation of behavior," said state Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, who sponsored Maine's bill with then-Sen. Mike Carpenter, D-Houlton.

Maine's law also says that officers must have probable cause to take action, according to Maine State Police Lt. Michael Johnston, who has trained troopers and law enforcement officers on using the law.

"When formulating probable cause, the law enforcement officer may rely upon information provided by a third-party informant if the officer confirms that the informant has reason to believe, based upon the informant's recent personal observations of or conversations with a person, that the person may be mentally ill and that due to that condition the person presents a threat of imminent and substantial physical harm to that person or to other persons," the state law says.

In Maine, if police establish that someone poses an imminent threat of harm to themselves or others, the new law permits police and prosecutors to seek a judge's permission to confiscate that person's guns  as long as a medical professional has agreed that the person "presents a likelihood of foreseeable harm." The law also allows a judge to bar those people from purchasing guns for a year. Defendants may petition a judge to return weapons that have been seized when the ban expires.

In the 17 cases in Maine since last summer in which a person has been taken into protective custody, more than a dozen involved threats of suicide while the rest involved possible delusional behavior and threats to other people. Some involved standoffs with police, firing a gun at or near other people, or actively displaying a weapon in a suicide threat.

The most recent use of the law occurred in Wells on March 25, barely two weeks after Simmons shot Ness and himself. In the more recent situation, Wells police sought to bar a man from possessing firearms after he shot himself in the chest and told police, "I'm just tired of living," according to the attorney general's office.

This past winter, after Dunnigan's brother-in-law threatened to kill himself, Dunnigan said he considered trying to get him involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital under Maine's medical "blue paper" process, but felt it would be too cumbersome and, ultimately, unsuccessful.

After reading Maine's "red flag" statute, he hoped it could help prevent his brother-in-law from harming himself. Dunnigan even considered taking the gun away himself, he said, but was told by police that he could face legal consequences if he did. Dunnigan has an excessive force lawsuit against the York County Jail pending in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleging that a corrections officer used a stun gun on him 57 times while he was incarcerated in February 2018 on a disorderly conduct charge that was later dropped.

After the shooting, Dunnigan reached out through his state senator to the Maine attorney general's office but was told by Brian MacMaster, an investigator in that office, that whether to use the red flag law or not was a decision left to local police.

Maine's red flag law is a less expansive version of similar laws that have been enacted in at least 20 states and Washington, D.C. Many of them have been adopted as a policy response to the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In Indiana, a red flag law there failed to prevent a mass shooting last month when a 19-year-old man shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis before killing himself.

The FBI had questioned the shooter, Brandon Scott Hole, last year after his mother called police to say her son might commit "suicide by cop." Officers seized a pump-action shotgun from Hole's home after responding to the call, but the prosecutor there did not take the case to a judge to prevent Hole from purchasing the weapons he used in last month's rampage.

In spite of that incident, the law has been effective in reducing suicides in Indiana, according to a University of Indianapolis study. Researchers there found that there was a 7.5 percent decrease in firearm-related suicides in the decade after the law's passage in 2005. In Indianapolis alone, more than 400 people were subject to the law from 2006 to 2013, the study said.

Changes to red flag laws in Maine, Indiana, Florida, California, Connecticut and other states could become a federal matter. A week before the FedEx shooting, President Joe Biden asked Congress for a national red flag law similar to one introduced two years ago that later died in Congress.

The bill would allow states to apply for grants to enact and implement red flag laws. That could be helpful in Maine, where law enforcement officials and prosecutors have said that using the law is time-consuming and resource-intensive, and where police have said the process of consulting a medical provider remotely to evaluate someone's mental state isn't set up yet.
Pope Francis holds a Holy Mass on May 16, 2021. Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis via Getty Images

Pope Francis said the recent surge of violence between Israelis and Palestinians is "unacceptable."

He denounced "this hatred and vendetta" and appealed for "calm" during his Sunday blessing.

"Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?" the Pope asked.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Pope Francis has denounced the violent conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, which has drawn renewed attention this week with a surge of deadly air attacks.

The series of airstrikes mark the most violent clashes between Israel and Hamas since the 2014 Gaza War.

The pontiff called the violence "unacceptable" during his Sunday blessing, the Associated Press reported.

He said the deaths of children in particular signals "they don't want to build the future but want to destroy it."

"I ask myself: this hatred and vendetta, what will it bring?" the Pope said. "Do we truly think that we can build peace by destroying the other?"

"In the name of God, who created all human beings equal in rights, duties, and dignity and are called to live as brothers, I appeal for calm," he said.

The Pope also appealed for peace in a tweet on Sunday, reiterating his particular compassion for young victims.

"Let us pray constantly that the Israelis and Palestinians may find the path of dialogue and forgiveness," he wrote.

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Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, have exchanged air attacks over the past week that are said to have killed at least 188 people in Gaza, including 55 children, and eight in Israel.

Most recently, Israeli airstrikes on Sunday alone killed at least 42 people according to the AP, the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence.

In a televised address reported by the AP, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacks are continuing at "full-force" and will "take time," despite international efforts to broker a cease-fire.

Read the original article on Insider
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand an end to Israeli airstrikes over the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people shut down traffic on a major thoroughfare in west Los Angeles as they marched two miles from outside the federal building to the Israeli consulate. The protesters waved signs that said free Palestine and shouted long live intifada, or uprising.

A protest that started in a neighborhood in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, which has a large Arabic-speaking community, continued through the streets for several hours on Saturday afternoon. Footage on social media showed people had climbed up the poles of street lights to wave flags while others set off fireworks. As the sun set, some protesters walked onto the Interstate 278 shutting down traffic in at least on direction, according to video posted online.

Bella Hadid, a well-known Palestinian-American model, participated in the Brooklyn protest.

The marches coincided with Nakba Day, which commemorate the 1948 displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israels declaration of independence.

In Atlanta, hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, including grandparents, teenagers and mothers and fathers with youngsters in tow, assembled downtown to wave signs and chant slogans, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

One sign read, We cant breathe since 1948  a nod to the racial injustice and police brutality protests in the U.S. during the past year in the wake of George Floyds death in police custody after he couldnt breathe, the newspaper reported.

In San Francisco, a raucous crowd banged drums and yelled Palestine will be free as they marched across the Mission district to Dolores Park.

A similar scene played out in Boston as protesters walked a short distance from Copley Square to the Israeli Consulate for New England, blocking traffic.

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Footage on social media shows protesters unfurl a banner in the colors of the Palestinian flag with the words Free Palestine while standing on top of the awning of the building where the consulate is located.

In Washington, thousands of protesters streamed from the Washington Monument and to the National Archives. In Philadelphia, demonstrators filled Rittenhouse Square to decry U.S. support for Israel.

At a protest in Pittsburgh, one speaker called on lawmakers to put restrictions on how Israel can spend aid from the United States.

The protests were stoked by five days of mayhem that left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza and eight dead on the Israeli side. The violence, set off by Hamas firing a rocket into Israel on Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in contested Jerusalem.

Israel stepped up its assault and slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp and destroying a building that house the offices of The Associated Press and other media.
The emergence of 17-year cicadas offers the adventurous cook an opportunity to bake these treats from the 2004 cookbook "Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas," from Jenna Jadin and the University of Maryland Cicadamaniacs.

"Overall, over 1,000 insect species are eaten by humans," writes Jadin. Cicadas in particular have been a staple food for Australian Aborigines, New Guineans, Siamese, and American Indians, and were considered a delicacy in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in modern-day Japan.

The advantages of dining on insects? "Most insects are cheap, tasty and a good natural protein source," she notes. "Additionally, they are far cleaner than other creatures: grasshoppers and crickets eat fresh, clean, green plants whereas crabs, lobsters and catfish eat any kind of foul, decomposing material. Finally, insects are low in cholesterol and low in fat."

Her recipe for Emergence Cookies is below. "These should look like cicadas emerging out of a little pile of chunky mud!"

Emergence Cookies feature a peculiar ingredient: Cicadas, a protein source that is low in fat and cholesterol. / Credit: CBS News

Emergence Cookies

Yield: 60 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening3 eggs1 1/2 cups sugar4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled2 tsp. baking powder2 tsp. vanilla2 cups all-purpose flourAn additional 1/3 cup sugar1 beaten egg white1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)About 60 parboiled dry roasted cicadas (roast for only 8 minutes so that they retain some moisture)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat shortening with eggs, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, cooled chocolate, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined, scraping sides of bowl.

2. Gradually stir in flour till thoroughly combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

3. Meanwhile, stir together the 1/3 cup sugar and beaten egg white. Place cicadas on waxed paper; brush with egg white mixture and set aside.

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Place a cicada on top of each ball, pressing lightly.

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5. Bake in a 375 oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set. Transfer to a rack to cool.

From "Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas" (University of Maryland), 2004. Reprinted by permission.

Disclaimer: The University of Maryland and the Cicadamaniacs do not advocate eating cicadas without first consulting with your doctor. While many people do eat cicadas, there is no guarantee that they are safe for every person to eat. As with all foods, it is possible that certain individuals will have allergic reactions to substances within the cicada.

For more info:

Cicadas (University of Maryland)Brood X Periodical Cicadas FAQ (National Park Service) { "@context": "https://schema.org/", "@type": "Recipe", "name": "Cicada cookies", "image": "https://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/05/14/15fbb2b4-3a76-4f2c-b545-6076dd369a27/thumbnail/1240x700/e22e42e6608e5f04750d1483287f4f8d/cicada-cookies-620.jpg", "description": "", "keywords": "cicada, cookie", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "CBS News" }, "datePublished": "2021-05-17", "prepTime": "PT120M", "cookTime": "PT10M", "totalTime": "PT130M", "recipeCategory": "dessert", "recipeYield": "60", "nutrition": { "@type": "NutritionInformation", "calories": "" }, "recipeIngredient": [ "1/2 cup shortening", "3 eggs", "1 1/2 cups sugar", "4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled", "2 tsp. baking powder`", "2 tsp. vanilla", "2 cups all-purpose flour", "An additional 1/3 cup sugar", "1 beaten egg white", "1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)", "About 60 parboiled dry roasted cicadas (roast for only 8 minutes so that they retain some moisture)" ], "recipeInstructions": [{ "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "1. In a large bowl, beat shortening with eggs, the 1 1/2 cups sugar, cooled chocolate, baking powder, and vanilla until well combined, scraping sides of bowl." },{ "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "2. Gradually stir in flour till thoroughly combined. Stir in the nuts. Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until dough is easy to handle." },{ "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "3. Meanwhile, stir together the 1/3 cup sugar and beaten egg white. Place cicadas on waxed paper; brush with egg white mixture and set aside." },{ "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Place a cicada on top of each ball, pressing lightly." },{ "@type": "HowToStep", "text": "5. Bake in a 375 oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set. Transfer to a rack to cool." }] }

New York prosecutors seek cooperation of Trump business associate in probe

Plea deal for associate of Representative Matt Gaetz

As strikes continue in Israel and Gaza, Sunday was deadliest day yet
May 16Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins is the keynote speaker at the first-ever "Friends for Life" fund-raiser sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Toledo at the Hilton Garden Inn in Perrysburg on May 27. Dinner reservations are $75.

Ms. Hawkins is an author, speaker and anti-abortion advocate. In 2006 she was recruited to launch the full-time operation for Students for Life of America, and has since overseen its development into a national team that supports more than 1,200 chapters in all 50 states.

Students for Life of America "exists to recruit, train and mobilize the pro-life generation to abolish abortion," according to its mission statement.

Toledo Bishop Daniel E. Thomas and Peter Range, director of Toledo Catholic Charities' Office for Life & Justice, will also share remarks at the fund-raiser. For more information, or to secure reservations and sponsorships, go to catholiccharitiesnwo.org.

Epworth Bazaar

The Epworth United Methodist Women are accepting vendor applications for their annual arts and crafts bazaar on Nov. 6 at Epworth United Methodist Church, 4855 Central Ave. Vendors must hand-craft the items sold at their booths, and the application deadline is June 7.

The Epworth Arts and Crafts Bazaar raises thousands of dollars each year for area outreach and mission programs. One hundred percent of proceeds benefit local organizations.

For more information or to submit a vendor application, go to Epworth.com/bazaar.

 Nicki Gorny

Vatican establishes lay ministry

ROME  Pope Francis this week formally created a new lay ministry to encourage greater participation of secular women and men in the teaching of the Catholic faith, especially in places where priests are in short supply.

The new law creating the lay ministry of catechists officially recognizes for the universal Catholic Church a practice that has been used for centuries in local dioceses, and goes out of its way to emphasize women's participation in it.

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In many parts of the world, lay men and women introduce people to the Catholic faith, educate them on receiving the initial sacraments of baptism and communion and accompany them in their faith journey.

Soon, the Vatican's liturgy office will publish a specific rite of installation to be used around the world when these lay catechists formally begin their ministry. Individual bishops conferences are being asked to develop guidelines to train them.

It's the latest reform by Francis to address longstanding complaints that lay people  and specifically women  have been shut out of all levels of church decision-making, governance and participation in favor of the all-male clerical class of priests, bishops and cardinals. Earlier this year Francis issued another law decreeing that women can be installed in the lay ministries of lectors, to read Scripture, and acolytes to serve on the altar as eucharistic ministers. Such roles had been officially reserved to men even though exceptions were made.

Francis has firmly upheld Catholic doctrine that women cannot be ordained priests. He remains under pressure, however, to allow women to be deacons  ministers who perform many of the same functions as priests, such as presiding at weddings, baptisms and funerals. Currently, the ministry is reserved for men even though historians say the ministry was performed by women in the early church.

 AP
In the is Oct. 10, 2019 file photo, El Paso Walmart shooting suspect Patrick Crusius pleads not guilty during his arraignment in El Paso, Texas. The government has filed hate crime charges against Crusius, who said he was targeting Mexicans and shot to death 22 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas in 2019. Associated Press

In a new joint report, the FBI and DHS said deaths from domestic terrorism are on the rise.

The report said most deaths are committed by extremists advocating for white supremacy.

From 2017 to 2019, 57 people died in domestic terrorist attacks, mostly motivated by white supremacy.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A new report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security found that deaths from domestic terrorism motivated by race are on the rise.

According to the joint report, 2019 was the most deadly year for domestic violent extremism since 1995, with five separate attacks leaving 32 people dead, 24 of whom were killed by extremists "advocating for the superiority of the white race."

The report is an assessment on domestic terrorism, which it says is now a greater threat than attacks posed by international actors.

"The greatest terrorism threat to the Homeland we face today is posed by lone offenders, often radicalized online, who look to attack soft targets with easily accessible weapons," the report said. "Many of these violent extremists are motivated and inspired by a mix of socio-political goals and personal grievances against their targets.

Between 2017 and 2019, 57 people died in domestic terror attacks, with 42 of the deaths motivated by white supremacy and five of them motivated by "racism or injustice in American society," according to the report.

In a bulletin issued Friday, Homeland Security warned that the easing of COVID-19 restrictions could lead to an increase in attacks "after previous public capacity limits reduced opportunities for lethal attacks."

It said mass-casualty attacks by racially motivated violent extremists "have targeted houses of worship and crowded commercial facilities or gatherings."

Read the original article on Insider
Ripple has added its voice to the ongoing cryptocurrency sustainability pool with the announcement that it aims to hit carbon net zero by 2030. And it has partnered with various sustainability leaders to achieve that aim.

In a tweet shared on May 15, Ripple (XRP) linked to a post on its website. The page detailed a number of aspects of their environmental strategy. This included a list of their partners, which already counts the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mercy Corps, Mojaloop Foundation, and the Institute for Business and Social Impact among them.

Overall, Ripple has non-government organization (NGO) partners in more than 80 countries.

Now, sustainability leaders like the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), the Energy Web Foundation, and Watershed have joined their ranks. The page also states:

Our current global financial system does not meet the needs of 1.7 billion unbanked people. Digital assets and distributed ledger technology (DLT) have the potential to transform how unbanked and underbanked populations access basic financial services and send and receive money across borders, making it more accessible, affordable and secure.

The report on the website also referred to how green XRP is, compared to leading cryptocurrencies bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). More specifically, XRP uses only 63,000 gallons per 100 million transactions. Meanwhile, BTC uses nearly 4 billion gallons per 100 million transactions. And ETH uses another 239 million gallons.

Sustainability and crypto

Cryptocurrencys environmental implications have been the subject of much debate in recent weeks. Not least in light of Elon Musk raising the issue of fossil fuel emissions incurred by bitcoin mining.

The businessman took such a strong stance on this issue that he suspended BTC as a currency option for purchases at Tesla. This decision prompted a swift decline in BTCs price, falling below the $50,000 threshold.

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Even so, Musks decision was not met without criticism. Tim Draper, for one, made the point that the present banking system caused its share of environmental issues. The global investor suggested that, by Musks philosophy, he should stop accepting purchases in fiat currency as well.

Meanwhile, other nations are putting other measures in place to protect the environment against BTC mining. On May 15, reports stated that the Iranian authorities would enforce fines to anyone caught mining off household electricity.

Other updates on XRP

Its an eventful time for Ripple at the moment. As a pending lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues. The next major event in the case is due to take place on May 17, primarily surrounding John E. Deatons Motion to Intervene. Deaton is scheduled to reply to Ripple and the SECs respective positions on his motion. The SEC will also respond to Ripples position on that Motion to Intervene.

But its not all bad, as on May 16, data indicated that XRP was up over 12% in a 24-hour period. XRP are currently ranked the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
WASHINGTON  A top Israeli military spokesman said Sunday he had made a "small mistake" earlier this week when he told foreign reporters that Israeli troops had begun a ground invasion into Gaza.

But the Israeli spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, denied it was part of a ruse to lure Hamas fighters into positions where they would be more vulnerable to attacks by Israel Defense Forces.

"There were troops on the ground very, very close to the border, and I had information that they had gone in," when in fact they had not, Conricus said in an interview with USA TODAY.

He said his mistake amounted to the "difference of a few meters on the ground." It was an "unfortunate small mistake that became very important because it was in an important time," he said.

Based on his information, a spate of major U.S.-based news organizations, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, reported that Israel had begun a ground invasion. Several Israeli media outlets later reported the incorrect information was part of a "ploy" to make Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, believe a ground invasion was underway.

"Now it turns out that this is not a mistake, but a planned ploy whose role is to help eliminate Hamas' forces," an Israeli TV channel reported later Friday. "The IDF made Hamas think that a ground operation was beginning, which caused the organization to bring in all its fighters ... into the tunnels and prepare for combat."

An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in Gaza Strip, at the Israeli Gaza border, Wednesday, May 12, 2021.

Conricus said Israeli troops were in fact trying to deceive Hamas, so its fighters would go into its vast network of underground tunnels.

"We tried to achieved that by having ground troops mass and start to maneuver along the border," he said. "But my actions were not related to that."

Conricus also defended Israel's decision to strike an office building in Gaza that housed The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.

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"This was a legitimate military target," he said. He said Hamas was using the building for its military intelligence headquarters, for research and development and to store some "advanced technological equipment."

In a statement on Saturday, the AP's president and CEO, Gary Pruitt, said he was "shocked and horrified" by the attack and called on the Israeli government to provide evidence the building had been used by Hamas.

"We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability," he said.

Pruitt called the strike "incredibly disturbing," adding "the world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what transpired today."

Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the attack raised concerns that Israel was targeting the media to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza. He demanded detailed and documented justification for the attack.

Conricus suggested the AP had not done "due diligence" in investigating the other tenants in the building.

"In Gaza, in an area controlled by a terrorist organization, that we think is kind of a requirement  to do due diligence and to check who are the other organizations and entities that are sharing the same building," he said. "They didn't look or investigate or ask questions about it."

He said Hamas likely chose the site because it was also home to news organizations and "believed journalists would be their human shields."

May 16, 2021: A woman reacts while standing near the rubble of a building that was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on Saturday that housed The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets, in Gaza City.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday the offensive was not drawing to a close.

"We're trying to degrade Hamas's terrorist abilities and to degrade their will to do this again," he said in an interview with CBS's Face the Nation. "It'll take some time. I hope it won't take long, but it's not immediate."

The Israel-Gaza conflict began amid a bid by Jewish settlers to evict Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem. Now in its seventh day, the conflict has broadened into a deadly military confrontation between Hamas, which has launched rockets at targets in Israel, and Israel, which has responded with a barrage of missile strikes.

"We have 2,900 rockets that have been fired so far, in a matter of seven days, at our civilians," Conricus said.

On Sunday, Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings in Gaza City and killed at least 37 people, according to the AP.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Ten people in Israel have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

The violence, which came as international mediators worked to broker a cease-fire and stave off an Israeli ground invasion of the territory, marked the worst fighting here since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza.

Contributing: Associated Press

More:

'Shocking and horrifying': Israel destroys AP office in Gaza

Biden has yet to reverse many of Trump's pro-Israel policies he once labeled 'destructive'

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israeli military spokesman denies using US media to deceive Hamas
Michael McCarthy kept a gentle hold on Rombauer as they relaxed after a Sunday morning walk around the shedrow at Pimlico Race Course.

The new Preakness champion demonstrated none of the fire that had propelled him past Medina Spirit and Midnight Bourbon the previous evening. I think we might have taken a little starch out of him last night, McCarthy said.

The 50-year-old trainer, whod just moved his Triple Crown record to a perfect 1-0, was equally subdued. He couldnt yet say if the Preakness would go down as a life-changing achievement. On Saturday night, hed celebrated with a plate of pasta in Little Italy and then gone to bed. Mostly, he wanted to get back to his wife and 10-year-old daughter in California.

Well see, he said of the impact on his barn, which began with one horse in 2014. Its a hard question to answer right now.  Its great to see this all come together. The horse justified what I thought of him all along.

Rombauer will ship from Pimlico to Belmont Park on Monday morning. If he continues to recover well from Saturdays run, McCarthy would like to try him in the June 5 Belmont Stakes. That decision will come after consultation with owner John Fradkin, who kept Rombauer out of the Kentucky Derby against McCarthys wishes.

Hes leaning toward the Belmont as well, McCarthy said Sunday.

The unimposing bay colt saved the racing world from an awkward three weeks when he blew past Medina Spirit in the stretch. If Medina Spirit had won the Preakness, he would have gone to New York with a theoretical chance to take the Triple Crown for trainer Bob Baffert. But he would have done so under the cloud of a possible disqualification from his victory in the Kentucky Derby. We dont know when the results from Medina Spirits split-sample blood test from Kentucky will come back or whether theyll confirm his positive for the anti-inflammatory drug betamethasone. He could still be the Derby champion when the Belmont Stakes goes off on the first Saturday in June.

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Baffert will continue to be a controversial figure no matter what, with critics weighing his unmatched record in big races against the string of medication violations hes piled up over the last three years. With Medina Spirit out of Triple Crown contention, however, he wont be as front and center in the run-up to the Belmont as he was in the week leading to the Preakness.

On Sunday morning, Bafferts assistant, Jimmy Barnes, said plans remain up in the air for Medina Spirit, who finished third in the Preakness, and Concert Tour, who finished a disappointing ninth. Both Baffert-trained horses passed three prerace drug tests as a condition for entering Saturdays race. They boarded a van bound for Churchill Downs on Sunday morning.

With the Medina Spirit question out of the way until Kentucky officials render a final decision on the Derby, the Belmont is shaping up as a talent-filled race without an obvious central story.

Preakness runner-up Midnight Bourbon could be in the field. Absolutely, trainer Steve Asmussen said Sunday. I think he has proven he is more than worthy of consideration for the best 3-year-olds in the country.

Third-place Derby finisher Hot Rod Charlie could join him as could Essential Quality, who was undefeated and favored going into the first leg of the Triple Crown. Rock Your World, regarded as a serious Derby contender before he was derailed by rough early traffic, is a possibility for trainer John Sadler. Florida Derby winner Known Agenda could be in the race for three-time Belmont winner Todd Pletcher, as could star filly Malathaat, who won the Kentucky Oaks.

If all or most enter, Rombauer would face stronger competition than he did in Baltimore along with the endurance test posed by the 1 -mile Belmont.

McCarthy doesnt seem worried about the second point; he said Rombauer will run all day if asked.

Yesterday, I think when he hit the wire, I dont think you saw a tiring horse, he said. I think you saw a horse whod found a gear he liked. Once he got there, he stayed there.

Triple Crown series

153rd BELMONT STAKES

Elmont, N.Y.

June 5

Post time: 6:45 p.m.

TV: NBC (Chs. 11, 4; coverage begins at 4 p.m.)
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a spike in domestic infections.

Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, on Saturday, imposing two weeks of restrictions that will shut many venues and limit gatherings.

While total infections since the pandemic began remain low at 1,475, the recent community transmissions have alarmed a population that had become accustomed to life staying close to normal, with no full lockdowns of the kind seen elsewhere.

In messages late on Saturday, the president, premier and economy ministry took to Facebook to say there was no need to hoard or rush to the shops, after people scrambled to stock up on basic goods, mainly instant noodles and toilet paper.

"After more than a year of preparation, the country's anti-pandemic materials, civilian goods and raw materials are sufficient, and the stores are also operating as usual to replenish goods," President Tsai Ing-wen said.

French supermarket chain Carrefour said it was limiting purchases of items such as masks and instant noodles in its Taiwan stores, asking people to buy only what they need.

The economy ministry showed pictures of warehouses piled to the ceiling with boxes of instant noodles, saying supplies were "like a mountain" with plenty of toilet paper and canned food to go round as well.

Premier Su Tseng-chang made a similar appeal on his Facebook page. He triggered amusement early last year, during a previous rush for toilet paper, by saying people "only have one butthole" and should calm down.

While not ordering a total lockdown, the government is urging people to stay at home as much as possible.

The health ministry brought out its dog mascot, a shiba inu called Zongchai, to reinforce the message on social media.

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"Study Zongchai and stay at home," it said, showing pictures of the canine lying on the floor resting.

(Global vaccination tracker: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Ann Wang; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Protesters rally Saturday outside the Federal Building in Westwood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Thousands of protesters gathered in Westwood on Saturday to demonstrate support for Palestinians amid violence that has claimed a spiraling casualty toll in Gaza.

The march started around noon outside the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard and wound its way through area streets, clogging traffic.

A handful of pro-Israel counterprotesters also gathered, and police officers kept the groups separated.

No injuries were reported, and no arrests were made, said Officer Norma Eisenman of the Los Angeles Police Department.

The protest led to some traffic congestion, with the Police Department tweeting that people should avoid the area of Wilshire Boulevard near the 405 Freeway due to street closures.

The event was one of dozens staged across the country to mark the 73rd anniversary of what has come to be known as the nakba, or catastrophe, a reference to Palestinians displacement in the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, organizers said in a statement.

To this day, colonization and dispossession remain ongoing processes, where Palestinians continue to endure land theft and encroachments on their basic rights, said the statement signed by dozens of groups, including the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition and the Free Democratic Palestine Movement.

The groups are calling on the U.S. government to stop providing military aid to Israel, remove the U.S. Embassy from Jerusalem and reverse former President Trumps recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the statement said.

President Biden has urged a de-escalation of the violence but has publicly backed Israels right to defend itself from Hamas rockets fired from Gaza. Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes.

The outburst of violence has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab fighting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.

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In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, seven people have been killed, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of the Associated Press and other media outlets. Earlier in the day, an airstrike hit a three-story house in Gaza Citys Shati refugee camp, killing eight children and two women from an extended family.

U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived in the region Friday as part of Washingtons efforts to deescalate the conflict and the United Nations Security Council was set to meet Sunday.

Times photographer Irfan Khan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A tiger that was missing in Houston for almost a week was found safely, Houston police said. Twitter/@houstonpolice

Police finally found the missing tiger that terrified Houston residents for a week.

The tiger had mostly been staying with the wife of its owner, who was arrested May 10.

"In no way, shape, or form should you have an animal like that in your household," police said.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

The Bengal tiger that alarmed residents of Houston, Texas, for nearly a full week after going missing was safely turned over to a city animal shelter on Saturday, police said in a news conference.

The tiger made national headlines after it was spotted roaming loose around a local neighborhood on May 9.

Neighbors said the tiger's owner, 26-year-old Victor Cuevas, was seen loading it into a vehicle and fleeing police - and the tiger hadn't been seen since.

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Cuevas, who was out on bond on an unrelated murder charge, was re-arrested without the tiger on May 10 and charged with a felony count of evading arrest.

Cmdr. Ron Borza of the Houston Police Department told reporters on Saturday that the tiger "was passed around a little bit" but had mainly resided with Cuevas' wife, Gia, throughout the last week.

Authorities finally located the tiger when one of Gia's friends contacted police and told them she wanted to turn the tiger in.

On Saturday, police tweeted a video showing Borza and Gia petting the tiger together in an enclosure. Borza said authorities are still investigating, but Gia was not yet facing criminal charges.

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"He was obviously agitated," Borza told reporters. "We got in the trailer with him, Gia fed him while we sat there and pet him. The animal likes attention. But in no way, shape, or form should you have an animal like that in your household."

Borza said the tiger, named India, was just nine months old, and already weighed 175 pounds. Borza issued a reminder that it's illegal in Houston to own a tiger.

"I work out every day. That animal was extremely powerful. If he wanted to overcome you, he could do it instantly. No doubt about it. You should not have that in your home," he said.

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He added that at 8 a.m. on Sunday, authorities will transport India to the Cleveland Armory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary.

Borza called the episode a "feel-good story," and noted that the tiger was in good health.

"I think the public thought it'd be easy to catch a tiger. But it wasn't. At all," Borza said.

Read the original article on Insider
A tiger that had been seen wandering around a Houston neighborhood on Monday has been found, Houston police said Saturday. The tiger, named India, appears to be unharmed, police said.

Victor Cuevas, 26, is currently in police custody after he allegedly fled from police with the tiger earlier in the week. Cuevas had previously been out on bond for a separate murder charge from 2017.

Houston Police Department Commander Ron Borza on Saturday identified Georgie "Gia" Cuevas as Cuevas' wife and India's owner. Borza said a friend of Gia Cuevas' tipped off police about the tiger's location around noon Saturday. Gia Cuevas then surrendered the tiger to police.

Borza said that while police are not sure where exactly India was all week, "Gia knew where the tiger was at all times." He said that India had been in the custody of multiple people between Tuesday and Saturday night.

Cuevas' lawyer, Michael Elliott, has claimed multiple times, including at a Friday bond hearing, that his client is not India's owner, CBS affiliate KHOU-TV reports. Borza, however, said that police believe he owns the tiger with his wife.

"That's what I was told by her, and she's the wife of Victor, and she says they've had that animal for nine months," Borza said.

After India was handed over to police, Elliot again on Saturday said the tiger does not belong to Cuevas, but said that it "spent a lot of time with Victor."

"Victor took after this cat a lot. Cared for it. Loved it. And it's back in a good place, now," Elliot said. He added, "I think it's a reasonable assumption that Victor had been a part of this cat's life since it was a little cub."

Gia Cuevas is not currently facing any charges, Borza said, but he said the investigation is ongoing. Borza also noted it is illegal to own a tiger in the city of Houston.

"I didn't go into any specifics with her," he said. "We can do that at a later time. We can always call her and bring her to HPD and talk to her more if we need to."

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Meanwhile, Cuevas' original bond was revoked and a new bond of $300,000 was set on Friday, KHOU-TV reports. Cuevas will remain in custody until he posts the new bond.

Earlier on Saturday, HPD tweeted a video of Borza and Gia Cuevas with India after the tiger had been handed over to police.

HPD Major Offenders Commander Ron Borza is relieved India the  is now safe: https://t.co/3w2CZznKu9 pic.twitter.com/RiNviPFzq3

 Houston Police (@houstonpolice) May 16, 2021

Borza said India will be taken to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary on Sunday morning.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) -The United States told the United Nations Security Council on Sunday it has made clear to Israel, the Palestinians and others that it is ready to offer support "should the parties seek a ceasefire" to end the worsening violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

"The United States has been working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to try to bring an end to this conflict," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the 15-member council. "Because we believe Israelis and Palestinians equally have a right to live in safety and security."

As the Security Council held its first public meeting - after two private briefings last week - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's campaign in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza was continuing at "full force".

Washington - a strong ally of Israel - has been isolated at the United Nations over its objection to a public statement by the Security Council on the worst violence between Israel and the Palestinians in years because it worries it could harm behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

"We call upon the U.S. to shoulder its responsibilities, take a just position, and together with most of the international community support the Security Council in easing the situation," said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who chaired Sunday's meeting because China is president for May.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the United Nations is "actively engaging all sides toward an immediate ceasefire" and called on them "to allow mediation efforts to intensify and succeed."

'TAKE ACTION NOW'

The truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have so far offered no sign of progress. The United States sent an envoy to the region and President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday.

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"In all these engagements with Israeli officials, the Palestinian Authority, and all regional partners, the United States has made clear that we are prepared to lend our support and good offices should the parties seek a ceasefire," Thomas-Greenfield said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told the Security Council that "concessions must be made as a price to be paid for peace so as to spare people from paying the heavy price of war."

The death toll in Gaza jumped to 188 overnight, including 55 children, amid an intensive Israeli air and artillery barrage since the fighting erupted last Monday. Ten people have been killed in Israel, including two children, in thousands of rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups.

"Each time Israel hears a foreign leader speak of its right to defend itself it is further emboldened to continue murdering entire families in their sleep," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Security Council.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said Israel's response to indiscriminate attacks by Hamas strictly adhered to international law and that the country was taking "unparalleled steps to prevent civilian casualties."

"Israel uses its missiles to protect its children. Hamas uses children to protect its missiles," Erdan said.

U.N. Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland urged the international community to "take action now to enable the parties to step back from the brink."

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty /Aaron Foster

The world of UFO conspiracy theorists has been torn apart by dueling lawsuits, pitting a prominent UFO influencer against a conspiracy-minded streaming video company valued at more than $200 million over who has the right to discuss their experiences with a benevolent species of blue alien.

The battle taking place in a federal courthouse in Colorado centers on Corey Goode, a UFO promoter and self-proclaimed deep-space traveler who consorts with benevolent aliens, and his former employer, Gaia, a publicly traded streaming platform whose videos blend yoga instruction with stories about deep state villains and benevolent aliens.

After leaving his Gaia show in 2018, Goode engaged in a long-running feud with the company. In March 2020, Goode sued Gaia, alleging that the company had engaged in an elaborate conspiracy against him. On Monday, Gaia filed a countersuit, accusing Goode of defamation and concocting various schemes to sabotage the company.

Attorneys for Goode and Gaia declined to comment.

Much of the lawsuit centers on who has the right to talk about a bird-like species of alien called Blue Avians, as well as a covert space agency that are, in Goodes telling, both supposed to be real things.

Thats because Goode doesnt just talk about alienshe claims to have met them. In his telling, Goode was hired as an empath when he was 6 years old to join a group called the Secret Space Program on a 20-year contract dubbed 20 and Back, in which he met friendly Blue Avians. Indeed, Goode claims that he has a close connection with the aliens, saying on his website hes a member of the Blue Avian soul group brought to Earth to help with planetary ascension.

The UFO Sites for People Who Hate Tourist Traps

Goode joined Gaia in 2015, shortly before mysterious Gaia founder Jirka Rysavy spun off his hugely successful yoga equipment business, now called Gaiam, to focus exclusively on his conspiracy theory-heavy streaming channel.

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Goodes Blue Avian stories made him a popular figure in the disclosure community, a group of UFO enthusiasts named after their desire to see the disclosure of the truth about aliens. Goode co-hosted a Gaia show called Cosmic Disclosure, earned tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees at alien-themed conferences, and has nearly 70,000 Twitter followers.

Goode also filed for trademarks on some of his key phrases, like Secret Space Program, 20 & Back, and Blue Aviansan odd move if they actually do exist, and arent his own creations.

Gaia as a company was also becoming interested in the Blue Avians to a bizarre degree, according to a Business Insider report. Gaia employees working on a documentary about the Blue Avians claimed they were told that the extraterrestrial Blue Avians themselves would have to be involved in approving part of the films publicity plan, according to the report. Gaia has denied the claim.

Goodes relationship with Gaia turned sour over what he describes in his lawsuit as abuse from a top Gaia employee he claims threatened him with a gun and pressured him to make 26 episodes of his show in a single week. Gaia, for its part, counters that Goode was getting anxious because he was running out of things to talk about. Gaias lawyers claim that, after quitting, Goode owes the streaming company for a $25,000 advance to appear at a conference, as well as a hefty relocation payment meant to help Goode move for his job.

Project Blue Book: Inside the U.S. Governments Top-Secret UFO Research

Two months after Goode quit Gaia, the company replaced him with a new insider for viewers. UFO enthusiast Jason Rice started appearing on Gaia and claiming that he, too, had been an empath on 20 and Back missions for the Secret Space Program to meet with Blue Avians.

Through his attorney, an incensed Goode sent Gaia a letter telling them to stop using his trademarked terms like Blue Avian, and essentially saying Rice did a poor job describing the aliens with a lackluster counterfeit of Mr. Goodes story.

Mr. Rices testimony is lacking drastically the quality and authenticity of Mr. Goodes testimony, Goodes lawyer wrote in one letter to Gaia.

But according to Matthew Remski, a freelance journalist who reports on the intersection between New Age wellness culture and conspiratorial thinking, Goode should have been thrilled that someone else was confirming his alien storiesif theyre actually real.

He should be happy that somebody else is validating the Blue Avians, Remski, who co-hosts a podcast called Conspirituality, told The Daily Beast.

Gaia alleges that Goode attempted to get back at the company with a series of defamatory allegations, claiming he posed as a group of disgruntled former Gaia employees to attack the company. They also allege that Goode was involved in a scheme to accuse Gaias top brass of practicing Luciferianismin other words, of being Satan-worshipping cannibal-pedophiles of the sort imagined in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

In July 2018, Goodes Cosmic Disclosure co-host David Wilcock quit the program. In a resignation letter that was quickly leaked to UFO-themed blogs, Wilcock claimed he was furious that his show was forced to promote a Gaia program called Ancient Civilization, which he wrote was involved in Luciferian activities.

Wilcock wrote in his letter that the connections to Luciferianism meant that he could be targeted by Pizzagate conspiracy theorists.

How would this look if it all got dragged into the public eye, especially in light of the overwhelming online movement called Pizzagate? he wrote. Millions of people are now working to identify Luciferian elements in our society, and they are murderously angry about it.

Gaia claims that Goode helped produce and distribute Wilcocks letter, in an attempt to smear Gaia executives as Satan-worshippers.

In short, Wilcock accused Gaia and/or its employees of being Luciferians engaged in or promoting pedophilia, human sacrifice, cannibalism and genocidal aspirations, the attorneys write in the counter-suit.

Goode had fallen prey to a phenomenon in the New Age conspiracy theory landscape that Remski calls charismatic collapsethe idea that a UFO influencer is only as good as the story they can tell about their experiences with aliens and similar otherworldly forces. Now that Gaia had another veteran of the Secret Space Program, they could move on.

Theres so many of them, Remski said, referring to UFO influencers. It seems like theyd be expendable.

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The UN General Assembly on Tuesday is set to consider a draft non-binding resolution calling for "an immediate suspension" of the transfer of weapons to the military junta of Myanmar, a UN official said Sunday.

Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but carry strong political significance.

If an approval by consensus cannot be reached then the full General Assembly -- 193 member states -- will vote on the measure.

Introduced by Liechtenstein, with support from the European Union, Britain, and the United States, the measure will be considered at the plenary meeting set for Tuesday at 1900 GMT.

The draft resolution calls for "an immediate suspension of the direct and indirect supply, sale, or transfer of all weapons, munitions, and other military-related equipment to Myanmar."

"The meeting will be in person," a UN spokesman told AFP.

The draft, which has been under negotiation for weeks, is co-sponsored by 48 countries, with South Korea the sole Asian country.

It also calls on military to "end the state of emergency" and immediately stop "all violence against peaceful demonstrators," as well as "immediately and unconditionally release President Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi" and everyone who has been "arbitrarily detained, charged or arrested" since the February 1 coup.

The draft adds a call to "swiftly implement" a five-point consensus reached with leaders from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on April 24, to "facilitate the visit" of the special UN envoy to Myanmar, and to provide "safe and unimpeded humanitarian access."

Several NGOs have long been calling for an arms embargo on Myanmar.

Since February 1, the Security Council has unanimously adopted four statements on Myanmar, but each time, they have been watered down in negotiations, notably by Beijing.

prh/iba/ch/jm
Cody Kennedy never plans on speaking extra loudly during videoconference calls. He never plans on leaning in so close to his computer camera that barely anything other than his forehead is visible to his colleagues. And he certainly never plans on ending virtual meetings with a wave goodbye that is so exaggerated, he cringes at the sight of his own video feed.

Yet all of these things happen on nearly every video meeting Kennedy is on  and he has no idea why.

I have never felt the need to wave in person, Kennedy, 36, the chief communications and marketing officer for the city of Olathe, Kansas, said. What am I doing?

Image: Cody Kennedy waves. (Courtesy of Cody Kennedy)

Thrust into more videoconferences than ever due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of us have discovered a shared quirk from within the tiny squares of digital real estate in our new meeting format: the Zoom wave.

Significantly livelier than one in nearly any face-to-face setting, the wave at the conclusion of these remote meetings causes a range of reactions among those who do it, from embarrassment to enthusiasm.

Yet psychologists, body language experts and those who study digital communication all agree: Waving at the end of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other videoconference calls is a good thing  an indication that just because we have been socially distanced for the last 14 months does not mean we have become socially inept.

If we werent waving at the beginning of Zoom calls, and especially at the end, I would be worried for humankind.

If we werent waving at the beginning of Zoom calls, and especially at the end, I would be worried for humankind, said body language expert Patti Wood, author of 10 books, including Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma. I would think, Oh my gosh, are we ever going to recover from this?

Social media is filled with chatter from people who say they cant help but wave at the end of video calls. And many are just as baffled as Kennedy as to why they do it.

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Related:

The experts say there are several factors at play. The Zoom wave provides a social connection at a time when many of us are missing those, they said. It also sends a clear, yet polite, signal that the meeting is over, as opposed to just clicking away.

It creates not only a sense of closure and alignment but is also, for some, a signal of respect and acknowledgment: valuing others for their time, their engagement with us, said Erica Dhawan, author of the book Digital Body Language, which came out earlier this month.

It also replaces traditional nonverbal cues that happen in a meeting when people are about to leave, such as shuffling papers, reaching for your phone or breaking eye contact.

We are reinforcing our messages with more explicit signals, like hand-waving, because traditional body language signals are invisible or much more difficult to read on a thumbnail on a screen, Dhawan said.

As for why the waves tend to be over-exaggerated: We want it to be visible within that square, Wood said.

The wave is also practical as we navigate technical glitches, such as the screen freezing or audio hiccups, said Marissa Shuffler, an associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology at Clemson University who studies workplace well-being and teamwork effectiveness.

I think were really trying to maximize nonverbal cues when we can, because were not always able to be the one to communicate if were not the one actively speaking in the meeting, she said. Its a way to signal, yes, this is definitely over. We all accept the wave as a message that we are leaving, goodbye. Even if you cant hear me, hopefully you can at least see me.

If the Zoom wave is good, why does it feel so strange?

While the Zoom wave has become a standard signoff, it can still feel a little awkward.

The fact that we see ourselves on screen is a major contributor to this feeling, Wood said. So many people fixate on their own image throughout video meetings that she suggests covering up your square with a Post-It note.

You otherwise spend most of the time looking at yourself and evaluating yourself, she said, adding that women tend to evaluate themselves more critically.

The almost childlike nature of the wave also might make us feel a little ridiculous, Dhawan said.

We relate it to signals and cues of a preschool, she said.

The timing of the wave, too, can contribute to its awkwardness.

You do the wave, and then it takes you a couple seconds to find the exit button, said Virginia Streeter, 27, a community development and planning graduate student who lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, and is a Zoom waver. Have you ever left a meeting, you said goodbye to everyone, and you end up on the same bus home as someone? It feels like those couple seconds are similar.

But without a wave, exiting the meeting wouldnt feel right, she said.

It would feel like hanging up on someone without saying goodbye, Streeter said.

Natalie Patrice Tucker, 44, of Oakland, California, feels a lot of awkwardness would be eliminated if waves were limited only to meetings with a small number of attendees.

Tucker, whose job involves ensuring web products are accessible to people with disabilities, has her own protocol for Zoom signoffs. It involves saying goodbye and waving if there is just one other participant; waving but not saying goodbye if there are between two and five other participants; and not saying goodbye or waving at all if there are more than five.

Earlier this month, she tweeted out her plan, to the amusement of her co-workers.

People think Im kidding, but no, Tucker said, adding that long, chaotic goodbyes that extend the length of remote meetings have got to go.

Its just madness, she said.

Is the Zoom wave here to stay?

Experts speculate the Zoom wave could replace certain in-person interactions.

I think youre going to have a larger percentage of the population that just from now on wont shake hands, Wood said.

She said even before the pandemic, she had already seen some people who would not shake hands in a job interview and were afraid of germs, most of them belonging to what she dubs the Purell generation of individuals who were raised using hand sanitizer frequently.

For some people, all the Zoom goodbyes have already translated into real-life actions. Streeter is finding that the wave she does on video calls now happens face to face, too.

I was talking to a friend and we were going different directions, and I waved really aggressively, and I sort of found myself thinking, 'Have I always done that?' Then I realized that it was the Zoom wave, she said. I feel like its somewhat, at the moment, replaced hugs.

Shuffler, the psychologist, believes returning to in-person work and transitioning away from remote meeting tendencies will be an adjustment for everyone.

We may see an overload of all kinds of social interaction and social cues, she said. Things you might normally do, like leaving the office, leaving a meeting, may become a little bit more exaggerated.

In the meantime, for those still working remotely, there are ways to optimize communication. Dhawan recommends sitting close enough to your camera that your facial expressions can be seen on video calls but far enough that your hand gestures can be, as well.

Care should be paid to other digital interactions, too.

If someone stayed up all night to work on something for us, then came to the office to give it to us, they could see our relief, our appreciation on our face, she said. Now, if they just get a 'thx' email, they may not feel as acknowledged.

As for waving at the end of video calls, embrace it if it feels right to you, the experts said. That is something Kennedy, the communications officer, is working on.

Does the meeting end if you dont wave? he said. Somehow, its become part of the culture of virtual.
Visitors gather to watch the sunset April 19, 2021, in Playa Guiones, a surfing destination located near the town of Nosara, Costa Rica. Nosara is one area of Costa Rica drawing U.S. travelers, while some others have yet to see a rebound in tourism.

NOSARA, Costa Rica  After climbing for hours through pocked and muddy coastal hills in a tropical downpour, we skidded our four-wheel-drive Suzuki Jimny to a stop just before the road dipped into a deep, rain-swollen stream.

We were stuck, kicking ourselves for using backroads when a Costa Rican man on a motorcycle pulled alongside. He waved for us to follow him into the water. We looked at each other, took a breath and plunged ahead.

Just keep going, my travel partner said, before we finally emerged on the other side, tires wet and muddy, hearts pounding, waving thanks to our friend.

By late afternoon we were descending into the lush, palm-studded Playa Guiones in Nosara, a surfing hamlet on Costa Ricas Nicoya Peninsula, where American accents dotted the beach as the clouds broke for one of the Pacific coasts famous pink and amber sunsets.

International travel planning difficult with shifting COVID-19 protocols

But it wasnt the notoriously rough backroads that worried us most when  finally fully vaccinated  we pondered our first foray back to international travel after a pandemic year of shutdowns.

We spent hours scouring the web to understand often-shifting entry requirements for various countries, debating our safety and that of others in countries we visited, as well as the logistics and uncertainty of navigating COVID-19 testing or insurance requirements.

Costa Rica seemed like a place where we could safely spend most of our time outdoors at beaches, cloud forests, national parks and open-air restaurants. Opened to Americans in November, it seemed to have health care infrastructure to meet return-testing requirements.

Halfway into our trip, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning for Costa Rica, citing a "very high level" of infections, a circumstance shared by more than three-quarters of other nations. Costa Rica has had more than 275,000 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has had more than 32 million cases.

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Costa Rica travel requirements

By then wed arrived with little hassle. No tests are needed to enter. But 48 hours before our flight, we had to fill out Costa Ricas online Health Pass and purchase or prove COVID-19 travel insurance coverage of up to $2,000 for hotel quarantining and $50,000 in medical expenses. While you can get documents to prove coverage from an existing insurer, we purchased it through links to registered agencies on the same website, at a cost of $11 a day.

The website gives a QR code we showed before boarding our United Airlines flight and to customs officials after landing in Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste.

Playas Del Coco is in Costa Rica's Guanacaste province.

Currently, national parks may operate at 100% capacity, bars and casinos can operate at 50% capacity, and beaches are open from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica.

That didnt impact our activities around Nosara, which draws surfers, expats, yoga buffs and families who dotted the small towns cafes and restaurants, filled the Gilded Iguana hotel, took yoga classes and enjoyed the golden-sand stretch of Pacific beach framed by bluffs.

Signs requiring masks were posted at many businesses, with most people complying. We spent days renting surfboards and eating outdoors at restaurants such as La Luna, located on nearby Playa Pelada, which retains its fishing village charm.

We stayed at the Living Hotel, where single-story rooms are set in a lush jungle where we could hear a howler monkey, and devoured breakfasts of local coffee with homemade coconut milk and plates of eggs, avocado, mango and rice and beans called gallo pinto in open-air Destiny Cafe.

Things began picking up after the county opened to all U.S. states in November, said manager Alejandro Gomez. Even after the shoulder season that began in April, digital nomads and friends of expat Americans had kept it slightly fuller during the still quiet time.

If you look at some other areas, they are not working as we are here, he said. Its not crowded, but its enough.

Thats not true across Costa Rica, where the number of tourists visiting in the first three months of 2021 was down 76% from 2020, according to the Costa Rica tourism board. Just 135,308 came from the U.S. at that time, compared to 405,000 in 2019.

Traveling in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is known for its stellar wildlife viewing. La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park in central Costa Rica is an ecological attraction with waterfalls and over 100 species of animals.

We traveled next to the remote but increasingly popular beach town of Santa Teresa, where a dusty coastal road jammed with surfers on ATVs is lined with shops and restaurants. We stayed in a guest house up a dirt road so steep two Americans in rental cars slid off into a ditch during a rainy night, leading to a night-long effort by locals to pull them out.

Younger crowds meant less mask-wearing in some spots. That wasnt an issue in the quieter Montezuma, a rugged and unspoiled coastal enclave with cafes and remote beach lodging a short drive away, where we hiked to a hidden tidal pool fed by a hillside waterfall.

After taking a car ferry from Playa Naranjo to the mainland, we drove up winding roads into the Cordillera de Tilaran mountains, past cows and ranches, into the famed cloud forests of Monteverde , where tropical winds condense in the cool air to create one of the most biodiverse areas on Earth. Founded by pacifist Quakers in the 1950s, it has turned into an ecotourism hot spot for its waterfalls, wildlife and bird-watching, and hiking.

While benches in the towns of Monteverde and Santa Elena no longer had police tape on them, and the famed Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Preserve was reopened, crowds were slim, and some restaurants, hostels and hotels remained largely empty.

Yeisson Campos, who has run the Arco Iris Lodge for decades, said the pandemic has been economically devastating for many, and it's been slow to pick up.

But it felt blissfully quiet. One night, we sipped a local Imperial beer on the porch of a home at Arco Iris after a cloud forest hike, listening to monkeys and birds in the mountaintops.

Cahuita National Park on the southeast Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is home to plenty of wildlife.

Our last stop was a stay in La Fortuna, the gateway to the Arenal Volcano National Park. We found refuge from the touristy town at the Nayara Gardens, whose complex of pools, luxury cabins and restaurants are tucked in lush gardens. Our balcony included a whirlpool spa with private jungle and volcano views. In the evening, we took in the outdoor natural EcoTermales hot springs, a lush and romantic oasis that required reservations, masks when not in the pools and limited visitors.

Getting home: COVID-19 tests and final memories made

Nervous about getting our COVID test results back in time for our return to the U.S.  all air passengers ages 2 and older flying into the U.S. must present a negative coronavirus test taken no more than three days before their flight or proof they recovered from the virus within the past three months  we booked rapid tests at the airport the day before our early morning departure, just in case.

We paid $65 each for rapid antigen tests at Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia with Laboratorios Echandi, which promised results within an hour. Outside the airport, we walked to a big white tent, registered and got our noses swabbed. If youre positive, you have to quarantine at a local hotel, and most U.S. airlines require a 14-day quarantine.

We got the green light via email. We spent a blissful last night at El Mangroove, a Marriott hotel on the Gulf of Papagayo, just a 20-minute drive to the airport. We dined on mahi-mahi and swam in the dark-tiled pool, watching the sunset on a wedding on the beach and boat bobbing in the bay.

The next morning, we showed our results to airline check-in agents and were back in the U.S. safe and sound within hours  more aware than ever that the still-shifting path of COVID-19 abroad would make foreign travel complex for some time to come.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Costa Rica travel: From COVID protocols to howler monkeys and surfing
President Biden declared during his recent speech to Congress that he doesnt mind people becoming billionaires as long as they pay their fair share of taxes. The president has never been forced to put a number on what he means by fair share so we can assume he believes that the 40% of the income tax burden currently borne by the top 1%ent of taxpayers is not fair enough.

And while the president and other Democrats decry the loopholes that Congress has put into the tax code that purportedly allow the rich to avoid that 40% share, Bidens tax plan would expand existing middle-class tax breaks, such as the Child Tax Credit, that have increasingly knocked millions of taxpayers off the income tax rolls over the past three decades.

History of the Child Tax Credit

The history of the Child Tax Credit has lessons for both parties.

Tax Foundation economists estimate that in 2021, 58 million low- and middle-income taxpayers will pay no income taxes because of the American Rescue Plans expansion of the Child Tax Credit. This means nearly 40% of all filers will have no income tax liability, and many will also get sizable refunds because of the generous nature of these credits.

Congresss Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that most taxpayers earning less than $75,000 will pay no income taxes this year due to these expanded tax benefits. This is not likely to be a one-time event because Democrats want to make these tax benefits permanent and have the IRS pay them out monthly, what looks to be a dress rehearsal for a form of universal basic income from the government to all taxpayers.

Individual income tax return.

The income tax code has always exempted a certain amount of income from taxation to protect the poor. Indeed, in any given year there are an estimated 15 million people who earn some income but not enough to file a tax return. But, since the creation of the Earned Income Tax Credit in 1975, lawmakers have enacted a succession of policy changes that have removed millions from the tax rolls.

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The percentage of these filers with no income tax liability began to grow after the Tax Reform Act of 1986 expanded the zero-tax bracket. But it was the creation of the Child Tax Credit under Clinton that accelerated the ranks of the non-payers to historical levels.

In the early 1990s, conservatives promoted the $500 per-child tax credit to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich as part of a larger plan of deficit reduction and supply-side tax cuts that became the Contract with America. It made sense to House Republicans then politically: Republican congressional districts had more eligible children than Democratic districts and, thus, would receive more tax relief.

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Little did Congress know the snowball that was beginning to form.

President George W. Bush doubled the credit to $1,000 and made it partially refundable for taxpayers with no income tax liability, thus increasing the percentage of non-payers to over 30% of all filers. The Republican-passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 increased the credit to $2,000 and allowed greater refundability. A year later, the number of non-payers jumped by 4 million to 53.3 million, accounting for nearly 35% of all tax filers.

Expanding the Child Tax Credit?

In a twist, it is now the Democrats who are pressing to expand the Child Tax Credit under the claim that it will reduce childhood poverty. On paper, it may appear to reduce poverty like any government program. Indeed, Tax Foundation modeling shows that the CTC does increase after-tax incomes for eligible taxpayers. However, our model also shows that the credit does nothing to incentivize work, create jobs, raise real wages or increase economic growth.

In other words, the CTC reduces tax burdens, but it does not raise real living standards over the long term.

Schools and reopening: We're finally back to school after COVID-19 but it's complicated, confusing and strange

For Republicans, the credit has undermined dreams of true tax reform, such as the Flat Tax, because flattening tax rates now will only benefit the rich and 58 million non-payers will never get back on the tax rolls. For Democrats, the credit has undermined the narrative that the rich are not paying their fair share of taxes. In fact, the rich and a diminishing share of the middle class are the only ones paying income taxes these days.

Scott A. Hodge is president of the Tax Foundation.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: An increasing number of Americans pay no income taxes. Is that fair?
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's justice minister accused the country's judiciary of being "captured" by foreign forces seeking to destabilise the government after the High Court ruled it was illegal to extend the tenure of the chief justice by five more years.

Three judges of the High Court said in a judgment on Saturday that Luke Malaba had ceased being a judge and chief justice after he turned 70 years old.

Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said in a strongly worded statement late on Saturday that the ruling was "a typical case of overreach and as government we cannot accept that."

The ruling was a rare setback for President Emmerson Mnangagwa whom the opposition accuses of seeking to influence the judiciary. Mnangagwa denies the charge.

Ziyambi said the government would appeal the "baseless and meaningless" decision as early as Monday.

"I want to make it clear that we do not accept the decision of the High Court. We have a serious situation of a judiciary that has been captured by foreign forces in this country," Ziyambi said without providing evidence or naming anyone.

His comments were a throwback to the era of Robert Mugabe, where the government often publicly criticised judges. The timing of Ziyambi's comments ahead of the appeal hearing by the Supreme Court could be viewed as a threat to judges.

Ziyambi also said a certain group of judges always passed judgments that sought to tarnish the image of the government. He did not name such judges.

Over the last year there has been an increase in the arrest and prosecution of government opponents, which critics say is a sign that Mnangagwa is reverting to the authoritarian tendencies seen under his predecessor Mugabe.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Grieser pointed out the Amherst County School Board is an elected, not an appointed, body, a change that took effect several years ago by referendum. He said as a school official he will not promote anything which does not encourage individual student achievement.

As a division, I believe we are here to support our students on those endeavors and equip them with the tools to be successful, Grieser said.

On Griesers motion, the board also approved a directive that it would ban any student instruction that promotes one race or sex as superior over another and make clear to the community all students are equally valued and treated.

That sends a clear message back, in my opinion, and greatly rebuffs some of the questions put out there, Grieser said.

District 3 board member Chris Terry said he feels the directive fits with the divisions motto of, Every child, every day.

Were looking out for everybody here, Terry said.

School board members in January gave direction to delay the rollout of the equity plan to further review the material and address concerns. The delay drew public criticism and concerns from about a dozen speakers, mostly school employees, who supported the lesson during a January board meeting.
COVID-19 control cranked up after sporadic cases reported

Xinhua) 09:15, May 16, 2021

A medical worker collects a swab sample from a resident for nucleic acid testing at a hospital in Feixi County of east China' Anhui Province, May 15, 2021. As of 5:30 a.m. (Beijing Time) Saturday, a total of 113,149 people who were given nucleic acid tests in Feixi County tested negative for COVID-19. (Xinhua/Huang Bohan)

BEIJING/SHENYANG, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The more than 100,000 people who were given nucleic acid tests in Feixi County in east China's Anhui Province on Saturday tested negative for COVID-19.

The countywide nucleic acid tests took place after one more locally-transmitted COVID-19 case was reported on Friday. It was the second case in Feixi and the third in Anhui since the first confirmed case of a 29-year-old female in Lu'an City was reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, large-scale nucleic acid tests aimed at covering all 500,000 people in Bayuquan District, Yingkou City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, continued on Saturday. The second round of nucleic acid tests in this district, where most of the new cases emerged, will be launched on Sunday.

As of 7 p.m. Saturday, a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Liaoning Province, according to the provincial health commission.

Nine residential communities and villages in Yingkou have been upgraded to medium-risk areas for COVID-19 and put under closed-off management, the city government said.

The city government has ordered to cap visitor flow under 50 percent of the designed capacity in public places such as shopping malls, supermarkets, theaters, museums and restaurants.

The Liaoning provincial health authority has sent a team of 30 experts to Yingkou to guide COVID-19 prevention and control efforts, including epidemiological investigation and source tracing.

National capital Beijing has traced 28 close contacts of the reported COVID-19 cases in Anhui, the municipal center of disease prevention and control announced Saturday.

The close contacts, which include a driver of a ride-hailing platform, were found in 11 districts of the city from Thursday to Friday. The driver has tested negative for COVID-19, according to the center.

A total of 167 secondary close contacts have also been found, the center added.

So far, 24 close contacts and 141 secondary close contacts, as well as 231 samples from their surroundings, have given negative results after nucleic acid testing. The rest of the samples are being examined.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
The boy was riding a bicycle when he was struck in the head and neck by shots from a car driving in the 3700 block of South Wood Street just before 8 a.m., according to Chicago police, citing preliminary details.
Complying with capacity and health mitigation measures put in place by Gov. Ralph Northam, attendance was limited and tickets were required. Over the week, approximately 37,000 guests attended the in-person ceremonies.

The events were broadcast online for those who chose to participate virtually.

At an in-person degree presentation ceremony Thursday at Williams Stadium for the universitys department of interdisciplinary studies, Liberty University President Jerry Prevo  in keeping with the universitys mission  urged the graduates to enter their career fields as champions for Christ.

Whether you came here to Liberty as a resident student or online, you had a dream, Prevo said. A dream to get a degree. And that dream has come to pass, and I want to congratulate you today. God, your parents, relatives and friends, the professors and faculty, are all proud of you.

According to Liberty University, interdisciplinary studies is one of the top majors for the Class of 2021, along with business, psychology, criminal justice and business administration.

Taylor Bullen, a member of the Class of 2021 who studied health sciences and sign language at the university, said she was excited to be graduating, especially after the challenging last year.
It all sounds so futuristic. But sometimes when we get a glimpse of future threats, its wise to rummage through the lessons of the past.

As metaphors go, describing the internet as a vast ocean isnt half bad. There are enormous continental powers such as Facebook. There are archipelagos of smaller sites linked to each other in various ways. There are even remote lawless islands in hard-to-access backwaters like the dark web. And, as with a real ocean, commerce and communication depend on being able to navigate it.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, being a seafaring nation brought power, prosperity and prestige. And it brought pirates.

Which brings me back to DarkSide. Sure, its a criminal organization, and its members should be brought to justice. But its also fascinating. DarkSides hackers claim to be bound by an ethical code, saying they wont hack hospitals or schools.

We are apolitical, we do not participate in geopolitics, do not need to tie us with a defined government and look for other our motives [sic], DarkSide said in a statement. Our goal is to make money, and not creating problems for society.
But the bigger complication is this: How do you know whether people have been fully vaccinated? Its not as if you can tell from looking at them. We might have had cool apps to tell us, but efforts to create vaccination certification programs got so bogged down in nasty partisan politics that some states have gone so far as to ban them.

What you can be sure of is that the odds are good that most of the strangers passing through a public place, masked or not, are not fully vaccinated. Only about one-third of the population has been, which means they received their final shots more than two weeks ago.

CDC officials no doubt intended to lift the spirits of pandemic-weary Americans as well as give vaccination foot-draggers incentive to get their shots (oddly, the threat of a painful prolonged death isnt quite enough for some). But this well-intentioned announcement is likely to confuse people and lead to more resistance to mask wearing among unvaccinated people, as well as put pressure on state and local health officials to drop mask mandates earlier than is wise.

Science and data back up the CDCs overall point that vaccinated people are in little danger if they hang out with unmasked and unvaccinated people indoors. Nevertheless, theres still a risk of sparking new infections when you gather unvaccinated and unmasked people in a room and let them mix.
If true, this is a rather widespread outbreak of political apostasy.

Taken at face value (something we only do to prove a point), these are serious charges. Its fashionable for some to say that theres not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties, and when it comes to their capacity for disappointment and veniality, thats certainly true.

But there are some pretty definite ideological difference between the two parties, so if someone is being accused of not being a real Republican, that raises some pretty big questions.

Such as: What is a real Republican? And who gets to decide whos real and whos not?

Conveniently, the party itself from time to time has formally declared what it believes, so we have a yardstick against which to measure who is fully in line with party doctrine and who isnt.

Now, we all know that parties evolve over time  at one time Southern Democrats were pro-slavery  so which version of a party should we be going by?

Again, we have a ready guide. A few years ago, in response to Trumps Make America Great Again slogan, the pollster Ipsos ask Americans which decade they felt was the greatest.
Japan's southwestern prefecture of Okinawa has marked the 49th year since its return to the country from US rule. People have held a rally to call for removal of US bases that are concentrated in the island prefecture.

Around 40 members of civic groups and labor unions gathered on Saturday in front of US Marine Corps Camp Foster, also known as Camp Zukeran, where the US military in Okinawa is headquartered.

People from across the prefecture usually take part in a "Peace March" to commemorate the May 15 anniversary. However, the march this year was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Yamashiro Hiroji said 49 years have passed quickly, but that peace without bases has still not materialized in Okinawa. He added that the bases have actually been strengthened.

About 70 percent of the area used exclusively by US forces in Japan is concentrated in Okinawa. Local residents have had to put up with airplane noise, low-altitude flights and unruly behavior of US service personnel.

In a bid to reduce the burden on Okinawa, steps are being taken to relocate the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to a less populated area within the prefecture. Landfill work is underway at the planned relocation site off the coast of Henoko, despite local opposition.

Okinawa Governor Tamaki Denny plans to call on both the Japanese and US governments to reduce the area occupied by the US military facilities in Okinawa to less than 50 percent of the total area across Japan, in the lead-up to the 50th anniversary of the reversion next year. - NHK
A former licensed doctor from Tucson, Arizona, with a history of mental illness has been arrested in connection with threats that occurred at several businesses and schools on April 23.

Andrew Isaac Abrams was charged with transmitting a series of threats in interstate commerce, the United States Attorneys Office said in a press release Thursday.

If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of probation.

Authorities said Abrams made threatening statements at various spots across the city. At the time, the Omaha Police Department said the threats were not credible and had been called in from out of state.{p class=tncms-inline-link}Police: Threats called in to spots around Omaha came from outside state, arent credible

Threats were reported at Union Pacific first, and the company decided to evacuate its headquarters at 14th and Douglas Streets around 9 a.m. after officials learned of the threat.

Threatening messages were also reported at the Douglas County Courthouse and schools in four districts: Omaha, Millard, Elkhorn and Westside.
Indoor activities may be the way to go today in the Council Bluffs-Omaha area.

According to the National Weather Service in Valley, Nebraska, a 60% chance of showers move into the are this afternoon with a high of 71.

Showers continue overnight with lows in the 50s. Rain chances continue into next week.

The forecast, according to the weather service:

Today: A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. East wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: A 50% chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind 5 to 8 mph. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

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Monday: A 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74. East wind 6 to 10 mph. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs annual salvage art contest will return this year as part of a new event called Junk Restored.

Instead of being paired with a sit-down dinner, as it was with the Building a Foundation fundraiser, the contest will be part of a casual, mostly outdoor event from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 22 on South Main Street in front of the Habitat ReStore at 1228 S. Main St. Admission is free.

Once again, the Council Bluffs Police Department, Council Bluffs Fire Department and Pottawattamie County Sheriffs Office will donate unique creations assembled from reused, recycled and repurposed components. The entries will be on display Tuesday through Friday at the ReStore, according to Kim Smith, program manager. Guests can vote for their favorite one by placing donations in a container next to it at the ReStore or May 22 at Junk Restored.

This is the first time were opening it up to the public to look at things ahead of time and vote, Smith said.

The entries can also be viewed online Tuesday through Friday, and will be sold through online bidding on May 22. To see the auction items, text junkrestored to 243725.
Civil rights activists argued that Polk County Attorney John Sarcones office overstepped by filing the charge against protesters, saying they werent bound by the law. The television reporter was not charged, even though she broadcast the document and posted photos of it on her Twitter account.

Farrell ruled Thursday that the document in question did not include any intelligence data, which is defined under Iowa law as information compiled about individuals to prevent or monitor possible criminal activity. He said it only contained criminal investigative data since it referred to criminal acts that had already occurred.

Because the bulletin at issue in this case is not intelligence data, any dissemination of the bulletin is not a crime, Farrell wrote.

Farrell noted that the document was labeled an intelligence report and contained a warning that no portion of this communication should be released to non-law-enforcement organizations, the media or the general public. But he said the departments designation does not control how it should be classified, and that criminal laws must be strictly construed in favor of the accused.
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It would have the state take over mental health funding, phase out the backfill aid to local governments, phase out the states inheritance tax and exempt taxation on COVID-19 assistance.

It also incorporates various issues dealing with housing, energy infrastructure, child care tax credits, telehealth parity and more.

Senate Republicans have given the measure committee approval, meaning the bill is eligible for floor debate. House Republicans have offered their own attempt at a compromise, but their Senate colleagues have shown no interest.

Theres bipartisan support for the state takeover of mental health funding from counties, which pay for those services with property tax revenue. However, there are no assurances in SF 619 that the Legislature will maintain either the same level of services or funding.

I can tell you, particularly in my county, we are property taxed to the hilt, Prichard said. But you know, we just cant make mental health discretionary.

Under Republican leadership, he said, the state has proven that it is not a trustworthy, reliable partner. Democrats believe the GOP has underfunded schools, water quality and a whole host of things.
I would just ask that we also put the same attention on this video with ... these two officers being shot, that we put on others. To just see how quickly these split-second incidents happen, Brown said. Officers oftentimes have no time to react, so lets make sure we put the same pressures on looking at this video to get a totality of the circumstances, a sense of how quickly our officers are put in danger on these calls that involve gunplay.
Dont go into ranching, McPherson County folks told a young Rusty Kemp in the 1980s. Theres no future here.

Nobody told Treyton Trey Wasserburger that a decade ago. He knew there wasnt room on his familys Wyoming spreads.

Kemp, 49, got his degree in agribusiness. Wasserburger, 33, has a teaching degree. But both fell in love as boys with cows, bulls, horses, rodeo. And ranching.

They both bucked conventional wisdom out of the saddle.

Both own their own cattle outfits, with Kemps in his home county  after all  and Wasserburgers not far south of North Platte.

Its tough, both say, but theyve had good moments with the bad. They want their kids to have the chance to carry on.

But Kemp and Wasserburger say they and other western and central Nebraska cattle growers need something more to get there.

Something like a Nebraska-born packing plant, for Nebraska cattle, at the gateway to Gods Cow Country.

Thats why both are among the organizers of Sustainable Beef LLC, which wants to build an 875-employee processing plant near North Plattes east Interstate 80 exit.
They came to hunt on William F. Codys ranch  but only to count what they found.

About 90 people of all ages were combing the North Platte River and its banks late Saturday morning as part of the inaugural Buffalo Bill BioBlitz at Scouts Rest Ranch and its adjoining state recreation area.

Leaders said the all-day event marked the Nebraska Game and Parks Commissions first attempt to document plant and animal species along that part of the river and on the ranch.

Using Saturdays findings as a baseline, Game and Parks  which has conducted similar events at other Nebraska park areas  plans to invite the public to help them count species each year.

People came from Omaha, Hyannis and other locations several hours away to join local residents in the biological quest, said Meghan Manary, Game and Parks naturalist at both Scouts Rest and the recreation area.

To have 90 people out now is a huge success, she said. Part of this is we want people to enjoy the recreation area we have here.

Another part involves inspiring amateur naturalists among younger generations, said Dennis Ferraro, a conservation biologist and herpetologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincolns School of Natural Resources.
It is Victors tiger. Thats what I was told by (Giorgiana Cuevas) ... She says theyve had that animal for nine months," Borza said. He alleged that the tiger was passed around to different people but that Cuevas' wife knew where the tiger was at all times this week as authorities searched for it.

Police are still trying to determine where exactly the tiger was held this week and if any charges related to having the tiger will be filed. Tigers are not allowed within Houston city limits under a city ordinance unless the handler, such as a zoo, is licensed to have exotic animals.

But Cuevas attorney, Michael W. Elliott, on Saturday night continued to insist his client doesnt own the tiger, saying, I am not sure it makes any difference who technically owns India as he does not have a birth certificate or title."

Victor was not the primary owner of India nor did India stay with him the majority of the time," Elliott told The Associated Press. Victor was however involved in the caretaking of India often. Victor loves India as anyone else would love a favorite pet ... He treated India with love and fantastic treatment in all respects."
Six Seven Two has been a loyal  if unreliable, sometimes  member of the 45th fleet, flinging generations of Wildcats haphazardly into the skies of Russia, said Capt. Taylor Pearce, who said he qualified to fly the planes only a few months ago.

The OC-135 is the second of the 45ths nine planes to retire in six months. Last November, the unit held a similar ceremony for an equally cranky WC-135 Constant Phoenix jet that the squadrons chaplain memorably christened Lucifers Chariot because of the havoc it created for air crews and maintenance teams.

Boeing built the plane and delivered it to the Military Air Transport Service April 30, 1962, according to Super Snoopers, a 2020 book detailing the history of the 55th Wings fleet of C-135 type jets. Three years later, it was reconfigured for weather reconnaissance and based in California until it was transferred to the 55th Wing at Offutt. The plane was outfitted with an expensive suite of cameras, called sensors, and for nearly 20 years has been dedicated exclusively to flying Open Skies missions.

Its become kind of a family. You get to go out, you get to be part of a team, away from anyone else  on your own, unafraid, in a place that not many Americans go to, said Lt. Col. Chris Reteneller, a veteran of the squadron.
The kingdom will host the virtual summit, gathering ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation to discuss the Israeli aggression in the Palestinian territory, particularly acts of violence in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the body said Saturday.

The Saudi-headquartered OIC includes countries Iran, Turkey, Indonesia and a range of Muslim majority nations.

The sanctity of Al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islams holiest sites, is a sensitive and emotive issue for Muslims around the world. The OIC was formed 51 years ago in response to a Jewish extremist arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem.

The hilltop on which the mosque stands is also sacred to Jews, who revere it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the biblical temples. Some Jews and evangelical Christians support building a new Jewish temple on the site, an idea that Muslims find alarming because they fear it would lead to the mosque being partitioned or demolished.



RAMALLAH, West Bank  Palestinians have begun gathering across the occupied West Bank to mark the anniversary of the displacement of hundreds of thousands of refugees from what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation.
Fire erupts from the Andalus Tower as it is destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City early on Sunday. Photo: Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

The ongoing violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories has claimed around 200 lives in the past week, the vast majority of them Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Mounting civilian casualties over the weekend and Israels targeting of a Gaza City tower that housed media offices including the Associated Press and Al-Jazeera led the Biden administration to step up pressure on Israel to ensure the safety of journalists and seek a quick resolution to its military campaign in Gaza.

The Israeli government says it shared smoking gun intelligence with President Joe Biden and other U.S. officials showing that the militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, was using the building as an intelligence office to plot attacks on Israeli civilians, effectively using the press as human shields. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu also stressed that nobody was killed in the attack that leveled the building, as Israel had warned its occupants to evacuate beforehand. Still, the image of the Israeli military bombing journalists headquarters was bound to fuel perceptions of its disregard for collateral damage.

Despite growing international pressure to seek a ceasefire, Netanyahu said on Sunday that the offensive against Hamas would continue for some time as Israel sought to exact a heavy price on the group for rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Israel will inevitably win this round of fighting once it has mowed the grass, as some in the Israeli security community offensively describe these military campaigns. In practice, that will mean killing some Hamas militants along with many innocent bystanders, and destroying a lot of vital civilian infrastructure in Gaza, all in the effort to degrade the ability and/or willingness of militants to launch more rockets.

This will be a hollow victory, however, as it will only return Israel to a status quo of ever-present tension and threat: in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, and every Israeli town where Jews and Arabs live in close proximity. The only real winner here is the man who sold Israelis on the idea that this state of permanent war and occupation is acceptable: Netanyahu himself.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu tours the city of Lod early on May 12. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images

Before this escalation, Netanyahu looked to be on the verge of losing the prime ministry, which he has held for the past 12 years. His rivals, Yair Lapid of the center-right Yesh Atid party and Naftali Bennett of the right-wing nationalist Yamina party, were in talks to form a government of change spanning left to right, united by little more than a desire to finally unseat Netanyahu. The United Arab List, an Arab Islamist party, was being courted provide the last few seats Lapid and Bennett needed to secure a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, but the violence derailed those negotiations. On Thursday, Bennett announced that the government of change was off the table and he had resumed negotiations with Netanyahus Likud party.

This political horse-trading comes after parliamentary elections in March, Israels fourth in two years, in which neither Netanyahu nor his rivals have been able to muster a majority coalition. Likud won the most seats, giving Netanyahu the first crack at forming a government, but he failed to do so before his May 4 deadline. Lapid, whose party performed second-best, now has a mandate to form a government, which will expire in a few weeks. His tentative power-sharing deal with Bennett would have seen the two men take turns as prime minister. It now looks as though Lapid will also fail to form a government.

Bennett on Thursday said his party could not join a government with the UAL while violence is ongoing in mixed Jewish-Arab cities  a nod to the inherent absurdity of a coalition between Jewish nationalists and Palestinian Islamists. He claims to be working toward a broader unity government that would include Netanyahu, Lapid, New Hope leader Gideon Saar, and Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz. There is little chance of this coming to fruition, however.

With the change coalition off the table, Netanyahu remains prime minister for the time being and has yet another chance of rescuing his career. Once Lapids mandate expires, there will be a three-week period during which any member of the Knesset can form a government if they can secure the support of 61 MKs. Netanyahu could secure his position during this period, but would need to peel off a few defectors from some of the opposition parties: Even with Yamina on his side, he doesnt have a majority, and governing with the UAL is a nonstarter for his far-right allies.

In the most likely scenario, Israelis will end up going to the polls for a fifth time. Netanyahu has pushed for changing the law to allow for direct election of the prime minister, to govern separately from the Knesset, but he does not appear to have the votes for that in the legislature, either. The idea of changing the countrys entire system of government so that he can remain prime minister without a Knesset majority is indicative of how desperate he is to stay in power. Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption, and a more secure hold on the prime ministry would better position him to seek some form of immunity.

Meanwhile, by scuttling the prospective change government, the ongoing violence has bought Netanyahu some time to change his fortunes. His rivals are not blind to this: Lapid on Sunday alleged that political considerations were at play in the governments response to the crisis, noting that the fire always breaks out precisely when its most convenient for the embattled prime minister. Its impossible to predict how Netanyahu, Lapid, or the other contenders would fare in yet another election: Both the far right and the change camp could argue that the latest escalation in the conflict is a reason to vote for them. If whats past is prologue, Israel could find itself in another political deadlock six months from now, with Netanyahu still hanging on.

It is ironic that the current violence should benefit Netanyahu politically, because it graphically illustrates his failures. He has buried the peace process, foreclosed the possibility of a Palestinian state, brought virulently anti-Arab Kahanists into his government, and opted to manage the conflict rather than resolve it. His message to Palestinians in the occupied territories and to Arab citizens of Israel is that they will always be treated as the enemy, that their rights will always be secondary to the rights of Jews, and that the state that rules over them (directly or indirectly) will never value their lives. His message to Israeli Jews is equally bleak: The conflict is existential, the Arabs will always despise you, and so you must fortify against them and accept a perpetual state of war or ceasefire, but never actual peace.

A dozen years of this divisive right-wing leadership has fomented extremism and racism, alienated Israel from American Jews and the community of Western democracies, and led to political paralysis, stagnation, and civil strife. The Jerusalem Post  hardly a left-wing rag  published an editorial on Saturday urging Bennett to reconsider his decision to abandon the change coalition, charging that the current leadership has invested itself tirelessly in weakening the democratic institutions of the country and that Israel is in desperate need of change. Even many right-leaning Israelis can see that Netanyahu has been putting his own interests before the countrys interests for some time.

The Jerusalem Post editors call for a restart coalition dedicated to strengthening the foundations of this country as both a Jewish and a democratic state. Its hard to imagine what such a coalition would look like, however, when most of the key players in Israeli politics are only interested in one half of that vision.
One poster read: We havent been able to breathe since 1948, referencing the year when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were evicted from their homes during the Palestinian War, as well as the common protest refrain I cant breathe, the last words of George Floyd, Eric Garner and others who died at the hands of police.
Several of the worlds largest oil-producing nations have recently made public plans to boost their production capacity. The reason: peak oil demand is looming and countries are determined to make the most of their oil resources while they can.

Everything that can be produced should be produced while there is still demand to sell it, the head of the energy committee at the Duma, the Russian parliament, said last month at the presentation of a draft document aiming to do just that.

The main thesis in this strategy is the monetization of current reserves and resources  that is, the maximum monetization of exports, Pavel Zavalny also said at the event.

Russia is one of the three biggest oil exporters in the world, alongside Saudi Arabia and the United States. It has enough oil to keep producing at current rates at least until 2080, with enough gas reserves to last for another 103 years. And the state is pouring billions$110 billion to be preciseinto the development of new oil reserves in eastern Siberia to tap 100 million tons of new crude annually. Thats about a fifth of the countrys annual output in 2019.

Much of this oil will replace depleting fields in western Siberia. According to the Energy Ministry of the country, Russia does not seem to have plans to considerably boost current production rates. In the last pre-pandemic year, the daily production rate was 11.3 million bpd, a record high. Now, the Energy Ministry sees the current - constrained - production rate rising from 10.3 million bpd to 11.1 million bpd by 2029 before beginning to decline. In other words, Russia has eight years to take advantage of growing global oil demand as per its own scenario.

Yet, there are various scenarios for the peak of oil demand. BP, for instance, predicted that in the worst-case scenario peak oil demand has already arrived, and in the best-case scenario, it will come in 2030. Norways Equinor expects peak oil demand sometime in 2027 or 2028. Rystad Energy sees demand peaking in five years, and the International Energy Agency expects peak demand over the next decade. All in all, forecasts are within the range of 2030.

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This means producers such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the Gulf nations have very little time to make the most of their oil reserves before demand begins declining steadily. And with all of these countries boosting their production capacity and making plans for higher production, competition in the oil market is bound to become even more severe than it is now.

When it comes to competition, Russia is better positioned than its Middle Eastern partners. It has always been less dependent on oil export revenues than Middle Eastern producers. Recently, it has been deliberately reducing this dependence. Oil and gas revenues still account for a solid 30 percent of gross domestic product, but with things like hydrogen catching the eye of the Kremlin, diversification is slowly but surely underway. Still, there are all those billions of barrels of oil sitting in the ground, and it would be a pity to keep them there, hence the plans to boost production. But who will be buying?

In terms of export destinations, Russia has mixed luck. Its biggest client by far is China, which is good for future oil asset monetization plans. Its second-biggest client is Europe, and that continent will be reducing its oil intake fast if everything in the EUs energy transition scheme goes as planned. That means Russia will need to find new buyers for all the new oil it will be pumping from eastern Siberia.

India is an obvious candidate. The country imports 80 percent of the oil it burns, and it likes it cheap because of that. In India, Russia will be competing with its OPEC partners and the United States, for whom India is also a top oil export destination. The rest of emerging Asia will also be a key market for oil exporters as peak demand draws nearer and nearer.

Oil producers are then in a rush to sell as much oil as they can while there are still buyers, it seems, based on demand forecasts. But the truth is that peak oil demand may indeed come in ten years or fewer, but it does not mean demand will then fall off a cliffunless another pandemic hits the planet, that is. In the absence of such an unforeseen event, oil demand is likely to decline pretty gradually, giving forward-looking producers plenty of time to adjust by boosting their non-oil sectors. From this perspective, Russia has enough time to reduce oil and gas revenues as a portion of GDP. Whether it will use this time wisely to achieve those aims remains to be seen.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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In the space of less than a decade Venezuelas once-mighty oil industry, the petrostates economic backbone, has nearly collapsed. Since Maduros predecessor Chavez took power in 1999 and launched his socialist Bolivarian revolution the founding OPEC members petroleum production has steadily declined. OPEC data shows that during 2015 Venezuela pumped an average almost 2.4 million barrels of crude oil per day which was significantly less than the 1998 annual production record of 3.1 million barrels. By 2020, Venezuelas oil production had plunged to 500,000 barrels per day or roughly a fifth of what it had been five years earlier. That precipitous decline can be blamed on Venezuelas rapidly deteriorating energy infrastructure and Washington implementing ever stricter sanctions on the OPEC member. The near-collapse of Venezuelas economic backbone has wrought havoc with the countrys economy, which is being exacerbated by chronic gasoline shortages. Those events have forced autocratic President Maduro to reconsider his position and find a means of rebuilding Venezuelas devastated petroleum industry. The sharp impact of the deterioration of Venezuelas oil industry on the economy becomes is apparent when it is considered that gross domestic product has shrunk every year since 2013. During 2019 GDP plunged 39% and then by another 30% for 2020 as ever stricter U.S. sanctions aimed at cutting Caracas off from global capital and energy markets bit deeper. The collapse of Venezuelas economy has triggered what is described as the worst humanitarian crisis outside of war to ever occur. Nearly five million Venezuelans have fled their country as the economic crisis has worsened over the last five years. This has had a particularly destabilizing effect in South America with neighboring Colombia, a key regional U.S. ally, bearing the brunt with roughly a third of Venezuelan refugees settling in the strife-torn Andean nation.

In response to harsh U.S. sanctions and an ever-worsening economic crisis, autocratic President Maduro has strengthened his grip on power, demonstrating that sanctions failed to achieve their intended purpose of triggering regime change. As Washington tightened the noose on Maduro, he turned to allies of last resort, including Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran, for support through loans for oil, urgently needed gasoline and aid for rebuilding derelict energy infrastructure. While those countries have provided crucial lifelines for a near-bankrupt and increasingly desperate Caracas, they have done little to restore Venezuelas crumbling hydrocarbon sector and bolster oil production. By April 2021 Venezuela was only pumping an average 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day, a whopping 28% less than a year earlier and a far cry from the 1998 peak of over three million barrels per day. This forced Maduro to consider changing how Venezuelas hydrocarbon sector is administered. The most radical proposal being the opening of the petrostates oil industry to private control and even foreign ownership of assets. That Caracas hopes will attract the foreign investment urgently needed to rebuild Venezuelas shattered oil industry.

There is considerable speculation as to how much investment is required to refurbish the OPEC members economic backbone. A February 2021 document from national oil company PDVSA stated it requires $58 billion to overhaul vital energy infrastructure including oilfields to restore Venezuelas production to pre-Chavez levels of around 3 million barrels per day. That number appears especially optimistic with many sources, including the director of Juan Guaidos economic recovery plan, asserting it will take anywhere between $110 billion and $250 billion to achieve that level of production. Aside from that tremendous financial investment, there is also the need for enormous transfers of technology, skilled labor, and parts for the urgently needed reconstruction program to take place. The severe deterioration of Venezuelas oilfields, pipelines, refineries and other infrastructure means it will take at least a decade to restore Venezuelas petroleum industry to its former glory and reach pre-Chavez oil output.

After years of support, Maduros key backers Russia, China and lately Iran have proven incapable of resurrecting Venezuelas shattered oil industry. It was only two years ago when contractors from China reportedly balked at overhauling Venezuelas main refineries because of their dilapidated state and inability to access vital parts because of U.S. sanctions. Venezuelas refineries were built by western energy companies, mainly Shell and ExxonMobils predecessors, meaning many of the key parts required must be sourced from western suppliers. Iran then offered to assist, flying in plane loads of catalyzers, parts and technicians for the overhaul of the Cardona, Amuary, and El Palito refineries. After a series of issues and failed restarts two refineries were eventually brought back online, including the 140,000 barrel per day El Palito refinery, but they are only operating at around 10% capacity. This is because of the need for major overhauls that cannot be completed due to a lack of capital and parts as well as a chronic lack of diluent.

Related: Hackers Behind U.S. Pipeline Attack Say They Lost Access To Ransom Money

The heavy crude oil produced in the Orinoco Belt, which accounts for around 70% of Venezuelas production, needs to be mixed with light crude oil before being refined into gasoline and diesel. PDVSA is unable to source sufficient light crude oil feedstock in Venezuela and Washingtons sanctions have cut off international supplies. Before 2019, when the Trump Whitehouse ratcheted up sanctions, the U.S. was a significant supplier of light crude oil shipping 45 million barrels to Venezuela in 2018. In a desperate attempt to obtain vital diluent, Caracas is circumventing Washingtons sanctions by using dark voyages, where tankers turn off their transponder, to import condensate from Iran. Those shipments are proving insufficient to allow more than limited refinery runs, still leaving Venezuela chronically short of fuel, further exacerbating the long-running economic crisis. The only way to access the massive investment, including capital, skilled labor and technology, required to rebuild Venezuelas near-collapsed oil industry is to attract investment from Western energy supermajors. That will only occur once U.S. sanctions are eased, and Maduro provides the appropriate legal protections demonstrating that the risk of assets being nationalized is minimal.

While it appears that U.S. sanctions have stagnated, failing to trigger the desired goal of regime change, the Biden Whitehouse is committed to recognizing Guaido as president and will not negotiate with Maduro. There are, however, signs of an emerging detente between Caracas and Washington. Maduro has taken unilateral actions, such a releasing the Citgo six from prison to house arrest and agreeing to international food aid, to build political collateral with the Biden administration. In March 2021, Caracas launched military operations against dissident FARC guerillas, who are part of a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization, operating along the western border with Colombia. Those actions come after Maduro earlier this year flagged that private control of oil assets was possible and that reforms would be made to oil legislation to allow what he described as new business models. Bloomberg, in a recent article, stated that U.S. government figures with access to Biden have opened a discourse with Maduro. U.S.-recognized interim president Guaido recently proposed a gradual easing of sanctions to motivate Maduro to reach an agreement on scheduling free elections and securing international aid for Venezuela.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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If we had a higher proportion of the population that was fully vaccinated and we had our rates of transmission down to a very low level, then absolutely we could all take off our masks, and we could all feel safe and secure. But I dont think were in that spot today.

The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters. But it will clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools and other venues.

Rupp said another factor to consider is that the CDC guidelines rely on unvaccinated people to act responsibly and continue to wear their masks.

Were going to be relying on people to be on the honor system, and if theyre unvaccinated, to be wearing their masks, he said. And I just dont know if thats going to be uniformly followed.

In addition, Rupp said, a significant proportion of the population is not eligible for the vaccination  and we have people who have received the vaccine but may not have responded very well to it, meaning they did not mount a good immunological response.

Those groups of people, he said, are reliant on others to be fully vaccinated and to wear their masks in appropriate situations in order to protect them.
We live in two different Americas. We live in two different Louisianas," Rep. Edmond Jordan, a Black lawmaker from the Baton Rouge area, said during the debate.

Racial divides have appeared in disputes over river pilot regulations, proposals to change voting rules and an effort to abolish involuntary servitude as criminal punishment in Louisiana.

James said some of his white colleagues don't seem to understand how Louisiana's history of racism continues to permeate policy and others really just don't even care.

The more uncomfortable conversations we have, I think people will learn from this, he said.

Magee's hopeful, too, that continued conversations  and friendships in the chamber  can help defuse the tension.

There are so many people on both sides of this issue who are really good and want to make things better," he said. I think if you have enough of those people, you can make things right.



EDITORS NOTE: Melinda Deslatte has covered Louisiana politics for The Associated Press since 2000. Follow her at http://twitter.com/melindadeslatte.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged a highly advanced technological tool that the militant group used in the fighting was within or on the building."

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without compromising intelligence efforts. He added, however: I think its a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.

Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.

"We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence," he said. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.
Then we reached a point where it was either we had to go and get the tractor, or it was probably going to be in such a horrific condition that we would not be able to bring it back, Vicars said. And so we were tossing ideas around, and I said, You know, we dont have the funds right now. We would have to do some kind of fundraising event to help collect some funds to do this. I said let me just put it out there on GoFundMe and see what happens. 

Vicars said Frerichs read an editorial that The World-Herald published about the project, and called her to express his interest in funding the project in honor of his wife, Julia, who died in 2016. Julias first time sitting on a tractor was at the Frerichs family farm.

Vicars said it was because of Frerichs love for his wife and desire to do something in her memory that the Friends of Homestead was able to collect the majority of the funds needed to get the tractor.
In my pocket, I still had a key to a room that no longer existed.



Standing with my colleagues about 400 meters (yards) away, I watched for a while and tried to process it all as the rubble started to settle. White smoke was overtaken by thick clouds of black smoke as the structure crumbled. Dust and pieces of cement and shards of glass scattered everywhere. What we knew so well was gone.

I thought of all of my hundreds of mementos that were now in splinters  including the 20-year-old cassette recorder I used when I first became a journalist. If I had had an hour, I would have grabbed everything.

It was one of the most horrible scenes I have ever witnessed. But while I was deeply sad, there was gratitude, too  as far as I knew, no people had been hurt  neither any of my colleagues nor anybody else. That would be confirmed in the coming hours, as more information came out and my bosses at AP condemned an attack that shocked and horrified" them.

I wondered how long I should stay and watch. It was then that my years of instinct kicked in  the instinct of covering so much violence and sadness in the place that is my home.
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 51% to 47% outcome last year. Republican candidates won 62% of the votes and Democrats only 37%.

This may reflect liberal apathy. The audience for Joe Bidens April 28 speech was about 30% smaller than Trumps 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 dont 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 Institutes Kay Hymowitz. So much for systemic racism.
The man was described as Black, in his mid-20s to early 30s, with short black hair and facial hair. He is also estimated to be about 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-2 tall and weigh 180 to 200 pounds. Photos released by police show a man wearing dark pants and a light-colored long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt with one large dark stripe on the midriff and just below the shoulder on both sleeves.
With this measure, Gov. Ricketts and state leaders can also strengthen public safety and increase transparency by requiring all Nebraska meatpacking companies to record and report COVID cases at their plants and establish fines for any COVID safety violations that put our communities at risk.

Keeping our food supply secure is essential to our economy and Nebraska communities across the state, and this will only be possible with strong action to address the safety of the Nebraska frontline workers who continue to put their lives on the line in these meatpacking plants every day. These Nebraska workers deserve not only our gratitude, but also the strong protection and support needed to ensure their health, safety and financial security.

The simple truth is that Nebraskans simply cannot afford to wait on the federal government to ensure the safety of our frontline workers. The time to act on this legislation is now, and I urge all Nebraskans to contact their state senators and tell them to pass the Meatpacking Employees COVID-19 Protection Act.

Nebraska is proud of the good food and good jobs that our states meat industry produces. If Gov. Ricketts and state leaders can recognize the cultural importance of meat in Nebraska, then they can and must recognize the importance of the Nebraska frontline workers who help to put that high-quality American meat on our tables every day.

Eric Reeder, an Omaha native, lives in Crete, Neb., and is president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 293, which represents nearly 6,500 Nebraska frontline workers in the meatpacking and food processing industry across the state.
Welcome to the funhouse world the Republican Party is building: Up is down. Black is white. Lies are truth.

The great cause that Republicans are uniting around is election integrity. Thats rich. The reality is that somebody did attempt to steal the 2020 election  Donald Trump. During the days and weeks following his loss, he brayed endlessly that the outcome was fraudulent, laying the groundwork for an attempt to overturn the voters will.

From the White House, he made multiple calls to local election officials demanding that they find votes for him. He dialed up members of local canvassing boards, encouraging them to decertify results.

The then-president phoned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times. When he finally got through, he wove a tangled theory of voting irregularities that crescendoed to a naked plea to falsify Georgias vote: So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.

Trump entertained ideas such as declaring martial law, seizing the nations voting machines and letting the military rerun the election. He turned loose his Kraken-conspiracy nuts and his pillow man to spread lies about Dominion Voting Systems, Black-run cities like Philadelphia and Chinese bamboo ballots.
Promoting fiscal responsibility is one of the Nebraska Legislatures central obligations. Lawmakers must produce a balanced budget. They must enact laws that promote sound handling of public money.

The Legislature can fulfill that duty this session by giving strong support to Legislative Bill 147. The bill would transfer management of the Omaha Public Schools pension fund to the state. OPS would cover the states cost for that management, estimated to be $250,000 less than OPSs expense now.

The transfer makes sense not only in regard to cost-effectiveness but also in regard to efficiency. The state already manages multiple public-sector pension funds, such as those for other school districts, handling duties such as the mailing of checks. And in 2016 the Legislature and Gov. Pete Ricketts shifted the OPS funds investment decision-making to the state investment council  while making clear, rightly, that OPS alone would bear all financial obligations to cover its unfunded liabilities.

During debate on LB 147, Ricketts and some state senators continue to make the false claim that the legislation would put Nebraska on a slippery slope to make the state liable for the OPS pension obligation. Two central considerations refute their claim.
A Zimbabwean chief has denied reports that he had summoned former First Lady Grace Mugabe to his traditional court, in the latest twist in a row over the burial of ex-President Robert Mugabe.



A summons in the name of Chief Zvimba, the traditional chief of Mugabes home region, has been circulating on social media.



It accuses Mrs Mugabe of having gone against local culture by burying her husband at the family homestead, instead of a place "chosen by his relatives and mother".



It says the late president's body should be exhumed and reburied "according to the culture of the Zvimba people".



But according to Zimbabwes private NewsDay paper, the summons was delivered to the Mugabe home in the capital, Harare, by police officers and a presidential aide - and the complainant was actually a man from Mugabes rural village.



"I know nothing about this issue, Chief Zvimba told Newsday.



Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe to independence and ruled for 37 years, died in 2019 in a hospital in Singapore at the age of 95.



His family decided on a private burial in Kutama in Zvimba district - about 90km (55 miles) west of Harare - after weeks of argument with the government led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, who replaced him in 2017.



The army had forced Mugabe to step down after suspicions that he wanted his wife to succeed him.



After his death two years later, he was buried under concrete at a small ceremony in the courtyard of his rural homestead reportedly in a steel coffin. National heroes are normally buried at a national shrine in Harare.



His family says they were simply honouring the former presidents wishes

Source: BBC









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Corruption investigators in Nigeria have declared that the presidents son-in-law Gimba Yau Kumo is wanted in connection with an alleged $65m (46m) housing fraud.



The former managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) is being sought by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) along with two others.



"The persons whose pictures appear above, Mr Tarry Ruffus, Mr Gimba Yau Kumo and Mr Bola Ogunsola, are hereby declared WANTED in connection with issues bordering on misappropriation of National Housing Funds and diversion of the sum $65m, the ICPC said in statement from its spokesperson Azuka Ogugua.



Anyone who has useful information on their whereabouts should report to ICPC Headquarters Abuja, any of the ICPC State Offices or the nearest police station, it continued, listing other contact details.



Mr Kumo married President Muhammadus second daughter Fatima in 2016.



According to the AFP news agency, the three men could not immediately be contacted for comment and the presidential spokesman confirmed the investigation.



In April, Nigeria's senate committee on public accounts had summoned Mr Kumo to explain the awarding of an alleged irregular contract when he was still at the bank, Nigerias Premium Times reports.



Mr Buhari, a former military ruler, is serving his second term in office on the promise of tackling endemic corruption.



Nigeria's ICPC investigates allegations of corruption committed at government and public agencies.

Source: BBC









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A driver of a hearse Benz bus with registration number BA 242 -18 carrying one dead body died on the spot when the car was involved in an accident last Friday at Botokrom near Berekum in the Bono Region.



The deceased, identified as Anthony Kwabena Obeng, 49, was driving the hearse from Drobo in the Jaman South Municipality towards Berekum when the accident occurred at Botokrom.



The Berekum Municipal Commander of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, DSP Enerst Ankamah Addo confirmed the incident to Graphic Online Sunday, May 16, 2021.



He said the police is still conducting an investigation to ascertain what caused the accident.



He explained however that the hearse somersaulted and landed in a nearby bush, resulting in the death of Obeng.



DSP Addo said the body of Obeng as well as well the one he was carrying in the hearse had been deposited at the St Anthony Hospital at Drobo.

Source: Graphiconline.com









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Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC has taken a swipe at African Union and former President John Mahama following claims of Somalia rejection.



Somalia has 'rejected' the appointment of Mahama as the African Unions (AU) special envoy to help mediate its political impasse with Kenya.



Mohamed Abdirazak, Somalias Foreign and International Cooperation Minister, argues that the former President is closely associated with the leadership in Kenya, and can't be trusted to be impartial and deliver an acceptable solution.



Abronye DC reacting to this in a one-on-one interview on the Platform programme on Peace FM, backed the decision of Somalia saying: "Somalis have done well...Charles Taylor and Mahama are on the same level so why should the AU even leave the former and rather go for the latter; they are all rebel leaders".



Listen to him in the video below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The United Cadre Front (UCF), Tema Region at the weekend explained that its recent public forum was not organized to launch an attack against the 2024, flagbearership bid of former President John Dramani Mahama.



According to them, its public fora were organized with the aim of involving grassroots and senior comrades in a healthy dialogue towards mobilizing for the good of the NDC.



Mr Oliver Agbenyo-Ahiafor, Chairman of the UCF-Tema Region in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Tema said the recent public forum was just one of the several initiatives they occasionally took to invite senior cadres to share their experience and knowledge with them.



Mr Agbenyo-Ahiafor stressed that the forum was not intended to be a springboard for launching an attack on former President John Mahama and neither was it meant to prepare a fertile ground for any individual to launch a contest against him.



According to him, it came as a surprise to them when a negative spin was put on their noble initiative indicating that key personalities were consulted to be part of the public forum, but not all of them were able to make themselves available.



How then could anyone accuse the organizers of hatching a subversive plot against former President John Mahama? he questioned, pointing out that it was also unfair to the speakers to suggest that their participation in the forum was a conspiracy against Mr Mahama.



He added that during the forum, it came out clear that the electoral fortunes of the party had consistently continued to decline since 1996, attributing it to a number of reasons with the main one being the disconnect with the grassroots and working people of the nation.



That there is the need for a broad-based, inclusive and far-reaching reorganization of the party in terms of re-statement of its ideology, identity, its structures, internal democratic processes and financing of the party Agbenyo-Ahiafor called on all cadres to remain steadfast and united even in the face of provocations and deliberate misinformation by our detractors in a bid to divide our ranks saying as May 15 marked the beginning of activities that led to the June 4, 1979 revolution members must reflect on current happenings in the country.



He called on all well-meaning Ghanaians, the NDC party members and supporters, all progressive forces and the public to reflect deeply on the events that led to the revolution and to be guided by its lessons.



According to the UCF Tema Region, Ghanas democracy and progress as a nation was under threat as happenings in the education sector, security, abuse of journalists and media practitioners, intolerance of divergent views, lack of transparency in governance and collapsing of businesses, among others was worrying.

Source: GNA









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EasyJet cited nine years as being the maximum length of time for a chairman to serve with regards to following best practices for corporate governance. Photo: Getty

EasyJet (EZJ.L) is preparing for a shake-up of its C-suite as its chairman John Barton is stepping down.

Headhunters have been appointed to find a successor for Barton, who has been in the role for about eight years. The budget airline said in a statement yesterday he would step down in May 2022 once he has completed nine years in the post.

The move, first reported by Sky News, comes ahead of hopes of a revival in the international travel market, as England gears up to allow Brits to go on holiday to "green list" destinations without having to quarantine on return.

The broadcaster said the search for a successor is being handled by executive recruiter Lygon Group and that the headhunters had begun approaching potential candidates in recent weeks.

EasyJet cited nine years as being the maximum length of time for a chairman to serve with regards to following best practices for corporate governance.

It has been a tough year for travel companies with prolonged lockdowns and uncertainties meaning many have had to lean heavily on government support schemes.

From Monday, however, glimmers of hope are returning to the market with Britons given the go-ahead to book holidays to a handful of destinations deemed low enough risk.

Read more: England's reopening roadmap to face final easing decision on 14 June

So far, there are only 12 countries marked "green," including Portugal, Iceland and Australia. The list will be reviewed and possibly more countries added next month.

The budget carrier is due to report results for the six months to the end of March on Thursday with a guide to investors to expect a loss of between 690m ($973m) and 730m.

Yahoo Finance has reached out to easyJet for comment.

Watch: Should I book a holiday in 2021?
Organic cocoa farming in M'Brimbo, a village in central Ivory Coast, is prospering

Cocoa farmers across Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer of the key ingredient for chocolate, are down in the dumps after prices for their commodity have fallen for the second year running.

Not so in M'Brimbo, a village in central Ivory Coast which 11 years ago became a testing ground for organic cocoa farming and today is prospering.

The local farmers' collective, the Fair Cooperative Society of Bandama (SCEB), sell their high-quality produce at twice the market rate for non-organic cocoa.

"When producers are trained and well-paid, they can make very good cocoa in Ivory Coast," said Arthur Gautier, an agronomist who works for Ethiquable, a French company that specialises in marketing fair-trade products and buys SCEB's harvest.

The chocolate made from their cocoa is sold in French supermarkets under the brand "Grand Cru M'Brimbo," a name that resonates with fine wines"Grand Cru" means "vintage."

Cocoa growing was massively promoted by Ivory Coast's government following independence in 1960, becoming the backbone of the country's rise as one of West Africa's leading economies. Today, Ivory Coast produces two million tonnes of cocoa per year, equivalent to more than 40 percent of the world's market.

But expansion has also come at a grim price for the environment and fuelled a dependency that ratchets up rural poverty whenever prices slump.

Workers weigh cocoa bags at the warehouse of the local farmers' collective in M'brimbo

Around 90 percent of Ivory Coast's forests have been destroyed, stripping away habitat for elephants and other species, and in some places herbicides and pesticides have lastingly tainted the soil.

Using techniques pioneered in Latin America, SCEB farmers weed their fields manually and have developed specific methods to dry and ferment cocoa beans, helping to develop the chocolate's signature rich taste.

Traceability

Monitoring and certifying the process and ensuring traceability, right down to the individual bag of cocoa, have been key to winning the confidence of consumers who are willing to pay more for a product that has quality and ethical values.

Ethiquable claims to sell a quarter of the organic chocolate sold in French supermarkets. Organic chocolate accounts for just eight percent of the national market, but is growing at 18 percent per year.

"Doing bio is harder, it requires more work and you need more labour," said Solo Bony, a member of the cooperative. "But at the end of the day, you get a better return."

Ethiquable pays the SCEB 1,850 CFA francs (2.82 euros) per kilogram, of which 1,350 francs goes to the producer, which compares with the current official price for non-organic cocoa of 750 francs per kiloa benchmark that in any case is not always respected.

Farming organic cocoa is harder work than conventional cultivation but offers better returns

Another boon is that this price is guaranteed for a three-year perioda welcome reassurance compared with the rollercoaster conventional market.

The "organic" label offers higher rewards than "fair trade" certification, issued for around 10 percent of Ivory Coast's production, which is for cocoa that meets environmental standards and does not involve child labour.

An emerging worry in Ivory Coast is about the health impact from farmers who use conventional chemicals to fertilise the soil and kill pests.

The cooperative's farmers are testing safer formulas made from residues derived from locally-grown plants.

Farmers in the cooperative also get training in sustainable techniques - planting cocoa trees in the shade of bigger trees rather than in the open, diversifying crops by planting fruit trees and by sowing legume plants, which take nitrogen out of the air and fix it into the soil, thus increasing its fertility naturally.

"A plantation of cocoa trees drawn from older varieties, grown organically and using sustainable farming, provides better-quality cocoa and higher yields, and produce over a timescale of 50 years compared to 20 years for a conventional plantation," said Gautier.

Farmers carry bags of organic cocoa beans at the collective.

Prosperity

The cooperative's president, Evariste Salo, attested personally to the growth in wealth.

"I used to have a bicycle, now I've got a motorbike. I have been able to put my kids through school and build a house."

By way of comparison, according to the World Bank, more than half of the five to six million people in Ivory Coast who live on cocoa subsist below the poverty line.

The cooperative produced 13 tonnes of cocoa with 33 farmers in 2010, and this year is expected to produce more than 200 tonnes, with 264 growers.

It now has six employees and has just built a new headquarters and warehouse with a storage capacity of 300 tonnes, and is pushing ahead with a laboratory to test cocoa quality. It has also funded a rural clinic and a school, and provides financial help for school fees and medical bills.

Ten other cooperatives in Ivory Coast now produce organic cocoa and others are expected to follow them. But their production is likely to remain a fraction of the country's conventional output for a long time to come.

Explore further Windfall for growers as ICoast posts record cocoa harvest

 2021 AFP
People march in support of Palestinians during a rally May 16, 2021, in Chicago. The crowd of attendees flooded Michigan Avenue at Van Buren Street as they began a slow march, chanting, Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)
California-based Rocket Lab said a launch of satellites from its facility in New Zealand failed Saturday.

The problem occurred during ignition of the Electron rocket's second stage, the company said in a statement.

The rocket was carrying two Earth-observation satellites for BlackSky, a global monitoring company.

"Today's anomaly occurred after 17 successful orbital launches of the Electron launch vehicle. With multiple launch vehicles currently in production, Rocket Lab is prepared for a rapid return to flight as soon as investigations are complete and any required corrective actions are in place," the statement said.

Rocket Lab said the rocket's first stage successfully parachuted into the ocean and crews were working to recover it. The company is trying to develop a capability to recover and reuse Electron first stages.

Explore further Europe's Vega rocket successfully launches

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Two local stories on Friday captured the hopeful but tricky moment we find ourselves in with the coronavirus pandemic.

First was the announcement that the Washington County Fair will be held this year, at the end of August as usual.

Next was the news that Washington County is running pop-up clinics in the small towns throughout the county, reaching out to the many still-unvaccinated residents. Clinics on Wednesday in Hampton and Whitehall vaccinated 51 people.

Weve experienced the breakthrough phase of vaccinations, when thousands of people wanted shots and only hundreds were available. Weve gone through the second phase, too, when lots of shots were available for the lots of people who wanted them. Now were in the hard slog of the final phase  helping those who have trouble arranging for the shots get them and convincing those who are nervous or misinformed that this is the right thing for their health and their community.

Its also the right thing for their sense of freedom and quality of life.

Thats what the fair announcement represents  the ability to enjoy things like wandering the fairgrounds with its cornucopia of sensations without being separated from it by a mask and the fear of disease.
He also said that the full market value of the property is about $30 million, so the $22 million set by the PILOT had already factored into the equalization rate.

Former Supervisor Mitch Suprenant said he signed the PILOT agreement and after the 10 years it was supposed to be assessed at $22 million.

Its a signed-upon agreement. I dont care if shes a sole assessor or not, she did not have the right to negate an agreement, he said to applause of the people attending the meeting.

Boucher said the town should stick to the $22 million and have Irving take the matter to court if it wants to lower it.

He said the assessors decision has generated a lot of angst in the town. The Fort Edward school board was caught off-guard. The board had factored an assessment on the property of at least $16 million into its budget and residents taxes were set to decrease. The district was projecting the tax rate would decrease by about 72 cents, from $29.27 to $28.55 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Instead, the drop in the assessed value of Irving Tissue will mean the tax rate will rise about 62 cents to $29.90 per $1,000 of assessed value.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP)  Rochester police officers fatally shot a man early Friday after seeing him brandish a handgun inside a car they had approached as part of an investigation into reported gunfire, authorities said.

The man, who police did not identify, was a passenger in the back seat of a vehicle officers spotted at around 4:30 a.m. after it was seen on cameras leaving a nearby location where a gunfire-detection system had activated.

Officers approached the vehicle to speak with the men inside, Rochester Interim Chief of Police Cynthia Herriott-Sullivan said at a news conference. One of the men refused to get out of the vehicle, police said.

A few minutes after that officers saw a male in the car brandishing a handgun, Herriott-Sullivan said. The officers fired shots. There were at least nine. Im not exactly sure on the exact number. Again, this is very preliminary.

She said it was too early in the investigation to say exactly how many shots were fired and by whom. It was not clear if the man who was killed fired any shots. The man, described as being in his 20s, died at the scene. Another man in the car was unharmed.

The officers were uninjured.
Editor:

Too many New Yorkers suffer needlessly at the end of life. We all know that. Weve watched loved ones writhing in pain or unable to control their basic body functions. Thats why members of the League of Women Voters studied what other states have done to alleviate that suffering.

In 2017 and 2018, we looked at the way Medical Aid in Dying works in Oregon, Washington and California and reached a consensus that New York state should adopt similar laws. We saw that terminally ill people could be effectively protected from coercion while having access to a humane and peaceful death.

The Medical Aid in Dying Act [A. 4321a (Paulin)/S.5471 (Savino)] would allow a terminally ill, mentally capable adult to request life-ending medication from a doctor, so that the person can self-administer at a time of his or her choosing, or never, should suffering become unbearable.

Our neighbors in Vermont, Maine and New Jersey have already adopted Medical Aid in Dying. Currently one in five Americans have access to Medical Aid in Dying  in the nine states/10 jurisdictions with laws allowing it.

It is time for New York to join the ranks of those compassionate states.
United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents 1.3 million essential food and retail workers  including 52,000 New Jersey frontline workers, applauded Gov. Phil Murphy on Sunday for his action to maintain New Jerseys statewide mask mandate and other vital COVID safety measures.

United Food and Commercial Workers, also known as UFCW, criticized the CDCs new indoor mask guidance for vaccinated people, saying it will force frontline retail workers in New Jersey and across the country to play vaccination police to determine which customers need to follow mask mandates still in place in many regions and businesses.

UFCW said it is calling on states across the country to follow the lead of Murphy and Gov. David Ige in Hawaii and put public health and safety first by maintaining mask mandates and other COVID safety measures.

New Jersey frontline grocery workers have put their lives on the line daily to make sure families have the food they need during this pandemic, said Marc Perrone, UFCW International president in a statement. Gov. Murphy is showing the leadership New Jersey workers and families need by putting public health and safety first and keeping the states mask mandate in place.
After the COVID-19 pandemic nearly wiped out the bar and restaurant industry, local breweries are joining in on the effort to encourage people to get vaccinated so operations can return to normal.

We couldnt operate our tasting room for almost a year, said Dan Borrelli, owner of Chimney Rustic Ales in Hammonton. So seeing the light at the end of the tunnel has us wanting to encourage as many people to get vaccinated as possible.

Chimney Rustic Ales is one of the 38 New Jersey breweries participating in the shot and a beer program, which allows New Jerseyans who gets their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the month of May to bring their vaccination card to a participating brewery for a free beer.

As demand for the vaccine has begun to drop, states around the country are trying to come up with creative ways to encourage people to get vaccinated.

The shot and a beer program was created by Gov. Phil Murphys administration in collaboration with the Beer Guild of New Jersey.

Were not afraid of trying new things, Murphy said recently about the program.

Borrelli said the brewerys participation in the program has nothing to do with aligning with a certain political party.
We dont allow alcohol sales, we shouldnt allow this, Councilwoman Karen Bergman said after voting to ban recreational marijuana in the city.

In practice, cannabis enforcement for adults in the resort will be similar  anyone over the age of 21 coming to town with a six-pack of beer or a bag of weed for consumption at home is perfectly legal.

Unlike Ocean City, Atlantic City has embraced recreational pot and its financial benefits. The city, which has a medical dispensary on the Boardwalk and a planned second location, also expects to take advantage of a 2% tax the city can collect on sales of cannabis products.

The state should consider the opportunities that may be created by new initiatives, including the legalization of recreational use marijuana, as potential sources of political and financial support for the efforts to restart and recover Atlantic City, according to a state-issued report outlining the resorts path to post COVID-19 pandemic recovery.

State Police arrest 2 after Fairfield Township traffic stop FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP  State Police seized a large quantity of drugs and cash after a traffic 

Municipalities quick opposition to recreational marijuana could be rooted in some considering it a gateway drug and the stigma attached to it, political analysts said.
PATERSON  A woman will face murder and attempted murder charges in a stabbing in a New Jersey apartment that killed a 7-year-old child and wounded a 17-year-old youth, authorities said.

Police were called to the third-floor unit in Paterson just after 7 a.m. Saturday and found the two juveniles with stab wounds, Passaic County prosecutors said. Both were rushed to St. Josephs University Medical Center, where the 7 year old was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the teenager had trapped the 46-year-old woman in the apartments bathroom by holding the door closed until officers arrived, authorities said. The teen, who was stabbed in the arm, was treated and released. A 15-year-old also in the unit was unharmed.

Police said the woman resisted arrest and caused minor injuries to two officers, prosecutors said. She was taken to St. Josephs for a mental health screening and was admitted pending an evaluation. Upon her release, she will face charges of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, child endangerment, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest and weapons counts, authorities said.
As for cyber insurance, well, that feels a lot like the disaster insurance that companies keep giving to homeowners who rebuild in flood and hurricane zones. Sure, it insulates against disaster, but it also encourages risk-taking. If an insurer is going to foot the bill for your ransomware payment, maybe you just find it easier to pay up rather than making your networks more resilient? Thats certainly not lost on insurers. At least one top insurer, AXA SA, is reportedly planning to stop underwriting new policies for that reason.
A 2013 study of more than 76,000 women published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found no link between lung cancer and secondhand smoke.

The studys authors said the strongest reason to avoid passive cigarette smoke is to change societal behavior: to not live in a society where smoking is a norm.

A 2014 evaluation of 40 studies on secondhand smoke, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, could only say secondhand smoking may increase the overall risk of cancer for never smokers, particularly lung and breast cancer. Or it may not.

The pandemic encouraged other assumptions about smoking. Because COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, officials and many in the public assumed that smokers would face greater risks of infection and illness. New Jersey is among three states that temporarily banned smoking inside their casinos during the pandemic for these reasons.

Now legislators are trying to use this argument in support of a perpetual ban. Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Jersey City, said recently the COVID virus disproportionately impacts smokers.

Actually it appears to be just the opposite.
Good for them! But the pandemic also created lots of financial losers, and these are the folks we ought to be worried about.

In fact, the three relief bills had lots of provisions aimed directly at the people who were most in danger of financial ruin. Pandemic unemployment benefits went to people who lost jobs or income. The Paycheck Protection Program gave a lifeline to businesses that were hurt by the pandemic, and provided an incentive to retain workers. Eviction moratoria prevented landlords from punishing tenants who couldnt make rent, and so on. These bills weren't designed as fiscal stimulus, but as disaster relief  a form of retroactive social insurance aimed at making Americans whole.

The problem is, all that social insurance wasnt perfect, and lots of Americans are in danger of falling through the cracks. The most obvious endangered group are those who failed to get the pandemic unemployment insurance benefits despite losing jobs or income. Pandemic UI was implemented by state agencies, which had limited capacity and little preparation. As a result, significant numbers of people who deserved to get the benefits were denied.

The U.S. government should try to patch this hole. People who deserved the special benefits but didnt receive them should be able to petition the government for back payments (a new law could specify how much).
Over the past couple weeks, there has been a lot of controversy over Rock Island Alderman Dylan Parker's comments in the aftermath of the decision by the Rock Island County State's Attorney's office to clear police in the fatal shooting of DeShawn Tatum on April 1.

Parker called for a review of foot pursuits, for the sake of police and those who are being pursued. But he punctuated that call by referring to police as "agents of state violence."

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police objected to the phrase, calling on Parker to apologize. He didnt. Instead, Parker issued a rather lengthy explanation for his original call, but didnt back down from the language he used.

Frankly, we think the use of phrase "agents of state violence" was needlessly provocative. If Parker, who represents the 5th Ward, wanted to start a discussion about the wisdom of foot pursuits and the possibility of limiting their use in some instances, then this was the wrong way to go about it.

Unfortunately, what has transpired since then looks like a standoff of sorts. At last Mondays council meeting, dozens of members of the citys police force showed up, in uniform, and stood at the back of the council chambers. Parker was not at the council meeting, but their silent protest was unmistakable.
Daphne Brown is a 14-year-old with blue hair who knows the obligations of responsibility, has a sense of community and harbors one personal wish.

"I decided to get the COVID-19 vaccine today because I want to help keep people safe," Daphne said Friday, just a few moments after receiving the first dose of Pfizer vaccine. "I think that's important for a lot of reasons."

Just this week the FDA and the CDC signed off on administering the two-dose Pfizer vaccine to teens between the ages of 12 and 15. The Camden Centre COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Milan started jabbing the arms of young people at 8 a.m. Friday.

The Camden clinic will be open to teenagers every Friday and Saturday.

"We are very happy to be able to vaccinate this age group," Rock Island County Health Department COO Janet Hill said Friday. "Every person vaccinated puts us one step closer to ending all of this. And we know that the kids have given up so much during this pandemic.

"Their social lives have been disrupted. Their schooling has been disrupted, and this is one way they can get back to normal."

Deanna Brown drove her daughter from Aledo for the vaccination and said Daphne had to adjust "to so many things."
After the CDC's change in masking guidelines for fully vaccinated people, the Iowa Department of Public Health announced it is making changes to its COVID-19 guidance for public schools.

In a news release, Iowa health officials said:

"We are concurrently revising our COVID-19 guidance for school and child care settings, including quarantine guidance, to recommend that while COVID-19 positive and symptomatic children should be excluded, exposed children should no longer be required to stay home, regardless of mask usage.

"Moreover, when there is a positive case, parents should be given information around exposure to COVID-19 in order to make their own informed decisions regarding risk. To that end, while we acknowledge that some parents may want their child to continue to wear a cloth face covering for reasons that make sense for their family or that childs individual health condition, we urge schools and child care settings to provide parents and students with the option to make their own decision about mask usage."

Thursday, May 13
What prompted this outsized reaction? At the end of a somewhat lengthy and thoughtful Facebook statement on the police shooting of a local resident, he used a term of art, "agents of state violence" in referencing the need for more precise rules for police actions. Not, perhaps the most politic phase he could have employed in this instance, but one that has had just application in other situations and jurisdictions. (Think "Bull" Connor and his use of police and the KKK in the Birmingham civil rights protests.)

Parker is one of our most active and thoughtful aldermen. My encounters with him have been few and brief, but I can find little fault with his votes and applaud his close contact with and interest in the people he represents.

I invite you to read his "incendiary" statement in full and judge for yourself. If you consider police beyond reproach, you will read it in that light. Without that prejudice you may find it fairly reasonable. As I have often said, reading is as creative as writing. What do you read into this?

"The Rock Island County Integrity Task Force has announced that the officer involved (in the) fatal shooting of DeShawn Tatum was justified under the law. Additionally, a review by the Rock Island Police Department's Office of Professional Standards concluded that each officer acted in accordance with departmental policies.
RURAL AMERICA  It was a homemade sign in a yard along a busy suburban Chicago street that drew my attention. The sign read "YOU ARE NOT ALONE," and while I dont know exactly what was going through the sign painters mind, I have to say that the message was comforting. For more than a year we have felt quite alone, cut off from others, cut off from ourselves. Its a terrific sign, more effective than neon.

In addition to meeting family members in suburban Chicago, lately Ive been driving the two lanes in eastern Iowa, listening to news on the radio, stunned by how our small towns have decayed, noting that in the yards of a couple of particularly sad homes flags are still flying for Donald Trump. The golden age of small towns in Iowa ended a half-century ago and I admit to some ambivalence about it. For many miles I drove parallel to train tracks where many Union Pacific engines were pulling hundreds of cars full of coal eastward and hundreds of stacked intermodal containers westward, which made me wonder where coal is being mined west of here.
But Cheney noted that, despite concern "about the violence that we saw, the BLM (Black Lives Matter), the antifa violence last summer. I think that's a different set of issues, a different set of problems and a different set of solutions."

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthys position is especially tricky since, besides representing the opposition of his House Republican colleagues, he is a potential witness who could provide essential information about Trumps role in the insurrection to any investigating panel.

Thats because of the mid-afternoon Jan. 6 telephone conversation in which he reportedly urged Trump to take action to quell the uprising. According to a statement that surfaced during Trumps impeachment trial by Washington state Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, McCarthy told her he advised the president to publicly and forcefully call off the riot.

He said Trump replied that antifa  a reference to left-wing protest groups  was responsible, not his supporters. When the GOP leader disputed that, he said, Trump replied, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."

McCarthy also said "the president bears responsibility" for what happened Jan. 6.
Legislators also appear ready to walk away from the promise they made to hit certain revenue targets before moving ahead with the later phases of the 2018 income tax cuts.

Then there is the state's chronic under-funding of education.

So, yes, its easy to see why local officials might be leery.

The upside is hard to ignore, however. Were told the additional funds would allow the county and region to provide services it currently lacks. That is no small thing.

Our best guess is this plan will move forward, even though nobody can be certain until a deal is done.

Lawmakers are already into overtime, and if Republicans who control state government want to pass their tax cut legislation (and they do) this compromise may be the only way to get the job done. Which means changes in how mental health services are funded.

Weve generally liked the idea of local control when it comes to many of these questions, and in the past we advocated allowing county supervisors the ability to levy more property taxes to raise the needed money for mental health services.

Generally, those who hold the purse strings control decision-making, and we place more of our trust in local governments.
3. Enlist former employees: If someone else in your organization has done this job, the answer to your problem is self-evident.

If not, but there is a former employee who has done this job, enlist his/her services. Do what it takes to get this person to train you or another employee.

Again, it may mean working nights and weekends. It may mean paying twice the normal rate for a while, but this may be worth it to solve your dilemma.

4. Find someone with the same skill set: Chances are the problem employee is not the only person in the world who has this skill set.

Do other companies use the same equipment or software? Hire a new employee who has the necessary skill set.

At a minimum, hire a consultant with the skill set to teach you or another employee how to do the job. Again, even if you have to work off hours and pay high rates, it may be money well-spent.

5. Approach vendors for help: If the problem is operating a specific piece of equipment or software, approach the company that sold it to you.
The more than 100,000 people who were given nucleic acid tests in Feixi County in east China's Anhui Province on Saturday tested negative for COVID-19.

The countywide nucleic acid tests took place after one more locally-transmitted COVID-19 case was reported on Friday. It was the second case in Feixi and the third in Anhui since the first confirmed case of a 29-year-old female in Lu'an City was reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, large-scale nucleic acid tests aimed at covering all 500,000 people in Bayuquan District, Yingkou City, northeast China's Liaoning Province, continued on Saturday. The second round of nucleic acid tests in this district, where most of the new cases emerged, will be launched on Sunday.

As of 7 p.m. Saturday, a total of six confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Liaoning Province, according to the provincial health commission.

Nine residential communities and villages in Yingkou have been upgraded to medium-risk areas for COVID-19 and put under closed-off management, the city government said.

The city government has ordered to cap visitor flow under 50 percent of the designed capacity in public places such as shopping malls, supermarkets, theaters, museums and restaurants.

The Liaoning provincial health authority has sent a team of 30 experts to Yingkou to guide COVID-19 prevention and control efforts, including epidemiological investigation and source tracing.

National capital Beijing has traced 28 close contacts of the reported COVID-19 cases in Anhui, the municipal center of disease prevention and control announced Saturday.

The close contacts, which include a driver of a ride-hailing platform, were found in 11 districts of the city from Thursday to Friday. The driver has tested negative for COVID-19, according to the center.

A total of 167 secondary close contacts have also been found, the center added.

So far, 24 close contacts and 141 secondary close contacts, as well as 231 samples from their surroundings, have given negative results after nucleic acid testing. The rest of the samples are being examined.


Mistake you learned the most from: I started a little company in my mid-20s with other women. We were risk-averse new mothers, and we tried to find every shortcut possible to reduce our investment. In the end, we wasted a lot of time and money not investing in the business and ourselves  we had to close it two years later.

What is the biggest challenge/opportunity in the next two to five years: To grow Brand Federation to be a nationally recognized strategic consultancy.

First job after college: I worked for a clothing designer in Charlottesville called Robert Redd.

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently: I may have attended graduate school earlier  before I had a family. But, to be honest, I am not even sure I would change that. Im thankful for the journey that my career has taken me on.

Movie or book that inspired you the most, and why?: This is the hardest question you have asked. So many books and movies have shaped my perspective. One that comes to mind is Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It is a non-fiction narrative that marries science and nature to expose beautiful truths surrounding humankinds deep connection to the natural world.
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If symptoms continue and youre concerned for your teens safety, talk to a health care provider or a mental health professional trained to work with adolescents. Your family doctor is a good place to start, or your teens school may also recommend someone.

When to get emergency help

If youre a teen and you think you may be depressed or you have a friend who may be depressed  dont wait to get help. Talk to a health care provider such as your health care provider or school nurse. Share your concerns with someone else you trust.

Never ignore comments or concerns about suicide. Always take action to get help. If a loved one or friend is in danger of attempting suicide or has made an attempt:

Make sure someone stays with that person.

Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately.

Or, if you can do so safely, take the person to the emergency room.

Treatment and prevention

Theres no sure way to prevent depression, but for most teens, symptoms ease with treatment such as medication and psychological counseling. Encourage your teen to try these coping strategies:
His death was her motivation to speak out, she said. First, to set the record straight about his story, then to call for police accountability, now in a bid to become Virginias next governor.

Days after the 2018 fatal shooting, Blanding invited reporters, including from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, to her home and spoke to them from her front porch.

Im not going to sit silently and allow the media to depict my brother and use the worst moments of his life to cover up the amazing person that he was, she said recently in an interview reflecting back. That was the first time I was vocal about it, and it just continued.

Last summer, state legislators reached out to her during the uprisings to help with legislation creating a new crisis response for mental health calls. The new law ultimately carried Peters name, the Marcus Alert. At its signing, Blanding denounced the measure as watered down and ineffective.

For our legislators to state that Marcus had a mental health crisis and to enact full legislation in his name, however continue to say that his murder was justified, it doesnt even make sense, Blanding said.

He was an amazing man and had an amazing life in front of him, Blanding said, and added that even though he is not here, Peters would appreciate the fight for changes behind him.
Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting. But targeting the group's leaders could hinder those efforts. A U.S. diplomat is in the region to try to de-escalate tensions, and the U.N. Security Council is set to meet Sunday.

In its airstrikes, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they contain Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press office and those of other media outlets.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinian protests and clashes with police broke out in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focal point of clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint that is located on a hilltop compound that is revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on impoverished Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians and has been under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.
Not that the subject ever has been easy. No, as often has been noted in this space, this country has been positively Herculean in its effort to remain ignorant of African American history. From schools trying to ban it, to state laws restricting it, to textbooks telling lies about it, that history is something we long have resisted.

But if the subject never was easy, it seldom has been as fraught  as filled with political heat  as it is now. The New York Times Magazines Pulitzer Prize-winning 1619 Project, in which reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones had the temerity to reframe Americas story through the lens of slavery, seems to have tapped something primal in some of us; something that has moved them to spend two years condemning it; something that has states like Texas, Tennessee and Idaho rushing to pass laws banning schools from teaching critical race theory (which seemingly all conservatives fear and none can define); something panicky that emphatically is not explained by academic arguments over points of factuality.

For the record, I consider myself pretty well-informed about Black history. But it is not lost on me that most of what I know was learned on my own after my formal education ended, that I somehow managed to graduate from an elite private university knowing next to nothing about it.
Fledgling movements of restitution that legislatively advanced include those in Stockton, Calif. , to provide universal monthly income and found participants more likely to be employed after receipt, or aims to repay families for land seized during racist projects of eminent domain.

The University of Virginia will join other public universities in the state to enact programs of scholarships or community-based economic development to benefit descendants of enslaved laborers. We applaud these important steps. However, we believe similar reparative approaches in health care should be championed, piloted and iterated to determine if certain race-explicit programs will more effectively reduce racial health inequities, as they have the considerable potential to accomplish. The Healing ARC model might serve as an example, if we collectively can wade beyond the tears of white fragility and the very real tempest into which they can coalesce.

Scott Heysell is a physician and an associate professor of medicine, infectious diseases and international health at the University of Virginia. Contact him at: SKH8R@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu

Greg Townsend is a physician, an associate professor of medicine, infectious diseases and international health, and associate dean for diversity and medical education at the University of Virginia. Contact him at: GCT2R@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu
Use surplus to fund Internet connectivity

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I am excited by the bounty of funds to be collected by Virginia state government, because it offers an unique opportunity to address my biggest desire for the commonwealth  internet connectivity. Now is a generational opportunity to wire Virginia homes and businesses for the future of commerce, health, education and, in fact, way of life.

First, we need to lay internet backbones to all reaches of the commonwealths interstates and U.S. primary highways, connected to the internet exchanges in Northern Virginia and with the transoceanic cable terminuses in eastern Henrico County. And 500 terabit cable bundles should be laid in a public-private partnership with Virginias telecommunications firms providing discount, reliable, redundant connections to new and existing business consumers located throughout the state.
CDC facts negate

group's false claims

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Apparently, Jessica McLane and the Hanover Patriots believe that simply saying something makes it so. However, the falsehoods they attempted to spread in a demonstration before a recent Hanover County School Board meeting about equity in education should not go unchallenged.

McLane falsely states that COVID-19 poses "absolutely no risk" to children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of May 11, there have been nearly 540,000 cases among children up to age 4, including 139 deaths. For ages 5-17, there have been more than 2.6 million cases, including 351 deaths. Try telling the parents of those 490 deceased children that COVID-19 poses no risk to their children.

If you visit the CDC website, you also will see that the number of cases among Hispanics is disproportionate to their percentage of the U.S. population. Among Blacks and Hispanics, there is a disproportionate number of deaths caused by COVID-19.
An article by Chinese President Xi Jinping on utilizing revolutionary resources and passing on revolutionary traditions will be published Sunday.

The article by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will be carried by this year's 10th issue of the Qiushi Journal.

The article calls revolutionary museums and memorials, museums of Party history, and martyrs' cemeteries pools of revolutionary traditions.

Such resources offer vivid teaching materials to consolidate revolutionary ideals and convictions, the article notes, urging efforts to strengthen education on revolutionary traditions and patriotism and improve ideological and moral education for the young people.

"Every time I go to revolutionary base areas for inspections, I would visit local revolutionary memorial sites to demonstrate that the CPC always holds high the banner of revolution, remains committed to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics and continues to advance the undertaking pioneered by revolutionary forefathers," Xi said in the article.

Noting that the establishment of the political power of the CPC, the People's Republic of China and socialism with Chinese characteristics are all hard-earned achievements, the article calls for paying tribute to the revolutionary martyrs, remembering them and passing on their revolutionary legacy.


GOP claims about Jan. 6

mar country's integrity

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

On Jan. 6, I, along with other Americans, watched agog as a large mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and attempted a coup on his behalf. The live TV coverage showed the mobs violence and the futile attempts of the U.S. Capitol Police to prevent it without any support whatsoever from the military that was under the command of the Trump administration.

Recently, however, three Republican congressional members  U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., and Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas  told me and the world that it had not happened that way. According to them, the crowd was orderly, polite and nonviolent. One said there was no insurrection. In short, despite my seeing the live coverage, I got it wrong. Oh, and others even say that the crowd was not really composed of Trump supporters.

Say what? People were hurt, people died and the Capitol was damaged. Again, I saw this with my own eyes as it was happening. Nevertheless, the current holy writ of the GOP is that Jan. 6 was just a midwinter outing of excited tourists and any violence was the fault of antifa, a nonexistent boogeyman for the far right.
I also called Clewis, the risk manager, and wound up speaking with Finance Director Amelia Merchant. She was unfamiliar with Joness case. Merchant told me that as of June 2020, the city had a little more than $12 million in its risk management fund.

Virginia law also says that when a driver who causes an accident is uninsured or immune, a car owner can collect from their own insurer through uninsured motorist coverage. But if the insurer balks at coverage, that puts a car owner in the odd position of having to sue his own insurance company to collect. And in such as case, Joness insurer would represent the trash truck driver rather than Jones.

It may also cost Jones $500, which is her amount of her insurance policys deductible, plus whatever she pays to rent a car until her Ford Focus is fixed. The rental cost is unclear. Thatll depend on how long it takes a body shop to fix her car.

I mentioned this case to a friend of mine, attorney Jeff Krasnow. He told me hes willing to help Jones and he encouraged me to pass along his contact info to her. She called him Friday.
BLACKSBURG  Construction has started on the long-anticipated multi-modal transit facility at Virginia Tech.

The $36 million project involves the construction of a two-story, 13,000-square-foot facility and will centralize bus stops and routes throughout the area. The project will aim to improve safety, convenience and efficiency for the BT system.

Along with Blacksburg Transit, the facility will serve as a hub for bike sharing and larger bus services such as the Smart Way that runs between the Roanoke and New River valleys and the Virginia Breeze.

This will be a place for bus riders, as well as walkers [and] bicyclists, Blacksburg Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith said.

The multi-modal facility has been planned for over a decade and also comes as other major transportation initiatives in the region are coming to fruition. State officials, including Gov. Ralph Northam, recently stopped in Christiansburg to announce an agreement that will lead to the return of passenger rail to the New River Valley.

We have an opportunity to bring back old technologies like passenger rail, but also build on the infrastructure we have now, Hager-Smith said, and really make the most of the different kinds of transportation available to us.
Covington was hungry for Italian food. The people kept coming and they kept coming and they kept coming, Glenn Bailey said. Cuccis Pizzeria outgrew its space, the old restaurant was torn down and a new restaurant was built in the same space.

Family members ran the restaurant while he was incarcerated, Bailey said.

In recent years, Cucci was best known as the happy, gregarious owner of one of the best  some say the best  restaurants in town. Usually dressed in a collared shirt and slacks, Cucci was a fixture at the restaurant. He moved between the kitchen and dining room and showed an uncanny ability to recall the names of patrons, Bailey said. Community members knew they could count on him for support for ball teams and community causes.

He provided a field beside the restaurant for car shows and free food for first responders and front-line workers when the pandemic hit, friend Ray Keen said. Countless framed photographs on the walls of the restaurant document community life and its people, Keen said. After Keen appeared in a Civil War documentary, Cucci asked for a photo and Keen obliged with a signed image from the set that still hangs on the wall, he said.
Starting May 7, Trust House began checking in clients two at a time. The admission process went slowly and meticulously because of extensive hygiene protocols that had to be followed. Yellow streamers hung in doorways as a sign of welcoming.

ARCH aims to have Trust House back at full capacity by June 30.

For any veteran to come into Trust House, they have to meet the definition of homelessness, said Amanda Saoit, a clinical social worker with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs who acts as liaison between Trust House and the VA hospital in Salem.

Now that were back in the physical Trust House, Im making it a point to be here at least once a week, Saoit said. For her clients, that makes it easier for them to get access to me and to talk to me and just get an update on how things are doing.

Soon after his arrival, Kearney settled his belonging on a freshly made bed in a dorm room on the upper floor of Trust House. It provides a safe haven, and I look at it as a rescue, he said.

One of Kearneys roommates, Stephen Pruett, 56, was about to have lunch. Pruett joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983 and served for a decade, departing as a Sergeant E5.
Next, on the questions related to energy production here in Southwest. Ive always been opposed to the construction of new fracked-gas pipelines. As Governor, Ill focus on investing in our clean economy future and bringing 15,000 new clean energy jobs to Virginia every year. But I also believe that we must ensure a just transition for fossil fuel workers, including our coal workers. Ill work with the federal government to ensure every fossil fuel worker close to retirement can keep their pension, direct funding to SHINE and other programs to expand education and training opportunities for workers, put project labor agreements on every solar and wind project, and ensure we do right by coal workers, coal counties, and all workers transitioning to jobs that will power our green energy future.

Third was a question about accountability in our government  and specifically what would our next Governor do about the questions around the parole board. Let me be clear  I firmly believe in restoring parole as the next Governor. As a public defender, Ive seen how broken our criminal justice system is. Our system should allow people to have a second chance, and prioritize restorative justice and reintegration into society. But just as important is that Virginians have trust in their government, and the handling of the investigation has done little to engender confidence. Whether its backroom deals with special interests, the sway of big donors, or little appetite in the executive branch to push for a fully-funded, fully-independent, and fully-transparent investigation, these failures by politicians of the past are why so many Virginians are disillusioned by politics-as-usual, and are looking for someone who will shake up the status quo. Ill be unafraid to ensure real transparency and accountability in our government at every level.
A plan to strengthen civics across Virginia aims to involve more students in activities beyond the classroom and to expand engagement to college students and more adults.

A newly constituted commission with more citizen members is creating a call to action to strengthen civic engagement.

The 17-member Virginia Commission on Civic Education is going well beyond its traditional role as a resource for civics teacher professional development to promote educational avenues for student and adult involvement in democracy.

All Virginians should know how to find trusted and valid sources of information, how to communicate with candidates and elected officials and how to effectively advocate and take action to improve their communities.

Five state legislators and 12 citizens on the commission, of which I am a member, support an expanded role to create a better civic resource for every Virginian.

On May 10, the group appointed by the General Assembly unanimously adopted an activist strategic plan for the coming year. Goals include student-focused learning and partnerships to promote civic engagement with elected officials and campaigns as well as learning how to successfully push for public policies.
It is a kind of the same feeling of being under attack by an enemy, thereby prompting anger and hatred.

The enemies like those Russian and Chinese remain faceless and nameless. Since we didnt know one Russian personally, we were able to hate those faceless Russians. People hate those nameless Chinese because they dont know a Chineses name.

So, the nameless are called those Russians, those Asians, those blacks, those Hispanics, those Muslims, those gays, or those illegals. Hatred blinds people so they cannot see the faces and names of others.

I came to the United States from South Korea 11 years ago and lived in Atlanta for the first three years.

In this diverse city, I was often overwhelmed by the intensity of the tension and conflicts between different racial and cultural groups.

While the white population outnumbers any other ethnicity in rural areas, the urban population is well mixed. Because one racial or cultural group doesnt dominate the other groups in number, the tensions between the groups are intense. People compete; someone wins, and others lose.
The Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Saturday held a high-level forum on Party building as a major part of a series of academic events held by the school to mark the CPC's centenary.

As the very first edition of the forum, this year's event was focused on the historical experience of building the century-old Party.

Xie Chuntao, vice president of the school, said when addressing the forum that it is an important task of scholars in this field to summarize the great achievements and successful experience of the Party over the past 100 years, especially the period since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

Experts and scholars attending the forum exchanged views on Party-building experience in various aspects and the development of Party building-related disciplines.

The high-level forum on Party building will be held annually.


We saw no follow-up on that proposal until his recent ill-fated attempt to tie the retirement of the coal tax credit to future appropriations to the school  but neither did we see any grass-roots community effort in Wise endorsing the plan.

(We bet if he had proposed that for the Roanoke Valley a committee of community leaders would have sprung the next day to advocate for it.)

Next door in West Virginia, the state legislature has been grappling with how to prop up the coal industry. It recently passed a bill requiring utilities to keep at least 30 days worth of coal on hand (something they already do, so its a meaningless requirement).

However, the legislature rejected an amendment that would have commissioned an economic plan for communities that have lost coal-related jobs. This seems a willful refusal to acknowledge the obvious.
The criminal cyber cartel blamed for the ransomware attack on a US pipeline that caused petrol shortages for motorists this week has said it is ceasing operations, according to cyber security researchers.

The news comes after the Colonial Pipeline Company made a ransom payment to the hackers worth almost $5m as it worked to restart its 5,500-mile network, said people familiar with the matter.

DarkSide, the suspected Russian-based group that the FBI has said was responsible for the attack, has told its affiliates it is shuttering its services, said FireEye, a cyber security group appointed to investigate the incident.

Until now, DarkSide has maintained the ransomware but also rented it out to others via an affiliate programme, taking a cut of any proceeds from attacks that seize control of an organisations data or software systems and lock out the owners using encryption until payments are made.



In a post on the dark web, found by researchers at Recorded Future and seen by the Financial Times, it also said it had lost control of much of its public infrastructure  including its dark web blog and the server it uses to accept ransom payments  and that its crypto funds had been seized.

The post cited law enforcement pressure and pressure from the United States for this decision, said Kimberly Goody, senior manager for financial crime analysis at FireEyes Mandiant Threat Intelligence arm.

It is unclear whether the disruption to the groups infrastructure was directed by authorities, and also whether DarkSide was taking itself offline with a view to later taking up operations again under a different guise, known as an exit scam.

US President Joe Biden said he has strong reason to believe the DarkSide hackers were based in Russia, but that he did not believe Moscow was directly responsible.

We have been in direct communication with Moscow about the imperative for responsible countries to take decisive action against these ransomware networks, he said on Thursday.

In a blog post on Friday, blockchain analytics group Elliptic found that Colonial had paid 75 bitcoin  or close to $5m  to a crypto wallet used by DarkSide on May 8.

The wallet had received $17.5m total in bitcoin since becoming active in early March, with much of this laundered via small cryptocurrency exchanges or sent to Hydra, an illegal marketplace on the dark web that typically serves Russia and neighbouring countries.

Elliptic also confirmed that the $5m ransom payment had been emptied from DarkSides crypto wallet on Friday, though it did not indicate where this had moved to.

Colonial began the process of bringing the pipeline  a central artery for delivering motor fuel to the eastern US  back online on Wednesday. On Thursday it said it had restarted the entire system and started to deliver products to all of its markets. It did not respond to a request for comment on the ransom payment.

The crisis has reinvigorated the debate over whether there should be a blanket ban on victims paying ransoms. White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday said the federal government continued to argue that paying ransoms only incentivised such blackmail activities and urged companies to harden their defences. The FBI advises against payments.

Ransomware gangs earned at least $18bn in ransoms in 2020, according to the cyber security group Emsisoft, as hackers took advantage of employees shifting to remote working and the resulting cyber vulnerabilities. The average payment is about $150,000, Emsisoft data show.

Authorities face increasing public pressure to hunt and prosecute attackers. Last Saturday a group of tech companies, as well as US agencies such as the FBI, disrupted DarkSide by shutting down the US-based servers that they were using to store data before then sending it to Russia, according to two people familiar with the situation. The takedown and Colonials ransom payment were first reported by Bloomberg.

James Lewis, a cyber security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there was discussion as to whether there should be efforts to go further and hack criminal ransomware gangs, known as hacking back.

People are talking about hackback  its back on the radar and thats probably driven by the Colonial incident.

Financial Times
The most recent classification system created by the association differs from the classification system used by the city of Florence. Those differences create a problem for the city. In specific, the new classifications could result in the city taxing a certain sector too much (a windfall for the city) or too little (a deficit for the city).

For example, say the city has two businesses that require licenses and that each business pays the city $50, resulting in $100 of revenue for the city. When the new classification system is implemented, one of the businesses may have a $60 fee and the other business may stay at $50, resulting in an additional $10 of revenue for the city. Or one of the businesses may have a $40 fee, resulting in a loss of $10 in revenue for the city.

In order to prevent either a gain in revenue or a loss of revenue, the city elected to rebalance the rates it charges businesses, thus it should still  assuming a good economy  receive roughly the same amount of revenue when the new law goes into effect as it did before.

Not every type of business had their rates rebalanced but Yokim said that added 65% of the businesses that had their rates changed were classified into a lower rate class and 35% were classified into a higher rate class.
Among other pioneers of the CRT movement, legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw has called it an evolving practice that questions how race, as a social construct, perpetuates a caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers.

The argument has some merit, but, optimist that I am, I also agree with critics who say that CRT too often elevates storytelling over evidence and reason and devalues the racial progress that Americans have made, despite the challenges that remain.

Unfortunately, that robust academic debate is widely confused and easily exploited in the political world.

The conservative critique was captured well by Kathy Valente, director of operations for the Illinois Family Institute, who wrote in a letter to the Naperville Sun (one of the Chicago Tribunes suburban publications) after some state lawmakers proposed including critical race theory and The New York Times 1619 Project into the states teacher training and public school classrooms.

Critical Race Theory implies that all people who were born with white skin are racist, she wrote. And all whites have power because of their skin color and have used that power to hold back people of color. This is patently false. Tax dollars should not be used to foster lies, division and hatred.
 "Drug Supervision" | Main | "Bars Behind Bars: Digital Technology in the Prison System" 

May 16, 2021

More details on "Justice Counts," a notable (and needed) criminal justice data collection effort

I flagged in this post a few weeks ago the great online panel event hosted by the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center, in collaboration with National Association of Sentencing Commissions, titled "Justice Counts: Using Data to Inform Policy and Bolster Public Safety." I am pleased to be able to now report that the video and transcript of this event are now available at this DEPC webpage, and the discussion has me quite excited for the Justice Counts data collection efforts that, as this website explains, aspires to provide "public, aggregate criminal justice data, which will provide policymakers in every state with timely information about their criminal justice systems, existing gaps in data collection, and opportunities to do better."

Helpfully, the folks at ASU Crime and Justice News covered this event and provided an effective written summary of the discussion at this link. Here are excerpts of this accounting of efforts to account for justice:

Criminal justice policy makers long have been plagued by a lack of good data on how the justice system operates, from arrests to imprisonments. In an effort to fill many of the gaps, the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG) has launched a project called Justice Counts that will provide state-by-state numbers on important parts of the justice process. A website under development for the last year is expected in June to begin displaying numbers from state corrections systems, including counts of prisoners and people on probation and parole. In the past, such national data has been available on a consistent basis from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, which collects it from the states but often publishes it a year or more later, making it immediately out of date.... The new corrections data to be published should be timely after a year in which there have been more shifts than usual in prison and jail populations during the coronavirus pandemic, with many states and localities freeing inmates in advance of their expected release dates. CSG staffers gave a preview of the new site on Tuesday to a webinar sponsored by the National Association of Sentencing Commissions and the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at The Ohio State University. All states were asked to provide data to the central site. It is not yet available on a uniform basis because states compile it at different intervals, whether daily, weekly or monthly. As of now, CSG has current prison population data from 36 states and numbers on various aspects of corrections, such as the number of state prisoners sent by courts or behind bars because they violated parole conditions, from varying numbers of states, ranging from seven in one category to 19 in another. Eventually, the website will feature metrics such as the cost of corrections systems and whether they are achieving their goals.

Some recent related posts:

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HOUSTON (AP)  A tiger that frightened residents after it was last seen briefly wandering around a Houston neighborhood has been found after a nearly week-long search and appears to be unharmed, police announced Saturday evening.

In a short video tweeted by Houston police, Cmdr. Ron Borza can be seen sitting next to the tiger, petting the animal and saying it has been a long week searching for it.

"But we got him, and he's healthy," Borza said as the wife of the man police allege is the animal's owner sat next to him and fed the tiger with a baby bottle. The tiger was being held at BARC, the city of Houston's animal shelter, but was expected to be taken Sunday morning to the Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas, located southeast of Dallas.

Authorities had been searching for the tiger, a 9-month-old male named India, since it was spotted May 9 in a west Houston neighborhood. At the time, it was nearly shot by an off-duty deputy before being whisked away in a car by Victor Hugo Cuevas, who police allege is the owner.

At a news conference Saturday evening, Borza said that Cuevas' wife, Giorgiana, turned over the tiger to police on Saturday after a friend of hers reached out to officials at BARC.
The more bellicose among us would already be demanding congressional hearings into that radicalization. And calling upon leaders of his community to disavow him. And pushing for surveillance of places where people who think like him congregate.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there will be no congressional investigation into the impact of Fox News or any of its fellow travelers. No one will demand the city council of Naperville, Illinois, repudiate this particular citizen. Nor will the FBI send agents to chat up the locals over breakfast in farm-country diners.

Because Antonio wasnt really radicalized, right? He only had Foxitis, which sounds like something you clear up with a shot of penicillin. The fact that Hurley frames his clients actions in such relatively benign language suggests he is depending on us to regard Antonio with the same myopia that allowed the Capitol to be breached in the first place.
To many locals of Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the ancient city has always been dull yellowish-brown due to the dominant color of dwellings. But to 25-year-old Mamattursunjian Mamatimen, the city that ignited his art dream is fairly colorful.





Born and raised in Kashgar, Mamattursunjian started to paint by following the footsteps of the locally-renowned painters at the age of ten.

"As a child, the monochrome scenes impressed me a lot, and I found no other way but to illustrate the city in a single color, a style prevailing in the local painting community," he said.

Dirty and messy, the ancient city of Kashgar used to be an unpleasant place for both residents and tourists owing to lack of water pipes, power grid and other infrastructure.

A renovation project with an investment exceeding 7 billion yuan (about 1.08 billion US dollars) was launched in 2010 and completed in five years, giving the ancient city a vibrant new look.

That's why when Mamattursunjian stopped by an alley one day and tried to sketch it, he suddenly realized that the seemingly unchanging city had changed, and so did his painting style.

"Thanks to the renovation, Kashgar has become tidier and much more attractive and a growing number of youngsters are coming here," he said, adding that the substantial changes in the city landscape stimulated him to think out of the box and explore more possibilities in art.

In 2019, Mamattursunjian embarked on an art tour that took him to the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province, the 798 Art District and Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, and the Bund in Shanghai.

"A professor with CAFA told me that the color and structure of the ancient city-themed paintings had never changed since the 1970s, and that it was time for us young painters to make a difference," he recalled.

In the same year, he embraced his transitional period of artistic creation, when he painted Ushering In A New Era, a work blending the ancient city and modern buildings into one.

"Just like in those big cities in China, ancient and modern elements are perfectly combined in Kashgar today," he said. "I changed my way of painting because I am eager to present its real look."

Afterward, the young man made even bolder moves in reforming the traditional color adopted by his predecessors.

"Scarlet, pink, purple, blue and other visually intriguing colors are uncommon in streetview paintings of Kashgar yet vividly reflect the aesthetic preference of today's youngsters and how they connect themselves to ancient history," he explained.

"A young artist from Yunnan Province came by the other day and told me that my works were just unique and impressed him the most after visiting all galleries on the street," said Mamattursunjian proudly.

Mamattursunjian runs a gallery and is now also receiving growing attention from young people as he posts videos on Weibo, Douyin and other social media platforms to promote his paintings.

"I really hope that my works can serve as a bridge attracting more youngsters here to appreciate the beauty of Kashgar with their own eyes," he said.


Within hours of the May 8 shooting in Times Square where three bystanders, including a 4-year-old girl, were wounded, the two leading candidates to replace Mayor Bill de Blasio were on-site.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a retired captain of the NYPD, and Andrew Yang, who declared:

"My fellow New Yorkers ... Nothing works in our city without public safety, and for public safety, we need the police. ... My message to the NYPD is this: New York needs you. Your city needs you.

"New York cannot afford to defund the police."

The rush of Adams and Yang to the scene of the shooting, and the messages they delivered, tells us something about the state of play in politics -- and not only in the city of New York.

Liberal mayors and urban politicians who enlisted in the Black Lives Matter "defund the police" movement after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, appear to have caught a wave that is now receding.

In the streets of America's cities, violent crimes are spiking to heights unseen since the 1990s. And, instead of "Defund the Police!" the insistent cry is, "Where are the cops?"

Atlanta is a case in point.
Attracting enough workers to Iowa has been a problem for years.

Officials have tried touting the quality of life, the low cost of living, the ability to be around friends and family.

But now Gov. Kim Reynolds says its pandemic unemployment aid that has been holding us back.

Even though Congress approved the relief through September, Reynolds decided to end the additional federal payments and programs on June 12, saying it was discouraging workers from taking jobs in the state that need filling.

Thats a naive approach.

Should unemployed Iowans accept jobs in fields theyve never been in just because theyre the only option they have? Or should they leave the state and continue a career where they didnt have to weigh outside sources and their ability to remove their access to help in time of need?

A number of Republican elected officials and business groups  like the Iowa Association of Business and Industry and the Siouxland Initiative  lauded Reynolds decision. Local employers have told the Initiative, the economic development arm of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, that they couldnt compete with the added federal benefits, which includes a supplemental payment of $300 per week.
Princess Mysteria (Vauleda Hill Strodder), a mentalist (or mind reader) who performed on the vaudeville circuit, wrote the column Advice to the Wise and Otherwise for the Chicago Defender from 192130. Hill, who represented herself as being of East Indian origin (but who was, according to records, born in Kansas in 1895), appears in historian Julie Golias new book, Newspaper Confessions: A History of Advice Columns in a Pre-Internet Age, as a fascinating figure within the early-20th-century boom in advice writing.

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The Defender, a prominent Black newspaper with nationwide distribution, hired Mysteria for the job of advice columnist after publishing her correspondence from the road. Because the performer specialized in answering audience questions about the intimate details of their liveslove, lost money, and illnessshe seems to have made a natural segue into the role of advice-giver.

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Mysterias columns presented a stark contrast with other advice writing of the time, and not only because white advice columnists tended to toe a racist line when it came to matters of segregation and racial hierarchy, and rarely printed letters from Black correspondents. The columnist believed in womens capacity for independence, and she addressed topics other columns wouldnt touch, including premarital sex, rape, and abortion.

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Below, Golia walks us through a few of Mysterias most interesting letters and responses.

July 16, 1921 Princess Mysteria: I am asking you to help me decide what to do. Last December I was the victim of an accident and lost both of my legs. I was engaged to be married to a city employee and was so happy, because he was a perfect gentleman. Since my accident he has not changed in kindness, but he has become a drunkard which he says is caused from grieving over my loss. What shall I do? Dinah, Washington, D.C. Yours is a pathetic situation, and all of my sympathy is with you. Your intended husband is wrong to show a weakness for alcohol in order to display his sorrow for your loss. A drunkard will not make a husband for any woman and for you to go on with your sweetheart unless he decides between you and alcohol would be worse than death. When wine is in wit is out, and he will be changed by habitual drinking if he is not now. You have lost enough. Dont lose all.

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Julie Golia: Theres so much going on in this little letter. Thats one of the things I love about Mysteriaher responses are very short, in comparison with a lot of other advice columns of the time. She packed a lot into her column, and a lot into each individual response.

What I think is fascinating about this one is that if this had been in a mainstream white newspaper, I think most columnists would have advised her to stay with the guy, and would have put the responsibility on her to fix him, maybe pointed out how unattractive of a marriage prospect she had become because she had lost both of her legs. They might have emphasized the fact that he was a perfect gentleman, that he had a good job.

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But Mysteria immediately goes to: This guy is not worth your time. He has an unfixable flaw. Tied up in that is the respectability politics that were really prevalent in the Defender at that time. There was a sense that one of the important things for Black people to be was respectable in a public way, and drunkenness was a No. 1 thing that would take away from your respectability. Mysteria was a big temperance advocate, for both women and men who wrote in.

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For Mysteria to tell Dinah to strike out on her own is a big thingthats a lot for someone in this situation. But its also a big vote of confidence in Dinah. It assumes that she would have that capacity for independence and self-support as a woman, which is something that was almost anathema to the white columnists of the time.

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Feb. 9, 1924 Dear Mysteria: I am in distress. I have been keeping company with a young man for a year. About a month ago he questioned me as to my past life. I told him I have always been a good girl, which I have, only when I was about 8 years old I was the victim of something I was not responsible for. I did not tell him this, as no one knows about it but my parents. If I should become his wife is there any way he could find this out? He has hinted marriage several times, but has not asked me outright. He is an exceptionally good boy and is very particular. I am so afraid he would later find this out. Distress. Your position is indeed a peculiar one, and your refusal to dig down into this hideous thing of the past, something that you were wholly irresponsible for, was only proper. You answered his question as he asked it. A child of 8 has hardly started to live. If he proposes marriage to you, you may have your father to tell him of this dreadful happening. It will be better for your father to tell him, than you. It will relieve your worry for him to know it, otherwise you will live with him always in fear of the skeleton in the closet.

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Golia: Mysterias response is multilevel-thoughtful, here. She answers both questions, and she does a little bit of sex ed. Like: Yes, when you marry this man, he may be able to figure out your historyshe doesnt say that explicitly, but its implied. So thats one part of what shes answering. And the other part of it is a total affirmation of the letter writers actions and a really direct recommendation of what she should do. Respectability is still built into this because she recommends that she have her father tell him, not the mother, but theres also a complete reassurance that the person has done nothing wrong.

I read so many letters for this book, and I often put myself in the shoes of the person who wrote the letter and then read the advice. A lot of advice seemed like it would have been really frustrating to receivelike the advice given women in bad marriages who were so often told, Dont leave him, suck it up. But with this one, its like, she got a really direct answer, a clear path forward, and a confirmation that she did nothing wrong. All this at a time when people werent comfortable talking publicly about sexual assault in any way!

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The letter also shows how the Defender approached advice differently. With this letter and the last letter, theres a little bit of sensationalism to the stories: The one where the girl lost her legs is a hypertragedy; this one is a bit taboo in terms of mainstream discussion. There are almost no comparisons to these kinds of stories in white papers, where they wouldnt have chosen to print it, because the papers were trying to market themselves as what they called home papers, or family papers. Thats not to say that they didnt receive letters like this  but they didnt publish them.

The Defender had sort of a dual face, where they emphasized respectability but they also didnt mind publishing stuff like this that might draw more eyes. This was a little past the era of yellow journalism, and the Defender really takes up that mantle in a lot of ways, not just in terms of talking about sex but in covering crimes.  They were also covering stories about violence, and they were one of the major papers that was covering the story of lynching extensively, in a way that white papers certainly were not.

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March 15, 1924 Dear Princess: I am sure you have never had a letter like this before. I am a girl 22 years of age. I am not married and dont have the least idea of getting married. I go to shows and dances with fellows, not because I love them but to keep them from thinking I am selfish. I have a girl friend whom I love very much and she is crazy about the boys. Please tell me what I can do to become interested in boys. They seem to treat me nice when I am in their company and I cant understand why I feel toward them as I do. Most everyone says I will never marry, and it seems I wont. Worried. All normal girls are interested in boys, and the fact that you are not classes you with those who are not normal. For your own peace and security, I advise you to try and cultivate the association of nice boys, as you may some day regret it if you do not. There is no supplement to nature, and as you say you are not naturally inclined to care for boys, I suggest that you force yourself to go about with them and maybe you can teach nature some new tricks. As to your girl friend, keep away from her until you have broken the feeling that you could love her better than you could love a boy.

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Golia: There are a series of letters to Mysteria that are about topics like homosexuality, and theres another one about abortion, where her conclusions are not ones we would necessarily agree with. But I look at it this way: She chose to publish this letter and that in itself is a way of saying, Hey, other people who may feel like this: You are not alone. And thats not nothing.

Whats funny here is that Mysteria sort of guesses from the letter that the letter writer might be in love with her friend. Look at it again: The writer just says that she loves her friend a lot and the friend likes boys. The response Mysteria gives about the feeling that you could love her better than you could love a boy is all intuition on her part!

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For its time, this was a really straightforward response, and fairly nonjudgmental. I think a lot of what she says is motivated of a desire for this person to try to salvage something of her life. My reading of this is that Mysteria is really sensitive to the threat of violence in her readers livesconscious of the real danger that somebody who is gay might find themselves in, in the 1920s. Its almost like shes saying: Listen, I dont make the rules. I dont make the society we live in. Im just trying to help you find a way to survive in it.

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March 22, 1924 Dear Princess Mysteria: I am coming to you for some of your wonderful advice. This is my first time. I am a married woman of 26 and my husband is 55. We have been married nine years. Here is my trouble: I married my husband under great promises he made to do great things for me, but I have worked hard ever since our marriage and whenever I speak of resting my husband gets angry. Princess, I have tried to be a good wife to him, but now I am tired and disgusted. What must I do? Dissatisfied. Promises are like fine chinathey are easily brokenand since he has not kept his promises it is best to tell him so and then make a change. If you need a rest dont ask him about it: slavery days are over and now its every soul for himself. Tell him you are going to take a vacation, and if he does not do differently than he has in the past, make your vacation a long one.

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Golia: Historians talk about the rise of the modern companionate marriage: the way that marriagewhich was formerly a matter of economic exchangewas, in the 20th century, leached of some of that transactional aspect. The modern marriage was supposed to be based on all-consuming, complete love that was supposed to satisfy a person totally. In both white and Black papers, you see the fallout of this.  Dissatisfied, the pseudonym this letter writer uses, is probably the single most emblematic word to characterize the way marriage troubles get described in newspapers in the 1920sand that goes for both men and women.

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This person, it looks like, got married at age 17 to a much older man. Here, theres a strong theme of labor. Women often talk about how actual laboreither inside the home or both inside and outside, because some women were keeping the house and holding down a job at the same timewas exhausting them. Mysteria cuts right to the chase. The most important thing in her response was this direct reference to slavery days. And this idea of every soul for himselfan individualistic response that transcends gender.

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That is a complete and total departure from any other advice column I looked at that was published at the time, where unless somebody was describing real physical violence done against them, white columnists would counsel staying together for the childrenan assumption of womens inherent dependence. With Mysteria, its almost the opposite.  So often, Mysteria would say: You are better off getting a job yourself, and doing with the money what you will, than relying on your unreliable husband.

Theres a very clear recognition that Black womens employment patterns in the 1920s were very different from white womens; they were a major part of the labor force, and so this advice she gave wasnt unreasonable. For Mysteria, individual rights are the most important, the most constant thing in this letter writers life. Not the husband, or the marriage, but herself.
The countrys largest union of registered nurses is not happy with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Nurses United has condemned the CDC for its new guidance that says vaccinated people dont have to wear masks in most settings and has called for a reversal. This newest CDC guidance is not based on science, does not protect public health, and threatens the lives of patients, nurses, and other frontline workers across the country, National Nurses United Executive Director Bonnie Castillo said in a statement. Now is not the time to relax protective measures, and we are outraged that the CDC has done just that while we are still in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in a century.

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In addition to hurting nurses and other frontline workers, the new guidance will also disproportionately affect people of color, the union said. There has been so much inequity in the vaccine rollout and racial inequity in who is a frontline worker put most at risk by this guidance. The impact of the CDCs guidance update will be felt disproportionately by workers of color and their families and communities, NNU President Zenei Triunfo-Cortez said.

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A continued high number of Covid cases in the U.S.

Circulation of Covid variants of concern

Unanswered questions about vaccines



These are just a few of the concerns nurses have with the new @CDCgov guidelines.



Read the full statement: https://t.co/zmOrfSS49z pic.twitter.com/D1ODQfEUId  NationalNursesUnited (@NationalNurses) May 15, 2021

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Although vaccination is important, it is hardly the only thing necessary to control the spread of COVID-19. This is a huge blow to our efforts at confronting this virus and the pandemic, Castillo said. The mask is another lifesaving layer of protection for workers. Jean Ross, who is also a president of NNU said that if the CDC had fully recognized the science on how this deadly virus is transmitted, this new guidance would never have been issued. The union, which represents some 170,000 nurses across the United States, pointed out that more than 35,000 new COVID-19 infections are detected daily, more than 600 people die every day from the virus, and there is increasing concern about variants that are more transmissible, deadlier, and may already be or may become vaccine resistant.

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The union also criticized the CDC for other things, including its decision to stop tallying infections among those who have been vaccinated unless they result in hospitalization or death. That information is necessary to understand whether vaccines prevent asymptomatic/mild infections, how long vaccine protection may last, and to understand how variants impact vaccine protection, the union said.

The criticism from the union comes shortly after the CDC on Thursday surprised Americans with new recommendations saying that vaccinated people could go maskless in most settings. It based its recommendation on studies that found few vaccinated people become infected and the vaccines appear to be effective against all variants that are present in the United States. The CDC said the new recommendations dont apply to health care facilities, public transportation, and other types of facilities, including homeless shelters and prisons. On Saturday, the CDC said schools should still universally require masks through the end of the school year. All schools teaching students from kindergarten through grade 12 should implement and layer prevention strategies and should prioritize universal and correct use of masks and physical distancing, the CDC said.
ORANGEDozens of family members, friends and dignitaries came to remember and pay tribute to Orange County native Andrew Maples Jr. as his portrait was unveiled inside the historic circuit courtroom on Main Street.

The Tuskegee airman gave all for his country during World War II.

Now, his likeness is displayed at the Circuit Court alongside those of presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor and James Barbour, all great sons of Orange County.

Capt. Maples, who grew up in the town of Orange, is the first person of color to be featured in a painting in the courthouse, which was built in 1858. His portrait was commissioned by order of Orange County Circuit Court Judge David B. Franzen.

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Declared missing in action in 1944 by the the U.S. Army, Maples, 24, never returned home.

He perished leading fighter aircraft on a bomber-escort mission to Hungary during World War II. His P-47 Thunderbolt went down over the Adriatic Sea.
(It was) a lot. Everything. Nervous. Everything, sad, scared, happy, excited, senior Tayber Meyer said when asked how she felt walking across the stage. All the emotions. Everything.

Others felt like they could finally let out their breath during one of the most stressful and unusual high school years.

It feels pretty good, senior Hunter Hayden said. Just relief really.

Still others are proud of themselves and their classmates, and look forward to seeing where life takes them next.

It was a bit of relief and excitement, and as soon as I saw my parents and my mom, tears were flowing, senior Anais Barraza said. Im just proud of myself that I made it. We all made it. Im proud of everyone in my class.

Whatever lies ahead for the Class of 2021, theyll always have their years at Gering Public Schools to look back on.

Longmore gave the class the advice of many of their teachers during her speech, but the one she left them with was from English teacher Tyler Thompson.
That way you can shop online and still support a local business, Dishman said. That has worked really well for a lot people.

Other businesses are seeking further guidance from the CDC.

Menards spokesperson Jeff Abbott providing the following statement: On the surface, thats great news. However, the CDC has forgotten to tell us how to tell the difference between a vaccinated person and an unvaccinated person. We are making inquiries and are anxiously awaiting their further instruction.

The news has been one of mixed reviews across the community and country as some people are concerned about eliminating mask usage too soon, while others say people who are vaccinated are safe and do not need to wear masks.

Area resident Rhonda Walker echoed the same concern Abbott posed to the CDC about knowing whether or not someone who is not wearing a mask has been fully vaccinated or not.

I went into Walmart this morning without my mask to see how it feels, she said. Employees and most of the customers were still wearing theirs, which I find admirable. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell if those without a mask that I ran into were safely vaccinated like me, or if they are simply anti-maskers or anti-vaxers doing what theyve been doing all along.
LR 107 also states that our state is opposed to the federal governments attempt to usurp the election process in our nation. The House of Representatives recently introduced H.R. 1, which would destroy protections on our elections such as voter identification requirements, periodic updates of voter files, and restrictions on fraud-prone ballot harvesting. This legislation would also take the right of redistricting from state legislatures. The Constitution states that election laws are left to state legislatures to decide, and LR 107 calls out the federal government for working to uproot that.

Senator Groenes resolution also expresses Nebraskas dissatisfaction with the federal governments plan to restrict the private use of at least thirty percent of Americas lands and waters, coined the 3030 Plan by 2030. In our state, 97% of our land is privately owned. As a state, we can not, and will not allow the federal government to take property away from our citizens without due process. Doing so would be a direct violation of the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.
Abbas holds first phone call with Biden, discussing tension in Gaza

Xinhua) 09:44, May 16, 2021

RAMALLAH, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday held a phone call with U.S. President Joe Biden, discussing the ongoing tension in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh said in a press statement that it is the first phone conversation between the two leaders since Biden took office in January.

Al-Sheikh said the two presidents talked about the heavy fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip, but the minister did not mention more details on whether Abbas and Biden discussed a truce to end the bloody conflict.

Also on Saturday, Biden held a phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Bianji)
The death toll in a tornado that hit Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province, on Friday, has risen to eight, while 230 others were injured, according to a press conference by the city government Saturday afternoon.



The tornado, packing winds of 23.9 meters per second, ripped through the Caidian District of Wuhan at 8:39 p.m. Friday, toppling some construction site sheds and snapping a large number of trees.

According to an investigation by the city, 3,568 people were affected by the disaster. Houses of 28 households collapsed, and those of 130 households were damaged.

A tower crane was bent to the ground at the site of a domestic waste incineration power generation plant, where a signal tower was also knocked down by the tornado. Workers' sheds at the construction site were damaged.

Li Shengchun, a 56-year-old construction worker who witnessed the tornado, said there were more than 60 workers in the three prefabricated houses when the storm tore them down.

"It became stormy and dark all of a sudden. I felt the house shook, and in a few seconds, the second floor collapsed to the ground," said Li.

By Saturday noon, more than 170 people injured in the tornado were being treated in hospitals in Wuhan.

According to the city's fire and rescue department, 178 rescuers helped by 33 fire engines, seven sniffer dogs and several life detectors were searching for trapped people.

The local power grid has sent staff to fix the glitches of power lines damaged in the tornado, and repair works are still going on.

The municipal government has urged an all-out effort to save lives, assess losses, and repair water, electricity, gas and communication facilities. The city has mobilized people to check the safety of public facilities, old residential areas, dilapidated buildings in rural areas and construction sites.

Meanwhile, a tornado wreaked havoc in Suzhou in east China's Jiangsu Province on Friday. The Suzhou municipal bureau of emergency management has verified four deaths and 19 others injured in Shengze Town. A total of 84 households and 17 companies sustained damage in the disaster, which also caused power outages, the bureau added.


Since 2014, the overall crime index in Iredell County dropped nearly 40 percent, and Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell said the reason for that drop is multi-faceted but simple.

He said targeting repeat offenders and a dedicated staff are reasons behind the decrease in the crime numbers.

We have some really good officers that are dedicated and proactive rather than reactive, he said. We have top tier law enforcement officers.

And, he said, getting repeat offenders off the streets is a priority, and that in turn helps lower crime rates.

The latest statistics, from 2019, show a decrease of 26 percent. That percentage is a decrease from the 2018 numbers, Campbell said.

The crime statistics are part of a report that will be available at the sheriffs office and on the website, www.iredellsheriff.com, when it is printed. That should be within the next few weeks, Campbell said.

The annual report, Campbell said, is put together not because of a requirement but is simply something he wants to do to let the public know about crime numbers and the functions of the sheriffs office.

The more than 50 page report details activities of each division in 2020.

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As a single parent, it often was hard for Rheanna Walker to make time for her 2-year-old daughter, manage tantrums and get her on a sleep schedule.

Walker, 34, began attending a parent support group through Columbia Wellness a couple months ago, which has helped teach her how to deal with different scenarios and better take care of her daughter.

Its really not just focused on the kids but focused on the parents as well, she said. Theyre willing to be there and its all about helping you to be a better parent. Its really beneficial.

Columbia Wellness offers Incredible Years parenting groups as part of its CARE Program, or Coordinating Agencies Response to Early Childhood Needs. The program serves parents and children from birth to 8-years-old in in Cowlitz, Wahkiakum and south Lewis counties.

The free programs focus on early assessment, identification and intervention of emotional, social and behavioral needs, said Program Manager Megan Huffman. Along with the parent support groups, the program includes individual and school-based therapy, assessments and referrals.

+2 All Washington public schools expected to offer in-person full-time classes for the fall, state department of health says However, while the new guidance for next year call to continue to aim for physical distancing of at least three feet between students in classroom settings and at least six feet in most situations outside of the classroom, "physical distancing recommendations should not prevent a school from offering full-time, in person learning to all students/families in the fall."

Anxious kids

Throughout the pandemic, Columbia Wellness has seen an increase in parents interested in the programs as some are seeing more behavioral challenges in children at home because they havent had a normal schedule, Huffman said. Columbia Wellness also has seen more young elementary children with social anxiety.

We have really seen kids are just having a hard time focusing, paying attention, especially with online learning, Huffman said. Parents really struggled because they have to learn these things and they feel the stress of academics. A lot has been trying to normalize what theyre going through. Having a relationship with their child is much more beneficial than them knowing these academics.

Huffman said the pandemic has taken a toll on younger childrens social skills, such as knowing how to share and controlling aggression.

Several studies conducted in the past year have found the pandemic has affected parents and childrens mental health. In a June 2020 survey, 27% of parents reported worsening mental health and 14% reported worsening behavioral health for their children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Columbia Wellness has tried to connect families in the program with other community resources if theyve lost a job or need food, Huffman said.

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COVID-19 toll on mental health expected to increase Crisis counselors say the COVID-19 pandemic comes up during almost every call to the Columbia Wellness crisis linea recurring sign of the ong

Parent courses

The organization received a five-year grant in August 2019 for the program. The first parent groups gathered in mid-March 2020, and theyve met virtually since, Huffman said. The online meetings are convenient for parents, because they can join without worrying about childcare or transportation, she said.

Columbia Wellness has completed six parenting classes so far, with another set to begin in June, Huffman said.

The program also includes a nurse navigator who works with Child and Adolescent Clinic to connect patients with behavioral health services.

Weve had an increase in not only referrals, but people following through with the program because were able to get to them right away, Huffman said.

First-time parent Anna Oman said she joined the toddler program to get all the information she could to help take care of her 15-month-old son.

It just covers so much great stuff you dont normally get to learn about, she said. For example, it talks about how to get the best behaviors from your toddlers, when to praise them and when to ignore behaviors and try not to cause tantrums. Thats one of my main goals.

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Walker said she enjoyed interacting with other parents in the group.

I liked it because you also get to talk with other parents experiencing the same things and who had ideas of their own that were really helpful, she said. Classes are very relaxed and you feel like you have a lot of support. If youd ever need anything theyd be there for you, like part of a family.

Both Walker and Oman encouraged other parents of young children to try the programs.

One of the things parents should remember is its OK and its normal to reach out for some parenting groups, Huffman said. Its normal to do class, its relatable and helps them remember that theyre not alone. Someone else is struggling with the same behaviors.

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One of the most frustrating things about browsing the web is having to solve compulsory CAPTCHA challenges on websites that are designed to differentiate between real users and bots. If youre tired of attempting bothersome requests to identify boats in a picture, here is some good news  American web security and network services provider Cloudflare says it wants to completely get rid of the service.

CAPTCHA, or Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart, has actually helped several websites protect themselves from bots and automated services from flooding their systems and protecting them from being overloaded to deny services to real, human users.

Also read: PlayStation 5 scalpers use bots to hunt down scarce consoles

However, these challenges are quite time-consuming  according to Cloudflares research, a user takes an average of 32 seconds to complete one. With over 4.6 billion users, the company says that even if a user sees a CAPTCHA every 10 days, 500 human years wasted every single day  just for us to prove our humanity, the company says.

Here's what Cloudflare's new CAPTCHA replacement looks like. (Cloudflare)

In order to rid the world of bothersome CAPTCHAs, Cloudflare has a plan in place. Today marks the beginning of the end for fire hydrants, crosswalks, and traffic lights on the Internet, the company said, adding that it would replace CAPTCHA challenges with Yubikeys  also known as trusted USB keys. By using Cryptographic Attestation of Personhood, the company says it will reduce your authentication to five seconds and three clicks to prove you arent a bot.

Users will visit a website that shows them a challenge  such as cloudflarechallenge.com and then click I am human (beta). Cloudflare will then show them a prompt asking them to plug in their Yubikey or other trusted USB device (or tap it to their phone with NFC). If the authentication succeeds, the user is admitted inside without any CAPTCHA challenge.

Read more: Cloudflare service outage disrupts Internet, problem fixed

Cryptographic Attestation of Personhood will work on all browsers on iOS 14.5, Windows, macOS and Ubuntu, while Android users will have to use Chrome, according to Cloudflare. Users who already have a Yubikey or similar hardware security key can visit Cloudflares example site to see how the feature could look once it is ready, and provide feedback to the company.
The Battle of Midway (1942): Veteran director John Ford expected to make a human interest documentary about the men who guarded Midway Island when he was sent there to film. While he was there one of the key battles of World War II broke out, and he and his small crew scrambled to capture everything they could on film. The resulting 18-minute documentary ends up being an interesting combination of rousing battle footage and some of those human interest cameos. Its interesting to note that Ford was reportedly also filming on the beach in Normandy on D-Day.

Prelude to War (1942): Director Frank Capras first contribution to the propaganda film effort during World War II was this gung-ho patriotic look at the contrasts between the vision of the world put forth by the Axis powers and that of the Allies. Like all of the documentaries from this period, youve got to watch it through the lens of history, but its still fascinating. I particularly enjoyed the use of animated maps that helped illustrate early aggression by Italy (into Ethiopia) and Japan (into Manchuria). (Germany would be the focus of this movies sequel.) Walter Huston narrates. Created specifically to motivate newly enlisted American soldiers, this movie was eventually shown to the public, and won the Oscar for best documentary.
The Nebraska Farm Bureau Board of Directors voted recently to join the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance. The group consists of organizations representing a cross-section of farmers, ranchers, forest owners, the food sector, state governments and environmental advocates who are working together to develop and promote shared climate policy priorities.

Farmers and ranchers are on the frontlines of climate impacts and we support how the alliance is addressing climate change. The alliance is united around three principles, support voluntary market and incentive-based policies, advance science-based outcomes, promote resilience, and help rural economies better adapt to changes in the climate, said Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue. The recommendations put forth by the alliance ensure farmers and ranchers will be respected and supported as society pushes for climate-smart practices.

He said momentum for climate action is growing in Congress, the administration, and the private sector. McHargue said a collective voice is stronger than any one alone. Advocating for the right policies, which include voluntary market and incentive-based solutions, according to McHargue, will help to prevent a move toward the punishing policies discussed a decade ago.
Mike Anderson, who owns both of Grand Islands Anderson dealerships, told the students: Being an auto technician is one of the most sought-after roles in our industry. Were really excited for you to come here and be a part of our organization and learn about how we do things here and get some real-world experience.

The apprenticeships real-world experience lasts through the summer and beyond  18 months, usually, Holley said.

Still, theres more school work on the horizon for these students as they embark on the automotive pathway. They still have advanced coursework to complete as they proceed through their senior year.

Following the internship, the students do not necessarily have to become automotive technicians, but the internship experience plays an important role in whether being an automotive technician is what they want to pursue.

Many past interns have found the career is right for them, including one of dealerships current technicians, Hulinsky said.

We have one guy still here who started in this program, she said. Its cool to watch.
DAVENPORT, Iowa  Lee Enterprises, a leading provider of trusted local news and information and a major advertising platform in 77 markets, including Grand Island, recently announced it has selected Alexa Wilson to be vice president  brand and strategic marketing for the company.

The position of vice president  brand and strategic marketing is new to the company, said Nathan Bekke, Lee operating vice president and vice president of consumer sales and marketing. Bekke said the key position was created to develop strategies to drive readership and subscriptions, engagement, and consumer awareness for the companys portfolio of branded local digital and print products.

Alexa is an exceptionally talented strategic executive with demonstrated success in building and sustaining superior digital media brands, Bekke said. Shes a great addition to our already strong leadership team as the company continues forward as the fastest growing digital subscription platform in local media.
LOUP CITY  The Sherman County Sheriffs Office is putting drugs on a leash with a fundraiser for their first drug dog.

Thanks to a $10,000 donation from Bullet Weights, the department is closer to getting a canine with Deputy Cody Hunt as the handler.

The discussion started three years ago, when Sheriff Michael Jepsen was Hunts field training officer.

Deputy Cody Hunt really enjoys this area and basically promised me he was going to stay for a long time, so I felt comfortable enough to go ahead and start the process of getting the drug dog, Jepsen said.

The canine will be used for search and rescue, drug interdiction and suspect apprehension.

Hunt said hes wanted to be a drug dog handler since age 10.

There is a significant need as far as we do have the lake over here, Hunt said. Through my experience thus far, weve had experiences where people have been lost, and the resources in which to track them or find them was kind of on a right now basis. Without that tool in your belt, it made the job even more difficult.

The fundraiser was kicked off by the Donations for Sherman County drug dog Facebook page with a goal of $20,000.
In Florida (where else?) a Hummer was a total loss after catching on fire with 20 gallons of hoarded gasoline inside.

A combination car thief/gas hoarder barely lived to tell the tale after crashing while being chased by the police in South Carolina.

The self-induced gas shortage quickly eased after a couple days  along with a $5 million payment to the cyberterrorists.

While that didnt affect our area of the country, it did bring back memories of 9/11.

While being glued to the television, I had the viewpoint of being able to look out the window of a third-floor apartment to a gas station across the street. Gas prices increased at least hourly, and the lines at the pumps kept growing as the day went on.

Hoarding is an intriguing phenomenon to me.

Decades from now, how will we explain to younger generations the one funny thing about the COVID-19 pandemic  the hoarding of toilet paper?

Have we figured out yet how that actually became a thing?

And I know there are those of you who still have roll upon roll in your basement storeroom that you purchased over a year ago.
The same can be said about the hundreds of seniors who will receive their diplomas during graduation ceremonies today at Grand Island Senior High and Northwest High School, as well as the Heartland Lutheran High School seniors who will have graduation ceremonies May 23.

We congratulate all the graduates on all they have accomplished. And we urge them to recognize that graduation is only the beginning. The schools ceremonies recognize all they have achieved during the years since they began their education. But this should not be the end of it. Many will be going on to seek college degrees and that will mean a lot more time spent in classrooms. But even those who dont plan to enroll in a college or university should understand that they need to be lifetime learners.

They will need to learn a lot when they join the workforce. If they decide to join a community organization, a nonprofit board or coach Little League, there will be much for them to learn, as well. And we all should dedicate ourselves to self-improvement throughout our lives, whether its through reading books or the abundance of information available on the internet.

Congratulations to all our graduates.

Welcome to adulthood.

Good luck in pursuing your hopes and dreams.
The Texas Legislature wrapped up this years lawmaking session on Sunday. Although members of the House and Senate touted wins for both Republicans and Democrats, tensions are rising between the legislative bodies amid criticism from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. What would you grade this years legislative session?

You voted:
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I was in charge of cargo documentation, in charge of Balad Air Field, and throughout that airfield, we had mortar rounds and shells because I was in charge of the 12 Sherpa planes, which is a 10-man plane, he said.

Green made sure supplies were stocked up.

The general didnt care how much they shot as long as they had rounds (of ammunition), he said.

We had vessels coming in and Id send convoys out to unload it and get it to us because I was at the logistical board area in Anaconda, he said.

But there were some close calls too.

Enemy forces sought to destroy supply lines.

Green said it was fortunate no one was hurt due to attacks.

He found strength within to get through those tough moments by praying, reading the Bible and singing a song called, I Have Jesus and Ive Got Enough.

After 11 months in Iraq, the Army redeployed him to Camp Spearhead in Kuwait City, Kuwait, at the Port of Ash Shuaiba.

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Thats were Green experienced some intense threats by improvised explosive devices, often called IEDs.
The paper is a public resource, and it is being used for campaign purposes, she said.

Green insists he did not start The Post to compete with The Voice.

Im not stopping them from writing anything, he said. But it doesnt have to be the only mechanism for sharing information in this community.

Harrison, the board member, also defended The Post while railing against coverage in The Voice. At the May 11 board meeting, she said shes interested in having The Post delivered to the homes of Fairfield residents.

She told The Post and Courier, If its not positive, I dont read it.

After hanging up on a reporter, Harrison took to Facebook that evening to alert her followers about what she described as the latest example of biased news reporting. She described The Voice and its publisher as bitter, insisting she had no intention of reading this article.

Besides, she added, We have our own newspaper.

For more on the UNCOVERED project, visit https://www.postandcourier.com/uncovered/

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Dickson stipulated that Crosby is to remain in custody until he enrolls as an inpatient at South Carolina STRONG.

A grand jury indicted Crosby on a charge of second-degree burglary, but he pleaded guilty to second-offense third-degree burglary for one of the offenses.

In addition, the grand jury also indicted him for petit larceny, but Crosby pleaded guilty to third or subsequent conviction of property offense with felony enhancement instead.

As part of Crosbys plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the following charges: criminal conspiracy, financial transaction card theft, obtaining signature under false pretenses valued at $2,000 or less, trespassing and two counts each of malicious injury to real property valued at $2,000 or less and petit larceny valued at $2,000 or less.

Crosby pleaded guilty in 2014 to forgery and first-offense third-degree burglary.

 Richard Edward Phillips, 57, of 3558 Neeses Highway, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty on Oct. 31, 2019 to violent second-degree burglary, malicious injury to real property valued less than $2,000 and petit larceny valued at $2,000 or less.

In a recent term of court, Dickson sentenced him to 15 years in prison, suspended to four years of probation.
Riddle began donating blood at age 18. She was also one of Mondays power red donors.

I dont donate on a regular basis, but I do try to participate in blood drivers or donate to the Regional Medical Center since they offer paid time off to employees when someone donates on their behalf, she said.

I lost a good friend as a teenager to an awful car wreck, Riddle said.

He spent nine days in the ICU and during that time there, his need for blood was great. His family requested we donate on his behalf, so we all did, she said. That was the first time I donated.

Donald Rickenbaker of Orangeburg began donating blood in 1977.

He participated in the Battle of the Badges for the first time and made a donation in honor of his daughter, ODPS Sgt. Angel Rickenbaker.

He chose to represent an entry for ODPS in the contest, saying, I believe in what they do and putting their lives on the line for the community. My daughters a sergeant for the Orangeburg police department as well so I figured Id come out here and donate for them and the community.
The problem that troubles me is the amount of hypocrisy in the churches that denounce homosexual relationships but turn a blind eye toward nonscriptual heterosexual relationships. For instance, divorce is allowed in the Old Testament Pentateuch but condemned in the Old Testament book of Malachi. In the New Testament, divorce is prohibited by Jesus Christ except for unfaithfulness by the offending spouse, and by St. Paul for desertion.

Yet even conservative denominations sometimes do not take the clear teaching on the subject seriously, even among the clergy, giving in to their desires and the wishes of their parishioners. Over the years, I've seen the negative consequences of liberalized teaching on divorce among fellow church members and truly sad effect on their children.

And what about viewing sexually explicit material? When is the last time you've heard a clergyman denounce that? Surely they know of the harm pornography has done throughout our society. Jesus did say that evil thoughts produced by evil mental images defile a person.
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Moments after the polls closed on Nov. 3, Liz Cheney learned she had won a third term as Wyomings lone congresswoman. She coasted to victory, earning nearly 70% of the vote against her Democratic challenger. She was the No. 3 Republican in the House, a position that afforded her and her state an outsize role in Congress.

But few people were paying attention to Wyoming that night. The outcome of the presidential election was still in doubt, with then-President Donald Trump doubling down on his unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud and corruption.

Though Cheney couldnt have known it that night, those allegations would soon put her on a collision course with Trump that would end in her removal from GOP leadership and censure by the Wyoming Republican Party.

Cheney and Trump had already sparred prior to the Jan. 6 insurrection. But that event made her the face of Republican opposition to Trump.

Its important for us to be clear about the extent to which what the (former) president is saying is really dangerous, Cheney said Friday in an interview with the Star-Tribune. And we cant sort of stand by and allow those claims to be made without standing up for the truth.

On Wednesday, House Republicans held a 20-minute voice vote to remove Cheney from leadership. The move was spurred by Cheneys vote to impeach Trump and her unrelenting push back against the former presidents false claims of election fraud.

Cheney describes her stand as an obligation to the oath she took to the Constitution and her role as a representative. But its come at a cost.

Polling and reports show that support for Cheney in Wyoming has plummeted. In the GOP primary last August, she won roughly 73% of the vote. At the end of April, 65% of Wyoming Republicans viewed her unfavorably. More than half of GOP primary voters said they would vote against her regardless of who challenges her in 2022.

While Cheney is now an outspoken critic of the president, it wasnt always that way. In fact, during Trumps term, Cheney voted with him 93% of the time. The 7% almost entirely consists of foreign policy disagreements, one of Cheneys hallmark issues.

The 2022 primary is now 15 months away. Is that enough time for Cheney to win back the support of Wyoming Republicans  who dominate the states politics? Is it even possible?

Winning back trust comes from emphasizing her history of supporting Wyoming issues and continuing in the future to vote along the lines she has, said Jim King, a professor of political science at the University of Wyoming. Ms. Cheney can maintain her position in Wyoming politics by emphasizing her history of representing Wyoming interests and her opposition to President Bidens policy agenda.

Loss of leadership

But Cheney will now have to do that without the stature that comes from leadership. That may matter less than one might think  at least in the long term.

Its definitely going to impact us. Having her in that position has given Wyoming inordinate power that it usually doesnt have, said Tim Stubson, a former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives and a primary challenger to Cheney in 2016.

Long term, Liz Cheney continues to be a pretty powerful voice in the Republican party who will probably continue to represent Wyoming to a higher profile than anybody else would, Stubson continued.

Cheney insists she wont be hindered during the remainder of her term.

I dont think anybody has ever accused me of not having the dedication, the determination ... to be the strongest voice possible for Wyoming, she said. I will continue to do that. I will continue to fight for those principles everyday.

She will still serve on the Armed Services committee.

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Wyoming continues to struggle through a severe downturn in its coal and oil and gas industries, which harms the livelihood of Wyomingites as well as the states revenue streams. That makes her work on natural resources all the more important for the state.

One of the states most powerful industry groups says it has faith in her.

As it relates to oil and gas, I have every confidence that congresswoman Cheney will remain a champion for us and will remain effective for us, said Pete Obermueller, the president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

Its usually better for Wyoming when our delegation has elevated status. We obviously have a very small delegation and they have to punch above their weight and they usually do. Thats true for Wyoming thats true for Wyoming gas, Obermueller added.

Cheneys position on the Armed Services Committee is also integral to the states future.

F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne will be the first of three locations to have its land-based nuclear missiles replaced, a move that is projected to create over 1,000 jobs and holds wide support with state leaders, in part because of its importance to the countrys future national security.

Rep. Cheney is still in a good position to push for Wyomings interests and our national security because she retains her committee assignments, said state Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas. Loss of leadership is less than ideal, but as long as the disagreement over last election doesnt lead to the Republican Party being unable to push through those necessary changes for our national security, then I guess Im less concerned about it.

People who know Cheney dont expect shell be muted by losing her leadership post. Shell continue to advocate for the state, regardless of status, they say.

You dont have to be in the leadership to be a leader, said Al Simpson, who represented Wyoming in the Senate from 1979 to 1997 and served as a whip for the majority and minority for much of his tenure. She knows what shes doing and Wyoming wont suffer at all.

A complicated campaign

Cheney has time to earn legislative victories for her state. But the question remains: Will that change voters opinions  especially those who are loyal to Trump and feel betrayed?

The congresswoman plans to defend her seat against a growing field of challengers including state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, and state Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper. The primary is 15 months away, and Wyoming is not known for its lengthy and high-profile elections. Nor is it common for the state to receive so much national attention  and outside influence.

I think that every campaign in Wyoming is a campaign about talking to people personally and directly one on one, said Cheney, who already has on hand $1.5 million in campaign contributions  about triple the contributions of her next two competitors combined. Thats what Im committed to doing this time.

The way the field stands right now  there are already a half dozen candidates and rumors that more could enter the race  her primary challengers could split the vote, giving Cheney a path to victory. A similar thing happened during the 2018 gubernatorial primary, when now-Gov. Mark Gordon triumphed over several far-right candidates.

This outcome might be more likely because Wyoming residents have the luxury of crossover voting, meaning Democrats can register as Republicans on primary election day to vote for their preferred candidate, and vice versa.

Democrats could end up playing an outsize role in Cheneys 2022 race. Her recent support among Democrats is notable, despite her deeply conservative track record. Cheneys favorability among Democrats nationally is 41% compared to 14% among Republicans. In a state where the Republican nominee typically sails smoothly to victory, its possible that many Democrats and independents will register as Republicans and vote for Cheney, accepting the fact that their ideal candidate will likely not win in the general.

After Cheney was first elected to the House in 2016, it took her only two years to rise to leadership. Up until the last couple months, she was viewed largely as a rising star. Its unlikely she would have put that success and promise on the line unknowingly, said state Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who continues to advocate for Cheney.

To me, I look at Liz Cheney as one of the most intelligent people when it comes to politics. Liz Cheney did not do this and not expect to have some sort of an outcome hit her, he said.

How Cheneys favorability and political future in the state plays out is a microcosm of the central question facing the Republican Party right now: Is there a non-Trump future for the GOP?

Cheney maintains that there are increasing numbers of Republicans who dont want Trump as the presidential nominee in 2024.

The most important thing for Wyoming is for us to be able to get our majority back in the House and the Senate and get the White House back in 24, thats the most effective way to stop the bad policies, she said. And in order to do that, weve gotta be able to get those voters back. And that requires being able to have these discussions about policy of substance and not embrace the lies about the last election.

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Yes, the state has the power to sell state trust lands, but is this the best we can do? Wyoming has always been negatively affected by downturns in the mineral industry, but we have always recovered. Lets be innovative and move forward, not reactionary with Land Swaps that dispose of some of our most wild and scenic public lands. This is a poor solution, and a permanent loss for the public.

One bright prospect for the state was announced this week by the U.S. Travel Association, which projects that around 72% of Americans are planning summer trips in 2021 as compared to only 37% in 2020. We are a favorite destination for many Americans, some of whom have lifetime dreams of visiting our state. Tourism is our No. 2 industry, and according to the Wyoming Office of Tourism, it created $161 million in taxes alone in 2020. Using the travel projections above, the amount of revenues from tourism this year may create $313 million, an increase of $152 million in additional taxes to the State. Those taxes paid by tourists in just one year are over $68 million more than has been raised through land swaps and sales for the Common School Permanent Trust Fund since the program started in 2006.
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But the details about the spending remain murky. The ledgers contain very broad information, but doesnt have the specifics that would allow a taxpayer to know whether their dollars were used effectively. And theres anecdotal evidence to suggest with that much money floating around, some of it wasnt spent as it was intended. Reporting by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle found that more than 200 businesses were told to return relief aid following third-party audits (the state plans to use that money for other eligible expenses). Thats not to say those audits necessarily found something egregious  some businesses miscalculated their projected losses, for example  but it does suggest that with two relief packages totaling $2.25 billion, its important to keep a close eye on the money.

Also consider that relief aid has sometimes been slow to reach those who need the help. Earlier this year, we learned that the Wyoming Community Development Authority had distributed only a fraction of the relief money earmarked for renters and mortgage holders. That problem, officials said, was tied to guidelines that were too restrictive. But regardless of the explanation, the delay meant struggling renters didnt receive aid as quickly as they could have. Officials need to make sure that guidelines this time are easier to navigate, not just for rental relief, but for the entire aid package.
Editor:

On the May 8, 1945, in the town of Rheims, France, two German generals signed the unconditional surrender of all German armed forces. Also present were generals from Britain, the United States and France.

Thanks to satellite radio, I was listening to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and they commemorated by playing live interviews of some of their soldiers recorded on that faithful day. Canada, you know! That socialist country north of us!

While driving, my emotions took the better of me and tears came out. The reason was that 76 years later it seems that all the people who died, got injured, fought in that most deadly conflict was in vain. 76 years later I am stunned that the death and incarceration in German concentration camps of some members of my family who fought fascism, was for nothing.

Bodies of Wyomingites will forever be on European soil, and for what? Those of you who deny everything, wear swastikas, espoused views which are full of hate for anybody who has a brown skin, who are fearful of losing your white supremacy, you are the spiritual heirs of German fascism.

Shame on you. I am convinced that some of you have had fathers and grandfathers fighting and even dying to defeat fascism, how can you insult your own blood? Do me a favor, if you a have a picture of them, somewhere, look at them, apologize to them and ask for their forgiveness. That great generation cannot have die in vain. Alas, for some of you it has.

YVES DESGOUTTES, Wilson

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CAL COLOURS: The image of a Boeing Max 8 aircraft, painted in the colours and with the logo of majority State-owned Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL),

that was circulating on social media earlier this month.
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Tobagonians are being urged not to show up at the health centres to request Covid-19 vaccines as vaccinations are being done by appointment only on the island.

Speaking at yesterdays Covid-19 news conference in Tobago, general manager of primary care at the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) Dr Roxanne Mitchell said some people descended on health centres on Wednesday, demanding to be vaccinated on a walk-in basis.
My son, in his ever-increasing efforts to make sure Im relatively safe during this pandemic, sent me two packets of masks from the USA. His concern is especially so since I am over 80 and live alone.
Two weeks ago, Belize police Senior Supt Henry Jemmott was shot through the head with his service weapon in San Pedro, an offshore tourist paradise.

Held for the killing was 32-year-old Jasmine Hartin, a glamorous Canadian.
On the first day of a childs formal education at school, the child is wrapped in a prayer shawl so they dont see anything impure. Upon reaching school, the child is taught the first letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Traditionally, those letters are coated with honey, which the child licks, to remember the sweetness of the Torah.

The child is given a honey cake and an egg, on both of which are written verses extolling the virtue of study. Then, all those assembled throw candies upon the child, which  the child is told  are a gift from the Angel Michael.

All this is deeply meaningful during any time of the year, but all the more so as we prepare for Shavuot, the Jewish holiday that marks the day upon which God gave us the Torah.

On Shavuot, which begins in the evening of Sunday, May 16, and ends in the evening of Tuesday, May 18, we remember the key role children play in carrying on our tradition  when God asked for guarantors before entrusting the Jews with the Torah, our children stepped up. Their dedication to study is what has kept the flame of Judaism alive.

And thats why the Rebbe  Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory  encouraged every Jewish adult and child to go to synagogue on Shavuot to hear the reading of the Ten Commandments.
All indications are that we will have more demand for groundwater as Colorado River supplies for the Central Arizona Project shrink because of climate change and increased development, said Sarah Porter, the Kyl Centers director and one of the studys co-authors. Arizona will move into deeper overpumping if steps to fix it are not taken soon, Porter said.

It is not too late for a course correction, the study says, but that will require that Arizonans face the truth and make bold choices. It will also demand courageous leadership.

Dropping, like Lake Mead

The report compares our aquifers to the iconic images of the bathtub ring around Lake Mead, caused by falling water levels that have been viewed by millions around the country and the world.

If aquifers were equally visible, rather than underground, many of them would be showing similar signs of stress as groundwater levels fall, the aquifers collapse, land subsides, and minerals and pollutants concentrate in the diminished supply that is left, the report says.

The study is titled The Myth of Safe Yield, said co-author Kathleen Ferris, a Kyl Center senior research fellow.
Louise successfully ran for a seat in the Arizona House of Representatives in 1920, serving two one-year terms.

Chairing the Education Committee, she was instrumental in initiating and developing educational reforms across the state such as establishing the state school board and securing permanent funding for Arizonas educational system.

She is also credited with securing passage of Bill 170, known as the Nameless Child Bill, that provided financial and educational support for illegitimate children.

According to a 1923 article in the Arizona Daily Star, Bill 170 had been argued before the Legislature for several years but had little support. The bill provided that every child born in the state of Arizona is a legitimate child, requiring its father, whether wedded to the mother or not, to give it his name and to assume the responsibility of the care and education of his child. The child is also entitled to the rights of the children of the father by a legitimate wife and shall share in the heritance or properties left by its father.

Louise was instrumental in getting the bill passed through the House of Representatives and then personally delivered it to the Senate floor.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  It took nearly 15 years for police to arrest New York real estate heir Robert Durst in the killing of his best friend and another five to bring him to trial. After just two days of testimony, jurors were sent home when the coronavirus closed courthouses.

On Monday, more than 14 months later, the jury is returning to Los Angeles County Superior Court to see if they can complete their assignment. If so, it could be a first for the U.S. legal system.

The length of the stoppage is unprecedented and it's the highest-profile U.S. case postponed because of the pandemic, Dursts lawyers say. They have repeatedly  and unsuccessfully  sought a mistrial because they argued the delay harmed his chance of a fair trial.

Durst, 78, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his friend Susan Berman, who was shot in the back of the head in her LA home in December 2000. Prosecutors say he silenced Berman before she could tell police she helped him cover up the killing of his wife, Kathie, in New York in 1982.

Judge Mark Windham has called back the panel of 23 jurors, including 11 alternates, and plans to question them Monday to see if they can go forward with the case.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama called on the nation to support law enforcement officers as he bestowed the Medal of Valor on 13 who risked their lives. The International Space Station reached the orbital milestone of 100,000 laps around Earth, akin to traveling more than 2.6 billion miles in 17 1/2 years. Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns was named the NBA Rookie of the Year.

One year ago: As officials around the country cautiously eased more coronavirus restrictions, New Orleans allowed restaurants to reopen, but with limited capacity. Italy announced that it would reopen its borders on June 3, effectively ending Europes longest and strictest coronavirus lockdown just as the summer tourism season began. Democrats demanded that the White House hand over all records related to President Donald Trumps latest firing of a federal watchdog, this time a State Department inspector general; they suggested it might be an act of retaliation by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Todays Birthdays: Former U.S. Senator and Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker is 90. Former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats is 78. Jazz musician Billy Cobham is 77. Actor Danny Trejo is 77. Actor Bill Smitrovich is 74. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 68. Actor Debra Winger is 66. Olympic gold medal gymnast Olga Korbut is 65. Olympic gold medal marathon runner Joan Benoit Samuelson is 63. Actor Mare Winningham is 62. Rock musician Boyd Tinsley (The Dave Matthews Band) is 57. Rock musician Krist Novoselic (noh-voh-SEL-ik) is 56. Singer Janet Jackson is 55. Country singer Scott Reeves (Blue County) is 55. Actor Brian (BREE-un) F. OByrne is 54. R&B singer Ralph Tresvant (New Edition) is 53. Actor David Boreanaz is 52. Political commentator Tucker Carlson is 52. Actor Tracey Gold is 52. International Tennis Hall of Famer Gabriela Sabatini is 51. Country singer Rick Trevino is 50. Musician Simon Katz is 50. TV personality Bill Rancic is 50. Actor Khary Payton is 49. Rapper Special Ed is 49. Actor Tori Spelling is 48. Actor Sean Carrigan is 47. Singer-rapper B. Slade (formerly known as Tonex) is 46. Actor Lynn Collins is 44. Actor Melanie Lynskey is 44. Actor Jim Sturgess is 43. Actor Joseph Morgan is 40. DJ Alex Pall (The Chainsmokers) is 36. Actor Megan Fox is 35. Actor Drew Roy is 35. Actor Jacob Zachar is 35. Actor-comedian Jermaine Fowler is 33. Actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster is 31. Actor Marc John Jefferies is 31. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Ashley Wagner is 30. Actor Miles Heizer is 27.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
In Minnesota, the 8,500-student Edina Public Schools has quarantined hundreds of close contacts of students with positive results. The district began a Test The Nest surveillance program at its high school and middle schools in mid-March in an attempt to identify individuals without symptoms who are carrying the virus, spokeswoman Mary Woitte said.

But Nicole Schnell, of the group Edina Parents 4 Progress, opposes the expanded testing, saying a single positive case can lead to massive disruptions.

Schnell said her daughters, age 15 and 18, spent two weeks quarantined in the fall and another two weeks in the spring despite testing negative because they were considered close contacts of people who were infected. Her 17-year-old son decided to keep attending classes virtually because he didnt want to risk a potential exposure that might force him to miss the spring baseball season.

I have seen firsthand effects of keeping kids out of society, Schnell said, adding that one of her children was diagnosed with depression after being quarantined. We are not just talking about out of school. We are talking about out of any sport that they play, out of any activity, out of anything outside, out of seeing their friends, because of a potential positive exposure.

-

Sophia Tareen in Chicago and Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Before the pandemic, Native Americans made voting a social event on many reservations. It was one of the few times a year where they'd meet with old friends and chat about the government, community needs and their families. Tribal leaders give voters time off to cast a ballot and help get others to the polls. Campaigns courted voters with traditional food.

Even when they receive mailed ballots, many Native Americans prefer to drop them off on Election Day at their polling site, no matter how distant. Unless poll workers check for a signature on the spot, voters would have no chance to fix it.

Patty Hansen, the recorder in the state's largest county by size, said she's disappointed with the new law because it treats voters differently based on the error they've made.

We were headed in the right direction," she said. "Now it's being reversed."

Submitting mailed ballots earlier without a signature could mean an hours-long trip to make the fix, said Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren, who is Navajo. The new law says county officials have to make a reasonable effort to contact voters. Blackwater-Nygren said that could be problematic if Navajo translators, for example, aren't available.
Those underlying causes have never been erased, through 1948, when the Jewish state was born in what Palestinians call al-Nakba, or "the catastrophe;" the war of 1967 when Israel took control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza; the Palestinian uprisings at the turn of this century and the Gaza conflicts since.

As CNN's Ben Wedeman trenchantly observed in Bethlehem last week: "The young Palestinians throwing rocks, their fathers probably threw rocks too. And these Israeli soldiers firing off tear gas, their fathers probably did the same."

The two-state solution that was the bedrock of international diplomacy and enshrined by UN resolutions has become less and less viable as the West Bank has morphed into a patchwork of Palestinian towns and Jewish settlement, where occupation has begun to look like annexation. An in-depth report for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace last month described a two-state solution as the "scaffolding [that] sustains occupation and is structurally incapable of delivering peace and human security."

A one-state solution that would include full citizenry for the inhabitants of West Bank and Gaza is demographic poison to many Israelis and inconceivable in the current atmosphere.
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.
She also said McCarthy should testify before a bipartisan commission that is investigating the riot because he has key facts about Trumps state of mind on that day, including whether the former president knew the proceedings were turning violent and did nothing to stop it.

He clearly has facts about that day, that an investigation into what happened, into the presidents actions, ought to get to the bottom of," Cheney said. "And I think that he has important information that needs to be part of any investigation, whether its the FBI, the Department of Justice, or this commission.

Speaking about her future, Cheney said she now regrets voting for Trump last November and did not expressly rule out a presidential bid of her own in 2024, admitting that her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, would like to see her run though hes not objective.

At this moment, the majority of the Republican Party is not where I am, she said.

Cheney appeared on ABCs This Week and Fox News Sunday and Stefanik spoke on Fox News Channels Sunday Morning Futures.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Inhofian: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe got some attention last week with his own inimitable style.

Wrapping up a brief question and answer session with Environmental Protection Agency assistant administrator for water nominee Radhika Fox, the 86-year-old Inhofe said, I look forward to working with you, and if you dont behave Im going to have a talk with your daddy.

Fox, a first-generation American whose parents grew up in a home without running water, had moments earlier introduced her father and credited him with much of her success, then turned to thank him. So Inhofes comment was not quite as random as it might sound.

Inhofe smiled as he said it, and Fox laughed.

Many, though, found his remark patronizing and inappropriate  which is not exactly the first time thats happened.

Sen. Inhofe is always moved by the family stories of nominees, and was especially touched by Ms. Foxs tribute to her father during the opening remarks, Inhofe spokeswoman Leacy Burke said.

He made a lighthearted joke at the end of his questioning to recognize her father again since he was present for the hearing.
Regardless of whether you agree with his agenda or not, it is now clear that President Joe Biden does not merely want to tinker with the economy or with social welfare spending. He wants to go big.

If you are a mainstream Democrat, you probably think the presidents agenda is moving in the right direction (though more programs to help the less affluent would always be welcomed). If you are a conservative, all you can see is more spending, more government programs and higher taxes on business, which, you think, will hurt economic growth.

After presenting himself during last years campaign as a transition candidate to follow the volatile tenure of Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden has since his inauguration positioned himself as a transformational president, Peter Baker wrote in The New York Times after Bidens April 28 speech to a joint session of Congress.

The succession of costly proposals amounts to a risky gamble that a country deeply polarized along ideological and cultural lines is ready for a more activist government and the sort of redistribution of wealth long sought by progressives, Baker continued.
Are we just going to continue this forever? Jordan asked, referring to mask and social distancing rules. What objective outcomes do we reach before Americans get their liberty and freedoms back?

Leaving aside that Jordan spoke as though Fauci were to blame for imposing stringent measures on Americans lifestyles  in fact, those decisions are in the hands of local political officials  his demand for a certain date or specific statistic that would warrant the immediate lifting of all anti-COVID-19 mandates was scientifically out of place.

Fauci tried patiently to set him right, without success. Youre indicating liberty and freedom, he replied. I look at it as a public health measure to keep people from dying... This will end, for sure, when we get the level of infection very low.

Some debate the precise percentage point of inoculation in the U.S. population that will trigger herd immunity. Getting hung up on that particular number isnt a worthwhile exercise.

Simply stated, the higher the percentage of people who have been vaccinated, the faster transmission will fall. New cases will decline even before the population reaches full herd immunity  as has been happening.
After two years of intensely studying the roots of Tulsas homeless population, advocates know the priority and most significant solution: housing.

Thousands of Tulsans have no permanent home, a drag on our citys self-image, public health and economic growth.

But this is a problem we can solve. We know how. The remedy to homelessness is providing homes.

Tulsa needs more affordable and low-income housing to serve a spectrum of needs from multi-children families facing misfortune to single adults with mental health needs. Right now, the city needs about 4,000 units to house all the Tulsans living without permanent shelter.

The number was derived through the data collection centralized at the nonprofit Housing Solutions, the lead agency to implement the citys strategic housing plan.

Tulsas approach to addressing homelessness has shifted through the decades as shelters expanded and programs targeted niche populations such as families, veterans or those needing different levels of supportive care.
A South Korean - Vietnamese joint venture has announced its recall of more than 23,000 Hyundai Tucson cars in Vietnam for free replacement of anti-lock brake fuses.

A total of 23,587 cars of the Hyundai Tucson model are subject to the recall, which is scheduled for May 17, 2021 to May 17, 2050, Hyundai Thanh Cong Vietnam Auto Joint Venture Joint Stock Company (HTV) said on Saturday.

They include 3,213 imported cars, manufactured from July 2015 to May 2020, and 20,374 autos that were locally assembled from August 2017 to December 2020.

The faulty cars belong to the 2.0 petrol and 2.0 diesel versions, HTV said.

Drivers of such cars may be warned by illuminated warning lights or ABS (anti-lock braking system) lights on the dashboard, and in some cases, when under extreme conditions, the circuit board of the Hydraulic and Electronic Control Unit (HECU) of the ABS may be short-circuited, causing a fire to the HECU, the carmaker said.

The reason for such problems comes from the ABS fuse that is the 40-ampere current-limiting type with high current limitation, which fails to protect the circuit in some over-capacity circumstances.

However, no incidents due to this technical fault have been recorded in Vietnam so far, HTV said.

Recalled vehicles will have their current ABS fuses replaced with the 25- or 30- ampere ones to ensure appropriate capacity, the automaker said.

The software that operates the vehicles electronic stability control (ESC) will also be updated.

HTV will contact and invite car owners to their garages for free-of-charge replacement of ABS fuses and ESC software updating, which are expected to take less than 30 minutes in total.

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A young monk from Thua Thien-Hue Province has been tutoring students in Vietnamese literature in preparation for Vietnam's national high school graduation examination for free to nurture his passion for teaching.

Every Thursday and Sunday, monk Minh Giang of Huyen Khong Pagoda in Huong Tra Town holds an afternoon class for around 20 students.

At the same time, via Facebook and YouTube, hundreds of other students nationwide attend his virtual lecture.

Before being ordained, monk Minh Giang used to teach classes for vulnerable children in Hanoi.

After entering the monastic life, he was urged to do something that nurtures his passion for teaching and helps students.

At first, I taught only monks and nuns and shared videos of my lectures on YouTube and Facebook which were warmly welcomed by students," said monk Minh Giang.

"Some people suggested that I take one step further by opening an in-person, public class.

"I decided to give a try.

It was also when students started studying online due to COVID-19."

To maintain the class, monk Minh Giang has spent time on developing the syllabus, doing in-depth research and also updating his lectures to make them more insightful and relevant.

Therefore, he requests his students to be hard-working, proactive, and independent in learning.

As I am young, I want to devote my time and energy to serving people, especially in helping students pass the exam," he said.

"It is my happiness.

I am planning to offer other courses on history, geography, and civic education in the near future."

The national high school graduation examination is held annually by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Students consider it a life-changing exam because it is also used as a college placement test.

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While content creators and app developers for YouTube, Facebook, and Apple, among other big tech platforms, are under the Vietnamese taxmans scrutiny for their income from e-commerce activities, a drove of petty sales on cyber buy and sell groups are still slipping under the radar.

Various buy and sell groups, oftentimes entitled cho dau moi (wholesale markets), can be found on Facebook.

Each of them specializes in a category -- snacks, clothing, and the like -- or a specific item, durian, avocado, and others.

Cyber kiosks

When compared with a traditional market space, these buy and sell groups aggregate a seismic number of members, which often reach some six digits.

According to a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper correspondent, these groups allow advertisers to promote products on their platforms for a fee, usually collected as a membership charge.

The charge is not in place until the group grows to a decent size, as group administrators usually let sellers and buyers interact freely to grow the community at first.

To sign up for membership, sellers must submit their personal information as well as ID number, plus a specific fee. In return, they receive a number for their virtual kiosk in the marketplace.

In the most bustling groups, fees can go up to VND1.6 million (US$70) per year.

Members have the right to push their post directly to the groups feed without having to wait for administrators approval, while choosing the golden hours to run ads so that they can reach more customers, a group stated in its policy.

While non-paying members can still promote their products on these groups, they will have to wait an unspecified amount of time to get their posts approved.

In several cases, a group does ban no-paying members from advertising on their platforms.

Who will shell out?

Despite earning much from advertising, the buy and sell groups in Vietnam have paid a little amount of tax in recent years.

This negligence is partly due to the taxmans prioritization of taxing content creators and app developers, which share the e-commerce revenue category with online marketplace sales, said Ta Thi Phuong Lan, deputy head of the Tax Administration Department that is in charge of small and medium enterprises, business households, individuals under the General Department of Taxation.

E-commerce platforms, including buy and sell groups for traditional goods and services like food, drinks, and consumer products, will be monitored carefully in 2021, the tax official added.

The tax bodies are tightening the leash on e-commerce activities on the basis of the Law on Tax Administration, most specifically those in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi where trade is the liveliest.

As per the law, individuals who sell their own consumer items will not be subject to taxation, but other non-consumer items such as ships and yachts would require a certificate of origin to be eligible for sale.

Trading personal items would also be taxed if they are classified as business activities.

Trading platforms are obliged to collect information on sellers, including personal details and total revenue, and hand them over to the taxman when required.

In reality, most e-commerce sites are aware of the income of sellers on their platforms, even if the transactions are made in cash.

Requiring the platforms to file and pay tax on behalf of the sellers will be very convenient for the tax authority, as they have the legal position and cash flow to do so, Lan pointed out.

Draft law

The General Department of Taxation are collecting feedback on a draft law regarding taxation of individual sellers of e-commerce platforms, which offer two options.

While the first option requires sellers to pay their own tax, the other demands that the e-commerce platforms, including Tiki, Shopee, Lazada and Sendo, to file and pay tax for the sellers if they handle the cash flow from these shops.

The taxman will contemplate the optimal choice to maintain the strict regulation of tax responsibility in cyber marketplaces, while also encouraging e-commerce in Vietnam.

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Taiwan appealed to people to avoid panic buying of items such as instant noodles and toilet paper as new curbs on gatherings and movement took effect to rein in the spread of COVID-19 during a spike in domestic infections.

Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, on Saturday, imposing two weeks of restrictions that will shut many venues and limit gatherings.

While total infections since the pandemic began remain low at 1,475, the recent community transmissions have alarmed a population that had become accustomed to life staying close to normal, with no full lockdowns of the kind seen elsewhere.

In messages late on Saturday, the island's top leaders and economy ministry took to Facebook to say there was no need to hoard or rush to the shops, after people scrambled to stock up on basic goods, mainly instant noodles and toilet paper.

"After more than a year of preparation, the country's anti-pandemic materials, civilian goods and raw materials are sufficient, and the stores are also operating as usual to replenish goods," top leader Tsai Ing-wen said.

French supermarket chain Carrefour said it was limiting purchases of items such as masks and instant noodles in its Taiwan stores, asking people to buy only what they need.

The economy ministry showed pictures of warehouses piled to the ceiling with boxes of instant noodles, saying supplies were "like a mountain" with plenty of toilet paper and canned food to go round as well.

Leader Su Tseng-chang made a similar appeal on his Facebook page. He triggered amusement early last year, during a previous rush for toilet paper, by saying people "only have one butthole" and should calm down.

While not ordering a total lockdown, the government is urging people to stay at home as much as possible.

The health ministry brought out its dog mascot, a shiba inu called Zongchai, to reinforce the message on social media.

"Study Zongchai and stay at home," it said, showing pictures of the canine lying on the floor resting.
A whopping 165 domestic coronavirus infections were recorded in Vietnam by the Ministry of Health on Saturday, all found in sealed-off areas.

This is the biggest-ever daily increase in local COVID-19 patients since the Southeast Asian nation was first struck by the novel coronavirus on January 23, 2020, according to the health ministrys data.

Bac Giang Province in northern Vietnam recorded 109 of the cases, the ministry said in a report.

Thirteen local infections were detected at the Vietnam National Cancer Hospital on the day.

All of the domestically-transmitted cases were registered in locked-down areas which accommodate direct contacts of infected patients, the ministry noted.

Vietnam is batttling the fourth wave of COVID-19 that broke out on April 27.

The country has registered 953 domestic cases in 26 provinces and cities ever since, after having spent around a month without detecting any community transmission.

Bac Giang is in the front with 216 patients, followed by Hanoi with 213, Bac Ninh Province with 194, Da Nang with 123, and Vinh Phuc Province with 83.

Only one infection has been logged in Ho Chi Minh City in this wave.

Vietnam has recorded 3,985 domestic and imported coronavirus infections as yet, including 2,668 recoveries and 36 deaths, according to the health ministrys data.

Eleven were declared free of the virus on Saturday while the first pathogen-related fatality in eight months was recorded the same day.

Vietnam has administered almost 970,000 vaccine shots, most to medical staff and other frontline workers.

The Southeast Asian country confirmed 106 community cases in the first wave from January 23 to April 16, 2020, 554 in the second from July 25 to December 1, 2020, and 910 in the third from January 28 to March 25, 2021.

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Here are todays leading news stories:

COVID-19 Updates

-- Vietnams Ministry of Health confirmed 127 local COVID-19 cases in the northern provinces of Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Hoa Binh, and Dien Bien on Sunday morning, raising the countrys tally to 4,112, with 2,668 recoveries and 36 deaths.

-- A total of 977,032 COVID-19 vaccine shots had been administered to people belonging to target groups in Vietnam by Saturday. Over 22,500 people in the country have completed the two-dose regimen.

Society

-- Police in the southern province of Binh Duong on Saturday initiated legal proceedings against a 24-year-old man for arranging for a group of Chinese people to stay illegally at his house.

-- A woman was fined VND2 million (US$87) for failure to wear a face mask while using the shared elevator at an apartment building in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday.

-- Police in Hanoi confirmed on Saturday they had discovered nearly three metric tons of medical gloves originating in China at a local warehouse, while the owner was not able to provide relevant documents.

-- More than 33,000 sexual wellness products of unknown origin were found at a warehouse in District 12, Ho Chi Minh City and were later confiscated by police officers to facilitate their investigation.

-- The director of Hanoi Construction Investment Company No. 2 under the Hanoi Housing Development Investment Corporation has been dismissed from his position for violating COVID-19 prevention and control regulations.

Business

-- Vietnams export value of agro-forestry-fisheries products in the first four months of 2021 stood at around US$17.15 billion, a 24.2 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

-- Overseas Vietnamese sent home $17.2 billion worth of remittances in 2020, making the country the third-largest remittance recipient in the East Asia and Pacific region, the Vietnam News Agency quoted findings of a report released by the World Bank.

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Police in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Duong have initiated legal proceedings against a local man for hosting three illegal Chinese migrants at his home in exchange for money.

Tran Danh Tuong, 24, who hails from south-central Binh Thuan Province and resides in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong, has been probed for arranging for others to stay in Vietnam illegitimately, officers confirmed on Saturday.

A probe showed that Tuong was contacted by an unidentified man via social media in April.

Following their conversation, Tuong drove a car to District 12, Ho Chi Minh City to pick up a group of three Chinese nationals and took them to his house in Binh Duong.

Despite knowing the Chinese had entered Vietnam unlawfully, Tuong still agreed to let them stay at his home and cook their daily meals.

Tuong said he was promised VND2 million (US$87) per day in return for hosting the group of Chinese for three days.

In order to avoid being caught, he told the three Chinese to stay upstairs all the time.

The violation was eventually detected when authorities inspected Tuongs house on April 19.

As the Chinese were unable to present legitimate documents, they were sent to a quarantine facility in accordance with COVID-19 control regulations.

They were handed over to Chinese authorities following their quarantine period.

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A woman has been fined for failure to wear a face mask as a COVID-19 control measure while using the shared elevator at an apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City.

G., a 36-year-old resident at Green Hills Apartment Complex in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward, Binh Tan District, was fined VND2 million (US$87) for the violation, a ward official confirmed on Saturday.

On Thursday evening, G. was about to enter the elevator of the apartment building when she was approached by some security guards, who reminded her of putting on a face mask.

As the woman refused to cooperate, the security guards had to contact ward-level police and COVID-19 prevention and control officers.

She was eventually booked for failure to wear a face mask in public and was required to pay the fine.

Pursuant to Government Decree No. 117/2020, failure to don a face mask in public is punishable by a fine of VND1-3 million ($43-130). This is meant to force everyone to adhere to coronavirus prevention measures.

A woman is about to attack a security guard with a slipper at an apartment building in Ho Chi Minh City in this screenshot taken from CCTV footage.

In Decision No. 105, the Ministry of Health highlighted that all residents at apartment buildings have to don face masks immediately after exiting their flats.

Officers are also verifying two video clips believed to be recorded by CCTV at Green Hills Apartment Complex when the incident took place.

In one of the videos, a woman attempts to hit a security guard with her slipper after being stopped from entering an elevator for not wearing a face mask.

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Actor Craig McLachlan is set to return to performing, more than 3 years after allegations surrounding The Rocky Horror Show in 2014 made headlines.

McLachlan will star as Hank Williams in a one man play, Nobody Lonesome For Me, to be directed by Terry Serio in Adelaide later this year.

McLachlan was cleared of seven counts of indecent assault and six counts of common law assault in December, last night speaking out to Sevens Spotlight news special by producer Mark Llewellyn. It was the first time he has spoken at length publicly around the saga.

In the news special McLachlan blamed journalists for pursuing a #MeToo story following the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the US. Seven drew upon raw footage of 7:30 interviews (mistakenly referred to as The 7:30 Report) which showed actors detailing allegations from their time in the stage show -their faces pixellated.

The emotionally-charged and extended special heard from McLachlan and partner Vanessa Scammell as a united front, largely around how the charges have destroyed McLachlans life professionally, personally, mentally. He revealed he had entered a mental health facility, at one stage living in a crudely-furnished shipping container, and even attempted suicide.

Referring to miscalculations in weight he noted, Thankfully as it turns out, it didnt play out.

Later he said, There is still stuff to live for mainly this one (Vanessa Scammell) and Nessies dad.

McLachlan has repeatedly denied allegations levelled against him, but acknowledges backstage shenanigans were both communal and consensual on the Rocky Horror Show.

Not all the charges were addressed in the interview, but he maintains any stage kiss was part of the shows direction and fleeting (this contradicts claims made by some co-performers), and the special took a surreal turn when McLachlan -assisted by Scammell- even performed the song for Sevens cameras.

I was charged criminally for that kiss that I performed over 130 times prior to that night, he insisted.

Its outrageous. Three years, a good life gone.

There were also claims the saga had imploded The Doctor Blake Mysteries and thrown hundreds of people out of work (ABC had already cancelled the show, but Seven backflipped on plans to continue the series, opting for a one-off telemovie with Nadine Garner). An investigation by TV producers also cleared him of any misdemeanours in relation to the show.

On the weekend ABC and Nine published further claims, including surrounding The Doctor Blake Mysteries.

On social media last night many on Twitter slammed the special and called McLachlan out for narcissistic behaviour. Some lashed out at Seven for broadcasting the special, while others turned anti-ABC.

But there were also supporters, notably on McLachlans Facebook page where he thanked loyal supporters, who number in their thousands around the world.

Despite his being cleared by the courts McLachlan and Scammell referred to being robbed of a victory by Magistrate Belinda Wallingtons words in her judgment.

In the interests of balance, those comments found three of the four women to be credible witnesses, while one was not as clear in her evidence and there were issues of reliability. She found McLachlan not to be an impressive witness and noted her findings applied to the law as it stood at the time of the supposed allegations, adding it is possible the result may be different under current law. He was cleared on all 13 charges.

Craig McLachlan is yet to recommence pending defamation proceedings against ABC, Fairfax (now owned by Nine) and a former co-star.

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Caroline Crouch with her husband Charalambos Anagnostopolous and their daughter Lydia (Instagram )

Police investigating the brutal murder of a British mother in Greece have arrested a man.

Caroline Crouch, 20, was strangled to death in front of her 11-month-old daughter Lydia after burglars raided her home outside Athens on Tuesday.

Ms Crouchs husband, helicopter pilot Charalambos Anagnostopolous, was tied up and gagged.

Watch: Mom murdered next to baby in Greece by burglars who tied up husband, killed dog

A Georgian man has been arrested on the Bulgarian border in relation to the killing, local media reported.

DNA analysis has linked him to a burglary in Pikermi on March 7 when an elderly couple were tied up while raiders ransacked their home.

The couples property is just 20 minutes drive from Ms Crouchs home in the affluent suburb of Glyka Nera.

The suspect was arrested after trying travel by car from Greece to Bulgaria on a fake passport.

Social Media

Mr Anagostopoulos, who caught a glimpse of his wifes killer during the attack, will be shown mugshots of 30 suspects tomorrow.

He has previously described the murderer as tall, dark-skinned, overweight and under 30 years old.

Police believe that the killer was unaware that Mr Anagostopoulos saw his face but murdered his wife because she did.

When officers arrived at the couples home they found Lydia hitting her dead mother in an attempt to wake her up.

Burglars took 20,000 worth of jewellery and 10,000 in cash. They also killed the couples dog which was discovered hanging on the garden fence.

A rare 260,000 reward for information about the burglary has been has been announced by the Greek Government in order to encourage possible witnesses to come forward.

Mr Anagnostopoulos told broadcasters the attack has been a nightmare.

I wish no-one ever goes through what we went through last night. It was a nightmare, he said.

We begged the thieves not to harm us. We told them where the money was and asked them to leave us alone. The police will catch them.

Story continues

Police have connected 12 break-ins in the past six months around Athens to Ms Crouchs murder, the MailOnline reported.

There have been at least three other violent burglaries alone in the upmarket neighbourhood where the couple were attacked by raiders.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo News UK

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At least five opposition rebels have been killed after days of clashes in Myanmar, an anti-junta militia said Sunday, as Britain and the United States condemned the military's violence against civilians.

The country has been in uproar since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a February 1 coup, triggering a massive uprising which authorities have sought to quell with lethal force.

Some in the anti-junta movement have set up local militias armed with home-made weapons to protect their towns from security forces  which have killed at least 790 civilians according to a local monitoring group.

In the western state of Chin, the town of Mindat has emerged as a hotspot for unrest, where some residents have formed the Chinland Defence Force (CDF).

"We have at least five members killed and over 10 were wounded" this week, said a CDF spokesman, adding that five Mindat residents were also arrested by the military.

With mobile data blocked across the country, details about the fighting have been slow to come out, and on-the-ground verification is made harder as locals are fearful of retaliation.

The spokesman, who declined to be named, told AFP that CDF fighters set fire to several army trucks, destroying them, and ambushed reinforcement troops, while the military has attacked the town with artillery.

By Sunday, the CDF had retreated into the jungle, he said.

"We will not stay any more in the town... but we will come back to attack soon," he said. "We only have home-made guns. This was not enough."

He added that residents remaining in Mindat  which has been under martial law since Thursday  were afraid to leave their homes for fear of being targeted by the military.

The US and UK embassies in Myanmar sounded the alarm Saturday on Mindat's unrest, calling for security forces to cease violence.

"The military's use of weapons of war against civilians, including this week in Mindat, is a further demonstration of the depths the regime will sink to to hold onto power," the US embassy said in a tweet Saturday.

Story continues

The British embassy said the Mindat violence "cannot be justified".

"Evidence of atrocities should be sent to the (United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar) so perpetrators can be held to account," the embassy tweeted, referring to a committee that collects evidence of international crimes.

State-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday that a military tribunal would be convened to try "perpetrators of terrorist attacks" in Mindat.

Across the country, anti-coup protesters continue to march for democracy  with demonstrators in northern Hpakhant holding signs that said "Stay strong, Mindat".

(AFP)
Hamas militants, who have been firing rockets at the cities of Israel for a week, have so far only intensified attacks on civilian targets, while they themselves cover from retaliatory strikes with the bodies of children and women, so that there would be as many casualties among the peaceful Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as possible. Khava Nakhshonov, deputy mayor of the most attacked Israeli city of Sderot, said in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

First of all, she stressed that every moment of peace in these days is the calm before the next storm. "At the moment, I am not seeing any reduction in tension here in Sderot. The shelling continues. Although everything has calmed down a bit right now, it only means that soon the rockets will rush in a large wave. So we are not relaxing," Khava Nakhshonov said.

The deputy mayor of Sderot drew attention to the fact that Israel is responding to the massive attacks by targeted destruction of Hamas infrastructure, some of which is deliberately located in residential areas of the Gaza Strip. Our state, fortunately, is humane, and everything that is done is done with surgical precision. The Hamas aggression could have been stopped long ago, but terrorists are hiding behind the backs of the sick, children and women - including under hospitals and residential buildings. They are in schools and kindergartens. Israel is trying not to attack civilians, but it's hard to do that when the enemy is hiding behind their bodies," she said.

Khava Nakhshonov emphasized that Sderot, located just a couple of kilometers from Gaza, does not intend to give up and run. We, the inhabitants of the south on the border with the Gaza Strip, are ready to wait as long as it takes to disarm the enemy - the common enemy of our people and the Arab people. The Arab people also suffer from terrorists and Hamas and Islamic Jihad. We want only one thing - for civilians both here and there to live a normal life and prosper," Deputy Mayor of Sderot said.

It is important to tell the world community that Israel is not fighting the Arab people. Israel is fighting the terrorists who hide behind the Arab people, she concluded.
Russia is ready to provide a venue in Moscow for negotiations on Palestinian-Israeli settlement, head of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky said on YouTube channel Solovyev Live on Saturday, TASS reports.

"Russia supports a meeting of the Middle East Quartet. <...> However, the United States acted out yet again, saying that it was not ready for it," the lawmaker noted. "We are also proposing to convene another quartet, purely Middle Eastern this time from the geographical point of view," he explained. The lawmaker noted that he meant Israel, Palestine, Arab countries that re-established diplomatic ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia.

"We are ready to provide them with the venue in Moscow. We - [meaning] Russia, the Foreign Ministry, <>, the State Duma. We are in daily contact with our colleagues from both parties to the conflict," he continued.

The lawmaker again urged to undertake steps to convene the Middle East Quartet.
Vietnamese rice exporters have been urged to play a more active role in utilising free trade agreements (FTAs) to which Vietnam is a party to boost falling exports.

The country exported 1.1 million tonnes of rice for 606 million USD in the first quarter of the year, down 30.4 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, against the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The two largest buyers of Vietnamese rice in the reviewed period remained China and the Philippines.

Despite the fall in volume, rice export prices jumped from January to March on account of high demand for food reserves around the world, said Tran Quoc Toan, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)s Agency of Foreign Trade.

By the end of March, Vietnams rice price remained at a high of 547 USD per tonne, up 18.6 percent, or 86 USD, compared to a year earlier.

Rice exporters have been increasingly focusing on improving quality and traceability to meet the strict standards of markets such as the EU, the Republic of Korea (RoK), and the US, Toan said.

Vietnam has entered into various FTAs with strategic countries and regions, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and, more recently, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA).

He said that in order to utilise FTAs and boost the global market share of Vietnamese rice at more competitive prices, the ministry will continue to coordinate with ministries, branches, and the Vietnam Food Association to help businesses effectively implement deals and make the most of markets such as the RoK and the EU.

The MoIT will adopt mechanisms and policies to remove technical and trade barriers, internalise international commitments, customs procedures, logistics, and credit, and focus on branding to create a foundation for rice exporters to exploit foreign markets, Toan said.

He also urged rice exporters and farmers to be more active in improving product competitiveness in terms of quality and price as well as building and protecting Vietnamese trademarks, so as to diversify markets and promote sustainable exports.

VNA
This was a fourth consecutive year that Vietnam remains in the top 10 in terms of remittance.

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Vietnam remained the ninth largest remittance recipient globally with an inflow of US$17.2 billion in 2020, around the same amount received in 2019 and accounting for 5% of its GDP, according to the World Banks latest data.

This was a fourth consecutive year that Vietnam remains in the top 10 in terms of remittance, with the figure being US$13.8 billion in 2017 and US$15.9 billion in 2018. As a result, Vietnam received a total of around US$71 billion in remittances in the past five years, or an average growth of 6% per year.

Top 10 remittance recipients. Source: WB

India claimed the top spot in the top 10 with an estimated of US$83 billion, followed by China with US$60 billion and Mexico with US$43 billion.

In the East Asian and Pacific region, in 2020, Vietnam ranked third after China and the Philippines (US$34.9 billion)  the worlds fourth largest recipient.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, deputy head of the State Bank of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City expects remittances to Vietnam would continue to rise, referring to his estimate that remittances to the city reaching a record of US$6.5 billion this year, marking an increase of 15% from its previous record of $6.1 billion in 2020.

Minh said the rising volume of remittances, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, would help Vietnam keep its currency stable, while increases in foreign direct investment and exports would ensure sufficient supply of foreign currency, in turn facilitating governments policies supporting businesses to cope with negative impacts caused by the pandemic.

The Vietnamese dong (VND) was among the most stable currencies in Asia, with the USD/VND exchange rate fluctuating around VND23,200-23,250 per US dollar in the first quarter of 2021, around the same of last year. In this regard, other currencies have sharply depreciated against the USD, including JPY (-7.26%), EUR (-4.12%), THB (-4.5%), KRW (-4.19%), and CNY (-0.57%).

Vietnam received a total of around US$71 billion in remittances in the past five years, or an average growth of 6% per year. File photo

Critical lifeline for the poor

According to the World Bank, remittance flows remained resilient in 2020 despite Covid-19, registering a smaller decline than previously projected.

Officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached US$540 billion in 2020, just 1.6% below the 2019 total of US$548 billion.

The decline in recorded remittance flows in 2020 was smaller than the one during the 2009 global financial crisis (4.8%). It was also far lower than the fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to low- and middle-income countries, noted the bank.

The main drivers for the steady flow included fiscal stimulus that resulted in better-than-expected economic conditions in host countries, a shift in flows from cash to digital and from informal to formal channels, and cyclical movements in oil prices and currency exchange rates.

The true size of remittances, which includes formal and informal flows, is believed to be larger than officially reported data, though the extent of the impact of Covid-19 on informal flows is unclear, it added.

As Covid-19 still devastates families around the world, remittances continue to provide a critical lifeline for the poor and vulnerable, said Michal Rutkowski, Global Director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. Supportive policy responses, together with national social protection systems, should continue to be inclusive of all communities, including migrants.

With global growth expected to rebound further in 2021 and 2022, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are expected to increase by 2.6% to US$553 billion in 2021 and by 2.2% to US$565 billion in 2022, stated the World Bank.

Hanoitimes
The US announcement to support the waiver of IP protection on Covid-19 vaccine has not been the good news that was previously expected.

Last Thursday (Wednesday in the US), I was probably not the only one waiting for something in US President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech to both houses of Congress. Something would be new, as Mr. Biden had promised that America would reintegrate into the world, a world in a pandemic, and in need of commitment and strong action from every country.

US President Joe Biden. Photo: Reuters

Although the epidemic is out of control in India, Brazil and third world countries, Mr. Biden's speech did not mention anything about America's contribution and support to the global war.

President Biden's concession

"Biden is starting out his tenure bringing despair to millions who will have to wait years for a vaccine," said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at Yale University. "We need to crush Covid now, not in 2022, 2023 or 2024. Currently, Biden is punting, relying on theatrics - pledging 60 million doses from AstraZeneca (from the US stockpile) when billions are in need - rather than stepping up with a bold policy.

One bold policy that experts like Gonsalves refer to is the rapid transfer of patents and technical know-how to countries in need, in order to expand global vaccine production capacity.

Vaccinations in Bucharest, Romania. Photo: AP

Global health experts emphasize that the US government has spent tax money to invest in the development of vaccines. The US has fully funded Modernas clinical trial while Pfizer received a US$1.95 billion grant from the government, along with pre-purchase contracts to ensure profits for vaccine developers. This allowed the U.S. government to have greater influence over the sharing of licenses and know-how.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) also owns a number of vaccine patents, and Barney Graham, deputy director of the NIH's vaccine research center, told the Financial Times last week that everything released from a government lab will be subject to a non-exclusive license, so it cannot be intercepted by a single company.

When running for office last July, Biden pledged to "absolutely, actively" not let intellectual property rights prevent vaccines from being released to the world. At the time, Biden even criticized Donald Trump that protection of patents lacks "any human dignity".

But in the end, Biden gave in, avoiding confrontation with the pharmaceutical industry, and the US media could not find a clear answer from the administration about giving up the patent. Instead, US government agencies cited a $4 billion contribution to the COVAX initiative and Biden's future sending of 60 million doses of AstraZeneca to countries in need.

This is certainly not enough for COVAX's relatively conservative goal of immunizing 20% of the world's population in each country and for high-risk groups and health care workers.

On April 15, UN Under-Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called for an additional $2 billion by June to get 2 billion doses, but at that time India had not imposed an export ban on vaccines. And now, COVAX will not only lack money but will also lack vaccine suppliers.

Last October, South Africa and India proposed that the World Trade Organization (WTO) grant license exemption for inventions in the case of a national emergency based on the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This statement was developed based on the world's painful experiences from the HIV/AIDS crisis when countries did not have suitable medicines because of many years of patent restrictions.

New 'ghost'

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize receives a Covid-19 vaccination on February 17. Photo: Reuters

The proposal of South Africa and India has the support of 140 countries but none of the key countries that hold such patents, especially the US. The US government has tried to avoid it, and pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson do little when they do not receive the right signals from Washington.

The TRIPS proposal was also endorsed by the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) AdhanomTedros and the Director-General of the WTO Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Tedros warned that an "America First" approach would harm the US.

Foreign affairs experts have a similarly pessimistic view, noting that China and Russia are benefiting from their vaccine diplomacy and the US reluctance. There have been many public complaints about the weak access of the Biden administration to the global deployment of vaccines.

The gap between nations is widening, and a new ghost is threatening the world: the specter of global geopolitical agreements as it is dominated by vaccine-customer relationships, determined by the asymmetry in global supply.

It seems that geopolitical dominance changed the US administration's approach. What US Trade Representative Katherine Tai brought to the TRIPS session a week after President Biden's disappointing speech caused many people to be optimistic.

A short statement shared on the US Trade Representative's website and Katherine Tai's twitter, said: "The US supports the waiver of IP protections on Covid-19 vaccines to help end the pandemic as well actively participate in WTO negotiations to make that happen.

A bus transformed into a mobile vaccination site in London, England on February 14. Photo: Reuters

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom, on his Twitter, immediately called this "a great moment in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic" and said "it reflects the wisdom and leadership" of America.

Professor Matthew Kavanagh (Center for Global Health and Political Initiatives, Georgetown University) called the statement "a major and important change in the geopolitics of approach" and said that the changing US position would involve a host of allies, and in particular, would push Europe to support the initiative.

The world is in chaos waiting for more vaccines.

But things don't seem so easy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel immediately opposed the US position. This approach, she said, would create "serious harm" to vaccine production.

In a vaccine center in Paris, France on May 6. Photo: AP

The prices for shares of pharmaceutical companies such as Moderna and Pfizer began to fall following Tai's statement, but these groups are expected to eventually find a way to fend off the government's efforts.

Within the US administration, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week that officials are considering whether to promote US vaccine production with the goal of exporting instead of transferring know-how abroad.

And such mixed views, along with the WTO's consensus-based bureaucracy, are likely to prolong the time to reach an agreement. Negotiations are scheduled to begin in June, and by then, perhaps the pandemic in India or Brazil will have peaked.

The waiver of IP protections on vaccines is only a necessary step. Expanding the global supply chain based on open licenses will also require the support of vaccine manufacturers in terms of technological know-how.

Technology transfer and accelerating the global vaccine production chain to supply the world will actually protect the US and developing countries, but it seems that the lack of cooperation will make it difficult. This path has become longer. No one will benefit from this delay, other than the pharmaceutical companies.

Pham Quang Vinh

Vaccine nationalism Vaccine nationalism has become alarming, as politicians have criticized the previous US President Donald Trump for his "America First" doctrine.
Dr Do Pham Nguyet Thanh, born in 1995, an expert at the Biomedical Research Center under the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, has been honored as one of HCMC 2020 Outstanding Young Citizens thanks to her active contributions to the community.

Nguyet Thanh and students in Sri Lanka

As a volunteer at the Asia-Pacific Hematology Conference held in HCM City, Thanh, as the chair of the schools English Club, was assigned to support Dominque Bron, a professor from Belgium.

After the conference ended, the professor invited Thanh to Belgium to attend a 1-month training course. Thanh said the trip changed her life.

During the one month stay in Belgium, Thanh had opportunities to meet leading professors in their fields, attend the European Hematology held in the Netherlands, and most importantly, experience the Da Vinci Robot.

When Thanh was a second-year university student, she began conducting research and won several prizes. One of her projects was on a living organ community, for which she received a certificate of merit from the Minister of Health in 2016.

I learned from the model of California in the US, which has 50 percent of successful organ transplant cases in the world, she said.

The project analysed the current situation and difficulties in policies, culture and religion that Vietnam is facing, and recommended building a community for those who have registered for organ donation. These people will have opportunities to meet for information exchange and will serve as the ambassadors to the countrys media campaigns about organ transplantation. All the activities of the community will be regulated by the National Center for Organ Transplant Coordination.

In 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic appeared in Vietnam, Thanh joined the fight against the pandemic as head of the students team of the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine serving at the HCM City Disease Control Center in April 2020.

She carried out a series of research works on the lessons from the fight against Covid-19 at Bach Mai Hospital and in Ha Loi hamlet, which were Covid hotbeds during the first outbreak. Her work was examined by the HCM City Disease Control Center and used by the Health Department when setting norms to assess risks in the city.

With outstanding achievements and skills, Thanh has attended many youth exchange programs.

To date, Thanh has been to 18 countries and participated in six international exchange programs. She said all the trips brought experience and valuable knowledge.

I really appreciate their confidence in expressing their opinions and viewpoints of the young people from Singapore and the Philippines. Japanese are always responsible and attentive to every project and work, she said.

I remember the days in Tokyo when they stayed late at midnight, staggering to the hotels lobby to write teamwork reports, she said.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese tend to spend time in their fields of study or work, but they dont pay attention to social issues.

They believe that the countrys issues, especially political ones, dont have direct relations to them. They say they dont have time and dont have interest in the issues, she explained.

Dr Do Pham Nguyet Thanh, born in 1995, an expert at the Biomedical Research Center under the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, has been honored as one of HCMC 2020 Outstanding Young Citizens thanks to her active contributions to the community.

She said some young people today lacks the ability to explore, analyze and solve problems. The lack of inquisitiveness will hinder them from finding new knowledge or making in-depth studies that would contribute to the countrys development.

When participating in international science forums, the Vietnamese students face problems discussing political, economic, social and cultural issues of countries, the region and the world. They dont know where to search for official information. As they dont have deep knowledge about issues, they dont have viewpoints of their own to protect the nations benefits, she said.

Studying literature to understand peoples pain

Since her childhood, she has loved literature and she passed an exam for a literature majoring class.

She said literature nourishes her soul and helps her have enough words to express her thoughts and sometimes cheers her up when she feels sad.

It also helps her fulfill research well. If her studies are written in a good literary style, they will be more convincing in others eyes.

Perhaps because of her passion for literature, Thanh is easily moved and more sympathetic to people's pain. She once burst into tears when witnessing a mother whose infant had died because of inborn defects. She was moved to tears when seeing failed attempts to recover patients from cardiac arrest.

However, she has learned to accept that doctors sometimes fail in the fight with death. The most important thing is that doctors should always try their best.

Dreams about organ donation community

Asked about projects in the future, Thanh said she wants to implement a media campaign on organ donation and transplantation to increase public awareness of the issue.

She said the activities of the campaign would help increase the number of donated organs and improve the effectiveness of organ donations and transplants in Vietnam.

Nguyen Thao

Journey to Harvard by a Vietnamese student Graduating from Harvard University with a master's degree in Public Policy, Tran Ha Duong said that he thought the prestigious school was completely beyond my reach.
The Tokyo-Tshukoba urban railway line was funded by converting land in 18 projects along the route. The land price in these areas soared from $1 per square meter to $5,000.

The number of passengers in rush hours by 2030 on Nhon - Hanoi Station - Hoang Mai Line as predicted by Systra in 2008 and proposal by City Solution

In 1890, Societe fonciere de lIndochine set up a tramcar company in Vietnam. In 1900, the tramcar ran the first four kilometers from Bo Ho to Thuy Khue. By 1930, the company had six tramcar lines with a total length of 26 kilometers.

From 1954 to 1990, there were no spare parts, which threatened safety, so the tram was removed. The company incurred losses because of large initial investments and low ticket prices. It had bought land at low prices from the city, and had made a profit by selling the land later, when the prices soared after the tram opened. Houses and roads on the two sides of the routes took shape step by step.

Thanks to the implementation of the TDR (transfer of development rights) model, tram cars are a part of the history of modern Hanoi.

In 2006, specialists from Japan suggested setting up five urban railway lines with a total length of 193 kilometers. While the No1 line coincided with the Yen Vien  Ngoc Hoi railway (34.5 kilometer) and the No 4 line in the outer area (52.5 kilometer), the other 100 kilometers would coincide with the six old tramcar lines.

The problem was that in the central area of the city, there was no room for TDR. Land outside the city was allocated to investors for real estate development, so there was no more land for conversion.

Ten years later, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) submitted a transport development plan for Hanoi with 8 urban railway lines at a total length of 460 kilometers. Hanoi managed to build 20 kilometers of railway, but it has not been put into operation.

Hanoi can lease or apply TDR to collect tens of billions of dollars, more than enough to build hundreds of kilometers of railway and roads, preserve the urban space, and modernize urban infrastructure.

Hanoi needs to find an appropriate way to build new railways.

Land price differences

In 2019, Prof Dr Naohisa Okamoto from Tsukuba University gave a presentation on developing urban railway at a workshop in Hanoi.

He talked about the Tokyo  Tshukoba railway, 58.3 kilometers long, with 20 stations and investment capital of $8.2 billion. The capital for the railway network was expected to come from 18 projects along the lines, with the total area of 3,246 hectares. The land price is expected to rise from $1 per square meter to $5,000 after the railway opens.

The land conversion in Japan was just like Hanois TDR in 1890. The private companies that build expensive subways receive 50 percent support from the Government and local authorities, but they cannot get support for operation costs.

Only if they can make a profit will they be able to re-invest in research and development, and renovate and expand the system, thus creating motivation for competition among enterprises to improve service quality.

In Hanoi, the 4 kilometer line of the underground railway that links Nhon Urban Railway and Hanoi Station is under execution, while investors are about to submit another project that extends the route to Hoang Mai, 8.8 kilometer long (including depo), worth $1.7 billion.

The feasibility study for the project made by SYSTRA in 2008 predicted that the number of passengers getting on and off trains in rush hours would be 14,410 at Nhon Station and 17,610 at Hanoi Station. The number of passengers would decrease gradually at the next stations to under 5,000 at Hoang Mai Station.

In 2018, the World Bank (WB) released a manual on railway planning, which recommended that cities build railways only when they are sure of the number of passengers of 20,000 per hour per direction.

As the number of passengers at Hoang Mai Station was lower than 25 percent of the required level, it was not high enough to develop urban railways. In order to satisfy the travel needs and optimize the investments, the line from Hanoi Station to Gia Lam Station, with underground crossing at Tran Hung Dao, should have 4-5 times (more than 20,000) the number of passengers, raising the transportation capacity from 124,000 to 1 million passengers a day.

Cheap tickets still bring profits

The World Banks manual introduced the model applied in Quito, Ecuador. The city developed urban railways under the integrated multi-modal, multi-functional and multi-benefit transport mode.

A single fare is applied for the entire system, thus reducing travel cost, raising the opportunities for job access, and reducing poverty for the poor, women and disabled.

Jakarta in Indonesia also provides combined transport, integrated with the Jak Lingko system, on which people can travel for three hours at a price of less than VND10,000.

Hanoi is to release the Red River bank development planning in June. If Tran Hung Dao bridge and a safe embankment system are completed, there will be more than 200 hectares of land on the Northern bank of the Red River, from Chuong Duong bridge to Vinh Tuy for conditional exploitation.

Hanoi can lease or apply TDR to collect tens of billions of dollars, more than enough to build hundreds of kilometers of railway and roads, preserve the urban space, and modernize urban infrastructure.

Tran Huy Anh

Red River tourism awaiting to be uncovered The capital city has potential to develop tours on the Red River. However, it has not been fully tapped.
Professor, Dr Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, has written an article titled Some theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path towards socialism in Vietnam.

Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee (Photo: VNA)

On the occasion of the 131st birthday of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) and the elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level People's Councils 2021-2026 (May 23), Professor, Dr Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee, has written an article titled Some theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path towards socialism in Vietnam.

Here are some excerpts of the article:

In the past when the Soviet Union and the system of socialist countries still existed, there was nothing to discuss about socialism in Vietnam. However, since the model of socialism in the Soviet Union and many Eastern European countries collapsed, and the worlds revolution fell into decline, the issue regarding Vietnams path towards socialism was raised again.

We acknowledge that capitalism has never been as global as it is today and has also reaped great achievements. However, capitalism still has failed to overcome its inherent contradictions.

The social protest movements that broke out in many developed capitalist countries over the past time have revealed the nature of capitalist political institutions. In the developed capitalist countries, the so-called "free" and "democratic" elections cannot change dominant forces, although they can change the government.

We need a society in which development is truly for people. We need economic development in tandem with social progress and justice. We need a society of compassion, solidarity and mutual assistance, towards progressive and humanitarian values. We need sustainable development in harmony with the nature to ensure a healthy living environment for current and future generations. And we need a political system where power is really of the people, by the people and for the people.

National independence associated with socialism is the basic and cross-cutting guideline of the Vietnamese revolution and is also the key point in President Ho Chi Minh's ideological legacy.

During the years of Doi Moi (Reform), the CPV has been more and more aware of socialism and the transition period towards socialism.

So far, although there are still some issues that need further study, a general perception has been formed: The socialist society that the Vietnamese people are striving to build is a society of wealthy people, strong country, democracy, justice and civilisation; owned by the people; of a highly developed economy based on modern production forces and appropriate, progressive production relations; and advanced culture imbued with national identity. It is a society where people have a prosperous, free and happy life, and conditions for comprehensive development; ethnic groups are equal and united, and respect and help each other; there is a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people, led by the Communist Party; and there are friendly and cooperative relations with countries around the world.

To that end, we must: accelerate industrialisation and modernisation in association with the development of the knowledge-based economy; develop a socialist-oriented market economy; build advanced culture imbued with national identity, improve people's living standards, ensure social progress and justice; firmly guarantee national defense and security, and social order and safety; implement the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, diversification, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, and proactive and active international integration; build a socialist democracy, carry forward the will and strength of the great national unity bloc, combined with the strength of the era; build a socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people; and build a comprehensively pure, strong Party and political system.

A basic, important feature of the socialist orientation in the market economy in Vietnam is to combine economy with society, economic policies with social policies, and economic growth with social progress and justice.

In the socialist political regime, the relationship between the Party, the State and the people is the relationship between the subjects who share the same goals and interests; all guidelines of the Party, policies, laws and activities of the State are to serve interests of the people. The political model and general operating mechanism are the Party's leadership, the State's governance and the people's ownership. Democracy is the nature of the socialist regime, and is the goal and the driving force of the socialism building. Building a socialist democracy and ensuring that power truly belongs to the people is an important and long-term task of the Vietnamese revolution.

Being deeply aware of the Communist Partys leadership is a decisive factor in the cause of the Doi Moi and would ensure the country's development in accordance with the socialist orientation. We have paid due attention to Party building and rectification, considering this a key task that is vital to the Party and the socialist regime. The CPV has persistently taken Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minhs thought as the ideological foundation and the lodestar for revolutionary actions, and have taken democratic centralism as the basic organising principle. The Partys leadership has been based on platform, strategies, and orientations on policies and major guidelines.

Aware of the risks of corruption, bureaucracy and degradation, especially in the context of the market economy, the CPV has ordered regular self-renewal and self-rectification, and the fight against opportunism, individualism, corruption, bureaucracy, wastefulness and degradation within the Party and in the entire political system.

The Doi Moi process, including the development of the socialist-oriented market economy, has really brought about great and positive changes to the country over the past 35 years.

Apart from these achievements, there still remain shortcomings and limitations, along with challenges in national development. The CPV has been aware of these challenges. It is a very tough and arduous struggle, which requires new vision, new mettle and new creativity.

Both theory and practice show that socialism building is creating a qualitatively new type of society, which is totally not easy. Therefore, apart from determining the right guidelines and ensuring the Partys leadership, it is a must to promote creativity, support and active participation of the people.

On the other hand, while determining political directions and making decisions, it is necessary for the Party to study experience of the world. We must proactively and actively integrate into the world and materialise the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation, development, and multilateralisation and diversification of international relations on the basis of respect for each others independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit.

It is very important to remain steadfast and firm on the ideological and theoretical foundation of Marxism - Leninism. Such scientific and revolutionary features of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought are sustainable values that have been pursued and realised by revolutionaries.

They will further develop in the spheres of revolution and science. We need to selectively absorb and supplement them in the spirit of criticism and creativity.

VNA
The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced an additional 54 locally transmitted coronavirus cases recorded in Vietnam during the past six hours, raising the countrys 24-hour infection number to a record high of 187.

A medical worker is collecting sample for COVID-19 testing. (Photo: VNA)

All the 54 cases were detected in quarantine or lockdown areas, posing no risk to the surrounding communities, the MoH said in its 19.00hrs update.

Of the total, 24 cases were diagnosed in Bac Ninh province, which is not far from Hanoi capital. They were all closely tied to the current coronavirus outbreaks in Mao Dien commune, Thuan Thanh district, and Van Trung industrial park.

Elsewhere, 12 cases were documented in Da Nang city, seven in Dien Bien, six in Ha Nam, three in Hanoi and two in Hai Duong.

Vietnam has confirmed 1,139 community infections in 26 cities and provinces nationwide since the virus recurred in late April 2021.

Bac Giang takes the lead with 314 cases, followed by Bac Ninh (265), Hanoi (224, mostly at two centrally-run hospitals) and Da Nang (125).

The Ministry of Health has sent a contingent of professionals to help Bac Giang with contact tracing and extensive testing.

Bac Giang has also called for assistance from other localities, including Hai Duong and Quang Ninh.

Big outbreaks linked to the group of Chinese experts, at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, the K Cancer Hospital, and in Ha Nam have been brought under control.

However, outbreaks at six industrial parks in Da Nang, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang remain complicated.

VOV

National Cancer Hospital put under lockdown, more infections detected All three facilities of Vietnam's National Cancer Hospital, also known as K Hospital, in Hanoi were put under lockdown from 5:30am on May 7, after 10 COVID-19 infections were recorded in the hospitals Tan Trieu facility.

Bac Giang has recorded more than 314 for the past few days and the figure is expected to keep rising in the coming days.
He was about if you dont love students and you are not concerned about student progress, you should not be in this business, Manning said. Dr. Nelson was all about that. Student progress and success and teacher progress and success. That was the type of person he was.

In a statement Saturday night, Waco ISD Chief of Staff Kyle DeBeer said Nelson was committed to making sure every student had access to the "transformative power of education." DeBeer started at Waco ISD not long after Nelson and oversaw district communications.

"He believed that education (and particularly the support of an incredible teacher) altered the course of his life, and he felt a responsibility to pay it forward by opening those same doors for the next generation," DeBeer wrote. "He was a storyteller with a personality that could fill a room and the power to inspire. He knew that it took the community to transform a students life, and he cared deeply and personally about the members of the team he assembled to join him in that work.

"Tonight, there are so many - not just in Waco but across the state - who mourn his passing.

Nelson was instrumental in the formation of Waco ISDs in-district charter Transformation Waco, which was in part an effort to stave off state intervention in five local schools.
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (AP)  In a once reliably Republican Georgia congressional district that has turned into a swing district held by a Democrat, a GOP congressional convention on Saturday showed activists consumed by the unproven belief that Donald Trump had been cheated out of the 2020 presidential election.

We cant move on, said delegate Rich Kaye, who mounted an unsuccessful challenge for district chair in the 6th Congressional District of suburban Atlanta. Weve got to find out what happened, why it happened and what we are going to do to stop it.

It's unclear if that focus will spark a Republican comeback in a seat that was once the heartland of the state party, a swath of affluent suburbs once represented by Newt Gingrich. Democrats battered down the gate of the GOP bastion when Trump was in office, with Democrat Lucy McBath narrowly winning election in 2018 and then cruising to re-election in 2020.
Once again, our Trib-reading public was treated to an outstanding opinion piece in the Sunday edition,  Perils in simplifying debate,  written by Robert Baird, professor emeritus of philosophy at Baylor University. The subject was well-captured in the heading above it  Abortion: not a yes-or-no question.

Two years ago, I struggled with a draft on this subject, centering on the positive role of Planned Parenthoods mission statement of using education to prevent unwanted pregnancy to balance out its role in providing abortion services. After reading Bairds article, I am glad that the draft has stayed in my drawer, unsubmitted, and now in my trash bin.

Hypocrisy rules

Republican State Sen. Charles Schwertner says: Citizens need to be trusted. Do we believe people and our fellow man? Or should we assume them guilty until proven innocent? This was his argument that the government should not place requirements or impediments to prevent citizens from owning guns. The Texas Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott feel you should be trusted to own guns, but you are guilty until proven innocent when it comes to voting. Therefore, Republicans must search for a solution for a problem that does not exist. Hence, they must place even harsher restrictions on your right to vote.
The Israeli military said it targeted the home of Gazas top Hamas leader after nearly a week of heavy airstrikes and rocket fire into Israel from the territory ruled by the Islamic militant group.

Brigadier general Hidai Zilberman, an army spokesman, told Israels army radio on Sunday that the military targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, who is likely in hiding along with the rest of the groups upper echelon.

His home is located in the town of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza Strip. The military said it also targeted the home of Sinwars brother, with it not clear if the two shared a family residence.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out on Monday, while Israel says the real number is far higher.

Hamas and other militant groups have fired some 2,000 rockets into Israel since Monday, when tensions over a holy site in Jerusalem and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families from a nearby neighbourhood boiled over.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across the impoverished and blockaded territory and brought down a number of high-rise buildings, including one that housed The Associated Press Gaza office.

The latest round of fighting  the worst since the 2014 Gaza war  has killed at least 145 Palestinians in Gaza, including 41 children and 23 women. Eight Israelis have been killed, including a five-year-old boy and a soldier.

.@antonioguterres calls for an immediate end to the fighting in Gaza and Israel, stressing that only a sustainable political solution will lead to lasting peace and reiterating his commitment to supporting Palestinians and Israelis to resolve the conflict.https://t.co/qT0ieDr0aI  United Nations (@UN) May 14, 2021

Early on Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck several buildings and roads in a vital part of Gaza City.

Photos circulated by residents and journalists showed the airstrikes created a crater that blocked one of the main roads leading to Shifa hospital, the largest medical centre in the strip.

The Health Ministry said the latest airstrikes left at least two dead and 25 wounded, including children and women. There has been no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

On Saturday, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas political branch, saying the building served as part of the groups terrorist infrastructure, There was no immediate report on al-Hayehs fate or on any casualties.
A householder and her teenaged daughter confronted an intruder who broke into their home after six oclock in the morning and now he has been remanded in custody.

That was the allegation made by Detective Garda James Bugler who objected to bail being granted to Florin Mitache with an address at South Douglas Road, Cork.

Det. Garda Bugler charged the 46-year-old with breaking into the house at Model Farm Road, Cork, on Thursday morning, May 13, having housebreaking equipment, assaulting the householder and assault causing harm to her daughter.

Bail decision

Defence solicitor Donal Daly said Mitache would abide by any bail conditions applied to him and turn up in Cork District Court for the case against him.

Det. Garda Bugler said gardai were concerned he would commit further serious offences and would not return to court if granted bail.

Judge Olann Kelleher refused bail and remanded him in custody until May 20 to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The allegation in the case was that he broke into the house at 6.20am on Thursday and, when the householder confronted him, he tried to run out the front door but it was locked.

So he turned around, pushed past her and went to get out through the office window of the house where he had broken in.

The householders teenaged daughter helped her mother to hold a door closed at one stage but the intruder closed it and caught the girls hand in the door.

Det. Garda Bugler said this allegation was the basis for the assault causing harm charge.
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Regarding the article Piles of roadside litter another symptom of pandemic in New Mexico by Dan Boyd.

To blame our New Mexico trash and litter problem on the pandemic and the loss of prisoner cleanup programs illustrates the myopic view of life in New Mexico.

Consider: Travel anywhere in our state and actually look anywhere and everywhere.

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................................................................

Go to Pecos Wilderness north of Terrero and Mora Creek Campground, walk along the river to the west. Check out the plethora of empty campsites with empty liquor and beer bottles and used drug needles.

Travel to the most beautiful areas of the state, perhaps the Valle Vidal east of Red River. Those campgrounds are trashed by folks unheeding the leave no trace mantra. And I am going out on a limb here, these folks are trashing their historic Land of Enchantment.

Travel to Forest Road 376 in the Jemez and check that area. Also abandoned campsites with trash left from irresponsible people. I once observed a New Mexico camper who left an abandoned campfire. It was still smoldering as he left. All it would have taken was a couple buckets of water to douse the embers. And to my surprise, he included a 1 lb. propane bottle in the charcoals. Amazing  amazing that it did not explode.

I cannot even begin to describe the trashing that intelligent humans do inside and outside outhouses and vault toilets in campgrounds, wilderness areas and public parks. Is there any logical reason for fiddling with or damaging these public service items?

Travel the Rail Runner northbound and look to the west as you pass under Highway 550 north of Bernalillo. There has been trash there for years and no entity claims responsibility for its cleanup. Open Google Earth or G Maps  this long trash pile is visible from space.

Travel up and down our interstates and check out the trash that persists. I-40 west of Albuquerque is littered with stuff that escapes the refuse trucks on the way to the landfill. I have observed a refuse truck on that stretch of highway with an obvious mechanical problem in the rear. Refuse was blowing all over out of the truck. He did not stop.

Over the years I have traveled Albuquerque and our fair state by bicycle and auto; I have seen young men throwing trash out of their vehicles, right in town on a resident street.

No sir  our trash problem is a result of what I would characterize as a lazy population that simply thinks it is their right to trash our state. They refuse to clean up after themselves and think that other folks will clean up after them.


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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/16/2021



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[ Spoiler Warning: This report contains spoilers that reveal if Tiffany and Ronald are still together now or if the couple has broken up.]

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So are Ronald and Tiffany still together now or has the couple split up?

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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.

: Happily Ever After? star Tiffany Franco is planning her life without Ronald Smith as she considers divorce on Season 6 of the series, so did Tiffany actually break up with Ronald or is the couple still married and together? What do the latest spoilers reveal about Tiffany and Ronald's relationship?Tiffany was a 27-year-old from Frederick, MD, and Ronald was a 29-year-old from South Africa when they initially starred on : The Other Way's first season in 2019.After getting engaged, Tiffany discovered Ronald had a criminal past and gambling addiction.Once Ronald completed a six-month rehab program in South Africa, he wanted Tiffany to move with her eight-year-old son Daniel and live with him in his native country.Tiffany did, in fact, take a risk for love and fly to South Africa again on a Tourist Visa with Daniel. She said she was committed to Ronald but didn't know if her visit was going to become a permanent move."Unfortunately, the only Ronald I know is the Ronald that loves me but also the Ronald that put me through hell and hurt me and lied to me," Tiffany lamented.Tiffany hoped Ronald wouldn't relapse and disappoint her family again. She also needed to make sure Daniel would love his life in South Africa and feel safe, comfortable and happy.As the couple lived in South Africa together, they hit some bumps in the road -- including Ronald's wild bachelor party and Tiffany worrying his gambling addiction might turn into something else, such as alcoholism.The pair's financial situation was also pretty dire as Ronald struggled to find a well-paying, full-time job post-rehab.But Tiffany's heart belonged to Ronald and so she decided to marry him despite their hardships.Tiffany got pregnant with her second child but decided she'd rather give birth in an American hospital, even though Ronald would miss the delivery. She also thought South Africa was too dangerous for her children.Tiffany therefore determined instead of moving her whole family to South Africa, she'd return home and apply for a spousal visa.After giving birth to the couple's daughter Carley in Summer 2019, Tiffany revealed on Part 1 of : The Other Way's Tell-All special -- which aired in October 2019 -- that life in the U.S. was "so much harder" than she could have ever anticipated without her husband by her side.When Carley was three months old, Tiffany said she was able to book tickets to South Africa so Ronald could meet his daughter for the first time. Tiffany recalled it being a magical moment, but she said that soon after that, Ronald became "very hot and cold" about eventually moving to the United States.Ronald had allegedly told Tiffany that he didn't want to waste money trying for another visa -- given he had been denied a K-1 visa before due to his criminal record -- but then Tiffany revealed she went ahead and applied for a spousal CR-1 visa for Ronald."COVID has really put my marriage through the wringer," Tiffany explained."The last time Ronald and I were physically together, it was eight months ago, and I am all alone -- left to face everything and be responsible for everything. Ronald, right now, is not emotionally supportive and he's not financially supportive."Tiffany said Ronald never offered to send money for clothes or diapers, and Tiffany vented, "I didn't make this baby alone!"Tiffany was then shown meeting with an attorney, Christopher Role, and said she was expecting a response for the spousal visa in one to three months.Tiffany admitted she was no longer sure if she wanted to make things work with Ronald because she was allegedly the only person trying in their relationship."I have moments when I wonder if this marriage is right for me," Tiffany confessed. "Ronald doesn't know this, but I think I want a divorce."Tiffany lamented she was feeling miserable every day and had reached "a breaking point" and feared there was "no other choice but to get divorced" because things might only get worse once Ronald arrived to the U.S.Christopher advised Tiffany not to take divorce lightly because the process would be challenging, and so he suggested the couple should attempt therapy and counseling first."In order for me to think this could work out long-term, I need Ronald to get a job. I need Ronald to save money and I need Ronald to put in as much effort as I'm putting in," Tiffany explained. "This will no longer be all on me."Meanwhile, Ronald said he was sad and lonely to be away from his family, and he admitted to fighting with Tiffany pretty frequently.Ronald insisted he was making "small strides" and "ends meet" by doing odd jobs -- such as painting rooms -- since overcoming his gambling addiction."It's not easy having a wife who is always doubting that you are doing the right thing," Ronald explained. "I want Tiffany to see that I can be the husband I know I can be for her and this family."Suddenly, Tiffany revealed to Ronald on Zoom she had decided to cancel her family's plane tickets to South Africa. Tiffany said it wasn't fair she was always paying for things and if Ronald wanted to see her and the kids, he'd cough up the dough.Tiffany also reminded Ronald that he had spent $3,000 to fix his motorcycle instead of helping his children, but Ronald said his money isn't worth much in the U.S. due to the exchange rate.Tiffany insisted that she was killing herself for their family, but Ronald disagreed and noted how it was "unbearable" to miss milestones in Carley's life and watch her grow up through a computer screen.Tiffany and Ronald apparently got into "a huge heated" fight over the canceled tickets.Tiffany ultimately used the money as a down payment for a new apartment so she and the kids could move out of her mother's house.Tiffany said she was finally realizing that her own happiness matters and she had "wasted too much time putting Ronald first" when he allegedly got to sit around and play video games all day.Tiffany said she needed to live in the moment for her kids and was tired of focusing on her future with Ronald and always asking, "What's next?"Tiffany's mother Maggie told the cameras that Ronald didn't matter to her, before mentioning to Tiffany how there's "nothing special" about Ronald. Maggie thought Tiffany could be her "best happy" as a single mother, without Ronald in her life."This feels like deja vu. I've already had a kid with someone who didn't show up, who never did their part. I'm tired of being walked on, I'm tired of being taken advantage of," Tiffany explained."So I'm doing my best to try to push Ronald to be the dad that I know he can be, because I love him enough to know that he's capable."But if things didn't work out between the couple, Tiffany now had an apartment as well as a backup plan for her life and her kids.Ronald and Tiffany announced they were "separating" in January 2020 and seemed to be headed for a divorce.Tiffany accused Ronald of "adultery" and manipulation and claimed he had suffered multiple relapses of the gambling addiction he had once sought treatment for before in a rehab facility.On January 28, 2020, Tiffany told her Instagram followers in regards to her marriage "some things are just irreparable," and Ronald claimed on social media at the time he'd be "filing for divorce in South Africa" after a year-and-a-half of marriage."Tiff only tried to do good, not really control me but more protect me from wrong [people], places and temptations, and the more I think about it now, it makes sense..." Ronald wrote on Instagram during."She was more the victim and I'll admit here I was a dick to her at times, worrying about me, me, me and not looking after her feelings or needs."But rumors of a reconciliation began to swirl on March 5, 2020 when Ronald posted adorable snapshots of Tiffany and himself seemingly in South Africa together.In March 11, 2020 Ronald uploaded a selfie of the couple as well as a photo in which they were embracing in front of a fountain during a date night at Monte in Gauteng, South Africa.Ronald then flat out confirmed the next day his marriage to Tiffany was back on and thriving in the comments section of his Instagram post."Hope the rumors are true and y'all found your way back to one another!!" one person wrote."Yes," Ronald replied.When an Instagram user asked Ronald to "please work it out" with Tiffany, Ronald responded with, "We are good."One person mentioned, "I thought they got divorced," and Ronald wrote back, "Guess not," with a smiley face.And finally, one fan wrote, "Happy you're back together," to which Ronald replied, "Yes."Tiffany revealed on a May 2020 episode of : Self-Quarantined that she was waiting for Ronald to get approved for a spousal visa so he could move to the United States."We got married over a year ago, but we only applied for his spousal visa four months ago. The coronavirus has affected the whole process of the visa. This virus is stopping everything, including my family being together," Tiffany told the cameras.Meanwhile, Ronald was living in Victoria, South Africa, and apparently FaceTimed or Skyped with his family in America often. Ronald said he desperately missed his family in the United States.On top of the distance and coronavirus "craziness," Tiffany said there were trust issues in her relationship but she and Ronald were working with a counselor to get past them.Tiffany and Ronald then reunited for the holidays in December 2020 after a tumultuous year.Tiffany apparently brought her two kids, her son Daniel from a previous relationship and Ronald's daughter Carley, to South Africa to visit her husband for Christmas.Tiffany had posted a family photo of Ronald, Daniel, Carley and herself outdoors on a bench and she captioned it, "Family," along with a red heart emoticon."Such amazing holidays with the family," she captioned another photo of herself and Ronald at the time.Ronald also confirmed on his own Instagram account the pictures were not "old" or throwbacks."Merry Christmas to everyone and your family hope you all enjoy it as much as i do," Ronald wrote."Just wanted to show everyone how blessed i am to be with my family and to be able to spend such a happy time with them and make memories, having fun, playing around, and just spending quality time as a family together hehe."There is little evidence on social media in 2021 that indicates the couple is still together now; however, Tiffany confirmed she still loves Ronald on April 4, 2020.Ronald posted a beautiful tribute to Tiffany's son Daniel, whom Ronald also considers and calls his son.In addition to complimenting the young boy on his maturity, cleverness and being well-mannered, Ronald wrote, "I just really hope that the connection we have I hope it never dies as you get older now I'm proud to have you as my son but also I'm a bit sad not being able to be there to celebrate it with you."Ronald, who made it clear he's still living in South Africa, continued, "But make the best of it my boy just know you are in my thoughts and I wish I was there may you have a blessed year and many more and you guys better call me when your blow the candles lol."Ronald added of Tiffany, "Last thing so tell your mom @tiffanyfrancosmith its your yes day and make the best of it... you know what i mean my boy! love your dad."Tiffany actually commented in reply on Ronald's post, "Aw love you. I'm showing him."Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
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Its getting as routine as the change of seasons.

The independent monitor tasked by the U.S. Department of Justice with overseeing reforms at the Albuquerque Police Department issues a scathing report. The latest one says APD lacks the appetite for taking serious approaches to control excessive or unwarranted uses of force and its leadership is willing to go through almost any machination to avoid disciplining officers who violate policy.

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................................................................

They arent new concerns.

In response to the report, city leaders emphasized leadership changes and described progress they said has been made in the lag time between the reporting period and now. They also pointed out that the pandemics social distancing restrictions precluded important aspects of training, another area criticized by DOJ.

But the most concerning area involves use-of-force investigations, which are required under the DOJ settlement agreement for any time an officer uses force regardless of whether there is a complaint.

This month we learned understaffed APD internal affairs investigators have routinely missed deadlines to investigate such incidents. Thats important  not only because DOJ requires them but because the police union agreement requires investigations be completed within 90 days  or 120 days if an extension is granted  for an officer found in the wrong to be disciplined.

The backlog has gotten so bad APD has let up on investigating complaints from 2020 and shifted its focus to reports and complaints filed this year, while officers can still be disciplined.

It should be noted that a finding of improper force, even if found after the deadline, will go on the officers record to be considered if future issues arise.

Independent Monitor James Ginger has a right to be upset. Despite six years of DOJ oversight, more than three of those years under this mayor, his latest report found APD has gone backward in holding officers accountable. Gingers report covering August 2020 through January 2021 found about 60% of force investigations opened over the past year had not been completed. More than half had already passed the extended 120-day deadline.

In order for APD to be in compliance with the court-approved settlement agreement, 95% of force investigations have to be completed within 90 days. But only 1%  you read that right  of the 244 cases causing injury and 4% of the 54 cases causing hospitalization or death were completed in the last reporting period. As of early February, investigators had not finished investigating any cases that had been opened since September.

That should be as unacceptable to Mayor Tim Keller as it is to the public.

New leadership

A ray of hope is the assignment of Cori Lowe as acting commander of APDs Internal Affairs Force Division. Lowe, who used to run APDs compliance division, is showing the gritty zeal needed to get on top of the workload, getting APD to prioritize cases that can carry discipline. But there are currently only 10 investigators in IAFD, with four more in training, when they are supposed to have 25.

Rather than force police officers to work in IAFD, the city wisely decided to hire civilian investigators to work in IAFD alongside sworn officers. The citys proposed budget includes $965,000 to hire 11 civilian investigators, nine of whom will work in IAFD and two who will investigate civilian employees such as dispatch and crime lab personnel.

Lowe says APD received 17 applications and will likely have to advertise the positions again. More resources are clearly needed because each use-of-force investigation requires hours just to review all the on-body video footage from every officer involved.

Sylvester Stanley holds the citys newly created position of superintendent of police reform. The no-nonsense, four-time police chief in New Mexico was hired in March to oversee training, internal affairs and the police academy. Its no news that we have some problems there, he told the Journal recently. Lets hope he has what it takes to tackle those problems. Because APD cannot move forward with the publics confidence until it gets on top of policing itself.

Chief Harold Medina and the Albuquerque Police Officers Association are in agreement that use-of-force investigations take time and officers away from the field. With the ongoing crime epidemic that has the city on a record-busting pace for homicides  including three homicide victims being dropped off at a Northeast Albuquerque hospital Wednesday afternoon  thats a bitter pill to swallow.

But constitutional policing is not, and should not, be up for negotiation.

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.
San Antonio, TX, May 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With an average of 66 people moving to the city each day, San Antonio is the third fastest metro area in Texas. Bexar County, where San Antonio is located, is the fifth fastest growing county in Texas, according to the Texas Demographic Center, and is projected to reach a population of 3.3 million by 2050.

In other words, the housing market in San Antonio is hot, and people looking to get into it need help from a reliable local expert to navigate it.

Why Are People Moving to San Antonio, TX?

Affordable cost of living. The average cost of living in San Antonio is below the national average, as well as below the Texas average.

The average cost of living in San Antonio is below the national average, as well as below the Texas average. No state income tax. Texas is one of nine states that doesnt have a state income tax, which makes it an appealing option to people looking to relocate from more expensive states.

Texas is one of nine states that doesnt have a state income tax, which makes it an appealing option to people looking to relocate from more expensive states. Diverse and plentiful employment opportunities. The median household income in San Antonio in 2019 rose by 1.07%, while job opportunities grew by 1.95%. San Antonio has plenty of jobs to offer in a range of growing sectors, including information technology, cybersecurity, energy, life science, healthcare, aerospace and aviation, military and defense, financial services, and advanced manufacturing.

The median household income in San Antonio in 2019 rose by 1.07%, while job opportunities grew by 1.95%. San Antonio has plenty of jobs to offer in a range of growing sectors, including information technology, cybersecurity, energy, life science, healthcare, aerospace and aviation, military and defense, financial services, and advanced manufacturing. Low unemployment. As of October 2020, San Antonio has an employment rate of 6.3%. Prior to the recession, the city was approaching a 20-year low.



San Antonio Real Estate Expert Lynn Knapik Helps Buyers and Sellers Navigate the Texas Real Estate Market

How to Find the Right Home or Buyer in San Antonio

Homes are selling fast, so it is important for buyers to work with an agent who represents their best interests and helps them find the right home for their needs.

Equally, sellers need to work with an agent who can navigate a hot market and guide them to make an excellent first impression, properly value their home and orchestrate the selling process, resulting in getting the highest price for your home in the shortest time.

In either case, it is essential to work with a real estate agent who knows San Antonio inside out. Lynn Knapik Real Estate LLC has been an active part of the San Antonio community for over twelve years. The firm is proud to be a part of SA2020, a non-profit organization that has helped reshape and grow the city over the past ten years. The real estate firm focuses on working with first-time homebuyers, military clients, move-up buyers and sellers, clients looking to downsize, and investors. According to Lynn, her company and team plan to continue providing outstanding service to both the buyers and sellers in the San Antonio area for years to come.

About Lynn Knapik Real Estate LLC

Lynn Knapik Real Estate LLC strives to do one thing only: Turn clients into raving fans by doing it better than anyone else. The dedicated team of real estate professionals continuously considers the needs and desires of their clients at each step of the way. Long-term commitment to client satisfaction, active involvement in the community, and expertise working with clients in every demographic has made Lynn Knapik Real Estate LLC a reputable name in the San Antonio real estate market. Visit https://www.lynnknapik.com/ for more information.

Take the first step toward finding your dream home today. Have Lynn contact you, or talk to a member of the team at 210-884-5774.





Contact:

Lynn Knapik, Broker/Owner

Lynn@LynnKnapik.com

210-884-5774

Like Us On Facebook

Connect On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnknapik/



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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/16/2021



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[ Spoiler Warning: This report contains spoilers that reveal if Brandon and Julia are still together now or if the couple has broken up.]

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So did Brandon and Julia last? Did the couple split up or are they still together?

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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.

: Happily Ever After? star Julia Trubkina is hoping Brandon Gibbs will live up to his promises and move out of his parents' home, so did Brandon meet his wife's expectations and are they still together -- or have Brandon and Julia broken up recently? What do the latest spoilers reveal about their relationship?Brandon, a 27-year-old pest-control technician who helps to run his parents' farm in Dinwiddie, VA, fell in love with Julia, a 26-year-old go-go club dancer from Krasnodar City, Russia, at first sight.Brandon therefore flew to Russia after just a few weeks of getting to know her on the phone and through videochat. And after dating for five months long-distance, Brandon invited Julia to join him in Iceland, where he proposed marriage to her and the pair got engaged.Brandon then applied for a K-1 visa and Julia moved to America.But Julia was upset to learn she'd have to sleep in a separate bedroom from Brandon at his parents' house while Brandon attempted to save some money. She also didn't like how controlling Brandon's mother Betty seemed to be and the fact she had been pushing for Julia to take birth control.Once at the farm in Virginia, it didn't take Julia long to realize she hated the chores -- such as feeding the pigs -- and waking up early every morning."I don't want this. This is not the life [of] my dreams. Brandon say we need to stay here before we marry, but I say to him, 'No, Brandon, this is not going to work.' I need to leave," Julia vented in a confessional.Julia admitted she was ready to go back to Russia after only one day of working at his parents' farm, and Brandon wished Julia would give the farm a chance. Julia, however, never really sang a different tune.In April 2020, Julia still had one month to go on her K-1 visa but coronavirus was rapidly spreading and posed a problem for her pending nuptials.Brandon worried about rushing into a marriage, especially because Julia already threatened him with divorce during a fight, but he said he wasn't ready to give up on his relationship with Julia.The couple therefore moved up their wedding day just to be safe, and Brandon and Julia exchanged vows in each other's languages.Brandon read his vows in Russian and said, "How did I get so lucky to meet you? How did I get so lucky to call you my love? I feel like the happiest man in the world. From this moment on, you are my priority. I love you and I need you forever."Julia cried tears of joy as Brandon read his vows, and she responded by promising to love him always as well as appreciate and respect him. Julia vowed to always make protein cookies and love him forever as his "Russian angel."On 's Season 8 Tell-All special, Julia revealed there were "more rules" in Brandon's parents' home than ever before and she and Betty were butting heads although they love each other.Julia said she wanted to leave the farm and be "the boss" in her own life. She also mentioned how she wouldn't mind having a child if she were to get pregnant by accident, but Brandon insisted she wasn't even ready to take care of a dog.On the sixth-season premiere of : Happily Ever After?, Brandon and Julia were shown traveling to Las Vegas for a vacation by themselves.Brandon told the cameras he and Julia still had a lot to learn about each other but they both felt lucky to be married to one another.Brandon revealed he was in debt but had received a new job offer. Brandon planned to move to a new company, working less hours but making more money -- which thrilled Julia.Brandon's father Rob said Brandon had become "submissive" to Julia's every "whim," such as visiting Las Vegas. Ron joked that his son was "whipped" by Julia.Julia suggested to Brandon they should move to Vegas, but Brandon laughed and said that's not real life and it wouldn't be realistic for them to live in a big expensive city like that.Brandon explained to the cameras he and Julia weren't financially stable enough to make this jump overnight and he'd also have to obtain a license to work in Las Vegas, which would be a process.Julia expressed how she was tired of Brandon making promises and not living up to them because he had said they'd move together after she relocated to the U.S.Brandon recalled saying they'd save money before moving and Las Vegas was never an option. Brandon asked Julia to be patient because everything would work out in the long run."He make me angry and sad! I moved here from Russia and Brandon won't move to a different city for me," Julia lamented, adding that she could move somewhere alone once she received her work permit.Julia was concerned Brandon may want "the farm life" forever, and she also found herself getting jealous of other women paying attention to Brandon at the pool.Julia said she trusted Brandon but didn't trust other women around him.While on vacation, however, Brandon and Julia agreed on living in Richmond, VA, for at least a period of time. Julia was happy to compromise, and then she learned her first interview for her Green Card had been scheduled.Julia said she wanted to start working and making money by maybe doing a designer job, but Brandon worried her broken English might hold her back from many job positions.Julia yelled at Brandon for not supporting her and for trying to break her dreams, but Brandon said he was just trying to be realistic and reasonable."I'm trying to suggest things that would help her and I think she takes that as I'm not being supportive, and that hurts," Brandon said in a confessional."Julia views my realistic view on things as pessimistic, but sometimes I think she's also just too much of a dreamer and she may want to bump down her expectations."When Brandon and Julia returned to Brandon's Virginia farm after their trip, Julia wasn't thrilled to be back although Brandon was happy to be home.Julia said she wants to have a dog or two in their own happy home instead of 35 animals. She hoped Brandon was going to keep his promise of moving to Richmond, VA, soon.Brandon said he was nervous about Julia's first Green-Card interview, especially since they didn't have certain documents they needed -- including household bills with both of their names on them.It also turned out Julia didn't even know Brandon's favorite color, and both spouses could barely remember their wedding date of April 26, 2020.Julia didn't want to get separated from Brandon and have to return to Russia alone. Brandon reluctantly said if Julia wasn't approved, he'd move to Russia if he had to, but he acknowledged it would be harder for him to acclimate."I think I give more [energy] to the relationship... [Brandon] gives more money, but I changed my life for him. If I'm not approved, then I go to Russia and Brandon not go with me, I guess. This is broken. We divorce," Julia complained.Cameras weren't allowed in the immigration office for Julia's interview, but after hours, Brandon revealed, "She did not approve for the Green Card."Julia, however, insisted everything was going to be okay."There is apparently a brand new requisite for the affidavit of support," Brandon explained. "[There is] a brand new document that might be needed, and even the officer doesn't know what it is yet and what the details are."Brandon said the pair would either receive an approval letter or a request for more information in the mail in about two weeks.Brandon acknowledged it was a good thing Julia had not been "denied" her Green Card, but Julia worried she was "this close" to going back to Russia.Brandon and Julia definitely appear to still be a very happy couple, and there is photo evidence the couple hasn't broken up since the Tell-All special on social media.Brandon and Julia apparently took a trip to New York in early May. Brandon posted photos of the couple on a boat and near the Statue of Liberty."Enjoying time with my wife. I sure will miss her when she gets her green card #90dayfiance #90dayfiancehappilyeverafter #Brandonandjulia," Brandon joked in his caption.And Julia gushed about how thoughtful Brandon is considering he had purchased a bag for her that she fell in love with in a store but didn't want to spend too much money on.Julia also captioned her own New York photos, "Just love life and grateful for everything I have. #90dayfiance#90dayfiancehappilyeverafter #Brandonandjulia #model#newyork #maxim #america #russia."In late April, Julia posted two photos of the couple and shared, "Today is our first anniversary! in Russia, each anniversary has a name. 1 year - chintz (calico) wedding."On April 21, Brandon posted a photo of himself giving Julia a piggyback ride and captioned it, "Happy wife - Happy life."And Julia shared similar photos on her own Instagram account on the same day. She wrote alongside them, "Everyone asks, did I have friends in America? here is my best friend. #90dayfiance #brandonandjulia #90dayfiancehappilyeverafter."And Brandon and Julia recently took a trip to Miami, FL, together! Julia revealed on Instagram this vacation served as their honeymoon. Coronavirus probably delayed the pair's honeymoon.On March 8, Brandon uploaded an image of Julia and himself with their arms around each other and wrote alongside it, "Happy International Women's Day," along with multiple flower emojis.Earlier in the month, Brandon posted a photo standing next to someone in a grey sweatshirt and captioned it, "Hey Julia... The bus is coming."And Julia posted two photos of herself in a wedding gown around the same time to defend Brandon in light of the fact he had been unenthusiastic and seemingly bored while wedding dress shopping with his fiancee."Bad omens of a wedding. I do not believe in these signs. do you know how many of them? lots of. the whole world must be divorced, since all superstitions cannot be observed. Brandon didn't want to go to the store, but I insisted," Julia wrote.Brandon also posted two selfies with Julia, one of which featured Julia kissing him on the cheek, in late February.Brandon captioned one picture of Julia and himself posing in a hotel room, "I'm just waiting on Sunday. #90dayfiance #brandonandjulia #beautiful."On February 12, Brandon also posted a video on Instagram of Julia kissing him on one cheek while his dog licked his other cheek."Love who loves you back. Happy Valentine's day guys. #90dayfiance #Brandonandjulia," Brandon captioned the video.Around the same time, Julia posted a picture of Brandon hugging her on the beach."I want to congratulate everyone on the upcoming Valentine's day and wish to find a person next to whom you will not need anyone else. #90dayfiance #Brandonandjulia," Julia wrote alongside the image.Pictures of the couple go back for months, and Julia also conducted a Q&A with her followers on Instagram Stories earlier this year and confirmed she enjoys living in the United States."Everything is pretty nice," Julia said of her current life. "It's pretty in my life. I've never had, like, an easy life," Julia said. "I all the time chose a hard life."Julia said her English "is much better than before," probably because she's around English-speaking people all the time."I try to learn everything but it's so hard for me," Julia added.Julia also revealed she currently has a great relationship with Brandon's parents, although there was sometimes tension between them on 's eighth season.A fan asked how Julia essentially puts up with her "parents-in-law," and Julia responded, "I love my parents a lot because my parents want what is best for me.""If I could choose other parents I would never choose other parents because my parents are the best and I love them a lot."In addition, Julia said she hopes she can "start working" soon and put her degree in design to good use in either apartments or homes.As far as her favorite experience in the United States goes, Julia revealed, "I like people in America because everyone smiles and everyone tries to help. You never ask for help but people try. This is so cool."When asked whether she likes Russia or America better, Julia said there are some things she likes better in Russia and other things she likes better in the United States.She noted the countries are just "different." For example, Julia said she cannot drive yet in America while she has her license back in Russia.Julia shared excitement, however, when someone mentioned all the states she can travel to in the United States. Julia said she'd love to visit New York especially.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
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Min Coveney statement to UNSC on the situation in the Middle East

Statement

United Nations Security Council Open Debate on the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Question

Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence,

Simon Coveney T.D.

16 May 2021

Mr President,

Thank you for convening todays meeting, which Ireland strongly supported. We have already waited too long to express ourselves in an open meeting of this Council and the current cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, and the world is watching and listening to every word that we say.

Thank you too to the Secretary General for your presence and for your important remarks, and Special Coordinator Wennesland for your briefing also.

I would like to thank the Palestinian Foreign Minister and the Israeli Ambassador for their remarks. Let me also acknowledge the remarks of my colleagues from Jordan and Egypt.

We gather after a week of deadly escalating violence, in which so many innocent Palestinians and Israelis have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and across Israel.

Our thoughts are with their families, and all of those whose lives have been blighted by hatred and yet more violence.

Every day we delay in assuming our responsibility at this Council, is another day lost in saving innocent lives.

So let us send a clear and united message from this Council today that the cycle of violence and bloodshed needs to end now.

I echo the Secretary-Generals calls for de-escalation and I reiterate his call for an immediate end to violence.

The last week is the latest tragic cycle in a conflict whose recurrence shames all of us at the United Nations and as an international community.

The violence, trauma and killing reminds us again of the consequences of our collective inertia and enduring failure to achieve a political resolution to this conflict.

We in Ireland know like so many other countries that the most intractable conflicts require the greatest collective response.

This Council must exercise its responsibility. It should start today by adding its voice to the calls around the world for an end to violence, and progress towards a just and lasting peace.

Mr. President,

Responsible leadership on all sides must now urgently work to reduce tensions and prevent further attacks.

We call today on all parties to refrain from violent and provocative acts, including rockets and incendiary devices launched from Gaza into Israel by a terrorist organisation, indiscriminately targeting civilian populations and infrastructure.

However, Israel must abide by the provisions of International Humanitarian Law, particularly in relation to the Protection of Civilians, including when exercising the right to self-defence.

Ireland calls on Israel to ensure that its security forces act in full respect for the principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution in the conduct of military operations. Accountability must be ensured for the actions of the Israeli security forces.

Mr. President,

The plight of children in this conflict is reprehensible. Over 55 children from as young as 6 months have now lost their lives and many others are missing, as UNICEF has confirmed again this morning.

In addition to the tragedy of these killings and injuries, no child, anywhere, should have to endure the trauma of an onslaught of rockets and missiles. All violations against children must end, including and in particular attacks on schools. Children must never be made prisoners of history, and that is exactly what is happening right now.

Humanitarian access into the Gaza must be ensured, especially through the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings. Israel, as the occupying power, is duty bound to ensure unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners must be permitted to bring in vital food, fuel, and medical supplies and to deploy humanitarian personnel. We urge all parties to ensure the safety and security of humanitarian personnel.

All parties must adhere to international humanitarian law and for respect human rights.

The destruction of homes and damage to vital infrastructure such as roads, electricity networks and water installations is unacceptable.

I am very concerned that UNRWA buildings were damaged during military operations in Gaza. UNRWA plays a vital humanitarian role in Gaza and needs to be protected and never targeted.

I pay tribute today to the dedicated staff of UNRWA and other UN agencies and NGOs who provide critical services and support even in the most harrowing of circumstances.

I also emphasise the importance of media freedom and the essential role played by journalists and the press in reporting on conflicts like this one. I condemn in the strongest terms yesterdays strike which destroyed media outlets. Freedom of expression and information and the work of journalists must be protected without exception.

Ireland remains gravely concerned at the clashes and violence in East Jerusalem, including around the Holy Sites and across the West Bank. We are deeply disturbed by the reported use of live ammunition by Israeli Security Forces in the context of protests and clashes. There is a right to peaceful protest and that does need to be upheld.

This week has also seen tragic incidents of inter-ethnic violence, intimidation, arson and even loss of life in the mixed cities of Israel. Such clashes serve the interests of no one, except those bent on exclusion, violence, revenge and extremism.

We must acknowledge that the current escalation has not happened in isolation.

Our focus now is on de-escalation and avoiding any more civilian casualties, but we must also look beyond and ask ourselves: how do we move past the current recurring cycles of violence?

We cannot return to business as usual after this. That is simply no longer an option in my view.

We cannot return to the flouting of international law, with the expansion of illegal settlements into occupied Palestinian territory

We cannot return to forced evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank.

We cannot return to demolition of Palestinian property, settler violence and intimidation.

We must acknowledge that these actions, occurring at a rate unacknowledged for many years, are a source of legitimate grievance among the Palestinian people and undermine prospects for peace and reconciliation.

Bridging the divide requires that all sides live up to their commitments and comply with international law and obligations.

Human rights, including fundamental rights of freedom of expression and association, need to be respected even in difficult times.

Serious and sustained efforts are urgently needed to reinvigorate and renew credible negotiations to establish a genuine political horizon leading to a two-State solution in line with UN resolutions and international law.

This Council must play its part in that effort.

Mr President, two million people living in the Gaza Strip cannot endure another war. They have suffered far too much for far too long already.

Years of illegal blockade have resulted in extreme hardship including poverty and food insecurity.

Cycles of violence and now the COVID-19 pandemic have further eroded coping mechanisms leading to a mental health crisis which particularly impacts on women and children.

Civilians in Gaza have nowhere to flee. They are a population under siege; not just now, in the midst of this cycle of violence, but consistently, and this has got to end.

For their sake, and for the sake of all Palestinians and Israelis alike, we demand an immediate end to the violence, which poisons their future.

We have a collective responsibility here, today, to say that with one strong voice.

Thank you President.

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JERUSALEM  The Israeli military says it has targeted the home of Gazas top Hamas leader after nearly a week of heavy airstrikes and rocket fire into Israel from the territory ruled by the Islamic militant group.

Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman, an army spokesman, told Israels army radio Sunday that the military targeted the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory, who is likely in hiding. His home is located in town of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza Strip,

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed since the fighting broke out Monday, while Israel says the real number is far higher.

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A man has pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis, after saying he uses it for longstanding pain, because, as a former heroin addict, he is wary of the medication he has been prescribed.

Paul Lee, of 18 the Heights, Dromleigh, in Co Cork, pleaded guilty to possession of 4 worth of cannabis and a grinder, when gardai searched his apartment under warrant on June 19 last.

When he provided gardai with the nominal amount of the drug, he said it was for his own use.

Mr Lee, 54, had six previous convictions, including five for possession of cannabis, the most recent dating from 2016.

His solicitor, Eamonn Fleming, said his client had four children, two of whom lived with him, and had recently become a grandfather.

The court heard Mr Lee, who has worked as a chef and gardener, suffers from osteoporosis and is awaiting an MRI scan.

Mr Lee said he had come to Ireland many years ago to escape a heroin addiction when he was younger.

Mr Fleming said that Mr Lee had been prescribed medication for the pain he was suffering, but that it was "of an opiate-based nature" and "he is afraid of that and so he doesn't take it".

Mr Fleming said his client would be happy to undertake community service work, if deemed suitable to do so.

Mr Lee said he was in a "Catch-22" situation and that he used CBD oils mainly, with "a small amount of illegal drugs".

Judge John King said: "I would not consider community service until I know he is clean."

Mr Lee said he would engage with that process with the Probation Service and the judge directed that a probation report be prepared for later in the year, to include two random urine-analysis tests.
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U.N. Security Council diplomats and Muslim foreign ministers convened emergency meetings Sunday to demand a stop to civilian bloodshed as Israeli warplanes carried out the deadliest single attacks in nearly a week of Hamas rocket barrages and Israeli airstrikes.

President Joe Biden gave no signs of stepping up public pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate cease-fire despite calls from some Democrats for the Biden administration to get more involved.

His ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told an emergency high-level meeting of the Security Council that the United States was working tirelessly through diplomatic channels to stop the fighting.

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But as battles between Israel and Gazas militant Hamas rulers surged to their worst levels since 2014 and the international outcry grew, the Biden administration  determined to wrench U.S. foreign policy focus away from the Middle East and Afghanistan  has declined so far to criticize Israels part in the fighting or send a top-level envoy to the region. Appeals by other countries showed no sign of progress.

Thomas-Greenfield warned that the return to armed conflict would only put a negotiated two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict even further out of reach. However, the United States, Israels closest ally, has so far blocked days of efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the Security Council to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities.

In Israel, Hady Amr, a deputy assistant dispatched by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to try to de-escalate the crisis, met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, who thanked the U.S. for its support.

Blinken himself headed out on an unrelated tour of Nordic countries, with no announced plans to stop in the Middle East in response to the crisis. He made calls from the plane to Egypt and other nations working to broker a cease-fire, telling Egypt that all parties should de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence.

Rep. Adam Schiff, Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, urged Biden on Sunday to step up pressure on both sides to end current fighting and revive talks to resolve Israels conflicts and flashpoints with the Palestinians.

I think the administration needs to push harder on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to stop the violence, bring about a cease-fire, end these hostilities, and get back to a process of trying to resolve this long-standing conflict, Schiff, a California Democrat, told CBSs Face the Nation.

And Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, the senior Republican on the foreign relations subcommittee for the region, joined Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the subcommittee chairman, in asking both sides to cease fire. As a result of Hamas rocket attacks and Israels response, both sides must recognize that too many lives have been lost and must not escalate the conflict further, the two said.

Biden focused on civilian deaths from Hamas rockets in a call with Netanyahu on Saturday, and a White House readout of the call made no mention of the U.S. urging Israel to join in a cease-fire that regional countries were pushing. Thomas-Greenfield said U.S. diplomats were engaging with Israel, Egypt and Qatar, along with the U.N.

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 42 people Sunday, medics said, bringing the toll since Hamas and Israel opened their air and artillery battles to at least 188 killed in Gaza and eight in Israel. Some 55 children in Gaza and a 5-year-old boy in Israel were among the dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis in a televised address Sunday that Israel wants to levy a heavy price on Hamas. That will take time, Netanyahu said, signaling the war would rage on for now.

Representatives of Muslim nations met to demand Israel halt attacks that are killing Palestinian civilians in the crowded Gaza strip. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan called on the international community to take urgent action to immediately stop military operations.

The meeting of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation also saw Turkey and some others criticize a U.S.-backed push under which the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other Islamic nations signed bilateral deals with Israel to normalize their relations, stepping over the wreckage of collapsed international efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians long-term.

The massacre of Palestinian children today follows the purported normalization, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said. t

At the virtual meeting of the Security Council, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the U.N. was actively engaging all parties for an immediate cease-fire.

Returning to the scenes of Palestinian militant rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes in the fourth such war between Israel and Hamas, only perpetuates the cycles of death, destruction and despair, and pushes farther to the horizon any hopes of coexistence and peace, Guterres said.

Eight foreign ministers spoke at the Security Council session, reflecting the seriousness of the conflict, with almost all urging an end to the fighting.

Bidens predecessor, Donald Trump, had thrown U.S. support solidly behind Israel, embracing Netanyahu as an ally in Trumps focus on confronting Iran. Trump gave little time to efforts by past U.S. administrations to push peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, instead encouraging and rewarding Arab nations that signed two-country normalization deals with Israel.

Biden, instead, calls Middle East and Central Asia conflicts a distraction from U.S. foreign policy priorities, including competition with China.

Hes sought to calm some conflicts and extricate the U.S. from others, including ending U.S. military support for a Saudi-led war in Yemen, planning to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and trying to return to a nuclear deal with Iran that Israel opposes.

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Knickmeyer reported from Oklahoma City and Lederer from New York. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
(Natural News) Four doctors and two others apparently served as sacrificial lambs in Chinas continued efforts to cover up its state-sanctioned practice of harvesting organs.

The four doctors from eastern China were sentenced to between 12 and 28 months of imprisonment in July last year after being found guilty for their roles in illegally extracting the liver and two kidneys of hospital patient Li Peng after her death.

An expert on the issue suggests that the Chinese regime used the story to deflect attention away from its state-sanctioned practice of forced organ harvesting, noting that the case was uncharacteristically reported by state-run media without censorship.

World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) chair Wang Zhiyuan said in a recent interview with the Chinese-language edition of the Epoch Times that China used the case to spin a narrative around organ harvesting in the country by trying to create a story that these crimes are committed by individuals and that the Chinese authorities are trying to stop them.

According to Wang, Chinas state-sanctioned practice of harvesting organs from prisoners is an expansive endeavor involving cooperation among government agencies affiliated with the Chinese regimes Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the Chinese military, police units, military police and regional government agencies.

Lis liver reportedly ended up at the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) No. 302 Hospital in Beijing while her kidneys went to Tianjin First Central Hospital. Both hospitals have been identified by WOIPFG as suspected centers for the forced extraction of organs from prisoners who practice Falun Gong.

The PLA hospital has carried out 310 liver transplant surgeries between April 2005 and April 2010 and 146 between May 2010 and December 2012, according to the WOIPFG.

Adherents of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline also known as Falun Dafa which China banned in the 1990s, have been targeted for persecution by the Chinese regime since 1999. Millions of practitioners have been thrown into prisons, labor camps, psychiatric wards and other facilities, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

In the 2000s, reports emerged that the Chinese communist regime was systematically killing detained Falun Gong practitioners for their organs to use for transplantation. China didnt have an official organ donation program at the time, and Chinese officials said organs mainly came from executed prisoners.

Organ harvesting and transplant business continue to thrive in China

Amid the growing scrutiny of Chinas organ transplant system, the regime announced that it would stop sourcing organs from executed prisoners and that it would exclusively rely on voluntary donations starting Jan. 1, 2015. However, Chinas claim was refuted by a London-based international tribunal in a 2019 report.

Some of the more than 1.5 million detainees in Chinese prison camps are being killed for their organs to serve a booming transplant trade that is worth some $1 billion a year, concluded the tribunal  an independent body tasked with investigating organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience in the authoritarian state.

Forced organ harvesting has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale, the tribunal stated in its final judgment, adding that the practice is of unmatched wickedness  on a death for death basis  with the killings by mass crimes committed in the last century.

In a statement released alongside the final judgment, the tribunal said many of those affected were practitioners of Falun Gong. The tribunal added that it was possible that Uyghur Muslims were also being targeted. (Related: Undercover investigators expose mass forced organ harvesting in communist China.)

An investigative report by the Epoch Times in 2016 concluded that tens of thousands may have been killed at Tianjin First Central Hospital, as the hospital carried out more transplants than the supply of organs from executed prisoners could support.

On April 13, the WOIPFG released an investigative report into the Jiangsu Peoples Hospital, a state-run hospital located in the eastern Jiangsu Provinces capital Nanjing.

According to the report, a doctor at the hospital didnt deny that they sourced transplant organs from Falun Gong adherents when answering a phone inquiry by a WOIPFG investigator who posed as a Chinese official in November 2018. The doctor also said that a liver transplant surgery could be arranged in less than two weeks.

The report also included a 2017 audio recording of a phone conversation between a WOIPFG investigator who posed as someone making inquiries about liver transplant surgeries and an unnamed liver transplant doctor at the hospital.

The doctor said an organ could be available in as little as two weeks, a waiting time shorter than that at the nearby Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital.

Two doctors in Lis case worked at hospitals likely involved in forced organ harvesting

Two of the four convicted doctors in Lis case worked at Jiangsu Peoples Hospital and Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, which are both on WOIPFGs list of hospitals likely to be involved in forced organ harvesting.

The doctors and their two accomplices were charged after Lis son, Shi Xianglin, alerted authorities that his mothers donation record was not registered in Chinas official donation database. Shi began to suspect after he discovered that his cousin Shi Zijun was paid 200,000 yuan ($30,820) two days after his mothers organs were removed.

Donors are not to be compensated under Chinas official organ donation program, according to Chinese authorities.

Li died at the Peoples Hospital in Huaiyuan County on Feb. 15, 2018. Four days earlier, she had been rushed to the intensive care unit (ICU) after being wounded by her stepson during an ax attack. After spending a day in the ICU, Li was determined to be in critical condition with signs of imminent respiratory failure.

According to reports, a certain Dr. Yang persuaded Lis husband and daughter to sign a voluntary organ donation form by promising that they would be paid. Yang was the doctor looking after Li and was the deputy chief physician and director of the hospitals ICU.

Yang initially promised that the family would be paid 160,000 yuan ($24,657), but he increased the payment to 200,000 yuan at the demand of Lis nephew Shi Zijun. Lis husband and daughter signed the form on Feb. 14, 2018, one day before Lis death.

The money was reportedly paid by local businessman Huang Chaoyang, who was also sentenced to 10 months in prison over his role in the unauthorized organ extraction. Huang was a businessman selling medical equipment.

Yang supposedly called Dr. Huang Xinli, chief physician at the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, about an organ extraction. Huang made the decision that Lis organs would be suitable for organ transplantation surgery, local media reported. Prior to his employment there, Huang had worked at Jiangsu Peoples Hospital.

According to state-run media, Huang then arranged to have his former colleague Dr. Lu Shen and Dr. Wang Hailang remove Lis organs in an ambulance. Lu was the chief physician in hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery at the Jiangsu Peoples Hospital while Wang was a doctor in stomatology at the Huaibei Miners General Hospital in Anhui.

Lis organs were removed immediately after her death. The unlicensed ambulance where the surgery took place was owned by Ou Yang, who received a sentence of one year and one month in the same trial as businessman Huang Chaoyang and the four doctors. All four doctors were convicted of the crime intentional destruction of a corpse.

While Lu was found liable for extracting organs from Li only, the other three doctors were found guilty of engaging in unauthorized organ procurement surgeries on 10 other individuals in Huaiyuan County between 2017 and 2019. Lu was sentenced to one year in prison while Huang, Yang and Wang were sentenced to two years and four months, two years and two months and two years in prison, respectively.

Follow Propaganda.news to know more about Chinas efforts to cover up its crimes.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

NBCNews.com
Charleston, WV (25301)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 86F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds light and variable.
TWO Cork teenagers held a very successful fundraiser recently for Cork ARC Cancer Support House.

First cousins and good friends Sheena and Kate Buckley raised 1,500 following a fundraising event at their mobile coffee shop in Whitechurch.

The two transition year students, who attend St Angelas College on Patrick Hill, opened up The Haggart coffee dock in early March.

Sheenas mother Blathnaid said the two entrepreneurs decided to embark on a fundraising initiative in support of Cork ARC Cancer Support House over the course of a recent weekend.

Left to right: Cara O'Brien, Sheena Buckley, Kate Buckley and Eabha O'Brien.

Sheena has great time for Cork ARC Cancer Support House so that is why they decided to do a fundraiser for them. The fundraiser also coincided with the same weekend the charity usually held their annual flag day, she said.

Kate and Sheena decided to donate 1 to charity for every coffee they sold over the course of the fundraising weekend, while they also had a donation box at their mobile coffee shop.

Kate said they were thrilled with the successful fundraiser.

It was a great success. It was so good to raise funds for charity. People were very generous and everyone was very supportive. Two local girls Cara and Eabha OBrien were also involved in the fundraiser that weekend while another local Conor Daly did the baking.

Sheena said Cork ARC Cancer Support do great work for so many families in Cork: They are a fantastic organisation. They were a great help to my grandmother when she was sick. It was nice to do a fundraiser for them and give something back, she added.

This is the second time Cork ARC Cancer Support House has been the beneficiaries of substantial financial donations from Sheena.

She appeared on Celebrity Fittest Family with her aunt Norma Sheehan in 2018, which they won.

Their 10,000 winnings to Cork ARC Cancer Support House.

Ms Buckley said she is very proud of the two teenagers' recent successful fundraiser.

It was a good idea and gesture by the girls. The money raised was handed over recently by my sister Norma.

"My own mother had cancer and she was a big fan of Cork ARC Cancer Support House. So many charities have been affected by the pandemic so the money raised is vital, she said.

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Description

We invite the Long Island community to worship with us at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, 369 Green Avenue, East Meadow. Holy Trinity is a diverse community of Orthodox Christians who come from all walks of life and ethnicities, gathering in the oneness of Faith to worship God in the fullness of the Churchs liturgical life and fellowship. The parish also has a strong commitment to serving others through various charities. The parish, founded in 1924, is the first Orthodox Christian parish in the Nassau/Suffolk area and centrally located in mid-island East Meadow. We are open to all people seeking a community rooted in the oldest Christian Church with an emphasis on sacraments, prayer, tradition, and theology. All services are conducted in English.

The Divine Liturgy (Eucharist) is celebrated every Sunday and feast day at 9:30 AM. Please be aware that only Orthodox Christians are allowed to partake of the Eucharist and other sacraments because of the ancient canons, but others are welcome to receive a blessing. Coffee hour follows the Divine Liturgy every Sunday. Vespers (evening prayer) are served every Saturday and on the eve of feast days at 6 PM.

While pandemic restrictions are in force, visitors are required to wear masks and limited seating is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Services are also streamed on https://www.facebook.com/htocem. To register for the parish distribution list or for inquiries, email htocem@gmail.com. Additional information and schedules can be found on the parish website, www.htocem.org.
NEW YORK (AP)  News organizations demanded an explanation Saturday for an Israeli airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the offices of The Associated Press, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media outlets.

AP journalists and other tenants were safely evacuated from the 12-story al-Jalaa tower after the Israeli military warned of an imminent strike. Three heavy missiles hit the building within the hour, disrupting coverage of the ongoing conflict between' Gazas Hamas rulers and Israel. At least 145 people in Gaza and eight in Israel have been killed since the fighting erupted on Monday night.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said. He said the American news agency was seeking information from the Israeli government and engaging with the U.S. State Department to learn more.

Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a war crime and a clear act to stop journalists from reporting on the conflict. Kuwait state television also had office space in the now-collapsed Gaza City building.

The targeting of news organizations is completely unacceptable, even during an armed conflict. It represents a gross violation of human rights and internationally agreed norms, Barbara Trionfi, the executive director of the International Press Institute, said.

In a standard Israeli response, the military said that Hamas was operating inside the building, and it accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields. But it provided no evidence to back up the claims.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus claimed that Hamas used the building for a military intelligence office and weapons development. He alleged a highly advanced technological tool that the militant group used in the fighting was within or on the building."

But Conricus said he could not provide evidence to back up the claims without compromising intelligence efforts. He added, however: I think its a legitimate request to see more information, and I will try to provide it.

Pruitt, the AP's CEO, said the news agency had been in the building for 15 years and we have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building.

"We have called on the Israeli government to put forward the evidence," he said. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.

Some press freedom advocates said the strike raised suspicions that Israel was trying to hinder coverage of the conflict. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded Israel provide a detailed and documented justification for the strike.

This latest attack on a building long known by Israel to house international media raises the specter that the Israel Defense Forces is deliberately targeting media facilities in order to disrupt coverage of the human suffering in Gaza, the groups executive director, Joel Simon, said in a statement.

The Washington-based National Press Club called the strike part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations" and also questioned whether the assaults seek to impair independent and accurate coverage of the conflict.

We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press, the National Press Club said. "Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job.

The bombing followed media consternation over an Israeli military statement that prompted some news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, to erroneously report early Friday that Israel had launched a ground invasion of Gaza.

Israeli military commentators said the media had been used in a ruse to lure Hamas militants into a deadly trap. Conricus denied that the military engaged in a deliberate deception when it tweeted falsely Friday that ground forces were engaging in Gaza, calling it an honest mistake.

The AP, based on its analysis of the armys statement, phone calls to military officials and on the ground reporting in Gaza, concluded there was no ground incursion and did not report there was one.

The strike on a building known to have the offices of international media outlets came as a shock to reporters who had felt relatively protected there.

Now, one can understand the feeling of the people whose homes have been destroyed by such kind of air attacks, Al-Jazeera producer Safwat al-Kahlout, who was at the bureau in Gaza when the evacuation warning came, told the broadcaster Saturday. Its really difficult to wake up one day and then you realize that your office is not there with all the career experiences, memories that youve had.

APs top floor offices and roof terrace on the now-destroyed building had provided a prime location for covering fighting in Gaza. The news agencys camera offered 24-hour live shots this week as Hamas rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city.

Just a day before the bombing, AP correspondent Fares Akram wrote in a personal story that the AP office was the only place in Gaza were he felt somewhat safe.

The Israeli military has the coordinates of the high-rise, so its less likely a bomb will bring it crashing down, Akram wrote.

The next day, Akram tweeted about running from the building and watching its destruction from afar.

The New York Times joined other news organizations in expressing alarm about the targeting of al-Jalaa tower.

The ability of the press to report on the ground is a profoundly important issue that has an impact on everyone." the newspaper's vice president of communications, Danielle Rhoades Ha, said. A free and independent press is essential to helping to inform people, bridge differences and end the conflict.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
MONTREAL, May 13, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Biopharma Inc. (OTC PINK: SBFM), a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of oncology and antiviral drugs, announced that it has filed its 2021 first quarter report. The Report shows that the Company had Cash & Cash Equivalents of $1,796,596 as of March 31, 2021, the period end.



The following is a summary of the Report highlights:

On January 26, 2021, the Company received a Notice of Allowance from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for a new patent application covering Adva-27a. The newly issued patent contains new subject matter and extends the proprietary protection of Adva-27a in Canada until 2033.

On February 4, 2021, the Company entered into an exclusive license agreement with the University of Georgia (UGA) for two Anti-Coronavirus compounds which UGA had previously developed and patented. The Company and UGA will advance the development of these two compounds in parallel with the Companys own Anti-Coronavirus compound, SBFM-PL4.

On March 1, 2021, the Company launched a new eCommerce website, Nutrition.SunshineBiopharma.com. The site offers over 20 Science-Based Nutritional Supplements products ranging from essential amino acids and rich protein powders to balanced vitamins and crucial micronutrients. All of the Companys Science-Based Nutritional Supplements are manufactured and tested in Canada under GMP conditions.

On March 9, 2021, the Company received a Notice of Allowance from the European Patent Office for a new patent application covering Adva-27a. The newly issued patent contains new subject matter and extends the proprietary protection of Adva-27a in Europe until 2033. The equivalent patent in the United States was issued in 2019 (US Patent Number 10,272,065).

Sunshine Biopharmas CFO, Camille Sebaaly stated, We are incredibly pleased with the progress of our Company as a whole. We continue to receive positive interim results from the University of Georgia regarding our mice study and the development of our Anti-Coronavirus treatment, and are very happy about our expanded patents for Adva-27a.

About Sunshine Biopharmas Coronavirus (COVID-19) Treatment

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed the lives of over 3.3 million people worldwide since it first appeared in December 2019. There are currently no drugs that can effectively arrest replication of the virus in people who have contracted the illness. Sunshine Biopharma has completed the synthesis of four potential inhibitors of PLpro and subsequently identified a lead compound, SBFM-PL4. On February 1, 2021, Sunshine Biopharma entered into an exclusive license agreement with the University of Georgia for two Anti-Coronavirus compounds which the University of Georgia had previously developed and patented. The Company is currently advancing the development of these two compounds in parallel with its own SBFM-PL4 by conducting a transgenic mice study in collaboration with the University of Georgia, College of Pharmacy. The mice being used in the study have been genetically engineered to express the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) transmembrane protein in their lungs making them susceptible to lethal infection by SARS-CoV-2. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses the hACE2 receptor to gain entry into human cells to replicate. The goal of the study is to determine if these protease inhibitors will protect the hACE2-transgenic mice from disease progression and death following infection with SARS-CoV-2. Should these mice studies prove successful, Sunshine Biopharma plans to submit the results to the FDA for authorization to conduct testing on actual COVID-19 patient volunteers in a Phase I clinical trial setting.

About Sunshine Biopharmas Adva-27a Anticancer Drug

In addition, to working on the development of a treatment for COVID-19, Sunshine Biopharma is engaged in the development Adva-27a, a unique anticancer compound. Tests conducted to date have demonstrated the effectiveness of Adva-27a at destroying Multidrug Resistant Cancer Cells, including Pancreatic Cancer cells, Small-Cell Lung Cancer cells, Breast Cancer cells, and Uterine Sarcoma cells. Clinical trials for Pancreatic Cancer indication are planned to be conducted at McGill Universitys Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada. Sunshine Biopharma is owner of all patents and intellectual property pertaining to Adva-27a.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions that involve risks as well as uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those anticipated or expected, including statements related to the amount and timing of expected revenues statements related to our financial performance, expected income, distributions, and future growth for upcoming quarterly and annual periods. These risks and uncertainties are further defined in filings and reports by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Actual results and the timing of certain events could differ materially from those projected in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors detailed from time to time in our filings with the SEC. Among other matters, the Company may not be able to sustain growth or achieve profitability based upon many factors including but not limited to general stock market conditions. Reference is hereby made to cautionary statements set forth in the Company's most recent SEC filings. We have incurred and will continue to incur significant expenses in our expansion of our existing as well as new service lines noting there is no assurance that we will generate enough revenues to offset those costs in both the near and long term. Additional service offerings may expose us to additional legal and regulatory costs and unknown exposure(s) based upon the various geopolitical locations we will be providing services in, the impact of which cannot be predicted at this time.

For Additional Information Contact:

Camille Sebaaly, CFO

Sunshine Biopharma Inc.

Direct Line: 514-814-0464

camille.sebaaly@sunshinebiopharma.com

www.sunshinebiopharma.com

Nutrition.SunshineBiopharma.com


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OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Even as railroads are operating longer and longer freight trains that sometimes stretch for miles, the companies have drastically reduced staffing levels, prompting unions to warn that moves meant to increase profits could endanger safety and even result in disasters.

More than 22% of the jobs at railroads Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern have been eliminated since 2017, when CSX implemented a cost-cutting system called Precision Scheduled Railroading that most other U.S. railroads later copied. BNSF, the largest U.S. railroad and the only one that hasnt expressly adopted that model, has still made staff cuts to improve efficiency and remain competitive.

The railroads acknowledge they have cut staff, lengthened trains and made other adjustments to reduce spending, but they are adamant none of the changes increase dangers. Regulators at the Federal Railroad Administration say they are tracking the changes and that the data so far does not show the new operating model is unsafe. But unions counter that with the stakes so high any time a train derails, the new system is risky.

Every time the wheels come off the rail, its kind of like buying a lottery ticket to the big disaster, said Jason Cox with the carmen division of the Transportation Communications Union.

Precision Scheduled Railroading calls for running fewer, longer trains with a mix of freight to reduce the number of crews and locomotives needed to deliver millions of tons of goods nationwide. The railroads also operate their trains on more of a set schedule now, with fewer stops and pickups, and they have eliminated shorter, less-profitable routes.

By increasing the length of trains, railroads can reduce total trips, cut down on the number of engines and railcars needing maintenance, and manage with fewer employees. Some trains now stretch longer than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers). Union Pacific said the average of its maximum train length has grown more than 30% to 9,250 feet, which is 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers), since it started using the new operating model in 2018, and the railroad is expanding track sidings throughout its network to accommodate much longer trains.

The railroads say they abide by federal regulations for car and signal inspections and that human inspections are supplemented by high-tech systems that can scan tracks and railcars for defects.

They also say safety has improved overall over the past five years. All the major railroads issued statements defending their safety records and citing investments they have made in their networks.

Across the board, I do not see evidence of our workforce at Union Pacific being rushed, overworked or put in harms way. I just dont see it statistically, said Lance Fritz, CEO of Union Pacific, the nation's second-largest railroad.

CSX officials said most of the key safety measures they track like employee injuries and train accidents have improved since it started using the Precision Scheduled Railroading operating model.

We do not move freight at the expense of the safety of our employees or the communities where we operate, CSX spokeswoman Cindy Schild said.

The head of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Oregon Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, last week asked the Government Accountability Office to study Precision Scheduled Railroading's impact on safety and the industry overall.

Independent expert David Clarke, director of the University of Tennessees Center for Transportation Research, said the safety data is inconclusive.

Right now I just havent seen anything to demonstrate that its definitely having a negative impact on safety, Clarke said.

However, the union coalition Transportation Trades Department notes the amount of time carmen have to inspect each car in a train has been reduced by more than half  from three minutes to just 60 seconds. Also, staffing cuts mean less-trained train crews are often handling those inspections, the group says.

From the conductor side, were basically finding things that are just obvious, said Greg Hynes, national legislative director with SMART-TD union that represents conductors.

The unions also say that most signalmen who maintain railroad crossing guards and safety signals along the rails have seen their territories grow by 150%, leaving little time for maintenance work once required tests are completed.

As maintenance gets neglected. then obviously the failures go up, said Tim Tarrant, a vice president with the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen.

Overtime is also up, which the unions say increases fatigue and the chance that a safety defect could be missed.

Unions acknowledge it's part of their mission to maintain or increase staffing levels, but members said they're more motivated by the potential for disasters, such as a 2013 derailment in Canada that killed 47 people in the town of Lac Megantic and caused millions of dollars in damage or a 2005 derailment in Graniteville, South Carolina, where nine people were killed and more than 250 treated for exposure to toxic chlorine gases.

Former CSX employee Kasondra Bird said safety concerns led her to resign in December after 24 years with the railroad, even though she didn't have another job lined up. As a conductor operating trains by remote control in a Grand Rapids, Michigan, railyard, she went from switching 150 cars a day to 300 to 350 each shift.

Bird said some workers skipped meal and bathroom breaks to keep up.

I was hoping to stay a lot longer, but if it means my safety, its not going to do me any good staying another day if that means Im not going to come home, said Bird, who is a 45-year-old single mother. Safety and the well being of employees have definitely taken a backseat to production.
(Natural News) On May 11, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) grilled Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) about his agencys illicit funding of dangerous gain of function research. Fauci of course denied that any such funding exists, even though there is an extensive paper trail proving it to be true.

Del Bigtree of The Highwire reported on the meeting, showing highlights that included Faucis visual distaste for being questioned as he blatantly lied under oath about the nature of his agencys research.

While The Highwire has had to be exceptionally careful about how it reports on the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), Bigtree has had enough. After watching Fauci try to squirm his way out of the conversation, Bigtree has decided to set the record straight about where he stands on the Chinese Virus.

From here on out, The Highwire is changing course, Bigtree announced to his viewers, refusing to any longer beat around the bush concerning what he believes.

We are no longer going to vacillate between whether or not this is natural or man-made. My assumption now, and the work that weve done and the science that weve seen and shown you throughout this year, and much of the science that I cannot show you that is being privately handed to us anonymously from world-renowned scientists, I am now under the belief that this is a man-made virus.

Every time Bigtree and his team have even hinted at such in one of their videos, the social media censors immediately pull them down or suspend their channels. Bigtree is no longer concerned about this, though, as truth is the most important thing by which to stand.

Bigtree also does not have to worry about censorship happening on Brighteon, where the episode in question is hosted. Be sure to watch it below:

Anthony Fauci is a liar, a traitor, and a murderer

During the episode, Bigtree got the chance to speak with physicist and nuclear cardiologist Dr. Richard Fleming, who agrees that all available evidence points to the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) being man-made.

The evidence all shows that this is a man-made virus, Dr. Fleming stated.

And for Dr. Fauci to sit at a hearing with Rand Paul and perjure himself is unconscionable because we have even the international patent that Ralph Baric got for gain of function research on the spike protein thats paid for, thats it, by NIH.

There is also the patent that shows the NIH, and specifically the NIAID that Fauci oversees, directly funded the gain of function research that Fauci is now flagrantly denying ever even took place.

An extensive paper trail exists that proves Fauci a liar. It also proves that he is a mass murderer who unleashed a deadly virus as well as withheld lifesaving remedies from the public.

As explained by Dr. Fleming, the patent clearly states that coronavirus spike proteins were being intentionally modified and that the NIH was funneling funds to help pay for it. Sorry, Fauci, but you are a liar.

At the end of the day, the Chinese Virus is a bioweapon that came out of a lab where Fauci and his cronies were sending taxpayer dollars. No matter how he tries to hem-haw around that fact and pretend as though the virus came from bats, Fauci is on the wrong side of both science and history.

The next step? Mass murder to roll out World War III, wrote one Brighteon commenter about the possible next phase of the plandemic agenda.

More related news about Faucis lies concerning the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) can be found at Deception.news.

Sources for this article include:

Brighteon.com

NaturalNews.com
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Between designing sets for the legendary San Francisco rock promoter/impresario Bill Graham, penning posters for the Grateful Dead and monumental sets for the Rolling Stones, Dennis Larkins kept migrating back to New Mexico like a lost homing pigeon.

The artist, who created sets for Led Zeppelin and The Bands The Last Waltz, now shows his work at Santa Fes KEEP Contemporary. Larkins current work retains the raucous sensibility of his rock n roll past through a retro pop/surrealist lens. Hell be part of a three-artist show with Santa Fes Dirk Kortz and California artist Van Arno at KEEP from June 18-July 18.

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Larkins came to Embudo in 1967 to paint landscapes after studying at the University of Colorado.

I always considered myself kind of a revolutionary artist, because I wanted to do something no one had done before, Larkins said. What nobody was doing at the time was landscapes.

His were no ordinary landscapes; they were more Fauvist-Expressionist hybrids. In 1973, he moved to Berkeley, California, where his wifes family lived. He found a job as a cleaner at the San Francisco Opera.

I had literally been there a week and the phone rang, Larkins said. My wifes younger brother worked for a promoter named Bill Graham.

The job was to create a blow-up of an album cover for a band named War featuring Eric Burdon of The Animals.

It was a fairly simple job in that the album cover was a street scene, Larkins said. I dont think I even asked how much. He handed me an envelope of money. That was the beginning of a vibrant, scenic rock n roll career.

At the same time, Larkins was promoted to paint mixer at the opera, eventually rising to the position of scenic artist.

It was a frantic, schizophrenic life, toggling a treadmill between highbrow and lowbrow art from day to night.

We were the expatriates from New Mexico, just pining to come home, Larkins said.

He soon became Grahams go-to stage designer, designing rock n roll shows for nearly a decade. By day, he would paint flowery Rococo opera sets A la the French artist Fragonard; at night, hed be creating the sets for the Rolling Stones American Steel Wheels tour in 1989.

I was lucky to survive it, Larkins said of the latter. I had this team of kamikaze rock n roll scenic artists.

His Stonehenge set for the 1977 Led Zeppelin show resurfaced in miniature in the 1984 classic rock parody Spinal Tap.

Its one of the few great honors of my career to be parodied in Spinal Tap, he said with a laugh.

He rarely met the actual musicians, although he did get to watch the The Last Waltz rehearsal starring The Band. He borrowed its famous chandeliers from the San Francisco Opera. But he was too exhausted to attend the show. He did get to meet the Grateful Dead, who were notoriously picky about their promotional art.

They were very approachable, Larkins said. Jerry (Garcia) was very gregarious.

He returned to Santa Fe in 1981.

It was burnout, Larkins said. I was so done. It was literally leave or die. It was night and day around the clock.

We came back, he continued. We were like Bedouins going back and forth across the desert.

He started painting three-dimensional landscapes. None of the local galleries would sell them until a traditional Canyon Road gallery finally agreed.

I started selling out, Larkins said. But, after a month, the gallery owner called and told him to come pick up the rest of his stock because he was beating up all the other artists.

Im selling too much; therefore, Im a failure, Larkins said. The experience I had was being eaten alive by my own art.

He credits the opera for his fascination with 3-D relief, still prominent in his current work, as well as the psychedelic posters of Alton Kelly and Stanley Mouse. Larkins returned to California in the late 1980s, this time to Los Angeles, to create theme designs for Walt Disney Imagineering, Warner Bros., MCA/Universal and Sega GameWorks, to name but a few, creating scenes in the Batman films I and II, and in Coming to America.

At the end, I was a basket case again, Larkins said.

He returned to Santa Fe for good 12 years ago. He says he forged his style from retro-pop surrealist imagery, blending traditional painting techniques with sculpted, three-dimensional relief .

Lifes circumstances and personal growth flipped me from doing an external landscape to an internal landscape, he said.

The painting of a family of skeletons parked in a parched New Mexico landscape seems especially current, with its collapsing car culture and dinosaurs.

Although it was created years before the pandemic, The New Normal shows a couple wearing skeletal masks on airplane seats.

These people arent even relating to each other, Larkins said. Outside the window is The War of the Worlds.

I use skeletons as a metaphor for truth, he added. As in the emotional truth  bare to the bone.

Larkins work hangs in the collections of the Estate of Bill Graham, Cheech Marin, Don Henley and the late photographer Baron Wolman, and at Santa Fe Community College.
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A truly good romantic comedy, whether it be a novel or a movie, justifies why two people are drawn to each other. It builds a case for the relationship so it makes sense why theyre together.

In Emily Henrys latest book, People We Meet on Vacation, she does just that, introducing Poppy and Alex, two polar opposites who met in college but happened to both be from the same town in Ohio. Its a shared ride home for the summer (hello, wink to one of the greatest rom-coms ever, When Harry Met Sally) where they talk about everything and anything, and a friendship is born.

The two remain best friends even beyond college when their lives take them to different places. Poppy moves to New York to become a travel writer. Alex moves back home to teach. They establish a tradition to take a vacation together every year to catch up. Each time they reunite, Poppy and Alex reestablish their rapport, as if no time has passed. The vacation is a sacred ritual to look forward to, no matter who theyre dating or what theyre doing.

Except something happened on their last trip to Croatia two years ago that caused a rift, and now Poppy and Alex havent spoken in two years. Poppy gets up the nerve to propose another trip with the hope of getting her friend back, and to her delight, Alex agrees.

The book jumps around in its timeline, to past vacations and present day  detailing their history and orbit around the other.

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What Henry is especially skilled at is writing dialogue. The banter between Poppy and Alex is so natural, quick and witty that it would make Shonda Rhimes do a slow clap. It also reminds the reader why these two come alive with each other in a way that they do not with anyone else.

Whether or not Poppy or Alex can resolve their difference remains to be seen, but Henry creates a story where youll want to stick with it to see what happens.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

The University of New Mexico Faculty Senate is requesting that the UNM Foundation address climate change by divesting from companies involved in fossil fuel extraction and production.

Faculty Senate President Finnie Coleman presented two resolutions passed by the governing body to the UNM Board of Regents on Tuesday.

Sometimes theres a propensity to dismiss these types of resolutions as mere activism or political posturing, Coleman said. Across the nation there have been successful efforts at divestment, but there has to be the stomach for it.

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The University of California system and several Ivy League schools have sold their oil and gas holdings in the last decade.

The resolutions also request that UNM embark on several green initiatives, including developing a clean energy plan, discontinuing the burning of fossil fuels for electricity by 2035 and the purchase of vehicles that emit greenhouse gases, adding more electric vehicle charging stations in public parking lots, and shifting university vendors to zero-waste operations by 2025.

UNM should leverage (its) position as an academic institution, Coleman said, to support companies and communities that would take an economic hit from divestment and want to transition to new business models.

The UNM Foundations Consolidated Investment Fund portfolio includes several equity firms with direct ties to oil and gas, natural gas and coal production, according to the Foundation website.

Separating UNM Foundation dollars from fossil fuel assets will likely be more of a process than a final decision or final action, Regent Sandra Begay said.

I appreciate what youre pursuing, Begay said. Its going to be a hard lift, to be quite honest.

Fossil fuel divestment is at the forefront for student groups like UNM Leaders for Environmental Action and Foresight, or LEAF.

Raven Alcott, a UNM LEAF member from San Ildefonso Pueblo, said the institution should take meaningful action to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment.

This university feeds money to fossil fuel industries that will jeopardize our future that we work so hard for every day, Alcott said at an Earth Day rally in April.

The Associated Students of the University of New Mexico has also passed a resolution requesting that the university divest from fossil fuel interests.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
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The Department of Education is being urged to provide a long-term solution regarding the future plans for St Gabriels Special School in Bishopstown.

The call was made by two Cork TDs in the Dail.

St Gabriels was originally built as a primary school in 1981 and opened as a special school in 1998.

In 2018, the Department of Education committed to the construction of a purpose-built facility for the children of St Gabriels Special School.

No progress has been made since which has led to growing concerns.

Sinn Fein spokesperson for education, Donnchadh O Laoghaire, said St Gabriels does incredible work.

There are 43 children attending the school, from the ages of four to 18, with severe to profound learning disabilities. The school plays an incredibly important role in Cork city and the surrounding areas, he said.

The Cork TD however said that current facilities are unsuitable.

The current building is completely unsuitable. The staff, management and parents of St Gabriels have done incredible work in making the most they can out of the building, but the reality is that it is long past its sell-by date. Ultimately, the current building is never going to be fully fit for purpose.

I have received previous replies from the minister, on measures being implemented to meet interim accommodation needs. That is positive, but it is not a long-term solution. The long-term solution is a new building, on a new site, he added.

Firm commitment sought

Mr O Laoghaire said he wants a firm commitment from the minister that there will be a new building for St Gabriels.

I want the minister to give a commitment that there will be a new building for St Gabriels, that is fit for purpose for the needs of the school. Interim measures are important, but there needs to be a long-term solution for staff, for pupils, and for their families, he said.

Fianna Fail TD, Padraig OSullivan said the current setting is not appropriate.

It is not an appropriate education or care setting. Something needs to be done long-term. We are talking about students with profound needs and intellectual disabilities. Some students have a dual diagnosis of autism. The real solution is to knock it and to start again whether on-site or elsewhere, he added.

Department 'committed' to solution

Minister for Education Norma Foley. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

Responding in the Dail, the Minister for Education Norma Foley said the department is committed to providing for the schools long-term accommodation needs and is considering all options available.

She noted that the school is adjoined to another former primary school and said this property has the potential to offer the school extra space to meet its accommodation needs, but remedial work would be required to facilitate its use.

The department will continue to engage with the school, the diocese, and all necessary stakeholders in progressing the future of the school. An architect and an engineer have visited, she said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education told The Echo: The department is committed to meeting the long-term accommodation needs of St Gabriels, and work is ongoing to advance appropriate permanent accommodation for the school. The department will continue to engage with the school in this regard.
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The Government has established a war room in response to the very serious cyber attacks on the HSE and the Department of Health, Minister Simon Coveney has said.

The HSE was hit on Friday by a ransomware attack, with its systems remaining "significantly compromised" two days later, according to HSE chief operations officer Anne O'Connor.

It has also been confirmed that the Department of Health has shut down its systems after finding a similar digital note to that which was found on the HSE's systems.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Coveney said no one should seek to downplay the potential impact of this attack.

He said many agencies from across the State are involved with the National Cyber Security Centre including the departments of Justice, Defence, Communications as well as An Garda Siochana and the Defence Forces.

The authorities are liaising with Interpol, the European police agency, the Minister for Foreign Defence added.

Mr Coveney said the Government is not talking to the criminals involved in the attack.

What has happened here is that right across our HSE health care system, malware has been inserted across the network in multiple locations."

Speaking to RTE radio, Mr Coveney said it's going to take "quite some time, to clean that data, piece by piece, and to try to back up and protect as much of the data as we possibly can."

"This is a very serious attack, we're taking it seriously, and we're taking all of the international advice that we can to make sure we get that right."

Meanwhile, chief whip Jack Chambers said the Government has to strengthen its cybersecurity capabilities in the wake of Fridays cyberattack on the HSE and on the Department of Health.

Mr Chambers said the Government and its agencies are working through this methodically with the experts that are involved to try and restore the HSEs IT infrastructure.

We have to get our diagnostics back and get health care to service delivery restored as quickly as possible, and so much in terms of outpatient appointments and therapeutics have been affected, Mr Chambers said.

Government chief whip Jack Chambers TD said the government needs to invest in cybersecurity. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

He said everything is being done using our domestic resources and international expertise to respond so that authorities get healthcare service delivery back.

He said the immediate priority is that people can have basic diagnostics and get their appointments back as soon as possible.

But responding to evidence that cybersecurity is chronically underfunded in Ireland, Mr Chambers said the state has to strengthen the provision of cybersecurity.

The National Cybersecurity Centre only has a 5m budget, and a staff of 25. The post of director is currently vacant.

The HSE is only spending 2m a year on cybersecurity when it is estimated it should be really spending about 36m.

It is a serious 21st-century threat, both to states and private sector organisations across the board, he said.

"This is a future threat for everybody.

"Unfortunately, criminals or other state actors can attack the state or other organisations from behind computer screens, and this is a reminder of having to strengthen that.

"We're going to invest in that, and strengthen the National Cybersecurity Centre, Mr Chamber said on RTEs The Week in Politics.

Mr Chambers said all steps will have to be taken to mitigate risks for the Department of Health, "or any other Department where risk has been identified."

The National Cybersecurity Centre only has a 5m budget, and a staff of 25. The post of director is currently vacant.

Independent TD Cathal Berry said Ireland effectively has no offensive cyber capability at all really.

Sinn Feins Louise OReilly said that under no circumstances should ransom be paid to the hackers.

But what I do think this is doubly unfortunate because it comes in the same week as we see an announcement that there are 900,000 people awaiting appointments, Ms O'Reilly said.

"What we want to see from the HSE and indeed from the government is not just that they can get to the root of the cause of this particular issue because this is absolutely huge.

We definitely need to know how it happened, but we also need to hear from the government and from the HSE and the Department of Health, how they're going to ensure that this does not happen again, she said.
Israel and the Palestinians are mired in their worst violence in years. Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City flattened three buildings and killed at least 26 people Sunday, medics said, making it the deadliest single attack since heavy fighting broke out between Israel and the territory's militant Hamas rulers nearly a week ago. Meanwhile, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday criticised the arrest of people for holding protests against Israel over the Middle-East conflict. Stay tuned on DH for latest updates.
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CLOVIS, N.M.  Police in the eastern New Mexico city of Clovis said Saturday that one person was killed and others wounded or injured after a shooting and vehicle crash.

A caller to 911 reported that they have beeen shot just after 11 p.m. on Friday and arriving police found a Mercedes sedan crashed into a power power pole that had been sheared off, police Capt. Captain Roman Romero said in a news release.

Romero said the occupants of the Mercedes were taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries, where a passenger died. Another person with life-threatening injuries was driven to the hospital in another vehicle that was associated with the Mercedes.

it was unclear exactly how many people were injured and whether they all were shot or if they had injuries from the vehicle crash. Romero did not immediately respond to a request for addional information.

Romero said no information about the victims was being released because of their ages and the ongoing homicide investigation.

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Schroder then launched into an anti-mask rant, saying: Oh if they allow us? If they grant us that, our kings? The people in power? Youre going to listen to these people? Theyve destroyed our economy. Theyre destroying our culture. Theyre destroying our state. And youre just going to listen to their rules? Im getting my refund. Im getting my refund from Costco. I suggest everybody in California get their refund from Costco. Give up your membership to Costco until they remove this.
PHOENIX (AP)  The Republican who now leads the Arizona county elections department targeted by a GOP audit of the 2020 election results is slamming former President Donald Trump and others in his party for their continued falsehoods about how the election was run.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer on Saturday called a Trump statement accusing the county of deleting an elections database unhinged and called on other Republicans to stop the unfounded accusations.

We cant indulge these insane lies any longer. As a party. As a state. As a country, Richer tweeted.

Richer became recorder in January, after defeating the Democratic incumbent.

The former president's statement came as Republican Senate President Karen Fann has demanded the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors come to the Senate to answer questions raised by the private auditors she has hired. The Senate took possession of 2.1 million ballots and election equipment last month for what was supposed to be a three-week hand recount of the presidential race won by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Instead, the auditors have moved as a snail's pace and had to shut down Thursday after counting about 500,000 ballots. They plan to resume counting in a week, after high school graduation ceremonies planned for the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, which they rented for the recount.

Trump's statement said, in part, that the entire Database of Maricopa County in Arizona has been DELETED! This is illegal and the Arizona State Senate, who is leading the Forensic Audit, is up in arms.

Richer and the board say that statement is just plain wrong. In recent days, both he and the board have begun aggressively pushing back at what they see as continuing falsehoods from Republicans who question Trump's loss.

Enough with the defamation. Enough with the unfounded allegations, Richer tweeted Thursday. I came to this office to competently, fairly, and lawfully administer the duties of the office. Not to be accused by own party of shredding ballots and deleting files for an election I didnt run. Enough.

The board, led by Republican Chairman Jack Sellers, have been aggressively using Twitter in recent days to push back, firing off a series of messages slamming the private company doing the audit. The board plans to hold a public hearing Monday to further to refute lies and lay out facts about these issues.

I know you all have grown weary of lies and half-truths six months after 2020 General Elections, Sellers said Friday in announcing Monday's meeting.

Fann sent Sellers a letter on Wednesday requesting that county officials publicly answer questions at the Senate on Tuesday, but she stopped short of her threat to issue subpoenas.

Fann repeated the Senates demand for access to administrative passwords for vote-counting machines and internet routers. County officials say they have turned over all the passwords they have and have refused to give up the routers, saying it would compromise sensitive data, including classified law enforcement information held by the sheriffs office.

Fann proposed allowing its contractor to view data from the routers at county facilities under supervision of the sheriffs office. The Senate has no interest in viewing or taking possession of any information that is unrelated to the administration of the 2020 general election, she wrote.

The county says the passwords the Senate is seeking are maintained by Dominion Voting Systems Inc., which makes the vote-counting machines and leases them to the county. The company said in a statement Thursday that it cooperates with auditors certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and did so for two prior audits of 2020 results in Maricopa County, but wont work with Cyber Ninjas.

Fann has hired Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based cybersecurity firm, to oversee an unprecedented, partisan review of the 2020 election in Arizonas largest county. They are conducting a hand recount of all 2.1 million ballots and looking into baseless conspiracy theories suggesting there were problems with the election, which have grown popular with supporters of Trump.

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Associated Press reporter Jonathan J. Cooper contributed.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few showers this afternoon. Thunder possible. High around 75F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Overcast. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Flinders University School of Medicine and Public Health professor Nikolai Petrovsky spoke exclusively to Republic TV where he elaborated on the newer variants of COVID-19 and how 'immunoescape' was turning out to be a serious problem across the world.

"The main issue right now is the new variants emerging. These are able to get around the immunity that has been developed by newly recovered patients. This is immunoescape. The problem is that COVID is mutating and getting around that and people are getting infected and in some cases more seriously the second time. A lot of these strains are resistant to antibodies and even against certain vaccines that don't protect against the new variant, Immunoescape is a serious problem," shared Petrovsky.

Another challenge that the professor expanded on was how COVID-19 vaccines were showcasing different efficacies in different countries due to the ever-mutating variant. "Vaccine that might be effective in one country might not be effective in another. That is another challenge right now."

How can India ramp up COVID-19 vaccine production?

Discussing how India could ramp up the production of COVID-19 vaccines, he said, "In India where there are enough vaccine manufacturers, there is still not enough capability. The world has to invest in a lot more vaccine capability and we need better technology that can produce more doses of vaccine quickly."

Speaking on the need for nations to direct their vaccine supply to countries like India which were facing the second Coronavirus wave, Nikolai Petrovsky stated that it was important to save the maximum number of lives.

"Some countries have more need for vaccines than others. In places like India, there is a crisis and many people are dying. I am urging the Australian government to supply all vaccines to countries that need it. We do need to look at where the vaccines are needed and where they will save the most lives. We are not interested in providing vaccines in US, Australia but in places like India where they will have the most impact," he said.

The professor also spoke about the highly-debated TRIPS waiver opining that a patent had nothing to do with the diminished supply of COVID-19 vaccines. Very recently, United States extended support to the waiver of patents for COVID-19 vaccines, a proposal tabled by India and South Africa last year.

"The reason why there is not enough supply is that there are not enough COVID vaccines because the government have not been investing in building factories for the last 20 years. Another thing is that the supply chain and the raw materials and chemicals needed are running out. Intellectual property is not the problem," he added.

On his cooperation with Indian companies to expand vaccine production he said, "We are very close to setting up a joint venture with one of your leading vaccine companies in the next few weeks. My desire is to make the vaccine available to as many countries as possible and particularly countries like India."
Yes, along most or all of the coast

Yes, but only places where an entry fee can cover their cost

No, people can continue swimming at their own risk

Vote

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As Kimberly Johnson, 38, the mom of elementary-school-age twins in Pound Ridge, New York, put it to me in a Facebook message, Im not anti-vax but this all seems just too fast for me. I dont want my children to be responding to those lawyer ads you see on TV 25 years from now. You know the ones, If you were under the age of 16 in the years 2021-2022 and received the COVID-19 vaccination you could be entitled to compensation  
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Election Day for Santa Fe municipal races is still months away, but that hasnt stopped several hopefuls from announcing their intention to run for multiple positions.

At the center of it all is the mayoral race, for which three candidates  incumbent Alan Webber, JoAnne Vigil Coppler and Alexis Martinez Johnson  have officially launched campaigns.

But thrown into the mix are four City Council races, some of which have more candidates than others. The names listed below are based on those who had picked up election materials from the City Clerks Office as of Thursday.

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District 1

One City Council race shaping up to be intriguing is in Santa Fes District 1, which encompasses the area around the Santa Fe Plaza up to the citys northern border and stretching west to Siler Road.

As of Thursday, four candidates had picked up candidate packets, with three having officially declared their candidacy.

They include the incumbent, Councilor Signe Lindell, who also serves as mayor pro teml. The retired Realtor is vying for a third term and told the Journal shes hoping to continue working on such issues as affordable housing.

Its a job with a steep learning curve, Lindell said, adding that her experience gives her an advantage.

However, that experience hasnt stopped others from opposing Lindell this election cycle.

One of the challengers is Joe Hoback, former president of the Land of Enchantment Family Credit Union, who said he doesnt believe Lindell has achieved that much in her seven years in office.

Shes done an OK job, but nothing I can point to as a major accomplishment, he said.

Lindell said she worked to pass changes to the citys short-term rental ordinance and a bill preventing pet owners from chaining their dogs outside, among other legislation.

Hoback said a focus of his campaign is cleaning up the image of Santa Fe, and argues that litter and graffiti are becoming too problematic in many areas. He also said he will be endorsing mayoral candidate Vigil Coppler.

Also throwing his hat into the ring is Brian Gutierrez, a local business owner who serves on the citys Planning Commission. He told the Journal that public safety, water and the Midtown campus will be focuses of his campaign.

Another potential candidate is Roger Carson, president of the Santa Fe Association of Realtors. He said hell make an official announcement regarding a possible campaign within the next month.

But any challenger will have a steep climb ahead of them. Lindell, who is running a privately financed campaign, said Thursday she had already raised $60,000 for her reelection bid.

District 2

Running unopposed thus far for reelection is Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth, whos seeking a second term in District 2, which encompasses the South Capitol, Candlelight and Hopewell-Mann neighborhoods, among others.

Romero-Wirth told the Journal that finding a reliable funding source for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and developing the Midtown Campus were among her top priorities.

As for her biggest accomplishments, she said she believes the council has succeeded in modernizing city government, adding she hopes to continue that trend during a second term.

She also serves as the councils parliamentarian.

District 3

So far, only incumbent Councilor Roman Tiger Abeyta has announced plans to run for the District 3 seat in Santa Fes Southside. No one else has picked up a candidate packet yet.

Abeyta said securing financing for the Southside Teen Center and serving as chairman of the Finance Committee were two of his main achievements during his first term. Should he win reelection, he said he wants to focus on providing more resources for his constituents, especially Spanish speakers.

We need to do a lot more Spanish translation of city resources, he said. We need to continue to catch up to the rest of the city and the other districts in terms of infrastructure.

Abeyta currently works as chief professional officer for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Fe/Del Norte.

District 4

The only race without an incumbent, District 4 will see candidates attempting to replaceVigil Coppler, whos vacating her seat to oppose Webber in the mayoral election.

Two people  a county assessor and an elementary school principal  have picked up packets so far.

Cesar Chavez Elementary School Principal Amanda Chavez said shes in the middle of organizing her campaign and that she decided to run due to public safety issues, citing three Santa Fe teenagers who were killed in 2020. She said her work in the schools could help her on the issue.

My work with my school is very community-based, Chavez said. Ive seen what community initiatives can do.

The other potential candidate is Santa Fe County Assessor Gus Martinez, who could not be reached prior to publication. Its unclear if he has officially launched a campaign.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

When an emergency arises in the Santa Fe area, people dial 911 and a dispatcher at the Santa Fe Regional Emergency Communications Center answers the call.

But, lately, the center has had fewer dispatchers to pick up the phone. Of the 43 full-time positions available at the center, only 22 such positions are filled. Among them are four part-time temporary dispatchers, two new hires and two candidates in the background check process, Director Vanessa Marquez said.

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Theres definitely a shortage, and were hoping to hire a number of new dispatchers to increase our staffing levels, she said. We know that there are individuals that are currently seeking employment, especially after COVID, and we strongly encourage them to apply to be an emergency communication specialist trainee.

The dispatcher shortage could be a factor in recent increases in response times.

At a recent city of Santa Fe Public Safety Committee meeting, Santa Fe police reported that from February to March there was a one-minute increase in response times for priority I  the most urgent calls  from the start of the call to dispatch, and about a seven-minute increase for priority II calls.

According to SFPD, the median time from the start of the call to dispatch was 16 minutes, 25 seconds. The average time for priority II calls in March was 40:13.

Marquez said response times can vary depending on the availability of emergency responders and the type of response thats needed. Despite being short-staffed, Marquez said she doesnt have any concerns about the centers ability to answer and dispatch 911 calls.

To be at a fully comfortable staffing level, Marquez said shed need about 30 full-time employees.

However, these issues arent unique to Santa Fes dispatch center. Theres a dispatcher shortage across the nation, Marquez said.

In 2018, USA Today reported on the nationwide shortage, stating response times were getting longer as there were fewer dispatchers to pick up the emergency phone calls.

The national standard is to answer 90% of 911 calls in 10 seconds or less, and dispatchers at the center answer 92% of calls in 10 seconds or less, Marquez said.

In March, the center handled a total of 26,736 calls. Of those, 12,708 were calls for service for emergency responders and 6,039 were actual 911 emergency calls.

Marquez said its difficult to say why theres a shortage, because people can leave the position for many reasons. She gave the example of some employees using the dispatch center as a launching point for a public safety career. Some dispatchers go on to join fire departments or the police force, she said.

Ive been in this business almost 24 years now, she said. I started as a floor dispatcher and there has always been high turnover in the center. I would say typically its about 30%, and thats not just for our center. Its nationwide.

Marquez said dispatchers arent always considered public safety workers, which could also be a factor. On the federal level, 911 dispatchers are considered clerical workers. That not only affects how the public views them, but also their retirement and benefits.

Communications Team Leader Ashley Woods, a dispatcher at the center for eight years, said she was drawn to the position because she wanted to do something different. Within the first few weeks of working on the dispatch floor, she fell in love with it.

I think the job, first and foremost, is like, beautifully chaotic in a weird way, Woods said. Because you never know what youre going to do (and) every day is going to be something new.

Woods said she finds the job inspiring because, no matter what she does, shes helping someone  whether its a life-or-death emergency, or shes calming someone down who just lost their pet.

Woods said it took about a year of training to get certified, but the training continued throughout her career. In fact, Woods said she was going to attend a training session later that day.

Throughout her career, Woods said shes had a couple of calls that really affected her and shes been able to speak with management to get counseling.

Marquez said the center does have a counseling service dispatchers can use.

I think this job can be very stressful, but its also very rewarding for myself, personally. When I walk out the door, I try to leave everything at the door, Woods said. I try not to take things personally when Im dealing with a calling party thats not happy with the situation.

Woods said she knows the center is short-staffed, but she tries to come into the center with a positive attitude and in a good mood. In her experience, the center has always been short-staffed.

Luckily, Ive worked with a lot of great people who are willing to overlook the overtime, the hard hours and the short-staffing to continue to do the job that we signed up to do, Woods said. We do it for each other and we do it for the community that we work with.
AS we are locked in and under strict curfew for at least the next month, there are thousands of families in our own country living in poverty and going hungry in this pandemic period.

How are we helping struggling families in Trinidad and Tobago during this time, one may ask?
MERIDEN  Democrat Sonya Jelks, less than midway through her second term on the City Council, assumed a new role earlier this month when she was appointed the groups majority leader.

Jelks is the first Black woman appointed to that role. In fact, the current council, with four women and other councilors who identify as Black or Latino, is perhaps the councils most diverse, in terms of gender, racial and ethnic makeup.

Im gonna just be very clear, Ive never really had political aspirations, said Jelks, 48.

In fact, Jelks, who spoke during an interview inside the council chambers, said she considers herself to be more of a community leader than a politician. During her first few years on the council, she familiarized herself with the process of governing. Jelks served as a deputy majority leader before stepping into her new role.

Over the last few years, Ive been learning how to use my voice to speak up for those folks who arent represented in the room and who sometimes may not necessarily have a seat at the table, Jelks said. It is through that experience, I started to take on more leadership.

She and others described the transition to a larger leadership role as a natural progression. She succeeds David Lowell as majority leader after Lowell resigned from the council this month citing family obligations.

Jelks said she has the exact same love for the city and I have the exact same love for being at the table and that decision making process as her predecessor.

Even more importantly, I have the same level of leadership qualities of anyone else at the table, Jelks said.

She assumes the new role during a time when the council is conducting most of its business remotely, due to restrictions on public meetings and indoor gatherings as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City Council hasnt always been as diverse as it is now. Its not the first arena Jelks stepped into that had been largely male-dominated.

Jelks was a first generation college student when she enrolled at Syracuse University. It was there, through Jelks various jobs, she found she had a love and knack for technology. She would enter the information technology sector of the corporate world. As she explains, she was the only Black female IT manager in a sector where most other managers were white men.

Many times I was sitting at tables where it was mostly male certainly, mostly white males, and not a lot of women in the building much less at the table, Jelks said.

The experience, she said, trained her to be resilient, particularly in situations that are not always comfortable or welcoming. Jelks said it helped give her drive.

It taught me to be blunt and honest with people. And I think that it taught me well, Jelks said.

Seat at the table

Jelks said having individuals who bring varying perspectives at the same table is not meant to cause division or to generate contentious discussions.

We really just want to make sure we have folks in the room who can speak to the various experiences that people have throughout our community. And for us just to remember that were not a homogeneous community. Certain things will impact certain things in our community differently, Jelks said.

A perspective and voice Jelks brought to the table were those of a mother, balancing multiple responsibilities.

After years in the corporate world, Jelks moved on to state government and the nonprofit sector. She is now the Connecticut director for the nonprofit Corporation for Supportive Housing.

Were balancing quite a bit of challenges as mothers, Jelks said, acknowledging that during her first two years on the council, she had to learn how to navigate and balance her multiple roles.

When Jelks joined, there was only one other woman  fellow Democrat Cathy Battista  on the council.

Now theres four of us sitting on the council, Jelks said. Thats groundbreaking as well. And in addition to that diversity, you also have diversity in terms of racial makeup.

The impact of diversity on the council can be seen in its decision-making and thought process, Jelks explained. Such change, she believes, is a good thing. Representation matters.

And having an opportunity to sit at the table where decisions are being made for people who live in the community, its incredibly important, Jelks said.

The trend that Im seeing, that I am very happy and proud to see, is that we have more women than weve ever had on the council before, she said.

Agenda setting

As majority leader, one of Jelks new roles will be setting the agenda for council deliberations.

Democratic Councilor Michael Cardona, the deputy mayor, was elected to the council in 2015, the same year Jelks joined.

Cardona described Jelks as driven and willing to bring difficult issues to the forefront.

I think that will make for good leadership, Cardona said, describing the perspectives Jelks and other councilors bring as something we need at all stages.

Battista, the former councilor, said she thinks Jelks will do an outstanding job and grow in that position. Its a high pressure position.

Battista said she is encouraged by the councils makeup, describing the women who now sit on the council as competent, intelligent members of the elected body, who are highly responsive to their constituents.

Battista described recent actions, like the resolution the council adopted declaring racism as a public health crisis as a first step in a long and overdue process.

I think the council did right when they passed that, Battista said.

Nicole Tomassetti, a first term Democrat on the council, said because of Jelks background, she is going to bring things to the majority leader position that the council didnt previously have.

Shes got a strong focus on equity and racial justice that weve never had before. Its something Im extremely excited about ... She represents what Meriden can be, I think, Tomassetti said.

The racism resolution, for which Jelks had strongly advocated, is one example of that focus. Another is improving the citys perception.

Tomassetti noted Jelks council district is Area One, the downtown. Jelks, she said, has a focus on really celebrating the downtown and working to improve it. She is adding a light on an area I think is maligned a lot of times.

Democratic Town Chairwoman Millie Torres-Ferguson described Jelks as a strong leader who is not scared to take on new initiatives. While the leadership title might be new, leadership itself is not something new for Jelks, she said.

Its great to have a woman and a person of color in a high ranking position such as this. That hasnt always been the case, Torres-Ferguson said. She brings a new perspective and its long overdue. There was a time, when there was one woman, and no minorities on the council. So Meriden has come a long way.

mgagne@record-journal.com203-317-2231Twitter:@MikeGagneRJ
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SANTA FE  Employees at the New Mexico Public Education Department are completing a three-hour diversity course as part of a plan to address a court order to improve services for students of different cultural, linguistic and income backgrounds.

The virtual training was mandated for all 234 agency employees, including Education Secretary Ryan Stewart, a spokeswoman said. Repeat sessions on Thursday and Friday were open to hundreds of teachers and school leaders outside the agency who signed up voluntarily.

In my 21 years of doing this work, it is the first time for me that state employees in the education department have been required to attend, said training leader Sharroky Hollie, a former school teacher.

Public Education Department spokeswoman Judy Robinson said the diversity training challenged stereotypes and helped participants identify biases.

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I loved this advice: Your first thought doesnt have to be your last thought,  said Robinson, who attended the training session.

New Mexico is trying to improve the way the education system serves Indigenous, low-income and English language-learning students in part because of an ongoing court order to provide them with an adequate education.

As a state agency, we have the responsibility of ensuring that all children in New Mexico receive an equitable education while we reaffirm their individual home culture and language, said Lashawna Tso, assistant secretary for Indian education.

Diversity training is one component of the departments efforts to tackle the expanding reach of the courts orders.

The department is also implementing a plan to measure the speed of at-home internet by collecting connectivity data as part of the school registration process, Robinson said.

There is no higher priority than getting every student what they need to succeed, said education secretary Stewart in a statement Monday. The Public Education Department has been working at full tilt since March 2020 to expand student access to digital devices and high-speed internet services, and we continue to push aggressively to expand that work.

The court ruled last month that fast internet was part of an adequate education for plaintiffs in the lawsuit barred from attending in-person classes.

A handful of schools have remained in remote learning due to COVID-19 concerns, including health orders by tribal governments.

Separate from this weeks diversity course, all school staff will eventually be required to take annual training as part of the Black Education Act passed by state legislators this Spring.

The Black Education Act Council established by the law will develop or recommend training that addresses race, racism, racialized aggression and builds skills in creating an equitable culturally responsive learning environment, says Office of African American Affairs director Amy Whitfield.

The training could differ from the one offered by the Public Education Department, whose staff are not required by the law to take a course.

My hope is that, through the Black Education Act, multiple trainings are provided for school personnel that come from the expertise within New Mexico, with a specific understanding of the unique and complex history and connections of marginalized groups in New Mexico, Whitfield said.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Liu Liu Liu is an upscale restaurant like youve never seen before.

You squint at the map, then into the blinding sun of 7 p.m. Before you: the illustrious Food King on St. Michaels Drive. Next to it, a forlorn-looking, empty Kmart. According to the quivering dot on your phone, you have arrived at your destination.

Could this restaurant be  inside the abandoned Kmart? Your mind runs wild. Your dinner date pulls up next to you and gestures at you from inside her VW. She seems to have figured it out.

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Not so fast. First, you must both mistakenly enter a drivers education school  mid-session  before worming your way back out and around to a patio table outside the dark, anonymous storefront of the new restaurant Liu Liu Liu. Once seated, the cryptic details you heard on the restaurants voicemail begin to make sense. You are indeed at the door beside the barber shop, sitting on an Astroturf-covered square of sidewalk behind a cartoonish black picket fence. Youre at an upscale restaurant where the music plays loud and the experience will be far from the norm.

It is an understatement. You might just be in for the most unique dining experience Santa Fe has to offer. With Liu Liu Lius impeccably executed plates of Taiwanese-global haute cuisine, youre about to choose your own adventure.

Leave it to a couple of restaurateurs from Los Angeles to keep Santa Fe weird  or, rather, to singlehandedly transform the citys rather staid white-tablecloth landscape into a decidedly more interesting one. Owner-operators Cameron Markham and Elizabeth Blankstein met while developing fine dining ventures in Southern California; theyve since opened five restaurants together. Liu Liu Liu is their first Santa Fe child, a small-plate-focused, family-style endeavor born of their COVID-postponed wedding, as well as a desire to shake things up in the City Different. (Albuquerque-raised Markham cut his teeth here in the hospitality industry after high school.)

Blankstein cooks in the 10-table storefronts open kitchen, in an atmosphere best described as estate-sale Gothic, with a loud soundtrack that veers from Vivaldi to Violent Femmes. Markham hosts and waits tables, with the help of server Edgar Meija. Markham also performs the unusual duty of water sommelier, a title he earned from studying under expert Martin Riese, a man who Eater called Americas only water sommelier in 2015.

The water-somm thing means Markham will happily rattle on about the mineral content of any of the long list of sparkling and still waters on the menu. Before you know it, youre quaffing a $20 bottle of Vichy Catalan, a heady Spanish blend with a high TDS (total dissolved solids) content that Markham says is currently available in only one other American locale. You might pair it with a selection from the global menu of sodas and juices: say, an apple soda from Taiwan ($4) or a carbonated yerba mate blend made in Miami ($4). The waters are presented and served in Champagne coupes around about the time you realize that Liu Liu Liu is making the best argument for the return of sit-down dining since the onset of the pandemic.

The owners global fusion inspirations are best tasted in an appetizer of chicken liver mousse ($16) threaded with an apple brandy gelee, paired with a swath of taro honey beneath a selection of pillowy mini-sopaipillas dusted with red chile. Theres also the astonishing artichoke ($16), a long-stemmed specimen braised in an aromatic five-spiced Taiwanese lu wei broth with daikon radishes and carrots, served with a tangy white garlic aioli.

Tamer selections might be the mellow marinated cucumbers, bathed in sesame oil, and served with yellow squash and garlic oil ($11), or even the sweet-and-salty black hummus, blended with black sesame and served with crudite ($12). Blankstein says the thick-cut noodle and beef soup ($26) comes from a Taiwanese family recipe; an entree of ground pork served over purple forbidden rice with pickled mustard greens ($22) bears out additional East Asian flourishes.

The swordfish ($38) is spritzed with absinthe, served over a mash of chayote squash, married with an earthy smear of beet puree, sprinkled with edible lily flowers, then presented at the table with a pour-over Pernod veloute. Its a delicately flavored, subtly nuanced dish, with velvety notes that roam from sweet fennel to savory soil. The tofu with green Sichuan peppercorns, harissa and haricots verts ($20) may seem a bit ho-hum in comparison, until you taste the peppers tingling the tofu in your mouth  then take a soft sip of the Austrian medium-minerality Liquid Death water ($8).

At this point, your meal may get even weirder  for instance, drivers ed class lets out next door, a lost white dog wanders nearby, and the sun glows red across the parking lot over the mountains. Where are we? I happily ask my companion. But any strange happenings afoot are unmatched by the fun of popcorn-fried chicken ($38), a Taiwanese street-food staple that Blankstein upgrades with fried basil, white pepper and Perigord black truffles generously shaved over the dish before you. Did I mention its served in a vessel closely resembling a fishbowl?

Despite the incongruity of its surroundings, theres a sweet harmony present in nearly every dish at Liu Liu Liu. Over two visits, I listened to excited dinner guests  locals and tourists alike  praise the restaurants singular point of view, its raucous setting and adventurous spirit. Markham says he and Blankstein (both of whom have traditional sommelier training) are preparing to debut a beer and wine menu, fusing his knowledge of New World wines with her Old World expertise. True to Liu Liu Liu form, he says, Youre going to find items on that list you cant get anywhere else.

Liu Liu Liu

4 stars

WHERE: 1722 St. Michaels Drive, Suite F, 505-428-0589, liuliuliurestaurant.com

HOURS: Dinner 5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday; closed Mondays
Australia is sticking to plans to start re-opening to the rest of the world only from the middle of next year, officials said on Sunday, resisting mounting pressure to end the closure of international borders.

In March 2020, Australia closed its borders to non-nationals and non-residents and has since been allowing only limited international arrivals, mainly citizens returning from abroad.

"All the way through we will be guided by the medical advice," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a televised briefing. "We will be guided by the economic advice."

Earlier in the day, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) that the medical advice to keep the borders closed had 'served us very well through this crisis'.

Read | As India travel ban ends, first flight lands in Australia

Australia's border closure, combined with snap lockdowns, swift contact tracing and public health compliance has ranked its control measures among the world's most effective. Infections total about 29,700, with 910 deaths.

But border reopening plans unveiled this week have sparked criticism from businesses and industries, as well as politicians in Morrison's Liberal Party.

"Like many measures, international border closures had a temporary place, but it is not sustainable and will turn us into a hermit outpost," the Sunday Age newspaper quoted Tim Wilson, a Liberal Party member of parliament from Melbourne, as saying.

The newspaper also published recordings from Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, one of the architects of Melbourne's 111-day tough and successful lockdown last year.

Sutton suggested that Australia must start thinking about a reopening strategy once there is high vaccination coverage.

Also Read | Australia to keep borders shut indefinitely to keep Covid-19 from spreading

The government budget unveiled this week envisages vaccination by year-end for all willing Australians.

The border closure has stranded many Australians abroad. Government figures show that about 9,000 Australians in India have registered requests to return home.

On Saturday, the first repatriation flight from New Delhi following Australia's controversial ban on travel from India arrived half-empty in the northern city of Darwin, as many who had planned to travel were denied boarding after testing positive for the virus.

Morrison defended the testing requirements.

"I have seen the suggestions from others who seem to think that we can put people who have tested Covid-positive on planes and bring them into Australia," he told reporters.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Ashley Solano admits, I wasnt the best student.

She had difficulty reading and writing and felt stupid and not teachable, she said.

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At age 16, and barely into her sophomore year of high school, she gave up, dropped out and began working minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants.

It was not stimulating work, it was just a way of getting a paycheck, she said. I was breathing but not really living, and I was trying to fit into a world that didnt make sense to me. I had all these friends who were going to college and doing stuff with their lives, and I was just trying to survive.

Two decades later, Solano, 36, has a number of degrees, continues to go to school, works for a bank as a bilingual customer representative and is on track to become a certified public accountant. She attributes her ability to elevate her literacy skills to an adult education program that helped her get her high school equivalency certification and showed her that she could do so much more.

Her future, she said, did not always look bright and filled with opportunities, particularly as a failing elementary and high school student.

I didnt get good grades, and I couldnt comprehend anything that was going on. Maybe my focus wasnt there, she said.

Solano suggested that the most likely reason she made it into high school was because they were just passing me from one grade to the next.

They thought it was because my first language was Spanish, so they put me in an ESL (English as a second language) program, and she continued with ESL classes throughout elementary and middle school.

Dual language challenge

The third of six siblings, Solano spoke Spanish at home until she began kindergarten, when her parents, whose first language was Spanish, began speaking to her in English. For the most part, Solano said, English quickly became her primarily language. It was the language she used to communicate with her friends and the language that was taught in school.

She had trouble understanding the Spanish that was used in ESL programs to convey concepts in English, she said.

Pregnant at 18 and still living with her parents, Solano soon met a man who would become her husband. They moved in together and had three more children.

He did not want me to work. He wanted me to stay at home to raise the children, she said.

The income from his job was not enough to pay the bills. Even with Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance and other aid, our phone and electricity were constantly being disconnected, and we were constantly getting evicted and having to move, she recalled.

As her marriage was ending, Solano went back to work, and because she didnt want to be the typical single mom living off of welfare, she took two jobs  both at fast-food restaurants.

She separated from her husband in 2009, and their divorce was final in 2011.

In the meantime, Solano met her current partner, with whom shes had two more children.

Finding a mentor

In 2016, she accompanied a friend to the Albuquerque Adult Learning Center for a presentation about earning a high school equivalency certificate. She immediately realized this was the path she had to pursue.

I needed to change because, obviously, my life decisions up until that moment were not working out for me and it wasnt getting any better, she said. It just seemed like I was digging a bigger hole and I was burying myself in it.

As a student in public schools, when I didnt understand something, teachers would return to the beginning of the lesson and go over it in the same way again and again. Then theyd get frustrated and just move me on.

That didnt happen at the Albuquerque Adult Learning Center, where she was matched with a mentor who quickly figured out that Solano didnt absorb material in the traditional way.

I had an amazing teacher, and when she saw I wasnt learning something, shed say, OK, lets do it differently, and shed try another method. She knew that different people learn in different ways, that some people are visual learners, some are aural learners and some verbal learners. She didnt give up until she found out what worked for me.

A successful resource

The Albuquerque Adult Learning Center, with several locations around the metro area, is a nonprofit, community-based organization that provides high school equivalency preparation, post-secondary transition assistance, and career preparation to anyone ages 16 and older. Classes are free to all students. The organization has an annual budget of about $300,000, of which two-thirds comes from the state Higher Education Department and federal pass-through funding, and the rest from grants.

Since getting her high school equivalency certification, Solano has earned associate of arts degrees in liberal arts, integrated studies and accounting, and is working to complete others in communications and business. She is also taking classes at the University of New Mexico, where she is working on a bachelors degree in business and hopes to earn a masters degree in business.

Her goal is to eventually become a certified public accountant.

Things are better for me professionally and personally, and Im able to provide a better future for my children, Solano said.

If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be where Im at today, I wouldnt have believed it. Ive made it this far  I will make it all the way.
By Drew Armstrong and Josh Wingrove,

Why isnt the US sharing its extra vaccine doses with the rest of the world?

America led the world in buying up the messenger RNA vaccines that have proven most effective against Covid-19. Its now starting to lead the world in not using them.

Across the US, there are more than 27 million unused Moderna Inc. doses and 35 million from Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats led to calls by prominent public health voices to pack Americas surplus in dry ice and ship it to places like India, where the outbreak is still raging.

You're seeing supply exceed demand here and you just know there are excess doses, said Monica Gandhi, a physician and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who authored a letter with more than two dozen colleagues calling on the US to ship spare Moderna doses to India.

Read | 'Vaccine situation in India akin to arranged marriage'

As American vaccinations slow and doses accumulate, the US is at a health, ethical and diplomatic crossroads. China is exporting more doses than any other country, lifting its international profile and adding to its influence. Should the US continue to buy and distribute millions of mRNA vaccines a week, targeting them at people who are in no hurry to be vaccinated or who are lower-risk? Or should it pare back its orders and free up drugmakers to send more doses to other countries in need?

Press Harder

While it might seem simple to box up the spares and send them out, the reality is far more complex. There is no stockpile of tens of millions of Moderna doses in a warehouse, ready to go. Most unused US doses are scattered across tens of thousands of locations: state facilities, local pharmacies, vaccination sites and other locations. Gathering and sending them out of the country would be unmanageable, and undercut the US domestic effort.

Pfizer is already sending some shots manufactured in the US overseas. And there may be millions more unused doses from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc available to send out in the coming weeks or months; the exact date is unknown.

But with the Biden administration rolling back pandemic guidelines on masking, in part to get vaccine fence-sitters to roll up their sleeves, theres little indication the US strategy of ensuring more-than-ample supply at home will change any time soon.

When youre winning, you press harder, Andy Slavitt, the senior adviser to the White Houses Covid Response Team, told reporters this week. The US goal continues to be vaccination of 70% of adults before July 4, he said.

Vaccines of Choice

The two-dose mRNA vaccines have shown the highest efficacy rates of those cleared for use around the globe. They are also the most challenging to store and ship, and have been bought up primarily by wealthier countries. Theyve become the vaccines of choice for Americans, because of their availability and their perceived superiority.

Pfizers shots have also been cleared for people ages 12 to 15, making them critical to the domestic effort to vaccinate teens. It may soon be authorized for even younger children, who are at relatively low risk from Covid, reducing whats available for more defenseless populations abroad.

Read | Are Pfizer, Moderna vaccines effective against B.1.617?

If we were truly interested in taking an ethical approach to vaccination, we would have vaccinated the most vulnerable people wherever they live, but that's not the political reality, said Richard Besser, a pediatrician and former acting director for the CDC. Each country is focused on protecting its own, and that means turning to American children first, said Besser, whos now CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

To understand how many extra shots the US actually has, its necessary to understand how its vaccine supply chain actually works.

Modernas shipments are overseen by the federal government. When the company finishes making doses, it gives possession to distributor McKesson Corp., which stores them and sends them on to vaccination sites.

As of April 12, Moderna had handed over 117 million doses. Its producing 40 million to 50 million doses a month, which means that as of this week, its delivered about 157 million to 167 million. About 140 million of those doses have already been shipped out to vaccine locations and states, according to the CDC.

Read More: Unused Vaccines Are Piling Up Across US as Some Regions Resist

If another 10 million are on order or in transit  about what ships each week  that leaves just 7 million to 17 million doses that havent been sent around the country already to vaccine sites. That would amount to less than two weeks of supply, which could easily be wiped out if there were even a brief manufacturing delay.

The government contract with Moderna also says that the government may not use or authorise use of its vaccine order unless such use occurs in the United States and is protected from liability under a declaration issued under the Public Readiness and Emergency. Biden would have to strike a deal with Moderna or find a way around that clause to share his doses.

McKesson declined to comment, and the US Department of Health and Human Services didnt respond to an email seeking comment. A person familiar with the companys efforts described the production estimates as in-line.

Pfizer, the only other US manufacturer of mRNA vaccines, controls its own distribution. The company is committed to delivering 220 million doses to the US by the end of May. More than 170 million doses have already been dispatched, and the drugmaker is producing more than the US orders each week.

That excess, according to a person familiar with the matter, is already being sold abroad, mostly in North and South America, including to hard-hit places like Brazil. Canada, Mexico and Uruguay have all said theyre receiving Pfizer doses.

As its manufacturing capacity grows, Pfizer plans to sell even more doses overseas, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla has said. Because of the way the companys deal with the US is structured, it doesnt need permission to do so after meeting its domestic obligations. This path, manufacturing more doses than needed in the US, is almost certainly the road to getting more mRNA vaccines abroad.

Donation Stopgap

Unfortunately, even if unused US inoculations were sent abroad, they would likely make barely a dent in the need. The globe needs billions of vaccines, not millions, and the places that are in crisis now may burn through their outbreaks before help could arrive.

The donation piece is in many ways a stopgap, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, who also signed onto the letter urging the sharing of Moderna doses. This would be an initial supply to get emergency relief underway. Its barely a Band-Aid, but as we understand it, its product thats available and it could be deployed for good.

The next several weeks will be telling in terms of US needs  and what could be available for export. Many states have freshened their campaigns with incentives like cash lotteries for people who havent yet gotten shots. Colorado has requested the maximum number of doses every week, according to the state health department. Its pace of vaccinations has remained relatively steady at about 50,000 doses a day, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.

Other states are paring down. After peaking at almost 600,000 doses at its peak in April, Illinois most recent request was just 8,510, according to the state. Its also sending unused doses to areas where local demand is higher.

The Biden administration has said that over the next months it will send out approximately 60 million AstraZeneca doses that havent been cleared for US use. There are also tens of millions of J&J vaccines that may become available, likely as the American campaign winds down.

Those are the vaccines the US doesnt need or want. But they are likely what it will give.

--With assistance from Angelica LaVito and Riley Griffin.


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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Israeli warplanes unleashed a new series of heavy airstrikes at several locations in Gaza City early Monday, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled the fourth war with Gazas Hamas rulers would rage on.

Explosions rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes in an attack that was heavier, on a wider area and lasted longer than a series of air raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed  the deadliest single attack in the latest round of violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza. The earlier Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings.

The Israeli military said it attacked the homes of nine Hamas commanders across Gaza. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and in the predawn darkness there was little information on the extent of damage inflicted early Monday.

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Local media reports said the main coastal road west of the city, security compounds and open spaces were hit in the latest raids. The power distribution company said airstrikes damaged a line feeding electricity from the only power plant to large parts of southern Gaza City.

In a televised address on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israels attacks were continuing at full-force and would take time. Israel wants to levy a heavy price on the Hamas militant group, he said, flanked by his defense minister and political rival, Benny Gantz, in a show of unity.

Hamas also pressed on, launching rockets from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel. One slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashkelon hours before evening services for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, Israeli emergency services said. No injuries were reported.

In the Israeli air assault early Sunday, families were buried under piles of cement rubble and twisted rebar. A yellow canary lay crushed on the ground. Shards of glass and debris covered streets blocks away from the major downtown thoroughfare where the three buildings were hit over the course of five minutes around 1 a.m.

The hostilities have repeatedly escalated over the past week, marking the worst fighting in the territory that is home to 2 million Palestinians since Israel and Hamas devastating 2014 war.

I have not seen this level of destruction through my 14 years of work, said Samir al-Khatib, an emergency rescue official in Gaza. Not even in the 2014 war.

Rescuers furiously dug through the rubble using excavators and bulldozers amid clouds of heavy dust. One shouted, Can you hear me? into a hole. Minutes later, first responders pulled a survivor out. The Gaza Health Ministry said 16 women and 10 children were among those killed, with more than 50 people wounded.

Haya Abdelal, 21, who lives in a building next to one that was destroyed, said she was sleeping when the airstrikes sent her fleeing into the street. She accused Israel of not giving its usual warning to residents to leave before launching such an attack.

We are tired, she said, We need a truce. We cant bear it anymore.

The Israeli army spokespersons office said the strike targeted Hamas underground military infrastructure.

As a result of the strike, the underground facility collapsed, causing the civilian houses foundations above them to collapse as well, leading to unintended casualties, it said.

Among those reported killed was Dr. Ayman Abu Al-Ouf, the head of the internal medicine department at Shifa Hospital and a senior member of the hospitals coronavirus management committee. Two of Abu Al-Oufs teenage children and two other family members were also buried under the rubble.

The death of the 51-year-old physician was a huge loss at a very sensitive time, said Mohammed Abu Selmia, the director of Shifa.

Gazas health care system, already gutted by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces, had been struggling with a surge in coronavirus infections even before the latest conflict.

Israels airstrikes have leveled a number of Gaza Citys tallest buildings, which Israel alleges contained Hamas military infrastructure. Among them was the building housing The Associated Press Gaza office and those of other media outlets.

Sally Buzbee, the APs executive editor, called for an independent investigation into the airstrike that destroyed the AP office on Saturday.

Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building and said Sunday any evidence would be shared through intelligence channels. Neither the White House nor the State Department would say if any had been seen.

Its a perfectly legitimate target, Netanyahu told CBSs Face the Nation.

Asked if he had provided any evidence of Hamas presence in the building in a call Saturday with U.S. President Joe Biden, Netanyahu said: We pass it through our intelligence people.

Buzbee called for any such evidence to be laid out. We are in a conflict situation, Buzbee said. We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we dont know what that evidence is.

Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders asked the International Criminal Court on Sunday to investigate Israels bombing of the AP building and others housing media organizations as a possible war crime.

The Paris-based group said in a letter to the courts chief prosecutor that the offices of 23 international and local media organizations have been destroyed over the past six days. It said the attacks serve to reduce, if not neutralize, the medias capacity to inform the public.

The AP had operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. The news agencys cameras, operating from its top floor office and roof terrace, offered 24-hour live shots as militant rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.

We think its appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday  an independent investigation, Buzbee said.

The latest outbreak of violence began in east Jerusalem last month, when Palestinians clashed with police in response to Israeli police tactics during Ramadan and the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinian families by Jewish settlers. A focus of the clashes was the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a hilltop compound revered by both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas began firing rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, triggering the Israeli assault on Gaza.

At least 188 Palestinians have been killed in hundreds of airstrikes in Gaza, including 55 children and 33 women, with 1,230 people wounded. Eight people in Israel have been killed in some of the 3,100 rocket attacks launched from Gaza, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad militant group have acknowledged 20 fighters killed in the fighting. Israel says the real number is far higher and has released the names and photos of two dozen alleged operatives it says were eliminated.

The assault has displaced some 34,000 Palestinians from their homes, U.N. Mideast envoy Tor Wennesland told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where eight foreign ministers spoke about the conflict.

Efforts by China, Norway and Tunisia to get the U.N. body to issue a statement, including a call for the cessation of hostilities, have been blocked by the United States, which, according to diplomats, is concerned it could interfere with diplomatic efforts to stop the violence.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki urged the Security Council to take action to end Israeli attacks. Israels U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, urged the council to condemn Hamas indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks.

The turmoil has also fueled protests in the occupied West Bank and stoked violence within Israel between its Jewish and Arab citizens, with clashes and vigilante attacks on people and property.

On Sunday, a driver rammed into an Israeli checkpoint in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families have been threatened with eviction , injuring six officers before police shot and killed the attacker, Israeli police said.

The violence also sparked pro-Palestinian protests in cities across Europe and the United States.

Israel appears to have stepped up strikes in recent days to inflict as much damage as possible on Hamas as international mediators work to end the fighting and stave off an Israeli ground invasion in Gaza.

The Israeli military said it destroyed the home Sunday of Gazas top Hamas leader, Yahiyeh Sinwar, in the southern town of Khan Younis. It was the third such attack in the last two days on the homes of senior Hamas leaders, who have gone underground.

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Nessman reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo, Joseph Krauss and Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, Edie Lederer at the United Nations and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.
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An open letter to the mayor and city councilors of Santa Fe:

The League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County is concerned about the proposed sale of the master-planned 228.5 acres known as Las Estrellas at Santa Fe Estates.

We have reviewed the history of the lands ownership and development to date, with valuable input from city staff, but still have questions regarding policy decisions past and ongoing.

We would like to know the strategy governing the decision to sell these parcels in their entirety almost immediately after title was transferred back to the city last September. What alternatives, if any, were considered, and by whom? What analyses were done, and by whom? For example, was immediate financial gain the only consideration? Were risk vs. benefit or cost vs. benefit analyses done?

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Regarding the pause in the Request for Proposals process in March, when will this pause be lifted? What criteria are being used to determine its disposition? Who is working on it? When and how will the public have input into a new or revised RFP? What is and has been the role of the governing body in the RFP process?

The League is mindful of the concerns of Kim Shanahan, whose column in the Santa Fe New Mexican of March 27 brought this matter to our attention, as well as the concerns of Mr. David Gurule, whose letter to you of March 21 immediately preceded the RFP pause. The League neither endorses nor opposes their opinions  but we would like to see a response from the governing body that addresses them.

In particular, we would like to know why the sale of this property, which is three times the acreage of the Midtown project, is being managed so differently. We appreciate that the Santa Fe Estates acreage already has a Master Plan that was approved (1996) and then updated (2005) in accordance with the citys public meetings process. Nevertheless, the processes for disposal of the two properties are markedly different in timing and transparency.

Further, what is the citys response to concerns over the valuation of the property, which, at about $17,000 per acre, appears  somewhat low in todays market. Is this seen as an economic development opportunity for local businesses? If not, why not?

The League believes that local governments should go the extra mile to be transparent in all matters of public interest. Even if the city has adhered to the letter of the law in this matter, we believe our enquiries are fundamentally within the realm of the publics right to know.

Please disclose to your constituents the answers to our questions and allow maximum opportunity for the public to ask further questions, and to submit comments and recommendations. We believe our community will benefit from this approach.

Thank you for your consideration of our request.

Christine Furlanetto is a director of the League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County.
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ROSWELL  A New Mexico man stopped his trial and admitted Friday that he killed his wife and four daughters in 2016 at their home in Roswell, the local district attorney said.

Juan David Villegas-Hernandez, 39, will face five life sentences after his no-contest plea to five counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his 34-year-old wife, Cynthia Villegas, and their four daughters: Yamilen, 14; Cynthia, 10; Abigayl, 7; and Idaleigh, 3.

Scot Key, district attorney for Lincoln and Otero counties, said sentencing is scheduled for next Wednesday at the Chaves County Courthouse in Roswell.

At trial, prosecutor RoxeAnne Esquibel said Villegas-Hernandez killed his family and fled to Mexico after discovering Cynthia Villegas planned to divorce him.

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Villegas-Hernandezs attorney, Herman Ortiz, had told jurors there would be no testimony from anyone who saw Villegas-Hernandez at the scene of the killings or with a gun.

But Key said a witness testified she spoke with Villegas-Hernandez for more than two hours as he loaded items into his red pickup truck outside the house the afternoon of the slayings.

The woman characterized Villegas-Hernandezs behavior as strange, said he threatened to kill himself, and refused to let her inside the home, Key said in a statement.

The woman contacted family members and notified police, who found the bodies inside.

Esquibel said each had been shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle or handgun, and Key said several police officers testified they saw writing on a door inside the home admitting the killings.

Forgive me. I apologize to all. I will kill myself too, it said.

Villegas-Hernandez was arrested several days later in Mexico and returned in custody to the U.S. for trial.
(Natural News) Over 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines were halted and trashed after FDA inspectors found ingredients from other vaccines in the Johnson & Johnson jabs, and discovered brown residue all over the floors and walls, and open bags of medical waste being dragged around the facility. Talk about dirty vaccines, this is beyond all comprehension. This sounds like some (fast food) chicken processing plant, where the animals wallow in their own feces, infected with pathogens and then end up in everybodys mouths, except in this case its dirty vaccines that end up killing people. No wonder some vaccines list E. coli and urea as ingredients.

So much for safety and efficacy  vaccine science is now just dirty and dangerous

This Baltimore factory for J&J Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing was documented by FDA inspectors as being in total disregard for procedures set in place for safety and efficacy. Too bad all these mask-loving Americans cant watch the video footage of their beloved vaccine scientists and doctors dragging around open bags of medical waste right where theyre concocting the inoculations. Talk about germ paranoia.

FDA inspectors also noted peeling paint, inadequate cleaning, and employees contaminating areas by not following procedures. So far, nothing created at this septic plant has been injected into sheeple arms, yet (doesnt mean they wont sell those dirty vaccines to another country). No worries here though, because the eight million doses of the J&J vaccine given to Americans came from Europe, though theres no telling how many open bags of biomedical waste theyre dragging around in their vaccine dungeons, with feces spread all over the floors and walls.

Somehow, Johnson & Johnsons lab managers even managed to cross-contaminate their own shots ingredients with those of AstraZenecas toxic jab. Now how on earth could that have happened? Why are they even in the same place? Are they just working on them both side by side, with open beakers and overflowed toilets everywhere?

Is any of the inspection information redacted or undisclosed, because for the FDA to even release this, and for mass media (yes, this came from CBS news themselves) to publish is beyond fathomable.

Dirty labs, dirty vaccines and dirty politics

Its all dirty, the whole American medical establishment. The FDA is dirty. The CDC is dirty. The vaccine manufacturers  dirty. Now theyre all playing the dirty game of trying to con all of the pro-science, pro-natural health enthusiasts into getting the jabs. Theyre using propaganda and coercion tactics (think vaccine passports) to force us to inject dirty vaccines into our blood and tissue. Vaccines that are dirty with pathogens. Vaccines that are dirty with mRNA that create protein prions that cause blood clots and dementia.

Welcome to the New World Order, again. They want your health and your money. They want your land and your guns. They want your human rights obliterated. They want you diseased and dying. Thats communism.

This has been going on for half a century in the USA. Even the polio vaccine was dirty. The inventor had no idea what he was doing, just incubating different combinations of polio strains in monkey tissue. Its all been a con game since the outset, and the wool has definitely been pulled over the Sheeples eyes. The mRNA vaccine is the dirtiest of them all because it controls your immune system function and can shut it down with the flip of a switch (the second and third round of Covid jabs).

Tune your internet frequency to ChemicalViolence.com for updates on how vaccines ARE the pandemic.

Sources for this article include:

Pandemic.news

ChemicalViolence.com

CBSnews.com

KHN.org

NaturalNews.com

TruthWiki.org

CDC.gov/vaccines
A Black Brant XII carrying the KiNET-X mission launched at 8:36 pm ET. The mission is releasing vapor tracers 9-10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops, just north of Bermuda.

Due to rain and cloud cover most of NEPA could not see the launch.

LIFTOFF A Black Brant XII carrying the KiNET-X mission launched at 8:36 pm ET. The mission is releasing vapor tracers 9-10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops, just north of Bermuda.  NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) May 17, 2021

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Update, Sunday 5/15, 10:20 a.m. After six scrubbed launch attempts NASA has one more chance to launch its Black Brant XII rocket tonight. The launch window opens at 8:04 p.m.

If NASA fails to launch tonight the mission will be moved to later this year.

While weather in Virginia and Bermuda may cooperate, weather in NEPA is more questionable. AccuWeather is predicting cloudy skies with 91% cloud cover and a chance of rain.

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LAUNCH SCRUBBED! Tonight's launch of the Black Brant XII rocket for the KiNET-X mission has been scrubbed due to cloudy skies in Bermuda. The next launch opportunity will be no earlier than May 16, at 8:04 p.m. EDT. This will be the last launch opportunity for our mission.

After five scrubbed launch attempts NASA will try again tonight to launch a rocket that may be visible in NEPA and much of the east coast.

LAUNCH UPDATE Saturday, 5/15, 4:15 p.m. The Black Brant XII launch carrying the KiNET-X payload is a GO for tonight. Weather is looking great for Wallops, but we'll still be keeping an eye on those pesky clouds in Bermuda. Our window opens at 8:03 pm ET. Live coverage will begin at 7:40 pm.

AccuWeather predicts Intermittent clouds with 26% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility. Get their latest update here.

If clouds spoil our view, you can watch the launch on this NASA video feed. The feed will go live a7 7:40 p.m.

LAUNCH UPDATE 7:10 p.m. The Black Brant XII launch scheduled for May 12 has been postponed to provide time for inspection of the rocket after the vehicle came in contact with a launcher support during todays preparations. The next launch opportunity is NET 8:02 pm ET, Friday, May 14.

LAUNCH UPDATE 4:15 p.m. We're extending tonight's launch window, which now opens at 7:59 pm ET and runs through 8:53 pm. Clouds in Bermuda are a concern, but we're hoping for a break in the weather for our vapor tracer experiment. Live stream begins at 7:40 pm.

Clear skies in NEPA are expected in NEPA for tonight's 8:06 launch of the KiNET-X sounding rocket, which should be visible by looking east/southeast.

This will be the fifth night in a row NASA will attempt to treat the eastern United States from the coast to the Mississippi River and Bermuda to a light show.

Update 8:50 p.m. LAUNCH SCRUBBED: Tonight's launch of the KiNET-X sounding rocket has been scrubbed due to cloudy skies in Bermuda and Wallops. The next launch opportunity will be no earlier than May 12, at 8:06 p.m. EDT. Backup days run through May 16.

UPDATE 5/11: After a string of scrubbed launches over the past three days, NASAs rocket launch has been rescheduled to tonight from the Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia and could be visible along the East Coast - including NEPA, as long as clouds dont get in the way.

AccuWeather predicts less-than-ideal viewing conditions during tonight's launch window with 70% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility. Get their latest update here.

If clouds spoil our view, you can watch the launch on this NASA video feed. The feed will go live about 20 minutes before the scheduled launch time.

For most people, the rocket is going to look like a small dot moving quickly through the sky, similar to the International Space Station passing over, but much faster, NASA noted on its Wallops Flight Facility Twitter page.

UPDATE 8:23 p.m. :Tonight's Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than Tuesday, May 11, at 8:05 p.m. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.

UPDATE 5/10: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:04 p.m., tonight (Monday), May 10. The launch has been postponed twice due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.

Cloudy skies in the region could continue to hamper the view from NEPA. AccuWeather predicts 11% cloud cover and 10 mile visibility for the launch window.

If NASA does launch Black Brant XII and the skies are clear space-geeks will want to look east/southeast.

UPDATE 5/9: The launch of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:03 p.m., Sunday, May 9. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch. The launch window for Sunday runs until 8:43 p.m.

Weather remains a concern with rain expected by this afternoon.

Earlier we reported:

A mission to explore energy transport in space using a NASA suborbital sounding rocket launching May 8, 2021, from NASAs Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia may provide a brief light show for residents of the eastern United States and Bermuda.

The mission is scheduled for no earlier than 8:02 p.m. EDT with a 40-minute launch window, Saturday, May 8. Backup launch days run through May 16. The launch may be visible, weather permitting, in much of the eastern United States from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

A four-stage Black Brant XII rocket will be used for the mission that includes the release of barium vapor that will form two green-violet clouds that may be visible for about 30 seconds. The barium vapor is not harmful to the environment or public health

The mission, called the KiNETic-scale energy and momentum transport eXperiment, or 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?

The vapor will be released approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds to around 10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.

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. After exposure to sunlight the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.

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.

Live coverage of the mission will be available on the Wallops IBM video site (previously Ustream) beginning at 7:40 p.m. on launch day. Launch status updates can be found on the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for launch viewing.

Header image: KiNet-X Visibility Map.

Keith Koehler

NASAs Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia

757-894-4152

keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov